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This article from The War Resisters League publication of The Nonviolent Activist has generated my thinking a lot lately on how we organize activist events here in Utah.

Blacks, Military Recruitment & Antiwar Movement – Not Showing Up

By Kenyon Farrow

When I was the Southern Region Coordinator for Critical Resistance I once spoke at an event in New Orleans entitled “What Now: War, Occupation, and the Peace Movement.” I was asked specifically to address why more people most adversely affected by systems of oppression were not involved in local antiwar work. Many of the white attendees were very concerned about how to bring Blacks into antiwar organizing work.

One white attendee from a local organizing project told a story of his organization’s commitment to “connecting the war abroad to the war at home.” The demonstration of that desire to connect with Blacks was to make the march route cut through one of the housing projects in New Orleans. I suggested this was a faulty strategy, since the march would draw additional police presence in an already overly policed community, in a city infamous for police brutality against Blacks.
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In my conversations the past week with folks who want to come the Bush Protest rally on Wednesday, I’ve heard a LOT of complaints about the time of day of the rally. Many folks (especially those working low-income jobs) CANNOT take the time off work to attend this. And those are the folks most affected by the Bush Regime’s policies.

Upon reviewing the program schedule for this rally, I see that there are **eleven** speakers scheduled, something which I do not think is a good idea for an outdoor rally. It looks like Rocky Anderson and Cindy Sheehan are scheduled last.

So here is my suggestion to those of you who have to decide what portion of the rally to attend – IF you can take the time off of your jobs.

Come at noon so you can hear Sheehan. You may have the opportunity to hear the other speakers some other time, since they are local and some of them have repeatedly been speakers at other rallies so you may have even heard them before. But hearing Cindy Sheehan in person (assuming she will be well enough to keep her schedule) may be a once in a lifetime opporunity – so that should be your priority if you are faced with that decision.

The Latino Community was right on target with the immigration protests back on April and May – Weekends and evenings. This ensured that folks could make the rallies when they WEREN’T WORKING there (often) multiple jobs. And they got the numbers.

In the future event/rally organizers need to be sensitive to the fact that those that are most affected by America’s discriminatory policies need to be able to attend these things and be sure to plan accordingly to get these people out. We all too often cater to the armchair upper middle class activist popluation only and ignore those who are most affected. They have voices too and we need to hear and support them.

Come at noon – August 30 – City/County Buidling, Salt Lake City, 400 South 200 East.

‘Atomic veterans’ sift fallout from court ruling

It looks like vets and their families are not going to easily seek compensation for the effects to them as a result of exposure from nuclear testing and biologicial and chemical agents, according to a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling this past week.

This is how the U.S. thanks its military servants – screw the vets.

In a quiet ruling that nonetheless resonates nationwide, a federal appellate court rejected efforts by Broudy and others seeking claims on behalf of “atomic veterans,” exposed to radiation during nuclear tests and in post-war Japan. The same court simultaneously rejected bids by other veterans exposed to biological and chemical agents.

Alice Broudy married her husband, Charles, in 1948. Three years earlier, he’d walked the war-poisoned streets of Nagasaki. Within a decade, he was facing radiation in the Nevada desert. He died of lymphatic cancer in 1977. Though she has since received partial compensation, Broudy has been confronting the federal government for more. She has now lost three separate lawsuits.
“This closes the door,” Cynamon said of the latest appellate court ruling, which was issued Wednesday. “It will make it very difficult, if not impossible, for individuals who are victimized by government cover-ups.”