Re: [Marxism] Million Worker March?

[Jon Flanders <jonathan.flanders@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

We have a bus scheduled from the Capitol District of New York.

Jon Flanders

Press Conference: Million Worker March Media Advisory


D.C. Press Contact: Reza Namdar (202)-355-8666

 Press Conference Scheduled for
 9:30 A.M., Thursday,
 September 16, 2004,
 at the Press Club in downtown Washington D.C.,
 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Lisagor Room

 The Million Worker March is Coming
 October 17, 2004 at the
 Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.


 Participants will include:

 Clarence Thomas, Co-Chair MWM, Executive Board,  International
Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)  Local 10;

 Thomas Keegel, Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters;

 Brenda Stokely, President, American Federation of State County and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District  1707;

 William Burrus, President, American Postal Workers Union (APWU)

 Chris Silvera, President National Black Teamsters
 Caucus

 and other trade union, community and anti-war leaders.




On October 17, 2004, a sea of working people from all over the country
will be rallying at the Lincoln Memorial in the spirit of Reverend Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. for the Million Worker March.  The call for this
historic rally has been heard in union halls across the country, in
communities, in schools and in work places.


The âMission Statementâ of the Million Worker March reads:  Thirty-six
years ago Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. summoned working people
across America to a Poor Peoples' March on Washington to inaugurate "a
war on poverty at home."



"The United States government," he proclaimed, "is one of the greatest
purveyors of violence in the world ...America is at a crossroads in
history and it is critically important for us as a nation and society to
choose a new path and move on it with resolution and courage"



The crisis facing working people today is even more acute. Under the
cover of systematic lies and deception, wars of devastation have been
launched at the expense of working people everywhere.



In our name, a handful of the rich and powerful corporations have
usurped our government. A corporate and banking oligarchy changes hats
and occupies public office to wage class war on working people. They
have captured the State in their own interests.



The vast majority of working Americans are under siege. Social services
and essential funding for schools, libraries, affordable housing and
health care are slashed and eliminated.



Decent paying jobs are disappearing through outsourcing and
privatization whose real purpose is to break unions and roll back the
gains of one hundred years of struggle.



Sweatshops and starvation wages are imposed on workers across the world
and deployed against workers at home to undermine our jobs and our
benefits.



This undisguised class war is waged without restraint against working
families and our children, enforced by anti-labor legislation and
decrees, and by courts serving our exploiters.



The aim of repressive legislation such as the Patriot Act is to
terrorize and suppress the struggles of working people for their rights,
and to destroy democratic control of the economy and of society. The
pretext of enemies afar becomes a smoke screen for repression and
autocratic rule.



The time has come to mobilize working people for our own agenda. Let us
end subservience to the power of the privileged few and their monopoly
of the political process in America.



Come together, brothers and sisters. Join The Million Worker March on
Washington as we launch a great movement for social change. Let us forge
together a social, economic and political movement for working people.
We are the many .The secretive and corrupt who control our lives are the
rapacious few.



Let us mobilize together through our unions, labor councils, social and
community organizations, friends and neighbors everywhere. We are on the
move and we shall not be denied.â


Clarence Thomas, co-chair of the MWM committee, whose union, ILWU Local
10, initiated the call stated,  âThe Million Worker March is growing.
We have the backing of labor unions representing well over 3 and a half
million workers, and weâll have more support by October. The time for a
march in our own name in the Nationsâ Capitol is long over due.  On
October 17, 2004, the unemployed and jobless; seniors and the disabled;
young and old; women; immigrant and low-wage workers, union and
non-union will come together.â


Thomas continued, âWe are longshore workers and housing advocates from
San Francisco; state and city workers in Texas and Maryland; hospital
and day care workers in New York City; students from Atlanta and North
Carolina; bus drivers from Boston; anti-war activists; immigrant workers
from Los Angeles and New Jersey; and seniors fighting for pension rights
and health care from Cleveland and Detroit.



Our voice will be heard on October 17th.  We will set our own agenda to
make sure that no matter who is electedâour issues will be
addressedâwhether it is for universal health care, protecting union
rights, safety on the job, or raising the minimum wage.â


Danny Glover, actor and activist, who spoke at the recent September 1,
Labor Rally called by the AFL-CIO at the Republican National Conference
declared at this rally, âWe must keep marching before the
electionsâafter the electionsâuntil we end unemployment and
homelessâuntil we bring the troops home nowâjoin us on October 17.â


The list of endorsers of the Million Worker March is growing and
includes:   Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; entire West Coast
Division of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union; American
Postal Workers Union; National Education Association; AFSCME Council 92
(MD); AFSCME District 37 (NYC); Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA); U.S.
Green Party; Harlem Tenants Council; Teamsters National Black Caucus;
1199-SEIU Joint Delegates Assembly (NYC); International ANSWER;
International Action Center; Ramsey Clark; United For Peace & Justice;
actor, Danny Glover; American Indian Movement; comedian, Dick Gregory;
Troy and Albany Labor Councils (NY); Global Womenâs Strike; Jim
Houghton, Director, Harlem Fight Back; United Steelworkers of America
Local 8751; Teamsters National Black Caucus; Howard Zinn, historian;
Justice 4 Homeless; National Immigration Solidarity Network; South
Carolina AFL-CIO; Farm Labor Organizing Committee; Bill Lucy,
Secretary-Treasurer, AFSCME; D.C. Labor for Peace and Justice; New York
City Labor Against the War; Global WomenÂs Strike; Mya Shone and Ralph
Schoenman, Taking Aim, Pacifica; National Association of Letter
Carriers, Branch 3825; Howard Wallace, co-founder, Pride at Work;
International Action Center; former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark;
Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council; Noam Chomsky, linguist; AFSCME
Local 95, Local 205, Local 215, Local 389, Loca167, Local 1881, Local
1930; CUE Local 3; and many more.


For more endorsers please see web page at www.millionworkermarch.org



Press Contacts:

 Reza Namdar
 (202)-355-8666

 Ralph Schoenman
 (707) 552-9992

 Sharon Black
 (410) 218-4835

 Dustin Langley
 (212) 633-6646





On Wed, 2004-09-15 at 14:33, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> Anyone going to the Million Worker March
> <http://www.millionworkermarch.org/>?  It's the last big mobilization
> before the election day.


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