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The Antiwar MovementVoices for Peace and JusticeThe Bush administration’s unwavering support for the failed “war on terror” has reinvigorated progressive social movements in the U.S. Here are a few of their voices:
Samina Faheem Sundras, Executive Director, American Muslim Voice, Newark, Calif.The PATRIOT Act is an invisible sword that is hanging over the heads of Muslims, Arabs and South Asians. It has silenced my whole community, created a culture of mistrust, anger, hate and hopelessness, and divided our nation. Hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs have reached a record high. I personally have received hate messages and threats. If we truly want to make our country safe and secure, we must work together to achieve that goal, where we create a culture of understanding, mutual respect, fair policies, due process, equality and justice for all.
Isabel García, Co-Chair, Coalición de Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Coalition), Tucson, Ariz.We have not seen this level of militarization, violence and death on the U.S.-Mexico border in over 100 years. In the U.S. government’s pursuit of undocumented migrants, many people are being harassed and arrested. Latino people, citizen and non-citizen are suffering abuse--beatings, shootings, rape. There is wholesale, legalized discrimination and racism along the border. Many jurisdictions in the interior are passing discriminatory laws and obligating police officers to become immigration police. Through the media, lawsuits and demonstrations, we are working to expose and stop the gross violations of human rights that are occurring throughout the country.
LaTosha Brown, Executive Director, Saving Our Selves (SOS) After Katrina, Atlanta, Ga.On the Gulf Coast a year after Katrina, the displacement continues. They’re shutting public housing down in New Orleans to build “mixed income” housing. In Mississippi, they’re trying to privatize three public housing units which will displace 2,000 people. The closest affordable housing is 100 miles away. The U.S. government does not recognize the human rights of people to housing, jobs and services. We are working to build a human rights movement by connecting social justice to the larger human rights struggle. Nancy Wohlforth, Co-Convener of U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) and Secretary Treasurer of Office and Professional Employees International Union , Washington , D.C.The Bush administration is driving an anti-worker agenda that erodes the social safety net, undermines our right to organize, assaults the rights of immigrants and nullifies our civil rights and our ability to elect candidates that support labor’s agenda. Labor cannot succeed at home without challenging the government’s foreign policy. We need to create a vision of a just foreign policy based on our movement’s highest ideals, a vision that is an integral part of labor’s struggle for fair trade and workers’ rights at home and abroad. Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, N.Y.The Bush administration, along with Congress, has undermined fundamental rights in this country since 9/11. Two years ago in Rasul v. Bush, a case brought by CCR, the Supreme Court ruled that Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge the legality of their detention before U.S. courts. In June 2005 the Supreme Court also ruled that the U.S. military commissions used to try detainees at Guantanamo were illegal. War abroad has become the justification for imposing everything from censorship to the denial of fundamental rights at home and abroad. Gerald Lenoir is coordinator of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration. |
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