ZGram - 10/23/2002 - "March on Washington"
irimland@zundelsite.org
irimland@zundelsite.org
Wed, 23 Oct 2002 05:52:17 -0700
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny
October 23, 2002
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
I would be remiss if I didn't promote this coming Saturday's March on
Washington. I believe it will be an historical event and will send a
powerful message. If you want to be a part of history, try to be
there. I wish I could be, but I have another important commitment.
Those of you who will be part of this demonstration, please send me
your input for my archives.
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Information and analysis of the massive demonstrations planned in
Washington and San Francisco and the world this weekend to "Stop The
War Before It Starts."
By Regis T. Sabol
Now that Congress has given George Bush carte blanche approval for
war with Iraq, it's time for the American people to speak. And, if
organizers of protest marches this Saturday in Washington, D.C. and
San Francisco succeed, hundreds of thousands of Americans from all
walks of life will say no to the Bush Administration's "full speed
ahead and damn the torpedoes" rush to war.
The protest marches are being organized by the A.N.S.W.E.R.
Coalition, which describes itself as "a broad coalition of peace
groups, religious organizations, student groups, anti-globalization
and anti-racism groups." The acronym stands for Act Now to Stop War &
End Racism! The coalition's website says it "was formed to oppose
war, support global justice and self-determination, stop racist
attacks on Arabs, Muslims, South Asians, and all people of color, and
defend civil rights and civil liberties."
Based on a partial list of endorsements published on the group's
website, the coalition is made up of a broad range of groups that
include clergy and religious organizations, labor activists, student
organizations, Islamic groups, and anti-war activists. It also
includes a large number of individuals not affiliated with any one
movement or organization but who oppose the impending war.
The protests in Washington and San Francisco, if they draw the
numbers anticipated by organizers, would mark the largest anti-war
protests since the Vietnam War. That war provoked a number of protest
demonstrations in Washington and throughout the country, including
two that drew well over a hundred thousand demonstrators to the
nation's capital.
The first was the National Moratorium in 1969. A 1972 March on the
Pentagon was sparked by Richard Nixon's invasion of Cambodia and the
murder of four young men and women at Kent State University by
National Guardsmen. (For a fascinating study of that event, I suggest
you read Norman Mailer's Pulitzer Prize winning work, Armies of the
Night.) The protest rally Saturday could also be the largest
demonstration since the Million Man March on Washington organized by
Louis Farrakhan.
The plan for the Washington march is for demonstrators to assemble at
Constitution Gardens adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial
for a rally at 11 a.m. The demonstrators will then march on the White
House. The San Francisco anti-war rally will also kick off at 11 a.m.
Demonstrators will assemble at the Justin Herman Plaza, at the foot
of Market St. at Embarcadero. Following a rally, they will march to
Civic Center Plaza (Grove & Larkin) adjacent to City Hall for a
closing rally with speakers, entertainment and cultural performances.
In addition to the marches in Washington and San Francisco,
A.N.S.W.E.R. anticipates similar marches in cities around the world,
including Mexico, Japan, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Belgium, and
Australia. All of the marches will be organized under the banner,
"Stop the War Before It Starts."
Grassroots opposition to a war against Iraq has already sprung up all
over America although it has received little coverage from mainstream
media, including such generally sympathetic publications as The New
York Times and The Washington Post. In New York, for example, the
less than 400 demonstrators who protested Bush's appearance at the
United Nations on September 12 mushroomed into close to 20,000
demonstrators in Central Park earlier this month. Despite the size of
the rally, the major networks ignored it and the print media gave it
scant coverage.
Demonstrations against the war have also taken place in London, where
about 250,000 protestors rallied in opposition to Prime Minister Tony
Blair's support for Bush's war plans.
March organizers chose October 26 for the anti-war protest because
that it the first anniversary of the signing of the notorious USA
PATRIOT Act. The legislation, which breezed through Congress with
nary a whimper in the wake of 9/11, has been used by Attorney General
John Ashcroft and the Justice Department to make a mockery of the
Bill of Rights.
"As the Bush Administration violates international law," argues the
A.N.S.W.E.R. website, "it has systematically engaged in a campaign of
division and repression in the United States including a wholesale
assault on the Bill of Rights, institutionalization of racial
profiling, and aggregation of near dictatorial powers to the
Executive branch."
Anti-war activists are particularly alarmed about the Bush doctrine
of "preemptive war," a concept which allows the United States to
attack another country if it suspects that nation may present a clear
and present danger to the U.S. at some unspecified time in the
future. The doctrine opens up a Pandora's box of war that could, for
example, offer a justification for India to invade Pakistan, which,
in turn, might provoke Pakistan to launch nuclear missiles at India.
India would then, of course, retaliate with its own missiles. And the
world would have to deal with the consequences of a nuclear war.
"In articulating the so-called doctrine of pre-emptive war," say
march organizers, "the Bush administration is preparing to violate
all existing international law and he UN charter which forbids
countries to carry out war except in the case of self-defense.
Preemption is merely a slogan to justify a policy of armed aggression
and military adventure."
Oil is the real reason for the looming war, according to AN.S.W.E.R.
"Bush, (Vice President Dick) Cheney, (Defense Secretary Donald)
Rumsfield, (Asst. Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and company are
planning to send tens of thousands of young GI's to kill and be
killed in another war for Big Oil," it claims. "Simultaneously, the
Bush Administration is diverting billions of dollars to feed military
conquest and away from jobs, education, healthcare, childcare and
housing."
Because Senators and House Representatives ignored thousands of phone
calls, e-mails, and letters opposing the resolution in favor of war
by a two to one ratio, the American people must exercise their
Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly to
be heard.
"There won't be a real national debate on a planned invasion of Iraq
until the people are in the streets," stated an A.N.S.W.E.R. press
release. "We can't leave it to the military establishment to decide
when and how they will go to war and to define the debate. We must
tell Bush and his corporate and Big Oil patrons that we will not
allow this to happen."
March organizers believe the war can be prevented, "But the essential
element must be the mobilization of a massive new anti-war movement
in the streets. We call for civilians and soldiers to exercise their
political right to speak out against an illegal war."
For more information on the protest marches, click here!.
Regis T. Sabol is contributing editor to Intervention Magazine. He is
also editor of A New Deal: an online magazine of political, social,
and cultural thought.
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(Source:
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=219
)