Trump government attacks Syria [Archive]

ckaihatsu

7th April 2017, 13:51

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/04/07/syri-a07.html

US launches cruise missile attack against Syrian government

By James Cogan

7 April 2017

Between 8 and 9 p.m., US Eastern Time Thursday, two US warships in the Mediterranean fired a barrage of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian air base at Shayrat, near the city of Homs. The attack is the first direct assault by the United States on the Russian- and Iranian-backed government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has plunged the world into days of uncertainty as to the consequences. Highlighting the utter recklessness and criminality of the American action, Russian forces were at the base.

The Syrian government has issued a bitter condemnation of the US attack, denouncing it as “aggression.” There are reports that at least four Syrian troops were killed and that the air base was virtually destroyed.

The Russian military was reportedly given notice that the air base was going to be bombed. Russia has large numbers of aircraft and personnel in Syria assisting Assad’s forces fight a six-year, US-sponsored insurrection by predominantly Islamist militias. If the Russians were given notice, questions remain as to whether they were given a sufficient window of time to withdraw their assets from harm’s way.

The pretext for the US attack is the sinister and dubious allegation that Assad’s air force used chemical weapons in an attack on a rebel-held town on Tuesday. The claims are dubious, above all, because the Syrian government had no motive to use such weapons, knowing that it would be seized upon to demand that Trump order a direct US-led intervention. The Islamist rebels, by contrast, along with their CIA advisors, had ample motive under conditions in which they are facing complete military defeat. Moreover, the Al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra militia is known to be in possession of, and to have used chemical weapons.

On Thursday, the Assad government again categorically denied any responsibility for a chemical weapons attack. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem stated: “I stress, once again, that the Syrian Arab Army did not and will not use such weapons even against the terrorists who are targeting our people.”

The attack on Syria is the outcome of months of political civil war in Washington, which has seen Trump denounced by the Democratic Party and much of the media as a virtual Russian puppet for his stated agenda of improving relations with Moscow. His domestic opponents have succeeded in compelling the new administration to shift and make the immediate focus of US foreign policy stepped-up operations in the Middle East.

The result is the prospect of a rapid descent toward a confrontation with Iran and nuclear-armed Russia. It is entirely conceivable that the Syrian military, using sophisticated Russian-supplied anti-aircraft missile systems, will now retaliate by engaging American aircraft in Syrian airspace or launching attacks on the American troops operating on the ground with various rebel militias in parts of the country.

Trump appears to have authorised the bombardment even as he was sitting down for dinner and a photo opportunity with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who arrived in the US just hours before and whose government has consistently aligned with Russia to defend Assad’s government.

Among the numerous questions posed by the US strike is whether the top-level summit between Trump and Xi can even proceed. The situation is, by any standard, unprecedented for a Chinese leader. Xi will face immense recriminations in China if he is seen sitting alongside Trump in polite diplomatic talks, at a luxury golf resort in Florida, while his own government, Russia, Iran and other countries are denouncing a unilateral and illegal American act of war on Syria.

Moreover, the Trump administration has been threatening to launch a pre-emptive attack on North Korea and trigger a catastrophic war on China’s borders. The missile strike on Syria will remove any doubt in Chinese strategic and military circles as to whether Trump would be prepared to order such action.

Trump held a press conference Thursday evening at his Florida mansion. In words dripping with imperialist hypocrisy, he stated: “Tonight I call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end this slaughter and bloodshed in Syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.”

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson subsequently issued a statement accusing Russia of being “complicit” in the alleged gas attack and denouncing it for failing to meet its undertakings in 2013 to ensure Syria destroyed its chemical weapons. At the time, the Obama administration, in the face of doubts in the US military establishment and popular opposition, used the Russian guarantees to back away from its plans to wage a massive air war on the Assad government.

The Putin government in Moscow, backed by Bolivia, has signaled that it will demand an emergency session of the UN Security Council on Friday to condemn the American strike. The Russian Senate Security and Defense Committee chair Viktor Ozerov told journalists that the attack was an “act of aggression against a United Nations member.” Prior to the missile strikes, Russia had demanded an impartial investigation into the alleged gas attack and warned Washington that there would be “negative consequences” if it instead took military action.

The other key supporter of the Assad government, Iran, has issued a statement through its foreign ministry that it “roundly condemns” the US action. Large numbers of Iranian military personnel are on the ground not only in Syria, but in Iraq, fighting alongside Shiite militias that are nominally loyal to the US-backed government in Baghdad.

In Syria, the Saudi- and Turkish-financed and armed Islamist Ahrar al-Sham militia declared that it “welcomes any US intervention through surgical strikes.” The Israeli government has issued a statement voicing its complete support for the American operation. Turkey had already given blanket support in advance of the strikes.

As the US strike took place late in the night European time, the imperialist allies of Washington in Europe, after spending days exploiting the alleged gas attack to denounce Assad and Russia and call for action, have not yet issued formal statements.

On the other side of the world, an indication of how numerous US allies may respond has been given in Australia. The country’s defence minister was phoned by US officials several hours before the US strikes. Australia has fighter-bombers and other aircraft operating with American forces in Syria and Iraq. Both the government and the main Labor Party opposition have made statements fully endorsing the US strike, though Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would not confirm if the Australian military would join attacks on the Syrian government.

As capitalist governments around the world react, the critical issue is the independent political response of the international working class. This is addressed in today’s perspective on WSWS.

Copyright © 1998-2017 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved

ckaihatsu

7th April 2017, 14:13

Protests in Cities Across the Country To Say NO To War On Syria

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Chris,

Protests in Cities Across the Country – Find one near you or organize one. Bring Refuse Fascism’s NO!

Donald Trump told us all along he would “bomb the shit out of” the Middle East.

Thursday he sent 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into a Syrian government airbase, in what he said was retaliation against the Assad regime’s reported poison gas attack which killed 200 Syrian civilians.

Trump, who said he was responding to the deaths of “innocent children, innocent babies,” had ordered an airstrike on a mosque in Al-Jineh Syria March 16, killing 46 civilians. He has twice attempted to ban civilians from that same country, Syria, from entering the U. S. as refugees.

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willowtooth

7th April 2017, 15:00

Can somebody with more knowledge of this situation help me in understanding the fallout that is going to result from this? I understand that there is going to be some serious shit hitting the fan in regards to Russia, especially if any Russians died in the process, but there are some things I don't understand.

1. What is the motivation for this? I know Trump and everyone else keeps saying it is the chemical weapons, but the U.S doesn't give a fuck about innocent people dying or chemical weapons. Fuck the CIA facilitated chemical weapons attacks with Saddam Hussein in 88 against Iran, killing approximately 20,000 Iranian soldiers (against international law, almost needless to say). It doesn't effect anyone's bottom line if a few people die, irritates the military-industrial complex to a large degree, due to such an attack questioning U.S authority, but not enough to prompt something like this. To my knowledge, not even during the Cold War with the Soviet Union did we openly attack a proxy of the theirs'. Through proxy fighters, yes, but never in our own name. So any ideas? I've heard of a pipeline plan that was being opposed by Putin and the Syrian government. More death for oil? Perhaps the fact that Trump's approval rating is at an all-time low? Perhaps that neo-liberals pushed a trigger-happy hairless ape to aggression by claiming that he was a Russian puppet and that Russia had pictures of a bunch of strippers pissed on him. A confluence of all of these possibilities?

2. I've heard rumors that the Syrian government already had this shit tied down with ISIS and that the war there was virtually over. Is there a conspiracy theory here, or am I just Alex-Jonesing it?

3. Any additional thoughts regarding what this will mean for Russia-U.S relations?

the US gave ample warning to russia and syria, they want to destroy the peace deal between iran and turkey, and they want to provoke the DPRK. They're calling it "the airbase that the chemical attacks were launched from" which makes no fucking sense at all. The bomb itself was a single missile "laced with sarin" that struck an empty warehouse literally filled with shit, it was used for manure storage by some local farmer. Rather than claim it was al queda like Assad did last time, they instead claimed it was a "rebel chemical weapons manufacturing plant" and that some chemicals must've leaked out when they bombed it. Reporters however were on the scene right afterward and witness accounts claim the warehouse had been empty for years. The Syrian government wouldve been better off saying they didn't know anything about the explosion and are "investigating it", rather than admitting it was their missile.

The russians control the military bases in tartus and latakia neither were attacked, they attacked a tiny airbase in the desert called shayrat, even the hotel that syrian, iranian and russian soldiers were stationed outside shayrat was not attacked. Its important there are two fronts which is al queda in the east a lot of them from iraq, and the sort of arab spring in the west, so while the US doesn't attack assad directly and even has worked with them. Assad was one the USA's best friends before the arab spring reached damascus. They haven't attacked syrian's directly before. So this is like Libya where the USA is directly bombing the state but it is not really declaring war. Yet this is Syria, its ten times the size of Libya and there is no massive army of civilians ready to topple the regime, the FSA is gone, the kurds are broken and divided, the loyalists especially the alawites are dug in and dedicated to their support of Assad. Any type of loyalists toward assad or putin is going to be calling trump a member of alqueda now probably.

So questions I think we should all be asking is that if chemical weapons are such a big deal, and assad knows this, why would he use them on such a benign target? Why would the USA spend millions of dollars to put a few potholes in a worthless airbase?

willowtooth

8th April 2017, 08:53

and less than 24 hours later the syrian's shayrat base is operational again

http://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-airport-idUSL8N1HF5PT

....so that was weird

ckaihatsu

8th April 2017, 13:47

News Updates from CLG
08 April 2017
http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:
http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

Russian warship steams toward US destroyers that launched Syria strikes (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/04/07/russian-warship-steams-toward-us-destroyers-that-launched-syria-airstrikes.html) --The Russian warship is now steaming in the direction of the U.S. warships. | 07 April 2017 | A Russian warship has entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea Friday and is heading toward the two U.S. Navy destroyers that launched missile strikes into Syria, Fox News has learned. The Russian frigate, Admiral Grigorovich RFS-494, crossed through the Bosphorus Strait "a few hours ago" from the Black Sea, according to a U.S. defense official. The Admiral Grigorovich is armed with advanced Kalibr cruise missiles.

ckaihatsu

8th April 2017, 13:57

Vicious police attack on Jacksonville anti-war protest (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=f636d8bf15&e=d323598fe4)
At least 4 arrested, 1 hospitalized

By staff

Jacksonville, FL - Police launched a vicious attack on a “No war with Syria” rally in Jacksonville’s Hemming Park, this evening, April 7. Eyewitness say at least four have been arrested, and that one protester was beaten so severely that he has been hospitalized.

About six Trump supporters attempted to disrupt the 50-person anti-war rally. A Trump supporter got behind the speakers with a pro Trump flag and hit a protester with it; at that point the cops launched their attack.

On demonstrator, Connell Crooms, was punched in the face and kidneys, while a taser was in his back. He was arrested and is now in the hospital. A member of Veterans for Peace, Will Haeger, was punched in the face by the cops. Rally emcee Dave Schneider was arrested across the street, where he was encouraging protesters to go to the jail to support those who had be detained.

“Police completely ignored the pro-Trump provocateurs, as they moved in to unleash merciless beatings. I have never seen this kind of brutality,” said Richard Blake, one of the protest organizers.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

ckaihatsu

8th April 2017, 14:24

Sign the petition: Tell Congress: Stop Trump’s illegal war in Syria

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Tell Congress: Stop Trump’s illegal war in Syria (https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Syria_War?t=1&akid=22531.247355.jZISd7)

The petition to congressional leaders reads:

"Rein in Donald Trump’s illegal military strikes without congressional authorization now. Hold immediate and emergency deliberations on Trump’s illegal escalation of military engagement in Syria."

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Dear Chris,

Donald Trump has launched an illegal war in Syria.

Last night, he launched Tomahawk missiles into Syria without seeking any congressional approval. Since taking office, Trump has made a series of rash, hawkish and barbaric combat decisions that have already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians and American military personnel. But this is worse than anything we have seen so far.

We need Congress to act quickly and decisively to rein Trump in. Trump has launched illegal military strikes. Now is not the time for congressional leaders to head out of Washington for spring recess. They must assert their constitutional authority and hold immediate and emergency deliberations on Trump’s continued reckless and unauthorized military actions in Syria.

