Jun 21, 2003

Dozens of angry senior citizens, protesting a prescription drug bill they say will undermine the entire Medicare program, were ejected from a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, June 17. Meanwhile, a few miles across town at the White House, President Bush was brushing off his tuxedo for the next day’s gala fundraiser where drug giant GlaxoSmithKline would make a quarter million dollar donation to his re-election campaign.

CRYSTAL CITY, Va. – Delegates at the 20th convention of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) here June 12-15 called for ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq, creation of a Palestinian state, and termination of Attorney General John Ashcroft’s mass detention of Arabs and Muslims.

While corporate executives are lining up this week to give money to Bush for a second try at election fraud, the Communist Party is hitting crunch time in the final weeks of its annual fund drive.

WASHINGTON – About 1,500 members of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) applauded June 11 as ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero vowed a fightback against the Bush administration’s “far-reaching assault on our Constitutional rights, using the war on terrorism as a convenient smokescreen.”

A wide range of organizations, from the Sacramento Central Labor Council to Action for Social and Ecological Justice of Burlington, Vt., will converge on Sacramento, Calif., in late June to protest a move by U.S. agribusiness to take over the agriculture of the world.

MoveOn.org, the online grassroots advocacy group, will conduct a web-based presidential primary election next week. Voting will begin at midnight EDT on June 24 and continue for 48 hours.

NEW YORK – Something historic is brewing.
Inspired by the freedom rides of the civil rights movement, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride is now being organized for Sept. 20 – Oct. 4. National sponsors include the AFL-CIO, major international unions, national immigrant and

MADISON, Wis. – Over 1,000 people turned out here on May 31 to hear Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich and other activists speak at a “Rally for Peace and Prosperity.”

BOSTON, Mass.: Boston marches for gay rights, peace / NEW YORK, N.Y.: General Electric heeds footsteps / FARMVILLE, Va.: After 44 years, a diploma /
CLIFTON, N.J.: Registered immigrants face deportation / PORTLAND, Ore.: Company pays homeless with pizza

News Analysis

Hundreds of delegates representing 325 local and national peace groups converged on Chicago June 6-8, 2003, for the first national strategy conference of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ). UFPJ was founded seven months ago to co-ordinate efforts to stop the Bush administration’s drive to wage war on Iraq.