[Peace-discuss] UFPJ & the inauguration, etc.

[Morton K. Brussel]

At the UFPJ gathering. the argument against organizing for a bid push  
on 1/19 was that UFPJ  couldn't arrange for two big mobilizations  
close together, one on the 19 January, and another on 4 April—they  
didn't have the resources. They gave reasons why they wanted a big  
demonstration on 4 April in NYC, anniversary of MLK's speech at  
Riverside church and of his death a year later. They said they would  
not talk against anyone wanting to participate in the 21 January  
demonstration. Many planned to do just that.

My own thought is that they wanted to show their racial sensitivity  
as well as antiwar credentials by honoring MLK and his coming out  
against the U.S. empire and militarism in his dramatic speech the 19th.

There remains of course deep antagonism to the ANSWER movement  
people, with whom they say it is impossible to play fair ball .

--mkb


On Dec 18, 2008, at 6:17 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:

> [I have my hesitations about "World Can't Wait" -- really about its  
> antecedent, the RCP -- but the following seems to me about right. -- 
> CGE]
>
>    Are We Going to have an ANTI-War Movement in the US?
>    Thursday, 18 December 2008 04:10
>    by Debra Sweet
>
> I was at the United for Peace & Justice National Assembly this  
> weekend.  I met some of you there who read this list; and others  
> who were not familiar with World Can't Wait.
>
> I worked with others -- mostly peace coalitions from the middle of  
> the country, not in the larger cities -- to get UFPJ to support a  
> united anti-war march in Washington DC on the sixth anniversary of  
> the war, Saturday March 21.  By 111-49, that proposal was defeated,  
> in favor of what UFPJ's program "Yes We Can ... End the War" for a  
> Saturday, April 4 march on Wall Street, focusing on the recession.
>
> Not to directly challenge Obama's escalation of the war in  
> Afghanistan is shameful.  On the anniversary of "Shock & Awe," and  
> under a new president, the anti-war movement needs to be in  
> Washington.  And many of us WILL be there.
> World Can't Wait wrote a letter to the anti-war movement.  We posed:
>
> "We in this country, and those of us in this movement, have a  
> choice. We can side with our government, with the "good war" fought  
> in our names, and act like American lives are more important than  
> anyone else's lives.
>
> Or we can show the people living in the Middle East, and the world,  
> that in the U.S. there is a difference between the people and their  
> government, and that the people are taking responsibility to end an  
> unjust war and the war crimes that have been carried out in our  
> name. We can act like we care about the whole planet."
>
>  Visible action is urgently needed. Plan Now:
>
> The USA PATRIOT Act, the Military Commissions Act, and Obama's FISA  
> Act must be repealed; the U.S. torture state must be dismantled,  
> and secret rendition ended.
> *Visible - orange - protests on Sunday, January 11, the anniversary  
> of Guantanamo.
>
> Prosecute the war criminals and STOP the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan!
> *The first anti-war protest of the Obama administration January 20,  
> 2009, Washington DC,
>
> Six Years of Illegitimate War - Resist the Recruiters!
> *Wednesday, March 18 "We Are Not Your Soldiers" Day of resistance  
> to recruiters;
> *Thursday March 19: Local protests including school walk-outs.
> *Saturday March 21: United mass protests.
>
> We in World Can't Wait pledge to work with everyone who wants to  
> build an ANTI-war movement.  Real change happens when people take  
> independent action - outside the confines of government and in  
> their own interests.
>
> If we want to stop the continued horror of the largest imperialist  
> power on earth dropping bombs, sending death squads and torturers  
> anywhere with impunity -- in our names -- the only way is to face  
> up to reality, tell the truth, and get out to the people with the  
> message that we must stop the crimes of our government.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Peace-discuss mailing list
> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss