Fight Back! interviews Joe Iosbaker, the Chicago spokesperson for the United National Antiwar Coalition and a leader in the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda, on the massive May 20 protest at the NATO Summit. Fight Back!: Please talk some about what happened at the march on the NATO Summit and who was there. Joe Iosbaker: 15,000 people rallied and marched against the war makers’ summit on a scorching hot day here in Chicago. It was a very broad gathering, involving the Iraq Veterans Against the War, National Nurses United and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. We had music by Tom Morello, Rebel Diaz, David Rovics and Outer National. Carlos Montes came from Los Angeles, straight from the political persecution trial he is facing. Students came from Utah, Florida and all over the Midwest.

There were over 40 speakers. We had leaders of the anti-war movement in the U.S., Germany and Mexico. Representatives spoke from the movements of various oppressed nationalities: Filipinos, Palestinians, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans, including a taped message from Mumia Abu Jamal. They came from the immigrant rights movement; from the Muslim community and from among faith based activists, environmentalists, and LGBTQ activists. We had Afghans and Pakistanis. We had trade unionists, and of course, the Occupy movement.

After we rallied in the park, we then marched almost three miles to the location of the summit, McCormick Place. There 40 veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars mounted a stage and one by one, returned the medals they had been given for their service in the U.S. military. The young men and women all swore they wouldn’t fight again in wars for profit under NATO or U.S. flags. The bitterness expressed by the vets was the most moving part of the day.

Fight Back!: What was the political message of the protest? Iosbaker: The message had two parts to it: against war and against the attacks by the rich on the rest of us.

This was expressed in several ways. We raised several slogans, “Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, Our Pensions, the Environment, Not War!” “No to NATO War makers! No to War and Austerity!” These slogans showed first, that we were marching against the wars by NATO and the U.S. against the people of Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan, and threatening against Syria. And second, we know that the trillions that are spent on war could go toward meeting the needs of poor and working people at home.

But we also raised one other idea. Last summer, the United National Antiwar Coalition called for this protest and organized a meeting to form a broader group. We called the new formation the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda because initially NATO and the Group of Eight – a meeting of the wealthiest countries – were to both meet here. The G8 conference includes the central bankers from those rich nations, who are responsible above all for the economic crisis that struck in 2008. When they were in trouble, they were bailed out with trillions from taxpayers in each of those countries. But the workers who are losing homes can’t get a bailout. When we lose jobs because factories close, we can’t get a bailout. We got sold out, and we made that part of our message as well.

Fight Back!: Could you say a few words about the Chicago Principles? Iosbaker: There are many forces that oppose NATO, including some that are willing to march, others who want to link arms and be arrested and others who want to challenge the authorities, including the police, more directly. For example, there were hundreds of people who refused to leave the intersection after the end of our permitted rally and march.

We adopted the same principles that have been used at many major protests in the U.S. since the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They are an agreement that all those forces respect the other groups, despite tactical differences; that we won’t criticize each other to the corporate media; and that if one group is attacked, as the mostly youth crowd was when the Chicago and Illinois cops beat 60 of them bloody after our march ended, that we’ll put the blame where it belongs: on the police, the city of Chicago and on NATO for bringing this violence here.

Fight Back!: A large contingent marched against repression. Tell us about that. Iosbaker: The most visible face at the protest was Carlos Montes. His image was on over 100 shirts, and 100 more posters. A contingent organized by the Committee to Stop FBI Repression had hundreds marching with it, including Filipinos, Palestinians and Puerto Ricans, all chanting, “Free Carlos Montes, drop the charges now!”

Montes is on trial in Los Angeles, facing up to 12 years in prison for his lifelong political activism. Carlos was raided by the FBI and L.A. sheriff SWAT last May. The FBI and the district attorney there are accusing Carlos of being a criminal. Their pretext is a 43-year old charge against him from a protest for Chicano studies at a college in East Los Angeles. As one of the Brown Berets, a youth group that he helped to start, in this protest Carlos was singled out for a felony charge for throwing an empty soda can at a cop. This was eventually settled as a misdemeanor. Now the FBI has dug this up, claim he was convicted of a felony, and since Carlos owns a shot gun and a hand gun, they want to imprison him for violation of California firearms code.

