Over 100 Turn Out in San Diego for Peace Mobilization October 27
by MARK GABRISH CONLAN
Copyright
Obviously, Mark, you and I attended two different rallies on Oct. 27, 2001. Most of what you wrote was outrightly inaccurate and the remainder seemed to be an attempt to inflame. The rally WAS officially endorsed by the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice. Martin Eder was speaking on their behalf. Additionally, all of the connections were clearly articulated between the myriad issues that were covered and the anti-war movement. Finally, if the SD International Action Center and the ISO have set aside their differences for the greater good, why can't you?
Peace,
Carl Muhammad
San Diego Chair
Peace and Freedom Party
Dear Mark -
I concur completely with Carl Mohammad's comments on your article. It's incomprehensible to me why the editor of a progressive monthly would put such a negative spin on such a positive event. What were you thinking, Mark?
Bob McCubbin
I stand corrected on one point (which I have altered in the version of the article to be published in the next ZENGER'S): the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice may not have been involved in the planning of the event but they DID endorse it. Other than that, the analytical parts of the article to which my friends Carl and Bob take exception were inserted to counter the impression that the drop-off from the 370 to 450 participants in the Coalition for Peace and Justice's October 13 event to the lower turnout for the A.N.S.W.E.R. event October 27 indicated a drop in support for the anti-war movement itself. Personally I was glad to see that the format of the October 27 event extended itself to solidarity with other progressive movements, but I also felt entitled as a journalist to note that this approach to coalition-building has been criticized elsewhere in the progressive press (the "McProtest" reference was from an article on the September actions in THE NATION).
I stand corrected on one point (which I have altered in the version of the article to be published in the next ZENGER'S): the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice may not have been involved in the planning of the event but they DID endorse it. Other than that, the analytical parts of the article to which my friends Carl and Bob take exception were inserted to counter the impression that the drop-off from the 370 to 450 participants in the Coalition for Peace and Justice's October 13 event to the lower turnout for the A.N.S.W.E.R. event October 27 indicated a drop in support for the anti-war movement itself. Personally I was glad to see that the format of the October 27 event extended itself to solidarity with other progressive movements, but I also felt entitled as a journalist to note that this approach to coalition-building has been criticized elsewhere in the progressive press (the "McProtest" reference was from an article on the September actions in THE NATION).