NITIAL REPORT on MAY 17-18 NATIONAL A.N.S.W.E.R. CONFERENCE

INITIAL REPORT on MAY 17-18 NATIONAL A.N.S.W.E.R. CONFERENCE

Plus: ACTION PLAN

More than 850 activists and organizers who have helped forge the U.S. arm of the global peace movement came together from across the U.S. and several other countries to participate in the National Conference Against War, Colonial Occupation & Imperialism sponsored by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition on May 17-18 in New York City. Those who attended the conference came in buses, vans and car caravans from communities throughout the East Coast, South and Midwest, and nearly 100 people attended from the West Coast. The worldwide anti-war movement sent messages and delegations from many countries.

The conference included major plenary sessions entitled "What is the Bush administration planning?" and "Where is the movement going?", plus 16 different workshops where panels. Organizers and leaders in different struggles analyzed the imperialist objectives of the Bush administration's foreign policy and the racist and anti-worker assault on civil rights and civil liberties at home, and then discussed effective organized resistance. Reports and discussions took place on a wide range of issues, including the occupation of Iraq; the Bush administration's threats and attacks against Cuba, Korea, the Philippines, Zimbabwe, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and other countries; civil rights, civil liberties, immigrant rights, union and workers' rights; and much more. Particular attention was paid to the rise over the past year of the global movement and which presents the greatest hope and potential political power to stop the U.S. war machine.

Participants also reflected on their experiences of organizing over the last year, and discussed building on the momentum of the peace movement and strategies and plans for mobilizing against the administration's drive for empire and war at home. On Sunday, the conference attendees formed into several discussion breakout groups where organizers and activists from around the country - who have assumed responsibility for mobilizing both local and national actions during the past year and a half - met with each other for information sharing and free flowing discussions. During these discussions organizers proposed next steps, discussed a national action plan, and began charting coordinated local organizing initiatives. In the final plenary, volunteers gave reportbacks from the multiple discussion groups to the full conference. Notetakers are currently preparing more detailed reports from these discussion sessions.

The National Action Plan, detailed below, includes a demonstration on July 4 in Philadelphia where Bush will be speaking; a September 27 International Day of Protest Against War and Occupation from Iraq and Palestine, to Korea and the Philippines; and a summer public education campaign to spread the word about the need to fight war and militarism and in defense of social and economic rights. The Action Plan also included May 19-20 coordinated local actions opposing Bush's new attacks on Cuba. On these days, rallies, press conferences and street meetings took place in Tucson, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Providence, RI; Houston, TX; Washington DC; Winnipeg, Canada; and more.

For those who were not able to attend the conference, the A.N.S.W.E.R. website will soon contain a section with talks from the conference and additional information about the discussions that took place there. The full conference program including plenary speakers, and topics and descriptions of the 16 workshops is available at http://www.internationalanswer.org/pdf/m17program.pdf

We want to thank all the A.N.S.W.E.R. volunteers who gave so much of their time to make the conference so successful, and also the plenary and workshop panelists who represent the depth and breath of the struggle for global and domestic justice. Thanks also to the organizers and activists who were able to attend for sharing their successes and learning experiences, as well as to the many thousands of other A.N.S.W.E.R. organizers in towns large and small who have committed themselves to working for real justice and an end to military and economic conquest and exploitation.

Below is the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition's projected Action Plan:

JULY 4: THOUSANDS WILL MARCH TO PROTEST GEORGE W. BUSH IN PHILADELPHIA

George W. Bush has been invited to the opening of the National Constitution Center. We need to be there to say No to U.S. Wars at Home and Abroad; No to Colonialism and Empire; End the Occupation of Iraq; No to Racism, Attacks on Civil Rights and Immigrants, the USA Patriot Act and the Shredding of the Constitution; and to Call for Funding of Social Programs - not the Pentagon's War Machine.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition supports this initiative brought forward by local Philadelphia organizations who have come together to issue a call for thousands of people to join in a national march on July 4 in Philadelphia protesting U.S. wars at home and abroad. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition urges its Organizing Centers and all people of conscience to be in the streets of Philadelphia. In addition to the July 4 national protest, a number of groups are sponsoring local and regional protests on that weekend. Philadelphia organizations involved in the local, regional and national protests include Philadelphia A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), PRAWN (Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network), Minority Experience Network, Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), Unite for Peace, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and others.

In addition to the July 4 national protest, a number of groups are sponsoring local and regional protests on that weekend. Philadelphia organizations involved in the local, regional and national protests include Philadelphia A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), PRAWN (Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network), Minority Experience Network, Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), Unite for Peace, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and others.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27: GLOBAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST OCCUPATION AND EMPIRE, & IN SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE WHO RESIST FROM PALESTINE TO IRAQ TO THE PHILIPPINES TO CUBA AND EVERYWHERE

September 27 is the third anniversary of the beginning of the second Intifada of the Palestinian people whose resistance against colonial occupation in the past decades has been the very center of the anti-colonial struggle throughout the Middle East. This will be a global action of solidarity with all of those who are resisting empire.

SUMMER PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGN

In response to requests from activists across the country, this summer, A.N.S.W.E.R. - on a national level - will produce educational materials, including fact sheets, brochures, pamphlets, booklets, and more. We will focus on a wide range of issues, including (but not limited to) countries that the Bush administration is attacking, social service cuts versus military spending, racist repression at home, and the expansion of U.S. militarism globally. We encourage local organizers to use these resources to carry out mass leafleting and tabling campaigns in cities around the country. A.N.S.W.E.R. national organizers are available to speak at forums, teach-ins and community meetings.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION:

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Act Now to Stop War & End Racism http://www.InternationalANSWER.org