Music with a message hit Washington this week as anti-war activists hosted a concert series to raise awareness for their cause.
"Rock the Rulers" is part of a week-long encampment next to the Capitol's West Side reflecting pool hosted by the Troops Out Now Coalition, a New York City-based grassroots movement, along with Artists and Activists United for Peace.
The movement will hit its peak Saturday, with a march beginning at noon at the Capitol. This is the second encampment this year for Troops Out Now, who teamed up with other organizations to reach a broader range of supporters through music and entertainment.
"We want to make the connection between the war abroad and the war at home," said Troops Out Now Media Liaison LeilLani Dowell. "We realize that culture is a very important part of this too."
Dowell and other organizers and volunteers spent the week putting up tents, booths, and a small stage to vie for attention while debates for war funding rage in Capitol Hill.
"They could force the issue," said Dowell, referring to the Democrats elected to Congress last November. "We are trying to hold them accountable."
The event attracted a wide variety of visitors. Topics of interest brought up at tables and during the entertainment include support for Katrina survivors, Code Pink (a movement of women against war in Iraq), immigrant workers' rights, money for health care, and education.
Each night, from 8 p.m. until midnight, musicians from around the country performed on stage, expressing frustrations and hopes for peace. Though many performers are scheduled for specific slots throughout the week, organizers encourage anyone to come and share their art and passions on stage.
Carol Ann Moccio ’10 is one of the people attracted to the encampment by the prospect of joining music with the anti-war movement. A self-proclaimed Beatles fan and peace activist, Moccio said she found out about "Rock the Rulers" after seeing the movie "Across the Universe" with friends. The Beatles-inspired musical featured the struggle of young Americans during the Vietnam War as they attempted to give peace a chance.
"I was like 'Wow, I want to continue that'," said Moccio. "Hopefully our generation can be as motivated as theirs."
Moccio said looking up "D.C. peace marches" on the Internet led her to the "Rock the Rulers" Web site.
Dowell said she thinks the currently college-aged generation and older ones are fed up with war and are responding to the music.
"We've seen a lot more people come through than the last time," she said. "It's time to heighten the struggle as much as possible."
Moccio said that she thinks that the appeal of music is going to help more students identify with the cause.
"Music is something that is special for everyone," she said, noting that many students may not be incredibly passionate about the anti-war movement, but will find the music a great incentive to become involved.
Michelle Dar of Portland, Ore., biked across the country with her partner and three daughters to participate in the protests. They were part of the "bike for peace" that ended in Washington with participants getting involved in actions for peace.
"We refuse to be silent," Dar said. "We'll put our bodies and our families out there."
Dar says that she and her family have been enjoying the nightly music outside the Capitol. Her daughter Tala danced and sang along to the Black Eyed Pea's "Where is the Love?" on stage Tuesday night. Dar finds the enthusiasm of those at the encampment empowering.
"It's tremendously inspiring, and reminds us why we are here," Dar said. "It gives us the courage to do more. The people have had enough. The people are rising up."
Gather at reflecting pool on west side of Capitol at 11 a.m for rally March will step off between 1 and 2 pm, and will pass by the Department of Health and Human Resources, FEMA headquarters and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency headquarters before returning to the Capitol for an ending rally. The purpose of this route is to draw attention to the resources that should be invested in health care instead of being spent on war; the ongoing injustices in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; and the campaign against immigrants. Volunteers needed at 8:30 am.
Nearest METRO stop: Federal Center SW (on Blue line and Orange line) Bus dropoff: west side of 3rd Street between Constitution and Independence (which is at the site of the Encampment to Stop the War) Bus pickup: same location. Buses should make their own parking arrangements at Union Station garage, 40 Massachusetts Ave NE (3 blocks from the rally and march site). Union Station information: 202-371-9441.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contacts: LeiLani Dowell 1-917-701-7593 Dustin Langley 1-646-354-8056 Frank Neisser 1-617-792-8136 http://troopsoutnow.org
When: Monday, September 24, 3:00 p.m.
Where: Anti-war Encampment on the West Side of the Capitol Reflection Pool, near 3rd Street on the Capitol Mall
THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS HAVE THE POWER TO CUT OFF WAR FUNDING--THE MOVEMENT MUST MAKE THEM DO IT
MARCH ON WASHINGTON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 STOP THE WAR BY CUTTING OFF WAR FUNDING
The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) will be holding a press conference on Monday, Sept. 24 at 3 pm at the site of a weeklong anti-war Encampment, on the Capitol mall at the west side of the reflection pool.
