Peace at Home, Peace Abroad” is the vision that has inspired Veterans For Peace for many years. We have watched as the racist violence we witnessed in US wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq has been reproduced in U.S. cities by militarized police using gestapo tactics. We are currently seeing simultaneous US wars abroad and at home.
Even as the US has attacked Venezuela, kidnapped its president and threatened to overthrow the governments of Cuba and Iran, thousands of “Homeland Security” troops have invaded and terrorized a major U.S. city, Minneapolis, even murdering two nonviolent protesters. Thousands of people, including veterans, are resisting these racist, violent attacks.
“The silver lining is that the community defense has brought everybody together,” says Dave Logsdon of Minneapolis Veterans For Peace. “People who never protested before are in the streets organizing, with yellow vests, whistles, and first aid kits. People are finding the camaraderie contagious and the community resistance fulfilling.”
City of Heroes Celebrated in Song
The community resistance in Minneapolis is being celebrated in song by leading singer/songwriters, including Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, Jim Page, Scared Ketchup (AI), Jesse Welles, Midnight Republic, Michael Shynes, and Billy Bragg.
The community resistance in Minneapolis is being celebrated in song by leading singer/songwriters, including Bruce Springsteen, Tom Morello, Jim Page, Scared Ketchup (AI), Jesse Welles, Midnight Republic, Michael Shynes, and Billy Bragg.
In his song “City of Heroes,’ Billy Bragg sings:
When they came for the immigrants, I got in their face
When they came for the refugees, I got in their face
When they came for the five-year-olds, I got in their face
When they came to my neighborhood, I just got in their face
When they killed my sister, I got in their face!
When they killed my brother, I got in their face!
When they came for the refugees, I got in their face
When they came for the five-year-olds, I got in their face
When they came to my neighborhood, I just got in their face
When they killed my sister, I got in their face!
When they killed my brother, I got in their face!
Minneapolis is definitely a City of Heroes, and that is exactly what they have been doing – getting in the face of heavily armed, masked, white supremacist storm troopers. Older folks and younger folks have stood together in the streets every day in the hundreds and in the thousands, in sub-zero weather!
Veterans Resisting Fascism
Veterans For Peace has also been in the streets of Minneapolis, standing with the most vulnerable communities. Younger Post-9/11 veterans have taken the lead. They have been patrolling in at-risk neighborhoods, monitoring for agitators, de-escalating situations at protests, and training people how to stop bleeding. At least four veterans have been arrested while peacefully protesting, but have been released without charges.
Veterans For Peace has also been in the streets of Minneapolis, standing with the most vulnerable communities. Younger Post-9/11 veterans have taken the lead. They have been patrolling in at-risk neighborhoods, monitoring for agitators, de-escalating situations at protests, and training people how to stop bleeding. At least four veterans have been arrested while peacefully protesting, but have been released without charges.
The heroic sustained resistance in Minneapolis has exposed the true nature of these ICE attacks before the entire world. They have put the Trump administration on the defensive. The calls to abolish ICE are now heard in many quarters. The War at Home will be a long one, however. Similar community resistance is taking place in many US cities that are also being subjected to racist ICE attacks, or who are preparing to defend their communities from the anticipated assaults of an increasingly fascist federal government.
To make matters that much worse, we are now bracing for the Trump Administration’s threatened war against Iran, one that could be a catastrophic for the region and possibly for the entire planet, causing global economic chaos and even risking nuclear war.
From Venezuela to Minneapolis: Standing Up to Stop US Terror
San Francisco Veterans For Peace has teamed up with the ANSWER Coalition for an indoor rally titled From Venezuela to Minneapolis: Standing Up to Stop US Terror. The rally will be on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 7, 3 pm at the Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave. Room 210.
San Francisco Veterans For Peace has teamed up with the ANSWER Coalition for an indoor rally titled From Venezuela to Minneapolis: Standing Up to Stop US Terror. The rally will be on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 7, 3 pm at the Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave. Room 210.
Refuse Illegal Orders
Veterans For Peace is currently putting up billboards with the message “Refuse Illegal Orders” near military bases around the U.S. We are reminding our brothers and sisters, sons and daughter and grandchildren who have joined the military that they have the right and the responsibility to refuse illegal orders, and that we will support them when they do.
Veterans For Peace is currently putting up billboards with the message “Refuse Illegal Orders” near military bases around the U.S. We are reminding our brothers and sisters, sons and daughter and grandchildren who have joined the military that they have the right and the responsibility to refuse illegal orders, and that we will support them when they do.
Illegal Order would include:
- Orders to unconstitutionally deploy to US cities in support of racist ICE attacks or to suppress peaceful protests;
- Orders to participate in illegal regime-change wars, such as against Venezuela and Iran;
- Orders to ship weapons to Israel while it is conducting a genocide.
- Order to attack civilians or to torture and kill prisoners of war.
Trained counselors who can speak to concerned military members about their legal options can be reached by going to the Veterans For Peace website, www.veteransforpeace.
Veterans For Peace is welcoming new members – younger veterans, older veterans, active-duty members, family members and supporters. The Veterans For Peace eNews showcases the many ways that Veterans For Peace is organizing for Peace at Home and Peace Abroad.
Gerry Condon is a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister, a former president and current national board member of Veterans For Peace (VFP), president of the Golden Rule Committee, and a member of the crew that sailed the Golden Rule to Cuba. He represents VFP on the steering committee of the Peace In Ukraine Coalition. He can be reached by email at gerrycondon@veteransforpeace.org. Condon refused Army orders to deploy to Vietnam in 1968. He was court-martialed and sentenced to ten years in prison, but escaped to Sweden, where he worked with the American Deserters Committee, and then to Canada, where he worked with the AMEX-Canada war resister collective.
