PERFECT STORM COMING
TO THE HUDSON VALLEY
A major meeting, titled "The Perfect Storm: Environmental Crisis plus Endless Wars and Global Poverty," will take place Wednesday Oct. 27 in New Paltz at the Coykendall Science building auditorium on the SUNY campus.
Speaking at this free public meeting will be four SUNY professors, two students and four Mid-Hudson community activists. The will largely discuss climate change, but war and poverty will also be noted in two talks since together with the environmental crisis they "combine to create the perfect storm of impending global devastation," according to the organizers.
The 7-9:15 p.m. event is sponsored by the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter and the local group Peace and Social Progress Now (PSPN). The SUNY sponsor is the campus-community organization Environmental Task Force. Almost a dozen local groups are endorsing the meeting, including SUNY's Progressive Academic Network, New Paltz Students for Sustainable Agriculture, and Students for Fresh Water among others.
The speakers include Sociology Professors Brian Obach and Irwin Sperber, Education Professor Kate McCoy, Geography Professor Salvatore Engel-DiMauro, and student activists Claire Papell and Nick DePalma.
The community activist speakers include Donna Goodman, a co-chair of PSPN who is also an elected statewide delegate from the New Paltz chapter of United University Professions; Ariana Basco, a recent SUNY graduate, member of the New Paltz town Police Commission, and a local environmental organizer; Ann Guenther an anti-fracking campaigner with Climate Action Coalition; and Jack A. Smith, editor of the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter and Calendar and the other co-chair of PSPN.
"The purpose of the meeting is two-fold," say the organizers, "First is to alert New Paltz students and regional residents to the extreme danger of climate change and environmental degradation, especially during an era of seemingly endless wars and growing global poverty. Second, we hope to encourage more people to take action against this developing Perfect Storm."
Volunteers will distribute the following statement promoting the meeting on campus and in surrounding villages and towns:
"Global warming will disfigure our world unless decisive emergency measures are taken now. The United States and other industrialized countries must substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among other tasks, within a couple of decades. The longer it takes, the more devastating the destruction.
"Earth's entire ecological system is in crisis. But the principal countries with the power to prevent disaster are either not acting swiftly, or not at all. Water and food supplies are endangered. Glaciers are melting, as are the Arctic and Antarctic ice packs. Temperatures are rising. Coastal areas are in danger of flooding.
"Coinciding with this unfolding tragedy are the long wars being conducted by our own country, and Pentagon plans for more wars in future. America is spending a trillion dollars a year on the military and national security — funds needed to help develop a green economy and to end increasing global poverty. By 2050, 70% of world population will live in urban or rural slums. A billion people suffer chronic hunger now. And 15 million children starve to death each year, one every six seconds.
"Taken together this amounts to a perfect storm of impending global devastation. Learn about this crisis from experts and activists Oct. 27. Learn about what we can do as concerned people to stop this madness — for ourselves and future generations. There's still time, but we must act now to help save our environment and life on Mother Earth."
Campus map: http://www.newpaltz.edu/map/
Information and directions, (845) 255-5779, jacdon@earthlink.net.
Showing posts with label 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2010. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
10-05-10 One Nation Rally analysis
WHAT'S BEHIND THE ONE NATION RALLY?
By Jack A. Smith, Activist Newsletter
An enthusiastic crowd estimated at 175,000 people attended the four-hour rally in Washington Oct. 2 at Lincoln Memorial — a mass action by the labor movement and African American rights groups, supported by the Latino, environmental, LGBT and other liberal and progressive movements. The main purpose was to increase the Democratic vote next month.
The event was organized by a new coalition, One Nation Working Together, which is supported by some 400 groups, primarily led by the two labor federations, AFL-CIO and Change To Win/SEIU, and the NAACP. The rally was addressed by a couple of dozen speakers, mostly from supporting liberal advocacy organizations.
A constant theme reiterated by the union leaders who spoke was the need for jobs — the absence of which is probably one of the main reasons a number of voters who went Democratic in the presidential election may not vote in November. Among these leaders, and a sign of the strength of labor at the rally, was AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Service Employees International Union president Mary Kay Henry, UAW president Bob King, AFT chief Randi Weingarten, NEA President Dennis Van Roakel, and CWA's Larry Cohen.
President/CEO Ben Jealous of the NAACP told the crowd — which included a large proportion of African Americans — that "We've come too far to turn back now," evoking the long struggle for equal rights. "We've got to go home and ask our friends and ask our neighbors to vote. Get up off the couch and get out and vote November 2."
Up to 2,000 chartered buses — largely financed by the unions — brought participants to the demonstration from the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states. Others arrived by car, commercial bus, railroad and planes from as far away as the West Coast.
The crowd reached its height around 2:30 p.m. when it extended from the Memorial along each side of the long Reflecting Pool to the end. The attendance was not as large as the Aug. 28 right wing "non-political" religious manifestation organized by TV personality Glen Beck, but the two events were so different in character that comparing size determines nothing.
The historic rally and its feeder marches in Washington Oct. 2 had several pluses accompanied by minuses, the most important being these two:
• The unity achieved at the rally between the working class, people of color and progressives in various social advocacy groups is very important in terms of the political struggle for needed progressive social change in the United States.
However, the rally's singular purpose was to increase the popular vote for Democratic candidates in the Nov. 2 Congressional election and local offices, not to build an independent liberal/progressive/left coalition to agitate for needed programs that go beyond the limited possibilities of the Obama Administration's center/center right political agenda.
• Rally speakers supported a number of relatively progressive policy initiatives, including a massive and comprehensive jobs program, advancement of civil rights and liberties, immigration reform, education reform, and union rights to mention a few. This was a major liberal event and were it the actual intention of the Obama Administration to fight for such initiatives it would be transformational.
However, not one of the speakers criticized the Obama Administration's failure to seriously embrace many such programs or to mount the political fight required to attain even watered down versions, blaming everything on "The Party of No." Even the Blue Dog conservative Democrats in Congress were off the hook.
Clearly, the administration's weak jobs program has fallen far short of making a significant dent in unemployment, which remains around 10% officially and 17% unofficially. Its anti-foreclosure efforts have failed. Civil liberties are being eroded because of White House decisions. Immigration reform is piecemeal. Education reform, based on President Obama's $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" initiative, is actually opposed by the two teacher unions that so strongly support the Democrats. The labor movement's main legislative goal —Employee Free Choice Act — can't even be introduced in Congress, in part because of conservative Democrat opposition.
One of the reasons the Democratic Party may lose a more than usual number of House and Senate seats in the midterm contest is that a number of 2008 Obama voters are disappointed that the Democrats didn't fight harder and compromise less for "the change they believe in." (For a full background, see the article "Democrats Face Tough Election," the first story in the Oct. 1 Activist Newsletter below.)
It appeared that President Obama's massive escalation of the Afghan war, extending the fighting into western Pakistan and Yemen, and continuing the occupation of Iraq would also be unchallenged by the speakers — despite the fact that the majority of Democratic voters are against the war — until Harry Belafonte shattered the silence.
Charging that "the wars that we wage today in far away lands are immoral, unconscionable and unwinnable," the famous musician, social activist and civil rights leader delivered a stunning denunciation of a top Obama Administration priority. The crowd seemed momentarily taken aback by this sharp criticism of Obama's wars (though the president's name was not mentioned) and the reception was somewhat muted, though at the finish, just after he said "let us put an end to war," he received prolonged applause.
Could it be that rally leaders were unaware Belafonte intended to deliver a strong antiwar message? His speech, the text of which we reproduce below this article, was the highlight of the afternoon as far the peace movement and left were concerned.
