The International Action Center is...MOVING, GROWING, CHANGING

JUNE 2006

The NYC International Action Center is...MOVING,

GROWING,

CHANGING

Today the whole movement faces a crisis. The massacre in Haditha by the U.S. military is just the latest outrage in a criminal war. Since Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. population has seen the criminal neglect of an entire region by its government. We know that the U.S. government kidnaps, detains and tortures people - at home and abroad - while illegally and secretly monitoring its own population.

There must be a response.

We feel that there is enormous potential. The majority of the population opposes the war. Peopleare more receptive to our message of "Jobs, Healthcare, Housing- Not Endless War" than at any time in our years of experience. Despite an increased level of repression, the movement of immigrant workers has come out in rallies of millions. However, to turn potential into action, hard work and uncompromising dedication is needed.

At the International Action Center we have never had more tasks, more needs, and more urgent requests for our resources. The tasks ahead of us, and the movement in general, are daunting, and we face them with the same determination as always. But suddenly we face our own crisis.

NOW... Our lease is up...

DONATE Help the IAC organize against war, occupation, racism, & injustice - http://iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml

We have to move... BUT we have to continue!

Moving is expensive, dislocating and difficult.

For 15 years we have relied on thousands of small donations to help us carry out enormous political tasks. Generous contributions have enabled us to publish books, develop videos, and design websites while mobilizing rallies and mass meetings. All of this work and so much more must continue and grow. Our dedicated, energetic all-volunteer staff is resolved to continue. But now we urgently need the immediate help of every one of our loyal supporters in order to move.

Consider what we have done and the vital role we have played... Consider what you can do now to insure we can continue...

For 15 years the IAC has been a mainstay of an independent, grassroots movement against U.S. war, racism, militarism and corporate greed. The IAC was launched as a center for activism and resistance by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and leading anti-war organizers after the 1991 U.S. war on Iraq. Since that time we have continued to mobilize opposition to U.S. interventions, invasions, sanctions and economic strangulation. We link the cost of endless war with the ever-increasing cuts in desperately-needed social programs. The IAC has an international reputation for building solidarity and challenging racism, police brutality, sexism, homophobia, and all forms of oppression. When of thousands of Iraqis were dying under U.S. imposed sanctions, most of the movement was silent. The IAC politically challenged the sanctions and organized rallies, demonstrations, vigils and teach-ins. We published Ramsey Clark's book on the Iraq War: The Fire This Time, along with three other books: War Crimes, The Children are Dying and Challenge to Genocide. These unique books and a series of videos exposed the reality behind the ongoing war against the people of Iraq.

During the U.S. bombing of Yugoslavia, the IAC was one of the few activist organizations to speak out against this aggression and to expose the U.S. motives in the breakup of Yugoslavia. The IAC published four books about the crisis in Yugoslavia: NATO in the Balkans, Hidden Agenda, Liar's Poke, and last year, The Defense Speaks.

We have taken up issues when many would not even discuss them. We published War, Lies, and Videotape about the stranglehold of the corporate media, and then broke through their distortions with War in Colombia-Made in U.S.A. and Haiti: A Slave Revolution, which explain the truth about the historic role of popular resistance. Our book Metal of Dishonor, on the impact of radioactive weapons used by the U.S. in Iraq and around the world, is in its third printing and has been translated into five languages. Our film on this issue, Poison DUst, is being nationally distributed by Warner Music and shown in schools, libraries, community centers, and places of worship worldwide.

We have consistently helped organize support for political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier. Mumia is now in his 25th year on death row. Leonard Peltier is in his 30th year in prison. In the country with the largest prison population in the world, we are committed to doing everything possible to defend political prisoners.

After 9/11 the IAC was an essential part of the immediate fightback opposing a new spiral of U.S. war and militarism. When it was clear that the Bush Administration would use this tragedy as a pretext to launch new wars of aggression and to step up the assault on civil rights and civil liberties here at home, the International Action Center helped launch a global movement of resistance. From Washington D.C. to the streets of New York, to a roadside in Crawford, Texas where Cindy Sheehan's encampment stood just outside George Bush's ranch, IAC activists have mobilized, organized, and been there to demand, "Bring the Troops Home Now!"

During the week of the 2004 Republican National Convention, the IAC served as a "resistance center" where activists were able to make placards and banners, meet and organize, and learn key information about the week of protest. To kick off the week, we organized a War Crimes Tribunal, where activists, eyewitnesses, journalists, clergy, and veterans exposed the criminal nature of the Bush war against the Iraqi people.

In 2005, along with important allies from the trade union movement, the Million Worker March, housing and community activists, and representatives from global struggles, we helped launch the Troops Out Now Coalition around the unifying demands for the immediate, complete, and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq and funding for human needs, not war. This coalition sought to struggle against the war by those communities most impacted by it. A march of thousands from Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park to Central Park in New York was historic.

