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A.N.S.W.E.R
on Jan 18 March (Dec. 13, 2002)
California Activists Defend ANSWER
To the Editor of the L.A. Weekly:
David Corn's scurrilous piece on the massive demonstrations against a new war
with Iraq, held on Oct. 26 in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco ("Behind
the Placards: The Odd and Troubling Origins of Today's Anti-War Movement,"
L.A. Weekly, Nov. 1-7, 2002), is unworthy of any newspaper, let alone one that
considers itself "progressive."
Were it not for the sad fact that many thousands of people may read Mr.
Corn's diatribe, the article would not be worthy of the time it's taken us to
respond to it. After
all, those of us who've signed this letter are members of L.A.-based anti-war
and social justice groups and, unlike Mr. Corn, we've got a movement to build.
Besides, what can
one really say in response to an article that resorts to referring to the
organizers of the Oct. 26 protests as "commies"! Mr. Corn claims this
is "not red-baiting"!Well, if attacking a movement because of the
political affiliations of some of its leadership
isn't an old fashioned example of Joseph McCarthy style red-baiting at its
worst, I'd hate to see what Mr. Corn thinks is red-baiting.
Those of us who have signed this letter greatly admire the work that
International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) did in organizing the
Oct. 26 anti-war protests. Its national steering committee is comprised of IFCO/Pastors
for Peace; International ActionCenter; Nicaragua Network; Mexico Solidarity
Network; Partnership for Civil Justice; Kensington Welfare Rights Union; Free
Palestine Alliance/US; Mideast Children's Alliance; Bayan International/USA;
Korea Truth Commission; and the Muslim Student Association. Are there any
communists amongst the members of ANSWER, the principal organizer of the Oct. 26
protests? Specifically,
are some of the leaders in ANSWER members of the Workers World Party? Sure. The
question is, "So what?" As any student of the powerful--and
successful--movement against the U.S. war in Vietnam knows, members of the
Socialist Workers Party and the Communist Party, U.S.A., were among the
leadership of the two major anti-war coalitions during that war. But the
thousands of volunteers and the hundreds
of thousands of protesters who showed up at the demonstrations were of every
political stripe. The same is true today. The speakers and demonstrators on Oct.
26 came
from every segment of the population; from public officials like John Burton,
head of the California Senate, to thousands of college and high school students;
from actors like Mike Farrell to Vietnam vets like Ron Kovic; from labor leaders
like Walter
Johnson, head of the San Francisco Joint Labor Council of the AFL-CIO to
business executives against the war; from older peace activists like Daniel
Ellsberg to younger ones like 12-year-old Sarah Enteen; from hotel workers to
Dolores Huerta; from religious leaders like Bishop Gumbleton to socialists like
Richard Becker. And the list goes on and on.
Mr. Corn complained that speakers at the rallies talked about political issues
not directly related to Iraq, but failed to note that the demonstrations
themselves were
evertheless "single-focused." And that single focus was the looming
war with Iraq. And the same could be said of the rallies held by the massive
movement to end the U.S.
war in Vietnam. The largest demonstration against that war took place on April
24, 1971, when nearly one million people gathered in Washington, D.C. and over
300,000
marched and rallied in San Francisco. Among the speakers that day? Democrats and
Republicans and ex-military officers and elected officials and labor leaders and
Black
nationalists and feminists and member of the clergy and gays and students and
entertainers, etc., etc., ... and, yes, some communists, too. And, as was the
case again on Oct. 26, while all of these speakers were united in their
opposition to the war, they also spoke on a wide range of other issues of
concern to their constituencies. In doing
so, they demonstrated the breadth and power of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
They also demonstrated that they understood (as Mr. Corn apparently does not)
the
connections between the issues they were addressing and the war itself. This
approach proved successful during the movement against the war in Vietnam and it
can bring us to peace again today. That's why speakers from across the political
spectrum were
invited to speak on a wide array of war-related social justice issues on Oct.
26.
