Sept. 24 White House protest
receives widespread media coverage

Today (Thursday, September 1), representatives of two major anti-war coalitions - A.N.S.W.E.R./September 24 National Coalition and United for Peace and Justice - held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC to announce plans for a joint anti-war rally and march to take place at the White House on September 24.

Local, national and international media packed the room. Press in attendance included CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, Fox, Associated Press, Star Tribune (Minnesota), Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kuwait News, Watan press ATN Production, TV-Asahi, Nishi-Nippon Shimbun, Nippon tv, Akahati, DC - Independent Media Center, Sirius Satellite Radio, and others.

The press conference was co-chaired by Caneisha Mills, the press coordinator for the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, and Bill Dobbs, the press coordinator for UFPJ. The speakers were Brian Becker, National Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition; Mounzer Sleiman, National Council of Arab Americans (NCA); Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney and co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Steering Committee; Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator, UFPJ; Hani Khalil, Organizing Coordinator, UFPJ; Virginia Rodino, Administrative Steering Committee of UFPJ; Damu Smith, Black Voices for Peace. Also attending the press conference were representatives of the Troops Out Now Coalition, the Mexico Solidarity Network and others.

Please check your local print, radio and television media for coverage. You can send articles and links to [email protected].

Within the first hour after it was released, the Associated Press article (see below) was picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisianna), Kansas City Star (Missouri), Times Leader (Pennsylvania), Macon Telegraph (Georgia), The Herald-Sun (North Carolina), The Daily Advance (North Carolina), Austin American-Statesman, phillyburbs.com, Guardian Unlimited (England), Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Indiana), GJ Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado), Rocky Mount Telegram (North Carolina), The State (South Carolina), Myrtle Beach Sun News (South Carolina), Duluth News Tribune (Minnesota), Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky), Centre Daily Times (Pennsylvania), Wired News, San Jose Mercury News (California), Newsday (New York), News & Observer (North Carolina), The Ledger (Florida), Biloxi Sun Herald (Mississippi), Monterey County Herald (California), Wilmington Morning Star (North Carolina), Tallahassee Democrat (Florida), Tuscaloosa News (Alabama), Everything Michigan, Times Daily (Alabama) and more. In the next 24 hours, it will be picked up by hundreds of news sources across the country and the world.

From the Associated Press article:

Anti-War Activists Plan Massive D.C. Rally
By Elizabeth White,
Associated Press Writer

Organizers are planning what they say will be the largest anti-war demonstration in the nation's capital since the Iraq war began in March 2003.

The ANSWER Coalition and United for Peace and Justice detailed their plans Thursday for the Sept. 24 protest. They plan to bus in people from across the country for a march past the White House. Other major protests are planned that day in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Cindy Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, was killed last year in Iraq, is on a 25-state bus tour that will end at the protest in Washington. The anti-war groups will coordinate with planned protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which are holding their annual meetings the same weekend.

Organizers believe the presence of Sheehan — whose one-woman protest outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, has energized the anti-war movement — and growing public sentiment against the war will produce a turnout of 100,000 or more.

Brian Becker, national coordinator for ANSWER, said the protest will "mark a turning point for the anti-war movement" and put pressure on the administration to withdraw U.S. troops.

Details about September 24:

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org
[email protected]
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.

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