Report of Inauguration Protest Organizers Mtg in Philly on Jan 20
Jan 9, 2000
There were many new faces including new organizations. ACTUP, KWRU and the Poor People's Caravan came for the first time. KWRU and PPC both endorsed the mobilization and are organizing buses themselves.
We started the meeting with really good news, WE GOT THE PERMITS! The IAC press conference in Washington was very successful and was covered by CSPAN2 and the Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article today. CNN also covered last night's organizers meeting in NYC.
Ticket outlets in the area are: House of Our Own - 3920 Spruce St. (215) 222-1576 WILPF - 1213 Race St. (215) 563-7110 ICFFMAJ - 4601 Market St., 5th floor (215) 476-5416 IAC - 813 S. 48th St. (215) 724-1618, 2 to 6pm. Wooden Shoe Book Store - on 5th near South St, (215) 413-0999
If you have not reserved and paid your tickets yet, please do so ASAP! We need to pay for the bus, YESTERDAY! Thanks.
April and Bob are doing phone banking at the ICFFMAJ office. Hannibal has been making follow up phone calls from the IAC office. WILPF is organizing a contingent. Pam Africa is doing great media work and as a result we got the PPC on board.
Joe and Andrew distributed flyers over the weekend with good responses from passers by. Several people have volunteered to post around their neighborhoods.
The following tasks need to be done. If you can volunteer for any of them, please call the IAC at (215) 724-1618:
- Phone Calls - either from home or from the IAC office - call the IAC office for names.
- Distribution of flyers
Thursday Jan. 11 from 3-6pm at Broad and Vine at the Poor Peoples Caravan demonstration. This is a protest against the racist handling of the case of an African-American girl's rape by two white youth.
Friday Jan 12 - 4pm at the Clothespin
Saturday Jan 13 - 12 noon at 8th and Market Sts. - Sound car -
Sunday Jan 14th Meet at 12 noon at the steps of 4601 Market.- Postering - especially around college campuses (they're back in session next week) If you know of any activity where we can distribute leaflets, particularly any MLK events, please let us know.
- Media work
- Fund Raising -- we'd like to have a benefit after the 20th to raise funds to cover demonstration costs and for people to get together. Let us know if you'd like to work on this.
- The Jan. 11th meeting for Mumia that was announced with last week's notes is cancelled due to a conflicting event. Please contact the ICFFMAJ office at 215-476-5416 for new date.
Thu, 4 Jan 2001
NEXT MTG IS ON TUESDAY, JAN 9, AT 7PM, CALVARY CHURCH, 48TH & BALTIMORE.
Bus tickets are on sale for $20 round trip. They must be purchased in advance. Call for ticket locations. If you can't go, make a donation so someone else can. Send donations or checks for tickets to: Philadelphia I.A.C., 813 S. 48th St., Phila, PA 19143. Contact 215-724-1618 or philnpc@op.net for more information.
Yesterday's meeting focused a lot on outreach . While we've sent out a large mailing and reached people by email, we need to reach people on the streets too.
On Friday, Jan 5, from 4 to 6 pm, volunteers will meet at the Clothespin, 15th and Market, to hand out flyers to pedestrians.
Also on Friday, from 6pm on, volunteers will meet at 3rd and Cherry to hand out flyers to "First Friday" crowds and at a 7pm R2K event at the Painted Bride (see below).
On Sat., starting at noon, volunteers will hand out flyers to Gallery shoppers. Meet at 8th and Market. CALL the office at 215-724-1618 if you can help on either of these days or at any other time.
You can also get flyers and posters out in your neighborhood. You can pick up flyers at the IAC office, or the ICFFMAJ office at 4601 Market, 5th flr. Or you can email a request to philnpc@op.net to have a poster/flyer sent to you as an attachment, and then make your own copies for distribution.
Some more places in Philly that need to be postered or leafletted include:
Broad and Olney, Broad & Erie, 52nd St from Market to Spruce, South St, 5th & Lehigh, Broad & Cecil B. Moore the Italian Market 40th St from Market to Locust, Germantown & many more places.
