We have regular weekly meetings for volunteers at ANSWER LA. Last night, on the first meeting after the holidays, it was packed, not just with ANSWER volunteers but also with people from other groups and coalitions too. The tribes are coming together.
ANSWER LA called a counter-inaugural demo at the Westwood Federal Building for Jan 20. It will be part of protests happening in San Francisco and, of course, D.C. Judging from the size and enthusiam of the meeting last night, and from the many phone calls and emails asking about the protest, calls which didn’t slow down even during the holiday, it’s looking like Jan. 20 could be sizable. Indeed, we’ve had people from four other states, some as far away as Colorado, say they are coming, something that’s never happened before.
Homeland Security pulled an already granted permit for a rally on the federal building lawn. Apparently they think peaceful protest ise a threat to national security. ANSWER LA is working on getting a permit from the City of L.A. for a rally on the street or in the park next to the federal building. Lawyers will go to court on this, and we’ve won before on permit battles. The march pemit through Westwood has already been granted.
People everywhere are mobilizing against the war and the imprisonment without end policies of Bush. A big turnout on Jan. 20 will send an unmistakable message across the planet that while the ruling class in the US may have turned to the right, the people have not. When the economy, crippled by the war-driven deficit, crumbles, when antiwar sentiment becomes mainstream, then Bush, like Nixon, will fall. This can and will happen. We need to be mobilized and ready when it does. January 20 will be an important step along the way.