9/22/07-09/29/07 Troops Out Now Encampment

All out for D.C. and L.A., September 22-29th
Green Party participates with other groups.

Over four years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Greens continue to call for an immediate end to this war, and accountability at home. Our Gulf Coast remains in shambles, nooses are hung by white children in school yards to intimidate black children, and immigrant families are rounded up in the middle of the night.

As Greens, we must come together to say - the United States needs to get its priorities straight, clean house, and we must bring the troops home NOW! Beginning Saturday, September 22, the Green Party of the United States have a tent set up at the Troops Out Now Coalition's week-long encampment to end the war, on the lawn in front of the Capitol building. We invite all Greens to come to D.C. and L.A. to join with others to resist the continuing war abroad and demand accountability at home.

Jared Ball of the DC Statehood Green Party will speak at the rally on the 29th http://www.voxunion.com/jaredball/ . Ball is a nominee for the Green Party Presidential candidacy. Green Party of the U.S. Co-Chair, Echo Steiner (FL), will co-emcee the rally in Washington D.C. In Los Angeles, GPAX co-chair, Deanna Taylor (UT), and SKCM-Curry of the California Green Party will speak at the rally September 29 in front of the Federal Building. During the D.C. Encampment on Wednesday, September 26 at 5pm, the DC Statehood Party will lead a discussion on D.C. statehood, affordable housing, and preserving neighborhood libraries.
We honor the courage of those thousands who converged this week in Jena, Louisiana, to call out injustice -- we seek to continue in that spirit by calling on Greens to assemble at the halls of power, to speak, to act, and to work together to take our country back for the people.

For Pictures, go to http://www.dadoonan.com/contact%2Dsheets/syracuse%2D09%2D29%2D2007/

An Iraq War Veteran Reflects On The Sept.15 March

AN IRAQ WAR VETERAN REFLECTS ON THE SEPT.15 MARCH

‘The first time I put on that uniform I hoped I would wear it with honor. On Sept. 15, I finally did.’

By Michael Prysner

The writer is an Iraq war veteran.

On the morning of Sept. 15, I held in my hands a uniform that was issued to me nearly five years ago.

I remembered the first time I held it, wondering if I would ever wear it home, wondering if it would be stained by blood or shredded by bullets. It looks much different now than the first time I put it on—it is faded from 12 months of desert sand and sun. The elbows and knees are worn from lying in the street. The boots are tattered from kicking down doors and walking over cities of rubble. As I put it on for the first time since I returned from Iraq, I finally felt as if I was putting it on for a purpose.

For so many years, that uniform has not stood for justice and freedom. It is the uniform that the Iraqi people saw stomp through their towns. It is the uniform that drove humvees and manned machine guns. It is the uniform that dragged people from their homes and interrogated them in prison camps. But on the streets of Washington, D.C., the uniform took on new meaning.

It was no longer worn with the intention of fighting for the government, but fighting against it. For me, and for my brothers and sisters in Iraq Veterans Against the War, the uniform that once symbolized fear and destruction would now be worn in the spirit of justice and resistance.

In March of 2003, our government ordered us to put on that uniform, march into a foreign land and take it from those who lived there. On Sept. 15, we put on that same uniform to march to the Capitol and face those who sent us to war.

A significant factor in ending the war in Vietnam was the ability of protesters and GIs to strike fear in the heart of the government. Countless citizens and soldiers threw their bodies into the gears of the war machine, and made the ruling class realize that instead of fighting their war, we would fight them.

This war will end when the government begins to fear the masses—when the army they sent to spread imperialism becomes the army that marches to their offices and charges through the police barricades.

The first time I put on that uniform, I hoped I would wear it with honor. On Sept. 15, I finally did. I could finally do something right while wearing it. The nearly 200 people arrested on that day—many of whom were Iraq war veterans—showed the government that we will do more than just march.

We will defy them at every turn; we will not fade away, but only grow in numbers and intensity. The longer this war rages on, the more we will resist and the more we will sacrifice.

Wearing that uniform at the steps of the Capitol, I knew that the most important action that I could do was to advance towards the barricade, and help light the spark that will empower people to stop this government.

For the first time, that uniform was worn fighting a just war. When I emerged from jail that night, I saw hundreds of cheering supporters outside. Then, I knew that sooner or later we will win this war against imperialism. And I have never felt prouder wearing that uniform.

