SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT REVERSES POSITION AND GRANTS PERMIT FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17 SF MARCH AGAINST AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ WARS

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SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT REVERSES POSITION AND GRANTS PERMIT FOR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17 SF MARCH AGAINST AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ WARS

The SFPD today granted the October 17 Antiwar Coalition a last-minute permit for a Market Street/Mission Street antiwar protest. The Permit Division had a few days earlier rejected a march permit with the explanation that it had “insufficient police” to properly monitor the march.

Had the permit rejection stood it would have been the first time ever that a march permit has been denied to peaceful demonstrators protesting U.S. wars abroad – in this case the U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

Market Street marches and other routes through the city have been routinely organized from the time of the Vietnam War to the present without police permit rejection.

“I have been organizing permitted and peaceful antiwar marches without incident for the past 40 years,” said march co-coordinator, Jeff  Mackler. “The idea that the city of San Francisco would or could deny us our fundamental democratic rights and civil liberties has never been in question.”

The October 17 Antiwar Coalition includes endorsing groups ranging from the San Francisco and Alameda Labor Councils, the Episcopal Diocese of California, the American Friends Service Committee, Labor for Peace and Justice to  the nation’s five leading antiwar coalitions.

October 17 is a national day of antiwar protest with demonstrations set for 40 U.S. cities. Initiated by a summer national conference in Pittsburgh sponsored by the National Assembly to End the Afghanistan Wars and Occupations, the month of October commemorates the onset of these wars and marks the 40^th anniversary of the historic Vietnam Moratorium, an event that mobilized 2.5 million Americans to protest the Vietnam War.

“Bring the Troops Home Now!” is the central demand of the October 17 protest.

Led my SF Supervisor Eric Mar, a majority of the city’s supervisors joined the effort to obtain the formal permit. Mar will be a featured speaker at the 1:00 pm UN Plaza Rally. Supervisor John Avalos, whose City Hall offices were used for yesterday’s coalition media conference, was joined by supervisors David Chiu, Chris Daley and Ross Mirakarimi in the successful effort to reverse the SFPD’s initial permit rejection.

The march assembles at the UN Plaza (Market between 7^th and 8^th Street) at 11 am. The march begins at Noon and returns to the UN Plaza for a 1:00 rally. For view of the flier and march route, click here

Who’s Going to Be at the Oct. 17 Rally in SF? Cindy Sheehan, Boots Riley of the Coup and author Norman Solomon, just to name a few.

We have an exciting and informative program lined up. So come out with your friends, family and co-workers for a peaceful, legal demonstration and join us in song, dance, marches, cheers, chants, banner waving (represent!), and protests. Send the message that you’re for an end to a combined total of 15 years of U.S. led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let your spirit of humanity shine brightly and your voice be heard loudly so that the government can’t ignore the sights and sounds of the majority in this country who are against their wars in Iraq,  Afghanistan and Pakistan. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! BRING THEM HOME NOW!

The U.S. goverment plans to send tens of thousands of more young men and women–sons and daughters, mothers and fathers–to Afghanistan. October 17 at U.N. Plaza is your chance to become an anti-war activist.

CONTACT US TO VOLUNTEER AT THE RALLY

E-mail oct17awc@gmail.com             Phones 415-641-1997       510-268-9429

THE ENTIRE PROGRAM LIST
Norman Solomon, author, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You

Rev. Israel Alvaron, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
Don Bechler, Single Payer Now!
Mike Casey, President, SF UNITE-HERE, Local 2
Deacon Vicki Gray, Grace Cathedral
Cristina Gutierrez, Barrio Unido
Monadel Herzallah, Arab American Union Members Council
Betty Olson Jones, Pres. Oakland Education Association
Antonia Juhasz, Dir., Chevron Program, Global Exchange
Eric Mar, SF Board of Supervisors (invited)
Cynthia McKinney, former six-term Georgia Congresswomen,
2008 Green Party candidate for president
BOOTS RILEY of THE COUP

Tim Paulsen, Exec. Dir., SF Labor Council
Suyeya Sayadi, KPFA Local Station Board
Cindy Sheehan, Antiwar activist/leader whose son was killed while serving in Iraq
Col. Ann Wright, U.S. State Department official who resigned
in protest of 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq
Rep., ILWU Local 10; Rep., UCB Student Worker Action Team
Musicians’ Action Group/Brass, Woodwinds, Drums

Endorsers

OCTOBER 17, 2009 IS A NATIONAL DAY OF LOCAL & REGIONAL ACTIONS AGAINST THE WARS

Endorsers To Date of a Call for an October 17 Day for Local and Regional Antiwar Protests

FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE SAN FRANCISCO RALLY, CLICK HERE

October 14, 2009

Endorsers To Date of a Call for an October 17 Day for
Local and Regional Antiwar Protests

1. Action Center for Justice (Charlotte, NC)
2. After Downing Street
3. Alameda Labor Council
4. Albany County Green Party
5. Albany Friends Meeting
6. Mujtaba Alwan, Amnesty International (College of St. Scholastica)
7. A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now To Stop War and End Racism)
8. Tamar Atzenhoefer, Amnesty International (College of St. Scholastica)
9. Bail Out the People Movement
10. Mark A. Bailey, Methodist Theological School in Ohio Seminary Student
11. Bay Area United Against War
12. Medea Benjamin, cofounder, CODEPINK and Global Exchange
13. Berkshire Citizens for Peace and Justice
14. Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace
15. Bloomington-Normal Citizens for Peace and Justice
16. Blue Berry Peace Forum, Retreat Center and Wildlife Refuge
17. Boston Stop the Wars Coalition
18. Deb Brave, Antiwar Activist, Mantua, Ohio
19. Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights
20. Bread and Roses Forum of the Sisters of St. Joseph
21. Burnsville and Eagan Peace Vigil (MN)
22. Campus Antiwar Network/Ole Miss
23. Capital District Interfaith Alliance
24. Center for Just Living, College of St. Scholastica
25. Central Ohioans For Peace
26. CODE PINK
27. Connecticut Students Against the War
28. CT United for Peace
29. Defenders for Freedom, Justice and Equality (Richmond, VA)
30. Democratic Socialists of Central Ohio
31. Donna Dewitt, President, South Carolina AFL-CIO*
32. Duluth Area Green Party
33. Duluth Central Labor Body
34. Duluth Unitarian-Universalist Church Peace and Social Justice Committee
35. Steve Early, labor journalist, Author of “Embedded With Organized Labor: Journalistic
Reflections on the Class War at Home”
36. Faith Communities Uniting for Peace (Columbus, OH)
37. First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans
38. Freedom Road Socialist Organization
39. FreedomJournal.tv
40. Freedom Socialist Party
41. Sharla Gardner, Duluth City Councilor
42. Holly Gigante, Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) in the State of Ohio
43. Suzanne Gordon, Author of “Nursing Against The Odds;” National Writers Union, UAW*
44. Grand Mamas for Mumia Abu-Jamal
45. Grandmothers for Peace, Northland Chapter
46. Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace Coalition
47. Greater Hartford Coalition on Cuba
48. Green Party of NYS
49. Green Party of Ocean County, NJ
50. Green Party of Ohio
51. Green Party of the United States
52. Green Party Peace Network
53. Growing Communities for Peace
54. Guilderland Neighbors for Peace
55. Health Care Not Warfare
56. Monadel Herzallah, President, Arab American Union Members Council*
57. Dave Hopkins, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
58. Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter
59. Interfaith Council for Peace in the Middle East
60. International Action Center
61. International Socialist Organization (ISO)
62. Iraq Moratorium
63. Iraq Peace Action Coalition (Minneapolis)
64. Ron Jacobs, writer
65. Dahr Jamail, journalist, author of The Will to Resist – Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and
Afghanistan
66. Josie Johnson, Amnesty International (college of St. Scholastica)
67. Robert Johnson, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1116*
68. Kansas City Labor Against the War
69. Labor Religion Coalition, Capital District
70. Lake Superior Greens
71. Susan Lamont, Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County, CA
72. Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice (KS)
73. Susan Loonsk, Northland Center for Art and Ecopsychology
74. Lyndale United Church of Christ (Minneapolis)
75. Maine Independent Green Party
76. Mayday Book Store (Minneapolis)
77. David P. Michener, M.D., Unitarian-Universalist (CA)
78. Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice
79. Middle East Children’s Alliance
80. Middle East Crisis Response
81. Paige Makoons Miller, Indigenous Student Alliance
82. Minnesota Cuba Committee
83. Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers
84. Minnesota Tenants Union
85. Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO)
86. Muslim Solidarity Committee
87. National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations
88. Margaret Nelson, Peace & Freedom Party
89. New Abolitionist Movement
90. New England United
91. New Jersey Labor Against the War
92. New Jersey Peace Action
93. New York Labor Against War
94. Northeast Ohio Anti-War Coalition (NOAC)
95. Northeast Peace and Justice Action Coalition (NEPAJAC)
96. Northern California Committee of Correspondence for Socialism and Democracy
97. Northland Anti-War Coalition
98. Northwest Greens (Philadelphia)
