------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Oct. 24, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
MASS PROTESTS OCT. 26: D.C., S.F. MARCHES GET "OVERWHELMING RESPONSE" By Greg Butterfield Across the United States, thousands of grassroots organizers and a growing number of anti-war, labor, student and community organizations are mobilizing for the Oct. 26 March on Washington, D.C., to Stop the War on Iraq Before it Starts. In the Western U.S., many others are planning buses, vans and car pools to join a West Coast regional demonstration in San Francisco. The Oct. 26 demonstrations were initiated by the International ANSWER coalition--Act Now to Stop War and End Racism--and co-sponsored by a broad array of groups and prominent individuals, including the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, National Lawyers Guild, New York City Labor Against the War, San Francisco Labor Council (AFL- CIO), Student Liberation Action Movement, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Global Exchange and many more. On Oct. 7 the Al-Fatiha Foundation, a U.S.-based organization representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Muslims, endorsed the Oct. 26 demonstrations. "As people committed to social justice, peace and equality, it is our moral and ethical responsibility to take a stand against an unjust war," said Khalida, a member of Al- Fatiha's board of directors, in a statement announcing the group's endorsement. Al-Fatiha urged other national lesbian, gay, bi and trans organizations to join with them and many local LGBT groups that have already taken a stand against the war drive. And on Oct. 10 the Rochester, N.Y., and Vicinity Labor Council (AFL-CIO) became the latest local labor federation to adopt a "No war against Iraq" resolution and endorse the Oct. 26 marches. The complete list of Oct. 26 endorsers now numbers more than 3,000. MARCH ON WASHINGTON On Oct. 15, Workers World spoke with ANSWER media coordinator Tony Murphy. He reported that there are organizing centers in 75 cities and towns planning buses for the Washington demonstration. The volume of phone calls, letters and emails received by the coalition every day are indications that people in other locales are also mobilizing, Murphy emphasized. More than 250 people turned out for a New York City organizers' meeting Oct. 10, Murphy said, and most took stacks of flyers, posters and stickers to distribute in their neighborhoods and workplaces. The Oct. 26 demonstration in Washington will assemble at 11 a.m. at Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial, at 21st St. and Constitution Ave. N.W. After an opening rally, demonstrators will march to the White House to make their anti-war message loud and clear to the Bush administration. Among the scheduled speakers are former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Jesse Jackson Sr., Rainbow/PUSH Coalition; Rep. Cynthia McKinney; actor Martin Sheen; musician Patty Smith; Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream; Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit; President Brenda Stokely, AFSCME District Council 1707, New York; and Shaimaa al-Azzawa, Muslim Students Association. Also: International Action Center co-directors and ANSWER steering committee members Larry Holmes and Brian Becker; Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange; Ibrahim Ramey, Fellowship of Reconciliation; Daniel Berrigan, Plowshares; IAC co- director Sara Flounders; Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice; the Rev. Graylan Hagler, Plymouth Congregational Church in Washington; transgender author and activist Leslie Feinberg; and Damu Smith, Black Voices for Peace. In addition, there will be taped messages from political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, former UN Oil for Food Program Director Dr. Hans von Sponek and actor Ossie Davis. A public service announcement for Oct. 26 recorded by Davis has begun to air on radio stations across the U.S. Detailed information on the march--including a complete list of local organizing centers, bus information and driving directions--is available on the Web at www.internationalanswer.org. For more information, readers can also call the Washington office at (202) 332-5757 or the New York office at (212) 633-6646. WEST COAST REGIONAL PROTEST Nancy Mitchell of ANSWER's San Francisco office told WW that there is an "overwhelming response" to the Oct. 26 West Coast regional protest. "We have more calls and emails than we can keep up with, and 40 to 50 people regularly come to our volunteers' meetings," she said. There are nearly 40 organizing centers for the San Francisco march, Mitchell reported, from California to Hawaii, Oregon, Nevada and Washington state. A student outreach committee is reaching out to dozens of college campuses and high schools. Bay Area organizing received a big boost Oct. 11 after anti- war activists targeted the Federal Building to protest the Congressional vote backing Bush's aggression in Iraq. Protesters, organized by ANSWER and other groups, blocked four entrances to the Federal Building for two hours during the morning rush hour and had a militant standoff with police. Some 42 activists were arrested. The action received a lot of media attention, Mitchell said, and spurred fresh interest in the Oct. 26 protest. Along with stopping the planned U.S. war in Iraq, a major theme of the San Francisco protest will be solidarity with the embattled International Longshore & Warehouse Union. The ILWU has a long history of anti-war activism and is a co- sponsor of the Oct. 26 marches. Following a lockout by port bosses as part of an ongoing contract dispute, the Bush administration recently ordered ILWU members back to work under the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act, citing "national security." As a sign of the broad enthusiasm for Oct. 26, Mitchell said a store called the Cheese Board in Berkeley had phoned the ANSWER office. "They said they're closing the business that day and telling all of their customers to come to the protest." For more information, visit the ANSWER Web site or call the San Francisco office at (415) 821-6545. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. 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