On Friday January 14th the Center for Political Innovation participated in a protest of about 30 people out front of congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office to call for her to use her influence to take action to end the war in Yemen. The protest was organized by an organization called United Against War and Militarism, with people from other organizations or unaffiliated with any particular group present.

 

The opinion of the crowd on AOC varied. Most were disappointed in AOC’s actions since her election in 2018. Some at the protest had a more positive view of her stating the shortcomings of her term in office have less to do with her and more to do with the overall system. Others were more critical of the congresswoman, pointing out that her statements before coming in to office contradict her actions since being in office.

This all relates to Yemen in that since 2015 Saudi Arabia has been bombing Yemen with the full support of the United States. Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen is possible only with the massive support provided by the US government in weapons, training and logistics. This US-Saudi war against Yemen has been disastrous for the people of Yemen. According to the UN 377,000 Yemenis had been killed in the war by the end of the year 2021. On top of this the US government is sanctioning Yemen which is cruelly exasperating the situation.

The combination of the US-Saudi war and US sanctions has created a situation in the country where 20 million Yemenis are on the verge of starvation. In previous years numerous congresspeople tried to push forward initiatives to end US military support for Saudi Arabia with no avail. AOC could either push for some form of legislation to stop bombing and starving the country of Yemen, or at least use her influence to spread awareness and call people to action with her 12.8 million follower twitter page. Eventually the police were called when protesters peacefully entered the building to try to speak with AOC’s staff or leave information about the protest at the congresswoman’s office.