KINGSTON- A week after the United States and Israel went to war against Iran, protestors gathered Saturday at Academy Green Park to voice their displeasure with America’s current military involvement in the Middle East.
Various Mid-Hudson Valley groups organized the “No War with Iran” rally, including the Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, Veterans for Peace, the African Roots Community Center and many other groups.
“We’re doing the rally as a form of demonstration of solidarity with the people of Iran,” said Mie Inouye, an organizer for the Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America. “And also as a form of political education for people here in the Hudson Valley, so that we can understand what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what we can do to try to stop it from here.”
Estimates thus far have suggested the war is costing about $1 billion per day, but Inouye said the physical toll, too, on humanity has to be understood.
“My main concern is that it’s an act of mass murder,” she said. “Already more than 1,300 Iranians have died as well as hundreds of people in Lebanon, other parts of the Middle East and Americans as a result of this act of war by the U.S. and Israel.”
Johnny Bel, a Vietnam era veteran who lives north of Poughkeepsie, brought a sign to protest the Trump administration and the current military operations in the Middle East.
“I’m here to resist Donald Trump and his administration on what they are doing in Iran, and what they’re doing here at home,” said Bel. “It affects me as a veteran because President Trump disrespects veterans. He has called (veterans) suckers and losers.”
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