Jan 18: Join the Labor Contingent

On January 18, 2003 at 11 a.m., the Labor Contingent meets on Market Street, at Justin Herman Plaza , by the Hyatt Regency Hotel, San Francisco. We expect labor to lead this march, as it should, so it would help if you arrive at 10 a.m. Everyone, whether or not you are a union member, who supports labor, peace, the Bill of Rights and the Palestinian liberation struggle is welcome to join the Labor Contingent. Bring your union banners if you have them, and most importantly, bring yourselves to this historic peace march.

This Labor Contingent is being organized by the Labor Committee for Peace & Justice which may be reached at labor-for-peace-and-justice [at] igc.org. The official demands are for Peace, Jobs and Justice and we march with labor’s slogan: “An Injury to One Is An Injury to All.” That is also the slogan of the longshore workers, the ILWU, whose fabulous, not-to-be-missed, drill team will lead our Labor Contingent.

We march this Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend not only for peace, jobs and justice, but also in honor of the 74th birthday of Dr. King, who spent the last days of his life speaking for labor at a sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis, Tennessee.

We have seen how effective mass protests are with the demonstrations in December 2002 and January 2003 against the roundups of boys and men from certain Arab and Moslem countries. These protests stopped the massive imprisonment of these immigrants under horrifying and illegal conditions, and forced the INS to return to its usual practice of simply asking that the visas be renewed and not arresting people, for the most part. The INS has been put on the defensive due to our massive protests, and that is what we must do on a far larger scale with our peace movement because the US ruling class is pushing for world war and fascism very quickly.

To stop it will require MILLIONS of people taking to the streets. Considering California has 34 million people, Texas has 20 million, and the other Western states have a combined total of 30 million for a grand total of 84 million people, and with the profound economic crisis caused by spending our tax dollars on war instead of social needs, and the promotion of a fascist state with the destruction of the Bill of Rights, we ought to have 1 million people on the streets of San Francisco on January 18, 2003, marching for peace, the Bill of Rights, the Palestinian liberation struggle and spending our tax dollars for social needs.

Since we are celebrating the birthday of Brother Martin Luther King, born January 15, 1929, let us remember some of his words, as he always spoke for the workingclass of all colors:

“The deep rumbling of discontent that we hear today is the thunder of disinherited masses, rising from dungeons of oppression to the bright hills of freedom, in one majestic chorus the rising masses singing, in the words of our freedom song, ‘Ain’t gonna let nobody turn us around.’ All over the world, like a fever, the freedom movement is spreading in the widest liberation in history. The great masses of people are determined to end the exploitation of their races and land. They are awake and moving toward their goal like a tidal wave. You can hear them rumbling in every village, street, on the docks, in the houses, among the students, in the churches and at political meetings.”

Happy Birthday, Brother Martin! Solidarity Forever!