Bring the Troops Home Now!!!

Police Attack Peace March, At Least Three Wounded

For Immediate Release:

On Wednesday October 7, 2009 Rochester Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called for a protest of 8 years of war and occupation in Afghanistan. This protest was coordinated in conjunction with other chapters of SDS throughout the country as a national day of action. At 5:30pm the march left from Washington Square Park and made its way to Main Street in downtown Rochester. At Main Street, the march headed west.

WATCH THE VIDEO --- SEE PHOTOS

At about 5:45 pm the peaceful march was disrupted by approximately thirty police cars. The police made their first arrest by wading through the group of protesters to pick out the only African-American student in the vicinity. This is a blatant example of the kind of racism and discrimination carried out daily by the Rochester Police Department. A press videographer who was filming the arrest was then attacked by police, wrestled to the ground, and arrested. The police began to attack and arrest community members and students, nearly all of whom were standing on the sidewalk. The police shoved and hit people with clubs, used pepper spray, slammed people into the ground, and punched protesters. Twelve people were arrested in total. At least three protesters sustained injuries; two were hospitalized and received stitches.

Despite local media reports of a protester throwing a drum at police, we are not aware of any action of this kind and we strongly suspect the police fabricated the accusation to justify their egregious behavior thereafter. The police claim the alleged drum thrower was charged with “obstructing governmental administration,” yet according to police statements, the only person charged with “obstructing governmental administration” was arrested while filming. The fact is, this person had no possession of a drum. Additionally, police have claimed that they acted the way they did because protesters failed to let a fire truck through an intersection. This is also a fabrication. Video posted on rochester.indymedia.org shows protesters clearing the intersection long before the fire truck approached.

The Rochester Police Department has since been harassing members of SDS and sympathetic community members with a series of intimidating tactics, surveillance, and pulling over arrestees for seemingly random traffic stops.

Stay tuned for more details to come. Again, SDS is holding a PRESS CONFERENCE on Friday, October 9, 2009 at 3:15pm at the Public Safety Building on Exchange Blvd. Contact: Jake Spezio - 585.802.2585

National Mobilization to Washington, DC.
Saturday, March 21st, 2009

GET ON THE BUS

Seats $50 (Ask about Scholarships) -- Drop money off at the Anti-War Storefront 658 Monroe Avenue to the Storefront Volunteer on staff

==> Click here for more information about the mobilization and details of the bus trip
bus@rochesteragainstwar.org or Call 585-309-3440 to sign up

Riders under the age of 18 need to have their parent or guardian fill out a release form in order to be allowed onto the bus
==> Click ehre to download it (PDF)

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No more business as usual! MARCH 19th, 2009 PARADE & RALLY

End the War(s) Now! 6th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion

Please join MoveOn/PIA, RAW, IVAW, & PDAGV* for an area-wide march and rally to raise public awareness over the continuing war in Iraq and Afghanistan and other military conflicts.

THURSDAY, 19 MARCH 2009
Parade Assemble between 3:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Corn Hill Landing, Exchange Street, Rochester, NY
March north on Exchange St. and State St. to the Genesee River Crossroads Park

*Progressives In Action, Rochester Against War, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Progressive Democrats of Genesee Valley.

Demonstrations at:
• The War Memorial
• Military Recruiting Station
• Federal Building and Courthouse (Bush & Cheney trials)
• RALLY AT GENESEE RIVER CROSSROADS PARK

Rally at Genesee River Crossroads Park will include sentencing of George W. Bush and Richard “Dick” Cheney. The sentencing will culminate in a shoe throwing at Bush and Cheney, with each participating organization given time to speak on their reason for participating.

Please bring a pair of new or gently-used shoes. Shoes will be donated to charity by IVAW.

PLEASE JOINS US AND MARCH with your contingent, or individually, and rally at Genesee River Crossroads Park. Then plan on joining the bus to Washington on Saturday, 21 March 2009, for the Nation-wide rally and demonstration at the Pentagon.

