Read MWM's Open Letter to the Anti-war movement below and obtain additional information about how you can participate on October 17. Thank you for doing whatever you can to: come to Washington, send someone to Washington and/or to support the MWM by giving your endorsement, telling others about it and by making a financial contribution as you are able.
- Axis of Logic Editors
An Open Letter to the Anti-War Movement
With every day that passes, the crisis facing the American people deepens. Resistance to a brutal occupation escalates and spreads across Iraq as both major political parties march in lock-step to intensify this war, increase the numbers of troops, allocate yet further trillions of dollars to permanent war and devastate social services in America.
Last February, the leaders of the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union, Local 10 initiated an appeal to the labor movement both organized and unorganized, to the social justice and inter-faith communities and to the mass of our people, to join together in a great mobilization in Washington, D.C.
This call to put forward our own agenda in opposition to military adventurism abroad and class war at home serves notice that we will not be soft-soaped at election time and sold out immediately thereafter.
Today, it is abundantly clear that the corporations and banks that fund, control and drive forward the political process in America have abrogated the political will and aspirations of the great majority of working people. They are conducting an "election" that excludes the deepest aspirations of multi-millions of working families
The time has come for all of us to unite, working people, labor organized and unorganized, anti-war activists and all advocates of social justice.
Leaders of the Million Worker March Organizing Committee met with leaders of the International Action Center in Washington, D.C. The Co-Chair, Publicity Chair and Regional Directors of the Million Worker March met with the Co-coordinator of the International Action Center to join forces and to unify our struggle.
We call upon United for Peace and Justice, Not in Our Name, leaders and all organizations preparing to demonstrate at the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention to make these great demonstrations a build up to a vast convergence in Washington, D.C. on October 17, 2004.
The largest trade union in the United States, the National Educational Association, representing 2.7 million workers, decided at its national convention of 12,000 delegates to endorse the Million Worker March.
Shortly before this, AFSCME and SEIU, representing over two million union members, passed resolutions at their respective national conventions calling for an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq and the return of all U.S. troops. The California State Federation of Labor has joined forces and passed a similar resolution.
The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, at its 33rd national convention, adopted a call for an immediate end to the occupation and a return of all U.S. troops. Following this, the CBTU and the Teamsters National Black Caucus joined with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and immigrant rights groups across the United States in endorsing the Million Worker March.
We have an historic responsibility to converge our forces, to come together as one great movement for social justice, to unite the rank and file of labor with the anti-war movement and all movements for social justice
We appeal as people of conscience to all our brothers and sisters, from every walk of life, in every group, committee, organization and movement for social improvement, for the advancement of democratic rights, for basic economic and social advance, for a social order free of addiction to arms production and war.
Let us put aside our small differences, our organizational concerns, our divergences around matters of minor moment. Remember our common aspirations and forget the rest. If we can do this, we have the opportunity to build a movement unprecedented in the history of our people. If we cannot, nothing lies before us but never ending war and universal suffering both at home and abroad.
Many of us are actively engaged in mass protests prepared for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Unions, anti-war coalitions, Peace and Justice Committees are reaching out.
We call upon all to join together as one united force in Washington, D. C. on October 17. Together, we can build a unified movement.
We know that, regardless of the outcome of the elections, the war machine, the corporations and the banks, will seek to impose their plans for death and devastation. We know that our struggle is in its formative stage.
We know that we shall be facing even greater challenges after the election and in the months and years ahead.
We face a system in advanced crisis and decay driven to impose wars for cheap labor and the resources of the most impoverished in the world.
Virtually every day we are told that an attack by unknown others will require the cancellations of elections and the suspension of all constitutional protections.
These open calls for virtual military rule in America express nothing so much as the desperation of the tiny handful of corporate and banking rulers alarmed by the disaffection of the mass of our people, who are testing the waters to undo the very framework of the first American revolution: the abrogation of representative government, the destruction of our basic rights and the very principle of a democratic polity.
These have one transparent purpose: to silence and immobilize us, to terrorize our people into numbed acquiescence in permanent war abroad and massive repression at home, as our social services are destroyed and our living standards are decimated.
