BAUAW NEWSLETTER-TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2005

1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
There are two important meetings coming up:
TONIGHT, Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
TODAY, Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.

2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY

3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center

4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON-POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES

5) KENNEDY HIGH YOUTH AGAINST WAR AND RACISM WIN
VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AND PEACE MOVEMENT

6) This is about Israel, not anti-semitism
Not to speak out against this injustice would not only be wrong.
It would ignore the threat it poses to us all
Ken Livingstone
Friday March 4, 2005
The Guardian

7) Please join the queer contingent against the war
at the next mobilization which is
SATURDAY MARCH 19, 11am DOLORES PARK
QUEERS MEET NEAR THE ENTRANCE STEPS AT 19th & DOLORES...where
we've met before. I will have the "Queers for Peace and Justice"
banner spread out on the ground or we'll be holding it...everyone
welcomed. Bring other banners, signs, noisemakers, etc. Let's
be a loud and visible group...
tommi

8) The Counter Recruitment movement in the Bay Area is growing faster
than US militarism!
This is a great time for us to move forward together.
You are invited to join in organizing an event for later this Spring:
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference
The first meeting will be:
Tuesday, March 15th at 7pm
American Friends Service Committee
65 9th Street, San Francisco
Between Market and Mission, near the Civic Center BART

9) Dear Healthcare Activist,
You are invited to our Saturday, March 12 meeting in San Francisco.
It starts at 3pm at 626 Pacheco near the corner of 10th Avenue. (#6 Bus)
We will feature a panel presentation on SB 840, the California Health
Insurance Reliability Act that was just introduced in Sacramento on
February 23. This replaces last years SB 921,
the Health Care for All Californians Act.

10) COMMENTARY
What's Wrong With American High Schools
The approaches of 50 years ago cannot work today, Bill Gates says.
By Bill Gates
(Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, is co-founder of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
March 1, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-
gates1mar01,0,6675841.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

11) Utah set to reject No Child Left Behind (link only)
By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 23, 2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050222-111910-7518r.htm

12) My truth (La mia verità)
By Giuliana Sgrena
From the Portside mailing list:
Il Manifesto March 6, 2005

13) Reminder: URGENT National Call-In Day TODAY!
Call Your Members of Congress
TODAY!
WE NEED A BUDGET THAT PRIORITIZES CHILDREN!

14) Virginia Hampton Roads Daily Express, (link only)
March 6, 2005
Military Update: Black Army recruits down 41 percent since 2000
By Tom Philpott
http://www.fra.org/mil-up/

15) Kick Military Recruiters Out of San Francisco State
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave
Malcolm X Plaza
11 AM

16) Counter-Recruitment Calendar for the San Francisco Bay Area
compiled by MOOS-Bay

17) Idriss Stelley Foundation &
Dokta Cooper Community Networking Project
are proudly hosting the CEDP (Campaign to End the (racist)
Death Penalty) Bayview Chapter, every other Monday evening
at 7 P.M., at ISF office: 4921 3rd Street between Palou and Quesada.

18) St Patrick's Day Parade Antiwar Contingent
Comrades and friends,
We now have the information regarding assembly for the
St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco this coming Sunday,
March 13th. The assembly is earlier this year (10:30) as is the
parade itself, so it is important to be on time. Our numbers are 45
and 46, so we are closer to the start of the parade. The assembly
point for our contingent is on 2nd Street, between Howard and Folsom
Streets, and we are assuming we'll be closer to Howard Street.
For additional information, contact us at irsp@netwiz.net.

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1) BAN THE MILITARY FROM OUR SCHOOLS!
There are two important meetings coming up:
TONIGHT, Tuesday, March 8th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000
TODAY, Tuesday, March 8th from 8-3 p.m.
Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.


There is an item on the agenda for
Tuesday's board meeting.
Under "Presentations to Board of Education
Superintendent's Report", second item:
"Update on Military Recruiting Policies
and Procedures and JROTC Program."

This is toward the very beginning of the
meeting, and there should be an allowance
for the public (and board) to speak
since it is on the agenda. Call the board
office at 241-6427 to get your name on
the speakers list on this item. (It is not
clear whether comments from the public will be
under this point or under general comments
from the public. Just call and get your name
of the list to speak.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO OTHERS IN THE
ANTI-MILITARISM IN SCHOOLS COALITION

Thanks!

Mark Sanchez


Thursday, March 17th, 7 P.M.:
555 Franklin St.
To get on the speakers list call:
415-241-6427, 241-6493 or 241-6000,
Wednesday, March 16th from 8-4 p.m. and
Thursday, March 17th from 8-3 p.m.

This is a "meeting of the whole"
devoted solely to Military Recruitment
and JROTC in our schools. It is a dialogue
between the community and the School Board.

Everyone is invited to participate in these
important meetings.

BAUAW has submitted the following resolution to the board:

Draft Resolution for San Francisco Board of Education
Cut Ties with the Military:

WHEREAS, the United States military is
actively recruiting high school students into
the military to fight in Iraq; and

WHEREAS, many young San Francisco
high school alumni are presently serving in
military units fighting in Iraq; and

WHEREAS, it is San Francisco City policy
by virtue of Proposition N, to bring all U.S.
troops home from Iraq now; and

WHEREAS, over 1,448 U.S. soldiers and
approximately 100,000 Iraqis have been
killed in this war and over 10,000 U.S.
soldiers and unknown thousands of
Iraqis have been wounded; and

WHEREAS, the hundreds of billions of dollars
spent on the war have robbed our children of
resources that should be spent on
education and other human needs; and

WHEREAS, military presence in our schools
legitimizes the message that violence is
acceptable;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
It shall be the policy of the San Francisco
Board of Education to cut all ties
with the United States military,
including, but not limited to: Ending military
recruitment on campuses; ending the
Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(JROTC); and guaranteeing that all students
and parents are informed of their right to
deny military recruiters access to their
names, addresses and telephone numbers.

Bay Area United Against War (BAUAW)
www.bauaw.org
414-824-8730

Donations are urgently needed to carry
out this important work. We have no
paid staff but need money for posters,
buttons, flyers and informational material
to hand out to students and parents.

If anyone can donate a working copier
that has a large capacity toner cartridge
that would also be of great value. The
copier we were using free of charge
finally died.