However, a L.A. Deputy Sheriff admitted that the FBI instigated the case in an investigation of Carlos’s anti-war activism. In fact, the attack on him stems from the case of the 23 anti-war activists, including my wife, Stephanie Weiner and myself. We were raided by the FBI in September 2010, and are still being pursued by the U.S. Attorney in Chicago for our anti-war activism. All of us are being targeted because we took the side of the people of Palestine and Colombia against the brutal, U.S.-backed governments of Colombia and Israel.

Fight Back!: What is the story on arrests ahead of the summit? Iosbaker: On Wednesday night, May 17, cops broke down the doors of the apartment of two of the leaders of Occupy Chicago, Zoe Sigman and Bill Vassilakis, without even a search warrant. After beating up the Occupy folks from around the country who were staying there, they shackled them, and then held them in secret for 40 hours, despite the efforts of the National Lawyers Guild to locate them.

The authorities later charged three of the young people with terrorism charges, claiming they were conspiring to make Molotov cocktails. Even FOX news recognizes this as a clumsy effort of entrapment. FOX interviewed a retired judge who said these charges will be thrown out of court.

Of course, the purpose of these raids, and other raids and police violence that occurred in the days leading up to Sunday, was to frighten people away from the protest. If not for these, we are confident the march would have been even larger.

The most important lesson is that the people are more powerful than the cops, the mayor, or NATO. With little resources and under heavy repression, we brought together the forces, especially the Occupy Movement and the anti-war movement, to build this demonstration. In doing so, we dealt blows to NATO. Their image has been severely tarnished, and that will make it harder for them to continue the blood bath in Afghanistan and other wars they are planning. We educated millions about NATO and the G8, of which most people in this country knew nothing before we started. This experience has made the Occupy movement one that now takes a stand against imperialist war. And we rekindled the anti-war movement. This was the largest national protest since the 2008 march on the RNC and a good sign that resistance to empire and cut backs will continue to grow.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8War #ChicagoNATOSummit #UnitedNationalAntiwarCoalition

Chicago, IL – In the largest anti-war protest ever held in Chicago, 15,000 people took to the streets marching against the NATO military summit. Inside McCormick Convention Center, politicians, generals and bankers discussed the faltering U.S./NATO war and occupation in Afghanistan. They also forged agreements that set the stage for destabilizing and overthrowing independent governments in places like Syria and Iran.

Outside, in the streets of Chicago’s South Loop however, waves of protesters marched in contingents with a message against NATO and G8, opposing war and poverty. Protesters were chanting and singing, surrounded by police on all sides. They were in high spirits and feeling their power, knowing their message of opposing war and poverty was reaching across the world to people suffering from NATO wars and occupations.

The day began with music and poetry at Petrillo Bandshell in Grant Park, a park famous for 1960s protests against the U.S. war in Vietnam. Rebel Diaz, Tom Morello, David Rovics and hip-hop poets performed, with an appearance by the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). As the crowd began to grow, many taking shelter in the shade of nearby trees, protesters listened to speakers from scores of groups and movements that built for the protest against NATO.

The audience listened closely when Chicano leader and anti-war activist Carlos Montes took the stage. Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a big banner reading “Justice for Carlos Montes” behind him. Montes said, “I am here in solidarity with you today, despite being on trial in Los Angeles as part of an FBI frame up. I am being persecuted because of my anti-war, immigrant rights and labor activism. I organized protests against the U.S. War in Vietnam in the ‘60s and I organize against NATO and the U.S. war in Afghanistan today. We were in solidarity with and inspired by the people of Vietnam in their struggle against U.S. imperialism and we act in solidarity with the struggles of the people of Colombia, the Philippines and Mexico today. I call for the U.S. out of Afghanistan and to no U.S. or NATO intervention in Syria and Iran.”

Hatem Abudayyeh, a Palestinian-American, who is one of 23 Midwest anti-war activists subpoenaed to a grand jury investigation and had his home raided by the FBI because of his solidarity work, also spoke: “We are organizing toward the day when Palestine will be a free and sovereign nation, with the right to return for refugees. We call for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and for people here to join us in demanding Palestinian liberation!” A big roar went up from the entire crowd.

Meredith Aby from the Minneapolis Anti-War Committee spoke about the need to get NATO out of Afghanistan and prevent future U.S. wars for oil and Empire. Aby is also one of the 23 who the FBI raided and she asserted, “Being anti-war is not a crime!’