Tell congressional leaders: Rein in Donald Trump’s unauthorized military strikes and hold immediate emergency deliberations on Trump’s illegal escalation of military engagement in Syria. Click here to sign the petition. (https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Syria_War?t=4&akid=22531.247355.jZISd7)

It is undeniable that Assad’s regime is responsible for triggering a catastrophic humanitarian crisis – but Trump is acting in his own best interests, not those of the Syrian people. As humanitarians confronting the horror of the Syrian civil war, we must consider how we can best protect civilians and end the violence. Rash, illegal acts of war are not the way.

The backwards step of instigating illegal strikes in Syria is horrifying on multiple levels. The current Authorization for Use of Military Force that Congress passed post-9/11 does not authorize this strike.1 This latest attack also violates international law. The Charter of the United Nations is crystal clear on when it is legal to go to war: in the case of self defense or when it is approved by the U.N. Security Council.2 Trump not only met neither of these conditions, he also did not give Congress a chance to debate and vote on this illegal escalation.

Donald Trump has never articulated a vision or endgame for our involvement in Syria. Throughout his racist and misogynistic campaign, he tried to present himself as an anti-war candidate. But since his election, he has failed to invest in staff or strategies that will lead to anything other than American and civilian bloodshed.

Escalating our military entanglement in Middle Eastern countries – with the inevitable escalation of civilian casualties that comes with it – has been shown to actually help terrorists with recruitment. Trump’s reckless action is nothing more than a publicity stunt and an attempt to boost his plunging poll numbers and change the narrative for a dysfunctional administration that appears to be in complete disarray. It is a reckless abuse of power that shows a complete disregard for both the law and human life, and Congress must hold him accountable.

Congressional leaders must assert their constitutional authority to rein in a rash, out of control so-called president putting the lives of American military personnel and innocent civilians at risk, and they must do it now.

Now is the time for Congress to check and balance Trump.

Tell congressional leaders: Rein in Donald Trump’s unauthorized military strikes and hold immediate emergency deliberations on Trump’s illegal escalation of military engagement in Syria. Click the link below to sign the petition:

https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Syria_War?t=6&akid=22531.247355.jZISd7

Thank you for standing for peace,

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References:

John Nichols, “Trump Launched Missile Strikes on Syria Without Congressional Authorization,” The Nation, April 6, 2017.
Jack L. Goldsmith, “What Happened to the Rule of Law?,” The New York Times, Aug. 31, 2013.
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ckaihatsu

8th April 2017, 15:55

Syria Attack: Quick way to contact your senators and rep

No more tax dollars for war in Syria! (http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=IL%2FPwon2blFT20vg82jF0HjKvLuMM6aU)

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It’s urgent that your senators and representative in Congress hear directly from you about the U.S. missile attack on Syria. As a constituent, you can quickly send a message to all three of them by clicking here (http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=RPsABp3An9s4oAKuSamOmxBaAc9ePbhB).

The missile attack puts the United States and Russia -- the world’s two nuclear superpowers -- on a collision course while threatening to make the Syrian conflict even more deadly. Yet many members of Congress have been praising the attack.

In a democracy, when the people lead, the leaders can be compelled to follow. But that can only happen if we assert ourselves.

Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. denounced what he called “the madness of militarism.” Today, that madness is all too prevalent. Please click here to tell your senators and representative that you favor a complete cutoff of funding for U.S. military actions in Syria (http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=xTMs7oBt2iCb3ZhuCORmx3jKvLuMM6aU).

The elected officials who are supposed to represent you in Congress must hear from you.

Links below go to key information and astute analysis in the aftermath of the missile attack on Syria.

After emailing Congress, please use the tools on the next webpage to share this urgent action with your friends.

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Background:
>> Robert Parry, Consortium News: “Trump’s ‘Wag the Dog’ Moment”
>> Greg Grandin, The Nation: “The Real Targets of Trump’s Strike Were His Domestic Critics”
>> Marjorie Cohn, Truthout: “Donald Trump’s War Crimes”
>> Jim Naureckas, FAIR.org: “The Essential Pundit Take: ‘Trump Became President’ by Bombing Syria”
>> Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept: “The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise for Bombing Syria”
>> Adam Johnson, FAIR.org: “Five Top Papers Run 18 Opinion Pieces Praising Syria Strikes – Zero Are Critical”

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ckaihatsu

8th April 2017, 19:58

[LFN] U.S. Out of Syria Now! It's Time for Unity in the Streets!

U.S. Out of Syria Now! It's Time for Unity in the Streets!

On April 6, 2017, President Donald John Trump ordered a massive missile barrage on the Shayrat Air Base in Syria's Homs province. It was an act of war, for which there can be no justification. The Syrian Arab Republic is no threat to the security of the American people. The President did not even bother to claim that it is.

The President's justification for the attack was an April 4 chemical attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province in northwestern Syria. Idlib province is under the control of armed opposition groups who are linked to al-Qa'ideh. About 80 civilians, including children, died in the attack, and many others were injured. It is alleged that the gas used was sarin, one of the deadliest weapons in the chemical arsenal.

The Trump administration was quick to blame the Syrian government, headed by Bashar al-Assad. The evidence that President Trump provided was about as definitive as the evidence that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in the months before the election. If Trump has better evidence than "I'm hearingŠ" or "everybody knowsŠ" he has not yet shared it with the American people. The working people of the United States deserve to know the truth -- after experiences such as the Gulf of Tonkin incident at the beginning of the Vietnam war and the allegations that President Saddam Hussein possessed "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq in 2003 -- weapons which were never found because they never existed.

In terms of military and political tactics, a poison-gas attack on civilians, even in al-Qa'ideh-controlled territory, makes little sense. The Syrian government has been regaining the upper hand in Syria's five-year-plus civil war, having won complete control of Aleppo. The Trump administration appeared to have dropped the Obama administration's call for regime change in Syria. As late as the last week of March, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asserted that the choice of the future of the Assad regime was one to be made "by the Syrian people."

Though President Trump's approval rating is the lowest in history for a president so early in his term, Americans seemed to agree with his stated policy of keeping out of the Syrian civil war. An attack using sarin gas against civilians would be so counterproductive to the Syrian government's overall strategic interests that it raises the question of whether some other party is guilty of carrying it out -- an attack often called a "false flag" operation. It must be acknowledged that there is no more hard evidence that the Khan Sheikhoun attack was a false flag attack than there is that Assad's forces did it.

However, in a larger sense, the question of responsibility for the chemical attack is irrelevant. Even if Bashar al-Assad is guilty of the attack -- and the evidence does not prove it at all -- no one appointed Donald John Trump to be the policeman and trial judge. How does the United States claim the right to be the moral arbiter in the Syrian conflict?

To be sure, the videotape images of the Khan Sheikhoun victims provoke an emotional response -- and it provoked an emotional response on the part of the President. Well-meaning people are saying to one another, "we can't just let this happen and do nothing." They are then willing to give the President grudging support for his decision to launch a missile strike. However, even the horror of a sarin gas attack does not give the United States the right to take military action, especially when similar attacks on civilian populations are occurring in other areas, such as Yemen, where U.S. ally Sa'udi Arabia is committing war crimes on as high a scale as anything happening in Syria, but from which videotape does not find its way to television network news in the United States.

No, working people in the United States need to demand that the Administration get out and stay out of Syria -- immediately, totally, and unconditionally. That means no missile strikes, no aerial bombardment, no drone strikes, no reconnaissance flights, no weapons, no money, no "support troops," and no combat troops. That means whether or not Bashar al-Assad remains in power, whether or not Russia, Iran, or paramilitary groups such as the Lebanese Hizbullah militia are helping the Syrian government fight the Islamic State and al-Qa'ideh forces. And it means now, not after a settlement is negotiated, not after we "figure out what's going on," and certainly not after U.S. casualties reach unacceptable levels.

Clear, principled demands for immediate, total, and unconditional withdrawal and non-intervention stand in stark contrast to the mealymouthed evasions coming from the politicians of the Democratic Party. The most honest and forthright expression came from defeated presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, who called for a military strike against the Syrian government even before President Trump announced that he had ordered it. After hearing of Trump's decision, Clinton expressed her support for it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York also expressed support for the missile strike, only complaining that the President had not come to Congress to ask for authorization. Similarly, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi supported the air strikes, calling them a "proportional response," but urging Trump to come before Congress for any further authorization of use of military force.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts issued a statement which began by condemning the "Syrian regime" for the Khan Sheikhoun attack -- despite the Trump Administration's inability to present conclusive evidence -- and then only calling on President Trump to "explain" his military action to the Congress. Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii took the strongest stand of any member of Congress against Trump's action, but her statement fell short of calling for unconditional withdrawal. She even called for Assad's "execution" if he were found guilty of the Khan Sheikhoun attack at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

United action by the labor movement and antiwar organizations is a vital necessity. Unfortunately, united action has been hampered by toxic hostility between activists who support the removal of Assad from power and those who recognize that it is not a decision in which Americans can have any say. Insisting that the United States stay out of a conflict is not the same as endorsing one side in a conflict. When polemics among activists become more important than working together for peace, it benefits only the warmakers. United action is the vital necessity today. Emergency actions have been scheduled for as early as the afternoon of April 7. That is the right thing to do. Donald Trump has taken a step towards escalating U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict. It's up to working people throughout the country to unite to demand that he does not take a next step.

Lastly, Americans who are demanding that the United States stay out of Syria need to add one more demand: that the United States open its borders to Syrian civilians who are fleeing the violence in their country. The Trump Administration is hypocritical in the extreme when it launches a missile strike into Syria because of violence against civilians and then refuses to allow civilian refugees into the United States. This has to change. Let them in!

* * * * * *

Issued by the Labor Fightback Network. For more information, please call 973-975-9704 or [email protected] or write Labor Fightback Network, P.O. Box 187, Flanders, NJ 07836 or visit our website at laborfightback.org. Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/laborfightback.
Donations to help fund the Labor Fightback Network based on its program of solidarity and labor-community unity are necessary for our work to continue and will be much appreciated. Please make checks payable to Labor Fightback Network and mail to the above P.O. Box or you can make a contribution online. Thanks!

ckaihatsu

9th April 2017, 13:48

Violent NYPD Attacks Anti-war March (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=eaa13c34b9&e=d323598fe4)

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/NYPD%20attack.jpg

By staff

New York, NY - Hundreds of protesters gathered at Union Square, April 7, to protest the bombing of Syria. On Thursday, April 6, President Trump launched 59 Tomahawk Missiles into Syria that killed nine people, including four children.

Protesters gathered on the back steps of Union Square behind a banner demanding “Hands off Syria” and signs declaring opposition to the U.S. war machine. A round of speakers from different organizations, including the International Action Center and NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, opened the rally.

Sara Flounders, from International Action Center, said, “Does anyone here really think that that bombing yesterday had anything to do with protecting lives in Syria? Everyone here knows that this is another war based on lies. Whether it’s Trump, or Clinton or Obama it doesn’t matter who is in the White House. The U.S. military and corporations are the ones who want the wars and wage the wars and they don’t care about anyone here.”

Michela Martinazzi, from Freedom Road Socialist Organization, said, “President Trump you can't claim to care about Syrian children when you bomb their country and then ban them at our airports. President Trump you can't claim you care when your airstrikes murdered 200 people last month. There is no justice in U.S. intervention. There is no freedom in U.S. bombings. We must demand hands off Syria!”

The closing speeches included those by Nerdeen Kiswani and Noura Farouq from NYC SJP. They brought up the hypocrisy of the response to Syria, when in 2014 Israel ruthlessly bombed Palestine and killed approximately 2000 Palestinians. At around 8 p.m., the Union Square crowd was joined by another protest that had started at Trump Tower earlier that day. The earlier protest was organized by ANSWER Coalition.

Close to 1000 protesters began marching and taking the streets alternating chants from “U.S. imperialist! Number one terrorist,” “Hands off Syria!” and “Out of Syria! Out of Iraq! Out of Palestine! Don’t come back!”