Make a tax-deductible donation to:

Bay Area United Against War/NVM
P.O. Box 318021
San Francisco, CA 94131-8021

Coming Up:

Global Day of Action
March 19, 2005
No to War and Occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People's Needs, Not War!

San Francisco March Assembles:
11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center

THE NEXT BAUAW MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE:
SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 11:30AM
474 VALENCIA STREET, SF
(FIRST FLOOR, TO THE LEFT AND ALL THE WAY BACK
TO THE COMPANEROS DEL BARRIO CHILDREN'S CENTER)

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2) WE ALL STAND WITH LYNNE STEWART!
NO JAIL TIME FOR LYNNE!
PLEASE WRITE LETTERS TODAY:

SUGGESTION AS TO FORMAT OF LETTERS
TO BE WRITTEN ON BEHALF OF LYNNE STEWART

MARGIN: Please leave at least a one-inch left-hand margin to allow
us to bind the letter into the appendix to the sentencing memorandum
that is being filed on Lynne's behalf.

INSIDE ADDRESS: Honorable John G. Koeltl
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
United States Courthouse
500 Pearl Street
New York, New York 10007

GREETING: Honorable Sir or Dear Judge Koeltl:

BODY: Briefly introduce yourself and set forth your
relationship to Lynne.

Briefly discuss yourself - your position in work
and in society.

State that you are aware that Lynne is to be sentenced
following a jury verdict of guilty on serious charges:
The remainder of your letter should discuss whatever
you believe to weigh in favor of no jail time. If possible,
you should tell of an incident where she helped you out
or engaged in commendable community service. Do not
try to argue that she is not guilty or was unfairly conviction.
Focus on the unfairness of the government's actions in
bringing the charges; the way in which the government
portrayed her, etc.

* Typewritten letters if possible are preferred.
*
WHEN LETTER IS COMPLETED: Please mail the final product
to the following address:
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine, Esq.
2537 Post Road
Southport, CT 06890

Do not send your letters to the judge. We ask that you
forward your letter me so that the lawyers can present it
to Judge Koeltl with the other letters being written for this
purpose. This is the manner in which letters will have the
greatest impact. If they are sent directly to the Judge's
chambers, they may have less of an impact and could
cause the judge a substantial inconvenience (and annoyance).

Thank you for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact the defense committee at
www.lynnestewart.org.

Sincerely,
Jill R. Shellow-Lavine
Attorney for Lynne Stewart
For more information go to:
www.LynneStewart.org

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3) March 19, 2005 Global Day of Action
No to War Occupation ˆ Iraq, Palestine, Haiti,
Afghanistan, Cuba Everywhere!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Money for People‚s Needs, Not War!
San Francisco: March Assembles: 11 a.m. Dolores Park
Rally: 1 p.m. Civic Center

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

4) COMING TO THE BAY AREA SOON ARE SOME
POWERFUL ANTIWAR MOVIES
"Mission Accomplished" is a a brutally vivid documentary
filmed entirely on the ground in Iraq. The reality of this
war for American troops is contrasted to the
overwhelming reality of the devastation felt and experienced
by the people of Iraq.
"Mission Accomplished" will open March 18th:
4 Star
2200 Clement St.
San Francisco, CA 94121
415.666.3488

"Voices In Wartime" is a compelling portrayal of human
experience with war through poetry, both from the point
of view of those who were in combat and those who are left
behind.
"Voices In Wartime" will play in S.F. on April 15th at:
Landmark Lumiere 3
1572 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94109

[This poem by fourth-grader Cameron Penny was read
by Marie Howe in this very beautiful film
directed by Rick King.

"If you are lucky in this life
A window will appear on a battlefield between two armies
And when the soldiers look into the window
They don't see their enemies
They see themselves as children
And they stop fighting
And go home and go to sleep
When they wake up, the land is well again."
By Cameron Penny]

To learn more about these film visit
Cinema Libre Studio
http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/

Also: check out, GUNNER PALACE |
Some war stories will never make the nightly news.


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5) KENNEDY HIGH YOUTH AGAINST WAR AND RACISM WIN
VICTORY FOR FREE SPEECH AND PEACE MOVEMENT

Thanks to everyone who offered us support and solidarity!

On Wednesday, February 23, the Kennedy High School chapter
of Youth Against War and Racism distributed counter-military-
recruitment information from a table during lunch periods and
held a teach-in after school. These events were successes despite
the attempts to ban our actions by the Kennedy administration and
the Bloomington Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent.

The Superintendent ultimately acquiesced to our demands to be
allowed the same rights as other student organizations and the
military recruiters because they were flooded by phone calls from
people involved in the anti-war movement from around the country,
and because they saw that our student group was organized and
not about the back down.

We were informed Tuesday afternoon that despite prior approval
and precedent, we would not be allowed to have a table at lunch
when the military recruiters were present. The local American
Legion had contacted the school Superintendent and threatened
to withdraw their significant funding from the school if we were
permitted to table.

We organized an emergency meeting that evening on hearing
the news, and plotted our next moves. Fourteen active members
showed up and decided that we would table in violation of the
administration's decry. If they demanded we take down our table
we would refuse, regardless of the consequences. This would
show them that we wouldn't back down easily, and would
create a scene that would reflect badly on the administration.

We drafted a flier and petition to hand out to students asking
them to support our free speech rights. We sent an appeal to
anti-war groups across America asking them to call the
Superintendent and Principal to demand they allow us our free
speech rights. Finally, we sent a press release announcing
a press conference at 2:30 on Wednesday. We intended to
show the administration that if they were going to violate the
constitution so flagrantly, they would do it over our resistance,
and they would do it publicly.

Several students met with the Principal of Kennedy the next
day. The Principal informed us that the decision to bar us
from tabling was that of the Superintendent and that any
student attempting to set up a table would be summarily
suspended for three days. We would be allowed to speak
with the Superintendent, but not until 11 A.M., conveniently
timed to coincide with the lunch periods we planned to table at.

When the first lunch period began, three students began to
assemble the tables we had brought from home, hang sings
from the tables, sell buttons, hand-out informational leaflets,
and play guitar. Even in the short time before the administrators
arrived to shutdown the table, we elicited a very positive
response from students.

