Boston crowd says, ‘No war on Libya!’

McKinney with Boston School Bus Union Local 8751 delegation.

A multinational audience packed the hall of St. Katherine Drexel Church in the heart of Boston’s African-American community in Grove Hall on Aug. 6 to rally against the U.S./NATO war on Libya. Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney had recently returned from a fact-finding delegation to Libya to report the truth on the devastation there. The 200 people in attendance welcomed McKinney to the podium with a five-minute standing ovation.

Myia X greets McKinney. WW photos

McKinney described how the Libyan people defied U.S./NATO bombs to gather at a memorial site where U.S. bombs had killed Col. Gadhafi’s daughter in 1986. She called the aggression “a war on Africa” and “a war on poor and working people and African people” around the globe, including in the U.S.

Minister Don Mohammad of Mosque 11, Nation of Islam, opened the program, which was co-chaired by Bishop Felipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of St. Francis of Assisi, CCA and Myia X of the Women’s Fightback Network and SistaCipher. Other speakers included Libyan graduate student Khalifa Elderbak and Sara Flounders, co-director of the International Action Center. Organizational solidarity statements were contributed by Marilyn Levin, national co-coordinator of the United National Antiwar Committee; Carole Helas, of Fanmi Lavalas of Boston; and Andre Francois, of the Boston School Bus Union.

Askia Toure, activist and pioneer of the Black Arts Movement; African drumming by Doumafis and Alex; Ti’Ella G of SistaCipher; and Op from hip-hop group The Foundation Movement contributed cultural solidarity.