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War Resisters League News ‘Cracks
in the Consensus’ As most of you probably already know, some 75,000 people traveled to Washington April 20 for the new century’s most massive protest so far against the Bush administration’s military policies. As one commentator put it, it was an irrefutable sign that if there was ever a “consensus” supporting Bush, it has begun to unravel.
What the papers didn’t tell you, however, is how a large proportion of the protesters were there specifically to oppose militarism and the “war on terror”—or how many of them were brought there by the long, hard work of a peace and justice coalition in which the War Resisters League has played a leading role. By and large, the media portrayed the day’s events as one huge pro-Palestinian rally. There were in fact several demonstrations on April 20 and others during the rest of the weekend: protests against the School of the Americas, against the escalating war in Colombia and against the International Monetary Fund and its collaborators, along with not one, but two pro-Palestinian rallies. And it’s probably true that the crisis in Israel/Palestine brought out the largest number of people. But the Stop the War rally, attended by some 15,000 of the day’s participants, was conceived months ago, before the newest Mideast crisis, as a demonstration against the war. It was organized by United We March, a coalition of student and peace groups, of which the National Coalition for Peace and Justice was one of the most prominent and largest groups. WRL is a founding member of the NCPJ, and WRL disarmament volunteer Carmen Trotta worked for months on the mobilization. During the early part of the planning, he helped draw together the larger coalition that produced the rally, and for the last six weeks before April 20, he was a primary planner of the morning rally. Speakers at the event included emcee Amy Goodman of Pacifica’s Democracy Now, Martin Luther King III, Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, Plowshares activist Philip Berrigan, Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange and WRL’s own asif ullah, coordinator of our youth program, ROOTS. Performers included the hip-hop group Division X and the band Ricanstruction. Good job, Carmen! Staff Change We’re sorry to announce that WRL’s Disarmament Coordinator/Fundraising Coordinator Chris Ney won’t be returning here when his parental leave ends next fall. Chris, Alison and baby Evan are moving to Boston, where Chris will be U.S. Coordinator for Christians for Peace in El Salvador. But his connections with WRL run deep, and he won’t be cutting them. He did wonderful work in his five years on the staff here, and before that for several years as Co-Convener of our Executive Committee. We’ll miss you, Chris. We wish you all the best in Boston—and we hope to be working with you in one capacity or another for a long time to come. |
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