The Principal and vice-Principal demanded that we remove our
table, which we refused to do. Once the administrators
themselves began taking our materials, we decided that they
would not allow us to table successfully, and accepted their
offer of meeting with the Superintendent. They informed
us that the assistant Superintendent had canceled our
teach-in that was planned for that afternoon.

This meeting produced the startling revelation that the only
reason we were unable to table, was that the fliers we
planned to distribute did not have contact information
on them. This seems incongruous with the Principal's
insistence that we could not table under any circumstances.
This miraculous change of heart could be due only to the fact
that both the Principal and Superintendent had been swamped
with phone calls and a press conference was scheduled for
2:30 that afternoon at the school. The resolutions reached
at this meeting were that Youth Against War and Racism would
be allowed to table in the future provided the fliers contained
contact information, and the teach-in scheduled for later in
the day would be allowed to happen (the assistant
Superintendent denied ever making any statement to
the contrary.)

Unfortunately, by the time we returned to school, the lunch
periods were almost over. Several months previously we
had also erected a table during lunch periods when recruiters
were present, and been immensely successful. We had
received 120 signatures to our petition to ban recruiters
from Kennedy, and distributed hundreds of leaflets.
The recruiters, on the other hand, were largely ignored
by the students and spent the day looking lonely and bored.

This had obviously left an impression on them, because
Wednesday, in stark contrast to the six to ten recruiters
usually present from sundry branches of the military,
only one recruiter from the Navy even showed up.
We were disappointed to miss such an opportunity,
but we had scored a decisive victory over the recruiters
and the administration, and won assurances that we
would be allowed to table when the military recruiters return.

The teach-in was highly successful. Youth Against War
and Racism organizer, Brandon Madsen, described the
events of the day and triumphantly declared the restoration
of our civil liberties. Speakers from Veterans For Peace,
Sabry Wazwaz of the Anti-War Committee, and Ty Moore
of Socialist Alternative performed admirably and gave
impassioned arguments against the war in Iraq.
Between 30 and 40 students attended, as did several
parents and approximately five members of the local
press (we got a story about us in the main Minneapolis
newspaper, the Star Tribune).

It remains to be seen if the administration will honor
it's promised, but for now we have come out on top.
This successful resolution could only have been possible
with the support of others in the anti-war movement who
called to protest the administration's disregard for our
First Amendment rights. With the press, all the solidarity
phone calls, and the anti-war groups showing up at our
school door, our Principal inadvertently revealed:
"Its been overwhelming."

Even Michael Moore put an article about us on his website:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1536

Within 24 hours we went from the brink of the elimination
of our group, to assurances that we would receive equal
access to all facilities in the future. To all those who
supported us and made our successes possible, thank you.

Matt Johnson, Senior at Kennedy
Organizer for Youth Against War and Racism
www.yawr.org - against.war@gmail.com

Also, here is an article written just a week ago about the
ongoing campaign the Kennedy students have been doing
around military recruiters in their school, written by
Kennedy activist Brandon Madsen. It was written for
upcoming issue of "Justice," the publication of Socialist
Alternative, which can be read online at
www.socialistalternative.org

"WE NEED TO MAKE OUR SCHOOLS OFF LIMITS
TO MILITARY RECRUITERS"

By Brandon Madsen
Kennedy High School, Youth Against War and Racism

On December 8, military recruiters showed up as usual
during lunch at Kennedy High School in Bloomington,
Minnesota. Unlike before, however, they did not go
unopposed. About 15 other students and I set up
a table near the recruiters with a counter-recruitment
display, informational leaflets, opt-out forms, and
petitions demanding that military recruiters cease
their activity at our school.

The recruiters' table was abandoned by all but a few
students who wanted to grab some free pencils and
water bottles. Meanwhile, our table was mobbed by
hundreds of interested students who asked questions,
signed petitions, took flyers and pamphlets, and
discussed politics. By the end of the day, we had
handed out hundreds of flyers, talked with all kinds
of students, and collected 120 signatures for the petition.

Teachers and students alike expressed excitement
that there was finally a voice at the school against
the war and against military recruitment. The students
involved with the tabling were thrilled by their
newfound ability to be heard. Some students even
skipped class so they could continue to table during
all of the lunch periods.

This huge success was only possible because of hard
work and planning. Two friends and I, all members of
Socialist Alternative at Kennedy, began planning before
the school year started how to launch an anti-war
campaign at our school. We found a supportive teacher,
a place to meet, and obtained official group status
through the administration. We held preliminary
teach-ins to try to draw people who would be interested
in joining an anti-war group.

Out of these efforts, Students Against War was formed
and began meeting weekly to discuss political issues and
to plan actions. We decided that a counter-recruitment
drive would be our first campaign. We drew up
a counter-recruitment flyer and began planning
to table the next time military recruiters showed up.

For two months, we battled with the administration
to get our flyer and table approved. The first time the
recruiters came, we were denied. Finally, our efforts
were successful when a school district lawyer affirmed
our right to table against the recruiters and provide our
own information. While this was lucky for us, we had
no intention of backing down a second time, regardless
of the administration's verdict, and had resolved to
table anyway once we had exhausted the official channels.

Spread the Campaign!
Out of our success, Kennedy students and the Socialist
Alternative Twin Cities branch are working to launch Youth
Against War and Racism, a metro-wide network for
students to come together and fight to end the occupation
of Iraq, to cut the bloated military budget and fund
education, to end military recruitment in schools, and
to oppose the government's racist attacks on civil liberties.

It is essential that we stand up and take action against
military recruiters. The entire U.S. war machine relies on
the willingness of young people to join the military and
carry out the imperialist policies ordered by corrupt
politicians. If we build a mass movement of young people
against the war that exposes the lies of Bush and the military
recruiters, the military will be unable to guarantee a stable
supply of youth to use as cannon fodder.

And just like in the Vietnam War, the spread of mass dissent
within the U.S. armed forces will be the key to bringing
down U.S. imperialism in Iraq and ending this brutal occupation.

We can't count on the government or our school
administrators to stop military recruiters from spreading
their lies. We need to take it upon ourselves to educate
and organize our fellow students, and to make our
schools off-limits to recruiters. If every time they show
up we provide an overwhelmingly unwelcome
environment, they will simply stop coming.