Campuses such as UPenn, Temple, CCP, Bryn Mawr, Drexel, St Joes, LaSalle, etc. are starting to come back in session. Do you attend or work at any of these schools and can get flyers/posters out???
The IAC office will be staffed most days from 2 to 6 pm. Call 215-724-1618. The office is in the basement of Calvary Church at 48th and Baltimore.
On Thursday, Jan 18, from 6 to 9 PM, there will be a sign-making work session at Calvary Church. You're welcome to bring sign materials and especially your ideas. We will be inviting the press to it, as a way to get press coverage prior to Jan 20.
If anyone can get copies of flyers made for free, PLEASE contact us immediately. It would be a great contribution to the cause.
On the weekend of Jan 14-15, we would like to get flyers out at Martin Luther King Jr events. If you know of observances, please let us know.
We are also trying to organize a sound car to roam the city that weekend. That involves a sound system on top of a car, and about 3 or 4 people. One person drives, one person raps about the Jan 20 protest, and the other two people hand out flyers wherever there are crowds. Call us if you would like to be a part of this fun activity.
Volunteers are also needed to make phone calls. You can make them from home, or from the IAC or ICFFMAJ offices. Call or email us for more details.
Report on Initial Philadelphia area Organizing Meeting for J20
23 Dec 2000
Thanks to all those who braved the start of the snow storm on Tuesday, and made it to Calvary Church for the meeting. But for those who didn't - we understand.
This is a brief synopsis of the meeting, and is not intended to cover everything that was discussed. If you want to know more, call 215-724-1618 or 610-352-3053, or better yet - come to next weeks meeting on Wednesday, December 27 at 7pm at Calvary Church (48th & Baltimore Ave) - mark your calendars now so you won't miss it!!!!
There were almost 40 people at the meeting. Groups represented included Philadelphia International Action Center, International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Refuse and Resist, Philadelphia Greens, Wages for Housework, South Jersey Coalition for Peace and Justice (Atlantic City), Philadelphia Direct Action Group, Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, South Jersey Campaign for Peace and Justice, Vieques Committee of New Jersey, Workers World Party, UNIA/AJCAC, East Timor Action Network, Black Women's Health Project. There were also activists from the Puerto Rican, African American, and Haitian communities, and students and youth. PCAN called that they will be involved, but could not send a representative for the initial event because of prior commitment.
There was about 45 minutes of general political discussion about J20 and the issues that are drawing people to this event. While the initial call from the International Action Center last month focused around the issues of freedom for Mumia, and against the death penalty, globalization, and the prison-industrial complex, the racist election fraud that helped put Bush in the White House has obviously expanded the arena of those who plan to be in DC on J20. The issue of the elections may attract a new layer who have not been active before, and the challenge will be how to be inclusive, while not giving up our initial slogans. This action offers a wonderful opportunity to reach out to new layers on these issues - i.e. - showing that it's the same courts that put Bush in power, despite his losing the popular vote, that will ultimately be the one's to hear Mumia's case.
Combating racism, particularly as manifested in the Florida election, is central to organizing for J20. It was also discussed that while protesting Bush and general government policy, we also need to raise the illegitimacy of the inauguration. Others raised the rage being felt about the election, and that the system is corrupt and doesn't work; that it's effecting global relations, class, race, etc.
Vieques, women's demands for welfare and childcare, and environmental concerns were raised as issues that should either be included in the general flyer, or even be the subject of individual, issue oriented flyers. It was pointed out that already Vieques activists groups have put out their own flyer, and while listed as endorsers on the general flyer, they are organizing for a contingent in around Vieques. This is a model that other issue oriented groups may want to copy. There is also a J20 list serve where groups can contact others who are organizing affinity group focuses. The address is J20action@egroups.com
In response to those who raised the need to include their issues on general leaflets, some raised that a flyer that covered all the issues would end up being three pages and then some, and that we might want to concentrate on slogans like "the real elections are in the street", or others that express the anger and outrage over the election process and institutionalized racism.
