From the Pentagon to California,
Antiwar protests sweep across the country

*Please forward widely to your email lists, friends and family*

Thirty-seven years ago when anti-war protests began to engulf the United States, the Nixon administration adopted a public posture of utter indifference. Nixon went out of his way to claim that he didn't notice massive anti-war demonstrations in Washington because he was watching a football game on TV. We learned later from the memoirs of high government officials that the rising tide of anti-war protests between 1968 and 1970 constituted one of the greatest fears for the war makers. The movement spread deep into the rank-and-file of the U.S. military as well, as soldiers, marines and sailors carried out their own protests and acts of resistance. Sometimes the people underestimate their own power, but the ruling establishment knows all too well the consequences of a politicized and mobilized people.

Bush pleads for "patience"

This is still an unfulfilled potential, but it can happen.

It will only be the actions of all anti-war organizations and the people that can significantly change the political climate. Many who came to the March on the Pentagon, and the many thousands who tried but couldn't because of the weather, are making their plans for local demonstrations, protests at local Federal Buildings, city-wide marches and rallies, community protests and vigils, civil disobedience and a range of ongoing actions building anti-war pressure into an irresistible force.

Protest and resistance

To tell us about your local antiwar activities, click on this link - we will be posting notices of upcoming actions and sending out nation-wide report backs.

Media coverage on the spreading antiwar protests

For a very good round-up of the actions across the United States marking the beginning of the fifth year of the war in Iraq, listen to the coverage from the March 19 edition of "Democracy Now," hosted by Amy Goodman. (The best way to listen is to right-click, select "Save Target As" and then open the file on your computer). To see the C-SPAN coverage of the March on the Pentagon, go to the C-SPAN homepage, and find "ANSWER Rally Against Iraq War."

The people repudiate pro-war thugs

The forces of ultra-right racism and militarism tried to "Swift Boat" the Washington protest. Wrapping themselves in American flags, groups like Rolling Thunder pretended to "defend" the Vietnam Memorial from threats that they themselves totally fabricated. (Operation Rolling Thunder was the name given to the U.S. Air Force's B-52 carpet-bombing of Vietnam between February 1965 and October 1968, in which thousands of Vietnamese civilians died each month.)

On March 17, these pro-war puppets showed their true colors. They shoved elderly people, screamed at parents whose children had been killed in Iraq, yelled racist comments at Arab and Muslim participants, and spit on and ripped signs out of the hands of high school students.

The government's police stood by and let this happen, despite their oft-repeated claims to be "keeping the peace." A very strong ANSWER security squad blocked these pro-Bush provocateurs from entering the front of the march. Anti-war protestors were disciplined and focused and refused to be provoked into the confrontation the government was hoping for. The enormous power of the people was felt as all those from around the country fighting to stop the war came together, rendering the sideline fascists irrelevant, and marched united on the Pentagon.

Go to www.answercoalition.org for more information.
To see the report from Saturday's demo, click this link.