This is what we hope to accomplish at Kennedy and every
school across the Twin Cities, and this is what students
need to do at every school across the country.

REMINDER - if you want your message to go the entire
email list, be sure to hit "Reply to All" in your email
program, and make sure "StoppingWar@yahoogroups"
is listed in the "To/Recipient" field!

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6) This is about Israel, not anti-semitism
Not to speak out against this injustice would not only be wrong.
It would ignore the threat it poses to us all
Ken Livingstone
Friday March 4, 2005
The Guardian

Racism is a uniquely reactionary ideology, used to justify the greatest
crimes in history - the slave trade, the extermination of all original
inhabitants of the Caribbean, the elimination of every native inhabitant
of Tasmania, apartheid. The Holocaust was the ultimate, "industrialised"
expression of racist barbarity.

Racism serves as the cutting edge of the most reactionary movements. An
ideology that starts by declaring one human being inferior to another is
the slope whose end is at Auschwitz. That is why I detest racism.

No serious commentator has argued that my comments to an Evening Standard
reporter outside City Hall last month were anti-semitic. So I am glad
that Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews,
accepted on these pages that "Ken is sincere when he states that he
regards the Holocaust as the worst crime of the last century".

The contribution of Jewish people to human civilisation and culture is
unexcelled and extraordinary. You only have to think of giants such as
Einstein, Freud and Marx to realise that human civilisation would be
unrecognisably diminished without the achievements of the Jewish people.
The same goes for the Jewish contribution to London today.

As mayor, I have pressed for police action over anti-semitic attacks at
the highest level, and my administration has backed a series of
initiatives of importance to the Jewish community, including hosting the
Anne Frank exhibition at City Hall and measures to ensure the go-ahead
for the north London eruv.

Throughout the 1970s, I worked happily with the Board of Deputies in
campaigns against the National Front. Problems began when, as leader of
the Greater London Council, I rejected the board's request that I should
fund only Jewish organisations that it approved of. The Board of Deputies
was unhappy that I funded Jewish organisations campaigning for gay rights
and others that disagreed with policies of the Israeli governmen.

Relations with the board took a dramatic turn for the worse when I
opposed Israel's illegal invasion of Lebanon, culminating in the
massacres at the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila. The board also
opposed my involvement in the successful campaign in 1982 to convince the
Labour party to recognise the PLO as the legitimate voice of the
Palestinian people.

The fundamental issue on which we differ, as Henry Grunwald knows, is not
anti-semitism - which my administration has fought tooth and nail - but
the policies of successive Israeli governments.

To avoid manufactured misunderstandings, the policies of Israeli
governments are not analogous to Nazism. They do not aim at the
systematic extermination of the Palestinian people, in the way Nazism
sought the annihilation of the Jews.

Israel's expansion has included ethnic cleansing. Palestinians who had
lived in that land for centuries were driven out by systematic violence
and terror aimed at ethnically cleansing what became a large part of the
Israeli state. The methods of groups like the Irgun and the Stern gang
were the same as those of the Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic: to drive out
people by terror.

Today the Israeli government continues seizures of Palestinian land for
settlements, military incursions into surrounding countries and denial of
the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return. Ariel Sharon,
Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison, not
in office. Israel's own Kahan commission found that Sharon shared
responsibility for the Sabra and Shatila massacres.

Sharon continues to organise terror. More than three times as many
Palestinians as Israelis have been killed in the present conflict. There
are more than 7,000 Palestinians in Israel's jails.

To obscure these truths, those around Israel's present government have
resorted to demonisation. Initial targets were Palestinians, and have now
become Muslims. Take the Middle East Media Research Institute, run by a
former colonel in Israeli military intelligence, which poses as a source
of objective information but in reality selectively translates material
from Arabic and presents Muslims and Arabs in the worst possible light.

Today the Israeli government is helping to promote a wholly distorted
picture of racism and religious discrimination in Europe, implying that
the most serious upsurge of hatred and discrimination is against Jews.

All racist and anti-semitic attacks must be stamped out. However, the
reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on
black people, Asians and Muslims - and they are the primary targets of
the extreme right. For 20 years Israeli governments have attempted to
portray anyone who forcefully criticises the policies of Israel as
anti-semitic. The truth is the opposite: the same universal human values
that recognise the Holocaust as the greatest racist crime of the 20th
century require condemnation of the policies of successive Israeli
governments - not on the absurd grounds that they are Nazi or equivalent
to the Holocaust, but because ethnic cleansing, discrimination and terror
are immoral.

They are also fuelling anger and violence across the world. For a mayor
of London not to speak out against such injustice would not only be wrong
- but would also ignore the threat it poses to the security of all Londoners.

· Ken Livingstone is the London mayor

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7) Please join the queer contingent against the war
at the next mobilization which is
SATURDAY MARCH 19, 11am DOLORES PARK
QUEERS MEET NEAR THE ENTRANCE STEPS AT 19th & DOLORES...
where we've met before. I will have the "Queers for Peace and Justice"
banner spread out on the ground or we'll be holding it...everyone
welcomed. Bring other banners, signs, noisemakers, etc. Let's
be a loud and visible group...
tommi

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8) The Counter Recruitment movement in the Bay Area is growing faster
than US militarism!
This is a great time for us to move forward together.
You are invited to join in organizing an event for later this Spring:
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference
The first meeting will be:
Tuesday, March 15th at 7pm
American Friends Service Committee
65 9th Street, San Francisco
Between Market and Mission, near the Civic Center BART

We hope that one or two representatives of your group will attend to
help shape this exciting event from the ground up!

For more information, please feel free to email awe@o...
or call (510) 456-1617 x 4

Looking forward to working with you!

Susan Quinlan, Alternatives to War Through Education/CCCO
Sandra Schwartz, American Friends Service Committee
Jim Haber, War Resisters League West
--- End forwarded message ---

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9) Dear Healthcare Activist,
You are invited to our Saturday, March 12 meeting in San Francisco.
It starts at 3pm at 626 Pacheco near the corner of 10th Avenue. (#6 Bus)
We will feature a panel presentation on SB 840, the California Health
Insurance Reliability Act that was just introduced in Sacramento on
February 23. This replaces last years SB 921,
the Health Care for All Californians Act.

