Momentum builds for the One Nation rally on Oct. 2
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Momentum is building for the Oct. 2 One Nation Working Together rally in Washington, D.C. Organizers are expecting a huge showing on the Mall by trade unionists and social activists demanding jobs, justice, and peace.
The event has been spearheaded by the NAACP and SEIU Local 1199, the large hospital workers’ union with branches in New York and other East Coast cities.
The AFL-CIO Executive Council endorsed the rally at its Aug. 4-5 meeting. They stated, “One Nation shares the labor movement’s policy agenda: An economy that works for all; good jobs, fair jobs, safe jobs, and more jobs; reforming Wall Street; repairing our immigration system; quality education for every child; and ensuring that everyone in America has the opportunity to contribute to and strengthen our country. Restoring workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively is at the heart of the policy agenda.”
(Above) Thousands rally in Washington, Aug. 28, to “take back” the spirit of M.L. King’s “Dream” speech and the civil rights movement. A huge right-wing rally took place on the Mall the same day.
tary will be removed. They have been comparable in numbers to the regular military. Being private armies, the mercenaries are much harder to count than serving soldiers.
In an article entitled “The Fakest Withdrawal Imaginable,” Alternet wrote Aug. 26: “Washington understands that it needs to deliver on some of Obama’s many campaign promises before the November elections. ... But Many East Coast and Midwest unions are ordering fleets of buses to carry members to the rally. As we go to press, it is reported that 1975 buses have been secured in New York state, with 500 in New York City alone.
The Oct. 2 event will also have an antiwar focus. The important United National Antiwar Conference (UNAC) in July voted to mobilize for the event. United for Peace and Justice and other antiwar groups are planning an antiwar contingent, perhaps with a march to the Mall.
It is evident that the major organizers of One Nation have their eye on the upcoming elections—and re-electing the very Democratic Party politicians who are responsible for prolonging the economic crisis. Statements by the AFL-CIO and NAACP leaderships are explicit in portraying the Oct. 2 rally as a method to “charge up” people to go “back to the voting booth.”
Nevertheless, the event offers a tremendous opportunity for working people to loudly raise their demands in protest against a government that readily bails out the banks, but leaves countless U.S. workers jobless and with a diminishing standard of living. Money for jobs, not war! All out for Oct. 2! — THE EDITORS since the current number of military personnel might not be enough to handle the deepening security chaos in the country, the new caretakers at the State Department are playing with numbers.
“‘State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said [a] plan would bring to some 7,000 the total security con(continued on page 5, in “Labor’s stake in fighting racism, immigrant bashing”)
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