http://www.internationalanswer.org/index.html

That is the link to A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End
Racism). They're the folks that organize/fund many of the
nationwide, and international rallies against the war. I just
signed up for their mailing list myself, and when I have the ability
I'm going to make a donation. *grumble* stupid broke college life...


Just thought I'd let you all know it's there.

http://www.internationalanswer.org/endorsers.html

raindog - earthling, California

Sounds entertaining. Actually...most of the list is:D

Off the top of my head, I'd say this (Myth#3) is rubbish. If it's true, I now support the US withdrawing from the UN. Today.




http://www.internationalanswer.org/pdf/iraqfactsheet.pdf

Myth # 3
The United States Congress
can lawfully authorize
preemptive war against Iraq

Article VI of the U.S. Constitution
establishes that ratified treaties, such as
the U.N. Charter, are the "supreme law of
the land."
The U.N. Charter has been ratified by
the United States, and the Congress may
not take actions–including wars of
aggression–in violation of the Charter.

Wars of aggression, and even the making
of the threat of a war of aggression,
violates the international humanitarian
law to which all nations are bound.
Neither Congress nor the President
has the right to engage the U.S. in a war
of aggression and any vote of endorsement,
far from legalizing or legitimizing
global war plans, serves only as ratification
of war crimes.


No figures of support/non-support are quoted. Why? There are 435 Congressional offices (535 if we count the Senate in the term "Congress"). How many of them report this? I believe the UK has a population north of 60 million. A protest march of 400,000 (assuming the figures aren't inflated) is interesting, but hardly decisive. Isn't Mr. Blair still quite popular?


Myth # 9
The people support a
war on Iraq

Not even opinion polls support this
phony assertion. The polls confirm that
there is wide opposition to a war.
Normally there is wide support for a
president who is about to launch a war.
Instead, Congressional offices report
overwhelming constituent opposition to
a unilateral war on Iraq.
Worldwide, the opposition is even bigger.
While British Prime Minister Tony
Blair is a vocal acolyte of Bush, few in
Britain support a war on Iraq. Already, a
march against war of 400,000 was held
in London.
Similar demonstrations have been
held in Rome and Madrid. The general
sentiment in Europe was summed up by
the Greek Development Minister who
said, "We are totally opposed to any military
conflict ... even if there is a UN
Resolution."
Around the world, the sentiment is no
different. New Zealand's government
opposes the war. No country in the
Middle East supports a war on Iraq.
Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait,
Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates all oppose a war.
As do France, Russia and China.


As I stated in my last post, on the thread Criminal started, I'd like to hear what alternative these groups are proposing to prevent another 09/11 from occurring. This group doesn't even MENTION 09/11 on their site, as best I can tell, never mind offer an alternative to the Bush administration.

This sort of rhetorical nonsense only turns me off.

Originally posted by Ironweed
As I stated in my last post, on the thread Criminal started, I'd like to hear what alternative these groups are proposing to prevent another 09/11 from occurring. This group doesn't even MENTION 09/11 on their site, as best I can tell, never mind offer an alternative to the Bush administration.


They're big fans of Ceausescu, maybe he'd make their alternative to Bush.

Nowadays, if you point out that someone’s a Communist, you might well be accused of - dum dum DUMMMM - McCarthyism. The term has morphed from its original meaning. It no longer means falsely accusing someone of being a Communist. It now includes correctly identifying someone as a Communist, or ascribing a taint to someone because they don’t reject the Communists in their midst. (I’ll admit there’s a significant difference between the two.) But let’s leave this increasingly insupportable series of generalizations, and return to the point. Do reporters suppress the nature of ANSWER / ACTION because they don’t want to embarrass the movement? No. Do they secretly admire the ANSWER / ACTION / WWP positions on China, North Korea, and other dictatorships? Of course not. (Cuba is another story.) Are they inclined to wonder who’s behind the rallies? No. NeoNazis, Klansmen, Separatists, Militias, the Promise Keepers - these words make reporters’ antennae quiver. "Communist" does not.
Reporters are even worse. Fascists killed millions because they were evil. Communists killed millions because they were misguided. But what ideals!

"McCarthyism remained a potent myth in intellectual circles. In fact, it figures in many historical tests in universities as a major matter in American history - with accounts of the realities of Soviet penetration of U.S. agencies omitted. Indeed the myth remained so strong that when Angela Davis--not only an admitted Communist but actually the CPUSA's vice presidential candidate - came to speak at Stanford University, the student paper referred to her simply as an "activist." When queried on why they didn't, truly and legitimately, call her a Communist, the editor said that this would be McCarthyism!" - Robert Conquest, "Reflections On a Ravaged Century." I wonder if the editor at that student paper is now working for the New York Times.

