------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 5, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
Mobilizing continues ANTI-WAR FORCES STEP UP ACTIVITIES By Leslie Feinberg As Washington's warlords move ominously closer to a full- scale Pentagon onslaught against the people of Iraq, anti- war activists here in the United States are working hard to stop the tank treads in their tracks. Anti-war mobilizing is ratcheting up for a national march, rally and people's peace conference in Washington, D.C., the weekend of Jan. 18, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. A mass rally and march will also take place in San Francisco. The call for the January protests was issued by the International ANSWER coalition--Act Now to Stop War & End Racism--at the Oct. 26 mass rallies in Washington and San Francisco. More than 2,000 organizations and prominent individuals have endorsed the actions. Recent endorsers include the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., War Times newspaper and Not In Our Name. More than 100 organizing centers in 29 states are already in full swing to bring busloads. ANSWER organizer Sarah Sloan told Workers World, "People who came to Oct. 26 are working hard to bring two or three times the number that came from their towns, cities and campuses." One Florida organizer filled a bus for Oct. 26. She already anticipates needing four buses for Jan. 18. A City Council member in Geneva, N.Y., who helped bring two buses to Oct. 26 is also scouring for more buses this time around. From far away Colorado, activists are working to bring people to D.C. the weekend of Jan. 18. There are already four organizing centers dotting the state of Kansas. Activists in Kansas City are taking out a full- page ad in the City Star newspaper to advertise transportation to D.C. Hundreds of thousands of people have cast a vote against the impending war in the People's Anti-War Referendum first announced at that rally. Many have gone to VoteNoWar.org to cast their cyberballots. Others have added the anti-war web site as a signature on their e-mail or on their web sites. Sloan said that in the mobilizing center in Washington, D.C., paper ballots are flooding in. "We get big stacks of manila envelopes every day filled with between 20 to 200 ballots each. We even get individuals who are getting so many ballots signed that they send us cartons packed with votes against the war." Since both sides of the aisles of Congress were unmoved by the popular sentiment when they voted to give Bush and the generals full military power to wage war against the Iraqi people, ANSWER organizers will bring this mountain of anti- war opposition to the convening of the People's Peace Congress in D.C. ANSWER explains on its web page, "The grassroots Peace Congress will be comprised of delegations from all communities who are coming together in the streets to forge the opposition necessary to stop the Bush administration's war drive: labor, students and youth, fighters for civil rights and women's rights, the lesbian/gay/bi/ trans community and people of faith. "Join with others around the country by bringing a diverse delegation from your community to participate in the Jan. 18 mass march in DC or SF and Jan. 19 People's Congress. Please contact (202) 544-3389, dc@ internationalANSWER.org.endorse." Other activities are also in motion against the looming outbreak of large-scale Pentagon warfare. United for Peace is planning a day of local demonstrations on Dec. 10-- International Human Rights Day. (www.unitedforpeace.org) And in New York, Uptown Youth for Peace and Justice is organizing a march through Harlem on Dec. 14. For more information call Karim at (347) 203-6157 or Claudia at (212) 237-8748. n - 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]>
