riproduciamo in inglese e nei prossimi giorni qualcuno lo tradurrà bene l' articolo di John Catalinotto che illustra  il passaggio politico fatto dai movimenti americani che oggi mantengono le manifestazioni, quello di denunciare anzitutto le mire imperialiste del loro governo, l'uso cinico dell'attacco compiuto contro le torri gemelle.Le armate americane e occidentali non difendono la libertà e la democrazia ma proteggono gli interessi delle multinazionali. Vogliono occupare  l'Asia centrale stabilmente per proteggere i loro interesse e ciò sta conducendo alla catastrofe. Vittime ne sono anche i civili americani stessi.

Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Oct. 4, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------

MOVEMENT COMING TOGETHER TO STOP THE WAR AND
CHANGE THE WORLD
Economic Justice, not Racism and Aggression


By John Catalinotto
New York

On Sept. 26, while the Pentagon was calling up another 2,000
reservists and Pakistani fishers reported a U.S. aircraft
carrier near that country's coastline, the peace movement
within the United States was preparing for its first
national action to stop the war drive.

The movement on both sides of the world follows the
catastrophic assault on and destruction of the Twin Towers
of the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, with the
loss of lives now estimated at over 6,000.

Anti-war activists here and abroad are horrified not only at
the carnage but at the Bush administration's use of it to
mobilize for a new round of war in Central Asia described as
a long-term, open-ended campaign by President George W. Bush
himself.

Within the U.S., peace activists, progressives, trade
unionists, community organizers and others have formed
a new anti-war coalition named A.N.S.W.E.R.--Act Now to Stop
War & End Racism. This group made a call for national and
international actions on Sept. 29.

In the U.S., major demonstrations are planned Sept. 29 in
Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago,
and local actions are set in many others cities for those
who cannot reach the central protests.

Before Sept. 11, the International Action Center had planned
a demonstration at the White House as part of many anti-
globalization actions. Since that time,
the IAC turned its permits over to A.N.S.W.E.R. and changed
the focus of the protest.

Workers World interviewed organizers from A.N.S.W.E.R. in
three of the cities about their assessment of the current
state of the peace movement and the sentiment among the
population.

TO WIN THE HEARTS AND MINDS

In San Francisco, WW spoke with Gloria La Riva about the
goals of the coalition at a time when public opinion polls
show a majority of the U.S. population backing a war.

"There has been a wonderful feeling of unity and cooperation
among the progressive forces in this region," said La Riva.
"All the progressive organizations, those of the left,
religious and community groups, groups from the Black,
Latino, Asian and Arab communities see this demonstration as
a way to create a platform for peace.

"They know it is an opportunity to break the climate of fear
that the Bush administration and the media have imposed on
the population," she added.

"We in the peace movement are in a struggle with the Bush
administration for the hearts and minds of the population in
the United States. Bush and Company have the mainstream--
that is, the big-business--media at their beck and call. We
have the beginning of a groundswell for peace among the
people," La Riva said.

"We can see how strong this sentiment is from the statement
of the San Francisco Central Labor Council," La Riva added.
"They, of course, condemn the attack and express their
solidarity with their fellow workers who were victims, and
they ask that the perpetrators be brought to justice. But
they go on to condemn the moves toward war, to show complete
solidarity with Arab and Muslim or other Central Asian
people within the U.S., and to demand that there be no loss
of civil liberties and freedom of expression.

"They also go on to endorse the Sept. 29 demonstrations both
in Washington and here in California," she concluded.

BREAKING THROUGH TO THE MEDIA

>From the A.N.S.W.E.R. office in Washington, D.C., Dick
Becker said that already a major accomplishment of the
demonstration has been to break through to the media after
almost two weeks where only one opinion was heard. This
would not have been possible had there been no
demonstration, he said.

"The message with the strongest impact," he said, "is that
the course of the Bush administration is leading to
catastrophe. Anyone who believes a new war in the Middle
East or Asia will offer more safety and security to people
living in the U.S. is being seriously misled.

"No one can excuse what happened Sept. 11, and the horrific
casualties, Becker added. "But if the Bush war drive goes
forward, these casualties could be multiplied 10 times, 100
times, or more."

"To remove the threat, you have to address the fundamental
issues that have created the deep anger against the U.S. and
its policies, an anger now higher than ever before.
Unfortunately," Becker said, "the consequences of the anger
toward U.S. policies can come down on the people of the
U.S., who haven't played a role in formulating these
policies and in many cases don't even know what they are.

"They may not know, for example, that U.S. sanctions on Iraq
still kill 5,000 people a month. Or that the U.S. supplies
the rockets, planes and bullets the Israelis use against the
Palestinians. But the people of the Middle East are acutely
aware of all this.

"Then there is a vast deployment of U.S. military forces,
thousands of troops, scores of warships, hundreds of
warplanes, in the Gulf region. The people there see them,"
Becker said, "not as defending freedom and democracy, but as
protecting the financial interests of corporate America,
particularly the oil companies. It is an occupation force
and no one wants to be occupied."

Becker told of the breadth of support for the Sept. 29
demonstration, as shown by a news conference A.N.S.W.E.R.
held in Washington Sept. 24. Speakers included Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton of Detroit, Jessica Marques of the Mexico
Solidarity Network, Lina Fattom of the Union of Arab Student
Associations, Chuck Kaufman of the Nicaragua Network, Kathy
Boylan of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House and Korean-
American activist Rev. Kiyul Chung.

There was also a strong showing
of Washington-based organizers, espe cially from the Black
community. It included Vanessa Dixon of the D.C. Healthcare
Now Coalition, Rev. Graylan Hagler of the Plymouth Congre ga-
tional Church, and Eleiza Braun of the
George Washington University Action Coalition.

A TIME TO ACT--AND TO REFLECT

In New York, WW spoke with International Action Center co-
director Sara Flounders. She had just finished debating on
Fox News with three pro-war people.

"I told them college youths were organizing against the
war," she said, but all three made fun of the students. "I
then said that it was past U.S. policies that had put the
population, not only of the rest of the world but of the
United States itself, at risk. The past wars had aroused
enormous anger. And a new war would do the same."

She agreed with Becker about the main argument in these
debates. "People can call for retribution but it will not
begin to solve the crisis. Revenge doesn't offer a way out,
but just opens the door to a deepening cycle of death and
destruction.

"There is something else coming out of all this horror," she
said. "Because people are frightened, because they feel
threatened, they are reflecting on these questions of U.S.
foreign policy as they never have before. They are asking
themselves why it all happened. They know there must be a
reason and they don't trust the government and its answers.

"The task of the anti-war movement," she concluded, "is to
combine strong action against the war with the clearest
answers to the questions so many people are asking."

Organizers at the International A.N.S.W.E.R. office say that
many people called in after the Fox debate to order bus
tickets to Washington, causing the group to order additional
buses.

- END -

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