REPORT-BACK: Richmond teach-in calls for end to U.S. wars and occupations
“Rethinking Afghanistan and Iran” was the name of a community teach-in
held Oct. 17 in Richmond, Va., by the Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality and the Richmond Peace Education Center.
Part of national day of protests to mark the 8th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the event was one of about 45 actions across the country held
in response to a call by the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations.
About 30 people, more than a third of whom were African-American, attended the Richmond
event, which was filmed by NHK-TV, a public broadcasting station based in Tokyo with a global audience of about 100 million.
The footage will be used as part of a documentary about President Barack Obama's first year in office.
The teach-in opened with excerpts from “Rethink Afghanistan,” the recently
released documentary by Robert Greenwald, which examines the human and economic cost of the war as well as the U.S. occupation's
negative impact on women.
Larry Syverson, a member of the national steering committee of Military Families Speak
Out, spoke about being the parent of four sons who have or are serving multiple terms in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. “These
wars are wrong on two counts,” Syverson stated. “We are fighting a war in the neighborhoods of innocents of another
country and are sending our loved ones to be bait for attack.”
The second speaker was Phil Wilayto, editor of The Virginia Defender newspaper and
author of “In Defense of Iran: Notes from a People's Peace Delegation through the Islamic Republic.” Wilayto examined
the current negotiations between Iran and the so-called Group-of-Five-Plus One countries and the Western drive to prevent
Iran from developing into a regional power.
The two speakers were then joined by the event's co-chairs, Adria Scharf, executive
director of the Richmond Peace Education Center and Ana Edwards, chair of the Defenders' Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation
Project, to form a panel for the public forum portion of the program.
Single-payer advocate Andrea Miller captured the spirit of the discussion when she
called for “Health Care Not Warfare,” leading to an exchange about how the issue of the seemingly endless wars
in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and now possibly Iran can be raised in the context of community struggles.
For media coverage of other Oct. 17 events, log onto www.nationalassembly.org
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