[Peace] ANSWER coalition: Jan 10th Gaza demonstration in Washington, seeks funding to help run it, etc.

[Stuart Levy]

ANSWER is organizing an emergency demonstration for Gaza
in Washington DC, this weekend (Sat Jan 10th).  The note below
is aimed at fundraising -- they need money fast to cover costs --
but you can find more about the planned demonstration at:

     http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8905

They're organizing buses from the East Coast and Midwest, including Chicago.
$100 round trip from the Art Institute, leaves Fri eve & returns Sun morning:
     http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?abbr=ANS_&page=NewsArticle&id=8927

If anybody tries to organize last-minute transport from C-U,
you can tell them that ("Transportation Form" on the latter page)
and they'll post it for others to find.


At least two organizations -- ANSWER and the US Campaign to
End the Israeli Occupation -- are also collecting information about
*local* demonstrations, respectively at
    info at answercoalition.org   (just send e-mail describing the event)
and
    http://www.endtheoccupation.org/form.php?id=131   (web form)

So when the planning for the Mosque's demonstration in Urbana is complete
(Sat Jan 10th, noon-2pm, downtown Urbana courthouse),
it can get posted there too.  These nationwide lists of actions
can be good things to shake at our congresspeople:
    http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2/1762433751?id=8881
    http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1773


----- Forwarded message from "Brian Becker, ANSWER Coalition" <ANSWER at InternationalANSWER.org> -----

Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 14:41:05 -0600 (CST)
From: "Brian Becker, ANSWER Coalition" <ANSWER at InternationalANSWER.org>
Subject: Dear Stuart, an urgent request for support
To: slevy at ncsa.uiuc.edu

Tell a friend: http://answer.pephost.org/site/R?i=d3jPgrJjU9M9BeDUW9qqGg..

Subscribe: http://answer.pephost.org/site/R?i=R2XnhZSyBwgJ5WaJckC43A..

**********************


Dear Stuart,

I am writing you with the most urgent request to make a donation to help defray
the huge expenses for the "Let Gaza Live" Emergency National Mass March on
Washington D.C that will take place this Saturday, January 10. Buses are coming
from all over the United States. Click this link to make a donation.
http://answer.pephost.org/site/R?i=QuSjF3Ia0jJe3-bL33OuHQ..

Because the March on Washington has been called on just one week's notice, we
urgently need your financial support. We must raise $65,000 in the next 72
hours. We will have all the expenses--for bus rentals ($2,100 per bus from NYC
for instance), sound, stage, printing, placards, banners, porta-toilets,
etc.--that are involved in organizing other mass marches. But those
demonstrations usually are done with months of lead time in which fundraising
activities can carried out. Click this link and please make as generous a
contribution as possible.
http://answer.pephost.org/site/R?i=gEbseXXCkfQ_90C9xymNoQ..

As I am writing this letter the latest gruesome news reports keep coming in.
Seven minutes ago the AP reported, "Israeli mortar shells struck outside a U.N.
school where hundreds of Palestinians had sought refuge on Tuesday, killing at
least 30 people -- many of them children whose parents wailed in grief at a
hospital filled with dead and wounded."

The people of the United States must take action now to end the horrific
U.S.-backed Israeli assault underway against the Palestinian people. After days
of merciless bombing, tens of thousands of Israeli troops, armed by the
Pentagon with the deadliest technology, have invaded, occupied, and cut Gaza in
half. More than 600 Palestinians have been killed and at least 2,400 wounded.
Power and water are shut down. The overflowing hospitals have no more medicine.
Food supplies are exhausted. The catastrophe worsens by the hour. 

Click this link to make an urgently needed donation to support this Saturday's
Emergency "Let Gaza Live" Demonstration.
http://answer.pephost.org/site/R?i=kN7R2lv2Tpjdzcm7cMa6Ag..

Cluster and phosphorous bombs, and depleted uranium munitions are just some of
the atrocious weapons being used indiscriminately against one of the poorest
and most densely populated areas of the world. Nearly half the 1.5 million
residents of Gaza are jammed into crowded refugee camps, where they and their
families have lived since their forcible expulsion from towns and villages in
Palestine in 1948.

In response to this dire situation, the ANSWER Coalition, together with the
National Council of Arab Americans, Free Palestine Alliance, Muslim American
Society Freedom Foundation, Al-Awda Palestine Right of Return Coalition,
Council on American Islamic Relations and other organizations have issued an
emergency call for a National Day of Protest on Saturday, January 10. Mass
marches will take place in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other
cities, demanding "Let Gaza Live!!" Among the endorsers of the demonstrations
are Cynthia McKinney, Ramsey Clark, Howard Zinn, Cindy Sheehan, and hundreds of
others individuals and organizations.

Already, tens of thousands of people across the U.S. and millions around the
world have taken to the streets against the war and in solidarity with the
Palestinian people. Protests on every continent have refuted the lies of the
politicians and corporate media which attempt to portray the oppressor as the
victim and vice-versa.

What is needed now--especially here given the role of the U.S. government in
arming and backing Israel--are national mobilizations of greater scale. That is
the aim of the January 10 March on Washington and the other actions around the
country.

Again, I appeal to you to click this link and please make as generous a
contribution as possible.
http://answer.pephost.org/site/R?i=FBviSje8YleMxpNyybsTHQ..

Thanks in advance and we hope to see you on January 10,

Sincerely, 

Brian Becker
National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition 

P.S. Contributions made to Progress Unity Fund are tax-deductible. 

**********************

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
www.answercoalition.org
info at internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 213-251-1025 
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Chicago: 773-463-0311

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