Lastly, Mr. Corn owes an apology to the quarter of a million people who
demonstrated in two cities on Oct. 26. His article clearly suggests that he
considers them "dupes" of the "commies" who organized the
protests. To suggest that these tens of thousands of protesters, including the
many prominent individuals who addressed them at the rallies,
were too stupid to make up their own minds about Bush's war on the world and war
on civil liberties at home is truly insulting. That's what Congress's old House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) used to say about the protesters
demonstrating against the Vietnam War. Happily, it didn't frighten people away
from the anti-war coalitions then and it won't frighten them away now. People
saw through the discredited
red-baiting tactics of HUAC, and they will see through thered-baiting tactics of
commentators like Mr. Corn.
We who sign this letter invite everyone who reads it to reject Mr. Corn's ugly
and divisive message of fear and defeatism, and to join one of the national, or
local,
anti-war coalitions in their area. Together we can once again build a
broad-based, non-partisan, non-witch-hunting anti-war movement that can--and
will--win the peace!
Sincerely,
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, L.A./O.C.
Chapter
Arab American Cultural Center
Danielle Babineau
Blase Bonpane, Office of the Americas
Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas
James Lafferty, National Lawyers Guild
Rev. James Lawson, Jr.
Joe Navidad, BAYAN International/USA
Palestine American Women's Association of Southern
California
Jonathan Parfrey Save the Iraqi Children Committee
Michel Shehadeh
Carol Sobel, National Lawyers Guild
Don White
Yong-bin Yuk, Mindallae
A.N.S.W.E.R Dec. 13, 20002
MASS MARCH ON JANUARY 18 TO DEMAND:
-NO WAR AGAINST IRAQ
-ELIMINATE U.S. WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTIONN
Please read the following email for important updates about the scenario for the
January 18 National March in Washington DC to say "No War on Iraq" and
for an alert on Bush's moves toward first strike nuclear war.
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The world is being menaced by Weapons of Mass Destruction by a government that
is openly threatening and planning to use nuclear weapons in preemptive wars of
aggression against others, including non-nuclear countries. While all eyes are
focused on the purported threat coming from Iraq, the Bush Administration has
sharply reorganized U.S. military doctrine and strategy as it prepares to
actually use Weapons of Mass Destruction in coming conflicts as a matter of
declared policy.
It is for this reason that on January 18, people across the United States will
converge at the West side of the Capitol Building in Washington DC and march in
a mass demonstration to the Washington Navy Yard -- a massive military
installation located in a working class neighborhood in Southeast Washington DC
that parks warships on the Anacostia River. We will demand the immediate
elimination of US weapons of mass destruction and a people's inspection team
will call for unfettered access and a full declaration of U.S. non-conventional
weapons systems.
Bush seeks to have world attention focused on the disarmament of Iraq as the
preeminent threat to world peace, while the real threat of nuclear war and the
use of Weapons of Mass Destruction arises within the U.S. Administration. This
is the politics of diversion and should give pause to those who are thinking of
joining in Bush's sleight-of-hand anti-Iraq chorus believing it to be a path to
peace. The nuclear threat posed by the United States is neither rhetoric nor
speculation, it is the now announced doctrine and strategy of the Bush White
House. It represents the ushering in of a new era of unrestrained and unprovoked
catastrophic violence.
"Preemptive Strikes are Part of US Strategic Doctrine," reads the
headline of the front page of the Washington Post of December 11, 2002. A
classified version of the new Bush Doctrine "breaks with the fifty years of
counter-proliferation efforts" by planning for the use of nuclear weapons
against countries that not only have not attacked the US but that do not
themselves possess nuclear capability.
A.N.S.W.E.R. believes that all Weapons of Mass Destruction should be banished
from the planet. But this is impossible until the biggest arsenal of Weapons of
Mass Destruction -- the one at the disposal of trigger-happy George W. Bush and
Co. -- is eliminated. Any other call for disarmament will not be viewed as
legitimate by the rest of the world.
These war hawks are determined to breach the "taboo" against the use
of nuclear weapons that grew after the world experienced the horror of the
incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
It would be cowardly and foolish to turn our attention away from the open
threats and plans to use Weapons of Mass Destruction that are issuing from the
White House, not Iraq, and are embodied in the new Bush military doctrine.
