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Anti-war front group for the Marxist-Leninist Workers World Party
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Founded after the 9/11 attacks to oppose the War on Terror
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A major organizer of the massive anti-Iraq war rallies of 2002 and 2003
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Opposes embargo against Communist Cuba
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Supports convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal
International A.N.S.W.E.R. (often, simply ANSWER) is a front group for the Marxist-Leninist Workers World Party (WWP), which uses the anti-war movement as the vehicle by which it promotes Communist ideals and condemns American society, American foreign policy, and capitalism.
Founded in September 2001, shortly after the World Trade Center attack, the group's initial mass demonstration was held on September 29, 2001 in Washington, D.C., to protest the Bush administration's impending war in Afghanistan. In July 2002, ANSWER's focus shifted to preventing a war in Iraq, as the likelihood of a U.S. invasion there grew. ANSWER's protests have been staged in numerous cities not only in the United States, but all over the world. Some of the protests have drawn only a few thousand people, while others have drawn hundreds of thousands. With regard to wars involving nations other than the United States, ANSWER has made no comment.
ANSWER-organized rallies are all conducted similarly. Protestors gather at a mustering ground flanked by information and merchandise tables set up by a variety of politically left-wing and Communist organizations, which have paid ANSWER a fee for permission to distribute literature or sell merchandise. An elevated stage is arranged at the front of the rally site, complete with a massive sound system. After a musical prelude, a number of speeches are delivered - usually, over a dozen. Once this initial round of speeches is completed, the attendees march along a short route to the location of the final rally, where they encounter more literature and merchandise tables, another stage, and another round of speeches. At both rallies and along the course of the march, ANSWER volunteers fundraise by moving through the crowd with large buckets, into which attendees deposit cash donations. At the March 15th, 2003 rally in San Francisco, fundraising rally marshals announced that the cost of conducting that day's festivities exceeded $300,000.
The speakers are generally members or sympathizers of the political far left, including many acknowledged communists, who oppose America's role not only in the current war, but also many additional aspects of its foreign and domestic policies. Such speakers include prominent members or leaders of various activist and Communist organizations; celebrities and entertainers; and politicians - often members of the Democratic Party's Progressive Caucus. When addressing the crowds, they largely echo ANSWER'S positions on myriad issues. For instance, they accuse the US of pursuing ambitions for colonialism, imperialism and world domination. They decry what they call America's current "occupation" of Afghanistan, Iraq, and "Palestine." They oppose the U.S. embargo against Fidel Castro's Cuba. They accuse the Bush administration of threatening the security of many nations around the world - among them Iran, Korea, Liberia, Colombia, the Philippines, Zimbabwe, and Liberia. They maintain that America, more than any other country on earth, constitutes the greatest threat to world peace and humanity's survival. They further allege that America mistreats "political prisoners" like Mumia Abu-Jamal, and they echo ANSWER's stated concern about "the war at home that includes cuts in social programs, police brutality, and attacks on civil rights and civil liberties."
While no speaker at the March 15, 2003 rally was publicly identified as a member of the WWP, at least seven are in fact party members (Brian Becker, Larry Holmes, Teresa Gutierrez, Sarah Sloan, Sara Flounders, Imani Henry, and Judi Cheng). Through these speakers and organizers, the WWP controls the tenor of ANSWER and its message. Thus it is not surprising that ANSWER's politics are broadly anti-capitalist and severely critical of American policies.
An investigation of ANSWER's member organizations and national organizers reveals its close links to the WWP. The initial call to form a new peace coalition, dated September 25, 2001 and located on the WWP Website, is signed by a number of prominent WWP members, including Teresa Gutierrez, Monica Moorehead, Gloria La Riva, Leslie Feinberg, and Deirdre Griswold. The first press releases put out by the coalition, on September 24, 2001, are from Ramsey Clark, Teresa Guiterrez, and Brian Becker.
Since the early 1990s Clark, the former Attorney General under President Lyndon Johnson, has worked closely with the Workers World Party - through the WWP-founded International Action Center (IAC). Guiterrez and Becker are members of the WWP's Secretariat - its highest decision-making body. Monica Moorehead and Deirdre Griswold are also Secretariat members. Typically, IAC staff and volunteers are WWP members. Another key player for ANSWER is founding member (and member of the organization's national steering committee) Richard Becker.
While the composition of ANSWER went unpublished through late 2001 and into 2002, by late February 2002 the organization's press releases began to contain references to a "steering committee" of several organizations. One of the earliest lists can be found in a call to action from February 27, 2002. While this committee has undergone a few changes since 2002, it has, overall, remained relatively stable. As of February 2004, it included the following organizations, all of them on the far left of the political spectrum: the Stalinist International Action Center (IAC) and its two sub-units, the Korea Truth Commission and the Partnership for Civil Justice Legal Defense and Education Fund; Bayan - USA / International; the Free Palestine Alliance; the Middle East Children's Alliance; the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizing (IFCO) /Pastors for Peace; the Nicaragua Network; the Mexico Solidarity Network; the Kensington Welfare Rights Union; and the Muslim Student Association of the U.S. & Canada.
Notwithstanding the varying degrees of support provided by all the aforementioned groups, ANSWER's closest connections are, by far, with the WWP and the IAC (which is controlled by the WWP). This is clearly evident when one compares the contact information for ANSWER with the contact information for those other organizations. For instance, ANSWER's national office, at 39 W. 14th St., Room 206, New York, NY, is the same as the national office of the IAC. ANSWER's Los Angeles office is at 422 S. Western Ave., the same address as the IAC's Los Angeles office. ANSWER's Washington, D.C. office, at 1247 E Street SE, is the same as the IAC's Washington office; the two organizations also share the same phone and fax numbers. ANSWER's San Francisco office, at 2489 Mission St., room 30, is in the same building as the San Francisco offices of the IAC and WWP, which occupy rooms 24 and 28, respectively.
The contact numbers for ANSWER in Buffalo, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Boston are the same as the contact numbers for the IAC in those cities. The contact numbers for ANSWER in Cleveland, Seattle, Baltimore, and Detroit are the same as the contact numbers for the WWP in those cities. In other words, when a person calls ANSWER, he is in effect calling the International Action Center and the Workers World Party.
The Houston chapter of ANSWER was a signatory to a February 20, 2002 document, composed by the radical group Refuse & Resist, condemning military tribunals and the detention of immigrants apprehended in connection with post-9/11 terrorism investigations. Titled "National Day of Solidarity with Muslim, Arab and South Asian Immigrants," the document read, in part, "[T]hey [the U.S. government] are coming for the Arab, Muslim and South Asian immigrants. Based on their racial profile, over 1500 have been rounded up and the government refuses to say who they are, where they are jailed and what the charges are!!! Already, a Pakistani man has died in custody. Who will be next? The recent 'disappearances,' indefinite detention, the round-ups, the secret military tribunals, the denial of legal representation, evidence kept a secret from the accused, the denial of any due process for Arab, Muslim, South Asians and others, have chilling similarities to a police state. We will not allow our grief for the tragedy of September 11 to be used to justify this new repression. We are clear that being an immigrant is not a crime; Muslims, Arabs and South Asians are not terrorists."
