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“This is Trump’s war of choice,” said Markey. “Only diplomacy can bring lasting peace.”
Speaking at The Embrace memorial on Boston Common, Sen. Ed Markey, right, condemned President Donald Trump’s recent rhetoric toward Iran. Samantha Genzer/Boston.com
Sen. Ed Markey joined Boston clergy and peace activists Wednesday afternoon to call for an end to U.S. involvement in the war with Iran and urged Congress to remove President Donald Trump from office.
Speaking at The Embrace memorial on Boston Common, Markey condemned Trump’s recent rhetoric toward Iran, including a warning that “a whole civilization will die,” which the president posted on Truth Social Tuesday night.
“That was a threat of annihilation. That was a threat of genocide,” Markey said. “That was the language of a man who is unfit to hold the nuclear codes.”
The press conference came a day after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a temporary two-week ceasefire following 39 days of fighting. While Markey welcomed the pause in hostilities, he said it does not change his view that Trump is “unfit to serve.”
“This is Trump’s war of choice,” said Markey. “Only diplomacy can bring lasting peace.”
Markey said he would support renewed efforts in Congress to pass a war powers resolution limiting presidential authority to wage war but argued that further action is needed, including cutting off funding.
“Yes, we must assert congressional authority. Yes, we must end this illegal war,” he said. “But as Congress debates a budget, we should not give this war or the Department of Defense another dime to support Trump’s warmongering around the world.”
Faith leaders and activists echoed those concerns during the event, which was organized alongside Mass Peace Action (MAPA).
Rev. Willie Bodrick II, senior pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church, framed the conflict in moral terms.
“This is dangerous for our nation. This is dangerous for our world,” he said. “And faith demands that we cannot stay silent when the president becomes a liability to life here and abroad.”
“When threatening genocide is a part of the American military strategy that is no longer defense, that’s evil,” Bodrick added.
Brian Garvey, executive director of MAPA, said congressional checks and balances are the “bedrock” of the U.S. government — and argued that Trump’s disregard for that balance is why he should be removed from office.
“The author of the Constitution himself, James Madison, said the most important part of the Constitution was that which gave the war-making authority to the legislature and not the President of the United States,” Garvey said. “Donald Trump’s actions and his administration are threatening the very foundational rights that we enjoy as Americans. … This cannot be tolerated.”
Cole Harrison, the group’s administrative director, called for a permanent end to the conflict and broader U.S. military involvement in the Middle East.
Harrison said that, despite a ceasefire, a genocide in Palestine is ongoing.
“Congress must provide no weapons to Israel of any kind, no funding for this war, no funding for the Pentagon while the U.S. is conducting aggression,” he said. “War is an attack on the American people.”
The National Iranian American Council’s Bahar Sharafi, who is from Tehran and has family living there, spoke about the human toll of the war.
“Over the course of this war, U.S. and Israeli forces have committed many more crimes. Let’s not forget that this war started with a double-tap strike on a girl’s school that killed 165 school kids,” she said. “There needs to be accountability.”
Ahead of the press conference, activists set up a memorial of children’s shoes, backpacks, and other belongings to honor young victims of the war. Susan Mirsky, board member and chair of the Nuclear Disarmament Working Group at MAPA, set up the memorial.
A sign protesting the war in Iran sits on Boston Common next to children’s shoes. – Samantha Genzer / Boston.com
Mirsky held a sign throughout the conference that read “Grandmothers for peace.” She said the sign she carried was originally made by her mother at age 90 and reflects a commitment she had to peace.
“When I wear her sign, I think about children,” Mirsky said. “Parents and grandparents all over the world want their children to grow up in peace, and somehow we have to do something to make that happen and recognize that there are basic rights that all people want and should have, and that war is never the answer. Never.”
Last Saturday, Mirsky said her and MAPA members were at Park Street asking people to sign a petition urging an end to the war — and many people did, she said.
“These are people who you feel have not been involved in political stuff, but they felt this is just unconscionable, and they wanted to do something,” Mirsky said. “The feeling is high, and the majority of American people don’t want this war.”
Markey struck a similar note as he closed his speech, emphasizing that the U.S. should shift its priorities away from military conflict.
“We need to fund education and not annihilation. The American people want health care and not warfare,” Markey said. “No more illegal wars. No more perilous threats. No more endangering humanity, because the American people deserve leadership rooted in reason, grounded in humanity, and committed to peace.”
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