Reportback on June 5 Coast to Coast People’s Speak Outs in DC, SF and LA

20,000+ join June 5 Coast to Coast
People’s Speak Outs in DC, SF and LA

More than 20,000 people participated in June 5 Coast to Coast Speak Truth to Power rallies in Washington DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The demonstrations were sponsored by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition. While the main demand of the demonstrations was to immediately withdraw all U.S. and foreign troops from Iraq, the demonstrations also supported the Palestinian people’s struggle against colonial occupation, including the right to return; called for an end to the U.S. occupation of Haiti and a restoration of the democratically elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who was overthrown by a U.S. orchestrated coup; and voiced opposition to the Bush administration’s war against social, economic and civil rights at home.
See below for a link to media coverage of the protests.

In Washington DC, 5,000 people participated in the People’s Speak Out in front of the Bush White House and then carried out a militant march right to the doorstep of the home of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In San Francisco, nearly 10,000 people took to the streets, and in Los Angeles, 7,000 people carried out a spirited march and rally.

Speeches and messages at the Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco rallies included Michael Berg; actor and activist Danny Glover; Martinza Castillo, Carlos Mejia and Norma Castillo, all relatives of Camillo Mejia, a soldier and conscientious objector to the Iraq war; Congresswoman Maxine Waters; Ron Kovic, author of Born on the Fourth of July; Hussein Agrama, Free Palestine Alliance; Gloria Jackson, mother of U.S. soldiers that just returned from Baghdad; Sue Niederer, mother of U.S. soldier killed in Iraq; Serge Lilavois, National Popular Party (Haiti) Support Committee; Fernando Suarez del Solar, father of U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq; former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Rev. Graylan Hagler, Senior Minister at Plymouth Congregational Church, President of Ministers for Racial, Social, Economic Justice; Brenda Stokely, Co-Chair of New York City Labor Against the War, President of Local 215 AFSCME; Pierre Lavoffiere, Haiti Action Committee; Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation; Deborah Potter, S.I.S.T.E.R.S. (Sisters In Solidarity To End Repression Secret Evidence, Spying, Search and Seizures - a Muslim woman’s organization); Ismail Kamal, Muslim Students Association of U.S. and Canada; Yoomi Jeong, Korea Truth Commission; Omar Sierra, Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle; Macrina Cardenas, Mexico Solidarity Network; California State Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg; West Hollywood Mayor John Duran; Lera Kiswani, Free Palestine Alliance; Walter Johnson, San Francisco Labor Council; Henry Clark, West County Toxics Coalition; and many more.

In Washington DC, the mood of the demonstrators was undeterred by pouring rain and thunderstorms. The demonstrators marched through working class neighborhoods and were greeted with the support of people as they came out of their homes, workplaces, coffee shops and restaurants. Then the crowd marched to the wealthy neighborhood where Donald Rumsfeld lives in a $3.5 million house. As the crowd approached the neighborhood, the police put up a blockade to try to prevent the crowd - who came from cities across the East Coast, South and Midwest, including Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Saint Helena Island, South Carolina; West Chester, Pennsylvania; and more - from reaching the Secretary of Defense’s residence. The people refused to accept the police’s illegal effort to stop them and were eventually able to march right up to the doorstep of Rumsfeld’s residence.

The demonstrations received widespread media coverage, both in the United States and around the world. See below for a link to several major articles.

The June 5 protests are the first step in a Summer of Protest and Resistance.

On April 15, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition called for demonstrations to take place at the end of June exposing the Bush administration’s phony transfer of sovereignty in Iraq as nothing but a cover for the continued occupation. Other organizations have now joined in issuing calls for demonstrations to take place in the days leading up to and on June 30. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition urges activists everywhere to stage protests, rallies and other actions in solidarity with the people of Iraq and to call for the immediate withdraw of all U.S. and foreign troops from Iraq. To list your city’s June 30 action on the A.N.S.W.E.R. website, fill out the Event Form.

The third planned step in the Summer of Protest and Resistance is for a mass mobilization on Sunday, July 25 outside the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. If elected, Kerry and the Democrats have pledged to continue the criminal occupation of Iraq and to add tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops for that purpose.

The Summer of Protest and Resistance will culminate with a massive protest in New York City on Sunday, August 29, timed to coincide with the Republican National Convention. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and many other anti-war and progressive groups are planning for huge demonstrations in New York City on August 28, August 29 and throughout the week of the conventions.

Click here to read the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Call to Action for protests at the DNC and RNC. To endorse, fill out the Endorsement Form.

The anti-war movement is getting stronger and the Bush administration and the supporters of the Iraq war are getting weaker. We need your help to carry out all of the organizing work in the next few months.

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A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
www.ANSWERcoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
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