Five Days Away, and We Need Your Help [More spew from ANSWER, now whining for $$]

[NOTE: I know there is a ban on posting solicitations in the forum. But this is so funny, I hope the Mods will make an exception. (Pretty please?)]

We are now five days away from September 24. Our sense, from being in touch with more than 200 organizing centers around the country, is that Saturday's demonstrations will be a massive outpouring of opposition to war, occupation and racism, perhaps the biggest protests since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Since May, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has been actively promoting the a united antiwar demonstration on September 24 - now all the major groups are working together in Washington. But it is the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition that has full responsibility for paying all of the expenses for the joint rally at the White House, including sound, stage, communications, porta-toilets and other logistics expenses. Together, these expenses total more than $52,000 - all of which must be paid before the march and rally. In other words, it is crunch time. These expenses do not include the tens of thousands of dollars spent on bus rentals, printing and other publicity.

We are making an urgent appeal to you as friends and supporters to make as generous a contribution as possible to help us pay these necessary expenses. To make this tax-deductible contribution, click here [Note: link disabled on purpose], where you can also obtain information to make a donation by check.

If you cannot come to the demonstration, but would like to show your support, there's no better way right now than to make a donation.

It is crucial that the September 24 demonstrations be as large and successful as possible. The polls show that the approval numbers for Bush and his administration have sunk to the lowest levels yet. From an intractable war in Iraq based on lies and deceit, to the administration's appalling and racist response to the catastrophe in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the Bush regime has exposed its pro-corporate, anti-people policies.

Yet, public opinion polls mean little by themselves. What is necessary to bring about real change, progressive change, is a mass, grassroots people's movement that brings together the struggles against war and occupation abroad, with the movements for justice at home.

What is required above all is to have hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets again against war, occupation, and oppression. Only the massive intervention of the people in the political process can bring about the change we need. We can do it on Sept. 24 with your help and support.

Who Is Behind Lynne Stewart?
By Michael Tremoglie
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 25, 2002

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Becker is much admired by the Korean Communists for his loyalty to the terrorist state. In its March 16, 2002 edition, the Korean Central News of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea reported that , "Brian Becker, member of the secretariat of the Workers World Party of the United States, at a press interview held in Pyongyang before his departure from the DPRK, denounced the U.S. for having committed crimes against the Korean people. He said that his visit to the Sinchon Museum during his stay in the DPRK offered a good opportunity to know well about the thrice-cursed mass killings of peaceable people committed by the U.S. during the Korean War. The United States which is chiefly responsible for the division of Korea keeps almost 40,000 troops in South Korea, staging various war maneuvers and mercilessly killing innocent people, he noted. He demanded the U.S. troops be withdrawn from South Korea at once, taking their lethal weapons with them. He stressed that the Workers World Party of the United States would in the future, too, conduct a more vigorous solidarity campaign condemning the U.S. administration's moves to perpetuate the division of Korea and calling for the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from South Korea."

As well as being a moving force in the WWP, IAC and A.N.S.W.E.R., Becker is chairman of the U.S. Troops Out of Korea Committee and vice chairman of the International Committee of the same. He helped coordinate the protests at the inaugural of President Bush and in general seems to be involved in every anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-democratic effort mounted by the political left.

Becker and the IAC are also staunch defenders of Slobodan Miloslevic, Kim II Sung and Kim Sung II and Mumia Abu-Jamal. On June 23, 2001 Becker directed a "people's tribunal" condemning US war crimes in Korea. One of the sponsors of the tribunal was Al-Awda, The Palestine Right of Return Commission. Clark and IAC members periodically meet with North Korean, Iraqi and Cuban government officials. Among other charges the group has made, the IAC has claimed that Usama bin Laden is the victim of an American imperialist plot. They contend that the military-oil complex is exploiting 9/11 to take control of the oil resources of the Middle East — a claim echoed by the Nation's Katrina Vanden Heuvel and other factions of the left.

The Workers World Party is an anti-semitic, Stalinist organization, whose goal is a communist revolution which would overthrow the American "ruling class" and establish a "workers state."The founder of the WWP, Sam Marcy, was a Communist who believed that Soviet leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin were counter-revolutionaries. Marcy allied the WWP with the Russian Communist Workers Party (RKRP) an anti-Semitic group that criticized Vladimir Putin for being too close to the Jews. The WWP decried perestroika — Gorbachev's attempt to reform Communism — and associated itself with Iraq after the USSR severed its contact with Hussein. They considered Saddam Hussein a victim of U.S. imperialism.

