Update: August 9
OUR FREE SPEECH RIGHTS ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE!
Federal lawsuit to be filed demanding
demonstrators' access to Central Park

U.S. Mass Murder in Iraq Will Not Defeat the Resistance

As U.S. fighter jets and attack helicopters bomb and strafe densely populated neighborhoods in the holy city of Najaf, and kill and round-up the citizens of Sadr City, the poorest neighborhood in Baghdad, it has become crystal clear that the capacity of the occupation forces to launch a high tech campaign of murder and destruction has utterly failed to defeat the resistance in Iraq.

Bush’s and Kerry's Dilemma in Iraq

Iraq is erupting. The occupiers cannot win and yet they are determined not to leave. The dilemma for the U.S. political establishment, including for both parties of the war machine, is that if the U.S. is driven out of Iraq it will constitute a historical defeat that will make the loss in Vietnam seem minuscule in comparison. The global strategy and stability of U.S. imperialism is premised on control over the Middle East where two-thirds of the world's known oil reserves exist. There is no disagreement among Bush, Kerry or any other power center inside the political and economic establishment that the U.S. must dominate the Middle East and prevail in Iraq.

What the U.S. is achieving is a massacre of Iraqi people. A group of academics and activists inside Iraq has carried out the first and most detailed accounting of the death toll from the U.S. war and occupation and the number is staggering. Throughout the country from large cities to remote villages, interviews were conducted with grave diggers, hospitals and witnesses to killings. Counting only civilians, and not Iraqi military forces, they found that between March 2003 and October 2003 alone a minimum of 37,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed.

The standard of living and conditions for the Iraqi people has deteriorated enormously since the U.S. entered their country. Unemployment is widespread, people are struggling to survive in over 100 degree heat without electricity and clean water. Children are forced to wade through raw sewage running in the streets. Meanwhile, the U.S. occupation government has requested that foreign corporations bid to determine the value of Iraq's oil reserves - the first step necessary to placing a price on the Iraqi people's oil so that it can be privatized to foreign oil interests.

A Time to Act

In the last years all of us have built a massive global antiwar movement against the Bush Administration's invasion and occupation of Iraq and its global war drive. Only the resistance of the people in the Middle East and in the streets of the United States and around the world can possibly bring the occupation of Iraq to an end.

The demonstrations are not simply symbolic gatherings, they are an expression of a growing grassroots movement that now exists in every city and town throughout the United States. Our strategies and tactics must be based on the historical experience of the Vietnam War. The politicians of both parties continued the war while millions of Vietnamese and tens of thousands of U.S. G.I.s were killed. Only the mass movement of the people - especially the resistance in Vietnam - brought the bloodshed to an end.

At the end of July, thousands of people participated in a demonstration initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. A.N.S.W.E.R., along with scores of other progressive organizations and coalitions, is mobilizing now for massive protests before and during the Republican National Convention.

The demonstrations will begin on the weekend of August 28-29, when there will be mass actions prior to the opening of the Convention. A.N.S.W.E.R. is organizing bus transportation around the country for these demonstrations. If you are organizing transportation from your city, fill out the Transportation Form to list your plans on the A.N.S.W.E.R. website. A full listing will be available soon.

On Thursday, September 2, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has initiated a demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people, the Haitian people, and others who are resisting U.S. occupation. The demonstration will begin with a rally at 5 PM at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations, at 43rd St. and 2nd Avenue. We will highlight opposition to the Bush administration's support for the Israeli Apartheid Wall. Following a rally at the Israeli Mission, we will march to rally at the Haitian Consulate, located at 40th St. and Madison Ave., and other symbols of U.S. intervention. At the Haitian Consulate there will be a rally featuring the voices from the Haitian community who have been organizing against the U.S. coup that overthrew Haitian resident Jean Bertrand Aristide. We will then proceed to Madison Square Garden, arriving at the same time George W. Bush is coronated.

From Palestine to Haiti to Iraq, people are resisting empire and colonial occupation. Working people and all progressive people in the United States must be in the streets supporting the right of self-determination and exposing the Bush Administration's foreign policy as an instrument for global domination by U.S. banking and corporate elites. Instead of war and occupation, the people of the United States are fighting for jobs, education, housing and health care.

We need your help to make these demonstrations a success. Funds are urgently needed. Even if you cannot attend the demonstration please make a contribution today to help defray the huge organizing and outreach costs that are necessary to make the opposition of the anti-war movement seen and heard at the RNC. You can make an online donation using the secure server by clicking here. If you wish to make a tax-deductible contribution of $50 or more, mail a check payable to A.N.S.W.E.R./AGJ to: A.N.S.W.E.R., 1247 E St. SE Washington DC 20003. If you wish to make a credit card donation of $50 or more, please call 202-544-3389.