Momentum builds for Sept 24 - Buy tickets online now!

Get on a bus from your city -- organizing centers and buses listed at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/s24/orgcents.shtml

BUY YOUR BUS TICKET ONLINE for 7 New York Metro Area locations including Jersey City and Long Island City, and Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Buffalo, at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/toncbus.shtml

DONATE to help the mobilization and to help others go, at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/toncbus.shtml

Download flyers at http://www.troopsoutnow.org/literature.html

Volunteer to organize in your area at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/orgcentersignup.html

1) The log jam breaks - all out to Washington on Sept. 24!

2) Get your bus tickets now on-line at the TROOPSOUTNOW.ORG site!

3) Camp Casey goes national

4) Saturday, Sept. 10 Conference: Next Steps for the Anti-War Movement - save the date

5) Black Workers for Justice calls for united Sept. 24 march

1) The log jam breaks

For months, the polls have shown 60% or more oppose the Iraq war. Military recruiting has fallen short throughout 2005. Discontent was growing every day. But we all wondered when this would break through to action.

Was it the 14 Marines getting killed by one land mine while Cheney said the resistance was in "its last throes"? Was it the generals talking loosely about bringing troops home while Bush vowed once again to "stay the course"? Whatever it was, something happened this August to break the log-jam.

Gold-star mother Cindy Sheehan confronted Bush at his vacation ranch about why her son Casey died in Iraq. The 60%+ understood her grief and got behind her. With her personal protest providing the spark, millions started to move. Before long, hundreds had driven to Crawford, Texas, and thousands joined the "Camp Caseys" that sprouted up across the country.

The Sept. 24 protest in Washington is the next mass action to confront Bush. It looks like it will be a big one. It is bringing out not only the tens of thousands who protested before the war began, but new layers of the population for the first time. The country is starting to understand that it's not the Iraqis, who caused this horrible war. It's Bush and his gang.

2) Get your bus tickets on-line!

It is now possible to BUY YOUR BUS TICKET ONLINE from 7 locations in the New York Metro area, including Jersey City and Long Island City, as well as from Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Buffalo and Boston! You can also specify a donation to help others get to the demonstration. Go to:  http://www.troopsoutnow.org/toncbus.shtml

Other ways to get involved:

Get on a bus from your city -- organizing centers and buses listed at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/s24/orgcents.shtml

Download flyers at http://www.troopsoutnow.org/literature.html  Volunteer to organize in your area at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/orgcentersignup.html

For more information, go to :http://www.troopsoutnow.org

3) Camp Casey goes national

The Troops Out Now Coalition called last week for nationwide solidarity actions with Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas. By Monday, August 15, there were protests in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Detroit, Miami, San Francisco, Atlanta, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Kansas City, Mo., Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y., Traverse City, Mich., and many others, by August 17 there will be an estimated 1,000 candlelight vigils. TONC is sending a delegation of veterans to Crawford. Sheehan, who has vowed to stay in Crawford until the end of August unless Bush meets with her, will be joining tens of thousands of protesters in Washington, D.C. on September 24.

4) Saturday, Sept 10 Conference: Next Steps for the Anti-War Movement

As we are all at a fever pitch mobilizing to bring tens of thousands of people to Washington DC on Sept 24 we need to be discussing next steps for our movement.

Saturday, Sept 10
1:30 to 6:30
New School University
Lang Center
55 West 13th St, 2nd Floor,
Between 5th & 6th Ave in Manhattan.

Hear the latest on a massive campaign sweeping the country to get military recruiters out of our schools and communities. This is the launch of our NEW BOOK: We Won't Go:The Truth on Military Recruiters & the Draft.

Get all the latest logistical information on Sept 24 in Washington and get your bus ticket.

Join a discussion about where we go from here. There are exciting plans to SHUT THE WAR DOWN!

5) Black Workers League Statement:

Unite the Anti-war Movement/ Oppose the Occupation of Iraq and Palestine!

