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Sat., Feb. 6, 2 p.m. — March 20 Updates on the Cuban Five |
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Feb. 5: Black History Month Forum Feb. 6: Commemoration of the Gaza Feb. 9: '500 Years Later' 16 de Feb: Basta de Recortes a MUNI! Call to action on March 20, 2010
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Sat., Feb. 6, 2 p.m. — March 20 Updates on the Cuban Five |
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Feb. 5: Black History Month Forum Feb. 6: Commemoration of the Gaza Feb. 9: '500 Years Later' 16 de Feb: Basta de Recortes a MUNI! Call to action on March 20, 2010
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Please check this page and the Calendar for San Francisco Bay Area action updates.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Speakers Available Interested in spreading the word about the war administration in the United States and building a movement to stop it? Organize a teach-in or an event. A.N.S.W.E.R. has a number of speakers who are available to speak at events. Call 415-821-6545 for more info. Why We Say Bring the Troops Home Now
Black History Month Forum and Benefit for Haiti Relief—San Francisco Friday, February 5, 7 p.m. Featured speaker: Pierre Labossiere, Haiti Action Committee The people of the world are responding to help alleviate the terrible suffering of the Haitian people after the Commemoration of the Gaza Massacre—Burlingame Saturday, February 6, 6:30 p.m. Confirmed keynote speaker (live from Gaza): Haidar Eid, an independent political commentator and professor in the Department of English Literature at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza Endorsers include: Al-Awda, Arab Cultural and Community Center (ACCC), Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), Palestinian Youth Network (PYN), Students for Justice in Palestine - UCB (SJP), US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), ANSWER Coalition, Al Juthoor Debkah Troupe, Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid (BACEIA), Birthright Unplugged, International Solidarity Movement (ISM), Justice for Palestinians (San Jose, CA), Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!), San Francisco Women in Black, US Organization for Medical and Educational Needs (US-OMEN) To endorse this event, or if you can help distribute or post flyers, send an email to: '500 Years Later'—San Francicso Tuesday, February 9, 7:30 p.m. Political and economic oppression plague people of African descent in the United States and many other countries. Why? Filmed in over 20 countries and on five continents, "500 Years Later" is a compelling journey, infused with the spirit and music of liberation, that chronicles the struggle of a people who continue to fight for the most essential human right—freedom. "500 Years Later" is an independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah, written by M.K. Asante, Jr. It won five international film festival awards and has received praise as well as controversy, both for the genre of the film and the social-political impact of the film. 2005, 108 min.
For more info, contact the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition at 415-821-6545. Stop MUNI Cutbacks!—San Francicso Tuesday, February 16, 1 p.m. Come to City Hall to speak out against the huge MUNI service cuts. A rally and press conference at 1 p.m. will be followed by the MTA hearing at 2 p.m. The MTA has planned huge cuts and increases for MUNI:
Even if the cuts are approved, next year's deficit amounts to $52.7 million! This means more cuts and hikes will be planned even after these new ones are implemented. TAX THE RICH! We demand that the city:
For more info or to volunteer, call the ANSWER Coalition 415-821-6545. Basta de Recortes a MUNI!—San Francicso Martes, 16 de February, 1p.m. Ven a la Alcaldía el martes, 16 de febrero para alzar la voz contra los recortes masivos de MUNI. Un mitin y conferencia de prensa a la 1pm será procedido por una junta del MTA a las 2pm. El MTA a planeado recortes masivos y incrementos para MUNI:
¡Aunque estos sean aprobados, el déficit del siguiente año es $52.7 millones! Esto significa mas recortes y aumentos están siendo planeados después de que estos sean implementados. ¡COBREN A LOS RICOS! Demandamos que la ciudad:
Para más información o para ofrecer ayuda, llame a la Coalición ANSWER, 415.821.6545. Volunteers Needed!
