GG Bridge Anti-War March Organizers Demand Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly
Golden Gate Bridge Anti-War March Organizers Demand Right to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly
Organizing Meeting this Sunday, May 19, 2002 at the Fellowship Hall of Humanity, 390-27th St., Oakland
Press Conference Regarding the First Amendment During Wartime Monday, May 20, 2002, 5pm, Golden Gate Bridge Administration Building, SF
On Friday, May 17, 2002, Golden Gate Bridge District authorities, in a meeting with Take it to the Bridge organizers, brazenly snatched the first amendment rights of the people: the rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
Anti-war march organizers, in preparation for a Saturday, May 25th mobilization at noon from Crissy Field across the Golden Gate Bridge, sought to discuss deviations to the Golden Gate Bridge District's "regulations pertaining to use of district properties for expressive activities."
March organizer Wendy Snyder stated, "All along, the issue of our right to dissent and to freedom of speech was something we have been willing to challenge at every step. In preparation for this mobilization, we sought permits from the Golden Gate Bridge authorities only out of concern for the safety and security of the march participants during this time when the U.S. government can use any resistance to its policies to attack people under the so-called 'war on terrorism.'"
"We want to send a message to the international community in opposition to the US support of Israel, to its policies in the Middle East, to its anti-democratic Patriot Act and the US attacks on oppressed people everywhere."
Continues Snyder, "The Golden Gate Bridge District's regulations don't allow banners, flags or bullhorns on the bridge walkway. They restrict the size of signs and also restrict the number of persons permitted on the bridge at any one time. From the current regulations that exist and from the 'compromise' that was proposed to us in the meeting, we are 'allowed' access to the bridge at an earlier time now with no signs whatsoever. Basically they are giving us 'permission' to hold a nice walk on the bridge without the ability to project any political message!"
The organizers were also told that the "Special Use Permit" for Crissy Field Airfield would come with a pricetag of over $15,000, of which $14,300 would go to hire the park police to do their job. "We were told that A 'First Amendment Permit' could be issued free of charge, but under that permit we wouldn't have the right to use amplified sound, a stage, to chant or raise our voices, or even to hold banners and signs. Our efforts to play by their rules has resulted in making our anti-war rally and march unobtainable."
The All People's Coalition has made a decision to go forward with its plans to rally and march, and, as people have done throughout history, to hold up first amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly when confronted with an attempt to stifle them, as the Golden Gate Bridge District and Park Service is apparently trying to do.
The All People's Coalition views the responsibility to oppose the brutal policies of the United States government as too important to give up. In a press release today the Coalition stated, "In this era where civil liberties are being taken away every day by the U.S. government, these attacks on our rights, now more than ever, must be challenged. We must go forward with our mobilization and call out all freedom-loving people and people who believe in the U.S. Constitution and free speech to participate."
For more info contact All People's Coalition to Stop US Terror and Occupation: (510) 569-9620 allpeepsco@yahoo.com
The London-based Asharq al-Awsat said it interviewed Abdel Azeem al-Muhajir, whom it described as a "senior military leader" of Al Qaeda, in the western Pakistani mountains near the border with Afghanistan. The newspaper did not say when the interview was conducted.
Al-Muhajir told the paper that the April 11 truck-bombing of the Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba "was carried out by brothers in the Al Qaeda network." Fourteen of the 19 victims were German tourists.
A source in Afghanistan told the Associated Press that al-Muhajir is also known as Abu Bilal al Muhajir and is a Palestinian of Jordanian nationality. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Muhajir was a member of the network headed by Usama bin Laden, but was a midlevel administrator, rather than a top commander.
Israeli, German and U.S. officials have said there are indications that the attack in Tunisia was linked to Al Qaeda.
"News in the coming days will show the continuity, firmness, and determination of this (Al Qaeda) group to develop itself," Al-Muhajir said, according to Asharq al-Awsat.