The Reverend Jesse Jackson, from Chicago’s Operation PUSH and a former presidential candidate, called for an end to spending billions on war. He demanded the money be used to fund social services and end poverty. Jackson educated the crowd about poverty in this country, often portrayed in the media as only affecting African-Americans and other oppressed peoples. Reverend Jackson said, “The largest single category of poor people is white women who are single parents with children.” Reverend Jackson used the African-American call and response tradition in his speech, much to the amazement of Occupy Wall Street activists who use a similar technique.

All in all there were more than 40 speakers from students, labor, immigrant rights, war veteran, environmental, housing and healthcare groups. Speakers included Leah Bolger, the President of Vets for Peace, Larry Holmes of the International Action Center and Lisa Grab with Students for a Democratic Society. Many were interested to hear from the Afghan women for peace, and the International League of People’s Struggle representing many international movements for freedom.

There were dozens of international guests who came to the protest, particularly anti-NATO organizations from European NATO countries. The importance of this is not to be underestimated, as NATO is fragile and some countries have already pulled troops out of Afghanistan.

The afternoon march began with a group of Afghan women for peace joined by a large contingent of Iraq and Afghan war veterans marching together. The Coalition Against NATO and G8 (CANG8), the organizers of the march, held the lead banner, with the United National Antiwar Coalition F(UNAC) as a part of that.

A river of protesters stretched across four lanes of traffic and for nearly a mile on Michigan Avenue. Onlookers and whole families came out on apartment balconies and onto sidewalks to film and take photos.

When the march came to within a few blocks of McCormick Place, it was time for the war veterans to take command. In one of the most moving moments of any anti-war protest in a generation, U.S. military veterans made declarations against U.S. and NATO wars and occupations, throwing their medals off the stage and into the street. One war veteran describing his combat experience began choking back tears and saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” to which thousands in the streets began chanting, “It’s not your fault! It’s not your fault!”

Other veterans gave impassioned speeches against wars for oil and U.S. imperialism, denouncing the 1% and the U.S. government, while throwing their combat service awards and other medals as far as possible down the street towards the NATO summit. Jacob Flom of IVAW dedicated his medals to Carlos Montes and the Anti-War 23.

The Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) ended the day with an announcement for people to exit to the west, taking note that there was a tremendous build-up of police in riot gear and military-type uniforms. The official show of force was intimidating to people and clearly planned and funded months ahead of time.

The crowds of protesters were so large, however, that it appeared impossible for everyone to exit in time for the end of the permitted Veterans rally. It soon became a scene of police encircling and pushing and shoving a much smaller crowd of people, some who responded in kind and were beaten and arrested. Others were simply singled out for arrest or beaten at random, including a few journalists. The big business media took up this story and these images to attempt to quickly bury the largest and most successful anti-war protest ever held in the city of Chicago.

While the greatest purveyors of violence in the world were meeting inside the NATO summit, the anti-war protesters outside sent a message heard round the world: “Say no to NATO! Troops out now!”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #IraqVeteransAgainstTheWar #CarlosMontes #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8War #ChicagoNATOSummit #AntiWar23

Fight Back News is circulating this statement from Freedom Road Socialist Organization, on the occasion of the May 20 anti-NATO protests in Chicago.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) welcomes all protesters to this major national and international demonstration against NATO, against war and poverty, in Chicago on May 20, 2012. We oppose U.S. imperialism and its military alliance NATO. The FRSO wants to see NATO defeated and dismantled. We want peace with the rest of the world, not war. We demand an end to the continuing U.S. war and occupation of Afghanistan and support the right to self-determination for the Afghan people. Afghanistan has suffered too much and we say bring the troops home now!

Freedom Road is one of the major groups leading the mass protest against NATO and the G8. We ask you to join us in marching and rallying so the world hears our message. The generals, politicians and bankers can hide behind all their security and spout platitudes about being ‘humanitarian,’ but we will expose their violent, oppressive and exploitative ways. We oppose U.S/NATO orchestrated violence and mass bombing of sovereign countries and the overthrow of their governments, and the killing of thousands of people, like in Yugoslavia in the 1990s or Libya last year. Now Syria and Iran are the targets. The U.S. sets up puppet governments, seizes oil fields and other natural resources and exploits the farm and factory labor of those countries, for the U.S. capitalist class to profit. Half of all U.S. corporate profits come from exploitation overseas. There is no ‘good’ U.S. imperialist intervention in developing, independent or socialist countries.

