April 20 demos show new rise of US antiwar movement
The tide of resistance to the policies of the Ronald Reagan administration is beginning to turn inside America.
The nationally coordinated April 20 actions against the government's austerity and war policies saw the largest mobilizations of the American people since the days of the campaign against US intervention in Vietnam.
Throughout that week, the student campuses were alive with protests about US companies' investments in South Africa.
Below we produce reports of the April 20 actions in the major cities which illustrate the scope of the movement that is unfolding.
We will take our fight back to our local communities and reconvene regionally and nationally as needed, keenly aware of the importance of all our issues and of the power that exists in our unity."
The coalition set June 1 as the date for a meeting to discuss next steps.
The militant mood was also indicated by the thousands of signs with handlettered antiwar or anti-apartheid slogans that were carried by participants.
"The contras are not my brothers," declared the placard carried by a young woman. A Black youth carried a sign reading, "Did George Washington rape children? The contras do." "TIl never register to be a contra — no draft" read a young man's placard. "Contras rape, kill. No contra aid," read another.
Hundreds of participants had visited Nicaragua. Many of those who had gone to Nicaragua as part of work brigades in the coffee, cotton and sugar harvests marched as a contingent, and were received with enthusiastic applause Many wore badges bearing the names of Nicaraguans murdered by the US government's contra killers.
During the massive April 20 protest march, many hundreds of unionists walked behind union banners in the labor contingent. Hundreds of others participated as individuals or in other contingents.
About 100 workers from the United Electrical Workers union marched. Placards in their contingent opposed the US war against Nicaragua and US support to apartheid.
Some fifty women, most of them Chinese, marched behind the banners of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 23-35.
A busload of Baltimore hospital workers participated - most of them marching with the 1199 banner.
Mary Moore, a staff member of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Civil Rights Department, told the Militant that USWA members had come from Pittsburgh, Chicago and Baltimore. She carried her union's banner in the labor contingent.
A sizeable contingent marched behind the banners of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). This included an allBlack contingent of hospital workers organized by AFSCME Local 420 in New York City.
Their chant - " Hey, hey, ho, ho, union-busting has got to go" - became a popular one among the unionists.
A small group of members of IAM Local 1784 from Koppers Industries in Baltimore marched together. A Black worker told the Militant that they had been attracted by the themes of "jobs, peace and justice." He said they were planning to continue bringing up these issues under the good and welfare point at union meetings.
The Chicago Teachers Union brought a busload to the demonstration.
About 15 workers came on the bus sponsored by International od Electronic Workers Local 201
Fred FELDMAN CIA out of Nicaragu," and "Hey, hey; WASHINGTON D.C. - Chants of "USA, ho, ho, apartheid has got to go, through the streets here on April 20 as tens of thousands of people rallied and marched to oppose US imperialism's actions at home and abroad.
The demonstration - part of the four day April Action for Jobs, Peace and Justice - represented a broad and massive protest against the US war against Nicaragua and US government and corporate support to the racist regime in South Africa.
The April actions were called around four demands:
- Stop US military intervention in Central America. End intervention in the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific and Europe.
- Build a just society by creating jobs, cutting military spending and providing for human needs. End racism and discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation.
- Freeze and reverse the arms race, beginning with a halt on the testing, production and deployment of nuclear weapons.
- Oppose US government and corporate support for South African apartheid and overcome racism at home.
The demonstration was estimated at 65,000 people by April Actions co. ordinator, Damu Smith, who chaired the closing rally. It sent an unmistakable message to the US rulers. Their war against the Nicaraguan revolution and their alliance with the racist rulers of South Africa face a developing movement of opposition that has the potential to mobilize growing support in the union movement and the Black and Latino communities, as well as on college and high school campuses and elsewhere.
More than ninety organizations endorsed the march, and many more participated. Endorsers included eight national unions: the International Association of Machinists; International Glassworkers Union; International LongshoreInternational Viewpoint 6 May 1985 men's and Warehousemen's Union; United Electrical Workers; United Farm Workers; United Food and Commercial Workers; National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and United Steelworkers of America.
Other endorsers included the North American Farm Alliance; the United States Students Association; League of United Latin American Citizens; Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Operation Push; National Council of Senior Citizens; Congress of National Black Churches. Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign; National Congress of Puerto Rican Rights; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; SANE; National Network in Solidarity with the Nicaraguan People; the Rainbow Coalition; Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador; several gay and lesbian rights organizations and many others.
