AntiWarAction

http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/02/1572386.php AntiWarAction Call for Unpermitted March on F16 On February 16, we march without a permit. The U.S. does not have our permission to wage war on Iraq and we refuse to ask for permission to protest. We march in solidarity with the people in New York City denied a permit for their February 15th anti-war protest. We march in solidarity with people around the world who will protest in defiance of established authorities. And we march in solidarity with all those whose lives are threatened by U.S. economic and military violence. Join us as we assert our autonomy from the laws and lawmakers that perpetuate war and poverty. Convergence begins at 2pm at Polk and Grove (Southwest corner of the Civic Center Plaza). March will commence at 3 o?clock. Bring out the noise! Bring your voices, musical instruments, drums, pots and pans, boomboxes and other noise-makers. Bring out the funk! Bring your colors of choice, props, signs, flags, banners, and anything else to creatively transform the city. Bring out the spirit of defiance! Bring yourselves, bring your friends and bring your energy. Bring it on! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: We are out here like everyone else today to stop the war that been waged against Iraq since 1991. We mourn the more than one million Iraqis already murdered by economic sanctions alone, but we have no delusions that this is an isolated problem. We understand these latest threats, from obliterating Baghdad to deploying nuclear weapons, as part of a longer history of racist and imperialist U.S. aggression. Recently, U.S. Special Forces have been deployed to nearly 50 countries all over the globe, primarily in the global south. Regardless of whether this war ever happens, the troops that have already been deployed to the Middle East en masse have militarized the region to levels that most of us cannot comprehend. Wars, occupations, and conflicts around the world, from Afghanistan to Colombia to Palestine, are being fueled with U.S. economic and military support. Meanwhile, the ?war on terrorism? rhetoric has opened the doors for governments such as Israel and Russia to further repress struggles for self-determination. While the U.S. prepares to escalate its war on the world, it has already been waging war against the people living within its own borders, and this too is escalating under the name of the ?war on terrorism?. The recent wave of INS round-ups and detentions targeting communities of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent, and terrifying immigrants of all nationalities are reminiscent of the U.S.?s internment camps for persons of Japanese descent during WWII. Ashcroft has already drafted an even more sinister sequel to the infamous PATRIOT Act, which would further expand the powers of policing and surveillance, legitimize secret arrests, and, perhaps, make it possible for the government to expatriate U.S. citizens for holding unpopular political associations. The U.S. is openly preparing an all-out assault on our basic freedoms. We must not fall into the trap that the Bush Administration has laid for us by focusing all of our energy on ?anti-war? organizing, ignoring the brutality and violence our communities face on a daily basis. While budgets for the military, prisons, policing, national security and other armed forces soar, the rich are getting fat tax cuts. Meanwhile, even the most basic provisions for social welfare are abandoned. Those of us fortunate enough to have jobs or homes face lay-offs and evictions. Poor neighborhoods and communities of color live under persistent and brutal police occupation. Disgustingly, it is precisely the people already suffering the most from poverty and racism that will bear the burden of the costs for this war. Under the lie of ?Care not Cash?, San Francisco recently adopted laws to further criminalize homelessness, and now the city of Oakland threatens to lay-off 20% of public school teachers and close nine public libraries. Every decision this government makes is an attack on the working and non-working poor. Every decision this government makes consolidates power and wealth for the rich, the corporations, for multinational capital. And some are still audacious enough to call this democracy. The current crisis only shows how little control we have over our own conditions of existence. We refuse to grovel for an end to war. We refuse to continue to merely beg for more money for homes, health care, jobs, schools and the means to guarantee the most basic of human needs. We refuse to plead with politicians who squander the resources that our work generates on weapons and handouts to the rich. We refuse to wait for enlightened and compassionate leaders. We must lead ourselves. We demand dignity and freedom for all. We must take the responsibility to organize ourselves and to take control over our own lives.