PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS OPPOSES U.S. WAR AGAINST IRAN

Statement by Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress. 

The People’s Organization For Progress is unequivocally opposed to the U.S. war against Iran. This war is one of the most stupid, dangerous, and tragic actions taken by the Trump administration so far, and should immediately be brought to an end.

Not one more person should die in this war. Turn the ships around and bring our troops home now. 

We are opposed to this war as are the majority of Americans. We don’t want another war for oil. We don’t want another regime change war. We don’t want another forever war like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam. We want peace. 

It is an illegal war since it is not a war declared by Congress. According to the Constitution it is Congress, not the President, who has the power to declare war.

This is a war of imperialist aggression. Iran did not attack the United States and posed no threat to this country. The U.S. attacked Iran first. In this conflict it is our country that is the aggressor.

Dr Martin Luther King when discussing the Vietnam War said the greatest purveyor of violence in the world was the U.S. government. That was true then and it is true today. 

The U.S. is the purveyor of state terror. The Trump administration acts like a mafia state with little regard for domestic and international law. He kidnaps Venezuela’s president and holds him for ransom, for a cut of the oil business. 

He kills the president of Iran, knock him off to get him out of the way. He strangles countries like Cuba with economic sanctions, so he can take over their territory. 

This war is totally unnecessary and in part is one of Trump’s own making. It has already caused the needless loss of not only American and Iranian lives but also the lives of people in other countries in the region.

POP opposes the war with Iran because it is paid for with funds that could have been used for our domestic needs, such as health care, education, jobs, and housing. It is not only paid for in tax dollars it is paid for with lives. 

Rich people benefit from these wars but their children don’t fight in them. Barron Trump will not be fighting in Iran. It is the sons and daughters of the working class, poor folk, black people, Latinos, and other minorities who make up the majority of those who will fight and die in Iran and other wars for empire. 

Trump’s recent attack on Iran began a few days ago but it has already become a regional conflagration. In a region already roiling from Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians, and Trump’s attack on Iran last year, the U.S. and Israel decided to strike Iran again. 

In retaliation Iran has struck back at U.S. forces and also bombed Israel, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria. This conflict has the potential of escalating further and dragging us into a world war. 

Despite Trump’s pronouncements, he bears responsibility for bringing the U.S. into this conflict. He says this is about nuclear weapons. However, he withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal that was in place that kept Iran from developing nuclear weapons. 

However, most people know this war is not about nuclear weapons. Iran is one of the major producers of oil. This is yet another war for oil. This is a war about U.S. dominance and empire. 

Iran is the biggest obstacle to Israel’s hegemony in the region. Israel has been urging the U.S. to go to war with Iran for decades. This war is about Israel’s hegemony in the region and the establishment of Netanyahu’s goal of a “greater Israel,” which he announced at the United Nations. 

Many understand that this war is about distraction. This is a war to draw our attention away from the Epstein files, which is shaping up to be perhaps one of the biggest scandals in American history. A scandal which many believe could implicate President Trump and several of his cabinet members in various types of criminal activity. 

The People’s Organization For Progress urges people to take every action necessary to bring this unjust war with Iran to an end. People should utilize every tool available to express their opposition to this war. In the fight for peace there is something everyone can do. 

We should take to the streets and protest now, and keep the protests up until the war in Iran ends.  Demonstrations took place this weekend in cities and towns across the country. 

There will be another massive wave of No Kings protests across the U.S. on Saturday, March 28th. A No Kings protests is scheduled for that day beginning 12:00 noon at the Lincoln Statue, 12 Springfield Avenue in Newark, NJ. 

People should participate in these protests and use them as an opportunity to demonstrate opposition to Trump administration’s foreign policy toward Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, Congo, Sudan, South Africa, and other countries. 

We should engage in economic initiatives such as boycotts, divestment, and sanctions. We should boycott and divest from companies whose products and services are used to support these unjust wars. 

We should pressure our elected officials to take a stand against the war and pass legislation to bring it to an end. We should write, call, text, email, and meet with our congressional representatives and let them know about our opposition to the war. 