Co-sponsors: Peace Advocates, First Unitarian Church, Military Families Speak Out-Upstate NY, CAN (Campus Anti-War Network), RAW Theater (Rochester Against War Theater), SDS Rochester (Students for a Democratic Society: Rochester), Students For Peace and Justice at SUNY Brockport

To sign on as a co-sponsor please contact:

Jim (jlswarts @ pdagv.org), Dawn (dawn8 @ frontiernet.net),Bryan (bryancasler @ rochesterivaw.com), or Robin (robin @ pdagv.org)

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RAW Responds to Election of Democrat Barak Obama

Following Election Day 2008, Rochester Against War, Rochester Students for a Democratic Society, Campus Antiwar Network, Military Families Speak Out, and local Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans stand together to make the following statement:

For nearly two years, major polls have shown that a majority of Americans want an end to the war in Iraq. The war has not “brought democracy” to the Middle East. It has not improved the lives of the Iraqi people, nor has it reduced violence in the region. In fact, it has done exactly the opposite.


Video by Rochester Indy Media (other media outlets didn't show up)

For these reasons, we oppose the US war on Afghanistan and the escalation widely being promised by newly elected president Barack Obama.

Afghanistan and Iraq are vastly different countries, with cultures stretching far back in human history. However, the US wars on these two societies have been waged with frighteningly similar results: hundreds of thousands dead, infrastructures destroyed, age-old cultures uprooted, veterans and their families left to fend for themselves.

We – students, veterans, and ordinary Americans – will be happy to see an end to eight years of failed policies and fabricated fears. In the midst of the current economic crisis, we cannot afford to spend billions of our tax dollars on war year after year. We believe in change, and change must come to both Washington and to Wall St. The change we want to see in 2009 is an end to the US war on Afghanistan. After all, as it has been said: “No Afghani citizen ever gambled my life savings away.”

==> Click here to read Rochester Against War's recent statement on the War in Afghanistan
==> Pictures of the press conf and rally are up! Click here

Article appears:
• Rochester Indy Media Website. Link here

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IVAW's North East Winter Soldier in Rochester was a big success!!

Northeast Winter Soldier at Monroe Community College on October 4, 2008 was a resounding success. Over 250 people listened to testimony by two panels, both moderated by Iraq Veterans Against the War Director Adrienne Kinne. The two-panel format provided interesting contrast between previous wars and the current war in Iraq. The first panel consisted of Elliot Adams, former Korea and Vietnam paratrooper and current president of Veterans for Peace, Michael Schwartz, a sociology professor at SUNY Stonybrook due to publish a book War Without End, and Tod Ensign, Director of Citizen Soldier and author of America's Military Today: The Challenge of Militarism.

The second panel consisted of veterans who served in Iraq. Tim Braley described what it was like driving a tank through populated urban war zones. Chris Grohs, a former medic, described the horrors he witnessed. Geoff Millard described the military health care system. “The military medical system isn't there to heal us, they're there to get us well enough to fight their wars." Robynn Murray described how she was promised college and a position in Civilian Affairs by her recruiter; instead was made a machine gunner.“  They made me a poster woman for females in the military.” “Now I'm 23 and I have to walk with a cane.” The last testimony was given by Bryan Casler, a former Marine Corps rifleman and now Northeast Regional Coordinator for IVAW. He described the dehumanization of the Iraqi people and loose rules of engagement that said “get anything done no matter the consequence.”

Following the discussion, 200 people took to the streets and marched carrying signs and chanting to the Veterans Administration on Westfall Road to call attention to the fact that that facility is closed on weekends. Intitially intending to walk back to MCC, another march ensued at times taking over a five-lane highway. Many drivers honked their horns in support and some even got out of their cars to congratulate the marchers.

The march was organized by Rochester Against War, IVAW and 15 other local groups.

Exclusive Interviews with IVAW members!!

Active Duty Soldier Healthcare Horor Stories

A currently serving soldier stationed at Ft. Drum talks about living conditions and his experience with the military healthcare system.
* Video by Adriano Contreras, interview by Brian Lenzo

Interview with Rochester, NY IVAW member Bryan Casler

Interview with Iraq Veterans Against the War member Bryan Casler. Bryan is in the Rochester, NY IVAW chapter. Shot outside the Different Drummer Cafe, in Watertown, NY (home of Ft. Drum) during a weekend of antiwar events surrounding Armed Forces Day.
* Video by Adriano Contreras, interview by Brian Lenzo

Confronting Colonel Riddle about the Veterans/Soldier Healthcare Crisis in Watertown, N

IVAW members Mike Totten and Bryan Casler approach Colonel Riddle at Armed Forces Day Parade

* Video by Adriano Contreras

IVAW press conference on the healthcare crisis among soldiers and veterans.

