From: NYC Labor Against the War
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LaborAgainstWar/
Subject:
[NYCLAW] Report: 1.15 Press Conference
for 3.19 NYC Antiwar Demo
Date: January 15, 2005 10:39:03 PM EST
Troops Out Now! - the Momentum is Building!
On
Saturday, January 15, the anniversary of Dr. Martin
Luther
King's birthday, activists and representatives from
dozens
of labor, community, anti-war, and international
solidarity
organizations joined veterans clergy and military
family
members on the steps of New York City Hall to
announce
their intention to march to Central Park on March
19
under the slogan, "Troops Out Now!"
Nearly
one hundred activists assembled at City Hall despite
the
bitter cold, carrying placards with pictures of Dr. King
and
the words "Troops Out Now! March on Central Park, March
19!"
Speakers
included:
*NY
City Council Member Charles Barron
*Brenda
Stokely, President, AFSCME DC 1707; Co-Convener, NYC
Labor
Against the War (NYCLAW); Co-Chair, Million Worker March
*Larry
Holmes, International Action Center
*Rev.
Herbert Daughtry
*Former
Attorney General Ramsey Clark
*Chris
Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 808;
President,
Black Teamsters Caucus
*Leilani
Dowell, Queers for Peace and Justice
*Kim
Rosario, mother of a soldier currently stationed in
Iraq
*Amos
Hoff, New York AIDS Housing Network
*Nora
Soul, Artists and Activists United for Peace
*Mel
Stephens, ACT UP
*Nellie
Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council
The
coalition announced its plans to march to Central Park
on
March 19 to demand the immediate, complete, and
unconditional
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Speakers
also
stressed the importance of ending, not only the war in
Iraq,
but the war against working people here in the U.S.
and
the ongoing occupation of Haiti, Afghanistan, and
Palestine.
To
sign up for updates, go to http://www.TroopsOutNow.org/updates
------------------------
NY
1 video of press conference:
http://www.ny1.com/ny/TopStories/SubTopic/index.html?topicintid=1&subtopicintid=1&contentintid=47206#
Activists
Gear Up To Protest Iraq War On 2nd Anniversary Of
Its
Start
JANUARY
15TH, 2005 from NY1
Lawmakers
and anti-war activists are planning to mark the
two
year anniversary of the Iraqi war, by rallying in
Central
Park.
City
Council member Charles Barron joined dozens of
protesters
in front of City Hall Saturday afternoon to
announce
the event, which will be held on March 19th.
The
group says the billions of dollars being spent on the
war
should be better spent on health care, education, and
jobs.
The
protesters took time to honor the Reverend Martin Luther
King
Jr., and say he would have been protesting with them,
if
he were alive today.
"Reverend
Martin Luther King Jr. who went beyond civil
rights,
went to human rights in his anti-war stance against
the
war in Vietnam, is appropriate for everyone who loves
Dr.
King should be against the Iraqi the war today," said
Barron.
"On
March 19, 2005 Ð second anniversary of this terrible
invasion
and war in Iraq Ð New York is going to rock. The
people
of this city, the people of the surrounding area, are
going
to march on Central Park," anti-war activist Larry
Holmes.
"We're
going to be out there on the 19th; we're going to try
to
get as many people about there, because most people, the
people
they don't poll, those are the people that are
against
the poll and they're going to be speaking up," said
Brenda
Stokely of Million Worker March.
The
group says they have already obtained a city permit for
the
rally and march.
------------------------
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-prot0116,0,3977147.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-manhattan
Newsday,
January 16, 2005
Anti-war
advocates plan March rally
BY
DEBORAH S. MORRIS STAFF WRITER
On
the birthday of civil rights activist the Rev. Martin
Luther
King Jr., anti-war advocates yesterday demanded that
U.S.
troops be withdrawn immediately from Iraq and announced
plans
for a March 19 demonstration in Central Park.
"Mayor
Bloomberg and President [George W.] Bush barred us
from
holding a rally in Central Park during the Republican
convention.
That was unnecessary, undemocratic,
unconstitutional
and it's not going to happen this time,"
said
City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), referring
to
the GOP national convention last summer.
Barron
was joined on the steps of City Hall by former U.S.
Attorney
General Ramsey Clark, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry of
Brooklyn
and about 40 other anti-war activists from a group
called
the Troops Out Now Coalition.
In
the weeks and months before the convention, Central Park
became
a controversial touchstone after the Parks Department
denied
the umbrella activist group United for Peace and
Justice
a permit to use the Great Lawn for a rally expected
to
attract 250,000 people. The department said a crowd that
large
would damage the lawn.
Dustin
Langley, an organizer of yesterday's rally, said the
Troops
Out Now Coalition applied last month for a permit to
march
in Central Park and members of the group already have
met
with Parks Department officials.
"We
applied for the permit very early, so that if there is a
problem
getting a permit we have plenty of time to deal with
that
problem," Langley said. "Whether if it's by legal
action,
whether we have to protest outside City Hall or
outside
Bloomberg's house, [Police Commissioner] Ray Kelly's
house.
Because we are going to the park one way or the
other."
Participants
in the march, scheduled for the second
anniversary
of the day the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq,
are
expected to step off at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and
head
south to Central Park.
"We
are being flexible. We have asked for several different
areas
within the park," Langley said. "We are going in with
good
faith. Central Park has become symbolic of civil
rights."
Kim
Rosario of Bushwick, whose son, Pvt. Joshua Morales,
19,
has been stationed since September in Ramadi, Iraq, was
one
of many speakers at the rally, which rang with chants of
"Bring
the troops home now" and the display of signs
demanding
the same. She said true support for the troops
does
not come with just putting a magnet on your car.
"If
you truly support our troops, you want them to come home
and
be safe," Rosario said. "You would speak out and write
to
politicians, march, you'd protest, because they don't
belong
there. Bring the troops home now."
Copyright
© 2005, Newsday, Inc.
------------------------
How
to Get Involved:
1)
Endorse: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/endorse
2)
Help Get the Word Out! Download
flyers from
http://www.troopsoutnow.org/flyers
3)
Donate online at http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org/
4)
Organize transportation from your area to NYC for March
19
mailto:transportation@TroopsOutNow.org
Troops
Out Now http://www.TroopsOutNow.org
Posted January 16, 2005 at http://www.grassrootspeace.org