We've included a report back from the National IAC office (see below) that covers events since the Dec. 19th meeting.
The issue will be can the progressive movement put aside individual differences for one day and join together in unified protests of these injustices that will bring thousands of new people into the movement. We have a lot of reasons to hope that the time has come for our side to be as "bi-partisan" as theirs.
There is a lot to be done to build for Philadelphia area participation in this event.
1. Transportation - To date three buses have been reserved and tickets will be $20 round trip. We would like to get more buses, but need the funds to cover deposits to hold them. Any one who can help out with this should call Betsey Piette at 610-352-3053.
We will have tickets printed by next week's meeting. We also will establish places where people can purchase tickets - so far they are available at meetings, and at 4601 Market St. ( 5th floor) at the ICFFMAJ office. We'll be asking WILPF and Wooden Shoe. Anyone else who can sell them, please let us know.
Ticket money is needed two weeks before J20. Tickets can be purchase by mail with a check made out to Philadelphia I.A.C. and sent to 813 S. 48th St., Philadelphia, PA 19143. The sooner we get funds to cover existing buses, the more we'll be able to reserve, so don't wait.
2. A media committee was set up to send out a PSA to announce J20, and to begin to plan for a press conference to be held within a few weeks. We'd like to include locally well known spokespeople, so if you have any suggestions and/or contacts let the committee know. You can e-mail to philnpc@op.net and leave message for Samantha, Joe, Bronwyn or Elizabeth.
3. Outreach needs to start now. We want to reach out to labor, religious, and community based groups that have cause to be angry about the elections, even if they've not been previously involved around other issues. Unfortunately reaching students may be harder with schools out until J15, but anyone with access to student e-mail list-serves is encouraged to send word about J20 on. Churches, unions, and community groups may also be able to organize their own buses and should be encouraged to do so.
4. Fund raising - we need funds to cover more bus deposits, mailings, flyers, etc. Anyone who can help with this should let us know or come to the next meeting with your ideas. We will also need to do a mailing (during next week's meeting???) and can use help with postage, envelopes, printing more flyers, etc. Please e-mail or call if you can assist in this area.
5.Flyering, postering, etc. - We'll try to have more flyers and posters available by next Wed. Anyone who can help with production, please call.
For those who requested information on what is happening nationally in terms of organizing, we've included the following update from the national IAC office:
On Dec. 21, there was a very successful press conference in Washington DC covering the January 20 protest. It was covered by every major media, including AP, UPI, Reuters, >every local DC tv and radio station, the Washington Post, a network that distributes to Spanish speaking tv, and it was played in full on C-SPAN for 50 minutes. (Also covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer). > >This press conference was called by the Justice Action Movement, a local DC coalition organizing for the January 20 protest. To it they invited all of the groups organizing >for the 20th, including the IAC, Green Party, National Organization of Women, National Action Network, Rainbow Push, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, and Institute for >Policy Studies. Not all of the groups attended, but this press conference reflected the tremendous momentum around this mobilization.