The only other reference to the military — aside from some patriotic comments to the troops — was Jesse Jackson's call to "Cut the military budget," but even Defense Secretary Gates says that. The rest of Rev. Jackson's talk was essentially "vote Democratic" in November because "The president can’t bear this cross alone."
One of the more moving presentations was by outspoken progressive Marian Wright Edelman, founder/president of the Children's Defense Fund, who sharply criticized politicians that promote "massive tax giveaways to the rich when 50% of our children are living in poverty," and called for increased education funding.
Van Jones, a well known environmental and civil rights activist and an expert on "Green Jobs," noted that “We can empower America by looking up for our sources of energy instead of looking down,” referring to wind and solar power. Rev. Al Sharpton earned applause when he declared: “We bailed out the banks. We bailed out the insurance companies. Now it’s time to bail out the American people.”
The only Congressman to speak was Chicago immigrant rights advocate Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who declared: "The Latino and immigrant struggle is a continuation of the civil rights struggle in this nation. There would be no Cesar Chavez without Dr. Martin Luther King, no Sonia Sotomayor without Thurgood Marshal and no Roberto Clemente without Jackie Robinson.”
The absence of Democratic Party leaders and office holders on the podium as endorsers or rally officials was intentional. Rally leaders did not wish to convey the impression that One Nation Working Together was simply organizing a campaign event to elect a fairly unimpressive collection of center/center right office holders and a small minority of liberals.
The Democrats are worried that independent voters, young voters and liberal supporters who voted Democratic in 2008 are not going to come out in large enough number to prevent the Republicans from making major gains in the House and Senate. A good proportion of these voters are disappointed in the Obama Administration's performance over the past two years, including some union workers who voted for the Democrats in the last election.
One Nation has positioned itself as independently promoting a relatively liberal agenda and is asking Democrats — who are told that the only obstacle to real progress is the GOP and the dreaded Tea Party — to vote in sufficient number to make it possible for the Democratic members of Congress to score major victories in the next two years. The disinclination of many of these politicians to consider aligning with center/center left progressive programs is notorious.
This event cost the union movement plenty. Most of the buses allowed union members — and in some cases the general public — to travel free. Our New York State United Teachers-sponsored bus from New Paltz cost a paltry $20 to D.C. and back for non-union riders, in return for which we received a bagged breakfast, dinner snack, a blue and orange AFT jersey proclaiming One Nation Working Together plus a $5 roundtrip metro fare to and from the Lincoln Memorial.
Charter buses began arriving in the huge parking lot of RFK Stadium starting around 9 a.m. on what turned out to be a day of blue skies, sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Up to 700 buses were said to be coming from New York State alone. According to local union sources buses brought perhaps 1,000 demonstrators from the Upper Hudson Valley cities and towns of Albany, Amsterdam, Latham, Schenectady, Saratoga and Troy and 500 from Mid-Hudson Valley communities of Kingston, New Paltz, Middletown, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Fishkill and Beacon. An unknown number took other transportation.
Thousands more probably would have attended the Washington event but there were serious bus problems in Boston, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and on Long Island. Through a mix-up, some scheduled buses never arrived to pick up passengers, and some got to the nation's capital just about in time to return home.
Many buses, including ours, arrived too late to attend the scheduled 11 a.m. antiwar feeder march from 14th St. and Constitution Ave., where there were two speaking platforms, one organized by United for Peace and Justice and the other by the United National Antiwar Conference. After a while both groups agreed to use the same stage. In addition there was a Socialist Contingent nearby. When the three groups marched together to the Memorial there were about 500-600 people, we're told.
Some Union contingents, each wearing their own colored t-shirts, marched in separate feeder marches.
A number of peace and left wing groups attended the rally but not all marched, including several socialist and communist organizations which carried their own signs in the crowd and distributed leaflets and free publications. The ANSWER antiwar coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) handed out a great many large yellow and black peace posters on sticks with a photo of Martin Luther King that predominated in a large part of the rally where we were situated, and hundreds of demonstrators took them home on buses that evening. The Party for Socialism and Liberation decided to charge a donation for their paper, Liberation, an sold 1,200 copies.
This was a positive aspect of the way the One Nation event was organized. Antiwar and socialist or communist groups were welcomed to join the rally just like every other group, to arrange feeder marches of their own, to set up tables, distribute literature, and to become one of the hundreds of endorsers if they wished.
The Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialists of America and the International Socialist Organization were among the endorsers, though most left organizations did not wish to be associated at that level. It has not always been this way in union or liberal dominated events, when the left has often been discouraged from attending or excluded. Hopefully it's a new trend. Of course, the left was not invited to speak at the main rally, and didn't expect to be.
Right wing websites and blogs howled with red-baiting denunciations about the presence of the left Oct. 2, which was actually quite small — but since they already call Obama a "socialist" and believe the Democratic Party is a front for a Bolshevik conspiracy it's not a big deal.
To sum up: The various liberal groups that gathered in Washington for the One Nation rally are a positive factor on the political landscape, mainly because of their working class, multinational and progressive orientation.
Unfortunately their heightened political consciousness remains to be developed vis-à-vis (1) the inherent political limitations of the Democratic Party to which they are presently wedded; (2) their acceptance of a restrictive, closed circuit two-party system extending from the center to the far right without a mass left entity; and (3) their adherence to "lesser evil" politics that insures that "evil" in one guise or another is the only result.
Lastly, the notion of "one nation" sounds good, even inspiring, and entirely useful in the present situation. But most of us know that in reality the U.S. remains, in effect, two nations: one representing the interests of the minority — the big corporations, big banks, big stockholders, and big money that tend to rule; and the other the interests of the great majority — the working class, middle class and lower class that tend to be ruled.
The real issue is which "nation" does one support, and out of that support help to create one real nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
By Jack A. Smith, Activist Newsletter
An enthusiastic crowd estimated at 175,000 people attended the four-hour rally in Washington Oct. 2 at Lincoln Memorial — a mass action by the labor movement and African American rights groups, supported by the Latino, environmental, LGBT and other liberal and progressive movements. The main purpose was to increase the Democratic vote next month.
The event was organized by a new coalition, One Nation Working Together, which is supported by some 400 groups, primarily led by the two labor federations, AFL-CIO and Change To Win/SEIU, and the NAACP. The rally was addressed by a couple of dozen speakers, mostly from supporting liberal advocacy organizations.
A constant theme reiterated by the union leaders who spoke was the need for jobs — the absence of which is probably one of the main reasons a number of voters who went Democratic in the presidential election may not vote in November. Among these leaders, and a sign of the strength of labor at the rally, was AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, Service Employees International Union president Mary Kay Henry, UAW president Bob King, AFT chief Randi Weingarten, NEA President Dennis Van Roakel, and CWA's Larry Cohen.
President/CEO Ben Jealous of the NAACP told the crowd — which included a large proportion of African Americans — that "We've come too far to turn back now," evoking the long struggle for equal rights. "We've got to go home and ask our friends and ask our neighbors to vote. Get up off the couch and get out and vote November 2."
Up to 2,000 chartered buses — largely financed by the unions — brought participants to the demonstration from the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states. Others arrived by car, commercial bus, railroad and planes from as far away as the West Coast.
The crowd reached its height around 2:30 p.m. when it extended from the Memorial along each side of the long Reflecting Pool to the end. The attendance was not as large as the Aug. 28 right wing "non-political" religious manifestation organized by TV personality Glen Beck, but the two events were so different in character that comparing size determines nothing.