The NYPD kept pushing protesters back to the sidewalks, but protesters vastly outnumbered the cops and any attempt at being corralled was met with chants of “Whose streets? Our streets!”

Protesters kept marching north from Union Square. As the march continued, cops became more and more agitated at losing any semblance of control over the crowd. Cops began jostling anyone who accidentally got too close; shoving them. Several protesters were seen being shoved into nearby parked cars or knocked down.

When protesters passed the Flatiron Building, on 23rd and 5th, the cops attacked. It began with cops trying to pry the Palestinian flag from two organizers, John Becker, of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner’s Solidarity Network, and Dan Cione, of NYC Students for Justice in Palestine.

At the same time, eight to ten cops rounded on Nerdeen Kiswani, of NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, threw her on the ground, ripped off her hijab and pulled it so it choked her.

Other protesters caught in the attack were Angela Firestone of NYC SJP, Michael Bellamy of SPARC, Collin Ashley of Peoples’ Power Assembly, Stephen Millies of the Workers World Party and International Action Center, Brendan O’Brien of ANSWER and the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Jonah Quest.

While the arrests were happening, protesters lined the sidewalk and shouted at the cops, “Who do you serve, who do you protect?” A small gathering proceeded to summate what had just happened and began making plans for jail support.

Those arrested were taken to the 7th precinct and more than a dozen stayed outside doing jail support. All nine of the detained were finally let go by 1:30 a.m.

Vijou Bryant, from Gabriella New York and International League of People’s Struggles, said regarding why the NYPD reacted the way they did, “The cops were pissed with our program and our rally at Union Square. It was militant with a strong line of anti-imperialism and holding the U.S. accountable for the bombing in Syria. Our rally and march was unpermitted, and they were unsure of our route and where we were going. The only way the cops know how to deal with people protesting for the people is to physically harm us.”

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

ckaihatsu

9th April 2017, 15:08

http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1394.php

Trump's Strike has Prolonged the Syrian Tragedy

Chris Nineham

Trump's attack on the Shayrat airbase in Syria has received plaudits from western politicians and commentators across the board. Liberal pundits, who had nothing but contempt for Trump days ago, are suddenly more respectful after this show of lethal force, even though most would probably accept The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland's caveat that despite this virtuous show of violence, Trump is still not to be wholly trusted.

http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/b1394.jpg
U.S. missiles fired

The liberals pleasure at the proof of Trump's attack capabilities is felt even more keenly by the U.S. foreign policy establishment, all strands of which are overjoyed that the President has shown first that he is prepared to take the U.S. back onto the attack, and second that he is coming back under their control. In the words of former NATO commander James Stavridis:

“With this tactically sound, professionally executed strike in response to significant human rights violations, President Trump shows above all that he is willing and able to take advice from the first-class national security team that he has assembled.”

The argument, if that is not too strong a word, most widely used to justify the attack is that it will have a deterrent effect on President Assad and so reduce the likelihood of further atrocities. It therefore apparently represents some kind of limited progress for Syrian people.

Escalating Tensions in Middle East

The chemical attack at Khan Sheikhoun was horrific, and outrage is the only human reaction. But the question is, has Trump's response really helped to limit future killing? Events since have proved the hollowness of this claim. Apart from the fact that the attack will have caused its own horrors – the Syrian government claims nine civilians have been killed – it has demonstrably escalated tensions in Syria. The Russians, for example, have responded by moving to beef up Syria's air defence systems and upgrade their ability to bring down fighter planes. They have also apparently redirected a Black Sea Frigate armed with cruise missiles to the Syrian port of Tartus. Interventionists on all sides have been emboldened. Inside Syria, calls for more Western intervention against Assad are being made with renewed vigour. In the U.S., Hilary Clinton is following up recent calls for a no-fly zone and attacks on all of Assad's airbases with a demand for “a broader strategy to end Syria's civil war.”

This atmosphere is almost certain to lead to an intensification of the fighting, leading of course in turn to many many more civilian deaths. Crucially, it also makes an effective political process – the only possible path to peace – ever more remote. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in this desperate war. In so far as it has had an impact on the Syrian situation, Trump's attack can only have deepened and prolonged the terrible tragedy of the Syrian people.

But the attack raises wider questions, ignored by the liberals. No doubt it can partly be explained by considerations of domestic opinion, including a desire to look tougher than Obama and to allay worries about his relationship with Putin. But the fear must be that more fundamentally, this is connected to a broad shift in U.S. foreign policy. In contradiction to Trump's image as an isolationist, his presidency has been marked by military and rhetorical escalation on many fronts. He has serially provoked China, most recently by his warlike posture to North Korea. He has stepped up U.S. participation in the Saudi war on Yemen, deployed conventional troops in Syria for the first time, ramped up drone attacks across the board, and sharply increased U.S. involvement in the attack on Mosul in Iraq. One of the results has been that according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, in March for the first time, more civilians caught up in the Syrian conflict were killed by U.S.-led coalitions than by Isis or Russian-led forces.

Washington foreign policy insiders are cock-a-hoop because for them the missile attack suggests Trump is putting the last vestiges of isolationism and ambiguities about Putin behind him. In the run up to the last election, whatever the different nuances, there was unanimity in the U.S. 'defence' community that Obama's war on terror lite had been a failure and the country needed to take up more offensive stances. Now it looks like the President is fully on board.

This doesn't mean there will be immediate follow ups to last Thursday's missile attack. Syria is a quagmire and there are no easy options for the USA. Nor does it mean that Trump's unpredictability has been overcome. Liberal applause for the attack on the Shayrat airbase is particularly contemptible and irresponsible because the attack was ordered by probably the most xenophobic and crazed president in U.S. history. But it does look as if we are entering a worst case scenario, in which a more aggressive foreign policy posture is being fronted up by an impetuous bigot who enjoys shooting from the hip.

The final reason for concern is what this means for geopolitics more broadly and how this impacts on Syria and the Middle East. Those who supported last Thursday's strike are blithely ignoring the fact that it brought us one big step nearer to confrontation between nuclear armed great powers. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was no doubt pushing a point when he said the attack took U.S. force “within an inch” of military clashes with the Russians. But does anyone in their right mind wanted to be reading those kind of quotes in their news feed? And it is clear the tensions are frighteningly real. The suspension of the pact to coordinate air operations sounds technical but its real meaning is that Russian and U.S. forces are now fighting in Syria with more and more conflicting aims, no agreed terms of engagement and no official channels of communication. •

Chris Nineham is a founding member and National Officer of the Stop the War Coalition in the UK where this was first published.

Other reports/resources:

Michael Laxer, “Justin Trudeau's dangerous Syrian Trump gambit.”
Al Jazeera, “Syria's civil war explained from the beginning.”
Phyllis Bennis, “Trump, Syria, and Chemical Weapons: What We Know, What We Don't, and the Dangers Ahead.”
Related Reading

The Much-Maligned Views of Rania Khalek on Syria
Rania Khalek interviewed by Justin Podur | 2017-04-04

Debating Syria Productively
David Bush | 2016-12-30

Syria and the Antiwar Movement
Judith Deutsch | 2016-12-29

Solidarity With the People of Syria! Build the Antiwar Movement!
Richard Fidler | 2016-11-18

jdneel

9th April 2017, 15:18

Thanks for your informative texts. You really keep this site going.

Sent from my SM-S920L using Tapatalk

ckaihatsu

9th April 2017, 15:37

Thanks for your informative texts. You really keep this site going.

Sent from my SM-S920L using Tapatalk

Thanks for the appreciation, jdneel.

I figured that's what was lacking -- one needs basic *information* / ('intel') about the larger world before we can apply our reasoning and analysis on a class basis.

It's now actually looking like the Democratic-imperialist / 'deep state' faction is politically prevailing with their previously laid plans for Syria, despite any formality of the presidential election results for Trump.

Hopefully this helps people to wake-up to the fact that the U.S. president is just an employee of the state along for the ride, and that it's the nation-state *institution* itself that sets foreign policy over the span of decades.

That leaves only the *class divide* as being valid and significant, and *not* ruling-class intra-state factionalism (as during election season) since the same kind of imperialist policies are carried-out either way.

willowtooth

9th April 2017, 16:32

So what I think this will come down to is, the democrats will demand that this "kind of action" only be done with congressional approval, maybe demand someone step down, then Trump will try to push through approval for some insane war in a country that we're not even thinking about right now. Then they will say they got congressional approval so it doesn't matter how insanely thinly veiled the excuse for getting into this new war is. I'm not sure where though... but my guess is the Philippines

Yup the Philippines...

ckaihatsu

9th April 2017, 20:42

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-russia-iran-syria-airstrike-20170409-story.html

News Nation & World

Russia and Iran affirm commitment to Syrian government

http://www.trbimg.com/img-58ea7de7/turbine/ct-syria-russia-iran-airstrike-20170407-002/750/750x422
Iranians shout anti-U.S. slogans after the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran on April 7, 2017. (Abedin Thaerkenareh / EPA)

Philip Issa
Associated Press

Russia and Iran renewed their support for the Syrian government in a flurry of calls on Sunday, saying last week's U.S. missile strike violated Syrian sovereignty but failed to boost the morale of "terror groups" in Syria.

In a phone call with Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the strike on Friday a "blatant violation" of Syrian sovereignty, Syrian state media reported. Assad accused the U.S. of trying to boost the morale of "terror groups" in Syria. The government refers to all those fighting against it as terrorists.

A statement carried on the military media arm of Hezbollah condemned the American strike in much stronger language, saying it had "crossed red lines" and vowing to "reply with force" to any future aggression "in a variety of ways."

The Lebanese militant group has invested thousands of fighters in the defense of Assad's government. The statement was made in the name of a previously unheard of "shared operations room" between Russia, Iran and allied forces. There was no comment from Russia or Iran about the statement.

The Kremlin said in a statement Rouhani also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone.

"Both sides noted the inadmissibility of aggressive U.S. actions against a sovereign state in violation of international law," the statement said. "Vladimir Putin and Hasan Rouhani spoke in favor of an objective, unbiased investigation of all the circumstances of the chemical weapons incident on April 4 in the Syrian province of Idlib."

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U.S. vows sanctions to follow strikes on Syria as tension with Russia grows

Rouhani said the U.S. strike would not affect Iran's Syria policy, while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not withdraw in the face of similar aggressions.

"What the Americans did is a strategic mistake and offense. They are repeating offense of their predecessors," Khamenei was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Iran has provided crucial military and economic assistance to Assad throughout Syria's six-year civil war. It has organized several Shiite militias from around the Middle East to fight in support of Assad's government and has sent troops and officers from its own Revolutionary Guards.

The U.S. says the strike was in response to a nerve gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun last week, which has been widely blamed on government forces. The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-58e8e88b/turbine/ct-syria-khan-sheikhoun-airstrike-20170408/400/400x225
Despite U.S. missile barrage, Syria continues airstrikes against rebels

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson denied in an interview on CBS's Face the Nation that the strikes signaled an overhaul of American policy, saying its priority remained to defeat Islamic State militants in the Middle East. The strike was the first time American forces targeted a Syrian government installation in the course of the war. U.S. Treasury officials say they are preparing sanctions in response to the chemical weapons attack, though the Syrian government is already buried under U.S. and E.U. sanctions.

Tillerson will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow later this week. Moscow has been a steadfast ally of the Syrian government and has defended it against claims of chemical weapons use in front of the U.N. Security Council.

A Syrian Sukhoi jet took off from the Shayrat airbase targeted by the volley of US strikes, Hezbollah's al-Manar TV channel reported Sunday, saying repairs to the base began within hours of the attack.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Sunday played down concerns of a rift with Russia over Ankara's support for the strike, saying Turkey was committed to the cease-fire mechanisms it has developed with Russia for Syria. Turkey provides military support to some of Syria's opposition forces.

But he said Turkey could not "remain silent" on the Syrian government's chemical weapons use, and insisted Moscow work with Ankara to establish a transitional government in Damascus.

"We want to continue our efforts with Russia in the Astana process in terms of measures to increase trust and establish a cease-fire," he told reporters in Antalya, according to the Anadolu state news agency.

