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Announcement :: Peace |
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1000's Converge In Chicago For Anti-War Protest |
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by Feb. 15 Mobilization
Email: CCAWR (nospam) aol.com (verified)
Phone: 312.641.5151 (Dorothy) or 888.47
Address: c/o CABN, 4404 N. Magnolia, Suite 420, Chicago, IL 60640 |
13 Feb 2003
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12 noon
Saturday, Feb. 15
2200 W. Devon (at Leavitt), CHICAGO
Check out www.ChicagoAntiWar.org/Feb15Mobilization
for complete transportation information |
About 20 chartered buses from around Chicago and its suburbs will help bring some of the thousands who will converge on Devon Avenue this Saturday as Chicago’s contribution to what may be the last best chance to stop the war on Iraq.
Following the massive marches in Washington and San Francisco on Jan. 19th, polls for Bush and his war plummeted. The political future of Britain’s Tony Blair hangs in the balance as he is expected to face 1 million protesters in the largest anti-war demonstration that country has ever seen. Huge turnouts across the world could put the wooden stake in the already meager “coalition” of pro-war governments, and force Bush to face the world utterly alone.
That may even be enough to intimidate the arrogant hawks in the Bush administration. Elite opposition to war has grown as they worry about Bush’s squandering of U.S. political capital following 9/11. Widespread anger at Bush & Blair’s flouting of world opinion against war threatens US ability to pursue other political agendas as the war becomes a unifying lightning rod for opposition. Most of the world now views a U.S. invasion of Iraq as a brutal push for control of the region and a cynical power play for increased world dominance.
Chicago’s march will not only be part of the worldwide protest against war, it will also highlight the link between the drive to war and the racism used to justify it:
· For the first time in a generation, members of Congress speak openly in favor of the internment camps used to imprison Japanese Americans during World War II, hinting that similar measures might be appropriate today.
· The FBI institutes an “anti-terror” quota system for its agents in the field, based upon the number of mosques in their jurisdiction.
· Plans for an even more repressive Patriot Act, Part II are floated, as if the first one wasn’t bad enough.
· And the INS institutes repressive “registrations” based upon nationality which lead to wholesale round-ups.
Chicago’s large Pakistani community faces such a deadline on Friday, February 21st, and so this Saturday’s march will take place in the heart of the Pakistani community and address opposition BOTH to the war AND to the government’s racial profiling (another protest against the racial profiling will take place at 12 noon, Feb. 21 in front of the INS office, 10 W. Jackson Blvd).
Saturday’s protest has the active participation and support of a veritable “who’s who” within the Pakistani community, which has been running frequent public service announcements on their radio programs and donated ads in all the community’s newspapers.
We have received information about contingents traveling from Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio and downstate Illinois. Local BUSES are traveling from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Hyde Park, Bridgeview, Villa Park, Libertyville, Gary, Lakeview. To get on a bus (strongly recommended!) or to get other transportation information, please check out a special website set up for the protest:
www.ChicagoAntiWar.org/Feb15Mobilization
A student contingent for the march will meet at 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Warren Park (see map on the website). A lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered contingent for the march will meet on the northeast corner of Leavitt & Devon at 11:45 a.m.
The Program:
Musicians will perform on the stage prior to the 12 noon start of the rally at 2200 W. Devon (at Leavitt, a few blocks east of Western Avenue). Following a short rally, we will have a solidarity march down Devon Avenue in the heart of Chicago’s Pakistani community, followed by another short rally at 2600 W. Devon (at Washtenaw).
Immediately following the closing rally, people of all ages are invited to join the Southwest Youth Collaborative and Generation Y for a “Youth Speak-Out Against War,” with hot drinks and food at the nearby Bombay Hall, 2448 W. Devon Avenue (right along the march route--see the map on the website).
