Protest against wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan
and for money for jobs and human needs

17 Oct 09

assembling
Philly Against War organized a march to call attention to our two primary objections to US policy: The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan and the diversion of money needed for human needs to warfare and corporate greed.

various signs
Our set of secondary demands:
about to march

Wow! The US is considering deploying 500,000 troops to Afghanistan?!?! It's not at all clear that al Qaeda has any desire to establish a significant  presence in Afghanistan, so that can't be the reason the US wants to ramp up the war there. What's even less clear is that Afghans would welcome al Qaeda back into their country under any circumstances.

marching

Delegation from U.S. to Honduras

At the offices of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, an Oct. 5 news conference announced that a 12-person delegation would arrive Oct. 7 in Tegucigalpa for a fact-finding mission. The delegation includes political and religious activists, community organizers, labor unionists, students and youths.

Their well-illustrated story is at the Honduras Delegation blog.

marching

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists takes a look at the state of nuclear disarmament. They report mixed reviews, many hopeful signs "the April speech of U.S. President Barack Obama in Prague and positive negotiations related to a START follow-on treaty," but also many disappointments "the international community hasn't been able to achieve such progress because of a lack of consensus, political will, and the ineffectiveness of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)."

gathering on lawn

Last week, the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, headed by Justice Richard Goldstone, a former member of the South African Constitutional Court and former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, released a 575-page report documenting violations of human rights and international law, war crimes, and possible crimes against humanity committed before, during, and after Israel’s December 2008-January 2009 assault on the occupied Gaza Strip.

US Campaign to end the Israeli Occupation

end

Lots of rain at the beginning and a little at the end, but generally the weather was good enough. Oh, and there was supposed to be a whole set of right-wingers in town carrying out "tea parties," protesting media "liberal bias." We didn't see any sign of any such protesters.