Working People Oppose US War & Policing!
Statement of the Chicago Anti-War Coalition (CAWC)
It is working people who pay for the U.S. government’s aggression on people around the world and here at home. The government’s attacks benefit banks and corporations—not us.
It’s our youth who are recruited into the military when they see no job future. Then they are trained to kill people who have done them no harm. And they are recruited into racist and violent and militarized police forces.
It’s we who pay high taxes to pay for wars and police violence. 62% of the discretionary federal tax dollars go to the military. 40% of the Chicago City budget goes to the police. All the while social programs are cut.
U.S. aggression and wars bring in high profits for the rich when the U.S. government steals oil and other resources from countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya etc. At home people are pitted against each other in a divide-and-conquer method that keeps wages low and working conditions bad.
Working people in general don’t want to be involved in this sort of thing. We are not bullies who take advantage of others.
So we have to think for ourselves and see through the lies that the media—which are owned by a few corporations—try to feed us. The capitalist ruling class fears that if we find out what’s really going on, we might rise up to challenge the criminal decisions by the ruling elite.
Let’s keep in mind: We are not the ones who make decisions in the U.S. It is the politicians dependent on the big corporations and banks—whose election campaigns are funded by the rich-- who make decisions without public debate that presents all sides of issues.
International Workers’ Day is a good time for us to have our own discussions and plan what to do. 132 years ago, the Workers International began to commemorate the memory of the American workers who were killed in 1886 by the U.S. ruling class and its Chicago police as they were in the midst of the struggle for the 8-hour working day. May Day was called as a day of solidarity of workers of all countries. It is an official holiday in more than 66 countries and celebrated in many more, including in the U.S.
We must pledge on this day to oppose the unjust and illegal U.S. wars abroad and the attacks on working people here at home, which is part of the way the ruling class operates every day. And so we express solidarity with all those in struggle.
And we raise the question about the need to change the ruling class system to public ownership. No more rule by the big banks and corporations. Instead, control by the oppressed and exploited people in the U.S., the working class and others. We need a government and economy of, for and by the people that will stand for peace and justice.
Chicago Anti-War Coalition
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