WASHINGTON, 1 August 2006 — Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to protest in Washington D.C. to denounce what organizers call “a war by the United States and Israel against the Palestinians and Lebanese.” The “National Emergency March” on Aug. 12 is being organized by a coalition of Arab-Americans and US peace groups.
The Aug. 12 rally will begin at noon in front of the White House. “What you will see will literally be a sea of human protesters surrounding the White House,” said Brian Becker, national coordinator of the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition. “I expect tens of thousands to come to Washington to confront the Bush Administration about the policy in the Middle East,”
Becker told Arab News. He urged readers to log onto their site: Answercoalition.org.
Becker said the ANSWER Coalition, the National Council of Arab Americans and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation have jointly organized what they call “A National Emergency March” on Washington in two weeks, with coordinated marches other cities. The march, he said, has been organized in defense of the people of Palestine and Lebanon who are under brutal attack by the US-backed Israeli government.
Asked why they had organized this protest, Becker said: “The people of the US have turned against the war in Iraq, and now we are mobilizing public opinion against this new war as well. We see the war in Palestine and Lebanon as a second front in Bush’s Iraq war; it has nothing to do with freedom and democracy, and everything to do with an attempt to re-organize the Middle East as an American sphere of influence.” Becker said other protests would also be held in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle, but the main demonstration will be in Washington. “We have busses coming to Washington from Chicago, Michigan, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and other large and small cities throughout the country.”
Asked about the criticism he and the ANSWER Coalition would certainly take for their anti-Israeli position, Becker said: “This doesn’t matter to us; it’s a critical moment in the history in the US, its absolutely impetrative that the voice of the people in opposition to the wars be heard.” Becker also faulted the US media for what he called their pro-Israeli focus: “The media coverage is one-sided, biased, bigoted and really is nothing more than propaganda designed to justify every criminal act carried out against the people of Lebanon and Palestinian. The profound ignorance in the US about the issues in the ME is a manufactured ignorance by the mass media. The real issues are hidden – any Arab who resists occupation is dubbed a terrorist. The mainstream US media seek to demonize and dehumanize those people who have become the targets of US and Israeli policy in the region,” said Becker.
The protesters will demand “an end to the US-Israeli war on the Middle East,” and will rally against the Bush administration support of a war against Muslims to keep control of the Middle East oil supply.
“It seems the Middle East burns while [Secretary of State] Condoleezza [Rice] fiddles,” Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, told reporters.
“It’s a very dangerous and very ominous signal to Muslims throughout the world.” “People throughout the world need to understand that this war is not supported by the American people,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder of Partnership for Civil Justice.
“A big turnout at the rally will encourage the silent majority in our society to stand up and voice their disapproval of America’s short-sighted policy in the Middle East,” said CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) Executive Director Nihad Awad.
