Community Members Organize Rally and March as 8th Anniversary of Afghanistan Invasion Approaches

A coalition of Olympia anti-war and community organizations will hold a rally and march on October 7th to demonstrate against the war in Afghanistan. The date will mark the US invasion’s 8th anniversary.

The march is part of a worldwide outcry against war and imperialism. A national day of action has been called by Students for a Democratic Society to demonstrate against the war in an attempt to bring attention to the recent troop surges and rising death tolls in the region. Richard Holbrooke, President Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, wrote in Foreign Affairs in 2008, "As the war [Afghanistan] enters its eighth year, Americans should be told the truth: it will last a long time — longer than the United States’ longest war to date... the 14-year conflict in Vietnam."

2009 has been the deadliest year for US forces. iCasualties.org lists over 200 US troops killed this year, almost a quarter of the total US troop deaths during the entire war. However, this death toll obscures the total cost of the war. Not included in the figure are aid workers or private contractors which, according to the Congressional Research Service, outnumber the troop totals. Also not included are the figures of Afghani civilian deaths which, though accurate reports aren’t kept, outnumber every other casualty figure in almost all estimates.

The October 7th Coalition includes the organizations Project for Liberation Through Education and Action (PLEA), Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights, Food Not Bombs, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Mideast Solidarity Project, Evergreen Socialist Alternative, Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, Olympia Iraq Veterans Against the War, and the Olympia Street Medic Collective.

“We aspire for this to be a contribution towards rebuilding a vibrant mass social movement against the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” said Matt Lester, an organizer for PLEA. “The best way for an American to support women and children’s rights in Afghanistan is to demand an end to all air strikes and a full removal of US forces in the region.”

People will gather at Woodruff Park on the Westside at the corner of Harrison Ave. and Thomas Ave. at 3:30pm. After a rally and a few speakers, there will be a march across the Westside.

Both the rally and march will be entirely family-friendly and inclusive. The speakers will include Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights coordinator Monica Peabody, and US Army Veteran Seth Manzell of IVAW. During the march, several local poets and musicians will perform. Food will be provided at no cost by Food not Bombs.