Please feel free to invite others and to forward this email.

___ I plan on attending the March 12 meeting.
___ I can arrive early to help set up.
___ I can bring a snack (encouraged but not necessary)
___ I have forwarded this email
___ Please send me the leaflet to distribute.
___ Please email the new bill.
___ Please remove me from this list.

Thank you.
Don Bechler
Chair
Health Care for All - San Francisco chapter
Chair
California Universal Health Care Organizing Project
415-695-7891


The CALIFORNIA

HEALTH INSURANCE RELIABILITY Act

SB 840

A Health Care Plan for Californians that:
Insures Everyone
Saves Californians Money
Is Comprehensive
Is Publicly Accountable

On February 23, 2005, State Senator Sheila Kuehl introduced
Senate Bill 840. SB 840, by consolidating all health insurance
spending will insure everyone. It will save both businesses
and the people of California billions of dollars. Assemblyman
Mark Leno and State Senators Carole Migden and Don Perata
are co-authors of SB 840. Come to a presentation and
discussion of SB 840.

SATURDAY 3PM

MARCH 12

626 PACHECO, SAN FRANCISCO

(corner of 10 th Avenue, #6 Bus)

Sparkers to be announced. Sponsored by the San Francisco
chapter of Health Care for All, the California Universal Health
Care Organizing Project, and the California Physicians Alliance.

For more information call 415-695-7891 or email
dbechler@value.net

labor donated posted 2-22-05

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10) COMMENTARY
What's Wrong With American High Schools
The approaches of 50 years ago cannot work today, Bill Gates says.
By Bill Gates
(Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, is co-founder of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation).
March 1, 2005
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-
gates1mar01,0,6675841.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions


Our high schools are obsolete.

By obsolete, I don't just mean that they are broken, flawed and
underfunded - although I can't argue with any of those
descriptions.

What I mean is that they were designed 50 years ago to meet
the needs of another age. Today, even when they work exactly
as designed, our high schools cannot teach our kids what they
need to know.

Until we design high schools to meet the needs of the 21st
century, we will keep limiting - even ruining - the lives of millions
of Americans every year. Frankly, I am terrified for our workforce
of tomorrow.

The idea behind the old high school system was that you could
train an adequate workforce by sending only a small fraction
of students to college, and that the other kids either couldn't
do college work or didn't need to.

Sure enough, today only one-third of our students graduate
from high school ready for college, work and citizenship.

The others, most of whom are low-income and minority students,
are tracked into courses that won't ever get them ready for any
of those things - no matter how well the students learn or how
hard the teachers work.

In district after district across the country, wealthy white kids
are taught Algebra II, while low-income minority kids are
taught how to balance a checkbook.

This is an economic disaster. In the international competition
to have the best supply of workers who can communicate
clearly, analyze information and solve complex problems,
the United States is falling behind. We have one of the highest
high school dropout rates in the industrialized world.

In math and science, our fourth-graders rank among the top
students in the world, but our 12th-graders are near the
bottom. China has six times as many college graduates
in engineering.

As bad as it is for our economy, it's even worse for our
students. Today, most jobs that pay enough to support
a family require some post-secondary education. Yet only
half of all students who enter high school enroll in
a post-secondary institution.

High school dropouts have it worst of all. Only 40% have
jobs. They are nearly four times more likely to be arrested
than their friends who stayed in high school. And they
die young because of years of poor healthcare, unsafe
living conditions and violence.

We can put a stop to this. We designed these high
schools; we can redesign them.

We have to do away with the outdated idea that only some
students need to be ready for college and that the others
can walk away from higher education and still thrive in
our 21st century society. We need a new design that
realizes that all students can do rigorous work.

There is mounting evidence in favor of this approach. Take
the Kansas City, Kan., public school district, where 79% of
students are minorities and 74% live below the poverty line.
For years, the district struggled with high dropout rates and
low test scores. In 1996, it adopted a school-reform model
that, among many other steps, requires all students to take
college-prep courses. Since then, the district's graduation
rate has climbed more than 30 percentage points.

Kansas City is not an isolated example. Exciting work is
underway to improve high schools in such cities as
Oakland, Chicago and New York.

All of these schools are organized around three powerful
principles: Ensure that all students are given a challenging
curriculum that prepares them for college or work; that their
courses clearly relate to their lives and goals; and that they
are surrounded by adults who push them to achieve.

This kind of change is never easy. But I believe there are
three ways that political and business leaders at every level
can help build momentum for change in our schools.

First, declare that all students must graduate from high
school ready for college, work and citizenship. Every politician
and chief executive in the country should speak up for the
belief that children need to take courses that prepare them
for college.

Second, publish the data that measure our progress toward
that goal. We already have some data that show us the extent
of the problem. But we need to know more: What percentage
of students are dropping out? What percentage are
graduating? And this data must be broken down by
race and income.

Finally, every state should commit to turning around failing
schools and opening new ones. When the students don't
learn, the school must change. Every state needs a strong
intervention strategy to improve struggling schools.

If we keep the system as it is, millions of children will never
get a chance to fulfill their promise because of their ZIP
Code, their skin color or their parents' income.
That is offensive to our values.

Every kid can graduate ready for college. Every kid should
have the chance.

Let's redesign our schools to make it happen.

If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives
at latimes.com/archives .

Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times

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11) Utah set to reject No Child Left Behind (link only)
By George Archibald
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 23, 2005
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050222-111910-7518r.htm

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12) My truth (La mia verità)
By Giuliana Sgrena
From the Portside mailing list:
Il Manifesto March 6, 2005

Translated by Eva Milan, ZabrinskyPoint

I am still in the darkness. Last Friday was the most
dramatic day of my life since I was abducted.

I had just spoken with my abductors, who for days kept
telling me I would be released. So I was living in
wait. They said things that I would understand only
later. They talked of transfer related problems. I had
learned to understand which way the wind blew from the
attitude of my two "sentinels," the two fellows who
watched over me every day-especially one of them, who
attended to my requests, was incredibly bold. In the
attempt to understand what was going on, I
provocatively asked him if he was happy because I would
go away or because I would stay. I was surprised and
happy when, for the first time, he told me, "I only
know you will go, but I don't know when."

