Momentum Is Building for the March 19 Troops Out Now Demonstration

Saturday, March 19, the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, is a world-wide day of protest. In New York City, a broad coalition of antiwar, community, solidarity, and labor organizations will march from Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem to Central Park's East Meadow to demand the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Groups from all over the eastern U.S. are organizing buses, vans, car caravans, and peace trains to travel to NYC for what promises to be a massive rally against the war. Activists are traveling from as far away as Maine, Georgia, and Ohio to demand an end to the occupation and money for human needs, not for war. March to Central Park on Sat. March 19th, 2005: The whole world will be marching and watching

My wife and I will be there. Will you?

Thanks for the info! Where to you find this information?

http://www.troopsoutnow.org/

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/

Thanks!

Support the Right to March in NYC


Last summer, during the Republican Convention Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and the NYPD collaborated with the Bush
Administration in its attempt to silence and marginalize
the antiwar movement.

The Mayor denied activists the right to rally in Central
Park, claiming that activists would damage the grass.

The Troops Out Now Coalition has now won an important
victory in obtaining the right to rally in Central Park.
On March 19, tens of thousands of demonstrators will
gather in Central Park in the East Meadow on the second
anniversary of the beginning of the U.S. war in Iraq. The
activity will gather earlier in Harlem at Marcus Garvey
Park and march to Central Park.

However, the City is trying to deny us the right to march
into or out of the Park.

The City has denied requests for permits to march a mere
12 blocks on Fifth Avenue on Saturday, March 19. Activists
with the Troops Out Now Coalition applied for permits to
march from Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem to Central Park's
East Meadow for a noon rally. At 3 p.m., there is a
scheduled march along 5th Ave. from 90th St. to
Bloomberg's mansion on 79th St.

The police claimed that there is an absolute moratorium on
any new marches on Fifth Avenue. Organizers understand
that this is not true, as the police have recently issued
permits for several groups to hold new marches on Fifth
Avenue. Organizers believe this demonstrates the
arbitrary, discriminatory and politically selective
character of the process.

The police say they will not allow protesters to march
down 5th Avenue. Organizers and others in the progressive
movement have the impression that the main concern for
Mayor Bloomberg and the police is that they want to
protect the wealthy who live on 5th Avenue and who do want
to see tens of thousands of working people who are opposed
to their agenda of endless war, racism, and domestic
repression.

A case in point is the racist attitude by 5th Ave
businesses and residents towards the Puerto Rican Day
parade, which has for decades marched down 5th Ave. In the
last few years, businesses along 5th Ave. have begun to
board up their windows on that day.

The past several years have seen a marked increase in
repression against political expression in the city. Mayor
Bloomberg and Mayor Giuliani before him, along with the
NYPD have denied permits, penned in protesters, and beaten
and arrested peaceful demonstrators. Even tourists on the
sidelines have been swept up and arrested. It is
imperative that that the progressive and anti-war movement
push back this assault on civil liberties and assert our
right to be in the streets.

Contact Mayor Bloomberg and urge the Mayor that he obey
the law and the constitution. Urge the Mayor that his
office should not be used to only protect the comfort of
some, such as the wealthy on 5th Ave. while poor and
working people are dying in Iraq.

Demand the right to march on 5th Avenue on March 19.


Call Mayor Bloomberg
212-NEW-YORK

FAX 212-788-2460

E-MAIL:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

OK Dylan, I'm ready to help now, I had to get caught up on some things here. Can i design some fliers? Set up driving directions? Plug the local message boards?

All of the above?

Who wants to help get the word out?

Here is a poster, print them out please. Link to the image here:
http://localcgcs.org/images/troopsout.jpg

Thanks for helping to get the word out!

At least one flyer is now posted in Covington, LA.

Details
Marcus Garvey Park
10:00 AM - 124th St & 5th Ave. March to to 125th St Military Recruiting Station and . . . to Central Park

Marcus Garvey Park is one of the oldest public squares in Manhattan. Central to the life of Harlem for more than 150 years the park was renamed by the City Council in honor of the Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey in 1973.

The park located in East Harlem at 5th Ave. between 120th and 124th Streets, makes it an ideal gathering place for a march down 5th Ave.

Central Park - East Meadow
12:00 Noon - 97 & 5th Ave

The East Meadow is an open area in Central Park just off 5th Avenue between 97th and 100th Streets.

Enter the East Meadow from Park Drive East. Enter the park from the East side at 102nd Street or 90th Street

3:00 PM - March to Mayor Bloomberg House - Demand FUND CITIES NOT WAR!

