The anti-war movement will be taking to the streets in protests staged in cities and towns throughout the United States. This is an email I received from the ANSWER coalition (Act Now to Stop War And Racism):

The U.S./NATO military intervention in Afghanistan is not a "war of necessity." It is a colonial-type war. The people of Afghanistan will resist until the foreign occupation ends. There are over 140 armed insurgent groups in Afghanistan indicating the breadth of opposition to foreign occupation.

The U.S. cannot “win” the war in Afghanistan. It was losing the war when Barack Obama took office. In March 2009, President Obama ordered another 30,000 troops. Rather than reverse the outcome, the U.S. and NATO effort lost even more ground. Now President Obama has ordered another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.

Attempting to deflect growing opposition to the announcement of his dramatic escalation of the war in Afghanistan, President Obama is simultaneously claiming that U.S. troops will start to be withdrawn in July 2011.

The Generals and Admirals, and now the White House, are unwilling to accept responsibility for a military setback. The President knows they cannot win and yet is unwilling to leave. Since no leader is willing to take responsibility, they are instead sending thousands more to their deaths.

Bush and Cheney ordered the invasion thinking it would be easy going. They thought Iraq would be easy, too. They were going to wipe out the governments in Iran, Syria and North Korea. This colonial-type fantasy, nourished by “great nation” arrogance and the acquiescence of a caste of corrupt politicians in Congress, set the stage for the current catastrophe of a war without end.

After eight years of war, more than 140 armed insurgent groups of Afghans now exist as a response to the invasion and they control large parts of the country. The people in Afghanistan perceive the occupation as a colonial-type takeover of their country. September 11 was a pretext, but there were no Afghans or Iraqis who hijacked the planes. The people of Afghanistan, like the people in Vietnam, will never accept foreign military occupation in their country.

In the 1968 election Nixon ran on a platform of a “secret peace plan” for Vietnam. In reality, Nixon’s “peace plan” meant more bombing of Vietnam, expansion of the war into Cambodia, and “Vietnamization” – the building up of the South Vietnamese puppet army under the direction of U.S. “advisors.” The puppet army was supposed to do the fighting and dying in the place of U.S. troops in an increasingly unpopular war.

The new plan for Afghanistan calls for more bombing and drone attacks, and “Afghanization” – the building up of a puppet Afghan army trained and led by U.S. commanders. This follows President Obama's escalation of massive bombing of the people of Pakistan.

Bush Policy – Obama Policy

On Jan. 20, the day that Barack Obama took the oath of office, a government helicopter carrying George W. Bush lifted off and made the ceremonial flight away from the nation’s capital, signaling the end of one era and the start of a new administration.

It was a remarkable event to witness. As the Bush helicopter passed over the inaugural throng, millions of people on the ground started cheering spontaneously. The official pomp of the transfer of power was overwhelmed by the euphoria of those who hated Bush and his policies.

But was there a transfer of power? The personalities change, but the institutions of militarism, war and empire remain intact.

Since Obama took over as president, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan has nearly doubled, and that’s before the new deployment of 30,000 more soldiers.

Today, less than a year since Bush departed, there are actually more combined U.S. military forces occupying Iraq and Afghanistan than at any time during Bush’s tenure. Between official military forces, private mercenaries and other contractors, by the middle of 2010 there will be nearly a half-million U.S. personnel in the two countries.

At a time of deep economic crisis, with tens of millions out of work and losing their homes, the cost of the wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq is already running at over $225 billion per year or $1.2 billion every two days. Escalating the war will escalate that cost.

The war is not about "the security of the people of the United States being at stake." If it was, there could be no talk about exit strategies and announced plans for withdrawal.

Starting today, there will be a growing escalation of anti-war protests in the United States. Tonight and tomorrow there are demonstrations across the country.

On Saturday, March 20, 2010, tens of thousands will march in Washington, D.C., with coinciding mass actions in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Real change comes from below. It comes from the millions who are suffering from unemployment, foreclosure, evictions and poverty. It comes from the young people who are being driven from college because of soaring tuition. The children of working-class families are the ones who do the bleeding and the killing, and they are told they do it for “national security.”

This is not our war. This is a war for empire, one that has gone very badly for the occupying force. How many more will die for the U.S. to avoid the appearance of defeat?

The ANSWER Coalition, in partnership with scores of organizations and echoing the sentiment of millions of people who want the wars to end, will be in the streets today, tomorrow and in the months to come. That is now clearly the only prescription to end the violence and occupation of the American Empire.

UC Tuition Hikes Explained: Corporatization

Bob Samuels, president UCAFT, describes the investment banking aspect of how the UC schools are run on a profit motive and not for education or recruitment of teachers, which they consider a monetary liability. Thus they hike tuition, layoff teachers and even entire departments, while, at the same time, increase huge bonuses and salaries to administrators who come from the corporate and banking sectors. They even lend money to the state because it returns them interest. What are our colleges, banks or institutions of higher learning?

