[O29] demands, obtaining a permit

Thu Oct 6 11:57:14 PDT 2005

 Yes we all voted on a set of demands many months ago and yes it was
modified to include Katrina.  But it is not enough to bury a demand
against racism in the text of a call that few will see and even fewer
will read.  The struggle against racism  must be front and center if
we want to create a united front that is capable of defeating
imperialist war and occupation. 

After the devestation of Katrina exposed the blatant racism of Bush &
co. and highlighted the absolute poverty of the Gulf coast the demands
for the Sept. 24 protest were modified to show solidarity with our
sisters & brothers of the region and to show the relationship between
racism and poverty with the war in Iraq, budget cuts, etc.  But the
racism and poverty exposed in New Orleans is not isolated, it exists
from LA to Harlem to Boston.  The hundreds of billions being spent on
the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan have devestated those countries
while the resulting budget cuts, layoffs and tax cuts for the rich as
well as handouts to the oil companies and wage cuts have devestated
our communities, impacting African Americans, Latin at s and immigrant
workers the most. Since 9/11 Arab & Muslim communities have been the
target of some of the most viscious racist witchunts and repressive
legislation seen since World War 2. Based on Bush's speech and Blair's
accusations against Iran it is quite clear that they are setting the
stage for further wars of aggression in the Middle East as well as
laying the basis for further attacks against the Arab and Muslim
communities.  

The central demands of Oct. 29 must include a demand to "Stop the
Racist Attacks on the Black, Latin@, Arab & Muslim Communities".  

In Solidarity,

Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org
[mailto:O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org] On Behalf Of John Harris
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 1:34 AM
To: October 29th Coalition
Subject: Re: [O29] demands, obtaining a permit

Hi all,
The demand: "From the Gulf Coast to New England and Beyond, Fund Human
Needs- Not War and Occupation!"
was an adaptation of the original demand: Money for Human Needs- Not
War adopted WEEKS ago. Katrina brought this demand into even sharper
focus.The demand did not come in out of the blue 2 weeks ago as Keith
suggests.
The demand around the scapegoating of Arabs and Muslims was not
considered important enough to be raised by Keith 2 months ago. Now
according to Keith it "trumps all the others" in the Statement of the
Coalition. We certainly could have debated this 2 months ago without
running up against the time constraints we face now. I think it would
be useful to read the Statement of the Coalition adopted many weeks
ago and point out any problems it may have addressing the attacks
against Arabs and Muslims:
"In recent years, tens of thousands of Arab, Muslim, and South Asian
immigrants have been targeted for roundups and political sweeps
resulting in mass arrests, jailings, and deportations. Many thousands
have been picked up and held with little or no access to lawyers or
their families and incarcerated based on retroactive minor offenses or
without any charges at all! Not surprisingly, thousands of Latin
Americans and others have been included in these sweeps as well. This
policy has been sustained through a campaign promoting fear,
ignorance, and xenophobic appeals. Laws like the Patriot Act and
others allowing "preventive detention" without charges based on
"secret evidence"
and holding prisoners incommunicado are an attack on everyone's basic
rights. The assault on immigrants must be ended immediately. The
Patriot Act and other laws that undermine our democratic rights must
be repealed. Human Rights for All!".

Why can't we debate how best to move forward to build a massive
action. Time is running out.

In solidarity,
John
-----Original Message-----
From: O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org
[mailto:O29-bounces at massglobalaction.org]On Behalf Of Keith Rosenthal
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 10:47 PM
To: o29 at massglobalaction.org
Subject: [O29] demands, obtaining a permit

Hey,
   I'll just be brief: the demands for the protest have been voted on
in a trickle over the past two months.  I believe the first one was
"troops out now" several months ago, followed by "recruiters out of
our schools," last month, followed by a demand on relief for the gulf
coast disaster victims two weeks ago.  Second, i don't think a demand
on anti-arab racism is that much different in its importance,
relevance, or appeal, than a demand on military recruiters or funding
human need not war.  In fact, the scapegoating and attacks on arabs
and muslims has been clearly central to the war justifications, with
barbaric repercussions for arab people in this country and in the
middle east.  Right now, many Arab-Americans are afraid to fully get
involved in antiwar activity because they are being wiretapped and
"preventively detained" by the government.  One key way to build this
protest, which, we agree, is an urgent and pressing matter, is to be
as inviting as possible to the huge antiwar community that arabs and
muslims comprise.
   Anyway, i certainly will be raising this chant and making placards
for the march with demands against anti-arab racism and i would
strongly encourage others to do the same.