Speakers

Distinguished Speakers at the March 19th Rally will include Rep. Cynthia McKinney and other members of Congress, Martin Luther King III, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Rev. Lucius Walker, human rights lawyer Lynne Stewart, Members of the NY City Council, labor officials, immigrant rights organizers, artists, celebrities, vets, military families and U.S. soldiers who are resisting orders to Iraq.. An updated list of speakers will be available online soon.

In this email:

1) Update on March 19
2) Support the Right to March on 5th Ave.


***Update on March 19

The Troops Out Now Coalition has won an important victory
by securing rallies in Marcus Garvey Park and Central
Park's East Meadow on March 19.

The day will begin at 10:00 am in Harlem, with a rally at
Marcus Garvey Park, located at 5th Ave. between 120th and
124th Streets.

Following the rally, we will march to the military
recruiting station, one of the busiest in the U.S., on
125th St., where we will protest the economic draft.

Then we will march to the East Meadow in Central Park
(97th St. & 5th Ave) for a major noon rally.

At 3:00 pm, we will march to Mayor Bloomberg's mansion mon
79th St. to demand "FUND CITIES NOT WAR!"

Activists are coming from all over the country to take
part in the rally. Buses are coming from as far away as
Saint Paul, MN. Buses, vans, and car caravans, are being
organized from all over the eastern U.S., and new
orgnizing centers are being added daily--check the updated
list at http://troopsoutnow.org/orgcents.html.

All over NYC and the surrounding area, antiwar groups,
churches, unions, and community organizations are
preparing to take to the streets on March 19. Some are
organizing feeder marches; others on Long Island, Hudson
Valley, and New Jersey are organizing "Peace Trains"--see
http://troopsoutnow.org/trains.html for more information.

We need your help with the enormous expenses of this
protest-- You can donate online at
http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.html.



***Support the Right to March

Although we have secured our right to rally in Marcus
Garvey Park & Central Park, the City is attempting to deny
us the right to march 11 blocks on 5th Ave to Mayor
Bloomberg's house at 79th St. off 5th Ave.

Below is a letter to Mayor Bloomberg aserting our right to
march on 5th Avenue. You can add Your Name to the List of
Signers at:
http://troopsoutnow.org/statements/marchon5th.html



A CALL TO SUPPORT THE RIGHT TO DEMONSTRATE ON 5TH AVE
AGAINST THE WAR ON MARCH 19 March, 2005

To Mayor Michael Bloomberg:

On March 19, after joining the Harlem community in a
pre-rally and march, tens of thousands of people from all
over New York City and the surrounding region will rally
in Central Park to call for the withdrawal of U.S. troops
from Iraq. We will also call for our tax dollars to be
spent on healthcare, education, food stamps, job programs,
and other human needs, not war. March 19 marks the second
anniversary of the start of the war. Activities will occur
on every continent. Across the U.S., people will mark the
day with protests with the same message: "Bring the troops
home, Funds for cities, not war."

The Troops Out Now Coalition-a grassroots coalition of
over 400 labor, community, and human rights groups-plans
to march down 5th Avenue after a rally in the East Meadow
in Central Park, to your residence on 79th Street, a
distance of about 11 blocks. The police have told
organizers that they will not issue a permit to march on
5th Avenue because they have declared a "moratorium" on
marches there.

Banning protest marches on 5th Avenue is wholly
unwarranted and unreasonable. It is also inconsistent with
the Constitutional right to free speech and assembly. We
call on you Mayor Bloomberg, to lift the ban on protest
marches on 5th Avenue, and let the country and the world
see free speech on 5th Avenue on March 19.

President George Bush recently proclaimed that his primary
mission is to spread freedom all over the world. What
message does it send when one of the most important cities
in the U.S. does not allow a peace march on its most
auspicious avenue?

On March 19, the people of France will march down Champs
Elysee, in London at Hyde Park. Around the world, people
will gather and march in the centers of major cities and
capitals. How can 5th Avenue be declared "off-limits" to
the peace movement?

No issue is more central in the country today then the war
and occupation of Iraq. The economic and personal stakes
in the debate over the war are tremendous. People are
losing loved ones in Iraq; cities are losing funds for
desperately needed services to the war. This is apparent
in our city where the gap between the wealthiest New
Yorkers and the poor or working and unemployed people has
never been greater.

The major peace coalition during the Vietnam War was
headquartered in New York City. It was called the Fifth
Avenue Peace Parade precisely because it wanted the world
to know that the peace movement was not marginal but
central to society. This was a good idea 40 years ago and
it is a good idea today.