The Sept. 15, 2007 March on Washington

The Sept. 15 March on Washington:
A New Movement is Emerging

By Brian Becker

The Sept. 15 March on Washington was unique.

Sept 15 crowd shotThe energy, the youth, the multitude of new people who were joining a protest for the first time; the large number of Iraq war veterans as well as active duty service members; the determination of Gold Star family members to unite together in the streets against the war that stole the lives of their children and the inspired willingness of thousands to die-in and risk arrest—these were the features that made Sept. 15 somewhat more akin to the militant marches and actions that became a characteristic feature of the movement that helped end the Vietnam War.

The people who attended knew this to be true. This was not the same crowd strolling down the street. What the people saw and felt and experienced and knew to be true could not be easily erased by the typically bad, cynical and misleading corporate media coverage.

Tens of thousands of people, led by Iraq war veterans, Gold Star families whose loved ones were killed and other veterans, marched shoulder to shoulder across eight lanes of Pennsylvania Avenue. The police suddenly locked together barricades which were taken down just as quickly as the Iraq veterans led the march straight up the broad sidewalk leading to the Congress where they were again violently blocked by platoons of riot clad police.

People marched forward towards the steps of the Capitol determined to carry their anti-war message as the heavily armed police attacked and blocked peaceful protestors. Thousands joined a Die-In and symbolic funeral for the US Servicemembers and the legions of Iraqis who have perished in this criminal endeavor. Police reinforcements with shields and helmets marched down the steps of the U.S. Capitol building with guns and sticks in hand.

Iraq war veterans and the family members of soldiers and marines, joined by thousands upon thousands of high school and college students, stood face to face with a line of armed force that prevented their forward march to redress grievances for an illegal war and occupation.

Police forced Iraq War veterans and elderly veterans of other wars face into the ground and tied their hands behind their backs. Men and women in fatigues, students, mothers of soldiers and members of the American Muslim community were taken away in handcuffs and marched or dragged up the long Capitol steps.

More than 190 were arrested in all and when they were brought to jail together it was obvious that their spirit and solidarity was a testament to their determination to resist the war machine. Throughout the demonstration, and among those who were detained too, a collective spirit was crystallizing. Almost everyone could sense that something was new.

People were held on busses, many in tight cutting handcuffs, until the early morning hours. When finally processed at the police vehicle garage where everyone was held, people were directed to a door leading to an alley uncertain where they were, what they were to do or what would happen next as the door closed behind them. But as each person stepped outside a few yards and was seen a great cheer went up and across the street they saw people on the grassy embankment waiting for them. ANSWER organized hundreds of supporters and a legal team that stayed outside the jail all night long and greeted each newly released person with coffee, food, rides to the bus station or home if they lived in the DC area.

Before the action the government undertook significant efforts to try to suppress and repress the organizing efforts. The ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) was slapped with $38,000 in fines for putting up 194 posters that were legally wheat pasted announcing the Sept. 15 action. ANSWER was told they had to be taken down immediately, and refused. Instead, we filed a suit with the Partnership for Civil Justice challenging the constitutionality of the government’s actions.

When ANSWER held a press conference in front of the White House to protest the fines, the police from the National Park Service arrested the speakers and organizers—and horse-mounted police charged into the assembled media.

Ironically, this police attack in front of the White House came hours after Laura Bush gathered the media together inside the White House to condemn the police crackdown of “pro-democracy activists” in Myanmar.

If anything, the government’s attempts to suppress these efforts not only failed but also drew additional thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of angry people to the streets.

A true united front

When the large crowd, with so many high school and college students in attendance, poured into the streets around 1:00pm on Sept. 15 the excitement and buzz was palpable. People knew they were part of something very special, something different from the earlier anti-war marches. It wasn’t just the large crowd, which was marching 120 abreast, and filling up all eight lanes of Pennsylvania Ave. for many blocks. The march was impressive and new at other levels as well. ANSWER initiated the action and provided hundreds of organizers and volunteers. These people were the organizational and administrative anchor of the protest. But this was not an action of one group or entity.

Sept. 15 was a genuine and broad coalition of diverse organizations. Iraq Veterans Against the War, D.C. Chapter; Grassroots America, Veterans for Peace, Camp Casey Peace Institute, Hip Hop Caucus, CodePink, National Council of Arab Americans and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation worked together in joint planning.

The groups achieved an admirable level of cooperation and comradely working relations based on mutual respect and shared responsibility. Many other organizations also contributed. Ramsey Clark and thousands in the ImpeachBush movement mobilized as well.

