------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Oct. 31, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
OCT 26: STANDING UP AGAINST WAR By Leslie Feinberg The Bush administration is on a war footing against Iraq. It is tightening repression at home. And at the same time, a sniper is killing people in the Washington, D.C., area. Despite all these deterrents, huge numbers of people of all backgrounds are making preparations to be in Washington and in San Francisco on Oct. 26 to call for "No war on Iraq" and no repression and racist profiling at home. A month ago many of them were hoping that Congress would reject this war. They bombarded the offices of senators and representatives with fervent anti-war appeals. Even elected officials far on the right reported their mail and faxes were running 100 to 1 against a war. Nevertheless, Congress caved in and gave the Bush administration the green light and the authority to spend limitless amounts on this aggression. Perhaps the war makers thought that now they would have easy sailing. But the popular movement against the war has instead multiplied, spurred on by social conditions at home and the grim news of what the Pentagon has in store for the people of Iraq. The Oct. 26 anti-war mobilization started with a call from the International ANSWER coalition--Act Now to Stop War & End Racism. This is the coalition of many organizations that came together soon after the 9/11 attacks and called a successful Washington demonstration, showing there was significant opposition to the Bush administration's use of that terrible tragedy to further its right-wing objectives. More than 4,000 individuals and groups have now endorsed Oct. 26. They come from a broad spectrum of political and social forces who recognize the urgent need to give voice to the millions in this country who oppose the war but have been ignored and denied by the government and the media. Many unions have joined in denouncing the war and endorsing mass action--a big change from the period of the Vietnam War. Central labor councils in Seattle, San Francisco, Albany, Syracuse and many other large cities have gone on record against the war. Their spirit was summed up most recently in a resolution passed on Oct. 18 by the second- largest Teamster local in the country, Local 705 in Chicago. It said, in part, "Whereas, we value the lives of our sons and daughters, of our brothers and sisters more than Bush's control of Middle East oil profits; Whereas, we have no quarrel with the ordinary working-class men, women and children of Iraq who will suffer the most in any war; Whereas, the billions of dollars being spent to stage and execute this invasion, means billions taken away from our schools, hospitals, housing, and social security; Whereas, Bush's drive for war serves as a cover and a distraction for the sinking economy, corporate corruption, layoffs, Taft- Hartley (used against the locked-out ILWU longshoremen); Whereas, Teamsters Local 705 is known far and wide as fighters for justice: Be it Resolved that Teamsters Local 705 stands firmly against Bush's drive for war." The resolution then called for "promoting anti-war activity in the labor movement and community." The ANSWER coalition reports that other countries are also planning protests on Oct. 26. Major rallies and marches will take place in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Japan, India, south Korea, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain. Phones at the ANSWER offices around the country have been ringing off the hooks--calls from people wanting to know how they could get to D.C. One young woman hitchhiked from her home in San Diego to an ANSWER organizing center in Seminole, Okla., in order to get on a bus headed for Washington. Five hundred students sought help in getting transportation from Pennsylvania State University; 400 are traveling from Bennington College in Vermont. By Oct. 22, more than 150 cities in more than 40 states were sending buses to Washington and the ANSWER offices had received calls from people traveling to the demonstration from every state. As the capitalist economy crashes in slow motion, it is producing a sea change in popular consciousness within the United States. More and more working people see the exhortations for war from the White House and congressional podiums as weapons of mass distraction. The groundswell of response to the call for a huge turnout in D.C. on Oct. 26 reflects a growing and deep-seated understanding that only the mobilized multitude of people that this government misrepresents can pull back the dogs of war. - 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. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
