Action July 9th at Chicago City Council:
Pass "No War on Iran " Resolution
Video and pictures: here.
The Chicago Chapter of the World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime attended the July 9 meeting of the Chicago City Council to urge the Council to vote on and pass the "No War on Iran " resolution sponsored by Ald. Joe Moore and seven other courageous aldermen. Originally scheduled for a vote at the council's May meeting, it was deferred on a motion by Ald. Stone and Ald. Balcer.
Members of World Can't Wait, Vets for Peace, IVAW and other anti-war activists were at this morning's meeting, urging the original sponsors of the resolution to bring it to the floor, and urging the rest of the Council to vote for it. Copies of the resolution were also distributed to members of the media and the public in attendance. The resolution is more timely and urgent today than it was 2 months ago.
Seymour Hersh has revealed ("Preparing the Battlefield" at www.newyorker.com) that Congress secretly approved up to $400 million for covert action inside Iran, and Mohammed El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring Iran's nuclear program, said, "A military strike, in my opinion, would be worse than anything possible. It would turn the region into a fireball." As Congress is considering HR 362 (sponsored by many leading Democrats, this resolution calls on Bush to initiate a blockade of Iran - an act of war), now is the time to send a clear message to Washington that expanding this disastrous war in Iraq into Iran is NOT in the interests of, or supported by, the people of this city.
As Scott Ritter commented in his statement to the Human Relations Committee, which passed the resolution in May, "...to extend this human suffering and tragedy [in Iraq] to Iran would be to create a level of suffering for which America can never, and should never, be forgiven."
After watching a resolution praising a local national guard unit about to be sent to Afghanistan for "Operation Enduring Freedom" pass quickly without any trouble, and being told by various aldermen in various ways that the anti-Iran war resolution would be killed by stalling and ignoring it, a couple of WCW activists stood up to introduce a "people's motion" that the anti-Iran war resolution be brought to the floor. The overwhelming majority of people in this country want the wars to end - definitely not escalated into Iran!
As one person read from the text of the resolution (see it here: http://chicagoworldcantwait.org/ ) a couple others unfurled a banner reading "Silence is Complicity." Very quickly, men in suits and blue-shirted police surrounded us, as the council floor erupted into noise and gavel-pounding. The lid of stultifying silence and politics as usual had been lifted, and as the local media struggled to get their cameras back onto tripods in time, people were escorted from the room. A couple of the vets there chanted, "No War On Iran!" as they were led out of chambers.
A couple other activists hadn't spoken up, but watched the activity closely. Sitting down, they observed the room and commotion quietly... but even this was too much for the authorities. They were soon surrounded and grabbed too, told that their WCW war criminals t-shirts were "signs" and thus not allowed in the council chambers. Apparently wearing shirts with pictures of the criminals leading this country is too much of a threat to "freedom enduring" for the Chicago city council.
Silence in the face of crimes of the highest magnitude is complicity. The "good Americans" who are watching this unfold and listening to the presumptive candidate for change argue that "Iran is the biggest threat to peace" (as Obama announced on the same day) need to confront that reality. Politics as usual still will not meet the enormity of the situation, and many more people, and bodies such as city councils, need to speak out with the sense of urgency required by the circumstances.
The battle is not over! The Chicago chapter of WCW calls on people in the area to urge the aldermen to act on the truth they recognized in May, now, as the stakes grow clearer and trajectory toward war more powerful.
The next opportunity to pass the resolution is at the City Council meeting on July 30th. Call your alderman before then and email us at chicago@worldcantwait.org how they will be voting. Plan to attend the meeting at City Hall at 10am, Wednesday July 30th.