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This year marks the tenth anniversary of the ANSWER Coalition. Founded just three days after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, ANSWER has been the central organizer of many major demonstrations against war, racism and repression in cities from coast to coast over the past 10 years.
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Today, ANSWER is an integral part of the Occupy movement that has swept the country and around the world, providing vital logistical as well as political support to this electrifying new expression of popular opposition to injustice, war and inequality.
On Sept. 29, 2001, ANSWER held the first national protests against the looming Afghanistan war. In 2002-03 and in the years that followed, we initiated or sponsored multiple demonstrations against the Iraq war, several numbering in the hundreds of thousands. For over 10 years, ANSWER has been at the forefront of building the largest anti-war movement in U.S. history.
On April 20, 2002, the ANSWER Coalition organized the biggest demonstrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people in U.S. history, of more than 100,000 people. ANSWER, which at its core included a partnership between Arab and non-Arab activists, fought a long and successful battle against excluding the Palestinian struggle for self-determination from the anti-war and peace movement.
ANSWER has played an important role in the fight against racist and religious profiling, in support of immigrant and workers’ rights, and for economic and social justice for all.
In recent years, March Forward!, an affiliate of the ANSWER Coalition, has brought together anti-war veterans and active-duty service members to fight for their rights and oppose U.S. wars of aggression.
Everything we have been able to do over the past 10 years, the many mobilizations, our growth and expansion into new areas, has been made possible by the generous contributions of supporters like you.
Contribute today: Your donation will be doubled
Now, a great opportunity has arisen for the people’s movement to advance—and never has it been more needed. But fulfilling this potential will require a great deal of hard work and resources. We are appealing for your support.
Through a special generous gift, each donation made to the ANSWER Coalition by Dec. 31, 2011 will be matched, up to $10,000! Click here to make a donation. Your generousity will be doubled, up to $10,000.
The year 2011 has seen an amazing resurgence of grassroots resistance here and around the world. In January and February we saw the popular uprisings that brought down the U.S.-backed regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.
Simultaneously, a mass movement of workers and students arose against the attacks on public employees and their unions in Wisconsin and Ohio. For weeks the Capitol Building in Madison, Wis. was occupied and, in the middle of winter, hundreds of thousands marched and rallied outside. While the right-wing governors and legislators in both states succeeded in ramming through union-busting laws, it is especially noteworthy that the people of Ohio decisively overturned that state’s law by a 60-40 percent margin on Nov. 8.
ANSWER was there in Wisconsin and Ohio, just as we have been in the Occupy movement that grew out of those mobilizations. Many ANSWER activists were among the 700 people illegally arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge on Oct. 1. The Partnership for Civil Justice, a member organization of the ANSWER National Steering Committee has filed a major class action suit on behalf of the arrestees.
Occupy, organize and march together
In Los Angeles, ANSWER has played an important role in the Occupy movement. Over the course of seven weeks, ANSWER—in coalition with local unions, immigrant rights groups and Occupy LA activists—initiated several major mass actions that drew thousands of people into the streets of downtown LA to protest big banks and corporate greed.
ANSWER has been on the front lines defending the Occupy LA encampment. We helped mobilize over 3,000 people to defend Occupy LA just two days after politicians and police demanded their eviction from City Hall lawn. As the police raided the encampment days later, ANSWER organizers joined with hundreds of others to support the people’s struggle. Two of our leading Los Angeles organizers were arrested and hit with $10,000 bail. In cities from Syracuse to Albuquerque, Chicago to San Francisco, Washington DC to San Diego, ANSWER has participated in and fully supported the Occupy struggle, a struggle that has shifted the political mood in the country.
ANSWER also has played a key role in linking the anti-war struggle to the Occupy movement. On Oct. 7, ANSWER sponsored or joined in protests across the country marking the 10th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. In Los Angeles, hundreds staged a die-in outside the Federal Building.
ANSWER has committed time to building solidarity with Cuba and Latin America. We premiered a groundbreaking new Cuban film in Los Angeles and Long Beach, with events featuring the director from Cuba; organized a major public forum featuring Venezuelan government advisor Eva Golinger; and have helped organize countless other events and protests in solidarity with the people of the region.
ANSWER has also played an important role in fighting racism and police violence—from mobilizing against Islamophobic City Councilwoman Deborah Pauly, to organizing protests against the police killings of Doug Zerby, Kelly Thomas, Ismail Lopez and others.
While most U.S. troops will finally be leaving Iraq after devastating that country, thousands of “contractors” (really military in different uniforms) will remain. U.S. officials have made it clear they will continue to surround Iraq with U.S. bases that blanket the region. Following the bombing war against Libya, the Pentagon continues attacks on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and other countries with impunity, threatens Iran, funds Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and has just sent an initial contingent of troops into central Africa. The real military budget this year will be well over one trillion dollars, more than $3 billion every day!
Today, ten years after we started, we face unprecedented challenges and opportunities. If you believe that a powerful people’s movement is the critical element for progressive change, if you agree with former Attorney General Ramsey Clark that, “The ANSWER Coalition has played an irreplaceable role” in building that movement, then please make as generous a contribution as possible.
Now is the time!
Yours in solidarity,
Muna Coobtee & Mike Prysner