As a response to the fascist mobilization of the so-called Gathering of Eagles, numerous local and national organizations joined together to offer a united security team.

Sept. 15 may be a harbinger of an even greater unity in the anti-war movement among Iraq war veterans and military families, the Arab American and Muslim communities, students and youth, the immigrant rights movement and other oppressed working-class communities—both those who are already unionized and the millions who need to be.

In our ongoing evaluation of the action, we will have to assess not only its strengths but any of its defects, weaknesses and mistakes. It is not possible to have such an energized action with many tens of thousands of people without there being a fair share of mistakes to learn from. None of the defects, however, can take away from the broader significance of the action.

At the barricades

ANSWER leaders were among the first people arrested when riot police tried to barricade the path to the Capitol building. Some also were among the first of the 197 people released from custody.

The rest of the night those released earlier and other solidarity activists had the great privilege of welcoming people as they got out of jail and shuttling individuals to the bus and train stations between 1:00am and 8:00 am the next morning.

We got a chance to meet and learn the stories of these brave souls. Many were Iraq war veterans and young students for whom this was their very first demonstration and their first arrest. They were inspired, pumped up and eager to keep mobilizing. They were proud of what they had done.

Many people told us in person, and in emails and phone calls, that Sept. 15 was an event of great importance in their life and outlook.

There is no scientific method to assess how many people fit into this broad category, but by the anecdotal feedback we believe this was a large group.

People come into the streets, risk arrest, join a movement and become activists because they have certain hopefulness that their actions can make a difference.

We have been through a period of pessimism and political apathy—hallmarks of generalized mood where the mass of people do not have the confidence that change is possible. But on September 15 it felt that this may be changing.

Building a New People’s Movement for Change

On Sept. 20, just five days after Sept. 15, tens of thousands people traveled to Jena, La. to stand with the Jena 6 and the African American community.

These two events coming within one week’s time are the first signs that we are waking to a new morning of action, resistance and militant struggle. New movements are not born in the minds of social critics and Ivory Tower observers. They are forged in the streets. Real people, volunteering their time and ignoring the armies of naysayers, are the ones who ignite new historical processes. This movement is coming together because it is needed. Its time has come.

By acting together against war and racism, and linking this movement to all the needs of society that are being sacrificed and destroyed by the power of corporate domination, we can fill the void and vacuum left by the earlier collapse of the progressive movement.

Sept. 15 in Washington, D.C. was a meaningful day and for some a life-altering day. It will be remembered as significant in a broad historical sense if it emerges as a step toward an even greater development. That is the goal and task of all those who are committed to waging a broad struggle for the radical transformation of this country.

That, and nothing less, is the order of the day.

Brian Becker is the National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition.

March on the Pentagon 3/ 17/07 from ANSWER

Tens of Thousands March on the Pentagon
Riot Police Block Buses and Deny Access to People Coming to the Demonstration
Report from ANSWER

March on Pentagon

Congratulations to everyone who made it through the snow and freezing rain to get to Washington and join together in the tens of thousands and March on the Pentagon!

On the way to the Pentagon, March 17

Led by a contingent of Iraq war veterans, active-duty service-members, Gold Star families, and veterans from other past and present wars, the demonstration received a large amount of media coverage. CNN has featured the demonstration, which the report described as a march of tens of thousands, in its rotation since yesterday. The major French newspaper, Le Monde, ran a significant article under the headline, "More than 50,000 People Protest Against the War in Iraq," about the March on the Pentagon as the U.S. component of the world-wide protests marking the beginning of the fifth year of the war against Iraq. The rally was broadcast live on C-span and Al-Jazeera and received wide-spread media coverage. C-span will be replaying the rally, check http://www.cspan.org/ for times.

Front banner for the March on the Pentagon

The March on the Pentagon was not a solitary action but one of more than 1,000 protests that will take place in the U.S. between March 17 and March 20. In Los Angeles, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition called a demonstration that drew 50,000. Maxine Waters was one of many speakers and music was provided by renowned Ozomatli, Jackson Browne and Ben Harper.

The ANSWER demonstration on March 18 in San Francisco drew 40,000 protesters and filled 15 blocks of Market Street, a six-lane avenue.