If you can volunteer at another time, please call us or come by our office anytime Monday – Saturday 10 a.m.– 8 p.m. Call for Sunday hours. If you live outside SF and want to help, we can send you materials, or arrange for an organizer to meet you with materials and team you up to do postering or leafletting with other volunteers in your area. Call 415-821-6545 for more info. Call to action on March 20, 2010 San Francisco March and Rally Download PDFs: People from all over the country are organizing to converge on Washington, D.C., and on the West Coast to demand the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan and Iraq. On Saturday, March 20, 2010, there will be a massive National March & Rally in D.C. There will be coinciding mass marches on March 20 in San Francisco at Civic Center Plaza, 11am and in Los Angeles. We will march together to say “No Colonial-type Wars and Occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine!” We will march together to say “No War Against Iran!” We will march together to say “No War for Empire Anywhere!” Instead of war, we will demand funds so that every person can have a job, free and universal health care, decent schools, and affordable housing. March 20 is the seventh anniversary of the criminal war of aggression launched by Bush and Cheney against Iraq. One million or more Iraqis have died. Tens of thousands of U.S. troops have lost their lives or been maimed, and continue to suffer a whole host of enduring problems from this terrible war. This is the time for united action. The slogans on banners may differ, but all those who carry them should be marching shoulder to shoulder. Killing and dying to avoid the perception of defeat Bush is gone, but the war and occupation in Iraq go on. The Pentagon is demanding a widening of the war in Afghanistan. They project an endless war with shifting battlefields. And a “single-payer” war budget that only grows larger and larger each year. We must act. Both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were predicated on the imperial fantasy that the U.S. could create stable, proxy colonial-type governments in both countries. They were to serve as an extension of “American” power in these strategic and resource-rich regions. That fantasy has been destroyed. Now U.S. troops are being sent to kill or be killed so that the politicians in uniform (“the generals and admirals”) and those in three-piece suits (“our elected officials”) can avoid taking responsibility for a military setback in wars that should have never been started. Their military ambitions are now reduced to avoiding the appearance of defeat. That is exactly what happened in Vietnam! Avoiding defeat, or the perception of defeat, was the goal Nixon and Kissinger set for themselves when they took office in 1969. For this noble cause, another 30,000 young GIs perished before the inevitable troop pullout from Vietnam in 1973. The number of Vietnamese killed between 1969 and 1973 was greater by many hundreds of thousands. All of us can make the difference—progress and change comes from the streets and from the grassroots. The people went to the polls in 2008, and the enthusiasm and desire for change after eight years of the Bush regime was the dominant cause that led to election of a big Democratic Party majority in both Houses of Congress and the election of Barack Obama to the White House. But it should now be obvious to all that waiting for politicians to bring real change—on any front—is simply a prescription for passivity by progressives and an invitation to the array of corporate interests from military contractors to the banks, to big oil, to the health insurance giants that dominate the political life of the country. These corporate interests work around the clock to frustrate efforts for real change, and they are the guiding hand behind the recent street mobilizations of the ultra-right. It is up to us to act. If people had waited for politicians to do the right thing, there would have never been a Civil Rights Act, or unions, women’s rights, an end to the Vietnam war or any of the profound social achievements and basic rights that people cherish. It is time to be back in the streets. Organizing centers are being set up in cities and towns throughout the country. The initiators of the March 20 National Marches include: the ANSWER Coalition; Muslim American Society Freedom; National Council of Arab Americans; Cynthia McKinney; Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective; Ramsey Clark; Cindy Sheehan; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK; Deborah Sweet, Director, World Can’t Wait; Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace; Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the 4th of July”; Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director, Latino Movement USA; Col. Ann Wright (ret.); March Forward!; Partnership for Civil Justice; Palestinian American Women Association; Alliance for a Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines; Alliance for Global Justice; Claudia de la Cruz, Pastor, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas-UCC; Phil Portluck, Social Justice Ministry, Covenant Baptist Church, D.C.; Blase & Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas; Coalition for Peace and Democracy in Honduras; Comite Pro-Democracia en Mexico; Frente Unido de los Pueblos Americanos; Comites de Base FMLN, Los Angeles; Free Palestine Alliance; GABRIELA Network; Justice for Filipino American Veterans; KmB Pro-People Youth; Students Fight Back; Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild - LA Chapter; LEF Foundation; National Coalition to Free the Angola 3; Community Futures Collective; Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival; Companeros del Barrio; Barrio Unido for Full and Unconditional Amnesty. DVD available for purchase: 'Palestine, Sudan and the Myth of a Humanitarian U.S. Foreign Policy'
At exactly the same time that the U.S. government is pretending to be concerned about suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan, it has joined with the European Union (EU) and Israel in seeking to strangle the Palestinian people. While calling for armed intervention to relieve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the U.S. and EU have cut off food, medicine and other critically needed materials to the Palestinian people. Israel has sealed off Gaza, one of the most densely populated and impoverished parts of the world; hospitals have run out of many medicines, malnutrition is spreading rapidly and poverty is soaring. Now, signs have begun to appear at anti-war demonstrations reading, “Out of Iraq In to Darfur.” What are the common aims that link together these seemingly contradictory U.S. policies? What should the position of the anti-war movement be? Speakers include Jess Ghannam, Free Palestine Alliance and A.N.S.W.E.R.; Isma’il Kamal, co-founder, Sudanese-American Society, and Richard Becker, Western Regional Coordinator, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition. $15 — DVD (28 min) To purchase a copy, call 415-821-6545 or email answer@actionsf.org. Statements of Five Cubans Sentenced in Miami for Defending Cuban and U.S. Citizens From Terrorism — A Must Read!
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RESISTING THE EMPIRE
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition On March 21, the anti-war movement returned to the streets to relaunch the movement in the post-Bush era. In Washington, D.C., a march of 10,000 was led by a contingent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. The San Francisco and Los Angeles protests each drew 4,000 people in opposition to the continuing occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. End the U.S. Blockade of Cuba and Free the Five
Free all political prisoners The struggle to free Mumia on Death Row "We stand with Mumia as we stand with all those around the world who are resisting the U.S Empire." —Gloria La Riva The Case of the Angola Three National Coalition to Free the Angola Three The National Coalition to Free the Angola Three was formed in 1999 to find justice for three innocent and wrongfully convicted men locked down at Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, for nearly three decades. All three men—Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King Wilkerson—fought for prison reform in the early 1970s. As a result, they were targeted by prison officials who eventually framed them for crimes they did not commit. Each has remained principled and politically active in spite of their brutal, long-term confinement. Robert King Wilkerson was released on February 8, 2001. Today, Wilkerson—along with this coalition—is dedicated to finding justice for Woodfox and Wallace, and exposing the prison industrial complex for what it is. "Arbitrary Cruelty, Louisiana Style" (PDF version) Protest at Angola Prison Court of Appeals Ruling
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