Close the CELL – Denver’s Center of Militarism and Unending Middle East War

 

(Note: Today, December 11, 2015 in a few hours, there will be a demonstration at the site of The CELL, in downtown Denver just across from the art museum, a museum supposedly dedicated to fighting terrorism, but one which in fact promotes unending Middle East (and elsewhere) war against the Third World…in the name of course of fighting terrorism. An awful place.

The demonstration is sponsored by the local chapter of Jewish Voice For Peace…a number of other peace groups and individuals are involved. I cannot think of a better place to protest U.S. Middle East policies in general and its long one-sided support for Israel and its Occupation of Palestinian Territories  I cannot be there in person but have sent this message…(In the past, elsewhere on this blog, I have written about the CELL)

Although I cannot join you today due to personal matters, as someone who has spent his whole adult life working for Middle East peace and in solidarity with those in the region – Jews and Arabs – working for peace with justice – I salute those of you out here today protesting at the CELL.

The CELL should be closed down, pure and simple. While claiming to be a museum that opposes terrorism, in fact, it has done just the opposite, providing a pretext for the unending U.S. led wars against the peoples of the Middle East and one that has tried to whitewash and justify the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian lands and has tried to give a facelift to reactionary Arab regimes such as Saudi Arabia.

It has become a center of reaction and militarism in the Colorado region, nothing less, and this in a city, Denver, with a long history of support for peace and social justice, be it the country’s largest Martin Luther King II Day ‘Marade”, the City Council’s opposition to the war in Iraq, etc.

Recently with much fanfare, we have learned how our governor, John Hickenlooper, along with a number of state legislators, including my state legislator, went on an AIPAC sponsored tour to Israel. Rather than working to put pressure on Israel to end the Occupation, they have thrown their hats in the movement to muzzle the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement against firms and individuals profiting from the Occupation. This is a part of a well established legacy in our state where state government has partnered with AIPAC, working against peace and not for it.

– Shut down the CELL

– To an end to the illegal and oppressive Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Lands

– For a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and the Syrian Crisis

– Cut U.S. military spending to Israel and Saudi Arabia (at a time when it is being augmented). Fund human needs at home.

– For a new more democratic and humane U.S. Middle East Policy

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