In the days after the Khan Sheikhoun attack, Turkey provided the Syrian Civil Defense search and rescue outfit with 50 protective kits for responding to chemical attacks, and trained them in their use, Anadolu said.

Associated Press writers Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul, Jim Heintz in Moscow, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2017, Chicago Tribune

Syria, Russia, Iran issue rebuke airstrike: U.S. launched missiles 'under a trumped-up pretext'

Survivors of Khan Sheikhoun chemical attack grapple with illness, grief

Palm Sunday church bombings in Egypt kill 43, wound dozens

ckaihatsu

10th April 2017, 14:08

Minneapolis protest demands “Hands off Syria” (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=feed1e9706&e=d323598fe4)

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/syria%20MN%20apr.jpg

By staff

Minneapolis, MN - In response to the recent U.S. air strikes against Syrian military targets by the Trump administration, over 200 people joined a Minneapolis anti-war protest on Saturday, April 8.

The protest, organized in just a day and a half, was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition. (MPAC) The protest was held along the sidewalks along the very busy Lake Street and Hiawatha Ave shopping area. Thousands of people driving and walking by saw the protest. Many people waved and expressed support for the anti-war message. The protest was organized under the call of “Say no to U.S. war on Syria.” Many groups and individuals helped to get out the word about the protest through Facebook, phone calls and e-mail announcements.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, led chants and was the first speaker to address the crowd. She said, “We are here today to denounce U.S. missile attacks on Syria. The U.S. should not increase its intervention in Syria. More bombing will not bring back the victims of this recent chemical weapons use. More bombing will not bring back the over 400,000 deaths in this six-year conflict.”

Aby-Keirstead continued, “This responsibility of speaking out is on us. The 1% are united in supporting this war. Hilary Clinton openly dared Trump to attack on Thursday and the only Democratic ‘opposition’ to the aggression is that they should have been given the opportunity to give him a green light to attack first – not a real opposition at all! Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting noted today that five top papers ran 18 opinion pieces praising Syria strikes and that none ran a piece critical of this action. Many members of progressive and liberal groups are confused on the issue of Syria so we need to be vocal in challenging the mythology of the ‘U.S. humanitarian war.’”

Aby-Keirstead also told the crowd to be ready to give solidarity to anti-war protesters who were attacked by police and arrested in Jacksonville, Florida on Friday.

Alan Dale, a member of MPAC concluded the protest, "It is urgent to speak out against the escalating U.S. war moves. U.S. military intervention is not about helping people, or fighting terrorism, it is about control of the resources of the Middle East.”

Organizers also pointed to the growing danger of new escalations of U.S. military intervention in Yemen and Somalia.

The MPAC coalition announced their next action at the protest. MPAC will hold a protest on Tuesday, April 11 at 4:30 p.m. at the offices of Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar to speak out against the escalation of U.S. intervention.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

ckaihatsu

10th April 2017, 15:20

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/04/10/pers-a10.html

The airstrikes in Syria and the war drive of American imperialism

10 April 2017

In the aftermath of last week’s cruise missile attack on Syria, the relentless logic of military escalation is driving decisions in Washington. The US political establishment and media are demanding that the action be followed up by a “comprehensive strategy” to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and escalate the confrontation with Russia.

The Trump administration’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, declared on Sunday that “regime change [in Syria] is something that we think is going to happen.” As for Russia and Iran, she said, “We’re calling them out. But I don’t think anything is off the table at this point… You’re going to continue to see the United States act when it needs to act.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called on Sunday for the deployment of “five to six thousand” US troops to Syria and for economic sanctions against Russia. Assad, he said, is making a “serious mistake because if you are an adversary of the United States and you don’t worry about what Trump may do on any given day, then you’re crazy.”

The chorus of calls for action against the Russian government came from both Democrats and Republicans. “They’re accomplices,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio said. “Vladimir Putin is a war criminal who is assisting another war criminal.” His colleague, Democrat Ben Cardin, declared the UN Security Council should set up a tribunal to indict both Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes.

Such rhetoric is the language of war. The denunciation of one or another foreign leader as a war criminal is the standard prelude to military action.

The United States is not alone in its incendiary provocations. All the imperialist powers in Europe have lined up to support the US strikes. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon wrote on Sunday that Russia is “by proxy responsible for every civilian death last week”—claims that of course were not made in relation to the US massacre in Mosul last month.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is participating in a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy beginning today, in which the US and its European allies are discussing an ultimatum that Moscow remove all its troops from Syria and cease support for the Assad government. Tillerson will repeat this demand in a face-to-face meeting with the Russian foreign minister in Moscow, reportedly accompanied by charges that Russia is complicit in “war crimes.”

In one of the few comments pointing to the consequences of such positions, Georgetown University professor Colin Kahl wrote in the Washington Post on Sunday that if the US goes down the road of escalation, demands for regime change and no-fly zones, “the prospects of a military confrontation with Moscow are real.” Yet this is precisely the road that the Trump administration, backed by the entire political establishment and the imperialist powers of Europe, is taking.

How will the US and its allies respond if Russia rejects an ultimatum to back down in Syria? Amidst the hysteria gripping the American ruling class and media, no one is asking how many hundreds of millions of people will be killed in a war with Russia, or if there will still be a habitable world in the aftermath of a nuclear conflagration.

As all of this is taking place, the US is escalating its war threats in Asia. The Trump administration deployed warships to the Korean Peninsula over the weekend, amidst media reports that the White House is considering “decapitation” strikes and other military actions against the North Korean government—which could happen as early as this week.

The level of recklessness of imperialist foreign policy has an objective basis. There are two interrelated factors that are driving it.

First, dominant sections of the military—which is now largely dictating Trump administration policy—are determined at all costs to reverse the retreat of the Obama administration from war in Syria in 2013, when an agreement was reached with Russia to oversee the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. They see this as critical for maintaining US domination not only in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, but globally.

Writing in the New York Times on Sunday, Republican Senator Tom Cotton stated that the strikes on Syria “have gone a long way to restoring our badly damaged credibility in the world.” Cotton proclaimed: “In one night, President Trump turned the tables. He showed the world that when the United States issues a warning, it will back up its words with action… With our credibility restored, the United States can go back on offense around the world.”

Cotton’s arguments make clear that the chemical weapons attack is yet another manufactured pretext for intervention. Time and again, imperialist accusations that war crimes had been committed have later been proven to entirely fabricated to justify a neo-colonial and predatory agenda.

The Syrian government of Assad, whose forces have been on the offensive, had nothing to gain from ordering a chemical attack on his retreating enemies. The United States had obvious political motives. The CIA and military were looking for a justification to launch airstrikes on the Syrian government based on geostrategic considerations.

Now that they have done so, Cotton boasted: “Friend and foe alike have been reminded that the United States not only possesses unmatched power, but also once again will employ our power to protect our interests, aspirations and allies.”

The second reason for the escalation of military operations relates to concerns over the deepening crisis and instability throughout Europe and within the United States. The European Union and NATO are fracturing amidst the rise of nationalist movements in the wake of Brexit.

The fight against Russia is to be a “unifying” theme. Chris Coons, the Democratic senator from Delaware, spelled this out in remarks at the Brookings Institution last week. Under the headline “Are we at war with Russia?” Coons declared that the “American-led international order” is under threat due to the actions of Russia, which “benefits directly from the election of European leaders who support narrow-minded nationalism and share its opposition to a cohesive European Union and a strong NATO.”

According to Coons, “the regime of Vladimir Putin is achieving today what the Soviet Union set out to do in 1950… It is destroying unity in the West, isolating the United States, and alienating the Western people from our governments.” It “has undermined Americans’ trust in our institutions, in each other, and in the very credibility of our democracy.”

The effort of Coons to attribute the breakdown of the EU and social discontent within Europe and the United States to the actions of the Putin government in Russia is patently absurd. Tens of millions of working people suffering from declining living standards do not need Putin to know that the political and economic system has failed them.

Within the United States, the Democratic Party—allied with the military and the intelligence agencies—is playing the leading role in fomenting anti-Russia hysteria to try to keep Europe in line and to direct internal social tensions within the United States outward toward military conflict. The Democrats have shelved their occasional criticism of the Trump administration’s domestic policies. In the aftermath of the Syrian airstrikes last week they have rushed to praise the White House and are only demanding a more consistent policy against Assad and Russia.

Ominously, Coons worried about the fact that according to recent polls, “only half of all Americans believe Russia actually interfered in our presidential election,” even after “the entire US intelligence community made it clear that Russia intervened in our electoral process.” Congress must “comprehend the nature of our conflict with Russia and ensure the American people share that understanding.”

And if people do not “share that understanding”? This is clearly then the result of “enemy propaganda” and illegitimate.

The American ruling class is right to be concerned about mass consciousness. The same contradictions of world capitalism that produce imperialist war also produce the objective basis for socialist revolution, in the form of the growth of the class struggle all over the world. In the United States, the consequences of the war drive against Russia will produce shock and outrage. There is a deep and abiding skepticism and hatred for the political establishment and media among broad sections of workers and youth.

The greatest danger, however, is that opposition is not politically organized. Decisions are being taken behind the scenes, with the population largely unaware of the cataclysmic consequences. In the media, there is a complete absence of any critical examination of the propaganda claims of the government. The entire spectrum of official politics supports the catastrophic war policy of American imperialism.

Whatever the immediate outcome of the US strikes on Syria, events are moving relentlessly in the direction of world war. That reality must animate the fight internationally for a politically conscious intervention of the working class to end imperialism and nation-state divisions and reorganize society on socialist foundations.

Joseph Kishore

Copyright © 1998-2017 World Socialist Web Site - All rights reserved

TomLeftist

11th April 2017, 04:57

At least a large percentage of the people who live in New York, are normal human beings, who feel pain. Around where I live people are philosophical zombies. they look like people, but they are not people, they don't feel pain and they don't care if Trump starts a third world war

Violent NYPD Attacks Anti-war March (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=eaa13c34b9&e=d323598fe4)

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/NYPD%20attack.jpg

By staff

New York, NY - Hundreds of protesters gathered at Union Square, April 7, to protest the bombing of Syria. On Thursday, April 6, President Trump launched 59 Tomahawk Missiles into Syria that killed nine people, including four children.

Protesters gathered on the back steps of Union Square behind a banner demanding “Hands off Syria” and signs declaring opposition to the U.S. war machine. A round of speakers from different organizations, including the International Action Center and NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, opened the rally.

Sara Flounders, from International Action Center, said, “Does anyone here really think that that bombing yesterday had anything to do with protecting lives in Syria? Everyone here knows that this is another war based on lies. Whether it’s Trump, or Clinton or Obama it doesn’t matter who is in the White House. The U.S. military and corporations are the ones who want the wars and wage the wars and they don’t care about anyone here.”

Michela Martinazzi, from Freedom Road Socialist Organization, said, “President Trump you can't claim to care about Syrian children when you bomb their country and then ban them at our airports. President Trump you can't claim you care when your airstrikes murdered 200 people last month. There is no justice in U.S. intervention. There is no freedom in U.S. bombings. We must demand hands off Syria!”

The closing speeches included those by Nerdeen Kiswani and Noura Farouq from NYC SJP. They brought up the hypocrisy of the response to Syria, when in 2014 Israel ruthlessly bombed Palestine and killed approximately 2000 Palestinians. At around 8 p.m., the Union Square crowd was joined by another protest that had started at Trump Tower earlier that day. The earlier protest was organized by ANSWER Coalition.

Close to 1000 protesters began marching and taking the streets alternating chants from “U.S. imperialist! Number one terrorist,” “Hands off Syria!” and “Out of Syria! Out of Iraq! Out of Palestine! Don’t come back!”

The NYPD kept pushing protesters back to the sidewalks, but protesters vastly outnumbered the cops and any attempt at being corralled was met with chants of “Whose streets? Our streets!”

Protesters kept marching north from Union Square. As the march continued, cops became more and more agitated at losing any semblance of control over the crowd. Cops began jostling anyone who accidentally got too close; shoving them. Several protesters were seen being shoved into nearby parked cars or knocked down.

When protesters passed the Flatiron Building, on 23rd and 5th, the cops attacked. It began with cops trying to pry the Palestinian flag from two organizers, John Becker, of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner’s Solidarity Network, and Dan Cione, of NYC Students for Justice in Palestine.

