Hundreds of protesters held a rally and a march against US involvement in overseas wars at Times Square on Saturday.
Participants spoke against NATO's expansion and called for peace in Ukraine, criticizing record US spending on the
Ukraine proxy war and the White House's announcement of a further Patriot surface-to-air missile battery.
"We're here today because we oppose the endless expansion of NATO, which is not only unnecessary but reckless and
proactive," said Brian Becker, national director of the ANSWER Coalition, a major US anti-war coalition.
Instead of escalating the war and sending more weapons to Ukraine, the United States should go back to the negotiating
table and recognize that Russia has legitimate security concerns, Becker commented to reporters.
"We're also here today because the United States is spending extra 65 billion US dollars to fund war in Ukraine while
there are a million homeless people in America, while our schools are underfunded and many people are going into
bankruptcy because they can't pay doctors' bills," said Becker, who urged his country to spend that money to help
Americans in need rather than funding war and militarism.
CODEPINK joined ANSWER NYC on January 14, to honour the words of MLK on war and his anti-war legacy. Code Pink states
that
“In the last year of his life, before an assassin’s bullet took him, Dr. King was organizing all around the country
against what he described as the “Three Evils” of our society: militarism, racism and poverty. Honoring Dr. King in a
meaningful way means to build an ever stronger movement for peace and against social and economic injustice. This must
include using society’s vast resources to fund healthcare, housing, education and to save the environment – rather than
the bloated war machine.”
Initiated by the ANSWER Coalition and The People's Forum, a movement incubator for working class and marginalized
communities, the rally was expected to be followed by similar protests in other US cities on and around Martin Luther
King Jr. Day on Monday.