As the summer arrives in Canada, many of
the tragedies and suffering caused by war
and occupation around the world seem
further away than ever. As thousands of
families in Canada pack tents and other
necessities to enjoy the peaceful wilderness
of this country, millions of Syrians who
have had to flee from their homes, now
live in the desperate conditions of refugee
camps due to the imperialist forged civil
war in their country. As many in Canada
begin to enjoy some of Canada’s incredible
tourist attractions, the Saudi/US bombing
and war on Yemen has continued to level
cities to the ground bringing with it the
destruction of thousands of years of history,
civilization and human life.
With this in mind, Vancouver anti-war coalition,
Mobilization Against War & Occupation
(MAWO) has on its agenda to maintain
consistency in the fight against war. June was
another busy month of MAWO’s program of
activities and actions to educate, organize and
mobilize against imperialist war and occupation.
On June 9th 2015, peace activists and supporters
gathered in East Vancouver’s Joe’s Café for
MAWO’s monthly public forum and multimedia
event. This month’s featuring guest speaker, Nita
Palmer, author of the book “War & Occupation
in Afghanistan: Which Way Forward?” (Battle of
Ideas Press, 2010). The title of the forum, “From
Afghanistan to Yemen: More Than One Decade
of War, Occupation and Bloodshed - Where Are
We Today?” gave participants an opportunity to
look back to over a decade of continuous war and
occupation. “Since Afghanistan was invaded and
occupied in October 2001, we have seen 14 years
of one country after another devastated by U.S.
led wars, occupations, sanctions, covert and overt
military operations.” Stated Nita during her talk.
A lively discussion took place afterwards where
participants discussed the future of imperialist
war and occupation and the necessity to build an
antiwar movement to oppose it.
The public forum also gave a great educational
base for MAWO to move on to its next activity
that month. On June 19th, 2015 MAWO held
its’ monthly anti-war petition drive and rally in
downtown Vancouver. Joined by members of the
Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni communities, activists
spread out in the busy area of downtown to
encourage people walking by to sign petitions
against war. The group collected hundreds of
signatures while engaging thousands on the
busy Friday in discussion, handing out fliers or
just seeing the visual antiwar display set up by
MAWO. A short program of speakers also gave
talks during the activity of which included Iraqi
activist Mamdoh Ashir, Yemeni activist Asaad Al-
Jaboubi and Tunisian activist as well as MAWO
executive committee member, Azza Rojbi.
Besides organizing their own activities, MAWO
also participates in a number of other groups
events and city-wide festivals. Every year MAWO
sets up a table at the popular “Car Free Day”
festival on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver.
The festival brings tens of thousands to enjoy this
community event. The MAWO table received
hundreds of visits and distributed hundreds of
fliers and information against war while collecting
petition signatures and engaging in many great
antiwar discussions.
As the crisis of war and occupation grows around
the world, MAWO has committed to continue
organizing in protest and encouraging new people
to get involved in the struggle to end suffering, war and occupation.
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