Berkeley City Council calls for end to bombing

BERKELEY, Calif. – The Berkeley City Council voted Oct. 21 to call on the U.S. government to ‘bring the bombing of Afghanistan to a conclusion as quickly as possible.’ The vote was five in favor, with four abstentions.

Councilwoman Donna Spring, the sponsor of the resolution, said she wanted to spare innocent Afghan civilians and that the military campaign that began on Oct. 7 ‘will breed more terrorism and create more instability in the Middle East, particularly in Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons.’

Her resolution also called on the U.S. to work with international organizations in ‘bringing to justice all those complicit in last month’s violent attack.’

The passage of the resolution brought a number of death threats to those who voted for the halt to the bombing, but Spring said that most Berkeley residents who contacted her supported the resolution. She noted a survey of students at the University of California at Berkeley by the student paper The Daily Californian showed that 65 percent support ending the bombing.

On Sept. 25, the Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to commend Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) for being the only member of Congress to oppose giving Bush carte blanche to use military force in the anti-terrorism campaign (see related story above).

Berkeley has been the scene of numerous peace rallies and protests against the bombing of Afghanistan, both on the streets of the city and on the campus of UC-Berkeley, despite the efforts of the mainstream media to distort the aims of the protests and to imply that businesses and restaurants will lose customers because of the City Council’s peace stand.

As former Berkeley City Councilman Ying Lee Kelley said, ‘The council should continue to honor Berkeley’s tradition of opposition to brute force to solve profoundly difficult social problems.’