Unfortunately, the post-September 11 climate has been used
to challenge civil liberties time and time again,
particularly in this city where a major protest last year
was not allowed to rally in Central Park during the
Republican National Convention. On Feb. 15 2003, when
millions marched against war around the world, protesters
were denied that right in New York. It is vitally
important that the government at every level refrain from
using spurious excuses to impair or limit free speech or
freedom of movement.

The undersigned call upon you Mayor Bloomberg to guarantee
that a permit will be issued for a march on Fifth Avenue.






Initial Signers:


Action 21, Jersey City, NJ Action Center for Justice
Action for Community Empowerment Alberto Lovera Bolivarian
Circle All People's Congress, Baltimore American-Iranian
Friendship Committee Arab American Civic Organization
Artists and Activists United for Peace Association of
Mexican American Workers (AMAT) BAYAN-USA Central New
Jersey Coalition for Peace and Justice Committee to
Support the Iraqi People Cuba Solidarity New York Fight
Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) Harlem Tenants Council
Hawai'i Solidarity Committee International Action Center
International Concerned Friends & Family of Mumia
Abu-Jamal International Socialist Organization Jersey City
Peace Movement Korea Truth Commission Network in
Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (NISPOP) New
Jersey Solidarity-Activists for the Liberation of
Palestine No Draft No Way Not in Our Name (NION) New York
NY Committee to Defend Palestine NY Committee for Human
Rights in the Philippines NYC Labor Against the War People
Judge Bush People's Organization for Progress (POP)
People's Video Network Progressive Democrats of Illinois
Queers for Peace and Justice Support Network for an Armed
Forces Union Veterans for Peace Western Mass.
International Action Center Women's Fightback Network
Workers World Party

Individual Endorsers Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney
General Anne Pruden, 1199 SEIU* Dr. Luis Barrios, John Jay
College* Brenda Stokely, Pres. AFSCME District Council
1707* Gloria Pacis, Mother of Stephen Funk Teresa
Gutierrez, NY Committee to Free the Cuban 5* Brian
Barraza, AMAT Gina Magloire, Fanmi Lavalas* Kim Rosario,
mother of GI in Iraq Leslie Feinberg/Co-Chair/LGBT
Caucus/National Writers Union* Mike Gimbel, Local 375,
AFSCME / NYCLAW Bill Doares, Million Worker March NY/NJ
Sharon Black, Million Worker March, Baltimore/DC Ken
Stern, Vets for Peace* Kahlil Khan, Movement in Motion
Billy Martin / Spiritchild, Movement in Motion Artists &
Activist Collective* Samia Halaby, Defend Palestine Martha
Grevatt, Pride At Work - Northeast Ohio* Susan E. Davis,
President, External Organizing, United Auto Workers, Local
1981* Steve Gillis*, President, USWA L. 8751 - Boston
School Bus Drivers, Boston, MA

There are only a few days left until March 19, when tens
of thousands of people will march to demand, "Fund Cities,
Not War!"

We need your help to make this demonstration a success.
Donate online at http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html



New York City Council Resolution: Money for Jobs,
Education, & Healthcare, Not Occupation!


As people across the region prepare for a major antiwar
protest in New York on Saturday March 19th, last
Wednesday, City Council Member Charles Barron announced
that he had introduced a resolution into the City Council,
that called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq,
and to use the funds currently being spent on the war to
be used to for education, housing, healthcare, and other
human needs.

Council Member Barron was joined on the steps of City Hall
by representatives from labor, community, and antiwar
organizations who are part of the Troops Out Now
Coalition.


Below is the text of the resolution:


City Council Resolution

New York City Council Resolution on March 19th Central
Park Rally

BRING THE TROOPS NOW
FUND CITIES AND COMMUNITIES - NOT WAR

WHEREAS: March 19 is the second anniversary of the
beginning of the war
against Iraq, and

WHEREAS: Peace loving people in New York City and
throughout the region
will gather in Central Park, as people in cities across
the country and
the world will be marking that date with protest;

WHEREAS: President Bush is asking Congress to approve $82
billion more
for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on top of the $200
billion that has
already been taken from the lives of working and poor
people to pay for
the last two years of war;

WHEREAS: President Bushs 2006 proposed budget constitutes
the most
violent assault in 25 years on the programs that New York
City as well
as other cities and communities across the country depend
on;

WHEREAS: These proposed cuts in desperately needed aid for
education,
healthcare, housing, veterans, as well as for the homeless
and hungry;
and whereas the continuation of the war and occupation in
Iraq that
these proposed cuts will in part pay for will cause grave
harm to the
people of New York City;

The New York City Council calls on President George Bush
and on Congress to:

WITHDRAW ALL U.S. TROOPS FROM IRAQ NOW and NOT CUT THE
PROGRAMS THAT
CITIES AND COMMUNITIES DEPEND ON.

