Fw: Central Park March 20 - Out Now! Mass Demonstration

["Ulliana Stefano" <ulliana1 at tin.it>]

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Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2004 7:49 PM
Subject: Central Park March 20 - Out Now! Mass Demonstration

Emergency Anti War Conference
Calls for United March on Central Park to End the Occupation



"Central Park Belongs to the People--March on Central Park on March 20 to
End the Occupation!"

This call for a united effort of antiwar forces came from organizers and
activists at the December 4 Emergency Antiwar Conference in New York City.
It was greeted with thunderous applause and a renewed determination to be
in the streets to fight the illegal occupation of Iraq.  (see below for the
text of the call)

The conference, called by the International Action Center, was supported by
a wide variety of progressive organizations including: New York City Labor
Against the War, the Haiti Support Network, the New York Million Worker
March Committee, the Korea Truth Commission, New Jersey Solidarity -
Activists for the Liberation of Palestine, New School Graduate Program in
International Affairs Human Rights Group, International Concerned Family &
Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, AMAT - the Association of Mexican American
Workers, FIST - Fight Imperialism - Stand Together, Queers for Peace and
Justice, Democratic Palestine, the No Draft No Way Campaign,
PeopleJudgeBush.org, and more.

Panelists at the conference raised the need to organize against the draft
and military recruiting, to support resistance inside the military, and to
return to the streets in the continued struggle to stop the occupation.  At
the conclusion of the conference, participants broke into planning groups
to begin organizing the next phase of resistance to occupation.  Organizing
groups included:  Fighting Bush's War Budget, Fighting the Draft and
Military Recruiting, Solidarity with Resistance in the Military, and Action
Plan: Counter-Inaugural and March 20.

OUT NOW!
MARCH TO CENTRAL PARK ON SUNDAY MARCH 20th, 2005
THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BE MARCHING AND WATCHING


The world-wide antiwar movement has called for massive demonstrations
against the war on the weekend on March 19-20 -- the second anniversary of
the invasion of Iraq.  We have a responsibility to respond with renewed
determination and commitment in the face of the Bush Administration's
launching of a new phase of the war against the Iraqi people.

A few months ago, Mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD, and Bush told us that we could
not march to and rally in Central Park.  We do not accept this decision and
are determined to challenge it in the courts and by assembling tens of
thousands of people to retake Central Park --our Park.  The antiwar
movement cannot afford, and must not allow, this infringement on our
rights, especially in a city as important as NYC.  

We call on all antiwar and progressive activists, organizations, and
coalitions to work towards building a massive march on Sunday March 20th to
Central Park under the slogan OUT NOW!

We propose to set up an OUT NOW coalition, open to all individuals and
organizations willing to work together to stop the war.  The reason why we
are proposing that we call this movement “OUT NOW!” is because these two
simple words convey the absolute zero tolerance for the occupation of Iraq
that must drive our organizing hence forth. We need everyone to know that
the mass movement is re-opening a full-scale campaign to stop the war and
end the occupation and that the movement means business.

We encourage you to endorse this call.

<http://www.iacenter.org>The International Action Center


What you can do to help build March 20:

1) <http://www.PeopleJudgeBush.org/endorse.shtml>Endorse
2) <http://peoplejudgebush.org/listyouractivity.shtml>Organize local
transportation to NYC
3) <http://www.PeopleJudgeBush.org>Help get the word out - download flyers
from <http://www.PeopleJudgeBush.org>http://www.PeopleJudgeBush.org
4) Forward this email as widely as possible



THE CHALLENGES FACING THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

The following points are not submitted as the basis for unity that all must
agree to before working together. They are points of discussion that merit
movement-wide attention at this crucial juncture.

* WE need to demand the Immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of
all U.S. occupation troops from Iraq. The occupation’s sole purpose is to
control the natural resources of Iraq and render the Iraqi people and its
institutions subservient to US corporate interest by military force. The
principal function of the occupation is the destruction of all who dare to
resist it, no matter the cost in Iraqi lives, in the destruction of Iraq’s
infrastructure, and the resulting devastation of Iraqi society.

* The most important thing to know about the January 30 “elections” that
are being organized under the US-created Allyawi regime, is that their
purpose is to legitimize the occupation and the objectives of the
occupiers. In the days ahead it will become more important for us to reject
and expose any excuses put forward to justify the continuation of the
colonial occupation of Iraq for even one more day, or the sending of more
troops which is already under way. There is only one issue and that is
ending the criminal occupation - immediately.

* We must support politically, morally and organizationally members of the
U.S. armed services who are resisting the war, moreover, we must encourage
this resistance.

* We must organize to fight any attempt by the Bush Administration to
re-instate the draft and prepare to support resistance if conscription
returns.

*It is time for the antiwar movement to acknowledge the absolute and
unconditional right of the Iraqi people to resist the occupation of their
country without passing judgment on their methods of resistance.  Even the
founding charter of the United Nations clearly affirms the right of an
occupied people to resist by force of arms.

* Bush’s doctrine of preemptive war, the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan
and the growing threats against Iran and North Korea make it incumbent upon
us to reject that notion that smaller countries must disarm and leave
themselves defenseless at the demand of Bush and the Pentagon. Such demands
are not only hypocritical, irrational and unjust; they amount to little
more than a pretext for more invasions and occupations.

* We must continue to draw the connections between and build solidarity all
of the people in every part of the world that are resisting the empire - in
Korea, the Philippines, Cuba, Venezuela, Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Haiti,
where the people are actively resisting the “coupnapping” of President
Aristide.

* There must no longer be any hesitation on the part of our movement
regarding our support of the struggle of the Palestinian people to free
themselves from occupation. As a movement we have made a huge step forward
in this regard. There must be no turning back.

* We must work to facilitate the widest unity between all of the forces
that are seriously organizing against the war and occupation. The world
demands no less of us inside of the US. If there is a will to forge unity,
then those with wide differences in political positions and even a history
of poor working relations will find the basis to unite in the interest of
the struggle to stop the war.

* Now that the election is over, it is clear more than ever that only a
peoples’ mass movement can stop the war.  The antiwar movement should never
again sacrifice its independence and demobilize itself on behalf of a
political party that supports the war.  The first and most immediate task
of the antiwar movement is to be back in the streets.

* It is up to us to revitalize the mass struggle against the war and to
insure that it is serious, uncompromising, unrelenting and supportive of a
wide array of tactics from the mass marches to the militant tactics of the
youth, to the tactics that are most effective for the inclusion of workers,
labor unions and people of color.

* One way of accomplishing greater fusion between the antiwar movement and
the working class and the poor is through linking of the issues that affect
the mass of the people with the struggle against the war in a much more
strategic and substantive way. For example, very soon the Bush
administration will ask congress to approve between $70 and $120 billion
more for the war on top of the more than $200 billion that has already been
allocated for it. Congress will be voting to fund the war and occupation at
the same time that students, workers, single parents, the unemployed and
retirees are being hit with the most sweeping budget cuts in the government
programs that they depend on since the Reagan years. Our challenge: Can we
help galvanize those who will be outraged by the specter of their money
being stolen from critical needs to pay for more death and destruction into
a struggle against the war budget vote? The time frame for this struggle
will the period between the counter-inauguration protest in DC and around
the country on Jan.20 - through the 2nd anniversary of the start of the war
on the March 19/20 weekend.

* We propose to strategize and reach out to other forces with the goal of
implementing this perspective.  The Million Worker March Movement has
issued a call for all of the various antiwar organizations and workers
struggles to unite on the weekend of March 19-20 and we endorse this call
for broad unity.


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