[Marxism] Fwd: [ChiAntiWar] Green Participation in Chicago Peace March

[Alex Briscoe <obeynow20001@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Alex Briscoe <obeynow20001@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> To: obeynow20001@xxxxxxxxx
> From: Alex Briscoe <obeynow20001@xxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 08:45:30 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: [ChiAntiWar] Green Participation in Chicago
> Peace March
>
> We had groups of around five in Pilsen and Humboldt
> Park who participated in the feeder marches from the
> afternoon.  They each had about 300 copies of the
> flyer from the Whitney for Governor campaign, pasted
> below.
>
>   Three of us from the North Side Greens Local
> joined later on at State and Walton, carrying the
> Green banner and passing out about 600 flyers during
> the course of the march down Michigan Avenue.  We
> caught up with a couple of other activists along the
> way who helped pass out flyers.
>
>   The march itself was estimated by the police
> (probably a conservative estimate) at 7,000.
> Congratulations to Andy Thayer and the organizing
> committee for cleverly applying for and obtaining a
> permit following the same format as the holiday
> Festival of Lights, to march down Michigan Avenue,
> Chicago's main retail thoroughfare.
>
>   I ended up walking the length of the march,
> flyering along the way.  I met many people and had
> the opportunity to ask them to help us petition or
> donate money so that we could hire signature
> gatherers.
>
>   People were interested and impressed that there
> was a Green state slate standing for not sending any
> more Illinois National Guard to Iraq.  Most did not
> seem supportive of the corporate Party candidates.
>
>   I emphasized that the corporate parties in
> Illinois require us to gather 25 times the number of
> signatures to get on the ballot as are required in
> Mississippi, that historical bastion of freedom.
> Further, we're given half the time to collect the
> signatures and the machine will probably mobilize
> their patronage squads to challenge every signature,
> as they did with state workers working at taxpayer
> expense in 2004, against the Illinois Nader
> campaign.
>
>   I emphasized that if people there wanted to try to
> stop sending Illinois National Guard to Iraq and to
> start to raise taxes on the rich and corporations
> and lower them for workers and the middle class,
> while increasing health, education and social
> welfare spending, they need to help us get on the
> ballot.
>
>   Further, in light of the fact that the corporate
> parties are doing little more than fiddling while
> the planet is destroyed, sending in a check for a
> significant sum or collecting 500 signatures was
> nothing compared to what should and can be done.
>
>   People were impressed by the pitch and receptive
> to the message in light of the Democratic Party's
> disaster in 2004 and ongoing double talk on
> pensions, ecology and the war in Iraq.
>
>   People are starting to mobilize to defend their
> rights in Chicago, France, Latin America and beyond.
>  We should help the Illinois Green Party raise an
> independent voice against the parties of oppression
> and ecological destruction and for peace and workers
> rights.
>
>   Check out the link to sponsoring organzations for
> an idea of who participated:
>
>   http://www.chicagoactions.org/
>
>
>   More info on the march at:
>
>   http://chicago.indymedia.org/
>
>
>
>   The Flyer:
>
>
>     Rich Whitney Promises: "If elected, I will fight
> to keep the Illinois National Guard at home ? out of
> Iraq!"
>
>   [The following is an excerpt from Rich Whitney's
> position paper. Rich pledges, if elected Governor,
> to veto any further mobilization of the Illinois
> National Guard for purposes of serving in Iraq. The
> whole paper is available at www.whitneyforgov.org]
>
>   "The current war and occupation in Iraq is plainly
> illegal and immoral. It is illegal under established
> international law, under the U.N. Charter and under
> the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal. And it is
> immoral under a certain moral code that tells me
> that we shall not kill, we shall not steal, we shall
> not bear false witness against our neighbors and we
> shall not covet our neighbor's goods ? even if those
> goods happen to include massive amounts of oil?.
>
>   I realize that under Illinois state law, whenever
> a part of the Illinois National Guard "is called or
> ordered into the active military service of the
> United States by the President" or the Congress, "it
> shall be the duty of the Governor as
> Commander-in-Chief to furnish such troops . . .."
> [20 ILCS 1805/3.]
>
>    However, as I interpret this provision, it was
> not intended to supercede the authority provided
> under federal law for a governor to withhold consent
> when doing so is necessary to serve the interests of
> the State; rather, it is intended to set forth a
> basic "duty" that may, in some circumstances be
> superceded by a greater duty.
>
>   Second, under another, even higher law ? the
> principles of the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal
> ? as a government official, I would have a
> responsibility not to commit or further "an act
> which constitutes a crime under international law."
> ?
>
>   Unlike our present governor, I will not be even a
> complicit or passive participant in a crime under
> international law. I will do everything possible to
> prevent the sacrifice of any more human life in the
> service of such a crime."
>
>   We need your help to get on the ballot! The
> corporate parties in Illinois have declared that we
> need 25,000 signatures on our state slate petitions.
> This means that we have to recruit 150 volunteers to
> collect 300 signatures a person from late March to
> late June and/or raise $25,000 to hire signature
> gatherers.
>
>
>   Volunteer and donate today! Call (312) 924-1803 or
> mail a check to P.O. Box 623, Urbana, IL 61803.
> Checks should be made out to "IGP" and earmarked for
> "State Slate Campaign"
>
>   Help us get the real voice for peace heard this
> year.
>
>   Labor Donated
>
>
>
>
>   Alex Briscoe
>
>
>
>
> ***************************
> ***************************
>
> Telephone: (773) 572-6192
>
> http://www.gp.org/katrina2005/
> http://www.ilgp.org
> http://www.northsidegreenparty.org
> http://www.thegreenalliance.net
> http://www.greens4democracy.net
> http://www.democracyrising.us
> http://www.labornotes.org
> http://www.solidarity-us.org
> http://www.internationalviewpoint.org
> http://www.marxsite.com
>               
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