March 19th National Day of Action: Resist the War Machine

Step up the struggle on Sat, March 19th: Resist the War Machine!





Just a note: In some areas, buses are being organized to transport people to the nearest event. if you are from Sacramento, CA and you are interested contact me or call @ 415-821-6545(SF ANSWER Office), [email protected]

Oregonians do their own thing. :closedeyes:

i think the problem is that ANSWER Coalition member organizations dont really exist in numbers in oregon :/

you can also create an event here.

Atlantans UNITE! For the Sake of Human Needs, Down With the U.S. War Machine
March 19th, 12pm; 10th Street Plaza at Midtown MARTA Station to Monroe & Tenth

I'll be attending the DC and Pittsburgh anti-war events.

March 19: March to end the wars and FBI and grand jury repression!



Dear supporters -

At the March 19 anti-war demonstration and march, look for the Committee Against Political Repression banner: Stop FBI and Grand Jury Repression! March with our contingent!

Joe Iosbaker

*March & Rally on 8th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq*

*12 Noon, Saturday, March 19, Michigan Avenue & Congress Parkway -- our own 'Freedom' Square! Short rally followed by a march on Michigan Avenue*

*Funding for Jobs, Healthcare & Education, not for War and Occupation**Iraq, Palestine, Egypt: US Out of the Middle East*

*End FBI raids, political repression and corporate welfare at home*

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

Why we march:

March 19th marks 8 years of US war and occupation in Iraq, where despitePresident Obama's claim that combat operations have 'ended', more than50,000 troops remain, backed by tens of thousands of mercenary privatecontractors. 4,436 American soldiers and over 1 million Iraqis have died,with millions more maimed and displaced. This war has lasted longer than WWII and cost more than $1 Trillion -- more than $200 Billion this yearalone.

The US occupation of Afghanistan has extended into Pakistan, where last yearalone the US military dropped more drone bombs than in the last decadecombined. The US government continues to back and bankroll Israel's waragainst Palestinians and the siege of Gaza. While the US government claimsto support 'democracy and freedom', it continues to back repressive regimesand right-wing movements across the Middle East, Latin American and beyond.The toppling of US backed Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak has inspiredmillions the world over, exposing the great gulf between US rhetoric andreality.

Here at home, antiwar activists and whistleblower projects like Wikileaksare targeted for jail or worse. Muslims and immigrants arescapegoated. Undocumentedimmigrants face deportation and discrimination. Millions are unemployed anduninsured while the government is slashing funds for basic needs like heatand food for poor children. Funding for public education, environmentalprotection and job safety is being gutted. Workers rights are under attack,while the government continues to pour billions into the coffers of thebanksters and corporate predators that created the current economiccatastrophe. Our tax dollars are bankrolling a corporate welfare system thatfunds CEO salaries and war and occupation abroad at the expense of basichuman needs right here at home.

*We reject war and bloodshed. We demand jobs, healthcare, education, justiceand equality -- and the real democracy that puts people before profits andhuman needs before corporate greed.*

Join us on March 19 to demand an end to the US occupation of Iraq. March insolidarity with the great struggles raging from the Mideast to the Midwestand across the world for liberation and self-determination.

*12 Noon, Saturday, March 19*
*Michigan Avenue & Congress Parkway*
*Short rally followed by a march on Michigan Avenue*
*Visit the Facebook event page and help spread the word!
*http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php...9641663770855*

*Current endorsers are:*
8th Day Center for Justice
Albany Park, North Park, Mayfair Neighbors for Peace and Justice
ANSWER Chicago
Chicago Area CodePINK
Chicago Coalition Against War and Racism
Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights (CCDBR)
Chicago Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Chicago World Can't Wait
Committee Against Political Repression
El Techno Colibri, NFP
Families United For Justice In America (FUJA)
Fellowship of Reconciliation Chicago Chapter
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Gay Liberation Network
Industrial Workers of the World – Chicago Branch
International Socialist Organization
International Solidarity Movement – Chicago
Justice for Shifa Supporting Committee
La Voz de los de Abajo
Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice
North Shore Coalition for Peace, Justice and the Environment
Oak Park Coalition for Truth & Justice
Palestine Solidarity Group – Chicago
Party for Socialism and Liberation
Southsiders For Peace
Third Unitarian Church
U.S. Boat to Gaza-Chicago Network
Unity Temple Social Mission Committee
Unity Temple Social Mission Committee
Veterans for Peace – Chicago Chapter

For information or to endorse, email [email protected]

I'll be in Pittsburgh as well as Columbus.

I'll be in DC with March Forward.

I'll
Be at the sf event in three hours. Today we march together!

I hope some of the other rallies accomplished more than the one here did.

Thousands take to the streets on the 8th anniversary of the Iraq war


Thousands take to the streets on the 8th
anniversary of the Iraq war to demand:
End the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan!
Stop the bombing of Libya!

On March 19, thousands of people took to the streets to demand an end to U.S. war and military intervention abroad and funding for people’s needs at home. Mass demonstrations took place in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and many other cities across the United States and the world. Below are some initial reports.

Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Photo: Travis Wilkerson


Thousands of people hit the streets in Los Angeles in a spirited, youthful demonstration to stop the wars. Led by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, including active-duty soldiers and marines, the march of well over 4,000 people chanted, “Money for jobs and education, not for wars and occupation!”

A huge student contingent from high schools and community colleges in Long Beach, Orange County and L.A. participated, along with large numbers from the Muslim community. Speakers included Vietnam Veteran Ron Kovic, students, teachers, union leaders and anti-war activists. Chris Shiflet, the lead guitarist for the Foo Fighters, spoke and played a song.

The ANSWER Coalition initiated the March 19 protest in Los Angeles. Over 100 additional community and progressive organizations endorsed the action.

San Francisco

Despite cold, steady rain, 1,800 people marched and hundreds more rallied in San Francisco demanding an end to the wars and occupations around the world and the war on working people here. Speakers at the opening rally condemned the launching of a new war against Libya, which had begun just hours before.

A strong contingent from UNITE HERE Local 2, the SF hotel workers union, helped lead the march, which ended with a massive picket line in front of the boycotted Westin St. Francis hotel at Union Square. The demonstration was organized by the March 19 Coalition, which was initiated by the ANSWER Coalition.

Washington, D.C.
Members of March Forward! and Veterans for Peace are arrested in front of the White House
Photo: Bill Hughes


Over 1,500 people participated in a veterans-led civil resistance action initiated by Veterans for Peace that led to the arrest of 113 people at the White House. The ANSWER Coalition, March Forward! and many other organizations supported the event.

At the rally in Lafayette Park, Brian Becker, the national coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, said: “The U.S. government never tells the people that ‘we’ are going to invade or bomb another country in order to control and exploit its natural resources—especially oil and natural gas—or the labor of the occupied people. That is, of course, the truth. But no mother or father would allow their child to go to war for the crass function of exploitation. The U.S. government always states that each Pentagon invasion or bombing attack is for humanitarian rather than imperial objectives.

“Today, on the eight anniversary of the criminal invasion of Iraq, the United States, Britain and France are poised to begin a massive bombing of Libya--again, they say, for noble, humanitarian reasons. That is a lie that we must expose. Libya is the largest producer of oil on the African continent and the imperialists want to re-conquer the country and its resources. We, in the ANSWER Coalition, stand against any military action against Libya. The Libyan people, and they alone, must be the masters of their own destiny.”
Ryan Endicott from March Forward! speaks in Washington, D.C.
Photo: Roger Scott


Caneisha Mills, an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition, also addressed Libya in her talk, saying: “The U.S. government claims it will bring democracy and freedom to Libya; these are the same terms used to invade Iraq! After the massive and ongoing slaughter in Iraq and Afghanistan we know that is not true!”

Ryan Endicott, a member of March Forward! and an Iraq war veteran who served in Ramadi, told the crowd: “We know firsthand that our enemy is not the people of Iraq, who for eight years have been struggling to survive a brutal occupation. It is not the people of Afghanistan who for over a decade have been struggling to survive a brutal occupation. The biggest threat to the people of the United States is not thousands of miles away, but hundreds of yards away, right here in the White House, in the Pentagon, on Wall Street. It’s the bankers that take our homes, the CEOs that lay off from our jobs only to take million dollar bonuses.”

Chicago

On March 19 in Chicago, 1,000 people marched on Michigan Ave. to demand an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Protesters carried signs that read "No War on Libya!" and "Stand Against War and Racism: Money for Jobs and Education, Not War!" A very popular chant was "End, End the War! Tax, Tax the Rich!"

The many contingents in the march included Palestine solidarity groups, free Bradley Manning activists, youth and student contingents, many neighborhood peace groups and the ANSWER Chicago contingent, which carried Egyptian and Wisconsin flags, and a banner that read: "From Egypt to Wisconsin to Chicago ... : Time to Fight Back!"

Protests also took place around the country, including in Phoenix, Arizona; Fort Bragg, Fresno, Laguna Hills, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz, California; Evergreen, Colorado; New Haven, Connecticut; Daytona Beach, North Miami and Orlando, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Dubuque and Iowa City, Iowa; Boston, Massachusetts; St. Paul, Minnesota; Biloxi, Mississippi; Kansas City, Missouri; Keene, New Hampshire; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Highland Park, New Jersey; Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio; Eugene and Portland, Oregon; King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Austin, Dallas and Houston, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Seattle, Washington; Racine, Wisconsin.

Please make a donation today to help the ANSWER Coalition to continue this important work. For the last decade, the ANSWER Coalition has been in the forefront building a movement against imperialism and war, and in support of the demand of working people and youth for social justice.






A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org/
[email protected]
National Office in Washington DC: 202-265-1948
Boston: 857-334-5084 | New York City: 212-694-8720 | Chicago: 773-463-0311
San Francisco: 415-821-6545| Los Angeles: 213-251-1025 | Albuquerque: 505-268-2488