A few prominent Democratic Party politicians participated, most notably, Jesse Jackson and Rep. John Conyers.
Together with American Indian Movement leader Vernon Bellecourt, Jackson walked at the head of the march from the White House Ellipse to the Capitol steps.
The marchers were of many nationalities. US Blacks, Chicanos, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Costa Ricans, Hondurans, Uruguayans, Canadians, Koreans, Filipinos, Chinese, Vietnamese, Lebanese, and others marched and rallied.
The mood was militant.
The predominantly youthful participants were eager to hear more about and discuss the issues that inspired the April Actions. And they looked forward to more actions aimed at winning still wider backing.
An indication of this was the call by students from Berkeley, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, Rutgers and Santa Cruz for a "National Student Anti-apatheid Protest Day" on April 24. This spirit was reflected in the April 18 news release issued by the April Actions Coalition in Washington D.C.
"Our Work does not stop on April 22.
General Electric Plant in Lynn, Massachussetts.
Members of the International Chemical Workers Union carried their union's banner.
A number of United Auto Workers (UAW) locals participated. UAW Local 438 at the Delac Plant in Milwaukee sent a bus with seventeen people. A number of them, including six Black women, marched as a contingent.
District 65 UAW marched with signs proclaiming, "Down with apartheid, stop plant closings," amd a large banner demanding "Stop Reagan's war in Central America.".
The New York Headwear Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union carried signs demanding, "Divest from South Africa."
Anthony Luddy, secretary-treasurer of the United Food and Commercial Workers, commented on the importance of labor's participation in a speech he gave to the rally that preceded the march to the Capitol.
"Our goals are peace, jobs and justice. No one will give them to us on a silver platter," he declared, "not the Democratic Party, not Congress and certainly not Ronald Reagan."
"We have to organize," he continued. "We learned that the hard way. We used to rely on the National Labor Relations Board and politicians to help us organize. But it was only when we went to the people that we began to grow. I'm talking about Power, the Power to change things, to take Power away from those who have it.
"We need the unions here. We have got to have them."
Thousands of high school and college students were among the most spirited and activist-minded marchers.
Many of them were brought to Washington by recently formed organizations which carried out antiwar or anti-apartheid activities before the march. Many viewed April 20 as the stepping stone to more action.
Despite its modest size, the contingent of the National Black Independent Political Party was significant. The NBIPP fights to mobilize the Black community for an uncompromising struggle against racist oppression. The NBIPP believes that this course must be advanced by Black people building their own independent fighting organization, in opposition to the racist, capitalist Republican and Democratic parties.
Four UAW members from the Leeds General Motors plant in Kansas City marched with this contingent.
Contingents of farmers took part. One contingent's banner read, "Minnesotans demand parity." And slogans like "Grain silos, not missile silos" and "Feed the world, not the contras" were a common sight.
A contingent of the Union of Democratic Filipinos called for an end to US backing of the Marcos dictatorship. Young Koreans United carried a placard that demanded? "Troops and nukes out of South Korea.
Some groups focused on opposition to the US arms buildup and advocacy of a US-Soviet nuclear freeze. Protests against the MX missile and the swelling war budget, and banners pointing to the danger of nuclear war were prominent.
Many participants marched with contingents that carried banners of the dozens of local coalitions that built the April Actions. A number of contingents came from lesbian and gay organizations.
Almost every left and radical organization participated in the April 20 march and rally.
A Socialist Workers Party banner declared, "No US support to racist South African regime. Black majority rule now. A banner carried in this contingent by the Young Socialist Alliance demanded, "No US war in Central America and the Caribbean. Jobs not bombs. Farms not arms."
Rallies were organized in three phases at the Saturday protest. The day opened with a Festival of Resistance, held around six stages — each devoted to one of the themes of the demonstration.
Then as the contingents gathered for the march a second rally was held.
Finally, at the conclusion of the march, a final rally was held on the steps of the Capitol.
The Festival of Resistance, with its varying balance of political talks and cultural performances, was quite successful. Thousands gathered around the various stages to hear speakers from various struggles, poets, musicians and singers.
The anti-apartheid stage featured Anthony Glover, a leader of the movement seeking to make Columbia University divest itself of interests in South Africa. A South African woman student, against whom Columbia is bringing charges for her role in the protests, also spoke.