* Video by Adriano Contreras

5 Years Too Many! Mark the 5th anniversary of this war with your feet and your voice!

==> CLICK HERE TO SEE A FULL LIST OF EVENTS IN THE "PEACE SURGE" and to download the flyer

The rally will be the culmination of a number of actions happening throughout March

-- Live Screenings of the Winter Soldier II: Iraq and Afghanistan feed from Washington, DC
-- 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War Public Art Installation and Open House Reception at the Storefront Anti-War Crisis Center

Is your group interested in sponsoring / co-sponsoring this demonstration?

==> Click here to request sponsorship/co-sponsorship


Current List of Co-Sponsors:
Iraq Veterans Against the War, Rochester Against War, MoveOn.org / Progressives in Action, The Antiwar Storefront, Peace Action and Education Task Force of Metro Justice, International Socialist Organization, Campus Antiwar Network (CAN), Declaration of Peace Affinity Group, Food Not Bombs, Rochester Indy Media, Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), House of Mercy, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, The Public Policy Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, Brockport Amnesty International Group #191, Veterans for Peace.

===> CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FLYER <===

Winter Soldier Screening Success!

Rochester Against War (RAW) and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) would like to thank everyone who made this event possible and all those who attended. Over 130 people attended the movie screening and most stuck around for the panel discussion.

Here is a report that RAW member Rianne Mitchell wrote:

-- Braving single digit temperatures, on Wednesday, Feb 27th, about 140 people came out to a local movie theatre to view the Vietnam era documentary Winter Soldier and participate in a panel discussion with anti-war veterans from the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The local chapter of IVAW organized the fundraiser to help send members to the upcoming Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan in Washington DC.

Rochester Against War and other civilian organizations such as the Anti-War Storefront, Peace Action & Education, and Military Families Speak Out provided support for the event that raised more than $1,000. Panel members fielded questions on a range of issues including the military’s treatment of veterans, the war in Afghanistan, and how they came to be against the war. Before, after (and sometimes during) the film, impromptu discussion about soldiers issues could be heard in the lobby, at the concession, and among the staff.

Speaking from the front, local activist Roberto Resto, who was wounded in the Vietnam War and came back to the US and joined the GI resistance movement, underscored the urgency of the tasks facing the anti-war movement, "Forty years later, we haven't learned. We are back in the same quagmire, the same war. Only this time, our weapons are more powerful. We have to stop this nightmare. We cannot continue to send young men and women to die in a war for oil and profit." --

We raised a bunch of money that will help make the IVAW members trip to DC to the national Winter Soldier event possible.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle wrote a very good article on the event: ==> click here to read <==

Rochester resident TJ Buonomo: Officer discharged for speaking out

TJ is a local member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and has participated with many groups in Rochester including Rochester Against War. Recently he spoke at a Veterans Day Observance in downtown Rochester (pics coming soon!).

We'll save him the embarrassment of a "profile in courage", instead we'll let him speak for himself. He just gave a wonderful interview with the national war resisters organization, Courage to Resist which is published on their website.

==> click here to listen to the interview <==

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Exclusive Interview with Independent, "Unembedded" journalist Dahr Jamail

Brian Lenzo of Rochester Against War and Jeff DeToro of the International Socialist Organization were able to sit down with Dahr for a discussion of his book, his experiences in Iraq, and the future of the antiwar movement here in the United States.


===> click here to download the interview <===

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Exclusive Interview with war resisters Eli Israel, Camillo Mejia, and Phil Aliff of Iraq Veterans Agaisnt the War!!

Brian Lenzo of Rochester Against War and Kyle Brown of the International Socialist Organization were able to sit down with Camillo, Eli, and Phil for an exclusive soldiers round table discussion on resistance, the war, and the antiwar movement.

click here to download the interview

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450+ Rochestarians Pour Down Main St. on July 2nd!
Stand Up Rochester! Its time to End the War!

Commuters leaving downtown Monday encountered more than 400 protesters calling for an end to the war in Iraq. Some motorists honked and waved in support. Others held their horns continually in hope of moving traffic, which was delayed as the protesters crossed streets with police escorts. Another amazing action that shows the Antiwar Majority has taken to Main St America!


  

==>  Click here for the full image gallery   <===

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