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<DIV>Don't forget that there is also going to be a protest on Boston Common on September 24th... make sure to come to that if you aren't going down to DC. Your idea could certainly be incorporated into that. I am all for another demonstration, but I don't think it is a good idea strategically to try and mobilize people two weeks in a row while keeping Oct. 29th in mind (unless it was going to be weekly demonstrations, which I would also be in favor of).</DIV>
<DIV>solidarity,</DIV>
<DIV>Eric Ginsburg </DIV>
<DIV>~ from the Anarchist Social Club @ the CSW and the Radical Youth Alliance</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message -------------- <BR><BR>> Hi everyone, <BR>> <BR>> The disaster of Hurricane Katrina has exposed how backward the priorities of <BR>> our government are - spending hundreds of billions to fight an unjust war in <BR>> Iraq while defunding levee systems and leaving tens of thousands of mainly <BR>> poor, African-American people to suffer and die in New Orleans. I think that <BR>> this is a turning point in American society - "the bursting point," as David <BR>> Brooks called it in the New York Times. Socialist Alternative would like to <BR>> propose that the October 29th coalition discuss and organize a demonstration <BR>> soon in solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Katrina to demand "Money for <BR>> Relief, Not for War." Since this coalition includes activists from many <BR>> different anti-war organizations, a demonstration organized by this coalition <BR>> would be capable of mobilizing the largest numbers of people, more than just <BR>> demonstrations called by any of our individual organizations (although I'm not <BR>> trying to discourage that). Such a demonstration should try to reach out to <BR>> African-American community organizations and clearly protest the racist (lack <BR>> of) response on the part of the government. It could also help to mobilize <BR>> people for September 24th. I think that it would be best if this demonstration <BR>> was organized soon - sometime next week - both to give us time to organize it <BR>> but also to respond rapidly to these events. A demonstration in front of the <BR>> Federal Building would probably be the most effective. I think that people are <BR>> looking for a way to vent their anger at the government on this issue, and that <BR>> it is our task to organize a political response. September 24th will be the <BR>> big one, but a united local action before then would also be good. <BR>> <BR>> Can this be placed on the agenda for tonight's meeting? <BR>> <BR>> In solidarity, <BR>> <BR>> Dan DiMaggio <BR>> Boston Socialist Alternative <BR>> Tufts Coalition Opposed to the War in Iraq <BR>> <BR>> "If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor <BR>> freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up <BR>> the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean <BR>> without the awful roar of its many waters.... Power concedes nothing without a <BR>> demand. It never did and it never will." <BR>> Frederick Douglass, 1857 <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> ______________________________________________________ <BR>> Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. <BR>> http://store.yahoo.com/redcross-donate3/ <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________ <BR>> O29 mailing list <BR>> O29@massglobalaction.org <BR>> http://massglobalaction.org/mailman/listinfo/o29_massglobalaction.org </BLOCKQUOTE></body></html>