In opposition to U.S. aggression, Freedom Road sends a message of solidarity to the Arab Spring Uprisings, freedom for peoples suffering U.S. occupation in Afghanistan, Iraq and Korea, support for the national liberation movements in Palestine, Colombia and the Philippines. We stand with independent and socialist countries against imperialism and march together with workers around the globe who just celebrated May Day. Our vision is for peace, justice and socialism. We say, “Take away the money from U.S. militarism and war and spend it on good jobs, affordable housing, health care for all, education and student loan relief, Social Security, sports and cultural development.”

There has been a fair amount of controversy around the anti-NATO protest. The White House, U.S. intelligence agencies and the Mayor of Chicago are doing all they can to scare the public about our protest. We are here in Chicago, most of us from Chicago, to protest U.S. war and violence. As Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1967 during the U.S. war in Vietnam, “The United States is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” It still rings true today.

We know and trust the people marching with us – our friends, neighbors, co-workers and union members, people of faith, enthusiastic students and Occupy protesters. Unfortunately for the rich and powerful, it is hard to intimidate us and scare us away. Members and supporters of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization know this all too well.

Many of you know that the FBI is targeting 23 anti-war activists and Carlos Montes for repression. After we helped lead the mass protests outside the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, MN, in 2008, the FBI raided seven homes in Chicago and Minneapolis and subpoenaed all of us to a Grand Jury in Chicago. You can read about it at www.StopFBI.net. Now an important anti-war and immigrant rights leader Carlos Montes is on trial in Los Angeles, being framed by the FBI. His next court date is June 20, 2012. Carlos Montes urgently needs your solidarity to win!

We know this system we live under cannot deliver what we want. We live in strange times where one has to declare, “War is not peace, occupation is not liberation and corporations are not human beings.” We know the politicians of both parties are bought and paid for by the rich. We are in Chicago to protest this system based on empire that dominates people of other countries, while exploiting and oppressing people here at home. The FRSO aims to end capitalism – a system based on inequality, exploitation and oppression. We will replace it with socialism – a system of peace, justice and equality.

Now is the time to rally and march in Chicago, the home of the Haymarket Martyrs and the eight-hour day struggle, of the great unemployed marches of the 1930s and the urban uprisings after Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, where anti-war protesters defended themselves outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention from police under orders to beat and arrest them, and where the mega-marches of the immigrant rights movement came to life in 2006. The masses make history and we will be marching in their footsteps to oppose war and poverty, to bring down NATO and the G8. One more step on the road to end the rule by a small class of billionaires and millionaires. Let’s unite! We have a world to win!

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #antiimperialism #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8War #ChicagoNATOSummit

Chicago, IL – People from around the world are coming to Chicago to protest NATO and the G8 on May 20. On May 17, international spokespeople gathered at the 8th Day Center for Justice in the Chicago Loop for a press conference in support of the protest against war makers and bankers.

Joe Lombardo of the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) opened the press conference. He said, “There will be a large permitted rally and march on Sunday, starting at the Petrillo band shell in Grant Park. In addition, there will be solidarity actions with our protest from Stockholm to London to Tehran.”

Inga Hoeger, a member of the German parliament and member of a group called No to NATO, No to War said, “NATO is an organization of militarism. The NATO generals will say that they are talking about troop withdrawals from the war in Afghanistan while they are at their summit. The truth is that they intend to maintain at least 50,000 troops there for a long period.” She added that NATO’s plan for a missile shield in Europe is a plan to increase the arms race. She raised the demand for Germany to withdraw from NATO and for NATO to be disbanded.

Her colleague, Tobi Pflüger of No to NATO, No to War and a former member of the European Union Parliament said, “While the big banks in Europe are pushing to impose austerity, as well as cuts to social programs, on to average people, they continue to spend a trillion dollars on the NATO military machine.”

June Kelly of the People Against War Network of Ireland reinforced the high costs of military bases, like the one developing at Shannon Airport in Ireland.

Kazem Azin of Solidarity with Iran said that Iranian students fear a destructive U.S. or NATO-led attack on Iran. These students will march in Tehran on May 18 under the slogan “From Tehran to Chicago, No to the Wars of NATO”

Emmi de Jesus spoke as a congressperson from the Philippines and representative of GABRIELA, an organization of Filipina women. She actively opposes U.S. bases and was asked whether it was important for the U.S. to have military allies. She replied, “The Philippines has no external aggressors. It is the U.S. that gains from the bases and not the Philippines.” She added, “in fact the social costs of bases are high, in terms of ecological damage and the rape and abuse of women and children.”

