This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.

Tens of thousands protest Amerikan militarism, Israeli agression


SAN FRANCISCO, 21 APRIL -- Well over 20,000 people marched from the Mission District to City Hall yesterday to protest U.$. militarism and imperialism. The crowds vociferously denounced the recent Amerikan-supported Israeli aggression in the West bank. Any call of "Free free Palestine!" during a lull in the chanting received a loud response from dozens to hundreds.

The contingent of Maoist Internationalst Movement (MIM) and Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) activists was very visible and well-received, in large part to a half-dozen very artistic posters designed by RAIL comrades. One poster showed U.$. President Bush pulling the strings on his puppet, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon; another juxtaposed a starving African infant with an Amerikan SUV underthe slogan, "The majority of the world's people can't live with imperialism, can you live without it?" All of these posters received favorable comments from other marchers.

Some MIM and RAIL comrades also participated in a feeder march organized by BAYAN-International USA, a national democratic organization of Filipino sojourners. This march was quite boistrous; the chant leaders did a good job pumping up the crowd and writing hip, original chants (a nice break from the "One two three four..." and "Hey hey ho ho..." standards). The chants were on target politically as well. They included "Stop the U.$. war machine, from Afghanistan to the Philippines" and "Bush, you fascist, don't think you can outlast us!"

The march organizers also did a good job promoting internationalism. They had chants and flags supporting the Palestian struggle for self-determination. The march began in the heart of the immigrant Latino Mission district, and speakers referred to the area as "occupied Aztlan" while proclaiming their solidarity with the struggles of Latinos. A RAIL placard at the rally read: "Abolish all illegitimate borders."

An 89-year-old veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade marched in the larger rally. The Communist-organized Abraham Lincoln Brigade fought in the Spanish Civil War against the Nazi-backed nationalists. "I am proud to fight against fascism and oppression, whether it's in Spain, Nazi-Germany, or Israel," he said.

MIM is happy too see hear such comments and see so many marching against Amerikan imperialism and expanding fascism from an internationalist perspective. We are well aware, however, that such sentiments remain in the minority in the United $tates (see articles on protests in Santa Cruz and at San Francisco State University on this page and pages four, five and eight).

While at the rally MIM and RAIL comrades distributed MIM Notes and collected signatures on petitions opposing restrictions on prisoner visitation rights (see page three) and demanding the attorney general release information on the over 1000 people detained since September 11, allegedly on suspicion of terrorism.

Notes: San Franciso Chronicle, 21 Apr 2002.


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