Velásquez of FLOC, Sheehan to address antiwar meeting in Cleveland
According to organizers, the December 2nd-3rd weekend in Cleveland is shaping up as a happening of major importance in helping to build a nationwide movement with the power to end the war and occupation of Iraq.
This event will be a march/rally starting at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 2 outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 777 St. Clair Ave., Cleveland, marching to the 6th Street side of the Federal Building for a rally. |
Baldemar Velásquez
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Sponsored by the North Shore Federation of Labor (formerly the Cleveland AFL-CIO) and U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW), trade unionists and supporters from around the country will be coming to Cleveland to participate. Community antiwar groups like the Northeast Ohio Anti-War Coalition (NOAC) and Peace Action have endorsed the demonstration, as have many others.
For a complete list, visit http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.phd?id=11976
According to organizers, “Everyone who has had it with this war and wants to put an end to the killing and wounding of so many U.S. troops and the ongoing slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis needs to be present on December 2 to speak out and be heard.”
Scheduled rally speakers include John Ryan, Executive Secretary of the North Shore Federation of Labor; Bill Burga, President of the Ohio Federation of Labor; Clayola Brown, President of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and Vice President of UNITE HERE; Robert Barner, Iraq Veterans Against the War (served in Iraq in 2004 and expects to be sent back for another tour); Baldemar Velásquez, President of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee; Fred Mason, President of the Maryland/D.C. AFL-CIO and USLAW Co-Convenor; U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich; Samir Adil, President of the Iraq Freedom Congress; and Harriet Applegate, AFL-CIO Zone Coordinator, who will chair the rally.
The rally will be followed by the National Labor Conference Against the Iraq War, which will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. This conference, like the rally, is open to anyone interested in attending. Registration fee is $25, which includes lunch on Sunday. The conference concludes Sunday afternoon.
Saturday night, 7 p.m., December 2, will be a high point of the conference when a public meeting held in the Grand Ballroom of the Crowne Plaza will feature notable speakers, including peace activist and Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan; Hashimia Mohsen al Hussein, President of the Basra Utility Workers Union, the first woman to lead a major Iraq union; John Wilhelm, president of the Hospitality Division of the UNITE HERE union; and Nancy Wohlforth, Secretary-Treasurer of the Office and Professional Employees Union, Co-Convenor of USLAW, and Co-President of Pride at Work. Entertainment will be provided by popular folk singer and labor troubadour, Anne Feeney.
For more information concerning the above, please call 216-736-4766 or visit the USLAW web site at www.uslaboragainstwar.org
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