Reinart Braun of Germany closed the press conference saying, “We are here protesting on Sunday with all of you because we can no longer afford to feed this cold war dinosaur.”

The rally against U.S. war and the NATO military alliance will begin on Sunday, May 20 at 12:00 noon, at the Petrillo Bandshell in Grant Park, Chicago. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, Chicano leader Carlos Montes, Students for a Democratic Society and Iraq Veterans Against War will all speak. Then there will be a march down to McCormick Place to confront the NATO war makers and politicians. War veterans are planning to return their medals from Iraq and Afghanistan to protest the continuing occupations and to protest future NATO wars.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Iran #UnitedNationalAntiWarCoalition #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8War #ChicagoNATOSummit #NoToNatoNoToWar

Chicago, IL – A press conference was held here, April 23, with the Reverend Jesse Jackson, trade union leaders and ministers, along with Iraq Veterans Against the War, to announce support for the protest against NATO on May 20 in Chicago. The Reverend Jackson has agreed to speak at the May 20 rally, which will be held at noon at Petrillo Band Shell in Grant Park, and then he’ll help lead the march to McCormick Place, where the war-makers will be meeting. Jackson compared the significance of May 20 to the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

In addition, Aaron Hughes of the Iraq Veterans Against the War announced their plans to march as well. Veterans of the Afghan war will return their service medals to the NATO commanders in protest of the War on Terror which has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands. Hughes said, “We also must do this to begin to take back our humanity.”

Joe Iosbaker of the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda announced that more unions, representing over 50,000 workers, have endorsed the march in the past two weeks. The unions include SEIU Local 1 and Workers United. “It’s a snowball effect,” he said, and predicted that more unions, churches and community groups will continue to add themselves to the list of endorsers.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #IraqVeteransAgainstTheWar #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8War

*Fight Back! interviews Joe Iosbaker, the Chicago spokesperson for the United Antiwar Coalition, on the protest that will coincide with the NATO/G8 Summit that is scheduled for May 19.*

**Fight Back!:** Could you tell us about the protest planned for May 19?

**Joe Iosbaker:** In May, NATO and the G8 will meet in Chicago. NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is the military alliance of the U.S. and its European allies. The G8 (Group of Eight) is a forum of the wealthiest countries in the world – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

They meet on behalf of the 1% of the world, the rich and the powerful, the bankers and generals. Their agenda is to continue to impose austerity, or poverty, by cutting social spending for workers and the poor to maintain profitability for the rich and to launch more wars, such as Afghanistan and Libya, to stop the rise of the poor nations of the Third World.

Saturday, May 19 is the first day of their summits. At noon that day, the largest, most powerful protest against their wars and attacks on people will take place. Tens of thousands of people from Chicago, across the country and around the world will march to within sight and sound of the war makers.

When we march, the front banner will read: Jobs, Healthcare, Education, Pensions, Housing and the Environment, Not War!

**Fight Back!:** Who is supporting the protest?

**Iosbaker:** The Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) was initiated last summer by the United National Antiwar Coalition. It is a broad formation that includes labor unions, community groups, anti-war and international solidarity groups and faith based activists. One of the most prominent Muslim leaders in the country, Malik Mujahid of the Muslim Peace Coalition, spoke at the founding conference of CANG8, and said that the people who would organize such a march were, “… the hope of humanity.”

No doubt, most of the people who march on May 19 will be from Chicago and the Chicago-land area. At every meeting and event we have held since we started planning this, we have had local representatives of the immigrant rights movement, African American community groups, folks fighting against home foreclosures and leaders from the Chicago Teachers Union fighting to defend against attacks on their students, their schools and their jobs. Alejandro Molina of the National Boricua Human Rights Network was a founding member of CANG8 and has spoken of hundreds of youth from the Puerto Rican community learning about NATO and the G8 and then marching with us on May 19.

CANG8 got a boost at our founding conference from the movement to oppose FBI and grand jury repression. Many of those who came to the founding conference were from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, formed to support activists like myself and my wife, Stephanie Weiner, whose home was raided by the FBI in 2010. The anti-war and international solidarity activists targeted by this witch hunt, including Carlos Montes of Los Angeles, will join the march on May 19 as well.

