[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] 'Bring the troops home now!'
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 08:24:09 +0100
** Mailing-List Indonesia Nasional Milis PPI-India www.ppi-india.da.ru **
http://www.workers.org/2005/us/march-19-0331/
From Harlem to Fifth Avenue, marchers say,
'Bring the troops home now!'
By Deirdre Griswold
New York
Published Mar 20, 2005 12:02 AM
As the brutal occupation of Iraq grinds on after two years of death and
destruction, its toll on working-class youth and the growing impoverishment of
already oppressed communities is reshaping the anti-war movement in the United
States.
"Why Harlem?" asked emcee
Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants
Council. "Because when other
communities catch a cold,
the Harlems of this country
catch pneumonia."
WW photo: Deirdre Griswold
A demonstration here on March 19, the anniversary of the day two years ago when
the Pentagon began its "shock and awe" campaign, reflected this change when it
began in Harlem, the historic cultural center for African Americans.
"Why Harlem?" asked emcee Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council. "Because
when other communities catch a cold, the Harlems of this country catch
pneumonia."
The march strectched
for 15 blocks.
WW photo: Deirdre Griswold
After a rally at Marcus Garvey Park opened by Brenda Stokely, leader of the
daycare workers' union and an organizer of the Million Worker Movement, some
15,000 people of all nationalities marched through streets where boarded-up
brownstones face gentrified new housing too expensive for the average Harlem
resident.
Stretching 15 blocks, the march passed an armed forces recruiting center on
125th Street, where the chant went up, "Bring the troops home now" and "Armed
forces out of Harlem." It then proceeded to the "Barrio" of largely Latin@ East
Harlem before winding up in Central Park, where thousands more anti-war folks
already attending the rally there cheered the arrival of the Harlem contingent.
Later, protesters marched down to the Fifth Avenue mansion of Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, a billionaire supporter of the Bush administration, for a third and
final rally.
The Troops Out Now coalition, which organized the protest, represents a coming
together of anti-war and intervention groups like the International Action
Center (IAC) with community groups fighting poverty, police brutality and
homelessness, as well as the dynamic new Black-led organization of militant
trade unionists, the Million Worker Movement.
A constant theme of speakers, placards and chants was how the price tag for the
war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the funding of Israel's
occupation of Palestine are taking funds away from education, health care,
housing and other social needs. Budget cuts in social services are drying up
major sources of jobs, too, leaving young people in poor communities vulnerable
to the false promises of military recruiters.
Now soldiers returning from these wars find that even veterans' benefits have
been cut. A number of veterans, as well as soldiers resisting deployment to
Iraq, spoke of how no one should be forced to fight in a "rich man's war."
Embattled activists like attorney Lynne Stewart--who faces a 30-year sentence
in a case widely seen as a government attempt to intimidate lawyers from
defending those it calls "terrorists"--and a group from City College arrested
for protesting military recruitment on campus all received impassioned
applause. "Dying in Iraq is not a job opportunity!" said one of the students,
promising that resistance to military recruitment on campuses will grow.
The crowd warmly greeted speakers representing other nationalities--Filipino,
Korean, Iraqi, Palestinian, Iranian, Venezuelan and Haitian--who exposed U.S.
imperialism's crimes in their countries and called for international solidarity
in the struggle for a world without racism or imperialist exploitation. There
was broad support for resistance to intervention and occupation.
The poetry, music and rhythms of Harlem were felt throughout the day as young
hip hop artists and singers translated the political yearnings of their
communities into spoken word and song.
Long-time opponents of imperialist aggression like Professor Howard Zinn and
IAC founder Ramsey Clark were interspersed with a rising generation of new
activists.
This new coalition of forces is already planning its next move. Larry Holmes of
the coalition and the IAC announced that Troops Out Now and the Million Worker
Movement will jointly sponsor a May Day demonstration this year at Union
Square, the historic gathering place for worker militants in New York. As the
war in Iraq becomes ever more a war against the workers here, all eyes will be
on this important revival of the class struggle in a form that corresponds to
the multinational character of today's working class.
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