The March on the Pentagon took place the day after a severe winter snow and sleet storm suddenly hit northeastern states that prevented many buses from traveling, 700 fights from taking off, and thousands of cars from reaching the March. Motorists were advised throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic region to stay off the road. The large turnout at the demonstration was all the more significant given the hardships people had to endure to participate in the activity. People marched to the Pentagon and stayed as long as they could braving 20 mile-an-hour winds and a windchill factor into the teens.

A great thank you is owed to the committed volunteers who endured a torrential downpour of freezing rain though Friday night to help set up the assembly and rally sites. People stayed overnight with the equipment and then began working again at 5:00 am in complete darkness. The assembly area had become a lake on March 16 and filled with mud by the time the march stepped off. The windchill in the early hours was not far above zero. At the rally site the large tents and canopies blew down. Volunteers continued to work long hours after the rally ended to take-down, pack, clean the entire area and unload trucks. The anti-war movement is growing both numerically and its organizational capability and the tireless work of volunteers forms the core of this success.

The lead banner of the march demanding US Out of Iraq Now was carried by Cindy Sheehan, Cynthia McKinney, Jonathan Hutto co-founder of Appeal for Redress, Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and youth and students in the anti-war movement.

Pentagon Prevents Immortal Technique and Others from Joining the Rally

Immortal Technique

The Pentagon and Virginia State Police, many clad in riot gear, wearing gas masks and wielding batons, blocked people coming from the subway/metro who wanted to attend the demonstration. They also blocked buses from accessing the Pentagon in contravention of the agreements reached in the permit. This required people to walk nearly two miles to get to their buses following the rally.

Many people who came to the rally after it had begun - some who had seen the huge march at a distance as it crossed over the Memorial Bridge across the roadways and wanted to then join the activity - were blocked by the Pentagon and the police from entering the rally site through a maze of misdirection, road closures and threats of arrest at multiple different locations. The ANSWER Coalition worked to get people in, and ANSWER organizers and our attorneys went to the site of sudden police confrontations and shutdowns, but many people were still unable to get in including the hip-hop artist Immortal Technique who was scheduled to perform.

Like so many other people, the hip-hop artist Immortal Technique's travel plans to get to the demonstration, seemed so daunting as to be virtually impossible. But due to his determination and his resourcefulness, he found a way to overcome cancelled flights and frozen roads. Although he rebooked flights in order to land in North Carolina, personally rented a car and drove it to Washington, D.C., the Pentagon and law enforcement blocked him from coming into the rally where he was going to perform. We urge everyone to read Immortal Technique's compelling account -- which is both a narrative and a political commentary. Immortal Technique's message below should be read and circulated to your e-mail address book and to e-mail lists everywhere.

Message from Immortal Technique:

Immortal Technique"First and foremost I would like to congratulate the organizers of ANSWER and in specific Brian, Amelia, Peta, and Sarah and the many others who reached out to me and who I saw make a powerful statement today. I am not a big fan of marches and rallies because I have always believed that the system must be attacked economically above all. But, if coordinated well, they can effect change and remind people that this war is still costing lives and no matter who the father of Anna Nicole's Baby is or who wins the next season of American Idol or what new song is on the radio, people are dying, both from this country and in massive numbers in the Iraqi Civil War. March 17th, even with all the problems we faced, was a success in reminding people of the insurmountable evidence of corruption, self righteous moral depravity, and dishonesty present within our government... Because we have issue with the administration we should not be painted as people who despise their country. If I am not pleased with a book I read or a movie I watch that doesn't mean I hate the concept of film in general or that I take issue with printed literature on a whole. The administration presently tries to attach itself to the idea of America as if they were the far right standard by which all should be judged by as Americans. This White House after all just concerns itself with the well being of its stock holders, make-shift praetorian guard of politicians and political contributors.

"The ANSWER coalition and others have been working to separate these two so people can see the Bush Regime as that which uses America like a whore and claims to love her.

"As most of you know the storms in and around the New York and NJ area prevented travel back home on the 16th. So in order to try and make the Pentagon on March 17th since my flight out of Atlanta was canceled I flew into Greensboro and drove through the radio span of about 54 Christian Radio, Top 40 and Country Music stations. There were some songs like this one right here that I had to listen to all the way through even though they were lyrically abhorrent. I guess it was just like people who slow down on the highway to watch a terrible car accident. Musical Rubbernecking is what I called it, to bear witness to just about the most ridiculous piece of musical propaganda that isn't based on any facts but rather someone’s uninformed and uncultured back road view of America and what we are fighting over. I only heard the song but now that I've seen the video, it really makes me wonder how anyone from the right wing can accuse the resistance of using music or religion to promote their political agenda. It also makes me wonder what the future generations of this nation will be like.