The historic rally and its feeder marches in Washington Oct. 2 had several pluses accompanied by minuses, the most important being these two:
• The unity achieved at the rally between the working class, people of color and progressives in various social advocacy groups is very important in terms of the political struggle for needed progressive social change in the United States.
However, the rally's singular purpose was to increase the popular vote for Democratic candidates in the Nov. 2 Congressional election and local offices, not to build an independent liberal/progressive/left coalition to agitate for needed programs that go beyond the limited possibilities of the Obama Administration's center/center right political agenda.
• Rally speakers supported a number of relatively progressive policy initiatives, including a massive and comprehensive jobs program, advancement of civil rights and liberties, immigration reform, education reform, and union rights to mention a few. This was a major liberal event and were it the actual intention of the Obama Administration to fight for such initiatives it would be transformational.
However, not one of the speakers criticized the Obama Administration's failure to seriously embrace many such programs or to mount the political fight required to attain even watered down versions, blaming everything on "The Party of No." Even the Blue Dog conservative Democrats in Congress were off the hook.
Clearly, the administration's weak jobs program has fallen far short of making a significant dent in unemployment, which remains around 10% officially and 17% unofficially. Its anti-foreclosure efforts have failed. Civil liberties are being eroded because of White House decisions. Immigration reform is piecemeal. Education reform, based on President Obama's $4.35 billion "Race to the Top" initiative, is actually opposed by the two teacher unions that so strongly support the Democrats. The labor movement's main legislative goal —Employee Free Choice Act — can't even be introduced in Congress, in part because of conservative Democrat opposition.
One of the reasons the Democratic Party may lose a more than usual number of House and Senate seats in the midterm contest is that a number of 2008 Obama voters are disappointed that the Democrats didn't fight harder and compromise less for "the change they believe in." (For a full background, see the article "Democrats Face Tough Election," the first story in the Oct. 1 Activist Newsletter below.)
It appeared that President Obama's massive escalation of the Afghan war, extending the fighting into western Pakistan and Yemen, and continuing the occupation of Iraq would also be unchallenged by the speakers — despite the fact that the majority of Democratic voters are against the war — until Harry Belafonte shattered the silence.
Charging that "the wars that we wage today in far away lands are immoral, unconscionable and unwinnable," the famous musician, social activist and civil rights leader delivered a stunning denunciation of a top Obama Administration priority. The crowd seemed momentarily taken aback by this sharp criticism of Obama's wars (though the president's name was not mentioned) and the reception was somewhat muted, though at the finish, just after he said "let us put an end to war," he received prolonged applause.
Could it be that rally leaders were unaware Belafonte intended to deliver a strong antiwar message? His speech, the text of which we reproduce below this article, was the highlight of the afternoon as far the peace movement and left were concerned.
The only other reference to the military — aside from some patriotic comments to the troops — was Jesse Jackson's call to "Cut the military budget," but even Defense Secretary Gates says that. The rest of Rev. Jackson's talk was essentially "vote Democratic" in November because "The president can’t bear this cross alone."
One of the more moving presentations was by outspoken progressive Marian Wright Edelman, founder/president of the Children's Defense Fund, who sharply criticized politicians that promote "massive tax giveaways to the rich when 50% of our children are living in poverty," and called for increased education funding.
Van Jones, a well known environmental and civil rights activist and an expert on "Green Jobs," noted that “We can empower America by looking up for our sources of energy instead of looking down,” referring to wind and solar power. Rev. Al Sharpton earned applause when he declared: “We bailed out the banks. We bailed out the insurance companies. Now it’s time to bail out the American people.”
The only Congressman to speak was Chicago immigrant rights advocate Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who declared: "The Latino and immigrant struggle is a continuation of the civil rights struggle in this nation. There would be no Cesar Chavez without Dr. Martin Luther King, no Sonia Sotomayor without Thurgood Marshal and no Roberto Clemente without Jackie Robinson.”
The absence of Democratic Party leaders and office holders on the podium as endorsers or rally officials was intentional. Rally leaders did not wish to convey the impression that One Nation Working Together was simply organizing a campaign event to elect a fairly unimpressive collection of center/center right office holders and a small minority of liberals.
The Democrats are worried that independent voters, young voters and liberal supporters who voted Democratic in 2008 are not going to come out in large enough number to prevent the Republicans from making major gains in the House and Senate. A good proportion of these voters are disappointed in the Obama Administration's performance over the past two years, including some union workers who voted for the Democrats in the last election.
One Nation has positioned itself as independently promoting a relatively liberal agenda and is asking Democrats — who are told that the only obstacle to real progress is the GOP and the dreaded Tea Party — to vote in sufficient number to make it possible for the Democratic members of Congress to score major victories in the next two years. The disinclination of many of these politicians to consider aligning with center/center left progressive programs is notorious.
This event cost the union movement plenty. Most of the buses allowed union members — and in some cases the general public — to travel free. Our New York State United Teachers-sponsored bus from New Paltz cost a paltry $20 to D.C. and back for non-union riders, in return for which we received a bagged breakfast, dinner snack, a blue and orange AFT jersey proclaiming One Nation Working Together plus a $5 roundtrip metro fare to and from the Lincoln Memorial.
Charter buses began arriving in the huge parking lot of RFK Stadium starting around 9 a.m. on what turned out to be a day of blue skies, sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Up to 700 buses were said to be coming from New York State alone. According to local union sources buses brought perhaps 1,000 demonstrators from the Upper Hudson Valley cities and towns of Albany, Amsterdam, Latham, Schenectady, Saratoga and Troy and 500 from Mid-Hudson Valley communities of Kingston, New Paltz, Middletown, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Fishkill and Beacon. An unknown number took other transportation.
Thousands more probably would have attended the Washington event but there were serious bus problems in Boston, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and on Long Island. Through a mix-up, some scheduled buses never arrived to pick up passengers, and some got to the nation's capital just about in time to return home.
Many buses, including ours, arrived too late to attend the scheduled 11 a.m. antiwar feeder march from 14th St. and Constitution Ave., where there were two speaking platforms, one organized by United for Peace and Justice and the other by the United National Antiwar Conference. After a while both groups agreed to use the same stage. In addition there was a Socialist Contingent nearby. When the three groups marched together to the Memorial there were about 500-600 people, we're told.
Some Union contingents, each wearing their own colored t-shirts, marched in separate feeder marches.
A number of peace and left wing groups attended the rally but not all marched, including several socialist and communist organizations which carried their own signs in the crowd and distributed leaflets and free publications. The ANSWER antiwar coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) handed out a great many large yellow and black peace posters on sticks with a photo of Martin Luther King that predominated in a large part of the rally where we were situated, and hundreds of demonstrators took them home on buses that evening. The Party for Socialism and Liberation decided to charge a donation for their paper, Liberation, an sold 1,200 copies.
This was a positive aspect of the way the One Nation event was organized. Antiwar and socialist or communist groups were welcomed to join the rally just like every other group, to arrange feeder marches of their own, to set up tables, distribute literature, and to become one of the hundreds of endorsers if they wished.
The Communist Party USA, Democratic Socialists of America and the International Socialist Organization were among the endorsers, though most left organizations did not wish to be associated at that level. It has not always been this way in union or liberal dominated events, when the left has often been discouraged from attending or excluded. Hopefully it's a new trend. Of course, the left was not invited to speak at the main rally, and didn't expect to be.
Right wing websites and blogs howled with red-baiting denunciations about the presence of the left Oct. 2, which was actually quite small — but since they already call Obama a "socialist" and believe the Democratic Party is a front for a Bolshevik conspiracy it's not a big deal.
