Spanish Radio and TV have been urging
listeners to show up and protest, which accounts for the large crowds.
Pro Illegal Immigration Rally organizer tied to Marxist party
Web Site http://www.internationalanswer.org Act Now to Stop
War and End Racism (ANSWER)
One of the key organizers of the immigration protests and rallies nationwide, including
yesterday's in Washington, is a group whose leaders are tied to the Workers World Party, a
Marxist organization that has expressed support for dictators Kim Jong-il of North Korea
and Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, (web site) which also has proposed a nationwide boycott on
May 1 to protest congressional efforts at immigration reform and border security, is an
offshoot of the International Action Coalition, an anti-capitalism group founded by former
Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
In a press release celebrating a March 25 rally in Los Angeles against immigration-law
enforcement that drew an estimated 500,000 people, ANSWER said it helped organize "a
major contingent in the march" and provided logistical support. The march was
co-chaired by Juan Jose Gutierrez, director of Latino Movement USA, who also is a member
of ANSWER's Los Angeles steering committee.
"We are people of dignity, and we demand respect," Mr. Gutierrez said at the
rally. "This is the beginning of a movement that is going to call for a national work
stoppage."
Another ANSWER member who spoke at the rally, Gloria La Riva said: "The racist
politicians thought they could step on us with their racist legislation, but they
have awakened the immigrant giant, and they will feel our strength when we stop
work."
Founded three days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States,
the organization describes itself as a "coalition of hundreds of organizations and
prominent individuals and scores of organizing centers in cities and towns across the
country" that have campaigned against "U.S. intervention in Latin America, the
Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia ... and for civil rights and for social and economic
justice for working and poor people inside the United States."
ANSWER also organized the first national anti-war rally after the September 11 attacks, a
demonstration that brought 25,000 people to Washington and 15,000 to San Francisco on
Sept. 29, 2001.
The Workers World Party, a communist organization in the United States
founded in 1959, describes itself as a party that has, since its founding, "supported
the struggles of all oppressed peoples" and opposes "all forms of racism and
religious bigotry." In addition to sponsoring or directing numerous popular-front
groups, it was instrumental in founding ANSWER through the International
Action Coalition.
Its March 25 rally in Los Angeles and its planned "Great American Boycott of
2006" on May 1 are part of a series of large-scale events that the coalition hopes
will sway lawmakers to put millions of illegal aliens in the United States on track toward
permanent residency and U.S. citizenship.
ANSWER has denounced attempts by Congress to secure the United States' borders and
criminalize illegal aliens as "racist," saying all working people should back
full amnesty for all of the estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal aliens now in the
United States. It has accused the media, government and corporations of "erecting
borders against humans and waging war on immigrant America."
Calling its proposed boycott a "day without an immigrant," the coalition has
labeled members of Congress - both Republicans and Democrats as "hatemongers,"
saying it will "settle for nothing less than full amnesty and dignity for the
millions of undocumented workers presently in the United States."
The street rallies and the proposed boycott are seen as critical in keeping what ANSWER
has described as "pressure" on Congress so it will not be allowed to
"decide how much equality or how much inequality, or how much repression, should be
meted out to the millions of hardworking immigrant families."
"Immigrant workers, including the undocumented workers, are the sisters and brothers
and allies of all those struggling for justice," the organization said. The boycott,
according to the coalition, means no work, no school, no shopping, buying or business as
usual.
Web Site http://www.internationalanswer.org
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition Steering Committee: includes, Party
for Socialism and Liberation,
Free Palestine Alliance, Korea Truth Commission, Muslim Student Association, National
Mexico Solidarity Network
Rally organizer tied to Marxist party By Jerry Seper The Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060410-094710-4817r.htm
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