We call on President Bush and Congress to cut funds for
war instead.

Troops Out Now: What you need to know...

http://www.TroopsOutNow.org

Donate- http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.html

Volunteer- http://www.troopsoutnow.org/volunteer.html

Here in New York, the War Resistance League has called for civil disobedience actions outside recruiting stations. More than 200 people are expected to take part in a funeral march on Saturday from Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza to Times Square bearing cardboard coffins to symbolize American and Iraqi dead. Once at Times Square, activists will link arms and symbolically block the recruiting station there. "We want to graphically demonstrate the costs of the war in real lives, and call attention to the lies and empty promises that military recruiters are using to lure young people," says organizer Frida Berrigan, daughter of famed anti-war activist Philip Berrigan.

The league has permits to rally, not to march, and Berrigan says the group plans to keep to the sidewalk. "We have an commitment from the police that as long as we don't impede other pedestrians, they won't arrest us along the way," she says, speaking to concerns that the NYPD will pounce on group members before they get anywhere, as cops did during the Republican National Convention last summer.

Activists also plan to block the recruiting office on Flatbush Avenue in downtown Brooklyn, and there will be vigils outside the Fordham Road recruiting center and Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx.

But the largest protest this weekend in New York City will be a black-led march from Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park to Central Park organized by the newly formed Troops Out Now Coalition.

In contrast to the battle over gathering on the park's Great Lawn last summer, the Parks Department easily granted a permit for 25,000 to rally in the East Meadow from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Speakers include Congressman Charles Rangel, City Councilman Charles Barron, Lynne Stewart, Howard Zinn, Patti Smith, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

The Troops Out Now leaders are still fighting for the right to march down Fifth Avenue for a post-rally demonstration outside Mayor Michael Bloomberg's townhouse on 79th Street.

Although the NYPD agreed to let the group within shouting distance of the mayor's residence, Fifth Avenue is off limits because of a 2001 City Council resolution that restricts it to 11 major cultural parades a year. At this point, organizers say they'll abide by the NYPD's approved route, which detours down Park Avenue. But they are still going to court over the Fifth Avenue rule, which they contend amounts to a defacto ban on political protest on New York's "most auspicious avenue."

"It's another blow to the First Amendment," says attorney Jeffrey Fogel of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is arguing the case.

Just why Troops Out Now is so adamant about going to Bloomberg's house is another matter altogether. Organizers say a key demand of the demonstration is "funds for cities, not war." While Bloomberg has been steadfastly neutral when it comes to the war, and his control over the federal purse strings is nil, organizers say his silence in the face of massive budget cuts to city services amounts to some element of complicity.

"He can't pull New York troops out of Iraq, but he could take a stand and demand more money from his party," says spokesperson Dustin Langley, who termed Bloomberg a "billionaire enforcer of Bush policies to silence dissent."

What remains significant is that this is the first major anti-war demonstration to emerge from Harlem—a neighborhood that organizers say is emblematic of the war's disproportionate impact on communities of color. While African Americans have overwhelmingly been against Bush's Iraqi conquest since its inception, their opposition hasn't always been as visible or heard.

"There's this idea that the anti-war movement is a white progressive movement, and it's not," notes Nana Soul, a singer with Artists and Activists United for Peace, the black-led alliance that organized an anti-Bush march through Harlem last September during the GOP convention. "People of color of all backgrounds are against this war, because we are the ones they aggressively try to recruit, and we are the ones most likely to die."

That's why organizers say they're angry that United for Peace and Justice has refused to endorse or send a speaker to their event. "This is a travesty, particularly from those who profess to support communities of color," contends Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council, who helped initiate the demonstration. "They have to be called on the carpet over this. These forces from the established anti-war movement cannot have their cake and eat it, too."

UFPJ's Cagan acknowledges the peace movement's "historic and current" racial divide but insists, "This was absolutely not about dissing those forces. The coalition did not have the breadth that it does seem to have now," she says. She points to the founding role played by the International Action Center—the same group of hard-left anti-imperialists who helped spawn the International ANSWER Coalition, and who have sparred with UFPJ organizers over past demonstrations.

In addition, Cagan said her group had problems with some of the early Troops Out Now literature, which called on the anti-war movement to "acknowledge the absolute and unconditional right of the Iraqi people to resist the occupation of their country without passing judgment on their methods of resistance."