At the same time, eight to ten cops rounded on Nerdeen Kiswani, of NYC Students for Justice in Palestine, threw her on the ground, ripped off her hijab and pulled it so it choked her.

Other protesters caught in the attack were Angela Firestone of NYC SJP, Michael Bellamy of SPARC, Collin Ashley of Peoples’ Power Assembly, Stephen Millies of the Workers World Party and International Action Center, Brendan O’Brien of ANSWER and the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Jonah Quest.

While the arrests were happening, protesters lined the sidewalk and shouted at the cops, “Who do you serve, who do you protect?” A small gathering proceeded to summate what had just happened and began making plans for jail support.

Those arrested were taken to the 7th precinct and more than a dozen stayed outside doing jail support. All nine of the detained were finally let go by 1:30 a.m.

Vijou Bryant, from Gabriella New York and International League of People’s Struggles, said regarding why the NYPD reacted the way they did, “The cops were pissed with our program and our rally at Union Square. It was militant with a strong line of anti-imperialism and holding the U.S. accountable for the bombing in Syria. Our rally and march was unpermitted, and they were unsure of our route and where we were going. The only way the cops know how to deal with people protesting for the people is to physically harm us.”

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

ckaihatsu

11th April 2017, 14:10

At least a large percentage of the people who live in New York, are normal human beings, who feel pain. Around where I live people are philosophical zombies. they look like people, but they are not people, they don't feel pain and they don't care if Trump starts a third world war

Yeah, in *this* context it seems downright lucky that a world war didn't kick-off in 2013, the first time around for the ongoing Syria proxy war.

I like to think that the cooler-heads-prevail mass sentiment still exists through today's similar situation, but I'd prefer to see some current survey data to factually support my estimation, of course.

Allegations of false flag attack[edit]

The attacks prompted some U.S. intelligence officials to speculate they were meant to draw the West into the war,[165] a concept dismissed by others.[237][238] In December 2013 Seymour Hersh wrote that in the days before and after the attack, sensors notifying U.S. intelligence agencies of Syrian chemical weapons deployment did not activate, and intelligence briefings shown to the U.S. president contained no information about an impending government chemical weapons attack.[154] Publicly, the U.S. government cited classified intercepts of communications it said were between Syrian officials, unavailable to the public, which they state prove Syrian government forces carried out the chemical attack.[12] Criticizing what they called a misleading presentation of intelligence, a former senior U.S. intelligence official quoted by Seymour Hersh said the transcript actually included intercepts from many months prior to the attack, collated to make them appear related to the Ghouta attacks.[154]

In April 2014 Hersh wrote an article proposing the attacks were committed by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, whom Hersh writes were supplied with sarin by Turkey.[239][240] Hersh's argument received some support,[241][242] but was dismissed by other commentators.[243][244] The US and Turkish governments denied the accuracy of Hersh's article.[245] On 20 October 2015, Republican People's Party deputy Eren Erdem stated that documents from a Turkish government investigation showed that ISIL and affiliated groups received help from Turkish intelligence to carry out the Ghouta chemical attack.[246][247]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghouta_chemical_attack#Allegations_of_false_flag_a ttack

International[edit]

Main articles: International reactions to the 2013 Ghouta attacks, Agreement to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons, and US–Russia peace proposals on Syria

The international community condemned the attacks. United States President Barack Obama said the US military should strike targets in Syria to retaliate for the government's purported use of chemical weapons, a proposal publicly supported by French President François Hollande, but condemned by Russia and Iran.[223][224] The Arab League stated it would support military action against Syria in the event of UN support, though member states Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Tunisia opposed it.[225]

At the end of August, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom voted against military intervention in Syria.[226] In early September, the United States Congress began debating a proposed authorisation to use military force, although votes on the resolution were indefinitely postponed amid opposition from many legislators[227] and tentative agreement between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin on an alternative proposal, under which Syria would declare and surrender its chemical weapons to be destroyed under international supervision.[228]

In contrast to the positions of their governments, polls in early September indicated that most people in the US, UK, Germany and France opposed military intervention in Syria.[229][230][231][232][233] One poll indicated that 50% of Americans could support military intervention with cruise missiles only, "meant to destroy military units and infrastructure that have been used to carry out chemical attacks."[234] In a survey of American military personnel, around 75% said they opposed air strikes on Syria, with 80% saying an attack would not be "in the U.S. national interest".[235] Meanwhile, a Russian poll suggested that most Russians supported neither side in the conflict, with less than 10% saying they supported Assad.[236]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghouta_chemical_attack#International

ckaihatsu

11th April 2017, 14:36

5 Jacksonville anti-war protesters released after posting $157,000 dollars for bail (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=4d56c701cf&e=d323598fe4)

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/Badass%20pic.jpg

By staff

Jacksonville, FL – Five protesters were finally released on bail from Jacksonville jail on Saturday evening, April 8. The protesters were arrested and several were beaten at a “No War in Syria” rally held on April 7, where police allowed a right-wing provocateur with a Trump flag to enter the protest and physically assault speakers and organizers of the rally.

Instead of stopping the provocateur, the police descended upon Connell Crooms, a deaf Black man, who the provocateur had assaulted. The police savagely beat, kicked and tased Crooms - who is a well-known union activist and Black Lives Matter leader in Jacksonville - until he was unconscious and had to be taken to the hospital. The police also beat and arrested a 74-year-old Vietnam veteran, Willie Wilder; the leader of the Jacksonville Coalition for Consent Christina Kittle; and a transgender activist Toma Beckwith. Finally, the police arrested prominent union leader and activist Dave Schneider and charged him with “felony inciting a riot” for organizing the protest. Police did not arrest the provocateur who assaulted protest participants.

The Jacksonville community quickly rallied to the defense of their beloved community leaders and activists. On April 8, over 200 people, including leaders in the labor movement, Black community, and progressive groups assembled to demand that all the charges against the Jacksonville 5 be dropped. Supporters chanted “Drop the charges” and the mother of Connell Crooms gave a tearful testament to Connell's character. Community leaders called for a full independent investigation into the police misconduct on April 7, and an investigation into the police spying program on progressive activists in Jacksonville. Just weeks earlier, Jacksonville's Florida Times Union reported that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) had been spying on protesters, amongst them, Dave Schneider, Connell Crooms and Christina Kittle.

Police issued a trumped-up press release claiming that the protesters had “incited a riot” and they attempted to demonize the arrested activists. However, dozens of people took video of the police brutality and the actions of the provocateur whose social media pages contains ties to white supremacy groups.

The JSO then prevented family members from seeing loved ones at the hospital and arbitrarily changed rules at the jail to close off the first appearance hearings. Some family members drove from out of state to be present at these hearings and were at first told the rules of the court. Officials then informed friends and family that only family with the same last name would be allowed. This was again changed to only “parents” were allowed in until they finally settled on shutting off the courtroom entirely and kicking attendees out of the waiting area.

To add insult to injury, the total bail amount issued by the court for all five arrestees came out to over $157,000. Despite this outrageous amount, activists and families were quickly able to mobilize national support and raised the money necessary for bonds in a matter of hours.

There is a continuing fight to drop the charges and investigation into abuses by the JSO. Supporters will soon be able to donate to the legal defense fund.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

TomLeftist

12th April 2017, 00:58

Sometimes I wish that I was George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Madonna, Brad Pitt, or any other very popular celebrity. Because I read an article that the majority of people do not have credibility, and faith in people who are not celebrities. And that's why I think that the great majority of people in America tend to be reluctant to support communist parties, because there are no popular famous celebrity in the left of America. And as long as US voters and citizens keep only supporting capitalist parties, we will have this evil capitalist justice system that can charge people even 5000 dollars if their dog pissed in an any place where dogs are not allowed.

This is the kind of justice system we have in USA. Many US citizens are forced to pay these outrageous amounts of money even if they are sued for stupid inane things, like many people who own small restaurants and small businesses, and people with evil intentions sue them for hundreds of thousands of dollars, if they didn't like the food in those restaurants. Or many males have been accused of sex predator, dangerous sexual sick people if they flirt with any girl

As long as most americans do not marry and link politics with reality, with every thing, people will think that politics is not needed, it is not necessary, (they think that they don't need to read any news, any political affair, as long as they work hard, pay bills, pay taxes and obey laws. But only communism, a dictatorship of the proletariat, a marxist political party rising to the White House and exercising a dictatorship against the overthrown capitalist class, can save Americans from how vulnerable americans are, with things like police cars driving around neighborhoods and throwing mariguana joints or small bags of cocaine in the front yard of anybody, in order to throw and lock that person in jail for ever. Things like this can happen to anybody in USA, and yet americans are so peaceful and happy and not worried at all about how dangerous it is to live in a country like USA with a capitalist government since 4th of July of 1776. And capitalism is wrong and should be destroyed

5 Jacksonville anti-war protesters released after posting $157,000 dollars for bail (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=4d56c701cf&e=d323598fe4)

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/Badass%20pic.jpg

By staff

Jacksonville, FL – Five protesters were finally released on bail from Jacksonville jail on Saturday evening, April 8. The protesters were arrested and several were beaten at a “No War in Syria” rally held on April 7, where police allowed a right-wing provocateur with a Trump flag to enter the protest and physically assault speakers and organizers of the rally.

Instead of stopping the provocateur, the police descended upon Connell Crooms, a deaf Black man, who the provocateur had assaulted. The police savagely beat, kicked and tased Crooms - who is a well-known union activist and Black Lives Matter leader in Jacksonville - until he was unconscious and had to be taken to the hospital. The police also beat and arrested a 74-year-old Vietnam veteran, Willie Wilder; the leader of the Jacksonville Coalition for Consent Christina Kittle; and a transgender activist Toma Beckwith. Finally, the police arrested prominent union leader and activist Dave Schneider and charged him with “felony inciting a riot” for organizing the protest. Police did not arrest the provocateur who assaulted protest participants.

The Jacksonville community quickly rallied to the defense of their beloved community leaders and activists. On April 8, over 200 people, including leaders in the labor movement, Black community, and progressive groups assembled to demand that all the charges against the Jacksonville 5 be dropped. Supporters chanted “Drop the charges” and the mother of Connell Crooms gave a tearful testament to Connell's character. Community leaders called for a full independent investigation into the police misconduct on April 7, and an investigation into the police spying program on progressive activists in Jacksonville. Just weeks earlier, Jacksonville's Florida Times Union reported that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) had been spying on protesters, amongst them, Dave Schneider, Connell Crooms and Christina Kittle.

Police issued a trumped-up press release claiming that the protesters had “incited a riot” and they attempted to demonize the arrested activists. However, dozens of people took video of the police brutality and the actions of the provocateur whose social media pages contains ties to white supremacy groups.

The JSO then prevented family members from seeing loved ones at the hospital and arbitrarily changed rules at the jail to close off the first appearance hearings. Some family members drove from out of state to be present at these hearings and were at first told the rules of the court. Officials then informed friends and family that only family with the same last name would be allowed. This was again changed to only “parents” were allowed in until they finally settled on shutting off the courtroom entirely and kicking attendees out of the waiting area.

To add insult to injury, the total bail amount issued by the court for all five arrestees came out to over $157,000. Despite this outrageous amount, activists and families were quickly able to mobilize national support and raised the money necessary for bonds in a matter of hours.

There is a continuing fight to drop the charges and investigation into abuses by the JSO. Supporters will soon be able to donate to the legal defense fund.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

VoiceOfReason

12th April 2017, 03:37

VoiceOfReason

12th April 2017, 03:45

done buck rogers, 10-4, over and out

ckaihatsu

13th April 2017, 14:39

Photos show Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams knew peace rally disrupter Gary Snow (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=808d00a5b1&e=d323598fe4)

Williams denying any links

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/Gary%20and%20Mike-1.png

By Fernando Figueroa

Jacksonville, FL – On Friday, April 7, a Peace for Syria demonstration was brutally disrupted by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) in downtown Jacksonville. Community members and activists have wondered about a connection between Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams and Gary Snow, the right-wing counter protester seen in several videos allegedly harassing and assaulting the five activists, now known as the Jax5, who were beaten and arrested by JSO despite committing no crime. Gary Snow was not interfered with in any way and was filmed sitting on a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office car after the event.

