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The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is the organization that has assumed full responsibility for the costs of the stage, sound, and setup at the joint rally, which will begin at the White House (Ellipse) at 11:30 AM on September 24. The cost will be in the many tens of thousands of dollars.
Please help A.N.S.W.E.R. meet these and other large expenses by
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Peace Rally, 9/11 Walk Become Dueling Events
It's Antiwar Groups vs. Pentagon Event
Washington Post
8/28/05
by Petula Dvorak
"The war over the war is coming to Washington next month, with an event sponsored by the Pentagon one weekend, a peace rally organized by antiwar groups another and rancor swelling on both sides.
"The Pentagon's Freedom Walk on Sept. 11 is billed as a memorial to victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks and a show of support for those serving in the military. Some have welcomed the event as a counter to the antiwar movement. The antiwar protesters say it's an attempt to boost the war effort that is orchestrated to preempt their peace rally.
"That rally, planned for Sept. 24, is being organized by the ANSWER Coalition and other groups as a major protest against the Iraq war, but other causes have been tossed into the mix, including support for Palestinians and opposition to U.S. policy in Haiti and the Philippines."
Full story
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The Human Catastrophe
in Louisiana and Mississippi
The human catastrophe and widespread devastation in Louisiana, Mississippi, and elsewhere, as a result of Hurricane Katrina, is eliciting the sympathy and action of people all over the country. The extent of the suffering is almost beyond imagination. Many people in the antiwar movement, in the South, and elsewhere are volunteering and showing other expressions of support for those in need. The possible outbreak of disease caused by sewage contamination of drinking water is just one of the myriad problems facing the population.
While the Pentagon is seeking to occupy the position of coordinator for the relief efforts, it is worth noting where the government, and the Pentagon specifically, has really distributed its resources. Large numbers of the National Guard from Louisiana and Mississippi have been sent to occupy Iraq, and are unable to help in the needed rescue operations. 6,000 members of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard are watching the catastrophe unfold from 7,000 miles away. 40 percent of Mississippi's National Guard force, and 35 percent of Louisiana's is in Iraq. Conditions are likely to worsen in the next few days as rainfall from the hurricane flows into Lake Pontchartrain. Due to collapsed levees, the water is expected to continue to increase in the city of New Orleans until it reaches the same level as the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.
It's impossible to ignore the class issues associated with this natural disaster. Before the hurricane struck, the government issued a mandatory evacuation order with a "free-market approach." In other words, people were ordered to leave, but the means for evacuation were not provided. More than 300,000 people in the New Orleans metropolitan area could not leave. Who were they? It is the working class and in particular, the African American community in the region that is enduring the worst of the storm. Governor Haley Barbour declared martial law, and announced that looters would be dealt with "ruthlessly." What are poor people stranded in New Orleans supposed to do - wait without food, clothing, or shelter until stores reopen? Again, the Bush administration is spending $200 million a day to occupy, bomb, and wreak havoc on Iraq. It is not only the National Guard members who are in Iraq, but much of the needed emergency equipment for natural disasters. Likewise, the war and occupation is imposing a human catastrophe on the Iraqi people that few in the United States can fathom, given that the big business media largely conceals the depth of suffering caused by U.S. government actions there.
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Protest near Bush
ranch prepares to take
message on bus tour
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP)
08/30/2005 War protesters camping out near President Bush's ranch prepared Monday for a three-week bus tour to spread their anti-war message to people and lawmakers in 25 states.
Three buses were to depart Wednesday from the makeshift camp started by Cindy Sheehan along the main road leading to Bush's ranch, protesters said. Sheehan arrived Aug. 6, soon after his Texas vacation began, and vowed to stay until month's end unless he talked to her about the war that claimed her 24-year-old son Casey's life.
Since then, several thousand people have visited "Camp Casey" for a few hours, days or weeks.
"We had no idea the ditch in Crawford had such phenomenal acoustics," said Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, one of four organizations sponsoring the Bring Them Home Now Tour.
"There's a momentum building across the country ... and we intend for every member of Congress to hear our messages from Camp Casey loud and clear," she said.
The tour will end with the three buses meeting in Washington, D.C., for a Sept. 24 anti-war march organized by United for Peace and Justice and the ANSWER Coalition.
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Report from August 29: Extradite Posada
On August 29, demonstrations demanding the immediate extradition of Luis Posada Carriles were held in front of federal courthouses in El Paso, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle, Chicago, Charlotte, Milwaukee, Madison, Philadelphia and Miami. Coordinated actions took place in Venezuela and in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada.
Luis Posada Carriles has been involved in committing past terrorist attacks on the Cuban people and was a longtime operative of the CIA. Protestors denounced the U.S. government's hypocritical "War on Terror," which functions as a cover for U.S. invasions, while handing out life sentences to the Cuban Five (actual anti-terrorist fighters), and protecting those terrorists whose actions conform to foreign policy interests. Now that an admitted terrorist with long-standing connections to the United States has showed up in the United States, the "War on Terror" has mysteriously disappeared.
Demonstrators carried signs with photos of the 73 passengers on Cubana flight 455 who perished in 1976 as a result of a mid-flight bombing engineered by Posada. That flight left from Venezuela, where Posada was charged with the bombing. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 with his trial pending. Protestors made it clear that the immigration proceedings are a diversion, and that extradition is the only real issue.
Extradite Posada to Venezuela! No Asylum for Posada! Free the Five!
Click here for a live August 29 Democracy Now! interview hosted by Amy Goodman with protesters from El Paso, including Gloria LaRiva (from A.N.S.W.E.R.), and family members of victims of anti-Cuba terrorism.
Local reports and photos from the protests to be available soon at images.answercoalition.org/cms
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