Organizing Meeting & Outreach for Mar. 20 Anti-War Protest - Stop the Expanding U.S. War!

Organizing Meeting for March 20 Anti-War Protest - Stop the Expanding U.S. War!
All anti-war organizations and individuals welcome.

U.S. Out of Afghanistan and Iraq Now!
Free Palestine!
Money for health care, jobs and education!
U.S. Hands Off Latin America!
Haiti Needs Aid, Not Occupation!

Mass Marches and Rallies Planned in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco

The first meeting of the March 20 Coalition meeting on Jan. 9 was attended by 85-90 people, including representatives of more than 35 labor, student, community, religious and political organizations. The meeting unanimously approved a plan for the event to begin and end at the Civic Center and to march to some of the downtown area hotels that are being boycotted in solidarity with the Local 2 workers who are fighting for a new contract with their health benefits intact.

People from the following organizations participated in the meeting: FMLN—Northern Calif., Bay Area Latin America Solidarity Coalition, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Vets for Peace, March Forward!, World Can’t Wait, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, Grey Panthers, San Jose Peace & Justice Center, South Bay ANSWER, Woodside High School, National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations, Military Out of Our Schools, Notre Dame High School, Single Payer Healthcare Now, Unite Here Local 2, Socialist Action, Barrio Unido, Code Pink, Youth & Student ANSWER, Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, Socialist Viewpoint, Walnut Creek High School, Bay Area United Against War, Carlos Alvarez for Governor Campaign, ILWU Local 10, Peace and Freedom Party, Unitarian Church, Bayan USA, ANSWER Coalition, Local 510, Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Philippines, Revolutionary Workers Group, Al-Awda - Palestine Right of Return Coalition, Senior Action Network, and AFT 1481.

The coalition formed working committees, the largest of which is Youth & Student Outreach. Students from several colleges and high schools are working to coordinate March 20 outreach along with the organizing for the March 4 National Day of Action against cutbacks and tuition/fee hikes.

The Feb. 6 meeting is planned to be relatively brief, followed by mass outreach. All anti-war individuals and organizations are welcome to attend.

Join us for the second meeting of the Bay Area March 20 Coalition. March 20 will mark the 7th anniversary of the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq. The Obama administration and the Pentagon are escalating the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and extending their aggression into Yemen and Somalia. The brutal Israeli colonial occupation of Palestine continues, fully backed by Washington. At the same time, U.S. intervention against the progressive governments in Latin America is intensifying.

While students in California are facing a 32% tuition hike (which will prevent hundreds of thousands of working class and poor students from going to college), and we are told that there is no money for true health care reform, the real Pentagon budget for next year will be over $1.4 trillion!
A year ago, millions of people celebrated the end of both the Bush administration and the 220-year streak of exclusively well-to-do white males allowed to occupy the highest office. But what the last year has reaffirmed is that a change of top officials alone cannot and will not bring the change we really need. That can only be accomplished by a powerful movement of the people.