To confirm that something new was happening, at one
point they both came in the room to reassure me and
joke: "Congratulations," they said, "you are leaving
for Rome." To Rome, that's what they were saying.

I had a weird feeling, because that word immediately
evoked liberation but also projected a void inside
myself. I realized it was the most difficult moment of
my abduction and that if all I had lived yet was
certain, now an abyss of heavy uncertainties was
widening. I changed my clothes.

They came back: "We'll escort you, but don't give
signals of your presence, otherwise the Americans might
intervene." That was not what wanted to hear. It was
the happiest and also the most dangerous moment. If we
ran into someone, meaning American troops, there would
be an exchange of fire, and my captors were ready and
they would have responded. I had to have my eyes
covered. I was already getting used to a temporary
blindness.

About what happened outside, I only knew that in
Baghdad it had rained. The car ran safely in a muddy
area. There was the driver and the same old abductors.
I soon heard something I didn't want to hear. A
helicopter flying low over the area we had stopped in.
"Don't worry, now they will come look for you . . .
within ten minutes they will come." They had spoken
Arabic all the time, some French and much broken
English. Now they spoke in this way, too.

Then they got out of the car. I stayed in that
condition of immobility and blindness. My eyes were
stuffed with cotton, and covered by sunglasses. I was
motionless. I thought . . . what do I do? Should I
start counting the passing seconds to another
condition, the one of freedom? I had just started
counting when I heard a friendly voice: "Giuliana,
Giuliana, this is Nicola, don't worry, I've talked to
Gabriele Polo, don't worry, you're free."

He took my cotton blindfold and sunglasses off. I felt
relieved, not for what was going on, which I didn't
understand, but for Nicola's words. He kept talking
nonstop, he was uncontainable, a flood of friendly
words and jokes. I finally found comfort, almost
physically, a warm comfort I had long since forgotten.

The car proceeded on its way, through an underpass full
of puddles, almost skidding to avoid them. We engaged
in incredible laughter. It was relieving. Skidding
along a road full of water in Baghdad and maybe have a
bad car crash after all I had experienced would not be
really explainable. Nicola Calipari sat by my side. The
driver had notified the embassy and Italy twice that we
were heading to the airport, which I knew was
controlled by the American troops. It was less than one
kilometre, they told me . . . when. . . . I remember
only fire. At that point a rain of fire and bullets
came at us, forever silencing the happy voices from a
few minutes earlier.

The driver started shouting we were Italians, "We are
Italians! We are Italians . . ." Nicola Calipari dove
on top of me to protect me and immediately, and I mean
immediately, I felt his last breath as he died on me. I
must have felt physical pain, I didn't know why. But I
had a sudden thought: I recalled my abductors' words.
They said they were deeply committed to releasing me,
but that I had to be careful because "the Americans
don't want you to return." Back then, as soon as they
had said that, I had judged their words to be
meaningless and ideological. In that moment such words
risked to take the taste of the most bitter truth away.
I can't tell the rest yet.

This was the most dramatic moment. But the month I
spent as a kidnap victim has probably changed my life
forever. One month alone with myself, prisoner of my
deepest belief. Each hour was a pitiless test of my
work. Sometimes they kidded me. They even asked me why
I would leave and asked me to stay. I pointed out that
I had personal relationships. They led me to think to
such priorities that too often we put aside.

"Ask for your husband's help," they told me. And I did
so in the first video, the one I think you all have
watched. My life has changed. Same as Ra'ad Ali
Abdulaziz's, the Iraqi engineer from "Un Ponte per" who
was abducted with Simona & Simona. "My life is no
longer the same," he told me. I didn't understand. Now
I know what he meant. Because I have experienced the
hardness of the truth, I realize the difficulty of
communicating it, and the weakness of trying to.

In the first days of my abduction I didn't shed a
single tear. I was simply mad. I told them directly:
"How can you abduct me, if I am against the war?" And
they started a fierce debate. "Yes, because you want to
speak to the people, we would never abduct a reporter
who stays shut in the hotel. And then the fact you say
you're against the war could be a cover up." I would
reply, almost provoking them: "It's easy to abduct a
weak woman like me, why don't you do it to the American
officers?" I insisted that they couldn't ask the
Italian government to withdraw its troops; that they
had to address the Italian people who were and are
against the war, not Italian government.

It was a month of ups and downs, moments of hope and
moments of deep depression. Like when the first Sunday
after my abduction, in the Baghdad house where I was
prisoner and where there was a satellite television
dish, they let me see the EuroNews. I saw my poster on
the Rome city hall building. I was relieved. Soon
after, however, a claim from the Jihad announced I
would be executed if Italy didn't withdraw its troops.
I was frightened. But they reassured me that it wasn't
them, that people should have mistrusted those
proclamations, that they were a "provocation." I often
asked the one who seemed more approachable and who
looked more like a soldier: "Tell me the truth, you
will kill me". Nonetheless, many times, we talked.
"Come see a movie on TV," they told me, while a Wahhabi
woman, covered from head to foot, hung around the house
taking care of me.

The abductors seemed a very religious group, constantly
praying the Koran verses. But on Friday, at the time of
my release, the one who seemed the most religious and
who used to wake up at 5 o'clock every morning to pray,
"congratulated" me and incredibly shook my hand-it is
not a usual behaviour for an Islamic
fundamentalist-adding "If you behave, you'll leave
soon." That was followed by a rather humorous episode.
One of my two guards came to me astonished because the
TV showed my photographs displayed in European towns
and also on Totti. Yes, Totti (the Rome football team
player, T.N.). The guard said he said he was a Rome
team fan and he was amazed that his favourite player
had taken to field with "Free Giuliana" on his T-shirt.

I now live with no more certainties. I find myself
deeply weak. I failed in my belief. I had always
claimed there was need to go tell about that dirty war.
And I had to decide whether to stay in the hotel or
going out and chance being abducted because of my work.
"We don't want anyone any more," the abductors told me.
But I wanted to tell about the bloodbath in Falluja
through the refugees' tales. And that morning the
refugees and some of their "leaders" didn't listen to
me. I had in front of me the evidence of what the Iraqi
society has become with the war and they threw their
truth in my face: "We don't want anyone. Why don't you
stay home? What such interview can be useful for?". The
worst collateral damage, the war killing communication,
was falling on me. On me, who had risked it all,
challenging the Italian government that didn't want
reporters gong to Iraq, and the Americans who don't
want our work that gives witness to what that country
has really turned into with the war, despite what they
call elections.