"At any rate after my arrival in DC late on the 16th I woke up and got ready to check out and go to the Pentagon when everywhere began to shut down. I went over the key bridge and parked in the South Parking of the Pentagon when I was abruptly told by Pentagon Police that I needed to get to the North Side. After some directional confusion and them closing 27 to prevent me from going in there, Sarah Sloan tirelessly guided me back through the maze of area highways. I was entering the North Parking at which point 2 Pentagon police motorcycles rolled up and sent me back, then after circling and trying again I was at the point where the entry was for all the buses entering. There 4 police cars detained me and asked me who I was and what my relationship was to the event. When I told them why I was there they immediately demanded that I leave. They claimed that other officers must not know that this section was closed. And I thought about how difficulty in communication across the parking lot was a blatant farce. One said I should park my car in one of the local parking lots and then try the underpass and walk in, which I did but by that time it was 3:30 and as I parked my car and walked in again there was a police presence there that was sending not just myself but everyone else back.

"They said they had to arrest people for walking in the wrong areas and for not respecting the boundaries and were basically just trying to dissuade anyone from the street who had seen the march from a distance from joining it. Several local residents were there with me and were told to leave as well. I took a bus towards Arlington and then they shut that passage down too. I say all this not to complain because I expected as much but to point out that we should expect this and if this is going to be done again we should have back up plans, people on the perimeter other ideas I’m thinking of discussing with ANSWER personally etc… Less than a football field away I was blocked, followed out, cornered by cop cars, surrounded twice and turned back several times. It was an attempt to discourage myself and others, to make it as difficult as legally and illegally possible during that period of time to get in. I didn't expect them to be hospitable or helpful in any way but they did nothing to stop the message or dissuade me in any way. In fact they just doubled my resolve and reaffirmed how committed and focused we have to be in these times.

Peace & Respect,

Immortal Technique

P.S.

"This Administration talks a lot about God, so much that if you think about it the Republican Party has created this ubiquitous monopoly on religion in the political world. As if they were the only people who believed in God. It's no secret that they use religious values to cultivate a fan base that would normally be very disturbed by their domestic, economic, and foreign policy agendas. They are even breeding this type of thinking in the children of this nation, thinking much farther ahead than we are actually. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2c7_1173547096

"You know about 3000 years ago there were Egyptians who worshipped the statues of Gods like Osiris and Anubis and thought praying to these pagan entities gave them strength, virility, victory and love. We now scoff at this practice and think "how could people be so ignorant as to worship such idols thinking they will bring them what they ask for?" We think how could people pray to a man with a dog's head or a man with a bird’s head and think that those deities will fulfill their humble requests from the heavens. But the sad truth is that 3000 years from now if humanity still exists people will probably look back on our society and say, "look at these people they prayed to a man nailed to piece of wood, and the saddest part was that they couldn't even follow the most basic commandment of what he said, which was treat others the way you wish to be treated." This coming from a person who while he doesn't let religion control his life, believes in God strongly, and knows how much Christ and others like him spoke about individuals who made money off of others suffering, people like our modern day war profiteers, globalization architects and oil barons.

"Knowing how Jesus brought drama to the Holy Temple back in the day because of the way the people had made the name of God into a mechanism to increase their own personal wealth... I think that the people who work for the administration and more specifically the president that are reading this right now should let him know that if Jesus was alive, he'd probably spit in your face."

From the Pentagon to California,
Antiwar protests sweep across the country

Thirty-seven years ago when anti-war protests began to engulf the United States, the Nixon administration adopted a public posture of utter indifference. Nixon went out of his way to claim that he didn't notice massive anti-war demonstrations in Washington because he was watching a football game on TV. We learned later from the memoirs of high government officials that the rising tide of anti-war protests between 1968 and 1970 constituted one of the greatest fears for the war makers. The movement spread deep into the rank-and-file of the U.S. military as well, as soldiers, marines and sailors carried out their own protests and acts of resistance. Sometimes the people underestimate their own power, but the ruling establishment knows all too well the consequences of a politicized and mobilized people.