We must stop the Bush Administration from threatening and killing the people of
the world who are not our enemy.
*Perspective on the January 18 demonstration*
On October 26th hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Washington, DC
and San Francisco in demonstrations called by A.N.S.W.E.R. (http://www.InternationalANSWER.org)
and in coinciding actions in 220 cities around the world. On December 10th
thousands took part in anti-war actions called by United for Peace (http://www.unitedforpeace.org)
in dozens of cities around the country marking International Human Rights Day.
On December 14, there will be an important demonstration in New York City
starting at 125th St. in Harlem that will also oppose a war in Iraq called by
Uptown Youth for Peace and Justice (http://www.uptownpj.org).
Every day, there are protests, rallies and teach-ins called by local
organizations in cities and towns around the United States in opposition to a
new war against Iraq.
On January 18, there will be a massive protest in Washington DC initiated by
A.N.S.W.E.R. and endorsed by thousands of organizations and individuals (for an
endorsers list, see http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/j18/endorsers.html).
This timely demonstration is gaining momentum everyday with support coming from
community, labor, student, religious, women's, civil rights, LGBT, and peace
groups around the country. On January 20, Black Voices for Peace will be
organizing an important activity in Washington DC.
We are marching in Washington DC on January 18 to embrace the true legacy of Dr.
Martin Luther King birthday. The U.S. possesses 6,000 nuclear weapons. It has
spent $7 trillion on their development in the last half-century. Instead of
spending $400 billion every year for weapons of mass destruction and to promote
militarism, we the people of the United States will demand on January 18 that
our money be spent to provide free education, healthcare and childcare, jobs and
job training, expanded support for the elderly and other things that human
beings need.
The scenario for January 18th includes a brief rally on the West side of the
Capitol starting at 11 am followed by a massive march to the Washington DC Navy
Yard, a huge military complex located in the heart of one of Washington's
working class communities, walking distance from the Capitol.
On Saturday, January 18, tens of thousands will travel by bus, van and car
caravan from all over the East Coast, South and Midwest to be in Washington DC
for the National March against war on Iraq. We encourage people to bring banners
and puppets, to dress as weapons inspectors, to find as many creative methods to
dramatize our demands in opposition to a war of aggression and in support of a
reorganization of society's priorities that would put people's needs ahead of
the Pentagon and the war profiteers in Corporate America.
Dr. Martin Luther King said that "The greatest purveyor of violence on the
planet is my own government." That statement is as true today as it was
during the Vietnam War. We will honor Dr. King's legacy by marching against the
terror that these weapons of mass destruction wreak on the world.
We also join with people all over the world who mourn the loss of Phillip
Berrigan who devoted his life to courageous opposition to militarism and war.
Phil Berrigan put his body on the line in the struggle to call attention to the
inherently evil nature of weapons of mass destruction produced by and for the US
military industrial complex. In addition to honoring Dr. King, we intend to make
the January 18 march a living tribute to Phil Berrigan's life and legacy.
Given the feedback that we have received, we have decided that there will be
more effective organization and participation in the People's Peace Congress if
it takes place after the January 18-19-20 weekend. Many local areas indicated
that they wanted to participate in the People’s Peace Congress, but
reserving buses for the entire weekend was logistically difficult and extremely
expensive. Given the response from different communities that are excited about
participation in the People's Peace Congress, we are suggesting the rescheduling
of the Congress in the spring. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is consulting with
different member organizations and supporters, and will announce further plans
for the People's Peace Congress in the coming weeks. Everyone agrees that the
most important and urgent task -- given the imminent war danger -- is for a
massive street mobilization on the Martin Luther King birthday weekend in
Washington DC.
If you're planning to stay in Washington DC, there will be a lot to do,
including student and youth gatherings following the demonstration. Further
details will be announced soon.
HELP SPREAD THE WORD!
A new flyer is now available to help spread the word about the upcoming actions.
It can be downloaded at http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/resources/index.html
. If you are unable to open or print the flyer, call us at 202-544-3389 and we
can mail you an original copy or a stack of flyers.
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