Free Republic

In the last few days, a flurry of activity has erupted among the anti-war movement. The pro-Saddam, pro-North Korean, pro-Pol Pot organization behind most of the big anti-war demos, ANSWER, has banned Rabbi Michael Lerner from speaking at the San Francisco demonstration this Sunday. Why? Because he's pro-Israel. Lerner's supporters are rightly incensed about this smear. How can such a man be regarded as pro-Israel? A group of largely Jewish writers, intellectuals, poets and other publicity-seekers argue, furiously, that he cannot be called pro-Israel: "Rabbi Lerner has been an outspoken critic of Israeli policy in the occupied territories, has endorsed...

Antiwar actions have been organized for the weekend of February 15 and 16, to coincide with protests around the world. In the United States, the main events will be demonstrations held in New York and San Francisco. This could be the last chance the antiwar warriors have before the cruise missiles fly. Yet the peaceniks pulling together the San Francisco march and rally may have tainted their efforts by allowing the banning of Rabbi Michael Lerner as a speaker. ... "This is about the suppressing of dissent among the dissenters," Lerner asserts. "My progressive Jewish allies said, 'Don't raise this...

The following letters are being circulated by Marc Cooper of The Nation and by Tikkun Magazine, respectively. Rabbi Michael Lerner has been banned from speaking at the antiwar rally in San Francisco this Sunday, February 15. One of the rally organizers, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), has stated that it will not allow a "pro-Israel" speaker to take the stage -- despite the fact that Rabbi Lerner has been an outspoken critic of Israeli policy in the occupied territories, has endorsed ANSWER's antiwar rallies in the past, has signed the Not in Our Name petition against...

 Operation Infinite FReep!Join Our Answer to A.N.S.W.E.RSaturday, February 15, 2003 "A diverse group of activist, religous and anti-war groups are coming together to rally and march to STOP THE WAR. Please come out to Tranquility Park on Feb 15th @ 1:30 and join the march to Eleanor Tinsley Park as grassroots organizations and citizens stand up agains the Bush war machine." Every radical left wing, Marxist and Socialist organization in Houston will gather to show support for Saddam Hussein and global terrorism Houston Act Now to Stop War and End Racism · Ft. Bend, Harris and Montgomery Co. Green...

From dallasobserver.com Originally published by Dallas Observer Feb 06, 2003 ©2003 New Times, Inc. All rights reserved. Get on the Bus For one fellow traveler, the road to an anti-war protest in Washington is paved with good intentions and bad politics By Mark Donald It's hard to know how to dress for the peace protest in Washington, D.C.: warm gloves, ski parka, sensible shoes, a gas mask. My wife has unwittingly packed some snacks into a Gap bag. I repackage them in a Whole Foods sack, unwilling to risk the ire of anti-globalization types who might think I am...

Less than two weeks ago on the National Mall beneath the Capitol, thousands took part in a demonstration against the impending U.S invasion of Iraq. About 150 Georgetown students were there, but just how many protesters attended in total depended on who you asked. At 1 p.m. on a clear day where the wind chill hovered around 10 degrees, many had already begun to leave the Mall on a planned march to the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington. That's when Rev. Lucious Walker, took the stage. "There must be half a million people here," he shouted to cheers from the...

<p>I'm a lefty. But lately, instead of inspiring me, the left keeps making me feel awful about the world.</p> <p>My latest lefty-awful moment happened on Martin Luther King Day last week, as I turned on an MPR call-in show. The subject was the peace movement, and host Katherine Lanpher's guest was New York-based professor of sociology and commentator Todd Gitlin.</p>

WASHINGTON -- The air thundered with calls for peace Saturday as throngs of protesters surged onto the National Mall and spilled into the streets in what was the largest anti-war rally in the capital since the Vietnam War. Despite the below- freezing temperatures, the substantial crowd -- estimated at more than 200,000 -- crunched toward a lone stage erected in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol building. The demonstrators were drawn by national civil rights figures who charged them to fight social inequity and the injustice of the impending war against Iraq. "Are we talking about weapons of mass destruction...

<p>San Francisco -- The band that broke away from the Jan. 18 peace march along San Francisco's Market Street and spent 35 minutes vandalizing the Financial District marked the Bay Area's introduction to "black bloc" protests, police say.</p> <p>The black bloc, named for its activists' black attire, couples a confrontational style of street protest with anarchist philosophies. It arose in Europe during the late 1980s.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON - As we prepare to watch President George Bush give his State of the Union address on Tuesday, we think back to Jan. 18 when Saddam's surrogates were in town protesting any use of force against Iraq.</p> <p>In scenes reminiscent of the anti-draft, peace-at-any-price days of Vietnam, some 70,000 demonstrators rallied, marched and orated in Washington and as many again were doing the same in San Francisco. There were smaller efforts in other American cities, along with shows of even greater anti-American enthusiasm surging in some foreign capitals.</p>

The growing movement against the military ouster of Saddam Hussein is coming under increasing attack, not just from conservatives but from former lefties - some of whom still consider themselves men of the Left - who have been denouncing anti-war organizers for having hidden agendas. Christopher Hitchens quit The Nation over it. Jonathan Chait of the New Republic, Ron Rosenbaum of the New York Observer, and philosopher Michael Walzer have written stinging rebukes of the leaders of an impending war against the Iraqi regime - with some of them even attacking the fellow-travelers and mainstreamers who participate in the demonstrations....