Bush pleads for "patience"

It is the protests sweeping throughout the United States during the past four days and the prospect of other demonstrations to come that forced Bush to go on the airwaves Monday to "plead for patience." The Bush administration and the Pentagon high command fear that the protest movement could become a contagion. Politics is dynamic and political apathy, lethargy and inaction can turn into their opposites. The protests of the last days anchored by the march of tens of thousands at the Pentagon raises this specter for the White House and the Pentagon.

This is still an unfulfilled potential, but it can happen.

It will only be the actions of all anti-war organizations and the people that can significantly change the political climate. Many who came to the March on the Pentagon, and the many thousands who tried but couldn't because of the weather, are making their plans for local demonstrations, protests at local Federal Buildings, city-wide marches and rallies, community protests and vigils, civil disobedience and a range of ongoing actions building anti-war pressure into an irresistible force.

Protest and resistance

The next step for the ANSWER Coalition and many affiliated organizations and individuals is captured in the slogan, "Protest and Resistance," encouraging sustained activity including mass action protests on a local level, continued education and mobilization and acts of collective and individual resistance to the war machine. As happened during Vietnam, active-duty soldiers are beginning to participate in both protest and in acts of resistance. National coalitions play a role, as do local organizations as do all of us as individuals both inside and outside the military.

Media coverage on the spreading antiwar protests

For a very good round-up of the actions across the United States marking the beginning of the fifth year of the war in Iraq, listen to the coverage from the March 19 edition of "Democracy Now," hosted by Amy Goodman. To see the C-SPAN coverage of the March on the Pentagon, go to the C-SPAN homepage, and find "ANSWER Rally Against Iraq War."

The people repudiate pro-war thugs

The forces of ultra-right racism and militarism tried to "Swift Boat" the Washington protest. Wrapping themselves in American flags, groups like Rolling Thunder pretended to "defend" the Vietnam Memorial from threats that they themselves totally fabricated. (Operation Rolling Thunder was the name given to the U.S. Air Force's B-52 carpet-bombing of Vietnam between February 1965 and October 1968, in which thousands of Vietnamese civilians died each month.)

On March 17, these pro-war puppets showed their true colors. They shoved elderly people, screamed at parents whose children had been killed in Iraq, yelled racist comments at Arab and Muslim participants, and spit on and ripped signs out of the hands of high school students.

Police at the March on the Pentagon

The government's police stood by and let this happen, despite their oft-repeated claims to be "keeping the peace." A very strong ANSWER security squad blocked these pro-Bush provocateurs from entering the front of the march. Anti-war protestors were disciplined and focused and refused to be provoked into the confrontation the government was hoping for. The enormous power of the people was felt as all those from around the country fighting to stop the war came together, rendering the sideline fascists irrelevant, and marched united on the Pentagon.

March on the Pentagon 3/17/07 Impeach Bush

Tens of Thousands March on the Pentagon and Call for Impeachment

March on the Pentagon

The March on the Pentagon, March 17, 2007
Congratulations to everyone who made it through the snow and freezing rain to get to Washington and join together in the tens of thousands and March on the Pentagon marking the beginning of the fifth year of the war against Iraq. The Impeachment message was broadcast loud and clear and reached a national and worldwide audience!

The Demonstration Stikes A Nerve

Disgraced Tom Delay went on television Sunday morning and complained on Meet the Press that "we shouldn't have had what we had yesterday...in Washington, D.C." with people calling for "impeaching the commander in chief." Much as Tom Delay would probably like to see the First Amendment removed from the Bill of Rights, the stark reality that he and the White House faced was a huge outpouring of people from across the United States calling for the Impeachment of Bush, Cheney and other high officials. Feeling the heat from mass demonstrations around the country, Bush was forced to go on national television Monday and "plead for patience" from the people of the United States.

Led by a contingent of Iraq war veterans, active-duty service-members, Gold Star families, and veterans from other past and present wars, the demonstration received a large amount of media coverage. CNN featured the demonstration, which the report described as a march of tens of thousands, in its rotation Saturday and Sunday. There were hundreds of articles in US newspapers and world wide, and photographs featuring thousands of impeachment signs including, "Guilty of War Crimes, ImpeachBush.org." The major French newspaper, Le Monde, ran a significant article under the headline, "More than 50,000 People Protest Against the War in Iraq," about the March on the Pentagon and wrote that the protestors were calling for the impeachment of Bush for war crimes. The rally was broadcast live on C-span and Al-Jazeera. Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Cynthia McKinney; Jonathan Hutto and Liam Madden, co-founders of Appeal for Redress; Iraq Veterans Against the War; Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson; constitutional rights attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, and others spoke. You can view the rally by going to http://www.cspan.org/ and clicking on the March 17 anti-war rally under the video section. Ramsey Clark's speech is available on YouTube.