Act Now to Stop War and End Racism

it should be:

Act Now to Stop Welfare and End Rap

....

I will start my own action org.

By Stephen Schwartz
January 24, 2003


Both before and after the latest round of so-called peace demonstrations, many respected liberals, leftists, and pacifists have expressed their concern over the events’ control by a tiny Stalinist cult, the "Workers World Party" or WWP. WWP created International A.N.S.W.E.R., the umbrella group for the protests, and WWP leaders, posing as peace activists, have gained extraordinary media access in recent weeks. In addition, the group manipulates former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark as a pliable puppet, in an effort to gain respectability.

The despicable record of WWP in promoting Stalinist and fascist dictators is old news. WWP, the patron of International A.N.S.W.E.R., is on record supporting:

* The pitiless massacre of Chinese protestors by the armed forces in Tiananmen in 1989. WWP states, "troops were issued arms… after some students took some soldiers hostage. On June 4, [1989], the demonstration changed from a peaceful protest to violent attacks on the soldiers… events were a battle – not a massacre." Everybody in the world knows this is a disgusting lie.

* The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, among whose defenders WWP are doubtless the most fawning. Their newspaper, also titled Workers World, wrote gleefully, in 2001, "more and more countries had begun individually breaking the ban on flights and other sanctions against Iraq." Right: countries with an equally bad or worse record, like Yugoslavia, which supply Iraq with illegal chemical, biological, and other weapons.

*The evil regime of crazed North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il. WWP hack Deidre Griswold, who has been shoveling this manure for some 35 years, recently wrote, from the Communist hell itself, "People here in the socialist north of Korea are well aware of U.S. President George W. Bush's remarks branding their country as part of an ‘Axis of Evil.’ It has in no way dampened their ardor for their independent socialist system… Koreans today are celebrating… the continuity of leadership represented by unity around Kim Jong Il, who is pledged to follow the course of national independence and socialist construction charted by Kim Il Sung… the North Korean socialist system, which has kept it from falling under the sway of the transnational banks and corporations that dictate to most of the world." No mention here of the numerous individuals and families that have risked their lives and those of their relatives to escape the reality of North Korean socialism, or of North Korean international weapons sales, kidnapping of foreign nationals, terrorist attacks, or other details.

*In one of its most disgusting, and continuous, displays of admiration for genocidal fascists, WWP, the leaders of International A.N.S.W.E.R. are prominent defenders of indicted Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic. When the trial of Milosevic began last year at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands. The International Action Center (IAC), predecessor of International A.N.S.W.E.R, "sent a delegation to take part in activities showing solidarity with the defendant and opposing the ‘trial’ as a NATO frame up." They declared, "Washington and its NATO allies hopes (sic) to pin the guilt for the 10 years of civil war in the Balkans on the Yugoslav leader." Who in the world, aside from fevered extremists, believes this swill? WWP has also published expensive volumes defending Milosevic.

Never mind that these Stalinist rodents see no inconsistency in acclaiming Saddam, who claims the title "sword of Islam," and Milosevic, whose terror took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Balkan Muslims. The peace parasites of WWP are thrilled to kiss the shoes of bloodthirsty tyrants like Saddam, Kim, and Milosevic, and then have the nerve to repeat moronic chants, in the streets of our cities, charging President Bush with genocide!

Numerous liberals, leftists, and pacifists have correctly questioned the morality of joining such vermin in their parades. Nevertheless, the main question has yet to be posed: Who pays for the Workers World Party, its weekly tabloid, its website, books, speaking tours, and other extensive activities? Whose money keeps their "Korea Peace Commission," and "Independent Commission of Inquiry to Investigate US/NATO War Crimes Against the People of Yugoslavia" going?

WWP is a minuscule Stalinist group. It does not command thousands of members or control major labor unions. Yet for many years groups of its leading members have constantly flown back and forth to Pyongyang and Baghdad, with side visits to Cuba and other isolated Stalinist territories, staying in hotels and traveling around in "solidarity." Who subsidizes "peace" activities that, regardless of the apparent sincerity of many marchers, aim to defend monsters like Saddam and Kim? Who foots the bill for WWP and its acolytes to assist Milosevic in the dock?