To sum up: The various liberal groups that gathered in Washington for the One Nation rally are a positive factor on the political landscape, mainly because of their working class, multinational and progressive orientation.
Unfortunately their heightened political consciousness remains to be developed vis-à-vis (1) the inherent political limitations of the Democratic Party to which they are presently wedded; (2) their acceptance of a restrictive, closed circuit two-party system extending from the center to the far right without a mass left entity; and (3) their adherence to "lesser evil" politics that insures that "evil" in one guise or another is the only result.
Lastly, the notion of "one nation" sounds good, even inspiring, and entirely useful in the present situation. But most of us know that in reality the U.S. remains, in effect, two nations: one representing the interests of the minority — the big corporations, big banks, big stockholders, and big money that tend to rule; and the other the interests of the great majority — the working class, middle class and lower class that tend to be ruled.
The real issue is which "nation" does one support, and out of that support help to create one real nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
10-05-10 BELAFONTE'S SPEECH
HARRY BELAFONTE'S SPEECH IN D.C.
OCT. 2 AT THE 'ONE NATION' RALLY
Text transcribed by Democracy Now!
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of this Memorial and declared that this nation should come together and embrace its greater ideals. He said that we should rally together and overcome injustice and racism, and that all citizens should not only have the right to vote, but that we should exercise that right and make America whole.
That is part of why we are here today. But we’re also here to tend other grievances. Martin Luther King Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech 47 years ago, said that America would soon come to realize that the war we were in at that time, that this nation waged in Vietnam, was not only unconscionable, but unwinnable. Fifty-eight thousand Americans died in that cruel adventure, and over two million Vietnamese and Cambodians perished. Now today, almost a half -century later, as we gather at this place where Dr. King prayed for the soul of this great nation, tens of thousands of citizens from all walks of life have come here today to rekindle his dream and once again hope that all America will soon come to the realization that the wars that we wage today in far away lands are immoral, unconscionable and unwinnable.
The Central Intelligence Agency, in its official report, tells us that the enemy we pursue in Afghanistan and in Pakistan, the al-Qaeda, they number less than 50—I say 50—people. Do we really think that sending 100,000 young American men and women to kill innocent civilians, women and children, and antagonizing the tens of millions of people in the whole region somehow makes us secure? Does this make any sense?
The President’s decision to escalate the war in that region alone costs the nation $33 billion [extra a year]. That sum of money could not only create 600,000 jobs here in America, but would even leave us a few billion to start rebuilding our schools, our roads, our hospitals and affordable housing. It could also help to rebuild the lives of the thousands of our returning wounded veterans.
Dr. King loved this nation. He saw, as all of us here today see, that this great nation should not be allowed to perish. Martin’s vision was also the vision of Abraham Lincoln, who understood the evil of slavery and, in abolishing that evil, saved America. Although slavery may have be have been abolished, the crippling poison of racism still persists, and the struggle still continues. We have the largest prison population in the world. And as we industrialize these prison systems, we rob hundreds of thousands of workers of the jobs that they need and the wages that are rightfully theirs.
The plight of women is no better. Their oppression refuses to yield, as rape and domestic violence and sex slaves and teenage pregnancy abounds.
But perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends.
This gathering here today is America’s wake-up call. The giant called democracy is at last stirring again. Citizens are coming together to say freedom does not sleep. It may have been fueled and lulled for the moment into a lethargy, but it’s fully awake now. And we the people are its engine. We must awaken the apathetic, the cynical, the many angry doubters, who see their future as the perpetual hopelessness, and show them that our greatest weapon is the vote. And it is the answer to much that nags in us.
On November 2nd, in the millions, we must overburden our voting booths by voting against those who would see the nation become a totalitarian state. Americans know that Dr. King’s dream is not dead. Let us vote on November 2nd for jobs, for jobs, for jobs, for peace, for justice, for human rights, for our children and the future of America. And let us put an end to war. Peace is necessary. For justice, it is necessary. For hope, it is necessary, for our future.
OCT. 2 AT THE 'ONE NATION' RALLY
Text transcribed by Democracy Now!
In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of this Memorial and declared that this nation should come together and embrace its greater ideals. He said that we should rally together and overcome injustice and racism, and that all citizens should not only have the right to vote, but that we should exercise that right and make America whole.
That is part of why we are here today. But we’re also here to tend other grievances. Martin Luther King Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech 47 years ago, said that America would soon come to realize that the war we were in at that time, that this nation waged in Vietnam, was not only unconscionable, but unwinnable. Fifty-eight thousand Americans died in that cruel adventure, and over two million Vietnamese and Cambodians perished. Now today, almost a half -century later, as we gather at this place where Dr. King prayed for the soul of this great nation, tens of thousands of citizens from all walks of life have come here today to rekindle his dream and once again hope that all America will soon come to the realization that the wars that we wage today in far away lands are immoral, unconscionable and unwinnable.
The Central Intelligence Agency, in its official report, tells us that the enemy we pursue in Afghanistan and in Pakistan, the al-Qaeda, they number less than 50—I say 50—people. Do we really think that sending 100,000 young American men and women to kill innocent civilians, women and children, and antagonizing the tens of millions of people in the whole region somehow makes us secure? Does this make any sense?
The President’s decision to escalate the war in that region alone costs the nation $33 billion [extra a year]. That sum of money could not only create 600,000 jobs here in America, but would even leave us a few billion to start rebuilding our schools, our roads, our hospitals and affordable housing. It could also help to rebuild the lives of the thousands of our returning wounded veterans.
Dr. King loved this nation. He saw, as all of us here today see, that this great nation should not be allowed to perish. Martin’s vision was also the vision of Abraham Lincoln, who understood the evil of slavery and, in abolishing that evil, saved America. Although slavery may have be have been abolished, the crippling poison of racism still persists, and the struggle still continues. We have the largest prison population in the world. And as we industrialize these prison systems, we rob hundreds of thousands of workers of the jobs that they need and the wages that are rightfully theirs.
The plight of women is no better. Their oppression refuses to yield, as rape and domestic violence and sex slaves and teenage pregnancy abounds.
But perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends.
This gathering here today is America’s wake-up call. The giant called democracy is at last stirring again. Citizens are coming together to say freedom does not sleep. It may have been fueled and lulled for the moment into a lethargy, but it’s fully awake now. And we the people are its engine. We must awaken the apathetic, the cynical, the many angry doubters, who see their future as the perpetual hopelessness, and show them that our greatest weapon is the vote. And it is the answer to much that nags in us.
On November 2nd, in the millions, we must overburden our voting booths by voting against those who would see the nation become a totalitarian state. Americans know that Dr. King’s dream is not dead. Let us vote on November 2nd for jobs, for jobs, for jobs, for peace, for justice, for human rights, for our children and the future of America. And let us put an end to war. Peace is necessary. For justice, it is necessary. For hope, it is necessary, for our future.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
05-20-10 West Point peace rally May 22
JOIN THE WEST POINT PEACE RALLY
AND MARCH THIS SATURDAY, 10 a.m.
A coalition of peace activists from at least four Hudson Valley counties will march to the south gate of West Point Saturday, May 22, while President Obama prepares to address the Military Academy graduating class in nearby Michie Stadium.
After this presidential sendoff, nearly all the graduates will end up fighting in the ongoing wars initiated by the U.S. government, just as the Afghan war is being widened to Pakistan and Yemen.
