Statement of AntiWar 4 the Million Worker March
'Chance to unite anti-war and workers' movements'
The following appeal was sent out via email by the
newly formed group, AntiWar 4 the Million Worker
March.
- "Get on the bus" for the Million Worker March,
Oct. 17, 2004, Washington, D.C.!
- The struggle of working people and the struggle
against the war are the same struggle!
- Bring the troops home now! End the occupation
of Iraq!
- Organize a local "AntiWar 4 the Million Worker
March" committee now!
Dear Activists and Organizers,
This fall in Washington, D.C., you will have a timely and
historic opportunity to unite the anti-war movement with an
unprecedented and vitally necessary mass march of working
people speaking for themselves. This is a rare opportunity that
serious anti-war activists can't afford to pass up.
Some of the strongest voices and most active groups in the
labor movement, together with the active support and
participation of organizations representing every progressive
movement and cause, will be "getting on the bus" to D.C. on
Sunday, Oct. 17, for the MILLION WORKER MARCH. A sea of workers
from every industry, from every union and every place where
workers want a union, from every part of the country, will be
streaming into the capital to demand things like jobs, a living
wage and workers' rights.
They will also express their anger over the senseless dying
that is going on every day in Iraq and elsewhere, and their
desire that it end now. Why? Because it is working families who
bear the burden, it is their loved ones who are sent off to
fight and die--and it is their, our, the workers' money that is
stolen to pay for war and occupation.
What makes the Million Worker March unique is that the
event's principal organizers want to make the anti-war
movement's demand to "End the Occupation of Iraq and Bring the
Troops Home Now" central to the march's message and the
goals.
We are asking anti-war activists to set up local "AntiWar 4
the Million Worker March" committees. Start meeting, planning
and reserving buses to go to Wash ington on Oct. 17. Anti-war
coalitions and groups need to let us know ASAP if their group
can be listed as an "AntiWar 4 the Million Worker March"
committee in their locality or region.
We encourage activists to form committees in their unions,
schools, work places, churches and communities. It is our hope
that "AntiWar 4 MWM" committees will complement the labor union
and community-based organizing that is going on across the
country for Oct. 17. ...
YOU CAN HELP
* Add your name, title and endorsement as a signer to this
urgent call.
* Set up an AntiWar 4 the Million Worker March
committee.
* Commit to sending a bus from your city, town or
region.
The call for a Million Worker March came from one of the
most well-known labor organizations in the country, fam ous for
its long history of militancy, boldness and courage in defense
of working people: Local 10 of the International Long shore
Workers Union in San Francisco. Over the past few months this
call has rolled across the country, picking up the support of
scores of labor unions, labor activists and leaders
including:
The Coalition Of Black Trade Union ists; Bill Lucy,
Secretary-Treasurer, AFSCME; the National Education
Association; Trans portation Workers Union Local 100 (NY);
AFSCME District Council 1707 (NY); South Carolina AFL-CIO; Farm
Labor Organizing Committee; AFSCME District Council 92 (MD);
D.C. Labor Against the War; International ANSWER; actor Danny
Glover; American Indian Movement; ILWU Local 34; Troy and
Albany Labor Council (NY); National Immigration Solidarity
Network; New York City Labor Against the War; Global Women's
Strike; Teamsters Black Caucus; comedian Dick Gregory; Myra
Shone and Ralph Schoen man, Taking Aim, Pacifica; National
Associ ation of Letter Carriers, Branch 3825; Howard Wallace,
co-foun der, Pride at Work; Jim Haughton, Direc tor, Harlem
Fightback; Justice 4 Homeless, SF; United Steel Workers of
America Local 8751; International Action Center; former U.S.
Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants
Council; Howard Zinn, historian; Noam Chomsky, linguist; AFSCME
Local 95, Local 205, Local 215, Local 389, Local 167, Local
1881, Local 1930; ILWU entire West Coast division; CUE Local 3;
and many more.
Working people are coming to Wash ington, D.C., on Oct. 17
because whether their concern is about jobs, or decent wages,
or layoffs, or union busting, or the battle to protect our
pensions and Social Security and to make health care a
universal right instead of a privilege for the wealthy--with
all we face, we had better raise our own voices and act in our
own interests instead of relying on the next president, whoever
that will be.
And most important, the time for us to speak in our own
voice is not after people vote in November, but before. The
Million Worker March on Oct. 17 is about the people telling the
president, the candidates, the politicians and the corporate
elite who are the real power behind the election campaigns and
the politicians to "Shut up!" and listen to us for a
change.
Let's make sure that after many of us march in New York
against the Repub lican convention, Nov. 2 isn't the only
important date this fall. We urge all of you to work to make
the Oct. 17 Million Worker March in D.C. the next major event
for the entire anti-war movement. If we rise to this challenge,
we will put the next president and Congress on notice that we
will accept no excuses for prolonging the occupation of Iraq
and wasting lives and precious resources that should go toward
satisfying people's needs like housing and schools. Moreover,
we will have helped to forge a critical alliance between the
grass roots of the labor movement and the anti-war movement
that would represent a whole new level of unity, potential and
power.
Does this sound like something worth working for? Does this
sound like something you've been waiting for? You can help make
it happen.
In solidarity,
Clarence Thomas, Co-Chair, Million Worker March
Organizing Committee, ILWU Local 10
Brenda Stokely, President, District Council 1707
AFSCME, Co-chair, NYC Labor Against the War
Chris Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer, Local 808 IBT,
President, National Teamsters Black Caucus
Ralph Schoenman, Communications Coordinator,
Million Worker March
Larry Holmes, International Action Center,
Steering Committee ANSWER
Sharon Black, Washington/Baltimore Coordinator,
Million Worker March
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney
General
CONTACTS
www.millionworkermarch.org
Email:
AntiWar4theMillionWorkerMarch@action-mail.org
Phone:
San Francisco (415) 771-2028
Washington/Baltimore (202) 355-8666
Los Angeles (323) 936-7266
New York (212) 633-6646
Boston (617) 524-3507
Reprinted from the Sept. 2, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
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