The March on the Pentagon was not a solitary action but one of more than 1,000 protests that are taking place in the U.S. between March 17 and March 20. ImpeachBush.org played a major role in co-sponsoring the March on the Pentagon as well as the Los Angeles demonstration that drew 50,000 and the San Francisco demonstration of 40,000 that filled 15 blocks of Market Street, a six-lane avenue. Impeachment supporters have been out at rallies around the country all week.

The March on the Pentagon took place the day after a severe winter snow and sleet storm suddenly hit northeastern states that prevented many buses from traveling, 700 flights from taking off, and thousands of cars from reaching the March. Motorists were advised throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic region to stay off the road. The large turnout at the demonstration was all the more significant given the hardships people had to endure to participate in the activity. People marched to the Pentagon and stayed as long as they could braving 20 mile-an-hour winds and a windchill factor into the teens.

A great thank you is owed to the committed volunteers who endured a torrential downpour of freezing rain though Friday night to help set up the assembly and rally sites. People stayed overnight with the equipment and then began working again at 5:00 am in complete darkness. The assembly area had become a lake on March 16 and filled with mud by the time the march stepped off. The windchill in the early hours was not far above zero. At the rally site the large tents, including the Impeachment Tent, and canopies blew down. Volunteers continued to work long hours after the rally ended to take-down, pack, clean the entire area and unload trucks. The anti-war movement and impeachment movement are growing both numerically and in their organizational capabilities and the tireless work of volunteers forms the core of this success.

Pentagon Prevents People from Joining the Rally

The Pentagon and Virginia State Police, many clad in riot gear, wearing gas masks and wielding batons, blocked people coming from the subway/metro who wanted to attend the demonstration. They also blocked buses from accessing the Pentagon in contravention of the agreements reached in the permit. This required people to walk nearly two miles to get to their buses following the rally.

Many people who came to the rally after it had begun - some who had seen the huge march at a distance as it crossed over the Memorial Bridge across the roadways and wanted to then join the activity - were blocked by the Pentagon and the police from entering the rally site through a maze of misdirection, road closures and threats of arrest at multiple different locations. March organizers worked to get people in and they and their attorneys went to the site of sudden police confrontations and shutdowns, but many people were still unable to get in including the hip-hop artist Immortal Technique who was scheduled to perform.

Ramsey Clark

Ramsey Clark on Impeachment and the War

As Ramsey Clark stated at the Pentagon rally, the effort to Impeach Bush has immediate and long term consequences. The Bush regime is rotting from within. Growing scandals are an indicator. The public revulsion to the endless lies about Iraq has set the stage even more so. Impeachment can and must become a reality and we can do it with your continued support.

Ramsey Clark challenged all of us when he spoke at the Pentagon: "We¹ve got work to do. If you thought about what will happen in the next 22 months if we don't act now, there will be a big buildup of U.S. troops in Iraq. That's what the surge is about. It's a permanent surge."

New York Demonstration 1/ 27/ 07 from Impeach Bush

150,000 March Against Iraq War on January 27 in Wash. D.C.
Message of “Impeach Bush” fills the streets around Congress

Next Step: March on the Pentagon Saturday, March 17th

*Please forward widely to your e-mail lists and friends*

Dear Chris,

January 27Congratulations to everyone! The January 27 demonstration was a powerful boost for the movement to end the war and to Impeach Bush. A special word of appreciation goes out to everyone who made a contribution to help pay for bus tickets and transportation for young people to come to the demonstration.

The demonstration was very large. Don’t believe CNN when it says “thousands” attended, or the New York Times when it claims “tens of thousands” in its headline, or the Washington police's unofficial claim that the demonstration was under 100,000.

Our estimate of the numbers is significantly higher. 150,000 people participated. The systematic under-counting of demonstrations by the media and the police is unconscionable. The National Mall was densely packed between 3rd and 4th street and at least half filled up until 7th Street. This should not be a complicated issue for anyone counting. There have been other demonstrations on the National Mall to compare this demonstration to.