Two important photos have now surfaced. The first photo depicts Sheriff Mike Williams and Gary Snow posing for a photo at a Donald Trump rally in Jacksonville like old friends. The second photo, a screenshot taken Saturday night before changes to individual Facebook profiles, depicts Mike Williams having a prominent seat on Gary Snow’s “Top Facebook Friends.”

This all comes after Sheriff Mike Williams gave a press conference denying any link to Gary Snow.

When asked about connections to Snow on Tuesday April 11, Sheriff Mike Williams responded that there are “None that I know of. I don’t think - I haven’t heard Gary Snow’s name until Saturday. I don’t think he has any real connection to police officers.”

It seems that there is more to this story than meets the eye. It appears that the JSO used Gary Snow as a resource, allowing him to run amok and disrupt the peace demo, before savagely beating and arresting the demonstrators and allowing Gary Snow to go free.

The answer is clear - the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office must be held accountable for their brutality and misconduct the evening of April 7, and all of the charges against the Jax5 must be dropped immediately. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office will not be able to hide behind Gary Snow and his actions, despite anything the JSO tries to accomplish along those lines.

Readers are encouraged to call the office of State Attorney Melissa Nelson at 904-255-2500 and demand she drop the charges against the Jax5. More information can be found on Facebook: Justice for the Jax5.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

ckaihatsu

13th April 2017, 15:52

This is not beautiful...

CODEPINK

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Dear Chris,

When President Trump attacked Syria with Tomahawk missiles last week, the media cheered. MSBC’s Brian Williams even said, “We see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two U.S. Navy vessels in the eastern Mediterranean. (http://www.codepink.org/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2F morning-mix%2Fwp%2F2017%2F04%2F07%2Fbeautiful-brian-williams-says-of-syria-missile-strike-proceeds-to-quote-leonard-cohen%2F%3Futm_term%3D.2dbb8afa1262&e=247b6f0c69174ee7dfa25e341c4eedfe&utm_source=codepink&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msnbc_1&n=3)”

Let that sink in. Beautiful. He called a missile attack beautiful.

There is nothing beautiful about war.

Sign the petition to hold the media accountable: Tell MSNBC there is nothing beautiful about war, destruction, and death. (http://www.codepink.org/msnbc?e=247b6f0c69174ee7dfa25e341c4eedfe&utm_source=codepink&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msnbc_1&n=4)

This recent attack on Syria was not the first time the media applauded the destruction of life in the Middle East. When lies drove us into war with Iraq, the media might as well have thrown a parade. And when we don’t see applause, we often see nothing. This is the case with Yemen, which has endured so much destruction in the wake of US-supported Saudi bombings, a Yemeni child dies every 10 minutes from malnutrition.

This is the result of bombs like the ones Brian Williams called beautiful—children starving to death. This is the news they aren’t showing us, the news the world deserves to see. When we know the story, we can begin to change the story.

We *do* know the story, and we are taking to the streets today in New York City, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco, to call the media to task and hold a hunger strike in solidarity with the people of Yemen (http://www.codepink.org/yemen_hunger_strike_in_nyc?e=247b6f0c69174ee7dfa25 e341c4eedfe&utm_source=codepink&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msnbc_1&n=5).

Whether or not you can join us in one of these cities, you can still take action to hold the media accountable:

Sign our petition to tell MSNBC there is nothing beautiful about war, destruction, and death. (http://www.codepink.org/msnbc?e=247b6f0c69174ee7dfa25e341c4eedfe&utm_source=codepink&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msnbc_1&n=6)

Tell Brian Williams, MSNBC, and the mainstream media they must be covering the humanitarian crises in Yemen instead of waxing poetic about the beauty of Tomahawk missiles. They should be calling for a US budget that supports children, education, and the environment over military spending, bombs and war. The media is the voice of our culture and we can use our own voices to help shape their message.

Let’s show them what beauty really is. The beauty of people coming together to demand truth and justice and fairness and peace. The beauty of resistance. Share the image at the top of this email on your Facebook (http://www.codepink.org/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsharer%2Fshar er.php%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.codepink.org%2 52Fmsnbc%26display%3Dpopup%26ref%3Dplugin%26src%3D like%26app_id%3D126739610711965&e=247b6f0c69174ee7dfa25e341c4eedfe&utm_source=codepink&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msnbc_1&n=7) and Twitter (http://www.codepink.org/r?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fcodepink%2Fstatus% 2F852277108969754624&e=247b6f0c69174ee7dfa25e341c4eedfe&utm_source=codepink&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msnbc_1&n=8) accounts.

Towards peace in Yemen, Syria, and all around the world,
Ann, Ariel, Jodie, Mariana, Mark, Medea, Nancy, Paki, Paula, Taylor and Tighe

P.S. Don't forget to join our #No$54ForWar Campaign and see steps you can take to pass a city resolution (http://www.codepink.org/no54billionforwar?e=247b6f0c69174ee7dfa25e341c4eed fe&utm_source=codepink&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msnbc_1&n=9) urging our elected officials to move our tax dollars from militarism to human and environmental needs.

Support our work for peace and justice. (http://www.codepink.org/donate_to_codepink?e=247b6f0c69174ee7dfa25e341c4ee dfe&utm_source=codepink&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=msnbc_1&n=11)

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ckaihatsu

15th April 2017, 14:34

USLAW statement on Trump missile attack on Syria

HUMANITARIAN AID AND DIPLOMACY – NOT WAR

USLAW statement on Trump missile attack on Syria

April 11, 2017

U.S. Labor Against the War rejects and is appalled by the welcome expressed by almost the entire U.S. political and media establishment for President Trump’s April 7 order to launch 59 missiles against a Syrian air base in retaliation for a poison gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhum. Trump’s military attack is nothing more than a cynical move to bolster his domestic support. It is meant to distract from the many disastrous policies his Administration is following to dismantle social programs and environmental, labor, and education standards. Trump’s humanitarian explanation is given the lie by his absolute refusal to accept Syrian refugees into this country.

The Syrian civil war is a matter for the Syrian people to settle, free from any outside interference. USLAW therefore calls for the immediate end to all external supplies of arms to combatants in the Syrian civil war. We demand a full and sustained diplomatic campaign to end these arms supplies, together with massive relief for the millions of refugees and trauma casualties among the Syrian people. The costs of such relief and diplomatic missions will be far less than the cost of the $54 billion military build-up the Trump administration is proposing. And they will instead have a positive effect on the course of the civil war and the well-being of the Syrian people.

Taken alone, Trump’s missile attack can have no consequence on the course of the Syrian civil war. It cannot save a single Syrian life. Taken as a harbinger of deeper U.S. military involvement in Syria, the attack repeats the horrible errors of the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other catastrophic interventions. There is nothing in this action to support or praise.

U.S. Labor Against the War opposes any continuation of U.S. military action within the Syrian civil war. Political and military dynamics there are incredibly complex. As we have seen in country after country, intervention after intervention, there is no external military force that can resolve the political conflicts internal to a country.

The use of poison gas is a horrible violation of human dignity and the rules of war. But we must not fall into the temporary urgency we feel to “DO SOMETHING!” and the easy American belief that the “something” must be military, and that the U.S. may be the unilateral actor, as it was again in this case. USLAW is dedicated to undoing this combination of mistakes that so often leads us to war. We support the August 2011 AFL-CIO call to “end U.S. militarized foreign policy,” and are dedicated to its implementation.

We will not forget that the majority of Syrian people are working people, as is true in the U.S., Iraq, and countries across the globe. USLAW stands in solidarity with the Syrian people as they seek to resolve their conflicts in the direction of peace and justice in a society that respects worker and human rights for all.

Your contribution will be greatly appreciated.

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ckaihatsu

16th April 2017, 15:03

FIXED LINK for "Solidarity with the Jacksonville 5! Donate for bail and defense!"

Solidarity with the Jacksonville Five! Donate for bail and defense! (http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=77ca461b9d&e=b3b6009f90)

Also, call State Attorney Melissa Nelson at 904-255-2500 and say, “Drop the charges against the Jacksonville Five!”

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Committee to Stop FBI Repression (stopfbi.net)

CORRECTION: The "tiny URL"donation link at the very bottom of the last email stopped working. Please share this link instead:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2AZF4Y85S9L54

Solidarity with the Jacksonville Five!
Donate for bail and defense! (http://stopfbi.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8b7315d854bc40ca9fa6dd227&id=24591111e7&e=b3b6009f90)

Please donate to the Jacksonville Five bail and defense fund!
Call State Attorney Melissa Nelson at
904-255-2500 and say, “Drop the charges against the Jacksonville Five!”

April 13, 2017 - The Jacksonville Five are a group of anti-war protesters in Florida beaten and arrested by police at a “No War in Syria” rally held on Friday April 7, 2017. A right-wing provocateur appeared with a Trump flag, and then harassed and shoved anti-war activists, while police did nothing to him. Then the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office (JSO) physically attacked the anti-war protesters who did nothing wrong.

The police descended upon Connell Crooms, a deaf African American man, who had been leading chants. The police savagely beat, kicked and tased Crooms until he was unconscious and had to be taken to the hospital. Crooms is a well-known Teamster and a Black Lives Matter leader.

The police also punched Vietnam veteran Willie Wilder in the face and arrested the 74-year-old peace activist. Christina Kittle, the leader of the Jacksonville Coalition for Consent was thrown to the ground and arrested. Transgender activist Toma Beckwith was also tackled and arrested.

As protesters were leaving the park to do jail support, the police arrested union activist and anti-war speaker Dave Schneider, charging him with “felony inciting a riot” for organizing the anti-war protest. Police never arrested the right-wing provocateur. In fact, there are many photos on social media of him posing with JSO police, including Sheriff Mike Williams.

Jacksonville quickly rallied to the defense of the Jacksonville Five. The next day, April 8, over 200 people rallied to demand all charges be dropped. Leaders of the labor, African American, and progressive movements chanted, “Drop the charges!” The mother of Connell Crooms gave a tearful testament to her son’s good character and denounced the police attack on her son, “JSO should not be allowed to get away with this type of behavior.”

The rally demanded a full independent investigation into the police misconduct of April 7. Protesters are also demanding an independent investigation into a police spying program. Just weeks earlier the Florida Times Union newspaper reported the Sheriff’s Office was spying on activists, including the Jacksonville Five, with photos of Dave Schneider, Connell Crooms and Christina Kittle appearing.

Jacksonville Sheriffs are lying and denying, claiming the protesters “incited a riot.” Fortunately, dozens of people took video of the police brutality. The social media pages of the provocateur contain ties to white supremacist groups and to Sheriff Mike Williams who denies he knows him, despite their photo together at a Trump rally.

To add insult to injury, the total bail amount issued by the court for all five arrestees came out to over $157,000. They are outrageously charging the people who were beaten and arrested by the police with serious felony charges. We need to mobilize national support and raise enough money to cover this and pay for the defense.

There is a continuing campaign to drop the trumped-up charges and investigate the abuses by the JSO.

Please call the State Attorney for the Florida 4th Circuit, Melissa Nelson at 904-255-2500, and demand she drop the charges against the Jax5.

Please share this link to donate to the Jacksonville Five legal defense fund:
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Thanks for your ongoing interest in the fight against FBI repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists!
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ckaihatsu

16th April 2017, 15:30

Jacksonville protesters are beat while Trump supports taunt and chant

Tell State Attorney Nelson:

Protect People Not Police!

https://d11gn0ip9m46ig.cloudfront.net/images/Connell_JAX5_.jpg (https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/Justice_JAX5/?t=1&akid=7299.872082.BWA8v3)

Stand with #JAX5

TAKE ACTION! (https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/Justice_JAX5/?t=2&akid=7299.872082.BWA8v3)

Dear Chris:

Freedom of speech is becoming even more of a crime under Trump’s reign. This weekend during an anti-Syrian war protest, a Trump supporter antagonized peaceful protesters, storming the speakers’ platform and physically assaulting them to start a fight. Instead of helping, four police officers tackled and brutalized the action organizer Connell Crooms, one of a few Black protesters present, and hit him so hard they knocked out his hearing aid. Bystander video footage shows officers beating him while he flailed helplessly and handcuffed on the ground. One officer punched Connell five times while other officers pinned him down.1

Connell was hospitalized and, along with other protesters, charged with inciting a riot and battery on a police officer. The Trump supporter who started the violent confrontation walked away scot free. Pinning bogus police endangerment charges onto protesters is exactly the outcome Trump desired when he introduced his Blue Lives Matter Executive Order in February.2 Trump and his supporters, like the Fraternal Order of Police, are using scare tactics to stifle peaceful protest. But we will not be silenced!