Antiwar organizers urge all Hudson Valley opponents of these wars to join this important protest. "If we don't take a stand now," says the Activist Newsletter, "it seems as though continuing and new wars are inevitable. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said as much Feb. 1 when he declared that 'Success in wars to come will depend on success in these wars in progress.' The way to stop the wars to come is to oppose the wars in progress."
The antiwar events begin at 10 a.m. with a rally in Highland Falls at Veterans Park on Main St. (Rt. 218) and Veterans Way, followed by a march to the Thayer Gate. After a brief rally, the marchers will then return to the park for some final words. The main demands will be to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to invest the saved taxpayer dollars in financing jobs, education and other needs to benefit the American people.
A right-wing, pro-war demonstration will also be taking place in Highland Falls Saturday.
The pro-peace demonstration was initiated by the Orange County Democratic Alliance (OCDA). Local groups endorsing the demonstration so far include (alphabetically) Dutchess Greens, Dutchess Peace Coalition, Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter, Hudson Valley BDS, Middle East Crisis Response, No War Westchester, OCDA, Orange County Peace and Justice, Peace and Social Progress Now, the Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice, WESPAC, and the Woodstock Chapter of Veterans For Peace. National endorsers include the ANSWER Coalition, CodePink, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and World Can't Wait.
The OCDA and several of these same groups organized a peaceful protest that drew 300 people to Highland Falls and the Thayer Gate Dec. 1 when President Obama went to West Point to deliver a speech informing the American people that he was expanding the Afghan war.
If you plan on joining the peace protest, leave extra time to arrive at Highland Falls because of heavier morning traffic on 9W associated with the military graduation beginning several from the Academy. From New Paltz, for instance, it's best to leave by 8 a.m. to arrive by 10, just in case.
DIRECTIONS: Highland Falls is about 32 miles south of New Paltz and 16 miles south of Newburgh. Driving from the north, Rt. 9W is your best bet. There are two entrances to the town from 9W. From the north the first one is where Rt. 218 cuts into Highland Falls and it will take you directly (after 1.1 miles) to Main St. and Veterans Way, where Veterans Park is located. (If you are coming from further north it may be quicker to take the Thruway to exit 17 Newburgh, and switch to 9W south.) If you approach from the south, there's another entrance about a mile and a half below the first which connects directly with Main St. (Rt. 218) which you take for a mile or so to the park.
If you are driving from the north and are interested in car-pooling, contact Jack Smith at jacdon@earthlink.net or call (845) 255-5779. The OCDA has arranged for a van to transport MetroNorth passengers from the Peekskill station to Highland Falls and back. For information, Michael Sussman at (845) 294-3991. For other information, Bennett Weiss at (845) 569-8662, benweiss@aol.com.
AND MARCH THIS SATURDAY, 10 a.m.
A coalition of peace activists from at least four Hudson Valley counties will march to the south gate of West Point Saturday, May 22, while President Obama prepares to address the Military Academy graduating class in nearby Michie Stadium.
After this presidential sendoff, nearly all the graduates will end up fighting in the ongoing wars initiated by the U.S. government, just as the Afghan war is being widened to Pakistan and Yemen.
Antiwar organizers urge all Hudson Valley opponents of these wars to join this important protest. "If we don't take a stand now," says the Activist Newsletter, "it seems as though continuing and new wars are inevitable. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said as much Feb. 1 when he declared that 'Success in wars to come will depend on success in these wars in progress.' The way to stop the wars to come is to oppose the wars in progress."
The antiwar events begin at 10 a.m. with a rally in Highland Falls at Veterans Park on Main St. (Rt. 218) and Veterans Way, followed by a march to the Thayer Gate. After a brief rally, the marchers will then return to the park for some final words. The main demands will be to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and to invest the saved taxpayer dollars in financing jobs, education and other needs to benefit the American people.
A right-wing, pro-war demonstration will also be taking place in Highland Falls Saturday.
The pro-peace demonstration was initiated by the Orange County Democratic Alliance (OCDA). Local groups endorsing the demonstration so far include (alphabetically) Dutchess Greens, Dutchess Peace Coalition, Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter, Hudson Valley BDS, Middle East Crisis Response, No War Westchester, OCDA, Orange County Peace and Justice, Peace and Social Progress Now, the Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice, WESPAC, and the Woodstock Chapter of Veterans For Peace. National endorsers include the ANSWER Coalition, CodePink, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and World Can't Wait.
The OCDA and several of these same groups organized a peaceful protest that drew 300 people to Highland Falls and the Thayer Gate Dec. 1 when President Obama went to West Point to deliver a speech informing the American people that he was expanding the Afghan war.
If you plan on joining the peace protest, leave extra time to arrive at Highland Falls because of heavier morning traffic on 9W associated with the military graduation beginning several from the Academy. From New Paltz, for instance, it's best to leave by 8 a.m. to arrive by 10, just in case.
DIRECTIONS: Highland Falls is about 32 miles south of New Paltz and 16 miles south of Newburgh. Driving from the north, Rt. 9W is your best bet. There are two entrances to the town from 9W. From the north the first one is where Rt. 218 cuts into Highland Falls and it will take you directly (after 1.1 miles) to Main St. and Veterans Way, where Veterans Park is located. (If you are coming from further north it may be quicker to take the Thruway to exit 17 Newburgh, and switch to 9W south.) If you approach from the south, there's another entrance about a mile and a half below the first which connects directly with Main St. (Rt. 218) which you take for a mile or so to the park.
If you are driving from the north and are interested in car-pooling, contact Jack Smith at jacdon@earthlink.net or call (845) 255-5779. The OCDA has arranged for a van to transport MetroNorth passengers from the Peekskill station to Highland Falls and back. For information, Michael Sussman at (845) 294-3991. For other information, Bennett Weiss at (845) 569-8662, benweiss@aol.com.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
3-25-07 Peace Rally articles
Coverage of March 20 Peace Actions
1. Peace Rallies Tell Obama, End the Afghan War
2. Raging Grannies sing Bail Out The People.
3 ANSWER Coalition Slapped With Government Fines
————————————————————————
PEACE RALLIES TELL OBAMA:
END THE AFGHAN WAR!
By Jack A. Smith
Peace demonstrators marched and rallied against the Bush-Obama wars in Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities March 20 on the seventh anniversary of the unjust, illegal invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq.
The protest mainly called for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the Afghan war that President Barack Obama has widened since taking office last year by more than doubling the number of American soldiers and marines.
The ANSWER Coalition, which organized the biggest rallies, estimated that 10,000 demonstrators marched for peace in the nation's capital, 5,000 in San Francisco, and 3,000 in Los Angeles. Eight people were arrested at the Washington protest.
The demonstrations were smaller than in the years when President George W. Bush occupied the White House. But it showed that a determined sector of the U.S. peace movement remained a vital oppositional force to America's aggressive wars despite the defection of many Democratic peace voters since President Obama took office.
The Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter and Peace and Social Progress Now arranged for 72 activists to travel to the Washington protest last Saturday on chartered buses picking up passengers in Kingston, New Paltz and Spring Valley, N.Y.
As with the national movement this number was smaller than in the Bush years due to the reluctance of many Obama supporters to take a public stand for peace, though larger than the number who traveled with us on the sixth anniversary. The Albany peace movement to our north also sent a bus. Speaking from the Hudson Valley region was Joe Lombardo of Bethlehem (N.Y.) Neighbors for Peace, representing the National Assembly, a co-sponsor of the day's events.