The Mission Statement of the Million Worker March opened with a declaration issued 36 years ago by Martin Luther King, Jr. as he summoned our people to a great Poor Peoples’ March on Washington:
"The United States government is one of the greatest purveyors of violence in the world. … America is at a crossroads in its history and it is critically important to us as a nation and society to choose a new path and move on it with resolution and courage."
The crisis described by Martin Luther King, Jr. has deepened. We call upon all to join together in meeting it.
We appeal urgently for your endorsement and for your pledge to commit organizational resources in building together a vast mobilization in Washington, D.C. on October 17, 2004.
Clarence Thomas
ILWU Local 10
Co-Chair, Million Worker March
Trent Willis
Secretary-Treasurer, ILWU Local 10
Co-Chair, Million Worker March
Ralph Schoenman
UAW Local 1981
Chair, Communications, Million Worker March
Chris Silvera
Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 808
Chair, Teamsters National Black Caucus
Brenda Stokely
President, AFSCME District Council 1707
Regional Co-coordinator, Million Worker March
Larry Holmes
National Coordinator
International Action Center
Steering Committee, ANSWER
Sharon Black
Regional Coordinator
Million Worker March
International Action Center
Axis of Logic's previous update on the Million Worker March
Axis of Logic is pleased to endorse and promote the Million Worker March (on Washington D.C.), scheduled for October 17, 2004. We stand with the millions of workers in the United States who have been shunted aside by the U.S. government in the interests of the U.S.-led, Global Corporate Empire. Our support of the working women and men around the world lies at the heart of our mission to fight corporate wars-for-profit, colonization and systematic attacks on the working class - not only in this nation but throughout the world. We support this action in the interest of workers and for the health of the nation. We will continue to promote this historic event during the next 7 weeks and will keep our readers informed as workers mobilize to carry our message to the nation's capitol. We plan to participate in this action and provide full coverage of the event on October 17. We are asking Axis of Logic readers to join us in Washington, D.C. to help us make history on that day. We urge everyone to go to the MWM Website to learn more about the mission, purpose and plans for this march and to see how you can contribute to this mobilization that has been developing over the last two years. - Axis of Logic Editorial Board
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Please Join Us in a Million Worker March.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, recently passed a resolution proposing a million worker march on Washington in 2004.
Sunday, October 17, 2004 [updated from the 16th] is the date for this march. This mobilization is being proposed in response to the attacks upon working families in America and the millions of jobs lost during the Bush administration and with the complicity of Congress. The working class has not suffered such hardships since the Great Depression.
We are encouraging everyone to have the attached resolution adopted by your membership or organization. We are also asking that your organization start a Million Workers March Committee to mobilize organized/unorganized labor and our community and religious allies in your area, ultimately merging with a National Committee to be formed at a later date. Finally, we are asking for a financial contribution from your organization to be sent to the address below until a national Committee is created.
The Bush Administration and Congress's focus of placing the acquisition of capital and the quest for profits above the needs of working people is undermining the economic security of working people and the nation as a whole.
Now is the time for organized/unorganized labor, the interfaith and community organizations to show solidarity and demand that all elected officials address the needs of working people. As working class people, we know more than any others the difficulties and limitations we face both in our communities and workplaces. We shall therefore be representing ourselves during this march, independent from all politicians, while putting forward to the entire country, our program for the betterment of America's majority working population.
While we are in the early stages of planning this action, we are urging organizations to join us in making this march a reality. We need you and your organizations help. The crises we face is severe. By mobilizing and uniting organized and unorganized labor with our community and religious allies we will be able to more effectively stop the attack on working people and improve our living and working conditions
Please contact:
MILLION WORKER MARCH COMMITTEE
ILWU, Local 10
400 North Point
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 771-2028 Tel.
415) 441-0610 Fax.
Email: mwm_committee@yahoo.com
Learn why we need a Million Worker March.
Listen to Clarence Thomas of ILWU Local 10 and Ralph Schoenman of Pacifica Radio explain in detail the causes for and benefits of a Million Worker march on Washington. This interview was broadcast on KPFA - Guns and Butter with host Bonnie Faulkner:
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