Milwaukee Organizers Rally Against War in Iran

Snowy conditions did not stop community members and organizers from gathering at Zeidler Union Square on Saturday for an emergency protest against the U.S. and Israel-led attacks on Iran.

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Snowy conditions did not stop community members and organizers from gathering at Zeidler Union Square on Saturday, Feb. 28 for an emergency protest against the U.S. and Israel-led attacks on Iran earlier in the day. The rally was co-sponsored by a number of local anti-war groups including the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine (WCJP), Milwaukee Anti-War Committee (MAC), the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (MAARPR), Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Students for Democratic Society (SDS) and many others.

The WCJP strongly condemned the attacks, stating in a press release, “This war was launched for the sole benefit of Israel, a foreign country, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, an internationally wanted, bloodthirsty war criminal. The lives of Black and Brown people around the world matter and their natural resources belong to them. This war is not in the interest of America. Whether our president was blackmailed into this war, or due to the Israel First shills in the government, American citizens have made clear they don't want another war, while they struggle to make ends meet.”

MAC echoed WCJP’s position in its own statement, noting that President Trump is currently building up the largest U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf since the Iraq War. “While the U.S. and Iran were in negotiations about Tehran’s nuclear programs, Iran is now the latest target of Trump’s expansion of war and terror around the globe. This comes on the heels of the economic chokehold of Cuba, the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, the ICE attacks on the our cities, and the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

Girls School Hit

Al Jazeera reports that 1,200 munitions were dropped by Israel and the U.S. across Iran on Saturday morning, resulting in a death toll of at least 555 with thousands more injured. Horrific images and videos came out of the southern Iranian city of Minab, where an Israeli drone strike hit an all-girls elementary school and killed at least 165.

On Sunday, authorities confirmed the death of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran has retaliated against the attacks with its own strikes in Tel Aviv as well as U.S. targets in Bahrain, UAE, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.

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Opening with chants of “Hands off Iran!” and “No war with Iran!”, Sara Onitsuka from MAC emceed the rally Saturday, speaking with grief and anger about the Iranians killed and injured as well as Palestinians in Gaza. “We are also enraged that people in the U.S. are forced to have their tax dollars go to death and destruction as many struggle to survive. Trump has called for regime change in Iran, saying bombs will be dropped everywhere. This is an unconscionable violation of human rights and Iranian sovereignty.”

What Threat?

Onitsuka mentioned that MAC had been preparing an emergency plan for about a month in the event of an escalation of war with Iran. They subsequently welcomed fellow MAC organizer Stephanie Spalatin up to speak. “The U.S. and Israel have been threatening Iran with these attacks for years,” Spalatin said. “Western media has lied to everyone that Iran is a threat to the United States, supposedly having nuclear weapons. There has never been any proof of this throughout the decades, and Iran has had to suffer crippling sanctions. This is about Israeli hegemony in the Middle East and it is nothing new.”

Sabine Wolter of Peace Action Wisconsin then took to the microphone, noting how American-Israeli aggression widens the risk for greater regional war and endangers countless lives. “We’ve seen this playbook before. War is sold with fear and propaganda, and it is paid for in human lives—especially by ordinary people. Our message today is simple and urgent: stop the bombing, end U.S. involvement in the march to regional war and pursue diplomacy—not militarism.”

Next was Casey Serrano of the Milwaukee International Women’s Day (IWD) Coalition, who had woken up that morning horrified to see a picture of bloody backpacks found outside the school that the U.S. and Israel bombed. “Those images reminded me of the images we saw of the car that Hind Rajab was in, covered in over 500 bullet holes when the Israelis murdered her. It reminded me of the images we see every day coming out of Palestine, Lebanon, Haiti, Sudan the Congo and all these places we see women under attack—all over the world.”

Serrano affirmed that the IWD Coalition will stand fervently in solidarity with women globally until every woman is safe and liberated. They invited folks to join the coalition in celebrating IWD in Milwaukee this weekend, March 7 from 2-6 p.m. and March 8 at 1 p.m., where several events are taking place. Dates and water were then passed out as the Ramadan fast was broken at 5:40 p.m. with Amjad Khleifat leading in prayer.

Attack on Humanity

Reverend Darren Utley of First Presbyterian Church of Racine and the Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice used his speaking time to relay a portion of the statement from Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, sharing, “The aggression on Iran timed with the holy month of Ramadan is an attempt to destroy a nation that refuses the domination of its economy, military, energy, foreign policy and its future by U.S. imperialism and Zionist demands.”

Utley continued, “It is an attack on humanity itself. This is a time for action, awareness and confrontation. It must be clear to all that the U.S., the Zionist entity and their fellow imperialist powers have the most extreme disregard for international law, the sovereignty of states and the rights of peoples, seeking only war, destruction, devastation and the theft of wealth, land, resources and the very future of targeted nations.”

Following Utley was Wisconsin State Representative Ryan Clancy, who recognized that U.S.-led regime change has not worked before and will not now. Clancy reflected on his time as a peace activist in 2003 Iraq, where he witnessed civilian infrastructure targeted by the U.S. military. “The people of Iran, who we are here to stand with today, would have every reason to hate us for what we just did, but I’m here to tell you that they do not. In 2003, I had spent my entire bus ride in Iraq memorizing phrases saying, ‘I’m an American but George Bush does not speak for me.’ I needed to use them exactly zero times because the people in Iraq knew very well the difference between a people and their regime.”

Clancy elaborated, “I spent time in schools which largely have been destroyed now. At a secondary school, I had Iraqi students write letters to their counterparts in American schools, and one letter that just gutted me said, “we like you, but we don’t know why you don’t like us.” Every time we drop a bomb and target a school or civilian infrastructure, we are sowing fear of what the United States is, and there is no success from that.”

Implications of Imperialism

Salah Sarsour, president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee (ISM), had immense gratitude for all who showed up on Saturday in solidarity with the Iranian people despite the inclement weather. “Unfortunately, we hear the president many times say that he will make America great again. He claimed many times that he would stop several wars, and since he came, every few months we see a new war happening. As we read what’s happened in the last 20 years with Epstein, all the files show that all those leading now are messed up people. They are people with no values. That’s why we’re witnessing a new war with Iran. It’s not about the freedom of women when they killed hundreds of young girls in schools. What kind of freedom do you want to send to Iran by killing girls? Shame!”

Saturday’s final speech came from Chris Van Valkenburg of SDS, who touched on the implications of U.S. imperialism on educational institutions, explaining, “For my first two years at UWM, I was an education major. I think about these elementary age girls that were just murdered, and I think about my own students I was teaching just last semester.”

Van Valkenburg continued, “As the United States continues to send billions of dollars to Israel, we’re seeing millions more taken away from our public education system. UWM has made it clear that their budget is facing cuts of multiple programs and is attempting to consolidate the student cultural centers—all while raising our tuition and putting it straight into our chancellor’s pockets. Students all over have been fighting for a Free Palestine and will continue to fight just as dedicated against any escalation of war in Iran.”

A second “Stop the War in Iran!” emergency protest also took place on Saturday at Cathedral Square, hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) Milwaukee,Milwaukee 4 Palestine, Comité Sin Fronteras,CODEPINK MKE and Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement.

Milwaukee Anti-War Committee, Students for Democratic Society and Anti-War Action Network are having a banner drop on Tuesday, March 3 at 5 p.m. at the Locust Street Bridge, calling for an end to U.S. attacks and threats against Cuba, Iran and Venezuela.