Activists targeted imperialistic intervention in Indonesia and Iran in separate demonstrations in downtown Phoenix Friday and Saturday.
Members of the East Timor and Indonesian Action Network gathered outside mining company Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold’s global headquarters on Central Avenue and Van Buren Street Friday afternoon to protest what they referred to as corporation-sanctioned “genocide” of mine workers in West Papua, Indonesia.
ASU alumna Elizabeth Venable helped organize the protest as part of ETAN.
Venable said she became involved in the movement about 10 years ago while attending ASU.
“I see the gigantic shiny Freeport sign and I wanted to come out and show that they are not just a shiny building, Venable said. “The shiny building was created on the blood of workers in West Papua.”
Venable first learned about trouble in Indonesia and West Papua in ASU assistant research professor Christopher Lundry’s class.
Lundry, who began following the issue in the early ‘90s, was also present at the protest.
“As an American citizen, I feel like I have an obligation to stop human rights abuses that are being supported by the American government and by multinational corporations,” Lundry said.
Members of Occupy Phoenix were also present at the protest against Freeport McMoRan. Many of the same members gathered at Cesar Chavez Plaza on Washington Street and Second Avenue to protest a war with Iran.
Representatives from various organizations, including the Progressive Democrats of America, Veterans for Peace, The ANSWER Coalition, Code Pink and the National Lawyers Guild descended upon the plaza, where Occupy Phoenix has held most of its protests since launching the movement in October.
Many of the protesters said there were no logical reasons to go to war with Iran.
“One of the reasons they say we need to be (wary) of Iran is they’re trying to build nuclear weapons and I think that’s just a flat out lie,” said Virginia Hauflaire, chair of the Phoenix chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America and co-chair of the Arizona chapter.
Dianne Post, a former ASU professor and an attorney in the National Lawyers Guild, said she had met with Iranian refugees and talked to other lawyers who traveled to Iran.
“The people want peace, and they want nuclear power because it’s their sovereign right,” Post said.
Reach the reporter at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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