ANSWER's Washington action — which was multinational in composition with a large youth component — was co-sponsored by several score peace, justice, veterans and left groups. "Buses to the Washington protest came from at least 50 cities in 20 states," a spokesperson for the organization reported. "Demonstrators rallied and marched shoulder to shoulder to demand 'U.S. Out of Iraq and Afghanistan Now,' 'Free Palestine,' 'Reparations for Haiti' and 'No Sanctions Against Iran.'" (See links to photos and video below.)
The action began on a beautiful first day of spring with a lively hour and a half rally in Lafayette Park, directly across the street from the White House. Some 25 people, representing various causes touching upon the wars, spoke for 2 or 3 minutes each, often with rapid-fire deliveries. President Obama was criticized frequently for his continuation and expansion of Bush's wars.
Despite many stirring speeches, two groups that appeared on the platform were exceptional crowd-pleasers. One was the well known "Raging Grannies," composed of several older women singing songs of peace and justice. They offered a rousing version of Bail Out the People (see below for text).
The other group was composed of as many representatives as could fit on the stage of a bus full of New York City high school students, who raised the money to charter the vehicle on their own. They were from the public Facing History School in Manhattan. During the march they carried a 20-foot banner with the words: "Facing History School Demands: Money for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Occupation." (Link to photo of students below.)
Brian Becker, ANSWER's national coordinator, told the crowd. "A huge part of the antiwar movement has been focused on the Bush Administration and its policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush is gone. Millions of people thought his exit would mean an end to these wars. Instead, after one year of real-life experience, they're far from ending."
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a leader of the campaign to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney when they were in office, called for Congressional hearings to investigate U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the Bush Administration's unjust wars "are supreme international crimes and we must hold them responsible.... Unless we stop these wars now our country will remain a menace to the entire planet."
Ralph Nader addressed, among other topics, the fact that "Bush and Cheney are still at large and must be brought to justice." The Obama Administration will not allow an inquiry into the illegal wars or the torture programs, but throughout the peace movement there is the conviction that unless war criminals are identified and discredited the precedent established by Bush and Cheney will be replicated in future.
Cindy Sheehan, who recently set up a peace camp near the Washington Monument, gestured across the street from the platform to ask the crowd, "Is the honeymoon over with that war criminal in the White House?" Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of Partnership for Civil Justice discussed the harassment of ANSWER by the D.C. government (see article below).
Washington's Rev. Gaylord Hagler noted that as a candidate Sen. Obama promised "change" to the voters but "he is going to keep the Bush wars." He called for an immediate end to the Iraq and Afghan wars. Former U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright, who resigned to protest the Iraq war and has practically become a fulltime peace activist, received heavy applause.
Other speakers included representatives from the Muslim Solidarity Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Is Back Coalition, Alliance for Global Justice, CodePink, National Lawyer's Guild, U.S. Labor Against the War, Voters for Peace, Veterans for Peace, March Forward, Latinos USA, World Can't Wait, and National Council of Arab-Americans.
The march after the rally lasted about two hours, following a route with more passersby watching from the sidewalks than usual, including many tourists. Marchers were often 40 across jammed closely together on the wide streets. Various slogans decorated at least 2,000 signs bobbing up and down during the march through Washington's business district, the most prominent being ANSWER's yellow and black "We Need Jobs and Schools, NOT WAR," which predominated.
For much of the march there were loud drums and music vying with bullhorns and chanting. One chant from the large and quite vocal group marching behind the banner of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is part of the ANSWER Coalition, went like this: "Black, Latino, Arab, Asian and white/ No more, No more this racist war/Defend our civil rights."
To quote an ANSWER statement, "the militant march led by veterans, active-duty service members and military families made its way through the streets of D.C. carrying coffins draped in Afghan, Iraqi, Pakistani, Somali, Yemeni, Haitian and U.S. flags, among those of other countries, as a symbol of the human cost of war and occupation. Coffins were dropped off along the way at Halliburton, the Washington Post, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and other institutions connected to the war profiteering, propaganda, and human suffering. The final coffin drop-off was at the White House — the decision-making center of U.S. imperialism."
The eight arrests took place when the coffins were placed on the sidewalk by the White House fence and the demonstrators refused to keep moving when authorities said to do so. According to a press report, as she was hauled away by U.S. Park Police, Cindy Sheehan shouted, "Arrest that war criminal," referring to the president. They were held in jail for two days, quite unnecessarily, for crossing a police line, an offense that doesn't even call for jail time. They are to appear in court June 9 and may be fined.
The 55 people in our bus headed for home somewhat after 5 p.m., getting back around midnight. The remainder of our people left at 7 p.m. in another bus shared with peace people heading for Pittsfield, Mass., after dropping them off in New Paltz, N.Y.
It is customary in our peace buses (this was our 24th bus organizing trip to distant demonstrations) to conduct a bus-wide discussion about the day's events and politics, at least until arriving at the highway restaurant for dinner an hour and a half away
We had a good discussion. There were a lot of new faces, including over a dozen college students and three younger children. Nearly 20 of our college and older passengers had never been to a big Washington rally before, and about 10 evidently had never attended any peace rally.
The matter of the smaller size of the demonstration came up a few times. This writer touched upon the 12 big Washington peace protests ANSWER organized since a week before Bush's invasion of Afghanistan. At least eight of them were over 100,000 people, including 200,000 in October 2002 and 500,000 in January 2003. The last 100,000 event was Sept. 15, 2007, when the march concluded with a dramatic "die-in" of 5,000 people surrounding the Capitol. Almost 200 people were arrested when police prevented them taking an antiwar message to Congress.
The next year was 2008 when so many peace activists thought that the wars would end when they elected a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House. The mass base of the U.S. peace movement — which is composed of Democratic voters — began dissipating as peace people started devoting their time to the elections. The base virtually disappeared after Obama was elected, and it's not back yet, even as the wars multiply.
Along with it went a number of peace groups and coalitions, including the biggest national coalition — United for Peace and Justice, which may still exist in name but has largely been inactive for two years except as a website. UFPJ, too, seemed to think replacing Bush with a Democrat would solve the problem of war.
The left wing of the peace movement remained firm, as do the pacifist and direct action wings. Also, some Democratic voters are returning to the peace struggle now that the wars are expanding, the Pentagon/national security budgets are higher, and the Obama Administration's foreign/military policy remains that of extending hegemony and retaining world dominance. These constituencies now constitute the activist base of the movement — and they pulled off a fine rally and march in Washington last weekend, as we understand they did in Los Angeles and San Francisco as well.
So we're smaller now — it's happened before — and we will have to struggle harder for peace. After all, lives and national independence are being destroyed in our name in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen. Washington's empire of military bases circling the globe and the Pentagon's weaponry could devastate the world. We have to keep marching, rallying, meeting, educating, and taking direct action when appropriate because it is essential not only to denounce the warmakers but to rebuild the mass movement strong enough to stop the wars.
• Photos of Washington rally, which can be viewed as a slide show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48631321@N07/4454652059/in/set-72157623547774567/
• For a photo of the Facing History students, http://picasaweb.google.com/sutco28/AntiWarDC#5451244001735075026
• A video of Cindy Sheehan's arrest we made by Hans Fraude, 14, who was accompanied on our bus by his dad, Harald. It's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a90GOGWmvvA
————————————
"BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE"
Performed by The Raging Grannies in Washington
March 20 to the tune of "Roll Out the Barrel."
Follow the money, to see why we go off to war,
Follow the money, it’s not freedom we’re fighting for,
Follow the money, it leads to those corporate whores,
They’ve gone and bombed the Iraqis
So Halliburton can get more.
