Fw: [ANSWER]: new: APRIL UNITY STATEMENT FROM THE A.N.S.W.E.R. COALITION

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 5:26 AM
Subject: [ANSWER]: new: APRIL UNITY STATEMENT FROM THE A.N.S.W.E.R.
COALITION


 (NOTE: This important statement of unity is being resent
 due to the fact that in a previous transmission, it was
 relayed without proper line breaks in the body of the
 text, making it very difficult to read. Many apologies for
 the extra email.)

 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 ANSWER 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.

 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.

 ANSWER 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 headlong rush to
 war.

 ANSWER 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, ANSWER 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.

 ANSWER 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 ANSWER Coalition on Sept.
 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 ANSWER 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 ANSWER coalition rejects the opportunistic use by the
 Bush administration of the tragedy of Sept. 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.

 ANSWER 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.

 ANSWER 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.

 ANSWER 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. ANSWER 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 at 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, D.C.
 Assemble 11 a.m. 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 p.m. at the annual
 conference of American Israel Public Affairs
 Committee

 FOR MORE INFORMATION see
 http://www.internationalanswer.org
 or email ANSWER at afgj.org, or call New York 212-633-6646,
 Washington 202-543-2777, Chicago 773-583-7728, San
 Francisco 415-821-6545