Anti-war protests - the different organizing groups (UFPJ, ANSWER)

[murdoch]

I think I'll go over some of the history of anti-war groups here.

There are two major anti-war groups - UFPJ (United for Peace and Justice) and the other is ANSWER (which is a front group for the WWP - other front groups are the IAC and Bring the Troops Home Now coalition). UFPJ is probably the group DUers would like more - WHEN they get off their behinds and do something. ANSWER is always out there active and organizing, but...the core group is die-hard communist and they're way out there. When someone on the news says the anti-war protests are organized by communists, they are talking about the ones ANSWER runs.

Anyhow, the history of the groups: the first major anti-war rally before the war was run by ANSWER. The groups which organized the UFPJ were sitting on their behinds while ANSWER was out organizing. Finally, on February 15th, 2003, before the war, UFPJ went out and organized an anti-war rally and it was a massive rally in the US (and the world too - someone from Spain told me it was the biggest protest they'd ever had in Barcelona). Then the war started.

On the one year anniversary of the war, 3/20/04, UFPJ and ANSWER worked together and held protests. I felt that ANSWER didn't bring much to the table, and turned off some of the mainstream people who showed up with their militant and radical rhetoric. They seemed to bring little and brought a drag - but not a huge drag, they are not total crazies.

Then last year there were large anti-Bush demonstrations during the Republican National Convention that UFPJ organized, and which ANSWER had nothing to do with. ANSWER thought the anti-Bush demonstrations were implicitly pro-Kerry and wanted to have nothing to do with them. What is implicit in these protests is a bit confusing - they are anti-Bush. But are they pro-Kerry? Are they anti-war? The answer is yes or no depending on who is being asked.

So yesterday were anti-war demonstrations, the first explicitly anti-war demonstrations in a year (with the RNC protests not being explicit). UFPJ did little of anything - they have basically been moribund since Kerry lost. Their main decision was to not support the ANSWER rally. At the last minute, in New York City, the War Resisters League organized a protest and got Veterans for Peace, the IWW etc. to endorse it and also got UFPJ to endorse it but UFPJ didn't do any promotion or organizing for it. Hundreds of people showed up and marched from the UN to Times Square. Two dozen people engaged in non-violent civil disobedience, blocking a recruiting station for the armed forces. They were arrested, which they had expected to be. The speakers were pretty good about explaining the concepts of non-violence and so forth before the march.

On the other hand, ANSWER had a huge rally of thousands of people in Central Park. I also have to say that while the UFPJ-sponsored march was, like me, very white, the ANSWER march had more of an African-American and Latino presence (this is something that is talked about a lot by ANSWER partisans - but it is true).

Anyhow, that's my understanding of the two major coalitions - UFPJ and ANSWER/IAC/BtTHNC. I have put some opinion here but most of it is factual. Perhaps I'll reply to this with some of my opinions on all of this.

[Coastie for Truth]

1. Because of ANSWER and the way the (mis) treated my anti war group

I stayed home yesterday from the Big Protest in San Francisco -- went to the smaller one in Palo Alto.

[jdots]

2. Thankyou for saying this so well

Alot of very good people have been upset about ANSWER which is a very top down group ,other groups have a hard time with tyring to get them to not spliinter and become united in a positive force that wants to save the country and world.
We all have special interests and answers.pet projects(sorry PETA) and agendas.The repuke neocons deal with about 5 issues instead of 500.Those of us with a dream about having a democracy that welcomes capitalism when it doesn't become corparalism have to unite and have better manners.

[diamond14]

3. it's NOT factual...your post reflects a lot of MISTAKEN ideas about what's

going on....


Everyone working on Pro-Peace events get TAGGED as "crazies" by the PRO-WAR activists and war-profiteers....it's sad that your post keeps shoving that myth out....

if you want to help stop the bush* wars, and BRING HOME OUR TROOPS...you'll find that EVERYONE is VOLUNTEERING their time...ANSWER or UFPJ are NOT some big corporation that you call up and tell them what you want or BUY what you need...these people work day and night to put together web sites, answer phones, pull together volunteer lawyers...it not that some 'ORGANIZATION" is holding a rally...it's WE THE PEOPLE....that's all it is WE THE PEOPLE...


if you want to help...then help...if you want to sit and whine, then go ahead and make a fool of yourself....your post shows a lot of spite and little understanding of anything involved in the Pro-Peace events...

"the first explicitly anti-war demonstrations in a year" is just total mis-informed dis-information...there have been MANY Pro-Peace events, and it might behoove you to attend a few before you spew out this stuff...you must have been 'asleep at the wheel' to spew out that crap....:puke:

[robcon]

4. I disagree totally.

diamond14 wrote: "Everyone working on Pro-Peace events get TAGGED as "crazies" by the PRO-WAR activists and war-profiteers....it's sad that your post keeps shoving that myth out...."