BOB SAMUELS: Well, President Yudof, the president of the University of California system, says that because of state cut to the UC budget from 20 percent of the state contribution, which is—the state only contributes about—contributes only about 15 percent of the total budget, but because of that cut, they say they have to raise student fees. And our argument has been that this is actually a record year of revenue for the UC system, and the problem is they just don’t want to spend the money on instruction. So what they’re doing instead—

AMY GOODMAN: How could it be a record year?

BOB SAMUELS: They brought in a lot of money from the federal stimulus money. They had a record year in their research grants. They had a record year in medical profits. Most of their money is brought in by selling parking, housing and medical services throughout California. So they had a record year in that revenue. They had a record year in grants. And so, actually, last year they ended up getting more money than before from the state, because they got the federal stimulus money.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, what is the justification then? Explain further where that money goes.

BOB SAMUELS: Well, you know, the university says that it’s poor, that it can’t spend money from its other areas on students, on instructions, and so it has to basically—what it’s doing now is laying off hundreds of faculty members, especially the non-tenured lecturers, and it’s increasing class size.

And money is being funneled into the compensation of the star faculty and the star administrators, because in the UC system there’s over 3,000 people who make over $200,000. And many of them make $400,000, $500,000. A lot of them are mostly administrators and staff, and so the university has—basically has fewer and fewer faculty, more and more students and more and more administrators.

And so, what’s going to happen is it takes students longer to graduate. They can’t get the classes they need. And I teach required writing classes at UCLA, and they just laid off our entire department. And we have required classes, so we don’t know what they’re going to do. And the dean of our division told us the university simply does not have money for undergraduate education.

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UC Berkeley Takeover

Find more photos like this on Under Current....

Students Shut Down UCLA

Yesterday and today, thousands of students effectively shut down the UCLA campus in protest of the UC Regents approval of a massive 32% tuition hike. Thousands more launched strikes at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz. Just a day before, CSU students, led by ANSWER and Students Fight Back organizers, confronted police and CSU officials at the Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach.
ANSWER sent out a message to come to the Southern California Regional Socialism Conference this Saturday to discuss the student struggle, hear eyewitness reports from student and faculty organizers and to discuss what's next for this dynamic and growing movement, on the Los Angeles City College Campus, in the Chemistry Building, from 10am-5pm.

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Mammogram Media Blitz Tactic

Dan Pfeiffer writes, "One of the hallmark tactics from opponents of health insurance reform has been to grab onto any convenient piece of information and twist it into some misguided attack on reform, no matter how unrelated it may actually be..... and Fox News obliges them with the headline 'Critics See Health Care Rationing Behind New Mammography Recommendations.'" He says the media outlets feed on this kind of opportunistic "controversy." Ya think?

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The Senate Evisceration of Roe v. Wade: Hyde on Steroids

NOW members protest the Stupac-Pitts amendment
NOW (National Organization for Women) warns that the Senate will vote on an amendment similar to Stupak-Pitts that would prevent millions of women from obtaining insurance coverage for abortion under their version of health care reform, S1796. Is that the bill number or the year they intend to regress to?

Got Healthcare? is a new feature film currently in production/post-production. It is an out in the street survey of what people have to say about healthcare in America and the recent goings on in Congress and the government. In making this film I attended mostly healthcare town halls and rallies, almost always in support of either a single payer system or a public option. There are always also anti-reformers on hand making noise and trying to disrupt these events. I have not had a crew and I filmed this on my own with a consumer HD camcorder that actually produced, what I consider, passable big screen movie quality sound and picture (though I have yet to see it on a big screen). This is possibly an advantage in that it's much easier to move around in the crowds as one person with a camera on a monopod than it would be with a cameraman and soundman. I have been posting clips of these events with footage to also be used in the feature film. So you can get an idea of what the film will look like. But the healthcare issue is quite complex and there are many angles to consider. So the long film is much better at covering all the angles and explaining what it's all about. I hope you will check it out when it becomes available, probably in early 2010. Meanwhile, I am posting the most relevant and pertinent clips as I shoot them because this is an important and urgent issue, and we need these things out there. The mainstream media certainly is missing the boat.

Dr. Jo Olson, at the recent "Mad as Hell Doctors" rally in Hollywood, talks about the futility of the public option that she seems to think is failed from the start, and how the only real choice, and the eventual necessity and outcome will be a single payer system. So all you fear mongering socialism-phobes better get on some sustainable medication, if you have any insurance to cover it, because it looks like there will be a single payer system coming to America. As Dr. Olson says, it's inevitable and only a matter of time before someone has the guts (or no other choice) to make it happen. Portions of this raw and uncut video from Out in the Street Films will be used in the upcoming feature length documentary film "Got Healthcare?"