We have also made every effort to link the struggle against the war to the worldwide struggle against empire. Last November we co-organized an exciting Town Hall meeting in support of Venezuela, in the face of U.S. threats. The IAC has consistently been in solidarity with the Cuban people against U.S. aggression and embargo, and we have supported the struggle of the Palestinian people in their heroic resistance to occupation. When U.S. forces kidnapped Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide, the IAC quickly organized a fact-finding delegation to the Central African Republic. The delegation was the first to expose the truth about the kidnapping of Aristide, just days after the coup.

When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, thousands were left homeless and people died in the streets while the Bush Administration callously did nothing. IAC activists immediately traveled to the impacted region to help organize, report on, and support the demands of the largely poor and African-American population of New Orleans and the rest of the region, for jobs, housing, medical care, and the right to return. The IAC has become a center in New York for Katrina and Rita survivors to organize for justice.

When the Transit Workers Union went on strike, and New York's Bloomberg Administration and the right wing media carried out a racist campaign of vilification of Trinidadian TWU President Roger Toussaint, IAC activists organized a solidarity demonstration at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge.

As the powerful new movement for immigrant rights surged on to the national scene, the IAC office became a mobilizing center for the May 1 Coalition in New York. Flyers in eight languages helped to bring hundreds of thousands into the streets, in a historic one-day boycott and work stoppage to demand legalization and full rights for all workers. In just a few days, the IAC contingent will march in the annual LGBT Pride March in New York City, in support of equal rights, including the right to marry, for all people.

We have helped to develop organizing skills of many hundreds of young activists through our internship program and hands-on experience with exciting major demonstrations.

The IAC has been a political center and resource for the political movement. A wide range of community organizations have maintained desk space, held regular meetings, and used the center for mobilizing, banner making, phone banking, and internet use-- including NY Katrina/Rita Evacuees Committee; Haiti Support Network; BAYAN, a Philippine organization; Korea Truth Commission; Committee in Support of Iraqi People; Queers for Peace and Justice; AMAT - Mexican Workers Association; Venceremos Brigade; Cuba solidarity groups; Millions for Mumia; Leonard Peltier Support Committee; Troops Out Now Coalition; Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST) youth group; Million Worker March; Depleted Uranium Education Project; and many more.

What are our future plans?

We have launched a national campaign to ensure that the criminals in Washington don't have enough soldiers to continue their wars. We are mobilizing against military recruiters in our communities. As a tool to help the growing counter-recruiting movement, we have published a handbook aimed at high school youth, We Won't Go http://www.nodraftnoway.org , which exposes the lies behind recruiters' sales pitches and the reality of military life and the role of the military.

We are working on a video documentary to accompany the book, which we plan to get out in high schools, churches and mosques, community centers, and libraries. We believe that it is possible and necessary to build a national campaign to challenge the Pentagon's military recruiting machine.

Meanwhile, it is vital that we organize against the real threat of a new U.S. war, this time against Iran. The IAC has launched Stop War on Iran - an effort to focus the anti-war movement's attention on this new threat. The online petition ( www.StopWarOnIran.org ) has gathered thousands of signatures. We have distributed tens of thousands of leaflets, handed out "Stop War on Iran" placards at antiwar protests, and organized meetings across the country to expose the U.S. pro-war agenda.

We will continue to be part of the campaign for full rights for immigrant workers, and do all we can to support this powerful new civil rights movement. This weekend we are supporting a regional conference on this critical struggle. The IAC is also working to use the latest technological advances to help educate, organize, and mobilize. We are developing a weekly internet radio program to bring the voice of antiwar, labor, and community activists to those with computer access. To counter the corporate media blockade, we will podcast educational forums, meetings, interviews and rallies.

The IAC's website has been a worldwide resource for anti-war activists. It was one of the first progressive political websites and has had international impact. Our volunteers carry out the highly skilled and detailed work of maintaining these sites, which has become a major area of work and a major expense.

This summer, while moving, we are also recreating and reorganizing the IAC web site - www.iacenter.org. We are also launching IACenter.live, a new website that will host a series of forums, classes and rallies. We also help to maintain www.NoWeWontGo.org, www.TroopsOutNow.org, www.Millions4Mumia.org and www.PeopleJudgeBush.org .

For years, our Peoples Video Network produced weekly video programs for more than 50 cable access stations nationally. Now we have the potential to reach out to many more people with video streaming. PVN's new website, www.PeoplesVideo.tv , has developed a full series of streaming video programs. We're also developing a school for activist to learn organizing skills, effective media work, street outreach, leaflet design, and internet work.

Moving is expensive But moving is exciting...

Moving is an opportunity to rethink what we are doing, how to do it differently and more effectively. We are working around the clock over the next few weeks to set up our new office, while continuing to do important organizing work. Our web sites, internet, film production and book distribution will continue uninterrupted. But activists need a place to work if they are to meet the new challenges ahead.

As a donor-funded organization, the IAC relies on your support. Your involvement and generosity makes an enormous difference and enables all that we do. Your donations have been the foundation of all that's been done in the past and will continue to fund all of the organizing and educational projects in the future.

We need your help once again. Please help us make a Summer of Change for an Autumn of Action.

DONATE Help the IAC organize against war, occupation, racism, & injustice -

http://iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml