verbena-19

ANSWER Coalition: Global Days of Action, March 18-20 / United Mass Mobilization on April 29 in NYC

Global Days of Action, March 18-20, 2006

3rd Anniversary of the “Shock and Awe” Invasion of Iraq

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition joins with antiwar organizations globally in calling for March 18-20, 2006, to be Global Days of Action. This is the third anniversary of Bush's criminal aggression against the people of Iraq.


April 29, 2006 Mobilization:

On April 29th major anti-war mobilizations will take place in New York City. I had posted the action alert from United for Peace and Justice in a previous post. In this email that I've just received, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is adding their voice, and calling for a united mass mobilization. You will also find links to the March 18-20 calls for action below.


Mobilize for April 29 in New York City!

www.ANSWERCoalition.org

Subscribe


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(Please circulate widely)

ANSWER COALITION: ALL OUT FOR APRIL 29 IN NEW YORK CITY!
END OCCUPATION FROM IRAQ TO PALESTINE, TO HAITI, AND EVERYWHERE!
FIGHT FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES - UNITE AGAINST RACISM!



In recent weeks the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has been in the final stages for planning a national demonstration in Washington DC on April 29, 2006. This action was to follow the local and regional demonstrations and youth and student actions scheduled between March 18-20 on the 3rd anniversary of the criminal bombing, invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Click here for the March 18-19 Call to Action
Click here for the March 20 Youth and Student Call to Action

On September 24, 2005 more than 300,000 people surrounded the White House in the largest mobilization against the Iraq war and occupation since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. This demonstration was initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in May 2005 and we urged a united front with other major anti-war coalitions and communities. We marched demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq. We also stood in solidarity with the Palestinian and Haitian people and others who are suffering under and resisting occupation. Coming as it did following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we changed the demands of the September 24 protest to include the slogan "From Iraq to New Orleans, Fund People's Needs not the War Machine."

During the past several years, and as demonstrated in a powerful display on September 24, the anti-war movement has grown significantly in its breadth and depth as the leadership has included the Arab and Muslim community -- those who are among the primary targets of the Bush Administration's current war at home and abroad.

The anti-war sentiment inside the United States is rapidly becoming a significant obstacle to the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. The anti-war movement has the potential to be a critical deterrent to the U.S. government's aspirations for Empire. At this moment the White House and Pentagon are issuing threats and making plans to move against other sovereign countries. Iran and Syria are being targeted as the U.S. seeks to consolidate power in the Middle East. Simultaneously the Bush administration is working to undermine the gains of the people of Latin America by working to topple the democratically elected president of Venezuela and destroy the revolutionary process for social change going on in that country. Likewise it is intensifying the economic war and CIA subversions against Cuba.

We believe that our movement must weld together the broadest, most diverse coalition of various sectors and communities into an effective force for change. This requires the inclusion of targeted communities and political clarity. The war in Iraq is not simply an aberrational policy of the Bush neo-conservatives. Iraq is emblematic of a larger war for Empire. It is part of a multi-pronged attack against all those countries that refuse to follow the economic, political and military dictates of the Washington establishment and Wall Street.

This is the foundation of the political program upon which the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has organized mass demonstrations in the recent years. The fact that many hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and other cities is a testament to the huge progress that has been made in building a new movement on this principled basis.

The people of the United States have nothing to gain and everything to lose from the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti and the threats of new wars and intervention in Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, North Korea and elsewhere. It has been made crystal clear in recent weeks that Washington is aggressively prosecuting its strategy of total domination of the Middle East. U.S. leaders are seeking to crush all resistance to their colonial agenda, whether from states or popular movements in the region. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and the anti-war movement is raising the demand, "U.S. Out of the Middle East."

At its core, the war for Empire is supported by the Republican Party and Democratic Party alike, which constitute the twin parties of militarism and war, and this quest for global domination will continue regardless of the outcome of the 2006 election. In fact, leading Democrats are attacking Bush for being "soft" on Iran and North Korea. Real hope for turning the tide rests with building a powerful global movement of resistance in which the people of the United States stand with their sisters and brothers struggling against imperialism and the new colonialism.

On the home front the Bush administration is involved in a far-reaching assault against working class communities as most glaringly evidenced by its criminal and racist negligence towards the people of New Orleans and throughout the hurricane ravaged Gulf States. While turning their backs on these communities in the moments of greatest need, the U.S. government is now working with the banks and developers who, like vultures, are exploiting mass suffering and dislocation to carry out racist gentrification that only benefits the wealthy. The administration is also working to eviscerate hard-fought civil rights and civil liberties, engaging in a widespread campaign of domestic spying and wiretapping against the people of the U.S. and other assaults against the First and Fourth Amendments.

In early December 2005, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition filed for permits for a national march in Washington DC on April 29, 2006. We were preparing to announce the April 29 action but in recent days we have heard from A.N.S.W.E.R. organizers in a number of unions that U.S. Labor Against the War was seeking union endorsements for a call for an anti-war demonstration on the same day in New York City. Having two demonstrations on April 29 in both Washington D.C. and New York City seems to us to be less advantageous than having the movement unite behind one single mobilization. As such, we decided to hold back our announcement. Subsequently, the New York City demonstration has been announced by a number of organizations. Underscoring the need to have the largest possible demonstration on April 29, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has decided to fully mobilize, in all of its chapters and organizing centers, to bring people to the New York City demonstration on April 29. The banners and slogans of different coalitions may not be the same, but it is in the interest of everyone to march shoulder-to-shoulder against the criminal war in Iraq and the Bush administration's War for Empire, including its racist, sexist and anti-worker domestic program.

All out for a united, mass mobilization on April 29 in New York City!

Click here to become a transportation center in your city or town for the April 29 demonstration


Click here to receive updates on A.N.S.W.E.R.'s mobilization for the April 29 NYC demonstration


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A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
www.answercoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545

posted by Annamarie at 11:18 PM