Organizers of nationwide May Day protests planned for May 1 told JNS that they would like funding for conflicts in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza redirected to domestic needs, and that Congress should block arms sales to Israel.

“The war on Iran is a war no one wanted, and it is wreaking economic havoc across the globe,” Matt Howard, interim organizing director of About Face: Veterans Against the War, told JNS. “As veterans who have served in recent wars that only devastated the countries that were targeted, we are clear that not another dime should go to an illegal war on Iran.”

He said that “all U.S. arms sent to Israel to fund indiscriminate bombings in Lebanon and Gaza should be blocked by Congress immediately. Taxpayer dollars are being wasted in overseas wars and should be redirected to the cost-of-living crisis at home.”

Howard did not say if funding for the war in Ukraine should also be redirected.

The May Day Strong coalition plans coordinated demonstrations across major U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle. The protests also call for higher taxes on the wealthy and reduced immigration enforcement.

Sunrise Movement executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine while at Swarthmore College, according to Canary Mission, said during a press briefing by organizers on April 29 that “we can not only defeat Trump’s regime, but actually win the types of structural reforms to our economy and our democracy that mean we can all have health care, that we can all have a livable wage, that we can all have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink, and a future to look forward to.”

The coalition lists 543 organizations, including the National Education Association, CODEPINK, and chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America and the American Federation of Teachers.

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