Given the often hideously brutal attacks on civilians by various elements of the Iraqi resistance, not to mention some of their fundamentalist positions on women, that's a stance that neither the local nor national UFPJ coalition has been willing to take. "There was a concern that this would develop into an actual demand or theme of the demonstration," says Cagan. "So we decided to let them do their demo, and more power to them."

But activists on all sides say it would be wrong to lose sight of this weekend's larger message. As Soul maintains, "We're saying the best way to support the troops is to bring them home from a war they never should have gone to fight in the first place."



JOIN THE WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE
IN OUR EFFORTS TO STOP THE IRAQ WAR!

Join us in nonviolent actions at military recruiting stations or organize concurrent actions in your neighborhood. We are planning nonviolent demonstrations at military recruitment centers — in Times Square (Manhattan), downtown Brooklyn, and The Bronx. These actions will include a civil disobedience scenario and there will be also be clear non-arrestable scenarios.

On Saturday, March 19th we will gather at three locations around the city for short rallies, and then solemnly process — carrying coffins, signs and banners — to the recruiting centers.

Once there, some will commit civil disobedience, blocking the doors of centers to protect young people from the lies and threats to life emanating from the centers. Others risking arrest will die-in, graphically showing the realities of war hidden behind the slogans like "Army of One" or "Marines, The Few, The Proud." Those not risking arrest will leaflet, hold banners, and engage passersby in dialogue.

We commit to these acts of resistance to mark the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Two years later, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, $200 billion has been wasted and the government intends to spend at least $80 billion more, as the death toll for U.S. troops and Iraqi citizens continues to climb.

We demand the troops be brought home NOW.
We demand reparations for the Iraqi people so they can rebuild their shattered country.
We will confront military recruiters with their lies in nonviolent direct actions and counsel youth considering the military on alternative paths to jobs and education.
S C E N A R I O D E T A I L S


MANHATTAN [click on map (left) to see detail of route]
March 19 (Saturday)
10:30 am Gather at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
(47 St. btwn First & Second Aves.)
11:30 am Solemn procession with coffins to Times Square Recruiting Station begins
12 noon Civil disobedience at military recruiting station
(43 St. & Broadway)



J O I N U S

For more information or how to participate in this action, please e-mail nycwrl@att.net or call 718-768-7306. If you haven’t contacted us before, please give us your name, e-mail address, telephone number, where you’re from, and what previous experience (if any) you have had with nonviolent direct action.

New York City / March 19, 2005
JOIN THE WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE
IN OUR EFFORTS TO STOP THE IRAQ WAR!

Join us in nonviolent actions at military recruiting stations or organize concurrent actions in your neighborhood. We are planning nonviolent demonstrations at military recruitment centers — in Times Square (Manhattan), downtown Brooklyn, and The Bronx. These actions will include a civil disobedience scenario and there will be also be clear non-arrestable scenarios.

On Saturday, March 19th we will gather at three locations around the city for short rallies, and then solemnly process — carrying coffins, signs and banners — to the recruiting centers.

Once there, some will commit civil disobedience, blocking the doors of centers to protect young people from the lies and threats to life emanating from the centers. Others risking arrest will die-in, graphically showing the realities of war hidden behind the slogans like "Army of One" or "Marines, The Few, The Proud." Those not risking arrest will leaflet, hold banners, and engage passersby in dialogue.

We commit to these acts of resistance to mark the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Two years later, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed, $200 billion has been wasted and the government intends to spend at least $80 billion more, as the death toll for U.S. troops and Iraqi citizens continues to climb.

We demand the troops be brought home NOW.
We demand reparations for the Iraqi people so they can rebuild their shattered country.
We will confront military recruiters with their lies in nonviolent direct actions and counsel youth considering the military on alternative paths to jobs and education.

MANHATTAN March 19 (Saturday)
10:30 am Gather at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
(47 St. btwn First & Second Aves.)
11:30 am Solemn procession with coffins to Times Square Recruiting Station begins
12 noon Civil disobedience at military recruiting station
(43 St. & Broadway)





BROOKLYN
March 19 (Saturday)
10:30 am Gather at two locations:
• Brooklyn Public Library
(on Flatbush Ave. near Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park)
• The Brooklyn Heights Promenade
(at Montague Street)
11:30 am Two solemn processions with coffins will begin: one along Flatbush Ave. from the library and the other through Borough Hall, along the Fulton Mall to Flatbush
12 noon Vigil and Civil Disobedience at the military recruiting offices at 41 Flatbush Ave. (near Lafayette Ave.)

THE BRONX
March 19 (Saturday)
11 am Vigil at recruiting offices, Fordham Rd. and Grand Concourse
[Also, the day before — on Friday, Mar. 18 — there will be a demonstration at Kingsbridge Armory]