[1516] in peace2
APRIL 20 PEACE MARCH ON WASHINGTON, 3/1 ANSWER Boston mtg
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aimee L Smith)
Thu Feb 28 13:08:19 2002
Message-Id: <200202281808.NAA26433@no-knife.mit.edu>
To: peace-announce@MIT.EDU, earth-action@MIT.EDU, greens-announce@MIT.EDU
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 13:08:05 -0500
From: Aimee L Smith <alsmith@MIT.EDU>
The weekend in April is now April 20 for both marches--- Yaeh!
------- Forwarded Message
(ANSWER Boston Meeting, Friday, March 1, 6:30 PM
for directions: http://www.iacboston.org/directions )
APRIL MARCH ON WASHINGTON UNITY STATEMENT FROM THE
A.N.S.W.E.R. COALITION
- - Issued February 27 -
In response to calls for unity in the anti-war movement
the International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop
War & End Racism) is announcing that it is moving its
National March on Washington Against War and Racism from
April 27 to April 20, 2002.
If this message is truncated, please see the full statement at
http://www.internationalanswer.org/
*For a Calendar of Activities for April 19-22,
scroll to bottom*
Clearly everyone understands the need for many activists
from many movements to be in Washington D.C. to protest
the dangerous racist war drive that threatens the people
of the planet and to fight Bush and Ashcroft's attempts to
dismantle the Bill of Rights, criminalize dissent, and
investigate and imprison people based on racial and
religious profiling.
A.N.S.W.E.R. calls on people to rally at the White House
at 11 a.m. on April 20, 2002, before marching to the
Justice Department and on to a unified rally with the
other coalition. This march will be the first that breaks
the ban on demonstrations in front of the White House that
was unconstitutionally imposed prior to anti-war
demonstrations in September during the head-long rush to
war.
A.N.S.W.E.R. has been organizing for an anti-war March on
Washington since November 2001 and widely disseminated a
call for April 27 in December. The Coalition settled on
the April 27 date out of deference to the National
Colombia Mobilization taking place April 19-22. In recent
weeks other groups and individuals have come together to
call an anti-war march on April 20. It became evident that
having two anti-war demonstrations on succeeding weekends
on seemingly similar themes, without very compelling
reasons, would be a disservice to the movement. Upon
learning about the April 20 mobilization, A.N.S.W.E.R.
took the initiative to try to open lines of communication
in an effort to rectify this unfortunate situation.
People around the country are saying that what the
movement needs on April 20 is a united front. This means
those with political differences marching with
independence while showing that we can come together to
fight the war makers. All movements have different
currents. The only way we are going to stop George Bush's
declared "endless war" is to have a movement that comes
together against this common foe.
A.N.S.W.E.R. believes that the anti-war movement must be
broad, that it must embrace the workers movement, unions,
communities of faith, immigrants, students and youth, and
particularly communities of color. We also believe that
the movement must strongly express its solidarity with the
struggling people of the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin
America and the Caribbean, who are fighting to determine
their own destinies free from U.S. imperialist and
colonial domination and that of the transnational
corporations.
Our experience since forming the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition on
September 14 has proven that you do not have to choose
between being broad and embracing the oppressed peoples of
the world and making the connections between their fight
and the fight of the people in the U.S. The A.N.S.W.E.R.
coalition includes more than 500 organizations and
prominent individuals who have campaigned against U.S.
intervention in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle
East and Asia, and organizations that have campaigned for
social and economic justice for poor people and civil
rights inside the United States. The steering committee
includes Nicaragua Network, Mexico Solidarity Network,
IFCO/Pastors for Peace, International Action Center,
Partnership for Civil Justice LDEF, Kensington Welfare
Rights Union, Middle East Children's Alliance, Committee
for Justice to Defend Palestinian Rights, Bayan USA
(Filipino community) and the Korea Truth Commission.
