Two Arrested at New York City Demonstration Marking 8th Anniversary of Afghan War

The Indypendent ^ | October 7, 2009 | Alex Kane

[Syncro]

Two Arrested at New York City Demonstration Marking 8th Anniversary of Afghan War

By Alex Kane

Two members of the New York City War Resisters League (WRL) were arrested this evening as part of an anti-Afghanistan War demonstration in Grand Central in Midtown Manhattan. 64-year-old Ed Hedemann and Eric Laursen were taken away in handcuffs by the New York Police Department during a protest marking the 8th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan.

Hedemann was arrested and then picked up and brought downstairs by four officers after attempting to drop an anti-war banner in Grand Central, while Laursen was apprehended for “disorderly conduct” after following the officers who were arresting Hedemann, one witness said.

The arrests came in the middle of an action attended by at least 60 people who were calling for an immediate end to the occupation and war in Afghanistan.  The demonstrators held anti-war signs up and pictures of crying children and flag-draped coffins as they chanted, “Bring the troops home, now alive!” and “Hey Obama, end the wars now!”

Demonstrator Ruth Benn said she was protesting to “remind people about the war, and to encourage people to do something, like contacting your Congress person.”  Benn, a member of the NYC WRL, and other activists passed out leaflets to commuters at Grand Central instructing them on what they could do to help end the war in Afghanistan.

There were over a dozen police officers on hand at the action.

The Grand Central protest was one of many around New York City and the United States today.  This morning, according to one participant, about 15 anti-war activists held an vigil outside Congressman Michael E. McMahon’s (D-Brooklyn, Staten Island) Brooklyn district office.  The demonstration was meant to pressure him to support an amendment put forth by Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) that would require an exit strategy for the war in Afghanistan.  McMahon voted against the amendment when it came to a vote during the summer.

Also in the city, anti-war organization Military Families Speak Out held a vigil outside Federal Hall in the financial district where they read the names of soldiers from New York State who had died in the Afghanistan War and held up crosses.

“We’ve basically started a civil war in Afghanistan, and you can’t win a civil war,” said Vicki McFayden, a member of Military Families Speak Out.

There was also a screening this evening at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan of the Robert Greenwald film “Rethink Afghanistan,” and a panel on the war was held at the CUNY Graduate Center that included investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill and Bill Fletcher, editor of the Black Commentator.

The Grand Central action was organized by WRL, and endorsed by a host of other peace and justice groups, including Veterans for Peace, CODEPINK, and the Ya Ya Network.  It came on the heels of an anti-war action outside the White House Oct. 5 that saw 61 people arrested.  Anti-war activists around the country are looking to jump start a largely moribund anti-war movement in the wake of polls showing the American public turning against the war.

“It is so sad to be here on the anniversary of an invasion that should have never taken place.  Millions are dead and have become refugees and orphans,” said Jenny Heinz of the Granny Peace Brigade.

The spate of anti-war demonstrations has occurred amidst a debate in the Obama administration about the way forward for the war.  However, according to news reports, President Obama has ruled out a reduction or withdrawal from Afghanistan, and is deliberating on General Stanley McChrystal’s request for 40,000 more troops for the war.

“I’m here to protest this horrible, horrendous war in Afghanistan, a war that has been killing people for 8 years, making us bankrupt,” said demonstrator Ted Auerbach.  “I voted for Obama, and Obama said, ‘make us do it,’ and we’re going to build a social movement and an anti-war movement that’s going to make Obama withdraw from Afghanistan.”

Members of the anti-war group World Can’t Wait, which has ties to the Revolutionary Communist Party, performed street theater.  Activists dressed up in wedding clothes held a “die-in” in the middle of Grand Central to represent the deaths that have occurred during weddings in Afghanistan.  In November 2008, U.S. airplanes reportedly bombed a wedding party in Kandahar Province, killing 40 civilians, including two-dozen children.

The Rev. Billy Talen, the Green Party candidate for mayor in New York City, attended the anti-Afghanistan War protest, screaming “Peace-alujah.”

“We shop and we bomb.  We need to bring the troops home, and at the same time do the other thing, which is save our neighborhoods,” Talen said.