Just FYI--InternationalANSWER is trying to arrange anti-Bush protests on Jan. 29th, the day after the State of the Union address. (They can see the writing on the wall--it's all coming down next week.) So far, the only one actually scheduled is in New York City (5 PM in Times Square), but I'd be amazed if they didn't have one at least in San Francisco (my turf), and probably in a few other places. I'll probably knock off work to counterdemonstrate, but I'd sure like company. I'll keep you posted if their plans become more solid.

While publicly promoting non-violent protest and humanitarian causes, some key leaders and prominent groups that organized and participated in the recent anti-war demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol and San Francisco are staunch supporters of terrorist groups and dictatorial regimes worldwide. In fact, critics now charge that the "new" anti-war movement is being "hijacked" by this dominant network whose organizational power is increasing and whose political agenda is anathema to most Americans. The Saturday, Oct. 26 rally, which focused on opposition to a U.S.-led war against Iraq and drew 100,000 protesters, featured speeches by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al...

'A broad cross-section of America." That's how National Public Radio's reporter described the anti-war protesters who converged Saturday on the Mall in Washington. The New York Times agreed. Its editorial page called the gathering "impressive for the obvious mainstream roots of the marchers." I watched the march on C-SPAN, and I saw a different event - a thin crowd of cold white people cheering on an assortment of America-hating radicals, second-rate demagogues and plain weirdos. The rally was kicked off by a Native American activist, Moonanum James, who set the day's tone by accusing the U.S. of genocide and...

September 29 By Gerry DalySeptember 26, 2001 In any social movement there is a vanguard and a mass. On one side, the vanguard, are groups of people who are more resolute and committed, better organized and able to take a leading role in the struggle, and on the other side, the mass, are larger numbers of people who participate in the struggle or are involved simply by their social position, but are less committed or well-placed in relation to the struggle, and will participate only in the decisive moments, which in fact change history. The Marxist theory of the vanguard,...

While our National Boarders are STILL unsecure and "Diversity" is still being programmed into our Children's minds as "our greaatest strength", while black on white people crimes are brushed under the rug, by our "unbiased" news media....I don't support the 'upcoming war'...One more thing too is that veterans are getting illtreatment from our "Government God", the Yankee(Federal) Government, who taxes everyone so that he can give to the parasites(LIke illegal aliens and people who REFUSE to seek a job) I decided to go and attend this march to see what type of people would be on which side. It was...

New York, NY, January 15, 2003 ... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed concern that antiwar protest rallies scheduled to take place this weekend in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco may employ inflammatory anti-Israel and anti-Jewish statements and rhetoric. Organizers of the January 18 "National March in Washington to Demand: No War Against Iraq", the San Francisco rally, and other events scheduled for this weekend have previously embraced statements supporting Palestinian terrorism, equating Zionism with Nazism, and calling for the destruction of the Jewish state. "Given the rhetoric at past rallies organized by this group, we are extremely concerned that the...

I am a 23 year old college student in Boston, and I find myself growing quite tiresome of the lack of education amongst my age group. A vast majority of students across the country have chosen to take part in protesting this potential war with Iraq, yet do they have the education to do so? Hell no. While I was attending a college in Pennsylvania, I approached a group of anti-war protestors. While engaging in discussion with them, not ONE could give me a single YES or NO answer to the questions I posed to them. It was all "but...

"Peace march" whitewash. Though Saturday's anti-war with Iraq "peace" march in Washington, DC was organized by a far-left group, had a bunch of zany leftist outfits as sponsors, featured some far out rhetoric from the stage which belied the notion that the organizers simply want a peaceful solution, and ended with a march to the Washington Navy Yard to demand access to U.S. "weapons of mass destruction," as if the U.S. and Iraqi possession of them is equivalent, major media outlets, both print and broadcast, ignored such realities which might have reduced empathy for the cause. Instead, the networks painted...

<p>WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Dozens of counter-demonstrators armed with U.S. flags showed up to the Washington anti-war protest Saturday to express their support for Bush's policy on Iraq.</p> <p>Braving the below freezing temperatures, members of FreeRepublic.com, a conservative online group, and others not affiliated with formal organizations took over a block of sidewalk along the march route across from the Marine Barracks.</p>