Rev. Al Sharpton put out a call for a demonstration on January 20 at the Supreme Court. This was mainly to float the idea--we don't think that much organizing has taken place around this call as of yet. Of course, if it does happen, we will be in solidarity. Rev. Jesse Jackson put out a call for state-wide demonstrations at Federal Buildings. Jackson himself will be in Tallahassee in January 20 because Florida is "the scene of the crime." The National Organization >of Women--NOW--has also put out a call, though it is vague in terms of whether they are calling for state-wide or a national DC demonstration. >There has not been much movement in terms of mobilizing for this call either, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. There is, though, tremendous momentum around this day, and in particular around the call that the IAC put out last October. The IAC issued a call to hold a counter-inaugural demonstration before we knew the outcome of the election. We made the point in our literature that, whether it was Gore or Bush who won, what we called the "death machine" would continue. Though there may be some minor differences between the two candidates, their position is identical on fundamental issues --from police brutality and the prison-industrial complex at home to militarism and intervention abroad. Now, with all of these important issues--the focus of which is really racism, raising the death penalty in these terms and Mumia's case--must now be merged with what happened during the election. There is tremendous anger over the disenfranchisement, primarily of the Black community, that exposed the racism that exists throughout the U.S. electoral system. The focus of the anger is against Bush, as it should be, but it can be directed away from a pro-Gore line and into an independent street movement. We've been using a formulation to try to capture both this spirit--of the importance of people's struggle--and the momentum surrounding this mobilization. That the "real election is in the streets". We are saying, with confidence, that this will be the largest counter-inaugural demonstration since the 1973 demonstration where 100,000 people came out to demand that Nixon sign the peace treaty ending the Vietnam War. Do we know that it will be that large? No. But we do know that thousands and thousands of people are coming from around the country in buses, vans and car caravans and will be converging in DC in the days before January 20. Nixon signed the peace treaty four days after the election. We want to use this to show that the struggle was in the streets--not in the election. Of course, the motivation for >signing the peace treaty was more complex than this, but what was reflected at that counter-inaugural was a movement. There are many questions about our demonstration. One of the main ones is what is it about? Is it about the death penalty, about disenfranchisement, about the sanctions on Iraq, there are so many issues, what is it all about? This is a very important question for us, and we can tell people a few important things with the answer. We are protesting Bush because he is the president, he is the head of the biggest military superpower in the world. But a solution to that problem goes far beyond his replacement by another millionaire. What Fidel said, that "the empire has a new leader," is the sentiment reflected by people around the world. We are not calling to shut down this inauguration. In the past, a call has gone out at recent protests to "shut down" various meetings, such as the IMF and World Bank. Thousands of people came to DC in April but they were not able to shut those meetings down. Some saw this as a failure, but we want to say that if you think about the goal of the demonstration, it is clear that this was far from a failure. Our political goal is not just to shut down this or that meeting. What would be the point of this? So a better or more fair meeting of the imperialists could be opened up? Our audience is not the bankers and the corporations and the politicians who represent them. Our audience is the working class in the U.S. and our goal is to raise their consciousness and to organize.
We don't just want organize a series of demonstrations and meetings. What we want to do is to ignite and build a movement. This movement must go beyond demonstrations, but sometimes a demonstration can be a manifestation of that movement--as were the demonstrations in Seattle, DC, Philly and LA--and we think that this one will. > >Now we have a new dimension which is the coming economic slowdown, which could turn into a recession or depression. Millions of workers are going to loose their jobs while Bush calls for $1.3 billion in tax cuts for the rich. We, of course, want to reach out to these workers. This is important in terms of our tactics for January 20th. While we want the militant young people who have courageously blocked intersections and delegate buses and >gone face to face with the cops at demonstrations throughout the last year to know that we will defend them against repression, we also want to say to them this: We need to >think very carefully about what is needed for the movement at this time. > >We want to reach out to the working class, to the multinational working class, and we think at this time, while they're very angry, they are not necessarily ready to walk into a confrontation with the police. People need to be able to come out and protest racism without feeling like they have to risk their life. And also, many people involved in direct action earlier this year cannot afford to be arrested--they have pending legal cases that are consuming much of their time. So we feel that we can explain to people that we are not >calling for civil disobedience--we are calling to fill the streets of Washington DC with masses of people to protest the illegitimacy of this whole system.
There are, as usual, many aspects to building this mobilization and a tremendous amount of work to be done in less than a month. Over 450 groups and prominent individuals have endorsed the call to action. We now have over 30 organizing centers from the East Coast, South and Midwest, including many students organizing in their areas from Delaware to North Carolina to Vermont. Every day, the IAC is deluged with calls and emails of people asking about transportation from NY and many other places so they can get to DC. The IAC has produced the leaflet in Spanish, Arabic and will soon have it in Creole. There is also a poster and stickers.
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