California Congressman Joined 385 Organizations Across 25 Countries In Day of Protest Against The War
Yesterday Massachusetts Peace Action took part in the Global Day of Action for Yemen, an effort to pressure President Joe Biden to fulfill his promise and put an end to the US role in the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. For over 5 years the United States has been supporting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, providing logistics, intelligence, and weapons sales that allow the conflict to continue. Activists rallied at the State House in coalition with over 385 organizations from 25 countries. “The war in Yemen is actually all around us,” said Paul Shannon, founder of the Raytheon Antiwar Campaign, a coalition that has advocated for an end to the war and linked the conflict to Massachusetts based weapons manufacturer Raytheon Technologies. “Let us see today, as the beginning of a day, or a continuation of a time, when we do everything we can to disentangle our lives from this web of death.” Boston Globe columnist Stephen Kinzer said of efforts to pressure President Biden, “We are here to encourage him and to do everything we can to end the savagery to which the people of Yemen have been subjected.”
At a global online rally that followed the event Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) renewed his support for introducing a War Powers Resolution with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) aimed at stopping the war in Yemen.
The bombings in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have resulted in the deaths of 250,000 people — the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the UN.
Rep. Khanna affirmed his commitment to working with Sen. Sanders on the War Powers Resolution, during a global rally of activists, lawmakers, and celebrities calling for an end to the war.
Monday’s rally, led by the Yemeni Alliance Committee, Action Corps, CODEPINK, and Stop the War UK, included protests in more than 30 cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe. More than 385 organizations across 25 countries took part in the demonstrations — the biggest international anti-war coordination since the campaign against the Iraq war.
“Ending this war and providing the relief that is necessary to civilians and Yemen has to be our highest priority,” Rep. Khanna said. “It has to be our highest priority across nationality, across religion, across party. I am committed to working with Senator Sanders and the Biden administration to bring this war to an end.”
Also during the rally, MP Jeremy Corbyn announced that he had introduced an Early Day Motion opposing the British government’s support for the war.
“Profits are being made from the killing of children, profits are being made from the destruction of an entire country,” Corbyn said. He called on citizens around the world to come together to end the war, “to oppose the rise of the far right and racism all around the world, and bring people together in their quest for peace and ending poverty and the unity that will come from it.”
Lindsey German, Convenor of Stop the War Coalition said: “This conflict is hidden in the British media. It’s hidden in the United States media. It’s hidden in all those media because they don’t want to tell the truth about what is happening.”
Shireen Al-Adeimi, an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, said that as a Yemeni-American, she was calling on President Biden to stop U.S. support for the war, from the sharing of intelligence to arms sales.
“I call on President Biden to end every aspect of this war,” Al-Adeimi said. “One day, Yemenis will have a chance to pick up the pieces and chart their own course, free of international meddling and intervention.”
Resources:
Daniele Obono (French National Assembly Member), Yanis Varoufakis (MeRA25 Secretary-General),
Dr. Aisha Jumaan (Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation Founder and President), and
Dr. Cornel West (American Philosopher)
View a list of 30+ protests that took place as part of the event, with photos from around the world.
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Massachusetts Peace Action is the state affiliate of Peace Action, the nation’s largest peace organization, founded in 1957 as the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE). Peace Action works to abolish nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights, support just and nonmilitary solutions to the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine, and prevent war with Iran, Korea, Venezuela, and China. The public may learn more and take action at masspeaceaction.org. For more up-to-date peace insider information, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Youtube at @masspeaceaction.
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