NO MORE KILLINGS, NO MORE APOLOGIES
Direct action in fremont CA to protest the US occupation of afghanistan and to hold the military accountable for the trauma it inflicts.
2:00pm – Meet at Fremont BART
2:30pm – March to Army Recruiting Center (39194 Paseo Padre Pkwy)
Communities in Oakland have been struggling against police violence, surveillance, criminalization, and incarceration for generations. Police here are becoming more and more militarized daily, there are joint trainings between local police, the U.S. military, IDF, and Bahrainy security forces. Soldiers, trained killers returning from war, are joining the local police forces. Local police departments are investing in and using military grade weapons for low intensity warfare upon civilians here. We experienced the raids and night raids here in Oakland. Many of us were beaten or brutalized by rubber bullets, bean bags, and tear gas canisters; even more of us were witness to those violent actions on the part of the Oakland police department. Now imagine that situation under the conditions of actual warfare with soldiers using live rounds, grenades, and bombs.
Those are the conditions on the ground in Afghanistan every single day. The massacre of 16 Afghans in Panjwai, Kandahar, nine of whom were children, is not an isolated incident. It just happened to get media attention. We’re outraged not only about this latest atrocity, but by the drone attacks, the night raids, the “kill teams” murdering for sport and collecting body parts as trophies, the urinating on dead Afghan bodies while filming it, and the burning of Qurans. In addition to the recent wave of atrocities, there is an agreement being negotiated known as the “U.S./Afghan Strategic Partnership Agreement,” which, if passed, will extend U.S. military presence in Afghanistan until 2024 and beyond.
In Afghanistan and throughout the worldwide Afghan community, people are rising up to military and police violence and holding mass protests. As Afghans, Muslims, and people of color, we call upon communities of resistance, upon Decolonize Oakland, Occupy Oakland, Occupy SF, and other allies, to stand in solidarity with the Afghan people. We ask you to stand up and join us and our nonviolent direct actions. We encourage you all to have your own autonomous actions as you see fit as well. We need to stand in solidarity with the Afghan people and end the military occupation that is having devastating consequences on communities both at home and abroad. We also need to stand in solidarity with economically disenfranchised youth of color who are targeted by military recruiters and end up joining the military as their only way out of systematic oppression at home. Recruiters with quotas target our children, not only in high school but middle schools, so we are talking about 12 year olds.
For these reasons, as our first nonviolent direct action, we have chosen to shut down the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps Recruiting Center in Fremont.
*** We’d like to clearly state that this is a NON-VIOLENT direct action. ***
Organized by:
Afghans for Peace
Autonomous Afghans
SF Bay Area Iraq Veterans Against the War
Endorsed by:
San Jose Peace and Justice Center
Courage to Resist
World Can’t Wait SF Bay
http://AfghansForPeace.org/
http://facebook.com/AfghansforPeace
http://occupyoakland.org/2012/03/1-for-31512-ga-proposal-for-afghan-solidarity-action/
TOL will be Live & Direct from this action starting ~1:45ish
-“Empty Boots”, A poem by US Army veteran Ruben Paul Santos, who lost his battle w/ PTSD in 2009. RIP.
-481 pairs of boots, dunno how many shoes, and an hour & 45 of silence: “Eyes Wide Open (California), one last time