Now I wonder. Is their refusal a failure?

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Media/030605Sgrena/030605sgrena.html

Marxism mailing list
Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

13) Reminder: URGENT National Call-In Day TODAY!
Call Your Members of Congress
TODAY!
WE NEED A BUDGET THAT PRIORITIZES CHILDREN!

The House and Senate Budget Committees are meeting
next week to come up with a budget resolution! We need
to tell our Senators and Representatives that we are
counting on them to produce a responsible resolution
that makes children's services a priority for our nation.
We must stop attempts to sacrifice health care for millions
of children, end legal guarantees of protection for abused
and neglected children, cut child care programs, deny
children Head Start services and more. We need them to
vote to make sure that our most vulnerable children and
families do not bear more budget cuts, caps, freezes or
eliminations in order to pay for more tax cuts for the wealthy.

Call Tuesday, March 8th at toll-free 1-800-247-2971
You'll be connected to your Senators and Representative
or directly call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
The toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American
Friends Service Committee. Don't be discouraged if the
lines are busy -- we want calls to pour into the offices!

Please ask your members of Congress to:

* Protect programs like Medicaid and assistance for
abused and neglected children. Do not cut or cap the federal
funding of, or destroy the guarantees and legal framework
of, these critical child health and child protection services.

* Protect successful domestic programs that invest in
children including child care and Head Start. Do not adopt
President Bush's proposals to cut or eliminate programs that
will result in fewer children receiving child care, access to
Head Start, and other children's health, child welfare, and
education services.

* Stop considering shredding federal guarantees that
reduce child suffering while stacking the deck in favor of
the wealthy. Do not adopt budget rules that cap programs
for children while continuing to give massive tax cuts to
the wealthiest Americans and adding their cost to the
national debt our children will inherit.

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14) Virginia Hampton Roads Daily Express, (link only)
March 6, 2005
Military Update: Black Army recruits down 41 percent since 2000
By Tom Philpott
http://www.fra.org/mil-up/

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15) Kick Military Recruiters Out of San Francisco State
Wednesday, March 9, 2005
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave
Malcolm X Plaza
11 AM

The US Military is getting hard hit
in Iraq with the death toll. They Know
that starting an unpopular draft
for an unpopular war is suicide; they've
upped recruitment bonuses and
promises of college money as tuition is going
up nationwide. The reality of $80
billion more for the occupation is only
possible due to the massive cuts
in health care, education and the soon
be "social-security reform."

The Army Corps of Engineers and the
US Navy are coming to San Francisco
State University in the hopes of recruiting
students to become cannon fodder for
the US occupation effort. We have
a different plan: we are organizing a protest
to block the recruiters and kick them off our campus.

Hundreds of students at low-income
colleges and high schools nationwide have
participated in protests like this one,
and have successfully forced
military recruiters to pack up and
leave their campuses. Now is is SF State's turn.
Join us to demand:

End the Occupation! Troops Out Now!
No Recruiters on Our Campus!

For more information contact:
Katrina Yeaw
916.716.9817
kyeaw@sfsu.edu

You fasten the triggers
For others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's on thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

-Bob Dylan "Masters of War"

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16) Counter-Recruitment Calendar for the San Francisco Bay Area
compiled by MOOS-Bay

This calendar will be updated weekly. Please submit your entries
each week by Wednesday noon. Also, please notify us at
awe@objector.org if you do not want to receive this calendar.

Our apologies, due to a series of technological problems, this
calendar is not as complete as we would like it to be. Please let
us know if there are important facts to be added for next week
or if there is inaccuracy in your listing.


March 15, Tuesday, 5 pm - Press Conference
Picket and Press conference in front of 670 Davis St. San
Francisco recruitment office to publicize the March 19 protest
and the anti-recruitment contingent. ChretienTodd@aol.com
for more information

March 15, Tuesday, 7 pm - First meeting to organize for the
MOOS-Bay Regional Counter Recruitment Conference, at the
American Friends Service Committee, 65 9th Street, San
Francisco, between Market and Mission, near Civic Center
BART. For more Information, awe@objector.org or
(510) 456-1617, x4

March 16, Wednesday, 7 pm - < FONT>When Soldiers
Say "No to War"
International Socialist Organization. Public meeting
and discussion on resistance in the military.
110 Capp St. (between 16th and 17th -buzz 202), San Francisco.
ChretienTodd@aol.com for more information

March 17, Thursday, 7 pm (revised date) - San Francisco
Board of Education "meeting of the whole", To address
military recruitment at our schools and Jr. ROTC, 555 Franklin St.
Thursday, March 17th(revised date): The meeting will be
devoted solely to the issue of military recruitment at our
schools. This meeting is designed to be a very large meeting
that will address the war and this issue only.
caroseligman@aol.com has more information if needed.

March 18, Friday - Albany High School Students for Peace Rally
Against military recruitment and Against the War in Iraq.
Students, parents, and teachers will march in a contingent at
the March 19th SF March Against the War.
Dr. Carlos Munoz, Jr., 510-642-9134
http://socrates.berkeley,edu/~ethnicst/cs/munoz.html

March 19, Saturday, 10:30 am - Campus Antiwar Network -
Military Out of Our Schools!
The San Francisco group College Not Combat Committe
will join with students at 16th and Mission BART Station
at 10 am. There will be a banner "Military Out of Our Schools".
Then the contingent will march up to Dolores Park to meet
up with the rest of the demonstration at 11:00.
SAWSFSU@yahoo.com

March 26 and 27 San Francisco Civic Center and Union
Square (27th) EYES WIDE SHUT outdoore exhibition presented
by AFSC. The exhibit highlights the human cost of war.
More information about the exhibit
http://www.afsc.org/eyes/default.htm.
Volunteers to publicize the event and to set it up are needed: S
teve Leeds, Volunteer Coordinator at
415 565-0201 ext 15 or sleeds@afsc.org.


March 27, Sunday (Easter) - Berkeley Unitarian
Fellowship CR Event
Workshop on Conscientious Objection and
Counter-Recruitment (2-5 pm). Press conf.
at 1 pm with Military Families. Morning service at
10:30 am is "Evolution of a Decision".