The FBI considers the WWP a terrorist organization. On May 10, 2001, FBI Director Louis Freeh stated that "Anarchists and extremist socialist groups — many of which, such as the Workers World Party, have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States."

The mainstream media has somehow missed the fact that the most ubiquitous organizer of "anti-war" protests is directed by a terrorist support group. It would seem that a question on this front to Ramsey Clark at one of his regular press conferences might be in order.

Clark's published views are interesting enough. In a December 1997 interview with "Impact International," Clark claimed that when the Cold War against the Communists ended, America decided to make Islam its new enemy. has resulted in American hostility towards Islam. According to Clark, "Islam would be the new enemy. At Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman's trial, what we saw in both FBI and CIA files, and this is their phrase, 'the greatest threat to the international and domestic security of the United States is Islamic fundamentalism.' But actually, 'Islamic fundamentalism' to them is redundant. So they have to convict a blind Islamic scholar of terrorism to show that Islam is, at it highest levels of learning and attainment, nothing but a terrorist concept. How could a blind man be a terrorist, what could he do? They claimed that he was the leader of the conspiracy that set off the bomb in the World Trade Centre. They have now had two trials and two convictions of the defendants in the World Trade Centre cases, and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman's name wasn't even mentioned at either trial. He had nothing to do with it, but we have this war against Islam going on."

It was Ramsey Clark who urged Lynne Stewart to become the blind sheik's defense attorney. Clark's two previous choices, Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys and noted defenders of criminals and terrorists — including the Palestinian assassin of Meyer Kahane — William Kuntsler and Ron Kuby, had recused themselves. Stewart is also well known for her representation of "revolutionaries" and murderers. Most recently, she represented several cop-killers (whom she no doubt considered revolutionaries) and Sammy "the Bull," Gravano a Mafioso whom she no doubt considered just rebellious).

Stewart shares the Communist beliefs of the WWP and IAC and the Center for Constitutional Rights. She is anti-capitalist and believes the USA is an imperialistic nation, and that anti-capitalist violence is justified. In a 1995 New York Times interview she said, "I don't believe in anarchistic violence, but in directed violence. That would be violence directed at the institutions which perpetuate capitalism, racism, and sexism, and at the people who are the appointed guardians of those institutions, and accompanied by popular support." Obviously, Stewart's worldview meshes seamlessly with that of Saddam Hussein, Yassir Arafat, the blind sheik and Osama Bin Laden. And with that of Deirdre Griswold Brian, Becker, Ramsey Clark and the Workers World Party.

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http://tinyurl.com/ar89w

COMRADE BRIAN
Perhaps the most visible face of the demonstration was its co-director and chief spokesman, Brian Becker. Becker got a lot of exposure in the days leading up to the rally; he was quoted in newspaper articles, appeared on TV, and did radio interviews to promote the event. A member of the secretariat of the Workers World Party — and called by some the party's house intellectual — Becker is a contributor to the party's newspaper, Workers World, as well as a top official of International ANSWER and the International Action Center.

There is an almost central-casting quality to Becker's Communism. For example, in a December 2000 address to the Workers World Party conference in New York, Becker began by discussing issues raised by "comrades" who had recently been to Cuba and then launched into a detailed and impassioned analysis of Marxism and revolution. Becker stressed that the Workers World Party had "supported the Soviet Union against imperialism and domestic counter-revolution." He praised the Soviets for having "sent invaluable aid to Vietnam, Cuba, the African National Congress in South Africa, and other national-liberation movements." He railed against "U.S. imperialism." And he concluded: "We know that the biggest single contribution that we can we make to the final transition to socialism everywhere is to build a truly revolutionary party that can lead the struggle to overthrow imperialism at its center."

These days, with the Soviet Union long dead, Becker spends much of his time supporting rogue regimes. Last August, he traveled to Iraq as part of a delegation led by Ramsey Clark. In an article in Workers World, he bitterly condemned the "lawless aggression" of the "imperialist" and "racist" U.S. air patrols enforcing the no-fly zone. In early 2000, Becker traveled to North Korea to help build what he had earlier called "a movement of genuine solidarity" with Pyongyang. Accompanying Becker was a WWP writer, who described the deep impression North Korea made on them. "Wherever we went and whomever we spoke with," she wrote, "what impressed us the most was the unbreakable determination of the North Korean people to defend their socialist society against U.S. imperialism."