Participants in Monday's press conference will include:
• Adam Kokesh, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and other Iraq veterans • Members of the Hoffman family, which traveled 4,500 miles by bicycle from Portland, Oregon to attend the Encampment • Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus • Nana Soul, Artists and Activists United for Peace • Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, Plymouth Congregational Church, DC • Anne Wright, career Army veteran and former State Dept. official • Larry Holmes, Vietnam War GI resister and spokesperson for TONC • Representatives from Code Pink, the Green Party, the student movement, labor and the community.
This week, Congress begins preparation for voting on President Bush and the Pentagon's request for $200 billion more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Saturday, Sept. 29, thousands will gather at the anti-war Encampment to march and demand that not one more dollar be approved for war.
TONC spokesperson Larry Holmes said: "The Democrats in Congress don't need enough votes to override a presidential veto in order to cut off all war funding. All the leadership of Congress has to do is simply keep any vote on war funding from coming to the floor, or even getting out of the Senate or House Appropriations committees."
Participants at the press conference will discuss plans for the Sept. 29 march and the five days of action at the Encampment before the big march.
Now that the summer’s over, we need to ramp up the mobilizing for the September 29th March on Washington and the Encampment.
We only have 15 days left until the Encampment begins. To help with the mobilizing for the demonstration there are weekly volunteer meetings on Wednesday nights at 7PM at the Solidarity Center at 55 West 17th Street, 5C in Manhattan. We have been leafletting and postering on Saturdays and throughout the week. Our next important outreach day is Saturday, September 8th at 11AM at the office. If you are not able to come in on Saturday, please come by to pick up leaflets, stickers, and posters to get up in your community. The office is open from 1- 8 PM Monday through Friday and 11AM until 5 PM on Saturday.
Troops Out Now Coalition 55 W. 17th St. #5C NY NY 10011 212.633.6646 www.troopsoutnow.org
from Protest to Resistance... Cut Off ALL War Funding! Fund People's Needs - NOT War!
It's time to turn up the heat! Funding for the criminal war in Iraq will expire on October 1. The month of September will see the next big struggle over war funding, but this time the antiwar movement needs to be there to demand the immediate cut off of all war funding.
We have all seen that the Democratic leadership in Congress, despite being elected with a clear mandate to end the war, has completely capitulated to the Bush Administration. We cannot wait for politicians to end the war.
In addition to the enormous cost in human lives - more than 600,000 Iraqis and nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers - the attempt to occupy and colonize Iraq has already cost more than $1 trillion. Every day, the Pentagon spends another $720 million.
This is money that is stolen from working people who need funding for human needs.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported last week that:
• 36.5 million people in the U.S. lived below the official poverty line in 2006.
• 47 million people in the U.S. were without health insurance in 2006, up from 44.8 million in 2005.
• The number of uninsured children increased from 8 million (10.9 percent) in 2005 to 8.7 million (11.7 percent) in 2006.
Meanwhile, infrastructure is crumbling. Schools are understaffed and falling apart. Affordable housing is disappearing. And almost nothing has been done to rebuild the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.
Let's bring the occupation to Washington and demand money for human needs, not war! On September 29, tens of thousands of activists, community organizers, youth and students, veterans, military families, and health care activists will march on the White House to Demand: Cut off ALL War Funding! Fund People's Needs, NOT War!
Buses, vans, and car caravans are coming from more than 75 organizing centers, with more than 100 buses already scheduled, and more being added every day. Organizing a mobilization of this scale is enormously expensive -- please consider making a donation online at http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml.
Also, during the week of September 22-29, antiwar activists will erect an Encampment on the Lawn directly across from the Capitol. The site of the Encampment is a square of land directly in front of the Capitol, where we will maintain a determined, visible 24-hour antiwar presence as a direct challenge to the politicians - both Republican and Democrat - who voted for the war and vote to continue to fund the war.
Organizing a week-long enccampment and a national march is an enormous organizational challenge, and we need your help. Please consider helping with the costs by making an online donation at http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml.
Activists, military families, veterans, trade unionists, and community organizers from activists from across the U.S. are planning to erect a tent city, in Washington, DC, which will be a center of organizing, resistance, and action for the week. At the same time, activists will also be converging in Los Angeles for a West Coast week-long antiwar Encampment and March (see http://www.iacenterla.org for more information and to get involved.)