I think just the opposite is the case. ANSWER IS a bunch of crazies... anti-Israel, anti-capitalist.

All the other groups are not 'tagged' as anything but activists.

[murdoch]

5. facts and opinions

I said it was mostly factual, with some opinions, and I'd give more opinions later.

As far as the crazy tag, I am saying UFPJ are normal activists, of the type DUers would feel comfortable with. I never said the UFPJ people were crazies, just the opposite. If a rally is sponsored by UFPJ with no ANSWER involvement, you are usually NOT going to get speakers at the platform screaming at the top of their lungs into the microphones "SMASH CAPITALISM!!! SMASH IMPERIALISM!!!" One aim of these protests is to keep growing in numbers, and putting these wingnuts on the platform alienates the average person, it doesn't motivate them. ANSWER rallies are like that, UFPJ ones are not.

The UFPJ rally I went to yesterday was great. It had a Vietnam Veteran who said he came to his anti-war feelings by reading the Bible. He was an ordinary blue-collar American and veteran that even many of the conservative people I know might disagree with, but would respect the opinion of. The screaming wingnuts they would write off right away. Who knows what motivates people to be anti-war? My brother did a tour in Iraq and I'm worried he might be asked to do another tour. I probably would have been against the war anyhow but it really does hit home for me. And I think the war is wrong, and everything that's happened so far has simply confirmed that, John Negroponte being sent there as the latest example.

Anyhow, I have said positive things about ANSWER here or elsewhere. They *are* active - while UFPJ types often are endlessly arguing whether or not they should get up and do anything, the ANSWER people are already out and doing things. Also, it seems like ANSWER really goes the extra mile to work with blacks and Latinos, something which UFPJ needs to do a better job of. So I am not totally down on ANSWER. The important thing for me is that all of the information gets out there. There were two rallies in New York yesterday - one of normal people like the veteran talking about the Bible leading him to pacifism, the other of people screaming "SMASH CAPITALISM! SMASH IMPERIALISM!" at 200 decibels. It's fine with me that people are going to the latter demonstration and working to stop the war, I just want to make sure people know ahead of time what things are like, if someone would be turned off by the latter demonstration I'd want them to know of the former one, with more like-minded people. I know for certain that ANSWER will never bring mainstream America long, while UFPJ could. On the other hand, sometimes when the UFPJ is sitting on their behinds debating what to do, sometimes it's probably good for ANSWER to come along and give them a small kick in the behind.

I'm not whining about ANSWER, I just think people should know what they're getting into. They keep changing their name (Bring the Troops Home Now coaltions, ANSWER, IAC, WWP etc.) UFPJ does not change its name every week, they are always UFPJ. Why does ANSWER change its name every week except to confuse people? I am not down on people going to their demonstrations, I just want people to know what they're getting into. If that's your bag, fine. I went to both rallies - at the ANSWER rally I talked with someone from the Spartacus League. While this was amusing for me, the average person would come away with the impression that anti-war people were all psychos. In fact, I ran into someone who expressed the same sentiment yesterday.

As far as the many pro-peace events, yes there have been many smaller events but I listed the major events, I'm not going to list every minor event that happened anywhere in the country, that would take forever. I listed all the major events from before the war to now.

[Coastie for Truth]

6. The ANSWER people told Jewish (Not Israeli, not Zionist, just Jewish)

identified groups to get off the speakers platform and leave last year (Rabbi Michael Lerner and Tikkun).

So, I left the San Francisco rally, and I did not go to the Berkeley Rally. I went to the all-inclusive adult rally the following day in Palo Alto.

[murdoch]

7. Yikes

That is really nutty...there are lots of stories floating around about how nutty ANSWER is.

There is an web page on ANSWER/WWP that I heard is good:

http://www.infoshop.org/texts/wwp.html

I have to really read it (and the pages it links to) all the way through, since I've only browsed at it so far.

It's good to get this feedback. I know ANSWER is nutty, but maybe I don't know how nutty ANSWER is. I really have to read up on them more.

[sandnsea]

8. That's odd

The only reports on rally's that I've seen had UFPJ banners. I didn't see anything from ANSWER, and I have to say I was damned glad of it. The quicker Democrats and Greens disassociate themselves from that group, the better.

[quinnox]

9. That's informative

I also have read things about ANSWER before, they have tangent issues at their marches like Free Mumia and other causes and it gives the people who are there for the main reason of protesting Bush policies a bad image, many are there only for this issue not all the whacked side issues that ANSWER tries to promote at the same time.