The anti-war movement is at the center of world politics. It confronts preemptive war and occupation of oppressed nations by imperialist forces. The lies and deceptions leading to the war, the slaughter of the Iraqi people, the suppression of labor rights, the increased oppression of Iraqi women, and the use of U.S. working class women and men as cannon fodder and torturers demands that African American people, the multi-national working class, and all honest and progressive people turn out to the anti-war demonstrations in Washington, D.C. on September 24.

Opposition to the war in Iraq must be seen as part of the anti-war struggle against the endless war of plunder and occupation in the Middle East and throughout the world being carried out in the name of the "war on terror." This means supporting an end to all occupations and the right of self-determination for all the nations in the region, especially Palestine, including their right of return.

The U.S. anti-war movement embraces forces fighting for peace and those opposing imperialist domination. And while there may be differences within the anti-war movement in terms of long and short term goals and tactics, it is critically important that this movement and its demands be guided by anti-racist, anti- sexist, democratic and human rights principles.

While the primary immediate demand of the anti-war movement centers around ending the U.S. led war and occupation in Iraq, it must also include demands that expose, isolates and puts pressure on key components of the U.S. imperialist strategy of using wars and occupation for empire building throughout the Middle East.

Israel's occupation of Palestine and its role in the Middle East as an outpost of U.S. imperialism is a central component of the U.S. strategy to dominate the Middle East - the most energy rich region of the world and the gateway to both Africa and Asia.

In addition to its cruel oppression of the Palestinian people, Israel's occupation of Palestine has served as a base for Zionist expansion and U.S. military aggression throughout the Middle East.

Israel has occupied a piece of every country it borders. It has carried out "pre-emptive" strikes against Iraq in the 1980s and Syria more recently and is now planning to do the same in Iran. Its arsenal of 200-400 nuclear weapons makes it the greatest threat to peace in the Middle East.

The refusal to build a unified U.S. anti war movement and demonstration on September 24 which includes the demand to end to Israel's occupation of Palestine as part of the struggle for peace and democracy in the Middle East, is a refusal to oppose white supremacy and the racist character of the war in that region and amounts to defending Zionism.

For the African American community, this points to similar arguments used by many progressives against supporting demands opposing racism and for Black power, claiming they are divisive to building "broad" campaigns and mobilizations.

Progressive forces should be in the forefront of promoting democracy and opposition to racism and human rights violations. They have correctly taken "risks" in promoting other controversial issues closer to home which the religious right has condemned as "immoral" and against "family values." Yet, there is hesitation to oppose Israel's occupation of Palestine which is a clear violation of human rights, any way one cuts it.

The Israeli occupation of Palestine has been central to shaping U.S. and European racism against the Arab peoples. The occupation of both Palestine and Iraq has led not only to racist profiling against Arab peoples, but also Muslims, the largest number in the U.S. being African Americans.

The unity of the U.S. anti war movement and for a united demonstration on September 24 must not be obstructed by sectarianism, or by bowing to racism, national chauvinism and Zionism. All are enemies to the struggle for peace and against imperialism.

For all these reasons and more, it is essential that we build a united front of the main national anti-war coalitions against U.S. war in the Middle East - one that is centered on ending the war in Iraq and opposing wars and occupations in Palestine and throughout the region.

If there are two demonstrations in DC on September 24, we urge people to mobilize and raise demands opposing U.S. war and occupation in Iraq, Palestine and throughout the Middle East. Troops Out Now!

For more information: Contact Black Workers League, P.O. Box 934 Rocky Mount, NC 27802

Get on a bus from your city -- organizing centers and buses listed at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/s24/orgcents.shtml

BUY YOUR BUS TICKET ONLINE for 7 New York Metro Area locations including Jersey City and Long Island City, and Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Buffalo, at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/toncbus.shtml DONATE to help the mobilization and to help others go, at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/toncbus.shtml Download flyers at http://www.troopsoutnow.org/literature.html Volunteer to organize in your area at: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/orgcentersignup.html

For more information contact:

Troops Out Now Coalition
39 W. 14th St #206
New York, NY 10011
 212-633-6646 info@troopsoutnow.org  http://www.troopsoutnow.org  

posted August 20, 2005