Any normal citizen should wonder whether this "peace" movement is not, in fact, directly funded and controlled by Saddam and Kim. Unfortunately, most Americans have forgotten that, before 1941, Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese militarists bankrolled similar "peace movements" in the U.S., and that the Soviet Communist Party paid for such propaganda for years and years.

We know who stands behind International A.N.S.W.E.R.: the mindless totalitarians of the WWP. Who stands behind them? Americans have a right to know, and if these phony peaceniks really desire respectability, they should be willing to publicly account for their financing, especially for air travel and hotel hospitality enjoyed while they serve as camouflage tourists in states committed to terrorism.

There can be no place in the United States for "peace" activism bought and paid for by the evildoers.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROTESTS AND WALKOUTS

As the Bush Administration threatens to wage a unilateral war of aggression we must do all we can to make this movement the single biggest obstacle to war. We do not believe that war in inevitable. However, if the war starts we must be organized to resist and disable the war machine.

The DAY a new U.S. war on Iraq starts -- EMERGENCY PROTEST at a central location -- in Washington, D.C. at the White House, in New York at Times Square, in San Francisco at Powell and Market -- to protest the war followed by a march through city neighborhoods beginning at 5 p.m. (the next day at 5 p.m. if the bombing begins at night). Many cities and communities have a tradition of holding these emergency actions in response to U.S. military aggression. If your community does not have a traditional plan, pick a busy location/intersection, a Federal Building, Town Hall, etc.

THE MORNING AFTER THE WAR STARTS -- WALK OUT/STAYAWAY! ORGANIZE WALK OUTS from school, work, leave your home. Spend the morning leafleting for people to join the anti-war movement. A.N.S.W.E.R. offices and organizing centers around the country will be open in the morning to pick up leaflets and from there you can head out with others into your community. Converge mid-day at noon at city centers -- in Washington, D.C. at the White House, in New York City at Union Square, in San Francisco at Civic Center Plaza -- to engage in protest actions against the war. Download flyers at www.internationalanswer.org and locate organizing centers in your area.

THE FIRST SATURDAY AFTER -- CONVERGE AT THE WHITE HOUSE --
The Saturday after a new war on Iraq is launched, thousands of people will be converging at the White House in Washington DC at 12 noon.

To list your city's Emergency Response Mobilization Plan, fill out the form athttp://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/emerg/index.html#emergevent
(if the link does not take you directly to the form, just scroll down)

---------------------------------------

FEBRUARY 15 & 16 MASS ACTIONS
Part of the February 13-21 Week of Resistance

On February 15, there will be demonstrations in thousands of cities across the country and around the world in response to the call issued from the European anti-war movement. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition joins with the hundreds of organizations who will be mobilizing for the NYC, Chicago, Los Angeles and other regional and local actions on that day. On February 16, there will be a mass action in San Francisco co-sponsored by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Bay Area United Against War, Not in Our Name Project, and United for Peace and Justice.

In New York City, join A.N.S.W.E.R. on Friday, February 14 for a teach-in from 9 am to 4 pm on Building an anti-war movement that connects the struggle against war on Iraq with the fight for social and economic justice and civil rights at home, followed by an Indoor Rally from 7 to 10 pm on Linking the struggle against corporate globalization, war, militarism and racism. Both events
will take place at Community Church, 35th St. between Park and Madison Ave.

To find out about FEBRUARY 15 & 16 LOCAL AND REGIONAL EVENTS, AND BUSES TO THEM GO TO:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/f15/f15transp.html

Fill out this form if you are ORGAINZING A LOCAL OR REGIONAL EVENT:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/f15/index.html#feb15event
(If the link does not take you directly to the form, scroll down to the form entitled "List your local area February 15th event")

Fill out this form if you are ORGANIZING TRANSPORTATION TO A REGIONAL EVENT:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/f15/index.html#f15transp
(If the link does not take you directly to the form, scroll down to the form entitled "Fill out this form to list details about transportation to February 15 & 16 regional events")

For more information, go to:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/f15/index.html

---------------------------------------

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.InternationalANSWER.org
http://www.VoteNoWar.org
dc@internationalanswer.org
New York 212-633-6646
Washington 202-544-3389
Los Angeles 213-487-2368
San Francisco 415-821-6545

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http://www.internationalanswer.org/donate.html

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http://www.internationalanswer.org/subscribelist.html

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