The keynote speaker at the finishing rally was Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson was enthusiastically applauded at many points, especially when he denounced US aid to the contras as "madness," identified himself with the student protests against apartheid, and voiced support for the struggles of farmers.
Jackson wants to turn the movement into "politics." In his view, this means shifting from emphasis on independent mass actions opposing the prowar, racist anti-worker policies of both parties, toward a strategy which centers on electoral politics in the Democratic Party.
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich) spoke too. He identified himself with the "Rainbow Coalition" Democratic Party strategy.
Guadalupe Gonzales greeted the rally in the name of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front and the Revolutionary Democratic Front (FMLN-FDR) of El Salvador. She described how Washington's massive military buildup in El Salvador is blocking FLMN-FDR efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement.
Neo Mnumzana, a representative of the African National Congress mission to the United Nations, declared, "I speak for the peoples of South Africa, the only country in the world where racism has the force of law. I speak also for the people of Nicaragua fighting the contras and for the people of El Salvador fighting
TRADE UNION LEADER ATTACKS REAGAN'S POLICIES
Jack Henning is the executive secretary-treasurer of the California-state AFL-CIO. The following is an excerpt from his speech to the San Francisco rally.
We want the United States out of Latin-America. Precisely we want it out of Nicaragua, where the Reagan administration is using mercenaries and assassins to interfere with the rights of the people to determine their own form of government. And we want an end to their accord with the powers in El Salvador that for generations have exploited the poor and the workers and are a threat actually to democracy in all of Latin-America.
And particularly, because of the events of the past few weeks, we want America to end what is in effect a blood alliance with the murder machine that calls itself the government of South Africa.
The word, brothers and sisters, on justice. There is no justice in a society that is polarized economically. We 6 have 35 million Americans today living in absolute poverty. We have hundreds of thousands sleeping in the alleyways, on the sidewalks and on the streets of America. The homeless of America - Reagan's greatest contribution to America the Beautiful.
And as jobs are concerned, there has been a murmur of recovery in the economy, yet millions are unemployed in America. Nearly a million jobless in the state of California. But we should remember this, that the murmurs of recovery are resulting from the "Third Reich" economy of the Reagan administration, a Third Reich economy founded wholly upon defense expenditure. Well we want jobs, we don't want 14 million dollars spent either in arms or economic aid to the subversive forces in Nicaragua at the very time Reagan is cutting on aid from the senior citizens, from the welfare people of America and from the students of America.
International Viewpoint 6 May 1985
fascism. I speak for everyone who is seeking to end the exploitation of man by man."
The mood of the demonstration was summed up by Sergio Sarmiento, who represented the National Union of Nicaraguan Students. When he announced he was bringing affectionate and appreciative greetings from the heroie people of Nicaragua," he was greeted with wild applause.
Sarmiento described the role of youth in the health and education campaigns, and in the cotton, coffee and sugar harvests. "We now have the experience of participation in a popular militia organized to defend our country. We youth have had to assume these tasks and to give them time and resources that we would have devoted to the reconstruction of our country....
"The people of the United States and the Nicaraguan people are not enemies. The bases for friendship and solid collaboration exist. We believe that the esample that Nicaragua represents for oppressed people all over the world merits all the support and solidarity you can give. We, the people of Nicaragua, will do all that must be done in defense of our country.
*Together with the people of the United States we will say, 'No Pasaran!' " Carl FENAMORE
SAN FRANCISCO - The demonstration on downtown Market Street stretched for miles and took two and a half hours to complete, as 50,000 protesters marched to a civic center rally cochaired by Jack Henning, executive secretary-treasurer of the Californian AFL-CIO, and Pat Norman, a well-known Black Lesbian political activist.
It was the largest Bay Area action in recent years but even more impressive was the wide variety of groups and individuals in the march. Attracted by the broad appeal of the coalition, many thousands were demonstrating for the first time. Thousands of students swelled the huge anti-apartheid contingent. Many of them had been involved in the recent explosive anti-apartheid activities on several Bay area campuses.
Seventy-five United Farm Workers, proudly carrying their union banners, joined 400 members of the international Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union and members of over fifty other unions in an impressive labour contingent.
The first and by far the largest contingent, organised around "No US intervention in Central America and the Caribbean," was by itself larger than recent protests against US intervention.
The San Francisco Mime Troop and dozens of bands, dance and cultural groups accompanied the march and contributed to the up-beat and militant nature of the action. In addition to some floats, several buses driven by union members from the Transport Workers International Viewpoint 6 May 1985
Union and the United Transportation Union, rolled alongside the demonstrators.
