Denver rally forges unity foraes unit
1985Michael Schreiber 1985-05Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 9 →
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About 1800 antiwar demonstrators came to Denver on April 20 to protest U.S. intervention in Central America. The march-organized by the Denver Pledge of Resistance-began at the State Capitol, stretched four times around the Federal Building, and ended with a lively rally.
Support for the action gathered momentum days before April 20, when 450 students protesting CIA recruitment on campus were arrested at a sit-in at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The students had intended to make a tives. Many students from Boulder attended the Denver protest, and anti-nuclear and anti-apartheid groups also carried signs and banners.
Steve Graham, a regional coordinator of the Rocky Mountain Pledge of Resistance, told Socialist Action that it was significant that large numbers of Chicanos were prominent in the march. Graham said that compared with activities against the war in Vietnam, "April •.. Bay Area (continued from page 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 based movement any more. It showed that when we put the effort out we can reach deep into the Third World community and deep into the labor movement."
Richard Bensinger, a district coordinator for the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers, addressed the demonstrators during the rally outside the Federal Building. At one point, he Symbolizing the important new alliances made by the Spring Mobilization 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 159 arrested anti-apartheid protesters from the University of California at Berkeley.
"The place to be"
Indeed, April 20 became "the place to be" just as singer Holly Near had asked all the people in the crowd who were members of labor unions to stand up. At least 300 people stood in response.
Other speakers at the rally included Rita Montero, regional coordinator of Witness for Peace; Mary Willham, coordinator of the Western Solidarity anti-nuclear coalition; and Ntathu Mbatha, a representative of the Colorado Coalition Against Apartheid.
and Apple computer founder Steve Wozniak. That particular event raised $11,000 for the coalition.
Over $40,000 was 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 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
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