International ANSWER behind illegal immigrant protests

They're back!

Excerpt:

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition provided logistical support and mobilized for today's demonstration in Los Angeles. Thousands of A.N.S.W.E.R.'s yellow and black placards reading "Amnist?a, Full Rights for All Immigrants" were held throughout the march. A.N.S.W.E.R. also organized a major contingent in the march.

The rally was co-chaired by Juan Jose Gutierrez, Director of Latino Movement USA, a member of the A.N.S.W.E.R. LA Steering Committee; Javier Rodriguez, a noted immigrant rights activist; and Jesse D?az, a UC-Riverside professor who helped initiate the march. Speakers included Raul Murillo and Gloria Saucedo of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional; Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farm Workers; Korean and Haitian community leaders; and Gloria La Riva and Preston Wood of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition.

And just who are International ANSWER?

Excerpt:

Both UFPJ and ANSWER have been criticized by some activists as top-down and insufficiently democratic. But concerns are growing over ANSWER's links to a doctrinaire organization called the Workers World Party (WWP), which has a history of seeking to dominate coalitions and many embarrassing ultra-hardline positions.

Steve Ault, a gay activist in New York City since 1970, served as UFPJ's logistics coordinator for the historic pre-war mobilization on Feb. 15, 2003; last summer's Republican National Convention protests; and the May 1 march for nuclear disarmament this past spring. He charges that ANSWER is a front group for the WWP. Speaking as an individual-not on behalf of UFPJ-he decries what he sees as an imbalance between the two major antiwar formations: 'One small sectarian group has equal power with a genuine coalition. We aren't going to be able to have a real movement until they are called out on the carpet for it.'

For 20 years, Ault says he has witnessed WWP use 'stacking meetings and undemocratic tactics' to control left coalitions. 'When Workers World forms a so-called coalition, it's not a coalition at all; it's a vehicle to attempt to amplify their power and control. It's not a genuine coalition like UFPJ which has no controlling faction-it UFPJ] has communists, Greens, pacifists, anarchists.'

History of Dissension International ANSWER formed after 9-11 around the core of the International Action Center (IAC), itself formed by Workers World. ANSWER's most visible spokespersons have almost invariably been longtime IAC/WWP adherents.

I say:

If the Cold War is over, why are these people still fighting it?


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