If you want the social justice issues you are fighting for to be seen and heard around the world and by the national media, then bring your displays, art, graphics and signs to the week long encampment.
Many local and national organizations are planning to have their own tents for the Encampment. There will be actions, protests, and speak outs organized by health care activists, military family members, immigrant rights organizers, and more.
Each day will have a variety of different activities, focused on the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for war crimes, student and youth action, political prisoners, Katrina, stopping a war against Iran, and more. Each night will feature "Culture and Resistance," including spoken word artists, musicians, poets, and more.
Many of the working people that Michael Moore featured in SICKO are planning a special candle-light vigil for all those who have died for lack of health care.
Youth are meeting and planning resistance actions in the Congressional office buildings and streets of DC.
At the end of the week, activists at the Encampment will join tens of thousands of people from across the country for the massive March on Washington on September 29.
Organizing a week-long encampment and a national demonstration is a major challenge, and we need your help with the enormous expenses. Please consider making a donation online at http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml.
We need your input planning giant displays, literature and organizing tents, skill sharing sessions, and acts of creative protest and resistance. Please contact us to share your ideas and to volunteer to help organize for the encampment.
Over the next few days, we will be posting a calendar of events for the Encampment. If your group would like to organize a tent, protest action, teach-in, etc. please contact us.
We are developing a list of inexpensive housing in the area and will be posting it soon -- activists who are able to join us all week, should also line up housing in the area. We can be a presence on site around the clock but we can not actually sleep at night or cook on-site.
If you are in the Washington DC - Maryland - Virginia area, we need your help with housing, food, transportation and help on set-up. Please contact us online or by phone at 212-633-6646.
SEPT 22- 29: Encampment in front of Congress - Cut off the War funds - Build a People Peace Congress
Hundreds of Endorsers - More than 40 Organizing Centers - It's time to Shut Down Washington!
Stop the War at Home & Abroad! Bring ALL the Troops Home Now! Impeach Bush & Cheney for War Crimes!
Congress will not end the war Marches alone will not end the war It's time to shut down Washington DC - No more business as usual!
Endorsers include:* Rep. Cynthia McKinney; Medea Benjamin, CoFounder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace; Fernando Suarez del Solar, founder of Proyecto Guerrero Azteca por la Paz; Bishop Filipe C Teixeira, OFSJC; Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General; Brenda Stokely of the NYC Solidarity Committee For Katrina / Rita Evacuees; Liz Arnone, Co-Chair, NJ Green Party; Mohammad Basirul Haq Sinha, Chief Coordinator, We The People United Bangladesh; Abayomi Azikiwe, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice; Jack Balkwill, Chair, Liberty Underground of Virginia; Barney Richards, National President, New Zealand Peace Council; Teresa Dawson, Coordinator, MFSO Central Ohio; Joan Gibbs, Jericho Movement; Efia Nwangaza, Founder/director, Afrikan Amerikan Institute for Policy Studies & Planning; Jose Luis Diaz, President, Casas las Americas; Leslie Feinberg, author and activist; Teresa Gutierrez of the NY May 1 Coalition for Immigrant Rights; LeiLani Dowell, FIST (Fight Imperialism - Stand Together); Berna Ellorin, BAYAN USA; Ben Carroll, UNC SDS; and hundreds more. for an updated list, see TroopsOutNow.org *organizations listed for ID purposes only
Since mid-April, when the Troops Out Now Coalition issued a proposal for a week of action in Washington DC in September, activists from across the U.S. and worldwide have contacted us to support the proposal and to volunteer to help with this major mobilization.
More than a hundred activists, from as far away as Los Angeles, Sacramento, and New Orleans, packed the Troops Out Now New York office on June 16 to begin planning for this week of resistance. Momentum is building as more activists realize that it is time to move from protest to resistance:
**We now have hundreds of endorsers and more than 40 organizing centers.
**Activists, community groups, and grassroots organizers are planning to set up tents at the Encampment to highlight issues they are working on.
**Youth activists are working to build a national student strike during the week of the Encampment.
**Regional coordinators are working on organizing transportation to the Encampment and March.
The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) is a national grassroots coalition of antiwar activists, trade unionists, solidarity activists and community organizers.
For more information, or to find out how you can get involved, visit our homepage at TroopsOutNow.org