Following the demonstration, all the major papers ran extensive front page stories describing the wide support the protest had received from hundreds of labor, church, peace and community groups. Under the banner headline *50,000 rally in SF against Apartheid, Reagan," the April 21 Examiner noted that the contingent organized by the Santa Clara Central Labor Council had attracted "2,500 members of community groups aboard a chartered "Spring Mobilisation' train."
The April 23 Examiner had another front page story titled "union undertakes new alliance with activist causes." The article noted the "unprecedented show of force by northern Californian unions from Painters Local 4 to the ILWU international executive board. Every labor council in the five county Bay Area endorsed the April 20 March, as did virtually every local union local."
Peter Servantes-Gautschi, business manager of the Santa Clara labor council, was quoted as saying "this time the unions expect to be in the forefront as opposed to where we were 15 years ago, when we tagged along with other movements."
Charlene Tschirhart, director of the San Francisco Nuclear Freeze campaign, told the Examiner reporter that "normally peace and environmental groups had to get together and beg unions to come aboard, this time they picked it up and took the leadership" This important union involvement was clearly recognized as a major achievement of the San Francisco action.
At the April 20 rally itself, Mario Savio, leader of the 1964 Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, received thunderous applause when he began his speech by saying "its very encouraging to see so much support from organized labor. Without organized labor, we can't win. With organized labor, we will prevail."
Other speakers at the rally included Jimmy Herman, international president of the ILWU; Felix Kurry, a leader of the Salvadoran trade union movement; Pedro Noguera, president of the student body at UC Berkeley; representative Sala Burton, Democrat, San Francisco; Mario Savio co-founder of the free speech movement; representative Ronald Steed Dellems, and many others.
Symbolising the important new alliances made by the spring mobilisation coalition, the demonstration was led off by leaders of all the major contingents and included labor figures marching alongside the Grey Panthers, veterans, the disabled, and the 169 arrested anti-apartheid protesters from the university of California at Berkeley.
Indeed, April 20 became "the place to be," just as singer Holly Near had hoped when she spoke at a recent coalition fund-raiser featuring actor Ed Asner and Apple computer founder Steve Wozniak.
That particular event raised 11,000 dollars for the coalition.
Over 40,000 dollars were raised and spent in the four months of the coalition's existence. The rally sales of buttons and T-shirts, and the fund appeal collection gathered another 13,000 dollars for the coalition.
Organizers are optimistic that the gains made during this mobilization will encourage an even wider layer of groups and individuals to participate in future protest actions in support of the four themes of the spring mobilization. Sophie MASTOR LOS ANGELES - Marking the largest antiwar demonstration since the days of the Vietnam war protests, 7,000 to 8,000 activists representing over 100 organizations, marched down Broadway to the Los Angeles City Hall. Hundreds more attended the rally there.
Because of the unique ethnic make-up of the city, with its Latino population of over 3 million, the accent of the Los Angeles action was on Central America. At the same time, this event marked the first large broad-based demonstration in Los Angeles with a significant Black presence.mo The Filipino community also was extremely active in the Apri 20 coalition, another first for this city.
Chairpersons for the event were Los Angeles city council member Robert Farrell, who heads the national Black caucus of local elected officials; Jack Foley, district director of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers international union; Jackie Goldberg, Los Angeles board of education member; Fumi Haru, national recording secretary of the Screen Actors Guild and Father Luis Olivares of Our Lady Queen of Angels church.
Among the speakers were Angela Davis; Marta Alicia Rivera, of Andes, the Salvadoran teachers union; Sabino Virgo, of Jews United for Peace and Justice; Salah Amin, of the November 29 coalition for Palestinian Rights; Antonio Rodriguez, of the Coalition for Visas and Rights for the Undocumented; and Mitchell Learner, of the American Indian Movement.
Notable was the low-key presence of the infamous Los Angeles Police Department. Two days before the demonstration, in a sudden about face, the police department informed the coalition that instead of allowing us to march down only half the street, which in the past had made it impossible to fully unfurl banners, we could have the entire street, which would be cordonned off to traffic.
This resulted in a demonstration quite free of the tensions that have existed in the past. caric our mesage and justice.
Peacefully united and strong, we carried our message "Build a just society through peace, jobs and justice. We feel that we can grow."
USA LICA