------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Nov. 28, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
ENDORSERS FOR JANUARY ANTI-WAR EVENTS By Deirdre Griswold In the war against "endless war," each battle leads to a bigger one. Since Oct. 26, when hundreds of thousands of people marched and rallied in Washington and San Francisco against the Bush administration's growing war on Iraq, the government has pretended that nothing happened. It declared the lackluster and ambiguous electoral results on Nov. 5 a "mandate" for war, even though congress members had been flooded with anti- war messages. It didn't even comment on the million people who rallied in Florence, Italy, against the U.S. war drive. It then pushed through the UN Security Council a resolution that Washington has already declared gives it the green light to attack Iraq, even though that's not what the other countries are saying. People who may have feared they were alone before the demonstrations but went home knowing they are part of a strong movement are now reaching out to their communities, jobs, schools, churches and shopping areas with a fresh and ever more urgent sense of purpose: build this movement and make its anti-war message as visible as possible. The International ANSWER coalition, which called the Oct. 26 demonstrations, is now building new national actions on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend in January. It is also gathering hundreds of thousands of registrations in a referendum against the war, both online and on paper. The results of its grassroots efforts are encouraging. The group's web site now has a long list of endorsers for the Jan. 18-19 actions that shows the broad social character of this movement. It encompasses groups and individuals from almost every area of activism for justice, equality, peace and a better life for all the people. Key endorsers of the Oct. 26 demonstrations like former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Rev. Graylan Hagler, Dr. Hans Christof von Sponeck--former director of the UN Oil for Food Program, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, people's historian Howard Zinn and Congressperson Cynthia McKinney have again come forward. But they have now been joined by Dr. James Tate, Executive Director, National Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression; John Dear, former executive director of the Fellowship for Reconciliation; Attorney Michael Tarif Warren, singer Patti Smith, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, author Ron Kovic and hundreds more. The organizations that have endorsed the national march and a People's Peace Congress span a wide geographical area. Some are organized specifically around the issues of war and peace; others were formed around other social causes but recognize that war has a deleterious effect on all of society and feel it imperative to take a stand at this time. Here's just a sampling of some of the anti-war groups that have endorsed: West Virginia Antiwar Coalition, Northeast Wisconsin Peace Network, Campaign Against War at the University of Iowa, Cleveland Peace Action, New York City Labor Against the War, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, Coalition for Peace and Justice--Charlotte, N.C., Student Voices for Peace- -New Mexico State University, Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist, Women Against War and Nukewatch. Many students and faculty members from campuses and high schools all over the country have sent in their endorsements and are organizing transportation to the protests. Union members from the Teamsters to the United Federation of Teachers to the United Auto Workers have signed up, and some have gotten their locals' endorsements. As the crow flies, endorsing groups range from the Alaska Action Center to Women in of Gulfcoast, Fla., from the Coastal Convergence Society of Huntington Beach, Calif., to A Job is a Right Campaign of Montreal, Canada. The Green Party, Anarchist Action of Rochester, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Metro DC Committee of Correspondence and Young Liberals of North California are listed, and of course Workers World Party is an endorser. Queers For Racial & Economic Justice are there, along with New Jersey Cop Watch, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, National Black Police Association and Earthhope Action Network. There are intriguing names, too, like the White Rabbit Cult, Flyby News and Global Pastry Uprising. The complete list can be found at the www.internationalanswer.org web site, where new endorsements can also be registered. This is a diverse movement that is bringing together people from cities and villages, schools and factories, of varying ideologies, generations and sexual expressions. They have found common ground in trying to stop the slaughter of innocents in a land far way organized by a cynical group of power-hungry politicians and oil tycoons. - 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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