Such statements do not add up to the ideal profile for a leader in an antiwar movement that seeks broad mainstream support. But don't suggest that to Becker. At a news conference the day before the protest, he grew angry when asked about his association with the WWP. "I want to talk about you," he said. "National Review is a racist pro-war magazine. It's got a long — many, many generations of racism and militarism. So your so-called interest in the Left is complete bulls**t. You're just looking to try to divide the antiwar movement. This is a right-wing, racist, militarist magazine. You should be embarrassed to be working for it." End of conversation.

OBNOXIOUS
Becker is not the only WWP activist who played a key role in the January 18 demonstration. Another co-organizer — and M.C. — of the event was a man named Larry Holmes. A member of the Workers World Party secretariat, Holmes has run for president twice on the WWP ticket. At the rally, he used his time to lecture the crowd on the plight of political prisoners in the U.S. He cited two examples, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Jamil Al-Amin (better known as H. Rap Brown), who have both been convicted of murdering police officers and have become causes célèbres in radical circles. "There are so many political prisoners," Holmes told the crowd. "They want peace more than any of us, and they're in prison for fighting for it."

Yet another member of the WWP secretariat, a woman named Sara Flounders, also spoke at the rally, denouncing George W. Bush's "racist arrogance" and "plans for criminal war of colonial conquest." In addition, the crowd heard from representatives of other groups — the Free Palestine Alliance, Free the Cuban Five, and the Korea Truth Commission — that are apparently front organizations associated with the WWP. By the time the rally was over the audience had heard enough cries of "Butcher Sharon!," "We don't want your racist war!," and "Free Mumia" to last for many months to come.

AIM Report: Communists Run Anti-War Movement
February 19, 2003

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The Workers World Party Role

The media knew that two leading World Party (WWP), Brian Becker and Larry Holmes, organized and orchestrated the day's events. Holmes served as an emcee for much of the day. This was not seen as newsworthy.

The December 14, 2000, edition of the Workers World newspaper identified Becker and Holmes as members of the WWP secretariat. Becker was a key organizer of the Jan. 18 rally. He gave a speech and was publicly thanked for his prominent role. He was in the staging area, where he gave numerous interviews to the press. As the affair wound down, he led a march from the Capitol to the Navy Yard.

A C-SPAN producer interviewed him as he directed the march along the 15-block route to the Washington Navy Yard. Becker told C-SPAN that they were going there to expose "weapons of mass destruction" in the U.S.

North Korea Link

An Internet search discloses Becker's connection to one of the worst regimes on the planet-the Kim Jong Il dictatorship in North Korea. This is revealed in this dispatch from Pyongyang on February 24, 2000.

"Kim Jung Rin, secretary of the Central Committee of the Worker's Party of Korea [WPK], today met and conversed with the delegation of the Workers World Party of the United States headed by Brian Becker, a member of its secretariat. At the meeting the head of the delegation said that the Korean people are firmly defending socialism despite the continued isolation and suffocation moves of the imperialists, adding this is attributable to the tested leadership of the WPK led by General Secretary Kim Jong Il. He noted that his party would continue to wage a vigorous struggle for the pullback of the U.S. forces from South Korea and intensify the movement for solidarity with the WPK."

Becker, who also serves as chairman of the U.S. Get Out of Korea Committee, was involved in a "Korea Truth Commission" project to expose U.S. "crimes against the Korean people." The group insists that South Korea is under "occupation" by the U.S. and that North Korea was "liberated." Its Web site features commentary from the WWP.

Established in 1958 by a communist named Sam Marcy, the WWP has taken up the role that used to be played by the Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA, which has diminished in importance since the demise of the old Soviet Union. But like the CPUSA, the WWP believes in working with the Democratic Party and liberal-left groups that form its base of support.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., is a link between them. He embraced the Soviet-backed World Peace Council during the Cold War and was the only Congressman to speak at the rally.