Speakers at the rallies will include:
Alderman Joe Moore, 49th Ward Alderman who introduced Chicago’s anti-war ordinance into the City Council
Kareem Irfan, Chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago
Andrea Shapiro, Not In My Name, a predominately Jewish organization opposed to Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Rev. Paul Jakes, Jr., candidate for Mayor of the City of Chicago and President of the Christian Council on Urban Affairs
Emma Lozano, founder of Pueblo Sin Fronteras and long-time organizer against racial profiling of immigrants
Pete DeMay, Organizing Director for the Chicago Central States Joint Board of UNITE and member of Chicago Labor Against the War
Aedvina Piñeda, Vice President of Local 969, Laundry Workers, UNITE
Shakat Sindhu, President of the Pakistan American Association of North America
Bitta Mostofi, a Coordinator with the Iraq Peace Team of Voices in the Wilderness and recently returned from Iraq and Iran, where she stayed close to two months
For more information about the rally, first please check out the website, then call 312.641.5151 (ask for Dorothy) or 888.471.0874, or e-mail CCAWR (at) aol.com. Nearly 100 organizations are co-sponsoring Saturday’s march and rally, making it the largest anti-war coalition that Chicago has seen in many years. Co-sponsors include:
Action For Freedom
AFSCME Local 2858
American Friends Service Committee
American Muslim Alliance-Midwest
Andersonville Neighbors for Peace
Anti-Racist Action
Anti-War Marching Band
Arab American Action Network
Arab-American Community Center
Autonomous Zone
Blue Triangle Network
Campaign For Collateral Compassion
Chicago ADAPT
Chicago Anti-Bashing Network
Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism
Chicago Democratic Socialists of America
Chicago Labor Against the War
Chicago Libertarians
Chicago Media Action
Chicago Peace Response
Chicago Professional Taxi Cab Drivers Association
Chicago Quarterly Review
Church & World Concerns Committee-Broadway United Methodist Church
Coalition of Pakistani American Organizations
Colombia Solidarity Committee
Comité Exigimos Justicia
Committee For a Democratic Palestine
Committee of 100
Communist Party, USA - Illinois District
Council on American Islamic Relations
DeKalb Interfaith Network for Peace & Justice
DePaul Students Against the War
DuPage Peace Through Justice Coalition
Edgewater-Uptown Greens of Chicago
Eighth Day Center for Justice
Food Not Bombs
Free Palestine Alliance
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Freedom Socialist Party
Generation Y
Granada Muslims and Jews for Human Rights
Hyde Park Committee Against War & Racism
International A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition-Chicago Chapter
International Action Center-Chicago Chapter
International Socialist Organization
Iraq Peace Pledge
Islamic Association for Palestine
Jeevay Pakistan
La Voz de los de Abajo
MARC
Mohammadan Muthida Minority Movement
Muslim Civil Rights Center
The Muslim League USA
National Boricua Human Rights Network
National Lawyers Guild-Chicago Chapter
Neighbors For Peace
New World Resource Center
News & Letters
News Pakistan
Northwest Suburban SUSTAIN
Not In My Name
Not In Our Name
Pakistan American Democratic Forum
Pakistan Express
Pakistan Memon Association
Pakistan Times
Pakistani American Association of North America
Pakistani American Congress
Pakistani American Democratic Forum
Pakistani Business Association
Palestine Solidarity Group
Philippine Solidarity Committee
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee
Queer to the Left
Queers For Peace And Justice
Ravenswood for Peace
Real Conditions Writers' Collective
Refuse & Resist!
Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade
Rogers Park Local-Green Party U.S.
Sangat-Chicago
Sargam Radio Channel 1240 AM
Socialist Action
Socialist Alternative
Socialist Party USA
Solidarity-Chicago Branch
Southwest Youth Collaborative
Student Liberation Collective
Students For Social Justice
Teachers for Social Justice
Unitarian Church of Evanston Peace & Justice Committee
University of Chicago Against War in Iraq
University of Chicago Chapter of Pax Christi USA
Weekly News Pakistan
Windy City Hemp Development Board
Workers World Party
Youth Struggling for Survival |
See also:
http://www.ChicagoAntiWar.org/Feb15Mobilization
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