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END THE OCCUPATION September 12, 2003 | Page 2 WITH THE occupation of Iraq in full swing, many activists are stepping up the fight to build opposition in the U.S. As the school year gets underway, antiwar groups are reforming and making plans for the fall. Activists in the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN), for example, are kicking off the school year with meetings and teach-ins to raise awareness about the occupation and get more students involved in building a movement to oppose U.S. aims in the Middle East. At the University of California-Berkeley, 55 people gathered August 26 for a teach-in organized by the Stop the War Coalition. CAN organizers are also planning for a nationwide speaking tour called "Speaking Truth to Empire." The tour is being cosponsored by the Muslim Students Association, and speakers will include prominent antiwar activists such as Norman Solomon, Rania Masri, Howard Zinn, Tariq Ali, Michael Parenti, and members of Military Families Speak Out and the Muslim Students Association. "As the occupation of Iraq drags on and as Bush threatens to attack more countries around the world, building the student antiwar movement here in the U.S. couldn't be more important," one CAN activist explained. Opponents of war across the country are also looking forward to a national call for action on October 25. Two of the largest antiwar groups in the country, International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice, have come together to call for demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Organized under the slogans "Bring the troops home now" and "End the occupation of Iraq," the protests will be a crucial opportunity for activists to show their opposition to Washington's never-ending war on terror. Everyone should get started now in building these demonstrations--to send a message to the Bush gang that as long as U.S. troops remain in Iraq, we will organize to against their brutal occupation.
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