APRIL 2, Saturday, 11:30 am - Bay Area United
Against War (BAUAW)
Military out of our schools. 474 Valencia St., SF
(First floor, to the left and all the way back to the
Companeros del Barrio Children's Center).
Caroseligman@aol.com may have more information.

April 9, Saturday - West Coast Campus Anti-War
Network Conference
For student activists and anti-war groups.
General theme - CR and campus demilitarization.
Location tentatively set for City College.
Contact: Ellie Houston (Students Against Was - SFSU)
Campus Anti-War Network. elliehou@hotmail.com

* To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOOS-BAY/

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17) Idriss Stelley Foundation &
Dokta Cooper Community Networking Project
are proudly hosting the CEDP (Campaign to End the (racist)
Death Penalty) Bayview Chapter, every other Monday evening
at 7 P.M., at ISF office: 4921 3rd Street between Palou and Quesada.

California has the highest rate of Death row inmates in the country
(649), followed by Texas. Most death row inmates are poor People
of Color, mostly African Americans and Latinos.

We oppose the death penalty for 5 main reasons:

* It is racist
* It is not a deterrent to violent crime
* It targets the poor
* It is the ultimate part of the growing prison industry (Toyota,
Kmart, Microchips are employing inmates at 11 ct/hr)
* Most executions are modern lynching of innocents (given
inexperienced public defenders).

The current Death Row execution in California is STILL cruel and
unusual punishment: Nothing humane about lethal injection; too
often times the tranquilizer administered before the drug
stopping the heart is ineffective, and the inmate goes through
the long agony of a heart attack.

We have supported our District Attorney Kamala Harris, in spite
of the pressure of the POA, for not pursuing the death penalty
against David Hill for allegedly killing Officer Isaac Espinoza.

In spite of the ongoing refusal from our governor to spare the
lives of Kevin Cooper (with whom ISF has been actively
corresponding), Stan Tookie Williams (5 times nominee for
the Nobel prize for his anti violence children books) , together
we can abolish the atrocity of the death penalty in California,
following the path of Illinois !

Would you kindly forward this message to your lists ? This month,
we are launching a vast outreach effort to our community
churches in BVHP, and would be more than happy to facilitate
forum discussions in your organizations as well.

Blessings,
mesha Monge-Irizarry
(415) 595-8251 (24-HR Crisis Line)
Idriss Stelley Foundation


Next meeting:
Monday, March 21, 7 p.m. at ISF 4921 3rd St.,
Women on Death Row, Chowchilla, CA
Refreshment and snacks, hope yall can come !

We are also planning a big event
on April 30, 4 to 6 P.M.,
hopefully at the at the Bayview Opera House
(pending approval from their management) about Tookie.
Barbara Baker, author of "Redemption" about his life
and incarceration, will be the keynote speaker

---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

18) St Patrick's Day Parade Antiwar Contingent
Comrades and friends,
We now have the information regarding assembly for the
St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco this coming Sunday,
March 13th. The assembly is earlier this year (10:30) as is the
parade itself, so it is important to be on time. Our numbers are 45
and 46, so we are closer to the start of the parade. The assembly
point for our contingent is on 2nd Street, between Howard and Folsom
Streets, and we are assuming we'll be closer to Howard Street.
For additional information, contact us at irsp@netwiz.net.


The Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America's San Francisco
Bay Area chapter will again be participating in the San Francisco St.
Patrick's Day Parade and is once again organising an Anti-Imperialist
Contingent as part of its participation.

The parade is taking place this year on Sunday, March 13th. While we never
have many details this much before the actual parade date, the contingent
will undoubtedly assemble between 10:45 and 11:15 a.m., somewhere south of
Market and, of course, details will be forthcoming once we know them.

The focus of the Anti-Imperialist Contingent this year will again
be on ending the occupation of Iraq and of Ireland, and the slogans
we are putting forward are:

British and American Imperialism, Out of Iraq! Out of Ireland!

No War but the Class War!

These are both slogans of the IRSP, raised during demonstrations against
the war and occupation during the past year. As always, the
Anti-Imperialist Contingent welcome participants to have their own
identifying banners as well, and accepts any banners or signs addressing
the theme of this years contingent or in support of the Irish struggle for
national liberation and socialism.

We will extend a special invitation to ANSWER to participate,
because the date demonstration against the war and occupation they are
building for is a week after the St. Patrick's Day parade, making it the
last major opportunity to building for the demonstration. If any of you
receiving this message who are participants in the coalitions
engaged in building for that demonstration in the Bay Area, we
would welcome you giving voice to this offer in coalition meetings. In
addition to marchers, we would welcome members of the coalition to
circulate along side our contingent hand-billing for the demonstration.

Those who have participated with us in the past know that we generally
also have a van converted into a mobile bulletin board of sorts, which will
be the case again this year. The van will be used to also draw attention to
the 30th anniversary of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish
National Liberation Army, which just took place in December and the 21st
anniversary of the Irish Republican Socialist Committees of North America,
which were founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in March 1984

We need to know which organisations we can anticipate joining our
contingent this year, so please let us know by the 1st of March, if at all
possible. And, individuals planning on coming for the weekend from out of
town to participate need to let us know right away, if they want us to
try to supply lodging for them.

Following the parade, we welcome all those marching with the contingent to
join us at 2057 15th Street, Suite B (between Church and Market Streets)
for margaritas and a light buffet of Mexican food--because it is the firm
belief of the IRSCNA (Bay Area chapter, anyway) that it just isn't St.
Patrick's Day, if you haven't had a margarita!

As veterans of the parade know, we will march come rain or shine, and that
time of the March in San Francisco, rain is the more likely forecast--so
dress for what may come, as we don't want spirits dampened.

This year is again important for us to have other socialists and anti-
imperialists with us in a display of solidarity, as we expect to be
the sole unit in the parade challenging the American occupation of Iraq.

Is mise le meas,
IRSCNA, Bay Area Chapter

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Resource:
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF SOCIAL SERVICES UNDER THE KNIFE
RIGHT NOW GO TO:
http://www.bauaw.org/2005/02/programs-eliminated-or-cut-in-2006.html

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