Demand Duval County State Attorney Melissa Nelson drop all charges against the Jacksonville protesters. (https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/Justice_JAX5/?t=3&akid=7299.872082.BWA8v3)

What happened to Connell exposes the long-standing intolerance and deep hostility Jacksonville has for protesters. When watching the footage, if it weren’t for their uniforms, it would be difficult to even tell the police from counter-protesters because the physical attack on Connell matched the verbal attacks being thrown at him by Trump supporters.

Just a few weeks ago, the city’s Sheriff was exposed for using internet software to surveil residents as they exercised their right to protest. Police tracked people using words like “protest” and “Black Lives Matter” on social media. Officers would even go as far as videotaping demonstrations and taking facial pictures of those in attendance. Jacksonville law enforcement appears to have forgotten that peaceful protest is a first amendment right in this country--not a crime. 3

Tell State Attorney Nelson: Protect Florida’s right to protest! (https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/Justice_JAX5/?t=4&akid=7299.872082.BWA8v3)

Last election cycle, State Attorney Nelson beat out incumbent Last election cycle, State Attorney Nelson beat out incumbent Angela Corey, who sentenced domestic violence victim Marissa Alexander to 20-60 years in prison for firing a warning shot at her abusive ex in a desperate attempt to protect herself and children.4 Corey sentenced Marissa to 20 years in prison, but her case was overturned and Marissa was eventually forced to take a plea deal in order to gain her freedom. By ousting Corey last November, Floridians made it clear that they are tired of Black people being criminalized instead of protected by police. And Nelson must take heed of this message.

Remind State Attorney Nelson that she works for the people, not the police! (https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/Justice_JAX5/?t=5&akid=7299.872082.BWA8v3)

Sincerely,

Rashad and the rest of the Color of Change team

Reference:

1. "6 arrested, 1 hospitalized after Jacksonville anti-war protest erupts in violence" Jacksonville.com, March 24, 2017

2. "Presidential Executive Order on Preventing Violence Against Federal, State, Tribal, and Local Law Enforcement Officers" White House, February 9, 2017

3. "Monitoring Dissent: How the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spied on protesters" Jacksonville, March 24, 2017

4. "Florida woman in 'warning shot' case released from jail" Reutuers, January 27, 2017

Color Of Change (http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3829?t=11&akid=7299.872082.BWA8v3) is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong. (https://act.colorofchange.org/go/7581?t=12&akid=7299.872082.BWA8v3)

If you're absolutely sure you don't want to hear from Color Of Change again, click here to unsubscribe.

ckaihatsu

17th April 2017, 14:55

LA Chicanos demand ‘Hands off Syria!’ (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=86e1bb1a52&e=d323598fe4)

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/LASyriaedit.jpg

By staff

Los Angeles, CA - After the Tomahawk missile attack on Syria, Chicanos and anti-war activists joined together in in Boyle Heights April 15 to demand “U.S. hands off Syria!”

Luis Sifuentes a Chicano public school driver, and member of Centro Community Service Organization (Centro CSO) said, “We organized today’s protest to demand we invest in public education, not in useless wars.”

Joined by Eastside Greens, Union of Progressive Iranians, Morena of San Bernardino, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization, 30 people gathered at the very busy intersection of Soto and Chavez Boulevards in Boyle Heights. The angry crowd chanted, “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation,” and “Hands off Syria!”

Irena Varjabedian, an Armenian immigrant and member of Union of Progressive Iranians said, “The U.S. either directly funds or supplies rebel groups in places like Syria, and then bombs Syria with the excuse that it’s against these very groups! No more! I am standing here with all of you to demand the bombings stop now, no more wars!”

Various cars drove by honking in solidarity, many high-fived activists, and even joined in the chanting.

Sol Marquez, a Chicana member of FRSO said, “We unite today knowing U.S. war does nothing for the working class. Trump is reigning terror on Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, and is now threatening to do the same to north Korea. These nations have a right to self-determination much like we Chicanos do here in Aztlan. Stop the bloodshed, stop the bombings, stop the missiles!”

Centro CSO is working to make sure that the energy against wars and occupation to continues. On May 1, starting at 3 p.m., community members will assemble at the intersection of Chavez and Evergreen to march against Trump, Bracero programs, the U.S./Mexico border, deportations, Chicanos murdered by the LAPD, and against wars and occupations.

Information on the planning meeting for May Day can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/events/177280322791591/

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

ckaihatsu

17th April 2017, 15:05

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/04/17/syri-a17.html

Syrian rebels massacre at least 126 civilians in suicide bomb blast

By Jordan Shilton

17 April 2017

A convoy of buses evacuating residents from the government-held towns of Foua and Kefraya in Syria’s Idlib province was targeted by a suicide bomber Saturday, claiming the lives of at least 126 civilians. The attack occurred west of Aleppo as the buses made their way to government-controlled areas.

The evacuation of the residents of the two towns began Friday morning and was part of a swap deal agreed between the government of Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces. In exchange for allowing the evacuation of residents from Foua and Kefraya, rebels agreed to resettle the populations of Madaya and Zabadani, two towns they control near Damascus. In total, around 7,250 people were evacuated from the four towns. It was part of a broader plan brokered by Iran and Qatar to move up to 30,000 people over a 60-day period.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is linked to the rebels, 68 children were killed in the blast. Other sources have put the figure as high as 80.

The observatory confirmed the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device carried in a vehicle, backing up an earlier report on Syrian state TV which said the attackers used a van meant for delivering aid to gain access to the area.

An al-Jazeera reporter at the scene described how many of the buses were completely destroyed and dead bodies littered the ground. Ambulances rushed those from the scene who had been injured.

Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, it occurred in a rebel-controlled area. Ahrar al-Sham, a conservative Islamist militia, condemned the bombing and called for an international investigation to determine who was to blame.

In stark contrast to the moral outrage expressed by politicians and the media in the wake of the alleged gas attack in Khan Sheikhoun earlier this month, which the Trump administration seized upon to launch an illegal missile strike on a Syrian air base, the death of over 100 Syrians in a suicide bombing—substantially more than the number who died in the alleged gas attack—prompted virtually no condemnation from the Western powers.

The US State Department released a weasel-worded statement which, while condemning the killings, sought to strike a pose of impartiality and refused even to identify the rebel Islamist militias as being responsible. “We deplore any act that sustains or empowers extremists on all sides including today’s attack,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

At a comparable stage in the aftermath of the Khan Sheikhoun incident, just hours after the alleged attack, US government officials had already acted as judge, jury and executioner, and were proclaiming the guilt of the Assad regime without presenting any evidence.

President Donald Trump, who invoked the deaths of “beautiful babies” and the need to defend the “civilized world” in justifying his April 6 cruise missile strike, which killed nine civilians, did not even comment on the bloodbath carried out by forces linked to the American CIA.

For their part, the servile corporate-controlled media reported on the incident, if at all, in a largely routine manner.

The New York Times published a lengthy front-page report concentrating almost exclusively on the crimes committed by Assad during the war, alleging that “the largest number of violations by far has been by the Syrian government.” It criticized the failure to bring government officials before the International Criminal Court in the Hague and blamed Russia for blocking any action by the UN Security Council.

The general indifference shown by the political and media establishment to the victims of this brutal massacre exposes once again the hypocrisy of the crusaders for “human rights” in the United States and the European imperialist powers. It demonstrates the fraudulent character of the propaganda campaign in the wake of the alleged gas attack, designed to conceal the real aims of US imperialist intervention in Syria: regime change in Damascus and the consolidation of Washington’s hegemonic position in the energy-rich Middle East against any challenge from its geopolitical rivals.

The reason for the lack of reaction is not hard to find. While it remains unclear precisely which faction of the rebels carried out the mass slaughter, Washington and its Gulf allies have the main responsibility for arming the collection of right-wing Islamist militias fighting the Assad dictatorship and enabling them to continue the civil war. The opposition is now dominated by the al-Nusra Front, which was formerly affiliated to Al Qaeda.

If any journalist were honest enough to follow the evidence, they would have to apportion a significant part of the blame for the bus convoy bombing to the criminal and reckless policies of US imperialism. More than six years after instigating the Syrian civil war, Washington has the blood of an estimated 500,000 Syrians on its hands.

This does not even take into account the upwards of 1 million people killed as a result of the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003, the hundreds of thousands of deaths due to wars either led or sponsored by Washington in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia, and the millions throughout the region forced to flee their homes as a consequence of conflict and societal breakdown.

The highly selective concern shown for “human rights” issues by the representatives of US imperialism is nothing new. Saturday’s bombing came less than a month after a single US air strike launched as part of the ruthless onslaught against Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, claimed the lives of as many as 300 civilians sheltering in a basement. This horrific war crime, coming on top of the thousands of civilian deaths that have occurred since the US-backed offensive was launched last October, was largely buried by the media.

The ruling class considers the deaths of civilians to be collateral damage—a price worth paying in their ruthless struggle to uphold US imperialist interests in the Middle East and around the globe. Barely 24 hours after the bus bombing, Trump’s National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster vowed in an ABC News interview that Washington was ready to escalate tensions with Russia still further, not only over Syria, but over Europe as well.

McMaster said of Russia’s alliance with Assad, “So Russia’s support for that kind of horrible regime, that is a party to that kind of a conflict, is something that has to be drawn into question as well as Russia’s subversive actions in Europe. And so I think it’s time though, now, to have those tough discussions with Russia.”

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ckaihatsu

11th May 2017, 14:26

Jacksonville press conference on Jax5 and police accountability (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=222dff0a68&e=d323598fe4)

By Fernando Figueroa

Jacksonville, FL – Activists with the Justice for the Jax5 Committee hosted a press conference, May 10, outside of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) building to discuss important developments for the Jax5 and the struggle against police crimes in Jacksonville. The Jax5 are the five activists brutalized and arrested by the JSO during a demonstration calling for peace with Syria on April 7.

Organizers of the press conference called upon State Attorney Melissa Nelson to drop the remaining charges on the Jax5 and conduct a full investigation into the brutality and abuses that occurred on April 7. The Jax5 were originally supposed to have their first day in court on May 1, but that date was moved – first to May 10 and again to May 17.

Inside the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, several important civil rights leaders and activists met with Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams and raised the issue with them. They also presented for the first time in Jacksonville an outlined demand for a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council or JPAC, modeled after similar legislation being fought for by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Sheriff Mike Williams gave no concrete responses to any of the demands raised.

“The State Attorney needs to drop the charges on the Jax5. The police are in theory supposed to work for the community around them. Holding those officers that commit crimes accountable fosters honesty, justice and transparency,” said Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) lead organizer Monique Williamson. Activists vowed to continue fighting for the charges on the Jax5 to be dropped and begin a citywide campaign for police accountability in Jacksonville.

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

ckaihatsu

19th May 2017, 18:32

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Putnam's campaign-bus photographed with slogan against Jax5 (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=a7c667ffb4&e=d323598fe4)

Community activists call on Putnam to condemn statement, white supremacists

http://www.fightbacknews.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-lead-photo/Busedit.jpg

By staff

Jacksonville, FL - On Wednesday, May 17, Adam Putnam, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Republican candidate for governor of Florida, spoke in Jacksonville Beach at a campaign event. Just a few feet outside, his official campaign tour bus was pictured with "Convict the #Jax5" written in large white lettering on the back, directly below Putnam's name.

At the event, Putnam was pictured meeting with known white supremacist and provocateur William Garrett Nix, also known as “Gary Snow.” Nix, who has referred to Black people as "cave beasts" and "ghetto thugs," provoked a fight at an anti-war protest in Jacksonville on April 7, leading to the beating and arrest of five activists by Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO).

