As a journalist, you must be acutely aware of the deep divide between progressive and conservative America. In the face of that divide, conscientious attention to often overlooked opinions attains crucial importance. Concerned Americans rely on you to provide coverage of events offering a progressive perspective – you have a responsibility as part of the Fourth Estate.

Grassroots organizers representing several facets of the contemporary peace movement addressed the media at a press conference at the National Press Club recently. They discussed a series of mass mobilizations in Washington, DC the weekend of September 23-25. These will be the first peace demonstrations jointly coordinated by the two largest national peace groups, and their timing – with the President's approval ratings at an all-time low – is especially opportune for progressives.

The press briefing was poorly attended by media outlets. Not a single print outlet attended, although a camera crew from the local NBC affiliate and two radio outlets were there. For the past 24 hours, the NBC affiliate has been re-airing a segment featuring several of the speakers, who represented a variety of groups focused on a variety of issues. In addition to representing Military Families Speak Out, Code Pink, Black Voices for Peace, the Campaign to Stop Torture, Operation Ceasefire, and the Mobilization for Global Justice, the speakers specifically addressed:

* The values crisis created by torture practices reaching all the way to the top of our civilian chain of command;
* The unique perspective of a military mother, who accused the Bush administration of "betraying" her son and exploiting his willingness to defend his country;
* The disturbing parallels between economic policies imposed on post-invasion Iraq by the U.S. and those imposed on other countries by the International Financial Institutions;
* The tragic and catastrophic impacts of the war & occupation on the disaster relief effort in the Gulf Coast;
* The war's role in the growing budget deficit, and by extension, the impending housing crisis ; and
* The resurgence of cultural resistance by prolific artists and others unseen in the last half century.

We have attached a press release for your reference, and an audio recording of the conference will be available upon request. In addition, any of the speakers are available for follow-up interviews upon request.

Shahid Buttar
The DC Resistance Media Collective
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D.C. Resistance Media Collective
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release – September 14, 2005

Contact: Lacy MacAuley: (703) 850-5542 / butterfly (at) lacy.com
Nancy Shia: (202) 487-5915 / wheatpaste (at) yahoo.com

DC Groups Mobilize for Peace and Global Justice
on September 23-26

At a press conference at the National Press Club this afternoon, a broad spectrum of progressive activist and community groups presented plans for massive national demonstrations occurring Sept 23-26. In collaboration with an alliance of national anti-war groups, the DC community will demonstrate its opposition not only to the War in Iraq, but also the war’s various domestic and international policy effects, including the inadequate federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Today, representatives from six groups discussed organized resistance against torture, military recruitment, and economic imperialism – and support for military families, politically conscious artists, housing rights, and racial justice.

Jennifer Harbury of Campaign to Stop Torture unveiled plans for a mock torture trial on Sunday, Sept 25, featuring testimony from real torture survivors. Actor Martin Sheen will play the role of Donald Rumsfeld. Harbury observed “the complete disintegration of our moral goalposts,” recalling that “Congress confirmed as early as 1995 that my husband was captured and killed without trial by foreign agents paid by the CIA and trained by the U.S. military, indicating that torture is not the result of ‘a few bad apples,’ but rather a deplorably longstanding policy.”

Other organizers, such as Linda Leaks from Empower DC, highlighted the impacts of federal budget cuts imposed in the face of historic deficits exacerbated by tax cuts for the wealthy. Leaks observed the Bush Administration’s responsibility for widespread displacement of the working poor. She suggested that “what’s happening to people of color in New Orleans is happening to poor people all over the country. The Bush Administration has hamstrung not only the federal disaster relief infrastructure, but also the social services network on which many working Americans rely, sacrificing the working class and people of color to line the pockets of the rich.”

In addition, the Mobilization for Global Justice is also organizing events in conjunction with the weekend’s mass mobilizations. Noting that “the economic policies imposed by the U.S. on Iraq are identical to the global apartheid imposed on the rest of the global South by the IMF and World Bank,” Basav Sen offered details of a feeder march expected to visit an International Financial Institution before joining a march of anti-war groups which will in turn culminate in a historic concert, Operation Ceasefire.

Other speakers at the press conference included Dorie Southern from Northern Virginians for Peace and Justice, Military Families Speak Out, and Code Pink, who spoke of the “betrayal” of her son, who “joined the Army ROTC program to attend college and defend his country, not to invade foreign nations”; Adam Eidinger from Operation Ceasefire, who shared news of “reinvigorated cultural resistance unseen in the last generation”; and Damu Smith from Black Voices for Peace, who characterized the invasion and occupation of Iraq as “a tragic, ongoing, abject failure.” They each highlighted www.septemberaction.org as offering various opportunities for concerned Americans to get involved.
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