Dust Off Those Marching Shoes

Woooooohoo! Do I love a good march, and it looks like a big fat one is coming up. I don´t know how publicized this has been among mainstream America, but a bunch of grass roots organizations are planning a whopper of a march in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 24 to end the war in Iraq.

I was at the march for Women´s Lives, that kick ass demonstration in D.C. to protect a woman´s right to choose back in April of 2004. And while the media had estimates all over the board as to how many people attended, I was there and after seeing that mass of folks run all the way down the Washington Monument Green, I have no doubt that there were easily a million marchers. It was seriously one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

Anyway, I hope this march draws just as many people. Cindy Sheehan is going to be there, and she´s managed to generate quite a bit of media attention, so maybe she can get people of every color, class, age and sex to turn out for this one.

United for Peace and Justice is just one of the march´s organizers. Here´s what they had to say about attending:

More than two years after the illegal and immoral U.S. invasion of Iraq, the nightmare continues. More than 1600 U.S. soldiers have died, at least another 15,000 have been wounded; even the most conservative estimates of Iraqi deaths number in the tens of thousands. Iraq, a once sovereign nation, now lies in ruins under the military and corporate occupation of the United States; U.S. promises to rebuild have not been kept and Iraqis still lack food, water, electricity, and other basic needs.

A majority of Americans believe that this war never should have happened, but our elected representatives in Washington continue to rubber-stamp the Bush Administration's disastrous Iraq policies. They have given military recruiters nearly unrestricted access to our schools -- and the Pentagon nearly unrestricted access to our tax dollars. At a time when our vital social programs are eroding or completely decimated, an overwhelming majority in Congress recently approved Bush's request for an additional $82 billion in war funding, and there's already talk of another $50 billion appropriation this fall.

It's time to hold all pro-war politicians accountable for the deaths, the destruction, the lies, and the toll on our communities! Join United for Peace and Justice in Washington, D.C. for three massive days of action against the war: a major march, rally, and festival on Saturday, September 24; an interfaith religious service and day of grassroots trainings on Sunday, September 25; and a large-scale grassroots lobbying day and mass nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience on Monday, September 26.

From every corner of this country, people will travel to Washington to bring our demands directly to the policymakers responsible for this unjust war. These three days of actions will send a clear message to the White House and Congress: The Iraq war must end. It's time to bring all the troops home, leaving no U.S. military bases behind, and to stop the corporate theft of Iraq's resources. Instead of draining our national treasury for endless war, we demand that our tax dollars be used to repair the damage done to Iraq and to fund services in our communities. We call for an immediate end to our government's assault on immigrants, the unethical pressures on our young people to join the military, and the undermining of democracy through relentless attacks on everyone's basic rights.

Our mobilization will coincide with the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, whose economic policies place corporate profits ahead of basic human needs worldwide. We will speak out against the corporate theft of Iraq's resources and the decimation of the Iraqi economy through privatization and "free trade."

This march is on a Saturday, so nobody has a reason not to be there if they don´t support the war on Iraq. Look around your community, I am sure you can find a bus, truck, van, motorcycle to hitch a ride on.

I want to be there more than anything! I´ve even been checking out plane tickets. Looks like my cheapest option is 403 euros, which is really in no way cheap. And while I know this will never work, I would like to ask if any of you would want to sponsor my trip? That´s right, I am shamelessly asking people that know and don´t know me to give me money so that there´s one more body at the march. Of course, I would carry a sign saying something to this effect: I´ve come all the way from Spain to protest this war. I´m in D.C. thanks to [insert sponsor´s names here].

Now, thanks to my phenomenal lack of planning, I have no idea how people would be able to get me money to buy my ticket. But I am sure I could work something out. Anyone the least bit interested in helping me out, please post a message below with your contact info.

For those who can´t help me economically, you can help the cause by posting fliers or distributing them. Click on DONE DEAL - Print me one-a dem papers!