The A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition rejects the opportunistic use
by the Bush administration of the tragedy of September 11,
to pursue, through military means, pre-existing
imperialist objectives while simultaneously ramming
through domestic policies that strengthen corporate rule,
attack civil rights and attempt to crush dissent, all at
the expense of working people. As the war and occupation
in Afghanistan is continuing, the Bush administration has
sent almost 700 troops to the Philippines, has increased
their support for the Colombian government's intensified
war against the Colombian people and the Israeli
repression of the Palestinian people.
A.N.S.W.E.R. will take a stand against any new war carried
out by the Bush administration, whether it's in Iraq,
Sudan, Somalia, Iran, North Korea, Yemen, Indonesia or
elsewhere. We must not only oppose war and racism at home.
We must stand firmly with the people's struggles of the
world.
A.N.S.W.E.R. demands that the Bush Administration's war
budget of more than a billion dollars a day be converted
into funds for human needs, jobs, education, health care,
and assistance for the poor.
We call on all those who believe the people of the world
are not our enemies and are our brothers and sisters to
join together in the National March on Washington D.C. If
you support self-determination, not U.S. military and
corporate domination, meet at the White House at 11 a.m.
on April 20.
A.N.S.W.E.R. calls on activists and organizations
everywhere to work doubly hard to fill the streets of
Washington with protestors April 19 -22. We encourage
people to support the National Colombia Mobilization and
the protests against the IMF and World Bank.
We have also learned that Ariel Sharon will be the
featured speaker along with President Bush at a right-wing
pro-war conference organized by the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC) over the same weekend as these
protests. Sharon and Bush are scheduled to speak at 7:30
p.m. on Monday, April 22nd. A.N.S.W.E.R. and other
organizations are calling a demonstration at that time and
appeal to those who are coming to Washington for the
weekend to stay over if at all possible to participate in
that very important demonstration.
As we build our grassroots movement against the war
towards our spring National March on Washington, we
encourage activists to focus on important upcoming dates
such as April 4, the anniversary of Martin Luther King's
assassination and his Beyond Vietnam speech, as well as
tax day April 15, to organize local events.
STOP THE RACIST WAR MACHINE - ALL OUT FOR APRIL 20!
FOR MORE INFORMATION see
http://www.internationalanswer.org, or email
ANSWER@afgj.org, or call New York 212-633-6646,
Washington 202-543-2777, Chicago 773-583-7728, San
Francisco 415-821-6545
TO ENDORSE, GO TO
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/april/a20-endorse.html
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
APRIL 19-22
National Colombia Mobilization
http://www.colombiamobilization.org
APRIL 20
NATIONAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON DC
Assemble 11 am at the White House
The people of the world are not our enemy - solidarity
against U.S. world domination!
http://www.internationalanswer.org
APRIL 20
Stop the War at Home and Abroad
http://www.a20stopthewar.org
APRIL 20-21
Protest the IMF and World Bank
http://www.globalizethis.org
APRIL 22
Protest Ariel Sharon and George Bush - 7 pm at the
annual conference of American Israeli Public Affairs
Committee
FOR MORE INFORMATION see
http://www.internationalanswer.org, or email
ANSWER@afgj.org, or call New York 212-633-6646,
Washington 202-543-2777, Chicago 773-583-7728, San
Francisco 415-821-6545
- ------------------
Send replies to ANSWERBoston@iacboston.org
ANSWER - Boston
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
www.iacboston.org/ANSWER
31 Germania St.
(enter 284 Amory St)
directions: www.iacboston.org/directions
Boston, MA 02130
Phone: 617 522-6626
Fax: 617 983-3836
email: ANSWERBoston@iacboston.org
International ANSWER coalition
(Act Now to Stop War & End Racism)
www.internationalanswer.org
IAC - New York City
www.iacenter.org
For latest actions and updates to
"Free Mumia Abu-Jamal", check out
www.millions4mumia.org
------- End of Forwarded Message
