#OWS + #ANTIWAR on #AfghanistanTuesday

The fact that Occupy Wall Street bloomed into a global phenomenon in little more than a week, and that it all happened at the beginning of October, 2011 -- coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan War -- has given tremendous hope to everyone who has been working to get the U.S. out of Afghanistan. People are in the streets, talking to each other, and that is how we're going to find answers.

Especially important is the fact that the Occupy movement understands the systemic nature of the problems our country is mired in. And they have a determination to go to the root of those systemic problems. That's essential to the antiwar movement. We don't just have a war problem ... we have a war economy problem!

"It's 6am here in Los Angeles. Why not talk about
Un-Occupying Afghanistan? #AfghanistanTuesday"
(from @antiwar2)

For several months now, people on Twitter have been gathering weekly to spread awareness of the need to get out of Afghanistan AND to figure out solutions to the larger problem of American militarism. It's exciting that the hashtag #antiwar has now been joined with the hashtag #ows.

What do you think we should be doing to make the #ows + #antiwar connection?

See you on Twitter on #AfghanistanTuesday.


Related posts

In my post about the Occupy movement, I pointed out that standing against U.S. aggression toward Iran was a position that not many people wanted to take, and that luckily a movement had arisen consisting of people who were willing to go beyond the conventional wisdom and were not afraid to take unpopular positions. For me, it boiled down to the "courage to think different." Today, when people in Gaza are once again being slaughtered by an Israeli state that operates with the full backing and material support of the U.S. government, who has the "courage to think different"?
(See Should OWS lead the overthrow of the U.S. support of Israeli crimes? )


If the Occupy movement has taught me one thing, it is that every time I hear some person or group of people being described as "different," I should stop and think. And think again. Would it really be possible for U.S. leaders to be talking about war with Iran if people here stopped to think about how different people there aren't?

(See Why OWS Should Lead the "No Iran War!" Resistance)

A large contingent participated in creative resistance activities at the 2012 Air and Water Show - including a series of "mic check"/die-ins by members of Occupy Chicago.

(See Taking the NO DRONES! Message to the Masses at Chicago's Air & Water Show on the No Drones Illinois website.)