Fw: [ANSWER]: OCCUPATION IS NOT LIBERATION: Why We Are Marching on April 12

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

----- Original Message -----
From: "A.N.S.W.E.R." <answer.general at action-mail.org>
To: <answer.general at action-mail.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 6:10 AM
Subject: [ANSWER]: OCCUPATION IS NOT LIBERATION: Why We Are Marching on
April 12


> OCCUPATION IS NOT LIBERATION:
> Why We Are Marching on April 12
>
> March Will Target Corporate Profiteers, Fox News and the
> Pro-War Media
>
> Having slaughtered and maimed thousands of Iraqi people,
> the U.S./British invasion forces are celebrating the use
> of their massive, overwhelming and brutal military power
> to crush resistance to their invasion of Iraq. The images
> portrayed in the U.S. media conceal the reality. While
> hospitals are overflowing with civilians and soldiers, the
> streets of the country are littered with incinerated
> bodies, destroyed homes and families buried alive. (See
> "Amid Allied Jubilation, a Child Lies in Agony, Clothes
> Soaked in Blood," Robert Fisk, The Independent (UK):
> http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=395117
> )
>
> The Bush administration is moving rapidly to impose a
> colonial-style occupation government on Iraq. This is not
> liberation. It is the use of overwhelming firepower to
> seize the land and resources of Iraq, and eliminate Iraq's
> sovereignty, while violating the most basic principles of
> self-determination. This is a war for Empire. The Bush
> administration, having carried out a war of conquest in
> Afghanistan and now in Iraq, will now step up its plans
> for future wars of aggression in the Middle East and
> elsewhere.
>
> The people of the United States and the world must stand
> together with all of those who resist in the Middle East
> to say no to imperialism and to Empire. The occupation of
> Iraq will be used to set the stage for intensified war
> planning against Syria, Iran, southern Lebanon, North
> Korea, the Philippines, and against the Palestinian people
> who continue to resist occupation in their homeland. On
> Saturday, April 12, people in Washington DC and around the
> world will continue the mobilization against the invasion
> and the occupation in an international day of action with
> demonstrations in major capitals around the world.
>
> The global movement that suddenly emerged in the past six
> months in opposition to Bush and the U.S. war drive is a
> singularly important development. People all over the
> world, in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, in
> the United States and in Europe marched in coordinated
> action. These movements have now defied borders and built
> an international voice of solidarity. Even the New York
> Times on February 17 referred to this movement as the
> second "superpower" in the world.
>
> This movement represents the hopefulness of the planet
> that war, imperialism, oppression, racism and any form of
> colonialism can be overcome through the globalization of
> human solidarity.
>
> It would be the most tragic and wasteful outcome if this
> movement ­- less than a year old ­- decided that its
> efforts had failed because Bush and the Pentagon proceeded
> with their slaughter in Iraq. The war on Iraq does not
> prove the failure of the anti-war movement. If anything,
> the war on Iraq proves only that the economic, political
> and military authority in the United States is morally
> bankrupt. It is nurtured by a system that has become
> addicted to militarism and war.
>
> Dick Cheney, speaking on behalf of the administration,
> promised after September 11 that there would be "endless
> war" and a war lasting a lifetime. These were neither idle
> comments nor rhetorical flourish. Since then, the
> administration has been absolutely brazen about its
> planned military adventures abroad and its systematic war
> against Arab Americans, Muslims and civil rights and civil
> liberties at home.
>
> While they will never admit it, this planned "endless war"
> is a class war waged by the U.S. government on behalf of
> corporate and banking elites against all those governments
> in the formerly colonized world that have dared to
> maintain nominal independence and control over their
> natural resources. Bush put it succinctly when he said to
> the world "you are either with us or with them." Working
> people in the United States have nothing to gain from this
> war for Empire. It is for the enrichment and power of the
> same corporate and banking circles that have engaged in
> mass layoffs, union busting, wage cutting, elimination of
> healthcare and other benefits. In fact, Bush's war for
> Empire requires a massive transfer of wealth from social
> service programs to fund the Pentagon's rapidly expanding
> budget.
>
> The Bush administration's plans for world domination are
> based on a fantasy entertained by the right wing and
> neo-conservative movement and corporate thieves that
> military power alone is the ultimate arbiter in world
> politics. The New World Order that they aspire to is
> similar to the Old World Order of 19th Century
> colonialism. The people of the world aspire for freedom,
> justice, equality and self-determination. Brute force
> alone will not reverse the long historical process whose
> necessary outcome is liberation. The essential element in
> this struggle is to maintain and build the global movement
> -- the force that has always and can win against military
> and economic might.
>
> *** CHANGE OF LOCATION ***
>
> The assembly site for the April 12 demonstration will be
> at 14th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. NW on the east side of
> the White House ("Freedom Plaza/Pershing Park"). This is a
> change from the Washington Monument grounds. The monument
> grounds are muddy from rain throughout the past week. We
> are expecting dry weather on Saturday.
>
> MARCH ROUTE
>
> The April 12 demonstration will include a brief rally and
> then a march that will target the offices of the
> corporations and mass media that have either profited from
> the invasion and occupation of Iraq or served as the
> principle purveyors of the lies and misinformation in
> service of the war machine.
>
> Our march route takes us to the Carlyle Group, Fox News,
> the Justice Department and FBI, the White House, Bechtel,
> the Washington Post, the New York Times and the offices of
> Halliburton. Marchers will disperse at Farragut Square and
> take the metro from the Farragut West stop to RFK Stadium
> to get on their buses.
>
> IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR BUSES COMING TO DC:
>
> *Bus Drop Off*
>
> Bus drop off will be on 14th St. south of Pennsylvania
> Ave. South. (between Pennsylvania Ave. and Constitution
> Ave. -- drop off on the north part of the block closer to
> Pennsylvania Ave). Buses should go to the bus drop off /
> rally location, drop off passengers, and then proceed to
> parking (see below). After the rally, passengers will take
> the metro from Farragut West to RFK Stadium/Armory (the
> bus parking location) to get back on the bus (details
> below).
>
> *Bus parking at RFK Stadium*
>
> We have arranged bus parking at RFK Stadium. Buses can
> park in Lot 8A. The cost of parking for the day will be
> $30 and buses must pay when they enter the parking lot.
> The bus drivers should indicate that they are with the
> A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition event.
>
> A map of RFK stadium showing the parking areas can be
> found at
> http://www.dcsportscommission.com/directions/dcsec_parking.pdf
>
> *After the rally*
>
> The march will end at the Farragut West metro station.
> Volunteers will be on hand to help direct people. Bus
> passengers will take the metro to RFK Stadium/Armory on
> the blue/orange line. There will also be volunteers on
> hand at this end to direct everyone to the appropriate RFK
> parking lot. Buses will be parked in Lot 8A. It will cost
> $1.10 for each passenger.
>
> If your driver needs to sleep during the day, we recommend
> that he/she park at RFK and take the metro to the hotel
> listed below which has given us a special day-rate.
> Details can be found at
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a12/logistics.html#dc1
>
> Contact information for BUSES, VANS AND CAR CARAVANS
> TRAVELING TO DC can be found at
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a12/a12transp.html
>
> MORE INFORMATION
>
> Additional details about the demonstration -- including
> driving directions, public transportation information, van
> and car parking, low cost housing, disability access,
> tabling policy and more about how you can get involved --
> can be found on the April 12 logistics page at
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/a12/logistics.html
>
> ********************
>
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