[Syncro]

The Grand Central protest was one of many around New York City and the United States today.  This morning, according to one participant, about 15 anti-war activists held an vigil outside Congressman Michael E. McMahon’s (D-Brooklyn, Staten Island) Brooklyn district office.  The demonstration was meant to pressure him to support an amendment put forth by Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) that would require an exit strategy for the war in Afghanistan.  McMahon voted against the amendment when it came to a vote during the summer.

Also in the city, anti-war organization Military Families Speak Out held a vigil outside Federal Hall in the financial district

[Syncro]

I never heard of the Ya Ya Network, but they were at the Grand Central protest.

Here's what some of them look like, from the website

Maybe they got paid to go there, they look like a young fun loving group of kids.

[SunkenCiv]

A few times lately I’ve seen a handful of Demwits demonstrating with signs about a block from Veteran’s Park, and standing basically in front of the Civil War monument (Grand Rapids MI). They’ve got “Honk For Peace” or some such baseless garbage on their signs, and I’ve been gratified that, in two minutes and dozens of passing cars, I’ve heard only one short honk.

[Col Frank Slade]

Ya Ya Network is:

1- An MTV spinoff.
2- An ACORN affiliate.
3- Both.

[AGreatPer]

Interesting picture of them. It doesn't go with their actions.

[Syncro]

RedState has a good article on the anti-war movement:

The Sham Anti-War Movement

the silence of the papier-mâché puppets

Posted by Streiff (Profile)

Wednesday, October 7th at 11:15AM EDT 10 Comments

Yesterday there was an anti-war-in-Afghanistan protest outside the White House, even the loonies in the anti-war movement realize the futility of protesting a successful war, but it didn’t make national news. There was a story to be told, it just was not the story the media had an interest in telling.

The protesters met Monday morning in McPherson Square, a slab of grass in downtown Washington named after a war hero. They had hoped to fill the park, but instead 176 protesters gathered in one corner. The crowd was all familiar faces from the antiwar movement, except for a homeless man sleeping on a bench, a bicyclist eating a scone and a Street Sense newspaper salesman who saw a business opportunity in the gathering.

If there was ever any doubt that the anti-war movement was nothing more or less than an adjunct of the Democrat party, that doubt has been swept away. One would think that with the war in Afghanistan at a critical stage and the administration drunkenly reeling from strategy to strategy apparently in search of a magic elixir or silver bullet that will make the war just go away that the anti-war movement would have been in fine form. If there was ever a time when their presence might have actually made a policy difference this was it.

However, now that Obama is in the White House the anti-war movement is curiously silent. The noxious Code Pink organization which was more than willing to consign 25 million Iraqis to rule by al Qaeda has decided that the war in Afghanistan, also against al Qaeda, doesn’t require an immediate withdrawal (h/t, Gateway Pundit):

The rest can be read at the link at the top of this post. The anti-war losers are running out of steam, and are now just trying to make enough money so they don't have to get real jobs.

[Syncro]

Mostly a bunch of kids trying to avoid military service, and led to fight against the military

About Ya Ya

The Ya-Ya Network is a citywide anti-racist, anti-sexist organization and allies with the LGBTQ community. Ya-Ya is staffed by young activists ages 15-19. We work with other youth, adult allies, youth programs & activist organizations. We help groups & individuals connect. We share information & resources & we support the work that other groups are doing. All to build a stronger voice for young people in the movement for social & economic justice.

The Staff at Ya-Ya work together for 14 months, beginning each July. If you are interested in applying, click here. click here.

What we do:

We are currently one of the few groups made up primarily of youth of color who are active in the counter-military recruitment movement.

Easy kids for codepink and Soros money to recruit.

[Syncro]

Ya Ya Network is:

1- An MTV spinoff.
2- An ACORN affiliate.
3- Both.

LOL, you got them pegged!

[Col Frank Slade]

NYPD must want to throttle these anti-war protesters.

The emotional restraint must be infuriating.

[wastedyears]

Looks sorta like a high school senior trip or college picture.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

NEVER FORGET

.

CLARITY =

Many come out to show war support across land

http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20030324antiwar0324p7.asp

http://www.Freerepublic.com/~aloharonnie/

.

NEVER FORGET

.

[grellis]

Lot of those nutcases hanging out at the Capitol lately. I don’t go downtown until it’s good and dark out, they’re all at the bars by then.

[SunkenCiv]

Inside the Capitol, and the governor’s mansion as well. ;’)