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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Iraq Action Center <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2000 10:01 AM
Subject: [iac-disc.] San Francisco Rally Report 8/5
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10th ANNIVERSARY IRAQ SOLIDARITY RALLY
IN SAN FRANCISCO A SUCCESS
By Hal Womack 3-dan
A spirited crowd of 200-300, by the best guesstimate I heard on the
spot, marched from Dolores Park to a rally at United Nations Plaza in Civic
Center, carrying ~150 small mock coffins and chanting slogans like, "Stop the
War Against Iraq, End the Sanctions Now!". The event lasted from 11:00 to 15:00
o'clock.
Speakers from Arab-American organizations, Muslim groups, Iraqi
refugees, American visitors returned from Iraq, the International Action Center,
the Catholic Archdiocese of SF, the AFSC and other sources joined together to
call for halting the genocidal campaign which the Gore regime is waging against
Iraq [although in general specific reference to Gore's guilt for mass murder was
conspicuous by its absence, more abstract evils such as racism & xenophobia,
corporate greed or Congress being denounced instead].
Deena [sp?] Mistressed the Ceremonies discreetly & competently. CESI
chief lobbyist Harry Scott read a substantial letter of support from his
Congressman Pete Stark, a co-sponsor of House Bill 3825 to lift the civilian
portion of the blockade. I personally had the honor of telling the audience that
the office of Tom Ammiano, the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, had asked
that we invite him to one of our future events, since he was out of town today;
of relaying a specific greeting to the meeting from SF District Attorney Terence
Hallinan, also out of town, as previously noted in this thread and of reading a
message from the venerable & emminent poet-entrepreneur Lawrence Ferlinghetti
which to my surprise & delight, literally at the last minute before the march
began, he sent to me by trusted hands.
His handprinted statement:
THE GENOCIDE IN IRAQ IS THE WORK OF BOTH DEMOCRATS
AND REPUBLICANS.
A CURSE ON BOTH THEIR HOUSES.
VOTE FOR NADER !
/s/ LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI
At 82 years of age, the poet-king of North Beach still cuts quite a
striking figure in person, as I had the fortune to observe last week in one of
our old neighborhood restaurants. Watching him finish his glass of red wine with
a deft flourish, I felt as if attending a Shakespearean play in Elizabethan
times. LF and Nelson Mandela are very much of the same generation.
Today in the Mission and downtown, the early morning overcast burned off
into grand sunshine by midday and now at half-past midnight I am sitting here
before the monitor with the rosy glow of a sunburned head, rather a nostalgic
treat for a native white Texan turned long-time San Franciscan.
'Tis a fine feeling to march down the middle of the avenue in the
company of hundreds of friends united in the most urgent cause in the world as
competent escorting police block the cross-traffic for your parade, while
toddlers in strollers carry signs on behalf of their many suffering peers ten
thousand miles away. I certainly enjoyed my long chat with a clever & very spry
Bulgarian auntie of four score years less one, who kept passing me on the march
route after we had first met in the park. She was from the IAC. Plain, home-made
yogurt !
Herewith the latest findings of modern hard science: The crimes
of the Washington regime disfigure the whole human race and, of course, in
particular our American nation, so that when our folks do somehow manage to get
together for an occasion dedicated to repudiating the wickedness of the high
national officials, then one has the rare chance of seeing humanity wearing her
finest face. This gives one badly needed confidence and renewed hope for the
future role of Earth life in the kozmos.
Later some of the leaders should undoubtedly review the details of the
event in order to find how to improve our campaign. In fact, the next meeting of
our sponsor, THE COALITION TO END THE SANCTIONS ON IRAQ or CESI will take place
next Thursday evening 10 August at the AFSC office on 9th Street @ Mission,
details available from
www.endthesanctions.org/calendar
A substantial number of the participants in the rally plan to go down to
Los Angeles in ten days to protest at the Democratic Party convention at some
oil company headquarters there.
On Thursday 8/31, the parish of St.John of God at 5th Avenue & Irving
will show by FREE ADMISSION the highly praised 75-minute documentary videotape
by the British journalist John Pilger entitled PAYING THE PRICE: KILLING THE
CHILDREN OF IRAQ. In mid-September the current Nobel Peace Laureate nominee and
recent Assistant Secretary General of the U.N. Denis Halliday will be appearing
at the Arab Film Festival in Berkeley.
'Twas about time for me to remember that _homo sapiens_ has a kind side
as well as the cruel, killing, lying leer routinely broadcast on US network
television. BTW films of our rally should be available shortly on the Web.
Although our numbers on the street are still way down from from the massive
protests under the Bushwa Administration in 1991, the spirit of resistance to
sectarian imperial war seems to have been reborn.
Recommended for meditation: Contrast the facts of the Gore blockade
against the children of Iraq as manifested in our linked Websites with the
heavenly glories revealed in "apod" or NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day".
How to get from here to there and back again in one piece ?
As they say in Mozambique,
! LA LUTTA CONTINUA !
.................................................................
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Subject: Re: March & Rally for Iraq SF 8/5 Schedule
Date: 6 Aug 2000 08:30:05 GMT
Organization: San Francisco Coalition to End the Sanctions on Iraq -- CESI
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