[Nasional-e] ANSWER COALITION BUILDS BRIDGE TO WORLD

[Ambon]

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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 23, 2003
issue of Workers World newspaper
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ANSWER COALITION BUILDS BRIDGE TO WORLD

By Deirdre Griswold

Despite efforts by those in power to pooh-pooh their significance, mass 
demonstrations have often played the decisive role in changing U.S. 
history.

This writer remembers being in a huge demonstration that ringed the 
White House during the Vietnam War. The press reported that President 
Richard Nixon wasn't paying any attention. He was watching the football 
game, they said, to show his contempt for the "kids" and "bums" 
attacking his policies.

Many years later, long after the U.S. was forced to end its aggression 
in Southeast Asia, Nixon chief of staff and convicted Watergate criminal 
H.R. Haldeman revealed that the president had indeed been watching the 
protest, peeking through the blinds at the protesters. What he saw did 
not encourage him. He began drafting a speech, writing a note to himself 
at the top of his yellow pad: "Don't get rattled--don't waver--don't 
react."

Today the Bush administration pretends that its plans for a horrendous 
military assault on Iraq have the support of all but a small "fringe" of 
people in this country. Indeed, most of the highly monopolized mass 
media cooperate in this falsehood.

Proving just the opposite, however, are the anti-war demonstrations that 
have been growing ever larger over the past year and a half. They are 
making visible in the most irrefutable way the sentiment that otherwise 
would be deemed non-existent by the political establishment.

The main force behind these demonstrations has been the ANSWER 
coalition, which stands for Act Now to Stop War & End Racism. This 
coalition, representing many organizations committed to social justice, 
came together in September 2001, after the Bush administration, taking 
advantage of the terrible Sept. 11 attacks, began vigorously pushing 
forward an aggressive agenda already formulated. It included a massive 
military mobilization aimed at dominating the oil-rich areas of the 
Middle East and, at home, stepped up repression in the name of "homeland 
security," targeting Muslims and Arabs in particular.

That led to ANSWER's first national march in Washington, on Sept. 29, 
when 20,000 people braved the flag-waving and fear mongering to demand 
no war and no racial profiling.

Succeeding demonstrations have grown too large to be ignored by the 
establishment media, particularly the Oct. 26, 2002, mass marches in 
Washington and San Francisco against a war on Iraq, which brought out a 
total of a quarter of a million people.

WW spoke to some of the members of the ANSWER Steering Committee about 
what they think the Jan. 18 demonstrations will achieve.

Peta Lindsay is a Howard University student who joined ANSWER while 
still in high school and now coordinates youth and student outreach. She 
sees tremendous growth in this area:

"The vast majority who come to the protests are youth and students. We 
can't vote until we are 18, but we can go to these large demos and make 
a change. Civil rights, the Vietnam War--people are realizing more and 
more that it was the youth and students in the streets that made the 
difference. We're in touch with high school students all over, from 
Michigan to Kansas to Maryland. They can feel isolated in their 
communities, but when they get on the bus and travel to these demos, and 
find they're with 200,000 other people, they know they're not alone but 
on the side of the majority of the people of the world."

Elias Rashmawi brings to the coalition steering committee the 
determination and passion of the Free Palestine Alliance, USA:

"I believe that the people of the U.S. have a moral duty and a 
responsibility to oppose the march toward war and the escalation in the 
level of hate that exists today in the world. The people of the U.S. are 
the only ones fully equipped to stop it. No one else in the world has 
the ability--diplomatically, militarily--to challenge this empire or the 
way it functions internally.

"The people around the world have their eyes focused on Jan. 18, waiting 
to see how the people of the U.S. collectively speak with their feet and 
tell the representatives of their government, 'We will not let you march 
to war, not allow you to destroy nations and peoples.' The ANSWER 
coalition is positioned, because of the partnership it has with affected 
people throughout the world, particularly the Arab people right now, to 
galvanize and lead a movement to stop this war before it starts."

Chuck Kaufman, a national co-coordinator of the Nicaragua Network, 
believes there's no substitute for large-scale activism:

"The only place that U.S. wars have ever been stopped is in the streets. 
The only thing that impresses our government is when there's massive non-
cooperation with the war machine."

Jennifer Wager represents the Interreligious Foundation for Community 
Organization/Pastors for Peace:

"Our organization for 35 years has advanced struggles for self-
determination, racial, economic and social justice. We believe there's 
no more fitting way to honor the memory of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 
than to come out and 'break the silence' and express our outrage at the 
war-mongering of the Bush administration. We know that Jan. 18 will 
continue to build momentum for this growing movement for peace with 
justice in the U.S. and worldwide."

'PREEMPTIVE WAR' MEETS PREEMPTIVE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a civil rights attorney and co-founder of the 
Partnership for Civil Justice, thinks the Bush administration is 
"shocked" by the emergence of a mass anti-war movement and its impact 
worldwide.

"This movement is having a significant impact on their plans. He has put 
out this idea of calling for 'preemptive war'--and he is being met with 
a preemptive antiwar movement.

"There are times when it is critical for people to come together in a 
mass assembly for the largest possible mobilization. By having a 
significant physical and vocal presence, we send an unmistakable and 
undeniable rebuke to the administration."

ANSWER is prepared if the focus of Bush's wrath turns against the people 
of Korea. On the steering committee is Yoomi Jeong, deputy secretary 
general of the Korea Truth Commission, who says:

"The people around the world recognize that the real axis of evil is in 
fact the USA. I think it is very important for the people here to stand 
up for justice and peace. This is our moral obligation to the humanity 
that is affected by U.S. imperialism.

"Having said that, as a member of the ANSWER Steering Committee, I am 
very much inspired by comrades representing different nations, races, 
regions and issues. This is a true form of international solidarity; 
across the borders of religion, culture and language. We are one against 
the tyrant of U.S. imperialism. Along with Iraq, the Democratic People's 
Republic of Korea--North Korea--is being singled out as a next target of 
U.S. military attack. I am very happy that we are represented at the Jan 
18th march and rally in Washington so people can hear what the Koreans 
have been saying all along."

Brian Becker, a national coordinator of the International Action Center, 
says:

"The ANSWER coalition believes that the mobilization of the people can 
be the decisive factor in stopping the planned war of aggression against 
the people of Iraq. The war is an imperialist war for objectives that 
have nothing to do with disarmament. Rather the Bush administration, 
operating on behalf of the biggest transnational corporations and 
especially big oil and the big banks, seeks to conquer Iraq and all the 
Middle East in order to loot and plunder the vast natural resources of 
the area.

"People at the grassroots level all over the country are utilizing every 
avenue of struggle to stop the war. But there are moments in history 
when having a huge national mobilization is essential to show the power 
of the movement and to inspire confidence and stimulate a firestorm of 
countrywide militant opposition."

These leaders, along with others on ANSWER's diverse steering committee, 
show that a new kind of coalition is leading this anti-war struggle. It 
reflects the energies, experiences and sensitivities of the many peoples 
and cultures now incorporated into the working class and progressive 
movement in the United States. But it is also a bridge to peoples all 
over the world who are resisting the imperialist globalization of the 
planet.

- END -

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