   On another note: what's the status of the permit?  Is there a phone
number, fax number, or e-mail we should be flooding with requests that
a permit be granted to us immediately and that the city stop their de
facto attempts to deny us our first ammendment right to assembly and
free speech?

solidarity,
keith

rrm48 at aol.com wrote:
Hi ,
I know that saying "ditto" to a previous post is not good form on
Lists. But as one who, because I have to work, wasn't able to attend
the meeting on Monday I find Christie's Email to the point-- The main
demands for this action were decided back in August. I think it's
obvious that defence of the Muslim and Arab communities will be a big
part of Oct 29th. There will be banners, and certainly speakers, who
will bring this up. This kind of "Yeah, but what about..." could be
endless (What about Haiti, Palestine, Hands off Venezuela, Defend
Anti-Recruitment Fighters etc. etc.). There are many rooms in the
house of "Bring the Troops home Now"; Money for Human Needs not for
Occupation; Recrutiters Out of the Schools." When people get there
those rooms will be filled. As Christie says, at this point we have a
demonstration to build. By Oct 29th doubtlessly there wil be even more
issues (i.e.) Relief to New Orleans not Troops to fight the flu!"
Bob Montgomery

-----Original Message-----
From: Chrystie Hopkins
To: Keith Rosenthal ; o29 at massglobalaction.org
Sent: Wed, 05 Oct 2005 20:36:29 -0400
Subject: Re: [O29] Arabs and Muslims, "Middle America, " and building
our movement

Hi Keith,
As one of the people who participated in the vote on Monday, and who
voted "against", I thought I should respond.

I voted "no" based on procedure. It was my understanding that the
demands that the October 29 Coalition set for this rally occurred over
two months ago. There is still so much to do to get this rally to
where it needs to be and our energy needs to be focusing on pulling
this thing together, not voting on additional demands. We do not even
have a permit yet for the Common, we do not have a finalized list of
speakers, and we need to raise $13,000. We should all be focusing on
making this rally happen rather then all of this in-fighting and drawn
out political discussions. We can have all the demands we want, but
without a permit, or funds, there will be no organized rally.

I do not think that anyone that was at the meeting on Monday disagrees
with "Stop the racist scapegoating of Arabs and Muslims". The vote was
on whether or not we were going back and re-examining our list of
demands. Clearly, with three weeks to go, we need to move on. I am
sure that there are other ways that we can bring any additional
demands, especially this one, to the forefront of our rally.

Chrystie

On 10/5/05 3:36 PM, "Keith Rosenthal" wrote:

Hey All,

I just wanted to throw a couple of thoughts out there regarding the
vote and discussion at Monday's O29 meeting concerning demands for
this protest -- specifically the demand: "Stop the racist scapegoating
of Arabs and Muslims" also, since the political discussion around the
demand was short and choppy in the meeting, i wanted to respond to
several things here.
I think it was a mistake that this demand was voted down in a tie vote
(9-9), and some of the justifications presented for why it should be
voted down have the potential to set a bad precedent for our movement.
it was stated that we "don't want a radical protest, which will only
draw 1,000 people," "that we have to reach out to middle America," and
that we should learn the lesson of the Vietnam antiwar movement which,
"got the hard-hats to stop beating up the students, but instead join
the students." i think this perspective is erroneous and somewhat
mythical.
First of all, i don't think we should have a laundry list of demands
on the flyer, nor do i think we should talk about everything under the
sun on the flyer. but i don't think a demand around arabs and muslims
is "beyond the pale," too radical, or will bring less people out to
the march. in fact, i think it can draw in more people pissed about
the Patriot Act, Guantanamo mistreatment, and, of course, will draw in
Arabs and Muslims, who just recently have been making pleas to Romney
to stop the plan to wiretap local Mosques! where is the antiwar
movement on this question of the supposedly imminent and overwhelming
threat that "Muslim and Arab extremists" pose to "our freedoms"? the
demand around Palestine at the September 24th protest certainly did
not make that historic march any smaller, so why would a demand to
stop anti-Arab racist scapegoating make our march any smaller?
Second, we ought to be less afraid right now of being "too radical."
the single-most important figure in revitalizing mass antiwar activity
recently has been none other than that "raving radical" Cindy Sheehan,
who supports Palestine, the Iraq resistance to occupation, refuses to
vote for pro-war Democrats, and calls the current war "imperialist."
she is resonating with people because the reality is that right now,
in the aftermath of the sinking occupation of Iraq and the Hurricane
Katrina disaster, most regular people are growing increasingly fed up
with this war and with everything having to do with the current
government. right now, people are increasingly fed up with even the
Democratic Party for not taking a firm enough stand against Bush and
the war because of their concern to not alienate "swing-voters in
middle America."
Finally, who is this mythical "middle America," and how do we win
them? the reality is that right now, a majority of people are against
the war and against Bush. according to polls, 1 out of 3 people
consider themselves part of the antiwar movement -- that's 100 million
people nationwide. in boston, that's roughly 200,000 people. once we
get these people organized, it will be easy from there to win the
other antiwar 1/3 to our side. also, who are we trying to win to this
movement? soccer moms (like cindy sheehan)? sure! arabs, muslims,
blacks, gays, women, students, latinos, workers, etc., (i.e., the
majority of people)? we must!
And if i may ask, which hard-hats are beating up antiwar students
today? it's my understanding that the AFL-CIO is against the war in
Iraq (this includes organized construction workers, i believe).
remember, we are the majority! soldiers and military families are
increasingly on our side. now is not the time for conservative,
cautious moderation, but rather for bold, confident, and aggressive
steps forward.
During the vietnam war, these so-called "hard hats" (do you mean
workers, soldiers, what?), were not won over to the side of the
"students" because the "students" moderated their message. rather,
they were won over to the antiwar movement because they simply grew
more and more disgusted with the war and the government and felt they
simply had to do something about it. in other words, people were going
through a process where they were beginning to think much more
critically about the government, if for no other reason than because
of the increasing reality of what the government was doing to the
Vietnamese people and to the US soldiers. this is precisely what is
happening right now. the way we are going to win these people is not
by moderating our message, but by taking every opportunity to expose
every lie, smokescreen, and brutality that this government is carrying
out in the name of this war . . . and in all of our names. in so
doing, we will give expression to growing millions of people disgusted
by the government and simply waiting for someone to confidently
address the government's barbarity, blow-for-blow (e.g., Cindy
Sheehan).

In conclusion, i warn against the broader framework, justification,
and implications used to defeat the demand on anti-arab racism at
monday's meeting. it sounds dangerously similar to the logic employed
by Kerry supporters in the last election that we have to moderate our
message to appeal to "swing-voters in middle-America" in order to win.
not only did that strategy, in fact, lead to a defeat for our side,
but it also taught movement activists how to hold their tongues
instead of raising their voices. as the 2006 congressional elections
begin to be talked about, we would do well to remember this lesson,
and refuse this time around to repeat our mistakes. the way to grow is
to confidently fight for our principles and to win more people to them
-- in tandem with their own developing criticisms of the war and the
government -- and not by "moderating ourselves," "politically
disciplining ourselves," or "holding our noses."
Again, this is not to say that we should have a laundry-list of every
possible demand on the flyer. but this is to say that we have little
to lose and much to gain by adding clearly relevant demands and
letting our movement take an increasingly critical posture towards the
government's various policies and ideological buttresses. and we ought
to be wary of making arguments that would set a precedent for our
movement to balk and moderate itself in order to appeal to some
mythical "middle-America" at the expense of standing up for our
beliefs and for those who are most oppressed and victimized by this
war and this government.

Solidarity,
Keith Rosenthal

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--
Chrystie Hopkins
Managing Editor
Meniscus Magazine
www.meniscusmagazine.com

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