These five activists, dubbed the Jax5, included Connell Crooms, a deaf Black man who was beaten unconscious and hospitalized, along with Willie Wilder, a two-tour of duty Vietnam war veteran and peace activist. Christina Kittle, Toma Beckham and Dave Schneider were also arrested. All face felony charges for organizing and attending a peaceful protest broken up by white nationalists like Nix and police.

Before April 7, Nix made videos threatening two of the Jax5 by name, lighting a pan-African flag on fire, and repeatedly shooting the burning flag with a handgun.

Does Putnam believe protesters should be jailed?

The Adam Putnam for Governor campaign has not yet commented on the incident. "It's unclear whether Commissioner Putnam himself wrote these comments, or whether it was a campaign staffer or supporter," said Wells Todd, organizer with the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition in a press release. "Either way, Putnam should immediately erase this despicable comment, apologize to the greater Jacksonville community, and if he wasn't responsible, denounce known white nationalists like Nix. This man wants to be Governor of Florida, and yet his campaign bus calls for the jailing of peaceful protesters. That's not a sign of leadership - that's a sign of dictatorship."

Sara Mahmoud, a Palestinian rights and Black Lives Matter community activist, said, "Putnam posing with Gary Snow is worrisome all by itself, considering Snow's history in Chicago and the way he's making a name for himself in Jacksonville as a right-wing agitator that weaponizes already dangerous police aggression."

Putnam is far from the first politician to appear chummy with Nix. Just days after the beating and arrest of the Jax5, pictures surfaced of Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams smiling alongside Nix at the Trump campaign headquarters during the 2016 election. Nix also appeared alongside former State Attorney Angela Corey, who became infamous for incarcerating more juveniles than any other part of the state and botching the prosecution of George Zimmerman, the killer of Trayvon Martin, in 2013.

Speaking to this, Mahmoud continued, "Putnam's campaign bus being tagged with the slogan 'Convict the #Jax5' proves that the attack on the Jax5 is a much bigger deal outside of the local community than JSO and the State Attorney's office lets on, as well as Putnam falling in line with the trend of overt right-wing politics resurfacing."

Thus far, Putnam faces two major Democrat challengers for Florida's 2018 gubernatorial election: Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, and former congresswoman Gwen Graham. Well-known progressive trial lawyer John Morgan has also hinted at entering the race. Putnam also faces two challengers for the GOP nomination: central Florida doctor Usha Jain and small business owner Daniel Zutler.

The fight to win justice for the Jax5 escalates

Community groups across the country have called on State Attorney Melissa Nelson to drop all charges on the Jax5. On May 1, activists with Color of Change - a national civil rights organization - delivered over 60,000 petitions signed from across Florida and the U.S. calling for the charges to be dropped. Later that day, over 200 people rallied outside the Duval County Courthouse for International Workers Day to call on Nelson to drop the charges.

The State Attorney has repeatedly delayed the arraignment for the Jax5, which was originally set for May 1. As of publication, the arraignment was moved to May 31 at the Duval County Courthouse.

Taking action

In a press statement, the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition called on Commissioner Putnam to erase the written attack on the Jax5 from his campaign bus and condemn white nationalists like Nix.

"We hope activists around the country, who have already fought so hard for the Jax5, will take this next step and email Putnam's campaign," said JPC organizer Fernando Figueroa. "Ask them if they support the disgusting remarks that appeared on Putnam's bus, and if not, urge him to publicly denounce white nationalists like Nix."

For activists across the state of Florida, the implications are as clear as they are disturbing. "If Putnam doesn't distance himself from Snow - and fast," said Mahmoud, "he will have inadvertently accepted the associations between himself and a known white nationalist."

The Putnam campaign email address is [email protected]

Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

ckaihatsu

2nd June 2017, 19:28

Charges dropped: The Jacksonville 5 win (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=126ab57bcd&e=d323598fe4)

By Fernando Figueroa

Jacksonville, FL - Activists in Jacksonville Florida have a lot to celebrate after the Florida Times Union reported June 1 that the state attorney was dropping the remaining charges on the #Jax5.

Connell Crooms and Dave Schneider had their charges dropped in full after the state attorney and Jacksonville Sheriff's Office failed to agree on what if anything they could possibly be charged with that would stick.

The remaining members of the Jax5, Christina Kittle, Toma Beckham and Willie Wilder, will face no jail time and no real punishment either.

This is a victory against police repression of activists. More analysis will follow in the coming days.
Read more News and Views from the Peoples Struggle at http://www.fightbacknews.org. You can write to us at [email protected]

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ckaihatsu

10th June 2017, 16:28

The Jacksonville 5 speak out after beating police repression in the Deep South (http://fightbacknews.us1.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=a29530af96a02fc55d345e735&id=456ead3f6a&e=d323598fe4)

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By staff

Jacksonville, FL - Four of the five activists beaten and arrested by police at an April anti-war protest spoke out at a press conference, June 5, held outside the Duval County Courthouse. Dubbed the 'Jax5' by supporters, the activists discussed the favorable outcome of their cases and announced a campaign for community control of the police in Jacksonville. It marked the first public statement by the Jax5 since their arrest nearly two months earlier.

The Jax5 all faced felony charges carrying prison sentences if found guilty. But on June 1, State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced her office was dropping the charges on two of the Jax5 – Dave Schneider and Connell Crooms. The next day, June 2, the remaining three activists – Christina Kittle, William Wilder and Toma Beckham – accepted plea deals resulting in no convictions and 25 hours of community service each.

The outcome was a stunning rebuke to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). JSO officers and officials tried to privately exert pressure on Nelson to move forward on the charges. Similarly, the FOP publicly attacked supporters of the Jax5, including Leslie Scott Jean-Bart, a well-known Black attorney who criticized JSO’s handling of the April 7 protest.

The Jax5 speak out

With a group of 25 supporters standing behind them, four of the Jax5 spoke about their case, highlighted the central role of mass activism in their victory, and vocally supported the demand for community control of the police.

“Community activism kept us free,” said Christina Kittle in an interview with Fight Back! after the event. Kittle is no stranger to activism, of course, and has organized countless events supporting the victims of police crimes and sexual assault. During the press conference, she added, “We wouldn’t have even had our charges dropped down to misdemeanors if it wasn’t for Jacksonville community organizing. Everybody felt that something was wrong, everybody came together and told the city this is unacceptable.”

Connell Crooms, a deaf Black union worker active in the Teamsters and a lifelong advocate for the disabled community, echoed this sentiment. “The most important lesson here is that this win wasn't fought for by the politicos in either the Democratic or Republican parties, despite constitutional rights being under attack. This was a win organized by the people whom it impacts the most. Direct action by the masses still works!”

Willie Wilder, a 74-year-old veteran and leader of the local Veterans for Peace chapter, said at the press conference, “I want to thank our community. Our community rose up just like that. And it’s carried us to this day where we can all stand here with felonious charges all dropped and all of us ready to return to our activism and take care of business.” Speaking about the April 7 police crackdown, Wilder added, “It was an act of intimidation in order to cause people to not step out and speak the truth. Well, I guess I have this to say: They messed up because now we’re even more inclined to do so.”

At the press conference, Dave Schneider said in a prepared statement, “Let me be very clear: The reason we beat this act of political repression was because of the mass movement springing to life in Jacksonville.” The 27-year-old Teamster union steward and community organizer continued, “Our arrests were acts of political repression, pure and simple. The JSO has had activists - including at least three of the Jax5, including me - under surveillance for over a year before April 7. That’s not us being paranoid, either. That’s straight out of the Florida Times Union.”

Schneider was referencing a series of stories written by Ben Conarck of the Florida Times Union, Jacksonville’s largest newspaper, which exposed JSO surveillance programs on local activists. In a front-page article from March 24, 2017, entitled “Monitoring Dissent: How the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office spied on protesters,” Schneider, Crooms and Kittle were all pictured in screenshots of the video footage taken by undercover JSO officers at events. In an interview with News4Jax less than two weeks before his arrest, Schneider condemned the JSO’s surveillance of himself and other activists and called it a sign that “the powers that be look at that [the growth of activism in Jacksonville] as very dangerous to them.”

April 7 police crackdown in Jacksonville

On April 7, labor and community activists in Jacksonville Florida held an emergency protest against U.S. President Donald Trump’s military attack on Syria and his threats of war on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. At the protest, a group of white supremacists led by William ‘Gary’ Snow disrupted the event and attacked several protesters. Snow attacked Connell Crooms, a deaf Black Teamster and well-known community activist.

Rather than arresting the provocateur, five Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) officers tackled Crooms to the ground, punching him repeatedly and knocking his hearing aid out. Video footage appears to show one JSO officer, B.D. McEwan, tasing Crooms, who was later hospitalized.

JSO officers savagely beat and arrested three other protesters, who attempted to intervene in fear for Crooms’ life. JSO officer B.J. Langston slammed Christina Kittle onto her back against a wooden platform and dislocated her shoulder. Video shows another JSO officer repeatedly punching 74-year-old veteran Willie Wilder in the face before arresting him. Police also beat Toma Beckham and threw them to the ground.

After the brutal police attack, JSO also arrested Dave Schneider for organizing the anti-war protest. They charged him with a third-degree felony for “inciting a riot,” which carries a penalty of up to ten years in prison.

The people fight back

Jacksonville activists immediately sprang into action. Less than 24 hours after JSO’s brutal crackdown, more than 200 people rallied outside the Duval County Courthouse demanding the release of the Jax5. Prosecutors and Circuit Judge Lester Bass set unusually high bails for all of the Jax5, totaling $157,000. Nevertheless, hundreds of people across the country donated to the Jax5 legal fund, and all five arrested activists were bonded out of jail and back home on April 8.

Video of the incident spread like wildfire on social media and even drew international attention. Over 60,000 people across the U.S. signed a petition circulated by Color of Change, an online racial justice network, calling on State Attorney Melissa Nelson to drop the charges on the Jax5 and investigate the JSO. Hundreds of people around the country called into Nelson’s office on several designated call-in days, and activists in other parts of Florida, like Gainesville, held demonstrations for the Jax5.

In Jacksonville, the fight to get the charges on the Jax5 dropped united people and raised bigger questions about police crimes. Groups like the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC) and the Northside Coalition held rallies and demonstrations supporting the Jax5 and demanding community control of the police. Student activists at the University of North Florida (UNF) held a forum on ‘Civil Rights in the Era of the Jax5’ and filled the room to capacity during finals week.

On May 1 - International Workers Day - over 200 people rallied outside the Duval County Courthouse calling on Nelson to drop the charges and indict the officers involved in the April 7 brawl, as well as the police killing of Selwyn Hall, an African American man shot by JSO in late April. Hall’s family, along with the families of other victims of police crimes, joined in the May Day protest. The police repression inflicted on the Jax5 brought the city’s activists and organizers together with ordinary working people victimized by JSO and the injustice system.

The Jax5 and the fight for community control of the police

“The police hoped that their brutality on April 7 would crush the people’s movements in Jacksonville,” observed Michael Sampson, one of the leaders of the Justice for the Jax5 campaign and a lead organizer with the newly formed Jacksonville Community Action Committee. “Instead, they united people of all nationalities who are fed up with police crimes and killings into a mass movement. Like never before, people in this city want community control of the JSO and are taking an active role in the fight to make it happen.”

At the press conference, the Jax5 announced their support for a Jacksonville Police Accountability Council (JPAC), modeled after a similar proposal by community activists in Chicago, Illinois. JPAC would consist of a democratically elected body of civilians - no current or former police - with the legal power to hear and investigate allegations of police misconduct, subpoena evidence and witness testimony, rewrite the JSO’s procedures and code of conduct, review and amend hiring practices, and suspend and terminate officers found guilty by the council.

When asked about the impact of the Jax5 victory on the city of Jacksonville, Crooms told Fight Back!, “From this, we can a step towards fighting back against racism. This is a fight long overdue and we all know the issues of police relations with Black communities. We can use this incident as a call for community control of the police and take control over racist cops ourselves. It's long past time.”

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