POP calls on all congressional representatives to vote in favor of the war powers resolutions sponsored by U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rep Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA). 

These bills require the removal of U.S. Armed Forces from the conflict in Iran and that future military action against Iran must be authorized by Congress. 

We must use our votes for peace. We should vote for anti-war candidates and vote against those that are pro-war. 

As we fight to end the war in Iran let us also work to change our political-economic system, an imperialist system, that profits from and drives us to war. These wars are not only policy choices they are systemic in nature.

PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS PRESS CONFERENCE TO DECLARE OPPOSITION TO TRUMP BOMBING AND WAR ON VENEZUELA

The People’s Organization For Progress will have a press conference to announce opposition to U.S. bombing and war with Venezuela tomorrow, Tuesday, December 30, 2025, 11:00amin front of the Rodino Federal Building, 970 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey.

“We are having this press conference to publicly state our absolute opposition to war with Venezuela, and to demand that the Trump administration and the U.S. military stop their attacks and lift the blockade against Venezuela,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated.

“It is clear to us from both his actions and rhetoric that President Trump is at war with Venezuela. This is an illegal war and it must stop,” Hamm said.  

“The constitution clearly states that only Congress can declare war. There has not been a declaration of war by Congress against Venezuela,” he said. 

“We call upon Congress to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent the President from taking us down the road to war, regional conflagration and possible destabilization of the southern hemisphere,” he said.

“No justifiable reason has been given thus far to merit the United States

going to war with that country. The government of Venezuela has not attacked nor declared war on the United States,” he said.

“In fact, it is the U.S. that is bullying Venezuela. It is our country that is the aggressor,” he said. 

“It is the U.S. military under the direction of President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth that has closed off Venezuelan airspace, bombed boats in the Caribbean carrying Venezuelan civilians, seized a Venezuelan tanker with two million barrels of oil, and announced the possibility of a land invasion,” he said.

He went on to say the bombing of the boats and killing of civilians are violations of domestic and international law, and possibly a violation of the laws of war.

Trump and Hegseth have claimed the U.S. is at war with Venezuela to stop the flow of illegal drugs into this country.

“Drug interdiction is not a mission of the U.S. military. That is the work of U.S. law enforcement and the Coast Guard. In addition, no evidence has been produced to prove that the boats bombed by the military were carrying drugs,” he said. 

“In addition, our country has placed extensive sanctions on Venezuela’s oil, financial, and government sectors that are hurting the economy and people there,” he said.

“Our military attacks and economic blockade are wrong. It is imperialist aggression plain and simple,” Hamm, a former U.S. Senate candidate, stated.

“Trump’s efforts to provoke war with Venezuela must be stopped. Polls show that the majority of Americans do not want a U.S. war with Venezuela. They don’t want U.S. soldiers dying in Venezuela for oil or regime change,” he said.

For more information contact the People’s Organization For Progress at (973)801-0001.

NJ ACTIVIST GROUPS CONDEMN TRUMP TAKEOVER OF WASHINGTON DC

Two activist organizations in New Jersey have condemned President Trump’s takeover of Washington DC. 

The People’s Organization For Progress (POP) and The Martin Luther King People’s Convention for Justice and Resistance (MLKPCJR) both condemned Trump’s announcement that he would be exercising greater federal control over the district. 

Yesterday Trump declared that National Guard troops would be deployed in the district and that there would be a federal takeover of one of the police forces there. 

“We stand in complete solidarity with the people of Washington DC who have expressed total opposition to National Guard troops being deployed in their city, and to the federal takeover of police in the district,” Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization For Progress stated.

Hamm said he was speaking on behalf of both groups. POP is a volunteer grassroots organization working for racial, social, and economic justice. The MLKPCJR is a coalition of 287 organizations that endorsed the convention which was held in April. 

“This was absolutely unnecessary and the reasons given by the president for doing so were spurious and unfounded. He said he was doing this because of a spike in crime when statistics show the opposite is true,” Hamm said. 