Pfizer and Wal-Mart, Bechtel and Citigroup, too,
Reap all the profits and don’t give a fig about you!
While folks go hungry in [Miami] and New Orleans,
They’re at home counting their money
To support their war machine.
Follow the money – it all leads to corporate greed.
The poor and the homeless, when will they get what they need?
Big money interests dictate our nation’s war plans.
It’s time now to take back our country
And give folks a helping hand.
Foreclosures are rising and more folks are now unemployed.
What ever happened to the land of the free we enjoyed?
It’s time for the people to rise up and now take a stand!
Let’s get out and bail out the people,
Then we’ll shout it: “Yes, we can!”
Bail out the people and give them the money they need.
To hell with the bankers who suffer from terminal greed.
We’ve got to stop them, and all those who profit from war.
Yes, we will follow the money!
Let’s buy peace instead of war!
———————————
ANSWER SLAPPED WITH GOVERNMENT FINES
ANSWER has been the target of government harassment because of its rallies in Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Volunteers in the two California cities have been arrested, charged with felonies, and released on $20,000 bail each for putting up posters. And draconian fines have been leveled in the District of Columbia for postering.
Two days before the Washington peace rally and march, ANSWER organized a press conference as part of its fight back against big fines it has been ordered to pay in the nation's capital. The group issued this statement March 18:
The ANSWER Coalition has been hit with $7,500 worth of fines for 50 antiwar posters that were put up in the past two weeks. This is on top of nearly $70,000 in fines that have already been imposed on the coalition for the same offense.
This is an effort to suppress grassroots organizing. It's an unprecedented targeting of a political organization for engaging in free-speech activities. The ANSWER Coalition conforms to the regulations and rules for postering, and after each event we send out teams of volunteers to canvass the city and take down posters, regardless of whether we posted them.
These most recent fines also come directly after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has ruled in our favor that we have the right to proceed in our efforts to challenge D.C.’s regulations as unconstitutional. Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo from the Partnership for Civil Justice sent a cease and desist letter yesterday to the Department of Public Works.
The letter states: “In part to demonstrate that your agency’s massive targeting of ANSWER is nothing less than an attack on the substance of its political speech, ANSWER has complied with every provision of the District’s unconstitutional regulations, even under protest and even while challenging the illegality of the regulations in Court. Yet DPW continues to issue draconian fines without a shred of basis. This conduct is a shameful abuse of authority.”
Other speakers at the press conference include Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, Muslim American Society Freedom; Brian Becker, National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition; Cindy Sheehan; James Circello, Iraq War veteran and member of March Forward; Mike Ferner, President of Veterans for Peace; Geoff Millard, Chair, National Directors of the Iraq Veterans Against the War; Cynthia McKinney; Eugene Puryear, Youth and Student ANSWER; Mounzer Sleiman, Vice Chair of National Council of Arab Americans; Debra Sweet, National Coordinator of World Can't Wait; Representative, Military Families Speak Out.
1. Peace Rallies Tell Obama, End the Afghan War
2. Raging Grannies sing Bail Out The People.
3 ANSWER Coalition Slapped With Government Fines
————————————————————————
PEACE RALLIES TELL OBAMA:
END THE AFGHAN WAR!
By Jack A. Smith
Peace demonstrators marched and rallied against the Bush-Obama wars in Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities March 20 on the seventh anniversary of the unjust, illegal invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq.
The protest mainly called for the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from the Afghan war that President Barack Obama has widened since taking office last year by more than doubling the number of American soldiers and marines.
The ANSWER Coalition, which organized the biggest rallies, estimated that 10,000 demonstrators marched for peace in the nation's capital, 5,000 in San Francisco, and 3,000 in Los Angeles. Eight people were arrested at the Washington protest.
The demonstrations were smaller than in the years when President George W. Bush occupied the White House. But it showed that a determined sector of the U.S. peace movement remained a vital oppositional force to America's aggressive wars despite the defection of many Democratic peace voters since President Obama took office.
The Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter and Peace and Social Progress Now arranged for 72 activists to travel to the Washington protest last Saturday on chartered buses picking up passengers in Kingston, New Paltz and Spring Valley, N.Y.
As with the national movement this number was smaller than in the Bush years due to the reluctance of many Obama supporters to take a public stand for peace, though larger than the number who traveled with us on the sixth anniversary. The Albany peace movement to our north also sent a bus. Speaking from the Hudson Valley region was Joe Lombardo of Bethlehem (N.Y.) Neighbors for Peace, representing the National Assembly, a co-sponsor of the day's events.
ANSWER's Washington action — which was multinational in composition with a large youth component — was co-sponsored by several score peace, justice, veterans and left groups. "Buses to the Washington protest came from at least 50 cities in 20 states," a spokesperson for the organization reported. "Demonstrators rallied and marched shoulder to shoulder to demand 'U.S. Out of Iraq and Afghanistan Now,' 'Free Palestine,' 'Reparations for Haiti' and 'No Sanctions Against Iran.'" (See links to photos and video below.)
The action began on a beautiful first day of spring with a lively hour and a half rally in Lafayette Park, directly across the street from the White House. Some 25 people, representing various causes touching upon the wars, spoke for 2 or 3 minutes each, often with rapid-fire deliveries. President Obama was criticized frequently for his continuation and expansion of Bush's wars.
Despite many stirring speeches, two groups that appeared on the platform were exceptional crowd-pleasers. One was the well known "Raging Grannies," composed of several older women singing songs of peace and justice. They offered a rousing version of Bail Out the People (see below for text).
The other group was composed of as many representatives as could fit on the stage of a bus full of New York City high school students, who raised the money to charter the vehicle on their own. They were from the public Facing History School in Manhattan. During the march they carried a 20-foot banner with the words: "Facing History School Demands: Money for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Occupation." (Link to photo of students below.)
Brian Becker, ANSWER's national coordinator, told the crowd. "A huge part of the antiwar movement has been focused on the Bush Administration and its policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush is gone. Millions of people thought his exit would mean an end to these wars. Instead, after one year of real-life experience, they're far from ending."
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a leader of the campaign to impeach President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney when they were in office, called for Congressional hearings to investigate U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said the Bush Administration's unjust wars "are supreme international crimes and we must hold them responsible.... Unless we stop these wars now our country will remain a menace to the entire planet."
Ralph Nader addressed, among other topics, the fact that "Bush and Cheney are still at large and must be brought to justice." The Obama Administration will not allow an inquiry into the illegal wars or the torture programs, but throughout the peace movement there is the conviction that unless war criminals are identified and discredited the precedent established by Bush and Cheney will be replicated in future.
Cindy Sheehan, who recently set up a peace camp near the Washington Monument, gestured across the street from the platform to ask the crowd, "Is the honeymoon over with that war criminal in the White House?" Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of Partnership for Civil Justice discussed the harassment of ANSWER by the D.C. government (see article below).
Washington's Rev. Gaylord Hagler noted that as a candidate Sen. Obama promised "change" to the voters but "he is going to keep the Bush wars." He called for an immediate end to the Iraq and Afghan wars. Former U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright, who resigned to protest the Iraq war and has practically become a fulltime peace activist, received heavy applause.
Other speakers included representatives from the Muslim Solidarity Committee, Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Is Back Coalition, Alliance for Global Justice, CodePink, National Lawyer's Guild, U.S. Labor Against the War, Voters for Peace, Veterans for Peace, March Forward, Latinos USA, World Can't Wait, and National Council of Arab-Americans.
