FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONTACT: Larry Holmes, Brian Becker
&n bsp; &nbs p; Nancy Mitchell (SF)
DECEMBER 13, 2000
(212) 633-6646 - New York
(415) 821-6545 - San Francisco
Thousands Will Protest at Bush's Inauguration in D.C. on January 20th
Parallel Action in San Francisco at 12 noon at the Civic Center Plaza
Bush's Election is a result of the Lynching of the
Black Vote in Florida
"Governor Death" does not have a mandate to push his
pro-rich, anti-poor, racist policies
On Saturday January 20th, tens of thousands of people
including many living in Washington, D.C. along with
many from all around the country will be protesting
the inauguration of George W. Bush. The protest will
address what amounts to the racist conspiracy on the
part of the right wing U.S. Supreme Court, the Bush
Dynasty and the Florida legislature to steal the
election by suppressing mainly the African American
vote in Florida. Al Gore didn't do a thing to right
the wrong done to Florida's Black voters.
The counter-inaugural demonstration was initiated
prior to! the outcome of the election was known. Both
Bush and Gore support the death penalty, agreed on the
anti-poor destruction of welfare. They supported
NAFTA, upheld the genocidal sanctions on Iraq, the
U.S. Navy bombing of Vieques, the growing Pentagon
intervention in Colombia and Israeli repression of
Palestinians.
Now that Bush will be President and assumes office on
the basis of a racist conspiracy to disenfranchise
thousands of African-American voters in Florida, the
January 20th demonstration will focus its demands on
the planned Bush presidency. Currently, organizers
are planning to bring busloads of demonstrators from
over 30 states, including New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware , Maryland, Vermont, Maine
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas,
West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, ! Georgia,
Florida, and Texas.
Bush, the politicians in Washington D.C., and all the
corporate interests that run the government behind the
scenes, must know that the people view this new
presidency as illegitimate and as a result, the people
are mad as hell. This is especially true for the
anti-globalization movement, student groups, labor
unions, civil rights and community activists, women's
organizations, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender groups.
A major goal of the January 20th protest is to let
Bush know from the beginning that he does not have a
mandate to continue his pro-rich, anti-poor policies
on a national level. Around the world, Bush is known
as "Governor Death" because more people have been
executed in Texas under his watch than in the other 49
states combined. The January protest will demand an
end to the death penalty. The protest will also be
calling for a new trial for world-renowned political
activist and writer Mumia Abu-Jamal, currently on
death row in Pennsylvania.
The protest will demand that government polices that
have resulted in alarming numbers of African Americans
and Latinos being incarcerated be reversed. Other
issues that protesters will be raising at the
inauguration include demands to stop U.S. support for
the repression of the Palestinian people; an end to
"Plan Columbia"; the U.S. navy get out of Vieques; the
diversion of money from the Pentagon to invest in
social needs especially healthcare, drug
rehabilitation and housing; jobs and schools, not
prisons; and an end to globalization because it is
concentrating more wealth and power into fewer hands
while spreading misery, insecurity, poverty and
powerlessness across the planet.
The International Action Center, along with more than
300 other organizations, is doing grassroots
organizing that will make the January 20th protest
huge and effective. Legal staff for the January 20th
protest is in negotiations with the various police
agencies in Washington D.C. to secure permits for the
protest where necessary.
Protest organizers are also insisting that they will
uphold their first amendment right to protest. They
are part of a class action lawsuit stemming from
Washington DC protests last April that charges the
Washington, D.C. police with violating the 1st and 4th
amendment rights of protesters during anti-IMF
demonstrations.
Amongst the illegal measures that the Washington, D.C.
police are engaged in, and are currently being sued in
civil court over, are pre-demonstration raids on the
offices of organizers, preventive arrests of hundreds
of protesters for the sole purpose of interfering with
their right to demonstrate and arbitrarily using tear
gas and brutality against peaceful demonstrators.
Protesters in D.C. will be gathering at 14th Street NW &
Pennsylvania Avenue at 10am. Protesters in San Francisco
will be gathering at 12noon at Civic Center Plaza, Grove &
Larkin Streets, Civic Ctr. BART.
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2489 Mission St. #28, San Francisco 94110 • (415) 821-6545
e-mail: actionsf@actionsf.org • web: actionsf.org |