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Becker, for example, is described as a "principal organizer" or "spokesman" for International ANSWER and a "joint chairman" or co-director of the IAC. Holmes has also been described as a spokesman for ANSWER and co-director of the IAC. Together with Clark, they function as a team. Becker and Clark traveled to Baghdad in 1998 and staged an anti-American protest there. Saving Saddam Hussein's regime has been a principal cause for them ever since.

C-SPAN aired the message of those who hate America and our political and economic systems for 11 hours, serving, in effect, as the voice of our enemies. Two days after the rally, C-SPAN was still featuring a link on its Web site to International ANSWER.

The only hint of Becker's communist connection came when pro-American demonstrators could be heard and seen on C-SPAN asking how much money he got from Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il. One patriotic protester could also be heard referring to the WWP role in the protests.

C-SPAN and others ignored the official list of endorsers, including the Communist Party USA and the National Lawyers Guild, which was identified as the "Legal Bulwark of the Communist Party" by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1950. If we had a congressional committee like that today, it might look into the covert role played by the WWP in the anti-war movement and the source of their funds. But would its findings be reported? Some of this is available on the Internet and in the publications of the radical groups, but our media, including C-SPAN ignore it.

More Cover-Up

In an AIM Report last June, we noted that the Washington Post and other media had concealed the role of Brian Becker and company in an April 20, 2002, pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington. We noted that Becker had visited Cuba, where he delivered a WWP statement that said, "Comrade Fidel Castro asserts that the preservation of socialist values is of decisive importance. We could not agree more...it is crucial that revolutionaries fight tooth and nail for their values, their principles and the revolutionary conceptions put forward by Marxism and Leninism."

Washington Post reporter Manny Fernandez, who also covered the April 20, 2002, event, consistently refuses to identify the communists behind the Jan. 18 march. He alluded to the issue by quoting other participants as saying "the views of the organizers are of little consequence to them and that the larger anti-war movement is bigger than any organizing group." A December 10 Post article by David Montgomery highlighted them as "Peace Warriors." The Post ran nine photos of the Jan. 18 demonstration, but not one gave a hint as to the communist presence.

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http://tinyurl.com/84mqq

Partial List of Bay Area/West Coast Endorsers 1/9/01

Tom Ammiano, President, S.F. Board of Supervisors
S.F. Labor Council AFL-CIO
International Action Center
NAACP -- San Francisco Chapter
San Francisco Bay View Newspaper
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
Matt Gonzalez, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
Rev. Dorsey Blake, University of Creation Spirituality
Rene Salcedo, La Raza Centro Legal
San Francisco Day Labor Program
Project Censored
Universalist Unitarian Church-Berkeley, social action committee
Global Exchange
Save the Redwoods – Boycott the Gap Campaign
Elias Rashmawi, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee – Right
to Return Task Force
National Lawyers Guild – SF Bay Chapter
California Prison Focus
U.S. Vietnam Friendship-Association
Kris Worthington, Berkeley City Council
Henry Clark, Executive Director West County Toxics Coalition
Vieques Support Committee
Middle East Children's Alliance
Louie Rocha, President CWA local 9423
Int'l. Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, Local 22
Santa Cruz Coalition to Free Mumia
The Prison Action Committee-Evergreen State College
Coalition for Social Justice
Rainbow Flags for Mumia
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Millions for Mumia
Prof. Al Smith, Modesto Junior College
Mission Anti Displacement Coalition
Al-Awada, Palestinian Rights of Return Coalition
Pastors for Peace
Rev. Al Sharpton
East Bay Women for Peace
Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement
Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu Jamal
Michael Parenti, author and activist
Colombia Action Network
National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America
Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Bay Area Information Network for Africa
Black Radical Congress
Caribbean and Latin American Support Project
San Francisco Food Not Bombs
San Francisco Bay Area Friendshipment
International Peace for Cuba Appeal
Marin Interfaith Task Force
Refuse and Resist
All African Peoples Revolutionary Party
Queers for Racial and Economic Justice
Workers World Party
League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations
Haiti Support Network
Casa Bonampak
San Francisco Zapatista Committee
Student Activist Club of Modesto Junior College
Freedom Socialist Party
Radical Women
Radical Jewish Action, Portland Oregon
Its About Time Newsletter
Irish Republican Socialist Committees
Fellowship of Reconciliation - Taskforce on Latin America and the
Caribbean
Association of World Citizens
Institute for the Advancement of Democracy in El Salvador
International Peace Project, Santa Barbara

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