Campus Antiwar Network Statement on Self-Determination and Unity in the Antiwar Movement

As students organizing against the war on campuses
across the United States, we stand in support of full
self-determination throughout the Middle East,
including the self-determination of Iraqis and of
Palestinians. As our generation is asked to sacrifice
our consciences and our lives for the sake of U.S.
empire-building, we are committed to opposing that
empire-building in its entirety.

In the Middle East today, illegal occupations exist not
only in Iraq, but also in Palestine. We believe the
antiwar movement must stand solidly against them both.
This task takes on a particular urgency today, amid the
very real possibility of a bloodbath in Palestine, if
Israel takes the occasion of withdrawing settlers from
Gaza to unleash a full-scale assault on that region. It
would be a tragedy for the antiwar movement to remain
silent in the face of the ongoing violence against an
occupied population in the Middle East — funded by our
own government.

We also believe it is imperative to condemn the racism
directed against Arabs, Muslims, and immigrants in the
United States. These populations have faced the brunt
of the war at home — targeted for racially- motivated
suspicion, detention and deportation. As every original
excuse for the war has been disproven, racism has
become the central justification for continuing to
occupy Iraq. The effects of this daily dehumanization
of Arabs and Muslims can be seen in the horrific
torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. For this
reason we believe opposing this racism must be a
primary task of the antiwar movement.

Our generation is refusing to become cannon fodder in
an unjust occupation. As such, we are one of several
groups organizing a College Not Combat contingent in
the September 24 protests on the East and West Coasts.
As a new counter-recruitment movement is exploding
across the country, it is vital for students, teachers,
parents, and others who wish to reclaim our schools
from recruitment for a war most Americans oppose to be
able to march alongside one another. This unity is
threatened by the specter of two separate protests in
DC.

Therefore, in the interests of building the strongest
movement possible to end occupation, we call on United
for Peace and Justice to drop its opposition to demands
in support of Palestine and civil liberties, so that
all of us — including broad segments of the
populations most affected by the war at home — can
come together as one united protest in Washington.

All out for September 24, from DC to San Francisco!
College, Not Combat!

Campus Antiwar Network http://www.campusantiwar.net