International Action Center

Template:TOCnestleft The International Action Center is an organization that considers itself a network of grassroots coalitions that oppose U.S. wars abroad. It also aims to fighting "against racism and economic exploitation of workers" at home. It is dominated by Workers World Party members. It was founded in 1992 by Ramsey Clark.

Peace for Cuba Appeal

In 1994 Ramsey Clark, Alice Walker, Brian Becker, Teresa Gutierrez, Quentin Young, Gloria La Riva, Paul Epstein and Kathy Durkin were signatories to an International Peace for Cuba Appeal letter. The appeal was an affiliate of the Workers World Party dominated International Action Center.

Solidarity with Sept. 24 FBI Raid Activists

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression lists International Action Center as one of the organizations that has issued a statement of solidarity in support of the activists raided in the September 24, 2010 FBI Raids.

Defending Iran

Several U.S.based "anti-imperialist and anti-war organizationsuary agreed on a January 17 2012, conference call to hold coordinated protests across the country on Saturday, Feb. 4. The demands will be: “No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations against Iran.”

The ad-hoc group that took part in the call decided that although there were only two weeks to organize, it would invite anti-war forces around the world to join in, if possible, so that this emergency action could develop into a global day of action.

All agreed on the need to stop U.S. imperialism and/or Israel from launching a military attack on Iran. There was also a consensus that the new sanctions President Barack Obama signed into law on Dec. 31 — with the goal of breaking the Iranian central bank — were themselves an act of war aimed at the Iranian people. The political activists on the call raised the danger of a wider war should fighting break out in or around Iran.

While the organizations involved had varied assessments of the Iranian government, they all saw any intervention from U.S. imperialism in the Southwest Asian country as a threat to the entire region and to peace. Some of the people on the call who are originally from Iran and who were in touch with family and friends there conveyed the Iranian people’s anger at the recent assassination of a young scientist.

There was agreement to make “no assassinations” one of the demands to show solidarity with the Iranian population as well as to condemn the U.S. and its allies for criminal activities against Iran and its people.

As of Jan. 19, the organizations that called the actions or endorsed later included the United National Antiwar Coalition, the International Action Center, SI! Solidarity with Iran, Refugee Apostolic Catholic Church, Workers World Party, The World Can’t Wait, American Iranian Friendship Committee, Answer Coalition, Antiwar.com, Peace of the Action, ComeHomeAmerica.us, St. Pete for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality-Virginia, WESPAC Foundation, Peace Action Maine, Occupy Myrtle Beach, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Bail Out the People Movement.

Individual endorsers include authors David Swanson, “When the World Outlawed War,” and Phil Wilayto, “In Defense of Iran: Notes from a U.S. Peace Delegation’s Journey through the Islamic Republic”; and U.N. Human Rights Award winner Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general.

People could follow developments on the Facebook link: No War On Iran: National Day of Action Feb 4, www.facebook.com/events/214341975322807/.

John Catalinotto represented Workers World Party on the Jan. 17 conference call.

Iran Forum

An anti-war forum entitled “Syria & Iran: The Next War?” was held in New York, June 10 at the Solidarity Center. It featured anti-war veterans from the Iranian, Israeli and U.S. militaries, and was organized by United for Peace and Justice, Veterans for Peace and the U.S. Peace Council. The International Action Center hosted the meeting and IAC co-founder Sara Flounders chaired. All the speakers were members of the VFP Iran Working Group.

Michael Kramer, secretary of VFP Chapter 021-Northern New Jersey, was in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. His personal experiences as a settler and combatant led him to reassess his views on Zionism and the role of the U.S. in the Middle East. He is now a supporter of Palestinian self-determination, the right of return of all Palestinians to their homeland and the Arab cause for independence and self-determination, and an IAC volunteer.

He described Israel as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” for the Pentagon and an enforcer of U.S. interests in the Middle East.

Faraz Azad, an American-Iranian living in the U.S., served in the Iranian Air Force from 1971 to 1973. Faraz ‘s activism dates to his 1973 arrival in the U.S., first as a student activist and then as a member of the National Board of the U.S. Peace Council. He is the chair of VFP’s Iran Working Group, organizational secretary of the U.S. Peace Council, co-chair of Iran Pledge of Resistance, and nongovernmental organization representative of the World Peace Council at the United Nations.

Faraz urged the political movement in the U.S. to reach beyond itself to educate others on the nature of imperialism, on how and why the U.S. is threatening Syria and Iran, and on how U.S. wars abroad hurt people in the U.S. He challenged groups and individuals to leave their comfort zones and find ways to work together to stop this war drive.

Michael McPhearson, who is originally from Fayetteville, N.C., was a field artillery officer in the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during the 1991 Gulf War. He is the national coordinator for United For Peace and Justice and a national board member as well as a former executive director of Veterans for Peace. He is a member of Military Families Speak Out, works closely with the Newark, N.J., based People’s Organization for Progress and publishes the mcpearsonreport.org, expressing his views on war and peace, politics, human rights, race and other things.

External links

• International Action Center website

References

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