99. Northwest New Jersey Peace Fellowship
100. Northwoods for Mumia
101. OffBase GI Coffeehouse and Activists Community, Norfolk, VA
102. Ohio State Labor Party
103. Ohio Valley for Peace
104. Out Now youth organization, Springfield, MA
105. Palestine Task Force, Boston United for Justice with Peace
106. Peace Action & Education (Rochester, NY)
107. Peace and Freedom Party of California
108. Peace and Justice Committee, Sacred Heart Church (South St. Paul MN)
109. Peace and Social Progress Now, New Paltz, NY
110. Peace Fresno
111. Peace North (Hayward, WI)
112. Peacemakers of Macalester Plymouth United Church
113. Peninsula Peace and Justice Center (Palo Alto, CA)
114. Helen Pent, Greenpeace; former president of the Northland College Student Association
115. People for Peace and Justice of Utah
116. Philly Against War
117. Progressive Democrats of America
118. Progressive Peace Coalition (Central Ohio)
119. Quad Cities Progressive Action for the Common Good
120. Grace Reese, Faith Communities Uniting for Peace, Columbus, Ohio*
121. Rhode Island Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America
122. Rhode Island Mobilization Committee to Stop War and Occupation
123. Richard Wright Centennial
124. Adam Ritscher, United Steelworkers Local 9460*
125. Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice
126. Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
127. San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice
128. San Jose Peace and Justice Center
129. San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO
130. Santa Monica Peace Club
131. Saratoga Peace Alliance
132. Schenectady Neighbors for Peace
133. Michael L. Schwartz, Author “War Without End: The Iraq War in Context;” Member, U.S.
Labor Against the War*
134. Seattle Anti-Imperialist Committee (SAIU)
135. Seattle Anti-War Mobilization
136. Cindy Sheehan, Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
137. Jo Sippie-Gora, Chair, Seeds of Peace Committee of the Morristown (NJ) Unitarian
Fellowship*
138. Social Action Council of the First Unitarians of Schenectady
139. Social Responsibility Council of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany
140. Socialist Action
141. Socialist Action,/Ligue pour l’Action socialiste
142. Socialist Alternative
143. Socialist Caucus of the New Democratic Party of Canada
144. Socialist Organizer
145. Socialist Party of CT
146. Socialist Party of Massachusetts
147. Socialist Viewpoint
148. Solidarity
149. Solidarity Committee of the Capital District
150. South Carolina AFL-CIO
151. South Carolina Progressive Network
152. South Dakota ANSWER
153. St. Joan of Arc Peacemakers (Minneapolis)
154. St. Louis 9/11 Questions Meetup Group
155. Students for Peace, Duluth Chapter
156. Stop War on Iran Campaign
157. Lynne Stewart Organization
158. Syracuse Peace Council
159. Deena Stryker, Writer
160. Texans for Peace
161. Thomas Merton Center Antiwar Committee (Pittsburgh)
162. Tom Paine Chapter of Veterans for Peace
163. Transylvanians for Peace
164. Troops Out Now Coalition
165. Troy Area Labor Council
166. Troy Neighbors for Peace
167. Twin Cities Peace Campaign – Focus on Iraq
168. Twin Ports Action Coalition
169. U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW)
170. White Bear Unitarian Church Social Action Committee
171. Upper Hudson Peace Action
172. Utah Peace House
173. Veterans for Peace (national organization)
174. Veterans for Peace 21 in New Jersey
175. Veterans for Peace Chapter 80
176. Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist
177. Virginia People’s Assembly
178. David Walsh, Transportation Communications Union Local 1089 Committeeperson*
179. Wasatch Coalition for Peace and Justice of Salt Lake City (& Northern Utah)
180. Waterville (ME) Area Bridge for Peace and Justice
181. Western New York Peace Center
182. Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
183. Women Against Military Madness
184. Women Against War (Albany, NY)
185. Women in Black, Duluth/Superior Chapter
186. Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice (Cleveland)
187. Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
188. Woodstock Nation Party
189. Workers Action
190. Workers International League
191. Workers United Local 99
192. Workers World Party
193. World Can’t Wait

194. World Prout Assembly
195. War Times
196. Freedom Socialist Party
197. Revolutionary Workers Group
198. American Friends Service Committee/SF
199. Diablo Valley United for Healthcare and Justice
200. Diablo Valley SDS
201. Contra Costa County Peace and Freedom Party

202. Bay Area Women in Black
203. La Voz de los Trabajadores/SF Bay Area
204. San Francisco Bay View newspaper
205. Asian Americans for Peace and Justice
206. Women’s International  League for Peace and Justice
207. World March for Peace and Nonviolence

*for identification only