CAN & Aug 12 National Demonstration in D.C
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Campus Anti-War Network
Aug 7, 2006, 6:38:03 PM8/7/06
to CampusAnti...@yahoogroups.com, can-an...@googlegroups.com
Hi everyone this is a note from the CAN Coordinating Committee to all CAN members and allies,
This Saturday there is a national "March to Stop the US-Israeli War" in Washington DC, initiated by ANSWER, the National Council of Arab Americans, and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. One of the main slogans of the march is "Occupation is a crime, from Iraq to Lebanon to Palestine." More info is here: http://www.internationalanswer.org
On our conference call shortly after Israel began attacking Lebanon, CAN members unanimously decided to endorse this march (as well as participate in and help to organize local protests and panels wherever we can). Recently I have had many conversations with CAN members around the East Coast about our plans for that day, so I wanted to put my own thoughts about it on the listserv and invite further discussion.
FIRST, I think that everyone who can come, should definitely do so. It is extremely significant to have a national demonstration about this here in the US, when our government makes Israel's attacks possible through massive military aid. The Israeli missile used at Qana, for example, to massacre 54 Lebanese civilians, appears to have been manufactured here in the United States. Moreover, the US is supporting Israel's horrific attacks for the same reason it is occupying Iraq: to reshape the entire region to fit its interests. Condoleezza Rice has called the attacks on Lebanon and Gaza the "birth pangs of a new Middle East."
Our government has blood on its hands for every Lebanese or Palestinian who dies; so it is very important to have protest responses here in the United States. And there have been protests, all around the country: 10,000 in Dearborn, Mich; thousands, on a regular basis, where I am in NYC and thousands in Chicago; and equally significantly, smaller protests in many, many cities and towns across the US. This is the first national demonstration to bring some of those people together and (even if not huge) I think it will be an important step for the antiwar movement. For that reason, I believe that everyone in the antiwar movement, including every CAN member, who can get to the protest should do so.
SECOND, a number of people/schools have asked whether CAN should organize a contingent in the march. This is very much up for discussion, but my opinion is that it would make more sense for CAN members to try to march with other people and groups from their own geographic area (including other groups at their own school). The main reason is that the local protests and panels so far have shown that there is an opportunity for many new coalitions to form right now. Here in NYC, for example, there is a very exciting Ad-Hoc Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, that has organized many of NYC the protests. It combines many pre-existing organizations with many new, unaffiliated activists. In many other places, I think a similar process of many different groups and individuals working together is happening less formally.
In this circumstance, it seems to me that by marching with people from our area, and taking the opportunity to talk with them about what they see as the next step (including on campuses in September), we can build alliances that will strengthen the actions we can organize once school starts. For example, at many schools, we should be able to contact a Muslim Students Association or other campus groups to see if any of their members are coming to the protest, and if we can march together. Add to that the inherent difficulty in organizing a student contingent during the summer on very short notice, and I am in favor of CAN members prioritizing marching with groups in their area over marching with CAN members from another location.
FINALLY, in order to aid this process of forming links with new people, we are going to have a new CAN leaflet and sign-up sheet available before the protest. If we do march locally, schools will need to plan to print these on their own so they can use them with the people they are marching with.
This Saturday there is a national "March to Stop the US-Israeli War" in Washington DC, initiated by ANSWER, the National Council of Arab Americans, and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation. One of the main slogans of the march is "Occupation is a crime, from Iraq to Lebanon to Palestine." More info is here: http://www.internationalanswer.org
On our conference call shortly after Israel began attacking Lebanon, CAN members unanimously decided to endorse this march (as well as participate in and help to organize local protests and panels wherever we can). Recently I have had many conversations with CAN members around the East Coast about our plans for that day, so I wanted to put my own thoughts about it on the listserv and invite further discussion.
FIRST, I think that everyone who can come, should definitely do so. It is extremely significant to have a national demonstration about this here in the US, when our government makes Israel's attacks possible through massive military aid. The Israeli missile used at Qana, for example, to massacre 54 Lebanese civilians, appears to have been manufactured here in the United States. Moreover, the US is supporting Israel's horrific attacks for the same reason it is occupying Iraq: to reshape the entire region to fit its interests. Condoleezza Rice has called the attacks on Lebanon and Gaza the "birth pangs of a new Middle East."
Our government has blood on its hands for every Lebanese or Palestinian who dies; so it is very important to have protest responses here in the United States. And there have been protests, all around the country: 10,000 in Dearborn, Mich; thousands, on a regular basis, where I am in NYC and thousands in Chicago; and equally significantly, smaller protests in many, many cities and towns across the US. This is the first national demonstration to bring some of those people together and (even if not huge) I think it will be an important step for the antiwar movement. For that reason, I believe that everyone in the antiwar movement, including every CAN member, who can get to the protest should do so.
SECOND, a number of people/schools have asked whether CAN should organize a contingent in the march. This is very much up for discussion, but my opinion is that it would make more sense for CAN members to try to march with other people and groups from their own geographic area (including other groups at their own school). The main reason is that the local protests and panels so far have shown that there is an opportunity for many new coalitions to form right now. Here in NYC, for example, there is a very exciting Ad-Hoc Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, that has organized many of NYC the protests. It combines many pre-existing organizations with many new, unaffiliated activists. In many other places, I think a similar process of many different groups and individuals working together is happening less formally.
In this circumstance, it seems to me that by marching with people from our area, and taking the opportunity to talk with them about what they see as the next step (including on campuses in September), we can build alliances that will strengthen the actions we can organize once school starts. For example, at many schools, we should be able to contact a Muslim Students Association or other campus groups to see if any of their members are coming to the protest, and if we can march together. Add to that the inherent difficulty in organizing a student contingent during the summer on very short notice, and I am in favor of CAN members prioritizing marching with groups in their area over marching with CAN members from another location.
FINALLY, in order to aid this process of forming links with new people, we are going to have a new CAN leaflet and sign-up sheet available before the protest. If we do march locally, schools will need to plan to print these on their own so they can use them with the people they are marching with.
The leaflet will have one side explaining what CAN is and why we
oppose US-Israeli aggression in the Middle East (written by Ian at
Rutgers), and a back side of organizing suggestions for the fall
(written by Chris at U Northern Iowa; send him suggestions at schwar...@gmail.com).
Sign-up sheets are for everyone who would like to stay in touch with
what CAN will be doing to oppose these wars when school begins. The
contact info on them should be given to Ian ( monkeyw...@hotmail.com)
after the protest so we can put them on CAN's announcements list, but
be sure to also keep the info of people in your area who you might be
able to work with on events this fall. If we meet students from schools
with no CAN chapter who also plan to organize around this in the fall,
we should definitely exchange contact info with them, so that CAN can
continue to play the role of connecting the student anti-war movement
around the country.
Okay, those are my thoughts on the demo this Saturday. Send others, and let's have a great protest on Saturday!!!
Okay, those are my thoughts on the demo this Saturday. Send others, and let's have a great protest on Saturday!!!
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field
NYU alum / Univ of Wisconsin student
member, CAN coordinating committee
--
"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"
-Mario Savio Berkeley Free Speech Movement December 3rd 1964
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