Labor marches for peace in San Francisco » peoplesworld

Labor marches for peace in San Francisco » peoplesworld

Stars and Gears participated in this rally, although not as an organized group. It was heartening to see thousands of people still demonstrating against the occupation of Iraq after seven years and very little media focus. The Associated Press under estimated the crowd at the San Francisco march and rally to be "several hundred" when it clearly took up several blocks of San Francisco streets and consisted of multiple "feeder" marches that joined after the main rally in the Civic Center. The true size was probably closer to two thousand, which is still smaller than in the past considering it was on a weekend.

The anti-war movement needs to see the fact that thousands of people are still willing to march against war in the terms of what all of those people could be doing on a smaller scale in their communities. We need a diversity of tactics to educate people about the root causes of the occupations and create a dialogue about what use there is in occupying Iraq and Afghanistan.

March 20th Peace Rally and March--Update from organizers

On Saturday, March 20, thousands of people will be marching in cities across the country calling for an end to
wars and occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere. Every day people, mostly civilians, are dying in
these wars, which cost more than $1 billion every two days. Meanwhile, more than 20 million people in the U.S. have lost their jobs, homes and health benefits in the last three years. On March 20 we will be saying: “Money for Healthcare, Jobs, Housing and Education—Not for War.”

Here in San Francisco, the Executive Board of UNITE HERE Local 2 and many other unions have endorsed the March 20 march and rally. The march will be going to two of the boycotted hotels, the Hilton and the Westin St. Francis in solidarity with the hotel workers. The Local 2 workers’ fight for a decent contract and to keep healthcare benefits is important to all working people.

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Health care rally in SF

Stars and Gears were out at the rally for health care in SF. We handed out materials, signed stuff, and talked with people there.

There were somewhere between 50 and 100 people, with several speakers outlining how health care reform is desperately needed.

There was a doctor who talked about difficult hospital conditions.

There was an insurance industry worker who described the "death spiral" of rising premiums - premiums are increased to raise revenue, but this eventually causes people to drop their coverage, leading to increased premiums to compensate, etc. in a degenerate cycle.

There was a cancer survivor with a health care horror story. She had been successful in the corporate world, but diagnosis with cancer led her to loss of job, hence loss of insurance, and eventually, to financial ruin. She warned: "it can happen to you."

The speakers wanted Senate Democrats to use reconciliation protocol so that their majority would tell. They recognized that a more comprehensive and aggressive health care reform would be ideal, but saw the bill in congress as an important partial victory.

At the end the crowd chanted "what do we want? health care! when do we want it? now!"

Health Care for America NOW! | Event | 40 Days/40 Nights to Health Reform - We voted for change. Get it done now. Get it done right!

Health Care for America NOW! | Event | 40 Days/40 Nights to Health Reform - We voted for change. Get it done now. Get it done right!

Rally to send Congress the message that we voted for change and they need to finish health reform now and finish it right.
Time: Wednesday, February 17 from 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Host: Patrick Romano
Location:
Justin Herman Plaza (San Francisco, CA)
1 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94101


Why rally?:
We voted for change in 2008. For more than a year we’ve mobilized to reform health care, rein in Wall Street, create good jobs, win workers' rights and beat back climate change. We’re fed up. We want the change we voted for and we want it now! Because if the insurance companies and big corporations win, we lose.

We’re rallying to send that message. Join us!