The Washington Post noted, that while the demonstration was not as large as the anti-war protests of September 24, 2005 and January 18, 2003 (also on the Mall, where VotetoImpeach.org was launched), the protest was "big enough, though, that the march that followed the rallies stretched the length of the route from the Mall, up Constitution Avenue to the east front of the Capitol and back to the Mall." And there are other ways to measure. The organizers announced that there were 300 buses bringing people to the demonstration. That means 15,000 people came by bus alone and most people come through other means of transportation. Although the New York Times headline read, "Tens of thousands marched," noted columnist Bob Herbert wrote today (January 29) that when Tim Robbins spoke towards the end of the rally the crowd had "grown to more than 100,000."

What was most notable about the January 27 demonstration was the mood of the crowd. Impeach Bush was by far the most popular and spontaneous chant. When John Conyers, Chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee addressed the crowd he finished by urging the people to demonstrate time and time again reminding everyone of the lesson from the Vietnam war. The crowd responded by chanting "Impeach Bush!" "Impeach Bush!" over and over. Congressman Conyers' Judiciary Committee, back in July 1974, was the place where Articles of Impeachment were voted on for Richard Nixon, leading to his resignation in August 1974.

The Impeachment Agenda in the Next Few Months

There are almost seven weeks to go before the March on the Pentagon, which will take place on Saturday March 17. Ramsey Clark will help lead the demonstration. It will assemble at noon at the Vietnam Memorial (Constitution Gardens) and then march to the Pentagon. This will be the 4th anniversary of the start of this criminal war of aggression. Every Iraqi citizen who has died or lost a loved one and every U.S. soldier who either has been killed or wounded has suffered the deepest personal loss in a war based on deliberate lies and systematic deceit. Bush and Cheney must be held accountable for their crimes.

Volunteers and organizers are working in cities and towns around the country to bring people to the March on the Pentagon. The ImpeachBush.org/VotetoImpeach movement will be sending out regular email updates listing organizing and transportation centers so that everyone can learn how they can travel with others to the March 17 demonstration in Washington DC.

New York Demonstration 1/27/07 from United for Peace and Justice

Dear friend of United for Peace and Justice,

January 27th was an extraordinary outpouring for peace in Washington DC and in communities all around the country. On Saturday, the National Mall was filled with the voices of 500,000 people committed to doing their part to end the war in Iraq and bring all of the troops home. And the energy in this massive turnout was electric.

Today, at least 1,000 people will bring that energy and conviction into the offices of Congressional representatives from 47 states. This promises to be one of the largest lobby days in decades, and caps an amazing weekend in the nation's Capitol.

Join us by calling your members of Congress today, and telling them that the delegations coming to their offices today speak for you! We are demanding that Congress use its power to end the war and occupation in Iraq, to bring the troops home and to take care of them when they get here, and to make restitution for the destruction of Iraq. Call the Capitol Switchboard -- 202-224-3121 -- and ask to to be connected to your representatives' offices. Click here to find who your members of the new Congress are.

January 27th began with an energizing rally on the National Mall and, with the Capitol building as the backdrop, the message of the day was crystal clear. It is time for Congress to use its Constitutional powers and to act on the mandate of the November elections -- it is time for Congress to stand up to Bush and end this war. But the rally was just the beginning.

And then, hundreds of thousands of people marched around the Capitol. If you have never been to Washington, it might be hard to imagine what this looks like, but this is a very large area. As far as we know, this is the first time -- ever -- that any protest has surrounded the Capitol. On top of that, the U.S. Capitol Police, over the weeks leading up to the march, had refused to grant our permit request to do just that, telling us we had to take another route. But when we brought 500,000 people and several members of Congress -- they had to change their minds. In the end, with no incidents, we marched around the Capitol! By the time the front of the march got back to the starting point, the last of the marchers were just leaving the rally site -- we had completed the circle.

There is much more to say about this powerful demonstration, and later this week we will issue a fuller report. And you can help us tell this story. If you have photos or video of this extraordinary day, please upload them via the links on our website and share them with others.

If you have reports from any of the more than 100 demonstrations that took place around the country, please send those to us at grassroots@unitedforpeace.org. From what we've heard already, we know that calls for peace echoed all across the country. We want to hear more, and we want to share those stories.

Finally, we want to thank all of you who've made financial contributions to this effort. Without that support none of this would have been possible. And now, as we prepare for the next steps in our work, we turn to you again. Please do what you can -- today -- to help us ensure that we have the financial wherewithal to keep moving forward. Thanks so much.

ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545