Afghanistan Action Week Report: Eight Years Later

We had a powerful week of actions to mark the 8th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan.  The Peace Center played an important role helping to coordinate all the events and actions and reaching out to media.  We hope you saw the Washington Post articles covering the week, including one that declared the anti-war movement to be back!  We know we've been working just as hard as ever, but it's nice for the media to take notice. 

The Peace Center hosted an educational forum: Not the "Good" War: Rethinking Afghanistan Eight Years Later.  It was a very successful event with almost 70 people attending and a great panel of speakers.  We raised over $200 to send to Afghan Women's Mission for direct aid to Afghans.  We learned more about the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, as well as possible solutions besides an increase in US troops. 

The whole week re-inspired us at the Peace Center to work even harder to stop the unending US occupation of Afghanistan and prevent more imperialistic moves by the US governement.  If you want to learn more about Afghanistan and what we can do, please sign up to get our newspaper, the Peace Letter.   The next issue will come out in December and will be focused on Afghanistan.

We also helped with the rally and actions at the White House on Monday, Oct 5, where 61 people got arrested protesting the occupation of Afghanistan as well as the US's torture policies.  On Tuesday, Oct 6, we helped with a powerful public dance performance of "Unsung" by CrossCurrents dance company, reflecting on the soldier's experience in Afghanistan and Iraq.  They performed in Dupont Circle and was very well received.  If you missed it, they will be performing again on Oct 24 and on Nov 15 for Veteran's Day.  Over the weekend there was a wonderful "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit of over 900 shoes and boots representing the US solidiers and Afghan civilians killed during the US occupation.  On Oct 7, there was also a spirited and militant student march through the streets of downtown DC to say "Funk the War".

October 7, 2009 marked eight years since the U.S. entered Afghanistan as part of the so-called "war on terror".  Since then, we have spent $222.8 billion dollars, killed tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and created a refugee crisis with no end.  The U.S. faces yet another unending occupation with no exit plan.  Right now is a crucial opportunity to say NO to more troop increases and pressure the government to provide humanitarian aid to rebuild Aghanistan intead of continuing to destroy their infrastructure.

Click here to sign a movement-wide petition calling for an end to the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.  Join with thousands of others to make your voice heard!