“This has absolutely nothing to do with crime and public safety and everything to do with the acquisition of greater power and control by the president. Obviously, being a political dictator is not enough. He wants to be a military dictator too,” he said. 

“The president seems to want to do a lot with the National guard these days. He sent them to Los Angeles when there was no need to do so. He’s bringing them to Washington when there is no need to do so,” he said. 

“However, when the Capitol was under violent attack by the January 6 rioters attempting to overthrow the government he waited hours to mobilize the guard when they were needed much earlier. This caused more people to be injured and killed ,” Hamm said. 

“This move by Trump may be calculated to distract public attention from his more pressing problems such as his unpopular domestic and foreign policies, the pain inflicted on working people by his cuts in social programs, billion dollar tax breaks for the rich, his declining poll numbers, and the Epstein files,” he said. 

“However, we believe there is more to it than that. This is yet another racist attack by Trump and his fascist MAGA movement on African Americans,” he said. 

The cities where he wants to send troops have majority or large black populations and most of them have black mayors. “Trump’s attack on Washington DC is an attack on black self-determination and black political power which are seen as obstacles by white supremacists to their apartheid agenda for the US,” Hamm said. 

“Home rule for Washington DC was something that African Americans fought very hard for. It is seen by many as a step along the path to statehood for the nation’s capital which black people and other DC residents have demanded for decades,” he said. 

“DC home rule is targeted for elimination in Project 2025. Republicans have introduced legislation to end home rule in the district,” he said.  

“Trump is trying to terrorize us into submission. We will not capitulate. We have faced troops before during our struggle for freedom and liberation. Troops or not we will continue to resist,” he said. 

“We want the troops out of Washington. We want control of the police returned to the district. We want statehood for Washington DC. We want an end to the Trump regime,” he said. 

For further information call the People’s Organization For Progress at 
(973)801-0001.

PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS ANNOUNCES “BAN ON BLACK HISTORY PROTEST”

February is Black History Month. Today, February 1st, the first day of the month long observance, the People’s Organization For Progress (POP) is calling for a “Ban On Black History Protest,” Saturday, February 25, 2023, 12 noon, at the Lincoln Statue, 12 Springfield Avenue, in Newark, New Jersey.

“The purpose of this protest is to demonstrate our opposition to attempts in Florida, Virginia, and other states, municipalities, and school districts across the United States to ban and censure the study of black history in our educational institutions and society,” stated Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People’s Organization for Progress.

“As we begin Black History Month, we must confront the fact that today there are racist and fascist forces in our country who are trying to change the way black history is taught, eliminate it from school curriculum, or prohibit its introduction,” Hamm said.

“Here we are in the twenty-first century, and legislation, executive orders, and policies are introduced and laws are passed that would criminalize the teaching of black history. Books about black historical figures and events written by black and white authors are being banned,” he stated.

“The attempts to revise and eliminate black history must stop and we must stand up to those who are attempting to carry them out,” Hamm said.

“It is outrageous that the The College Board would bow to the demands of Governor Ron DeSantis and strip down it’s A.P. curriculum for African American studies. Attempts to impose a racist white supremacist revisionist history of black people upon us must be resisted,” Hamm said.

“American history that does not reflect the breadth, depth, and truth of the Black historical experience is mythology. Black history should be taught in all of our schools and educational institutions,” he said.

For more information please call People’s Organization For Progress (POP) at (973)801-0001.

The Martin Luther King “We Won’t Go Back” March To Be Held In Newark

The People’s Organization For Progress is sponsoring The Martin Luther King “We Won’t Go Back” March that will be held on Martin Luther King's actual birthday, Sunday, January 15, 2023.

The organization will be marching to protest racism, sexism, facism, and war.

The march will begin at 2:00pm at the Martin Luther King Statue, 495 Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Newark, NJ.

For more information call POP at (973) 801-0001. Contact POP if your organization would like to co-sponsor this event. Please wear masks and practice social distancing.

The People's Organization for Progress works to empower communities and fight for their needs. P.O.P. confronts issues about equality, justice, poverty, racism, umemployment, affordable housing and education, violence(of any sort), etc., as well as local, national, and international issues.