[I talked to several people over the weekend who don't normally go to marches, but who were thinking of going to this one, and without exception, the idea of marching illegally made the whole thing seem much more attractive to them. It seemed like yet another outrage, and breaking the law seemed like the perfect way to express the depth of their own outrage -- besides having more of an effect for the same reason, and so feeling more effective.]
[What do people think are the chances of a stationery rally turning into an illegal march given the opposition of New York's army of cops? Chuck0, do you have any suggestions for making it more likely?]
[It's funny how many people who would never think of challenging the police at a permitted rally, never mind throwing a brick, get fired up about the idea when the march has been made illegal. If there's one thing that Americans across the spectrum can get self-righteous about, it's their first amendment rights.]
[Although to be honest, I think most of those people expressing these views hotly over the weekend were kind of assuming the cops would just give way and let them by when they saw that 100,000 people wanted to march. Being normally law abiding people, they can't quite imagine that the law would ever really be used against them to enforce a decree the consider unjust.]
[Still, I can't help thinking emphasizing the banned aspect would attract more people that it scared away. But maybe I'm a naif about such things.]
Dear Friend of United for Peace and Justice:
To our great shock and outrage, Federal Judge Barbara Jones ruled this morning that the City of New York can deny United for Peace and Justice a permit to march on February 15. Citing "heightened security concerns," she ruled that we may only hold a stationary rally, for which we have been granted a permit for First Avenue stretching north from 49th Street.
We are accepting the rally permit, and our massive demonstration to stop the Iraq war will go forward no matter what. But we are appalled by this attack on our basic First Amendment rights, and we will continue to fight for the right to march. Our attorneys, the New York Civil Liberties Union, have already filed an appeal, and we are asking all of our supporters to protest passionately against this attempt to stifle the growing opposition to Bush's war.
We will provide you with more information soon on this rapidly evolving situation. For now, we encourage you to keep organizing and mobilizing for February 15 -- we have a legal permit to rally, and we cannot and will not let the NYPD and the Bush Administration silence our cry for peace.
More than 300 cities around the globe will be holding protests this weekend against the Iraq war: Let's make New York City's protest the biggest, most passionate anti-war gathering of them all.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1) KEEP MOBILIZING FOR FEB. 15: The NYPD wants to discourage people from coming to this protest -- we need to redouble our efforts to make February 15 an enormous gathering for peace. Please contact Fran Geteles asap (fgeteles at igc.org or 212-663-8048) if you are organizing buses or trains. Check out our website at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/feb15 -- we've added lots of new information.
2) SPREAD THE WORD: Forward this message widely, post the assembly location on your website, tell everyone you know that the February 15 protest is indeed happening and that we have a permit to rally at 49th Street and First Avenue.
3) SPEAK OUT: The denial of our right to march sets a very dangerous precedent for free speech in this country -- we ask you to raise the biggest ruckus you can about this attack on our rights. Some suggestions:
>>Fax a statement from your organization to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg
>>insisting on our right to march on February 15. Fax#: (212) 788-2460
>>Ask sympathetic elected officials, community leaders, and/or celebrities
>>to contact Mayor Bloomberg and demand that the City issue a march
>>permit.
>>Contact your local media, write letters to the editor, call in to radio
>>talk shows, get the word out about this outrageous denial of our
>>Constitutional rights.
>>Make phone calls of protest to these officials:
*NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg: 212-788-9600, 212-788-3010, 212-788-3040
*NYC Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly: 646-610-8526
*NYPD Chief of Department Joseph Esposito: 646-610-6710
>>Send emails protesting the denial of our march permit Mayor Bloomberg:
>>http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
Commissioner Kelly: rkelly at nypd.nyc.gov
Chief Esposito: jesposito at nypd.nyc.gov
>>Sign this online petition supporting our right to march:
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?FEB15
If you're not already on our email list, you can receive future updates like this one about the February 15 mobilization by visiting http://unitedforpeace.org/email.php
Thanks for your support -- we can still prevent this war, and together we will win the right to march.
Sincerely, The February 15 organizing staff of United for Peace and Justice
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