SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25: MARCH ON THE PENTAGON (Intl' ANSWER)

[Kolesar]

"We will march from the Justice Department to the White House to the Pentagon, the real "Axis of Evil."

http://internationalanswer.org/campaigns/o25/index.html

Three and a half months should be perfect timing if we can get these horrid "faked intelligence" stories to break. It would be great if the DU could get some well-researched information up to the presenters. Now, the rest of the announcement:

MARCH ON THE PENTAGON
The World Unites
Against U.S. Militarism!
contact: 202-544-3389 [e-mail]
WHAT YOU CAN DO:

* List Transportation arrangements from your city
* Endorse the mobilization
* Student Organizing Form

There will be an international march on the Pentagon on October 25, which will include delegations from countries around the world. Under the banner The World Unites Against U.S. Militarism, the demonstration will also demand an end to the looting of social programs by the war machine. As we march on the Pentagon, banners from countries from all continents will represent the resistance of people around the world to the threat posed by the Bush Administration's hyper-aggressive "preemptive war" strategy which is rampaging against the people of the world. The Bush administration has also just won approval from Congress to proceed with the creation of a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons explicitly designed to be used, especially in the Third World in coming conflicts. The march will demand an immediate end to this new nuclear arms race. As the October 25-26 weekend is the second anniversary of the signing of the Patriot Act, we are starting at the Justice Department where representatives of cities and communities around the country who have begun non-cooperation campaigns will deliver copies of their resolutions. The demonstration will also be a political challenge to the assault on civil rights and civil liberties and the expansion of the system of repression in the U.S. and in countries around the world which have adopted new repressive National Security laws. We will march from the Justice Department to the White House to the Pentagon, the real "Axis of Evil."

[LynneSin]

1. Getting a little discouraged with International Answer

And maybe they'll read my rant and make some changes.

THANK GOODNESS I WASN'T AT THE PHILLY PROTEST!!

Because from 3 sources who were (and they weren't all together), I found that IA is going downhill when it comes to these protests.

I'm the first to admit that if you have any left leaning rally or protest in Pennsylvania and ESPECIALLY in the PHilly region that the pro-Mumia folks are going to show up in grand force. But from what 3 different accounts told me, it was like the pro-mumia folks took over and overpowered the anti-war/bush group. And International Answer did NOT help the situation by having about a dozen pro-Mumia speakers including Ramona Africa on their speaker list.

Not all anti-war/Bush people are pro-Mumia and everyone I know who was at the rally is included on this list. This doesn't mean I'm for the death penalty, it's just that everything I've read from both sides of this group makes me truly believe that Mumia should be behind bars and we should all be protesting against the death penalty (and not just for Mumia). The Mumia group tends to be more radical than most people who come to anti-war/bush rallies and although they have every right to be out there protesting, International Answer should have NOT let them take over the protest, one speaker would have been enough from this group.

My second complaint is just the general list of how these rallies are run anymore. When I saw the list for the rally in Philly it was almost 50 speakers long. THIS IS JUST WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE SPEAKING AT THESE RALLIES. I say pick 10-15 really good speakers and then spend the rest of the time in marching and chanting. I remember the protest from last October and how our group was getting so frustrated from listening to all these speakers and having to stand still in the hot sun all day.

The best rally I attended was the March rally in NYC where we all just marched from Broadway to Washington Square. A protest like this where everyday folks can see our numbers and hear our cries is more effective than too many speakers with too many different messages.

Ok, that's my rant!

[jonnyblitz]

2. I am sure people at ANSWER could care less what DEMS think..

and that is why I like them. I was at that rally in Philly and thoroughly enjoyed it! Yes there were many people speaking but I don't recall seeing any ANSWER people holding guns to anybodies head making them stand to listen. Usually there is a schedule of events and if anybody doesnt care to hear about Mumia or "Free Palestine" then they can show up for just the march. As far as all my personal research goes it appears at the least Mumia should have some sort of retrial which is denied him.....ALL I can say is I am glad SOMEBODY is holding these rallies. In the meantime, all you prissy middle class DEMS who can't handle the hot sun can stay at home until your exact ideal single issue protest is planned...:)

[LynneSin]

3. That's probably why many people left the Philly protest

And guess what - it WASN'T the prissy middle class DEMS that were leaving, in fact it was some of the people who are also members of DU, 2 green party members and 2 older ladies fed up with the democratic party that I have heard info about how poorly run this protest was run.

The message that many of us would like to send to the rest of the world is that all types of people are going to these protests and showing their anger towards Bush and their opposition against the war. If we are to sway the rest of the country including middle class America, don't you think it's important to show that a majority of these people at the rally are also middle class.

I am NOT a single issue, I care about a variety of issues; however, everything I've read both in the media and from the folks who attended was this particular rally turned out to be a pro-Mumia rally, which is something that many people would not want to attend. Sounds like a single issue rally to me!

40+ speakers are TOO many for the rally, after standing in the hot sun many of us enjoy moving around a bit and letting folks hear our message and see our numbers. We need to be loud and vocal. Pick about a dozen key speakers and focus on their message and YES they can be from a variety of groups. I never said that the Mumia people couldn't be part of the rally, I felt that the Philly group had an overwhelming number of folks from the Pro-Mumia slated to speak and should have cut that that number down to 1 or 2 tops.

Maybe you're simply not interested in reaching out to the rest of the country, but many of us are. My family knows I attend these rallies and when they see folks like them, average middle class people, attending these rallies it makes them start to question what Bush is doing and why we are at war. Isn't that what we should be doing? There's a large group of people in this country that still believe what they see on CNN, MSNBC and FOX and a majority of these people vote. And when they see people just like they are out there rallying and questioning Bush then these people will start to indenify with us and see that it is patriotic to protest the Bush regime. We will NOT remove Bush from the White House if we alienate middle class America, there is way more of them than there is of us.

So yes I will rant and I will take offense at your post questioning people like myself, another "Prissy White Dem" who have enjoyed many of these rallies but have noticed a decline in how they put them together.