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From: "NCA National Office" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: For immediate release and wide distribution A Joint Public Statement by the National Council of Arab Americans & the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation on the September 24 March on Washington Washington, DC - The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (MAS Freedom) and the National Council of Arab-Americans (NCA) stand united with our Muslim American and Arab American communities throughout the United States in calling on all to join and support the A.N.S.W.E.R. initiated September 24 mobilization against war and colonial occupations that will take place in Washington, DC with parallel actions in San Francisco and Los Angeles. We are proud to announce that MAS Freedom and the NCA have both joined the September 24 National Coalition for the March on Washington, which also currently includes in its leadership the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Haiti Support Network, Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). More than 4,000 organizations and individuals have thus far signed on to the coalition's Call to Action, and significant organizing has created enthusiasm for the mobilization all over the country. Under the overarching auspices of the September 24 National Coalition, we believe that various communities and organizations will come together in a genuine reflection of the grassroots mosaic that constitutes this society. We echo the grave concerns of our communities at the relentless efforts by some to remove the Palestinian struggle and its anchoring principle, the right of return, from the anti-war movement. We are reminded of the overwhelming support that our communities received when we called for an all- inclusive non-racist political program for the March 20, 2004 mobilization in New York City. On that day, over 100,000 people turned out in New York City - the first anniversary of the war and occupation of Iraq - under the slogan: "Bring the Troops Home Now! End Colonial Occupation from Iraq to Palestine to Haiti and Everywhere!" In the same context, our communities and the movement at large turned out in massive numbers on April 20, 2002 in Washington, DC, signaling that a principled unity is enthusiastically welcomed by the movement. Communities and organizations have worked too hard over many years to build bridges of solidarity and reciprocal respect between peoples for us to allow some to turn us back now to the time when Arabs and Muslims were placed on the margin. The planting of divisive seeds by some against our targeted communities during a time when we are facing continued governmental persecution and institutional racism is a dangerous endeavor that must be stopped. Capitalizing on fear from persecution to attain forced complacency and acquiescence to any offered exclusionary political program must be exposed by the movement as a whole. Time and again, the movement has made it clear that the struggles of dispossessed and colonized people from Iraq, to Palestine, to Haiti, to the Philippines and beyond, are inextricable from the struggles of communities and the working families of this country. It is time that our communities are fully respected as equal partners, as we will not accept being objects of discussions nor will we be observers of a movement about our very own lives. Let us all stand together on September 24 in a non-segregated mobilization that cuts across all color lines, religious beliefs and ethnic backgrounds, to raise our voices in unison as we march hand in hand against injustice here in the United States and abroad. And let us shun all efforts to pit our communities against each other. Let us refuse all attempts to segregate the movement on that day or any other. ALL OUT ON SEPTEMBER 24! The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation The National Council of Arab Americans June 20, 2005
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