What kind of person are you to commit violence against people who have the Legal Right to Assemble & Protest?

Veterans For Peace

Veterans For Peace calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Maryland National Guard. We are appalled to see military weapons, vehicles and equipment once again deployed in U.S. cities to control U.S. citizens who are in fact reacting to a long history of state sanctioned violence and appalling economic and social conditions.

The truth is that police are like soldiers, working class people who are manipulated and used by the same economic and political interests who gain the most from the neglect of these neighborhoods. Mirroring working class soldiers who are sent to foreign lands to impose U.S. ruling class interests on the poor of the world, the police are sent to control poor populations ere at home who have legitimate complaints and grievances, but have been ignored for decades. In both cases, the police and soldiers’ sense of wanting to do the right thing and serve people and country are exploited for greed and profit.

Two time Medal of Honor winner and highly respected Marine Corps General Smedley Butler said it best, “I served in all commissioned ranks from a second Lieutenant to a Major General. And during that time, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.” In cases like ‪#‎Ferguson‬ and ‪#‎Baltimore‬, the police are tools for the same interests.

We call on our nation to hold police accountable for lawless violence against communities, and we call on the rich and powerful to end global wars, to end their indifference and pursuit of profit over humanity and to use the trillions devoted to Pentagon war spending to invest in human needs around the world.

Read the Full Press Release:
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/826/t/0/blastContent.jsp…