Your Guide to a Weekend of Resistance

On the second anniversary of Shock and Awe, the anti-war movement wants you

Comments (0) By Sarah Ferguson Tuesday, Mar 15 2005

This Saturday, March 19, anti-war activists across the country are mobilizing to mark the second anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Certainly there's more than enough reason for outrage. The House just approved another $76 billion to fund the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, with no exit plan in sight. If the budget measure passes the Senate, that would bring the total cost of the war in Iraq to more than $200 billion—with some 1,500 U.S. troops dead, more than 11,000 others seriously wounded, and perhaps tens of thousands of uncounted Iraqi casualties.

Meanwhile, as Bush sings the virtues of Iraq's budding "democracy," the Pentagon is reportedly constructing 14 "enduring" military bases there, along with the largest U.S. embassy in the world.

A majority of Americans now think the war wasn't worth the bloody price—and some 59 percent of those polled last month said most troops should come home within the next year.

WHERE TO GET YOUR PROTEST ON

FRIDAY, MARCH 18

12 p.m.
GREAT LITANY AT ISAIAH WALL outside the United Nations (43rd Street and First Avenue). Chant the "Great Litany" a prayer for times of emergency with Rev. Earl Kooperkamp and members of Street Mary's Episcopal Church of Manhattanville. 212.864.4013.

6:30 p.m
CHELSEA CANDLELIGHT VIGIL NW corner of 8th Ave and 24th Street Sponsored by Chelsea Neighbors United To End The War. Members of the Chelsea community will walk through the local streets carrying candles, flashlights, bells and playing acoustic instruments as a reminder to all that this is the second year of war in Iraq. 212.726.1385.

6:30-9:30 p.m.
SEND-OFF RALLY for Buses to Fayetteville, North Carolina—Union Square. Sponsored by United for Peace and Justice NY with speakers from Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, and Military Families Speak Out, and music from the Clearwater Revival Chorus and Quasilulu, an Asian women's rock band.

7 p.m. to midnight
HIP-HOP CONCERT TO BENEFIT TROOPS OUT NOW COALITION. Oberia Dempsey Center, 127 W. 127th Street between 7th Avenue and Lenox Avenue. Featuring Nana Soul, Head Roc, Afi, Komplex, Tylibah, Bomani, Verses, Hicoup and Hasaan, Movement in Motion. $10 suggested donation—all welcome! 212.633.6646 or e-mail spiritsingsllc@yahoo.com.

SATURDAY, MARCH 19

10:00 a.m.
TROOPS OUT NOW MARCH Gather at Marcus Garvey Park, 124th Street and Fifth Avenue. March past the 125th Street Armed Forces Recruiting Station then south to Central Park’s East Meadow, near 97th Street and Fifth Avenue. Rally from noon to 3 p.m., when there will be a second march to Mayor Bloomberg's townhouse at 79th Street and 97th Street and 5th Avenu to demand "Fund Our Cities—Not War!"

10:30 a.m.
NON-VIOLENT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE at Military Recruitment Centers. Sponsored by War Resisters League. To volunteer to carry a coffin or take part in the CD, e-mail nycwrl@att.net or call 718.768.7306.

Manhattan: Gather at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47 Street between First & Second Aves.) at 10:30 a.m. and march with with coffins to Times Square recruiting station, 43rd Street & Broadway, for CD and leafletting at noon.

Brooklyn:Gather at Brooklyn Public Library (Flatbush Avenue near Grand Army Plaza) and Brooklyn Borough Hall for 10:45 a.m. rally. At 11:30 am. two solemn processions with coffins will begin—one along Flatbush Avenue from the library and the other through the Fulton Mall from Borough Hall. 12 noon—Leafletting and civil disobedience at the military recruiting offices, 41 Flatbush Avenue near Lafayette Avenue.

Bronx: 11:00 a.m. vigil at the recruiting center, Fordham Road and Grand Concourse.

10:30 a.m.
MARCH TO BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW Brooklyn Promenade at Montague Street. Sponsored by Brooklyn Parents for Peace. March through Fulton Mall to reach the military recruiting station at Flatbush Avenue and Schermerhorm Street at 12:00 noon, where we'll read the names of those killed in this war, both Iraqis and Americans.

4-7 p.m.
PRAY FOR PEACE: BRING THE TROOPS HOME. Bay Street and School Road, Staten Island. Sponsored by Peace Action Staten Island. Join in mourning the loss of over 1500 American troops and thousands of Iraqi citizens. Signs will be visible to travelers of the Verrazano Bridge. E-mail sjones1@si.rr.com.

SUNDAY, MARCH 20

4:00-6:00 p.m.
WHEN WE ALL GET TOGETHER An interfaith service of Remembrance, Resistance, and Reverence, Riverside Church, 120th Street and Riverside Drive. Sponsored by Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq. Jim Wallis, (author of God's Politics), Susannah Heschel, (Chair, Jewish Studies at Dartmouth University), Rev. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, (Resident Minster, New York Buddhist Church) and Rev. James Forbes, (Senior Minister, Riverside Church) will raise a moral critique of the war and U.S. foreign policy. The program will feature representatives of Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans against the War, and the YaYa Network, a youth organization working on counter-recruitment.

Yet anti-war forces remain divided over just how to capitalize on the nation's growing discontent. The debate over jihadist and fundamentalist forces in Iraq is one that's roiling the peace movement as a whole as it grapples with just what exiting Iraq now might mean.

The split is reflected in the wide range of protests. This year, United for Peace and Justice the nation's largest anti-war coalition, opted not to host another protest parade through the streets of Manhattan and is promoting decentralized actions instead. "We wanted to surface the real breadth of the anti-war movement," says national coordinator Leslie Cagan.