Al-Muhajir was quoted as saying that Al Qaeda has regrouped since the Taliban's ouster by U.S.-backed forces in Afghanistan. Blaming the defeat on U.S. air power, he was quoted as saying Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters have come a long way in their training for a "soon-expected fight with appropriate arms."
He did not elaborate on the weapons to be used but was quoted as saying Al Qaeda would give Americans "a more painful hit" than the Tunisian attack.
The newspaper also said al-Muhajir identified the truck driver who carried out the synagogue attack as Nizar Seif Eddin al-Tunisi, a name that has arisen before in connection with the blast, and said he was a member of Al Qaeda. Seif Eddin al-Tunisi means "Sword of the Faith, the Tunisian."
A statement published last month in the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds said the synagogue attack was carried out by the Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Sites, which earlier claimed responsibility for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. U.S. investigators have long linked the Islamic Army to the Al Qaeda, which has been blamed for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Saturday's article in Asharq al-Awsat was the second time in two days the newspaper has carried interviews attributed to senior figures of the Taliban or Al Qaeda. On Friday, the newspaper ran what it said was an interview with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the fugitive leader of the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Both interviews were conducted by reporter Badie Qorhani. According to the Saturday article, Qorhani traveled in a four-wheel drive vehicle along mountain roads for 12 hours before meeting al-Muhajir in a tent.
Al-Muhajir was quoted as saying both bin Laden and Mullah Omar were in good health, "contrary to what is propagated by American and Americanized media."
The report gave no indication of how al-Muhajir knew that or when he last saw either man.
The First Amendment Is Our Permit!
Because the founding fathers didn't care about human "rights," they just wanted their government kkkabal-thingie to be able to do whatever it wanted, hold whatever slaves (including their wives), as long as it fit with what their bible says (tho i think jesus would want us to all have housing and spend our days doing what we love). The people running the government today, as well as the corporations, don't care about the constitution or the amendments or the people they affect.
That's why many of us are "fighting to build a better world," or whatever. As Bob Avakian or maybe someone from Refuse and Resist says, "It is right to resist."
You want the right to be a leach. A maggot. You want food and roof AND clean soft hands ? Your a fool.
Either literally or figuratively you gotta get your hands dirty. No organism rides anywhere for free up in this house. You want a suger momma or suger daddy. Leave politics and government to Realist
Non-fruitopians. You want a pimp or a slave.
I bet youre one of those young thangs that sits on Nessiers` lap and listens to his stories about busting windows and floating limestone.
Israel is the one expecting a handout from the US, and people here are fed up with US tax dollars going to fund their worthless asses.
by danny thomas • Sunday May 19, 2002 at 12:45 AM
Sorry I thought you guys were protesting for something else.
Israel is the one expecting a handout from the US, and people here are fed up with US tax dollars going to fund their worthless asses."""
Thats alright cracker, take my name, others have.
I was responding to suzie want a free box of q-tips bum-munch. swing away.
hundreds of children stricken with catastrophic illnesses.
Thomas was only earing $50 a week as a radio show host when his first
child, Marlo, was born. Not able to make ends meet, he humbled
himself before a statue of the patron saint of hopless causes, St.
Jude Thaddeus. He vowed, "Show me my way in life and I'll build you a
shrine."
From there his life took a rapid turn to success. He starred in
feature films, and was awarded an emmy for his role in the tv show
"Make Room For Daddy" which was based on his actual life.
Thomas never forgot his promise to St. Jude. Throughout the 1950's, he
began to campaign for the St. Jude's Research Hospital. With his
wife Rose Marie, he toured the U.S. by car speaking at fund raisers.
Since 1962, St. Jude's has helped hundreds of children ravaged with
catastrophic deseases and brought new hope to their families. When
the hospital first opened, the survival rate of kids with acute
lymphocyctic leukemia was 4% , today it is over 50%.
Danny Thomas - A Great Lebanese American Humanitarian
The famous Danny Thomas wasnt even a danny thomas. He was Amos Jacobs. You didnt include that in his bio. Great man he was.
I have met three other real ones.
It is my real name.
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