Saturday, October 20 – 9am to 5pm
400 North Point St. (at Mason St.), SF (map)
Don’t miss the Courage to Resist presented workshop Soldiers and Veterans Against the War at 1:00 PM with Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist (workshop chair), former Marine Corps Cpl., Gulf War resister; Aimee Allison, author of “Army of None”, KPFA Radio Morning Show host, former Army medic, Gulf War conscientious objector; Stephen Funk, Iraq Veterans Against the War, former Marine Corps L/Cpl., Iraq War resister; Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Families for Peace, mother of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan killed April 4, 2004 in Iraq; Andy Stapp (via pre-recorded statement), former Army Pvt. who attempted to unionize the military by founding the American Servicemen’s Union in 1968.
Hundreds of troops are now openly speaking out and organizing against the war. Scores of U.S. war resisters have travelled to Canada seeking sanctuary from an unjust war. Nearly 100 servicepersons have publicly refused to fight. Well over 40,000 troops have gone AWOL. Meanwhile, military recruiters are becoming increasingly desperate to fill their quotas.
Join us for a discussion on the state of the anti-war movement that is taking shape INSIDE today’s military, and what we can do to support it and work to make sure that young people know all of the facts before enlisting. Learn why some servicepersons are risking everything to refuse deployment to the Iraq War, and are challenging military authority in order to speak out. GI resistance was a critical factor in ending the Vietnam War, and we believe it is a critical ingredient in ending our government’s illegal and unjust war and occupation in Iraq.
Of course there is a lot more to the conference than our workshop!
Other conference highlights include opening statements (9:00 AM -10:30 AM) by:
- Jack Heyman – Conference Chair, Executive Board, ILWU Local 10
- Tommy Clark – ILWU 10 President
- Richard Cavalli, President ILWU Local 34
- Takumi Shimizu, Executive Board, Doro-Chiba Rail Union (Japan)
- Bob Crow, General Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (Britain)
- Betty Olsen-Jones- President of Oakland Education Association
- Bob Mandel – Executive Board of Oakland Education Association
- Jeremy Corbyn – UK Member of Parliament
- Clarence Thomas- ILWU Local 10
- Alexander Cockburn – Editor of CounterPunch
- Jack Hirschman – San Francisco Poet Laureate
Session One workshops (10:30 AM 12:00 Noon) are:
- Class Struggle and The War
- Racism, Class and the War at Home
- Middle East, The War for Oil and Empire
Conference participants are requested to pre-register at:
http://laborstopwar.googlepages.com/laborconferencetostopthewar
Donation requested
“I’ve worked with Courage to Resist now for six years. One of the best decisions the Chelsea Manning Support Network ever made was hooking up with them. They are amazing. I can’t sing their praises enough. In fact I became a regular donor.”
