ANSWER Coalition: Free Speech Victory! Permits Secured for Pentagon Demonstration

We have all won a tremendous victory! Contrary to what many people told us was possible, or impossible, we have secured the permit at the Pentagon for the March 17 demonstration. This has been a long, hard fought battle for months. Now there are nearly 100 transportation centers bringing people to Washington, D.C. on March 17.


The last thing that Bush and the Pentagon high command want is a massPentagon_march_200 march on the Pentagon on the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 March on the Pentagon. The powerful symbolism of a March on the Pentagon is something that the war-makers fear and want to divert.  


They tried to make people think that the March on the Pentagon would be blocked or diverted using all sorts of logistical, administrative and political tactics to create obstacles. We refused to back down. We made it clear that people had the right to march on the Pentagon and that we intended to pursue that right through legal and political struggle. The First Amendment is not a gift that can be given or taken away by politicians or bureaucrats.  


Tens of thousands will now exercise this right directly at the Pentagon. This is the only route to end this criminal war. We can’t wait for the politicians. They talk and talk and maneuver for advantage while the death toll grows every day. The politicians and their vapid non-binding resolutions are working to harness the outrage of the anti-war movement to their own electoral ends. They want to defuse the potential of powerful mass opposition that can shake the foundations and end the war. 


Standing Together at the Pentagon


Recently returned veterans from Iraq, veterans from Vietnam, and military families will be standing tall at the Pentagon on March 17. So will young people from college campuses and high schools who are mobilizing to come to the Pentagon. The Muslim and Arab-American community are organizing. Survivors from New Orleans are conducting a dramatic bus and car caravan throughout the south to be at the Pentagon demanding: “From  Iraq to New Orleans Fund Peoples Needs Not the War Machine.” All will be marching together in a united showing in this historic demonstration. Be there March 17 March on the Pentagon! 


Help spread the word and get involved today: Endorse, Volunteer, Organize Transportation, Find a Bus near you, Join the Student Mobilization, Download Flyers and Posters, go to MarchOnPentagon.org for more information.


We need your donation for the March on the Pentagon


Please make an urgently needed donation today. Thanks to everyone who donated a few weeks ago to give travel scholarships to young people who wanted to attend the antiwar demonstration in DC. Due to your generous giving, we were able to fulfill many of the scholarship requests from cities and towns across the country. If you’re unable to come to Washington on March 17th, but would like to sponsor the travel of a young or low-income person — or several people — please make a much needed online donation, or click for information to write a check. We need funds not only for people to come to Washington, but for the many expenses of printing flyers, stickers, and posters, and to pay for the stage and sound on the 17th.

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