The march after the rally lasted about two hours, following a route with more passersby watching from the sidewalks than usual, including many tourists. Marchers were often 40 across jammed closely together on the wide streets. Various slogans decorated at least 2,000 signs bobbing up and down during the march through Washington's business district, the most prominent being ANSWER's yellow and black "We Need Jobs and Schools, NOT WAR," which predominated.
For much of the march there were loud drums and music vying with bullhorns and chanting. One chant from the large and quite vocal group marching behind the banner of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which is part of the ANSWER Coalition, went like this: "Black, Latino, Arab, Asian and white/ No more, No more this racist war/Defend our civil rights."
To quote an ANSWER statement, "the militant march led by veterans, active-duty service members and military families made its way through the streets of D.C. carrying coffins draped in Afghan, Iraqi, Pakistani, Somali, Yemeni, Haitian and U.S. flags, among those of other countries, as a symbol of the human cost of war and occupation. Coffins were dropped off along the way at Halliburton, the Washington Post, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and other institutions connected to the war profiteering, propaganda, and human suffering. The final coffin drop-off was at the White House — the decision-making center of U.S. imperialism."
The eight arrests took place when the coffins were placed on the sidewalk by the White House fence and the demonstrators refused to keep moving when authorities said to do so. According to a press report, as she was hauled away by U.S. Park Police, Cindy Sheehan shouted, "Arrest that war criminal," referring to the president. They were held in jail for two days, quite unnecessarily, for crossing a police line, an offense that doesn't even call for jail time. They are to appear in court June 9 and may be fined.
The 55 people in our bus headed for home somewhat after 5 p.m., getting back around midnight. The remainder of our people left at 7 p.m. in another bus shared with peace people heading for Pittsfield, Mass., after dropping them off in New Paltz, N.Y.
It is customary in our peace buses (this was our 24th bus organizing trip to distant demonstrations) to conduct a bus-wide discussion about the day's events and politics, at least until arriving at the highway restaurant for dinner an hour and a half away
We had a good discussion. There were a lot of new faces, including over a dozen college students and three younger children. Nearly 20 of our college and older passengers had never been to a big Washington rally before, and about 10 evidently had never attended any peace rally.
The matter of the smaller size of the demonstration came up a few times. This writer touched upon the 12 big Washington peace protests ANSWER organized since a week before Bush's invasion of Afghanistan. At least eight of them were over 100,000 people, including 200,000 in October 2002 and 500,000 in January 2003. The last 100,000 event was Sept. 15, 2007, when the march concluded with a dramatic "die-in" of 5,000 people surrounding the Capitol. Almost 200 people were arrested when police prevented them taking an antiwar message to Congress.
The next year was 2008 when so many peace activists thought that the wars would end when they elected a Democratic-controlled Congress and White House. The mass base of the U.S. peace movement — which is composed of Democratic voters — began dissipating as peace people started devoting their time to the elections. The base virtually disappeared after Obama was elected, and it's not back yet, even as the wars multiply.
Along with it went a number of peace groups and coalitions, including the biggest national coalition — United for Peace and Justice, which may still exist in name but has largely been inactive for two years except as a website. UFPJ, too, seemed to think replacing Bush with a Democrat would solve the problem of war.
The left wing of the peace movement remained firm, as do the pacifist and direct action wings. Also, some Democratic voters are returning to the peace struggle now that the wars are expanding, the Pentagon/national security budgets are higher, and the Obama Administration's foreign/military policy remains that of extending hegemony and retaining world dominance. These constituencies now constitute the activist base of the movement — and they pulled off a fine rally and march in Washington last weekend, as we understand they did in Los Angeles and San Francisco as well.
So we're smaller now — it's happened before — and we will have to struggle harder for peace. After all, lives and national independence are being destroyed in our name in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen. Washington's empire of military bases circling the globe and the Pentagon's weaponry could devastate the world. We have to keep marching, rallying, meeting, educating, and taking direct action when appropriate because it is essential not only to denounce the warmakers but to rebuild the mass movement strong enough to stop the wars.
• Photos of Washington rally, which can be viewed as a slide show: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48631321@N07/4454652059/in/set-72157623547774567/
• For a photo of the Facing History students, http://picasaweb.google.com/sutco28/AntiWarDC#5451244001735075026
• A video of Cindy Sheehan's arrest we made by Hans Fraude, 14, who was accompanied on our bus by his dad, Harald. It's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a90GOGWmvvA
————————————
"BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE"
Performed by The Raging Grannies in Washington
March 20 to the tune of "Roll Out the Barrel."
Follow the money, to see why we go off to war,
Follow the money, it’s not freedom we’re fighting for,
Follow the money, it leads to those corporate whores,
They’ve gone and bombed the Iraqis
So Halliburton can get more.
Pfizer and Wal-Mart, Bechtel and Citigroup, too,
Reap all the profits and don’t give a fig about you!
While folks go hungry in [Miami] and New Orleans,
They’re at home counting their money
To support their war machine.
Follow the money – it all leads to corporate greed.
The poor and the homeless, when will they get what they need?
Big money interests dictate our nation’s war plans.
It’s time now to take back our country
And give folks a helping hand.
Foreclosures are rising and more folks are now unemployed.
What ever happened to the land of the free we enjoyed?
It’s time for the people to rise up and now take a stand!
Let’s get out and bail out the people,
Then we’ll shout it: “Yes, we can!”
Bail out the people and give them the money they need.
To hell with the bankers who suffer from terminal greed.
We’ve got to stop them, and all those who profit from war.
Yes, we will follow the money!
Let’s buy peace instead of war!
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ANSWER SLAPPED WITH GOVERNMENT FINES
ANSWER has been the target of government harassment because of its rallies in Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Volunteers in the two California cities have been arrested, charged with felonies, and released on $20,000 bail each for putting up posters. And draconian fines have been leveled in the District of Columbia for postering.
Two days before the Washington peace rally and march, ANSWER organized a press conference as part of its fight back against big fines it has been ordered to pay in the nation's capital. The group issued this statement March 18:
The ANSWER Coalition has been hit with $7,500 worth of fines for 50 antiwar posters that were put up in the past two weeks. This is on top of nearly $70,000 in fines that have already been imposed on the coalition for the same offense.
This is an effort to suppress grassroots organizing. It's an unprecedented targeting of a political organization for engaging in free-speech activities. The ANSWER Coalition conforms to the regulations and rules for postering, and after each event we send out teams of volunteers to canvass the city and take down posters, regardless of whether we posted them.
These most recent fines also come directly after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has ruled in our favor that we have the right to proceed in our efforts to challenge D.C.’s regulations as unconstitutional. Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo from the Partnership for Civil Justice sent a cease and desist letter yesterday to the Department of Public Works.
The letter states: “In part to demonstrate that your agency’s massive targeting of ANSWER is nothing less than an attack on the substance of its political speech, ANSWER has complied with every provision of the District’s unconstitutional regulations, even under protest and even while challenging the illegality of the regulations in Court. Yet DPW continues to issue draconian fines without a shred of basis. This conduct is a shameful abuse of authority.”
Other speakers at the press conference include Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, Muslim American Society Freedom; Brian Becker, National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition; Cindy Sheehan; James Circello, Iraq War veteran and member of March Forward; Mike Ferner, President of Veterans for Peace; Geoff Millard, Chair, National Directors of the Iraq Veterans Against the War; Cynthia McKinney; Eugene Puryear, Youth and Student ANSWER; Mounzer Sleiman, Vice Chair of National Council of Arab Americans; Debra Sweet, National Coordinator of World Can't Wait; Representative, Military Families Speak Out.
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