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Send Aid, Not Bombs
End the US Wars in Afghanistan and Syria
Friday, October 7, 2022 5:00 - 6 PM
at the Weekly Friday Rally for Peace and Justice
Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill and Broadway

please mask up and stay distanced for safety

On Friday, October 7, Peace and Justice Works (PJW) Iraq Affinity Group will mark 21 years since the US invasion of Afghanistan and eight since the US began bombing Syria. In July and August 2022, the US dropped bombs in each of these countries, showing the wars are not over. The October 7 Friday Rally for Peace and Justice will be called "Send Aid, Not Bombs: End the US Wars in Afghanistan and Syria" and will begin at 5 PM at Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill and Broadway. As usual the rally will last until about 5:20 PM followed by a short march around downtown Portland. PJW asks participants to please wear masks and stay distanced for COVID safety.

The US used a missile laden with knives to assassinate an Al Qaeda leader in Kabul in late July, despite having left Afghanistan at the end of August 2021. The Biden administration has also withheld most of Afghanistan's money that was in US banks at the time of the withdrawal, pledging to set aside $7 billion for American 9/11 survivors, rather than to help the people of Afghanistan who are facing starvation and economic collapse. Thus, the US war that started in Afghanistan on August 6, 2001 continues.

In Syria, the US bombed three days in a row in late August in retaliation for attacks on American military bases in that country. Strangely, no mainstream news stories about this attack seem to question why the United States has military bases in Syria, which clearly did not invite the troops. There is no UN mandate and Congress never voted to authorize the deployment of roughly 1000 soldiers. The US began bombing Syria in September, 2014 and has continued for eight years with no domestic or international repercussions.

While the world is focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US continues to commit war crimes and violate the United Nations charter. There were also at least two days in August where US bombs were dropped on Somalia, as well.

The Friday Rally for Peace and Justice began on a weekly basis shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan. Portland Peaceful Response Coalition began to gather at Pioneer Courthouse Square at 5 PM every Friday and hosted until March, 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit. PJW's Iraq Affinity Group has hosted since that time, roughly two and a half years ago. This rally will make 1093 consecutive weeks at which Portlanders have come out to make connections among US foreign policy, national priorities, and local governmental violence in the form of police brutality.

PJW has notified the United National Antiwar Coalition that we consider this event to be in solidarity with their call for "No to War; Back to the Streets" taking place October 15-23.

UNAC call to action
UNAC actions

The October 7 event is coordinated by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group. For more information, or if your group would like to cosponsor or endorse this event, contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065 or iraq@pjw.info.

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Peace and Justice Works
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065
pjw@pjw.info

Page posted August 30, 2022, last updated October 7, 2022

 

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