Peace, Jobs and Justice rally mobilizes 12,000 on April 30

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SOCIALIST ACTION JUNE 1988 3 SAN FRANCISCO—The country's largest anti-intervention demonstration this year took place here on April 30. At least 12,000 people marched through the predominantly Latino Mission District to a rally in Dolores Park with music and speakers from the labor movement, the peace movement, and the anti-apartheid and anti-intervention movements.

The demonstration was organized by the Mobilization for Peace, Jobs and Justice-a broad, local coalition of labor, religious, peace, and community groups—around the demands: No U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Caribbean; End U.S. Support to South African Apartheid; Freeze and Reverse the Nuclear Arms Race; and Jobs and Justice, Not War.

The demonstration was led by Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm Workers, and 50 farmworkers. Marching alongside Chavez were other prominent figures including Lt. Robert Demmons, president of the S.F. Black Firefighters Association; Bassam Shilhadeh, leader of the Palestinian Solidarity Committee; Al Lannon, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 6; Charlene Tschirhart, Northern California SANE/Freeze; and Pat Norman, national co-chair of the 1987 National March for Lesbian & Gay Rights.

The largest of the many contingents marched behind a banner calling for an end to U.S. intervention in Central America and included many Central American solidarity groups and Latino community organizatons.

The march was overwhelmingly young, with a lot of students. Many labor activists also participated but there were only a few official union contingents. There was, however, a very large Middle-East contingent.

State of the movement Past Mobilization events have attracted as many as 80,000 people. Although the demands of the Mobilization are more timely now than ever before, organizers expected a smaller turnout this year. Organizers point to the relative demobilization of the labor and anti-intervention movements that have traditionally been most supportive of the coalition.

These movements are demobilized because many in their leadership think that the Jackson campaign will accomplish the same goals-thereby making mass demonstrations unnecessary. Others believe that the war in Nicaragua is over because of the temporary cease-fire. Both errors result in a decline in participation in building the independent protest movements.

Given this state of affairs, the coordinators of the coalition and the hundreds of volunteers who worked on the demonstration saw it as a great success. Cesar Since our first issue came out nearly five years ago, we have brought our readers unique news and analysis from a revolutionary socialist perspective ... without ever raising our cover price or subscription rates.

We've kept our rates as low as possible because we have wanted our paper to get into the hands of students, young workers, and the unemployed who would be hard-pressed to pay more money for a socialist newspaper.

Unfortunately, because of the recent increases in postal rates and in our general publishing and distribution costs, we have found it necessary to (1) increase the subscription price of Socialist Action and (2) launch a special Socialist Action sustainers' fund to avoid raising our cover price.

New subscription rates Beginning with this issue, a 12-month will cost $8 (up from $6). A 6-month sub Joe Ryan/Socialist Action Chavez summed it up by crediting the Mobilization with "building the kind of broad labor, church, and community coalition that we want to build to make the grape boycott a success."

June 11 National Protests The Mobilization is going on to organize a march and rally on June 11. This demonstration is in response to a national call for activities to mark the Third U.N. Special Session on Disarmament.

The San Francisco demonstration will highlight the coalition's demands to freeze and reverse the nuclear arms race and for jobs and justice, not war. However, all four of the demands of the Mobilization will subscription will cost $4 figure prominently in both the publicity for the event and in the demonstration itself.

A June 11 demonstration in New York has been called by the "National Coalition in Support of the Third U.N. Special Session on Disarmament" (SSD-III) and has different demands from those of the Mobilization. It calls to march "To Abolish Nuclear Weapons," "To Stop Military Intervention," and "For Economic Development and Social Justice." These three demands appear very similar to the demands of the Mobilization-although the demand to end military intervention does not specifically target U.S. military intervention in Central America.

In Nicaragua, the political struggle between the contras and the Sandinistas has sharpened, and the Sandinistas have already been forced to grant significant concessions. It is therefore very important for the antiwar movement to keep the pressure on the U.S. government to cease all forms of military and economic intervention in Nicaragua.

The increase in death-squad activity in El Salvador also points to the need to continue pressuring the U.S. government to end all aid to the death-squad regime.

Promote false confidence Another difference between the demands of the Mobilization and those of the SSDIII National Coalition is the call on the front of the leaflet to "Support the U.N.

Third Special Session on Disarmament, ... the total abolition of all nuclear weapons by the year 2000, and ... the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty."

These three demands lead to placing false confidence in the capacity of the United Nations to end the nuclear threat through negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union, perhaps in another 12 (up from $3). The first-class mail rate will increase to $12 (from $10). [For foreign subscription rate increases, see staff box on page 2.] These rate increases will still be insufficient to cover our expenses. Yet, because we do not want to have to raise our cover price, we have decided to launch a sustainers' fund to help us make up the difference.

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Become a Socialist Action sustainer today. Pledge as much as you are able to help us keep afloat and grow! April 30, 1988 [ll enclose Address State Tip Joe Ryan/Socialist Action years.

Rather than giving them another 12 years to discuss the possibility of ending the arms race, we must build a movement now to press, unequivocally, for an immediate end to the arms race.

Another problem with the call for negotiations is that capitalist politicians use the people of Central America or whatever region they are carving up as their bargaining chips. The U.S. government has no business interfering in the political and economic lives of the Nicaraguan people, either through bloody warfare or through negotiations.

The INF Treaty makes hardly a dent in the current stockpile of nuclear weapons. Furthermore, it is premised on a policy of peaceful coexistence and detente between the United States and the Soviet Union which allows the U.S. government to continue to intervene throughout the world to promote its imperialist interests.

Nonetheless, both June 11 actions will be important opportunities to express anti-intervention and anti-nuclear sentiment. And both actions will sharply contrast the expanding military budget with the decreasing standard of living.

In San Francisco, the march will be led by survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who will carry the Peace Flame. The march will go from the U.N. Plaza-where demonstrators will assemble at 11:00 a.m.—to Union Square. There will be a rally in Union Square with speakers and entertainment. For more information about the San Francisco demonstration, call (415) 626-8053.

In New York, organizers expect tens of thousands to attend and are organizing for a large cultural component. For more information about the demonstration in New York, call (212) 529-4401. ] l'd like to become a Socialist Action sustainer.

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