**Fight Back!:** You have been waging a battle with city government to get permits. Could you tell us about that?

**Iosbaker:** Since the summer, CANG8 took the lead fighting for permits for our May 19 rally in Daley Plaza in Chicago’s center, known as The Loop. We also demanded the right to march to McCormick Place, the meeting place of NATO and the G8. We made it clear that our march would be a family friendly event.

From the outset, the city responded with threats of mass arrests of protestors. The mayor, Chicago Police Department and the Secret Service delivered the message to the media and held secret meetings with every downtown college, church, cultural institution and business group saying the protests will lead to violence. After months of this fear mongering, the Chicago Chamber of Commerce urged downtown businesses to board up their stores and hire private security. The Secret Service announced that there would be snipers on the roofs of downtown office buildings.

As we pressed our demands, in November the city responded that there would be no permits granted for any protest during the summits. We were able to gather more support from our allies, including unions like SEIU Local 73, the United Electrical workers, and the Teachers Union, plus the union and community coalition, Stand Up Chicago; a petition signed by dozens of Christian and Islamic ministers; and the Occupy Chicago movement.

Then, in January, Mayor Emanuel responded to public opinion, which clearly supported our right to protest. The city granted permits to us for our rally and march directly to the site of the summits.

In the same breath that we were given our permits, however, we were told that the Secret Service could revoke them under the needs of this National Special Security Event. Our response is to continue to demand that Mayor Emanuel and Police Superintendent McCarthy cease talking about expected violence and mass arrests and we now have to also demand that the Obama administration and Janet Napolitano, Director of Homeland Security, which is over the Secret Service, leave our permits alone.

**Fight Back!:** What effect will the call from the occupy movement to come to Chicago have on the protest?

Iosbaker: When CANG8 met in August, we knew that the majority of the people in the U.S. were being hurt by the attacks coming down in the economic crisis, the bailouts for the rich and cutbacks for the rest of us. We knew that war is not in the interest of working people here, that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Muslims, and thousands of working class youth from the U.S. only benefited the same rich class that is attacking us. We predicted that when the people of Chicago learned about NATO and the G8, a gathering of all the bankers and all the war makers, they would march in their thousands and tens of thousands.

Two weeks after our conference, Occupy Wall Street began, and the movement against the 1% appeared to confirm our beliefs.

Occupy Chicago has faced repression by the same mayor who has threatened and vilified CANG8 and attempted to deny us permits. In October, Emanuel denied the Occupiers a park to camp in, arresting over 300 to punish them for participating in those protests.

Since then, Occupy Chicago and CANG8 have been working in close collaboration. We occupied city hall to demand encampment space for them and permits for May 19. Then, Emanuel went further still, introducing ordinances in December to greatly restrict the right to protest, rewriting the current city language for permits for rallies and marches. Dubbed by Occupy Chicago, the “Sit Down and Shut Up” ordinances, the most egregious restrictions included the doubling of fines for arrests in protests; multiplying by 20 the fines for march permit violations; requiring marches and rallies to register all amplification and requiring that those applying for parade permits during the summits provide detailed information about the signs they planned to carry.

At first, aldermen and the media all agreed that no one would oppose Emanuel on this. But then, a major civil liberties fight erupted. In a joint statement published by CANG8 and Occupy Chicago on Jan. 18, we wrote:

“In response to the mayor's attack on civil liberties, the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) joined together with Occupy Chicago and several unions to unite our efforts to defend civil liberties in Chicago. By last week, aldermen had felt so much pressure from constituents that they had to speak out.

“Emanuel then moved to withdraw first one, and then another, of the most criticized pieces. Protests continued to grow; Emanuel retreated further; the protests mounted and he retreated even further.

“Finally, a version was reached that the council opposition could vote for, hoping that the movement would not condemn them. The final version is still a significant attack on democratic rights; its passage is a defeat for our movement.

The mayor has not achieved his true objective, though. Emanuel looks at the new Chicago he has inherited, with protestors in so many places and he wants to put the genie back in the bottle. It’s not possible.”

Through this struggle, CANG8 and Occupy Chicago have become united in a common effort to protest the NATO/G8 summits.

Then last month, Adbusters published their call for the Occupy Movement to come to Chicago starting on May 1. We took this announcement as another confirmation that the protests in Chicago were going to become a national focus for the movement. Since then, hardly a day has gone by that we haven’t heard news of another town or college campus where people are making plans to come to stand with us.

**Fight Back!:** Any other points you want to make?

**Iosbaker:** Last year, the resistance to the unbridled attacks on working people in this country began in Madison, Wisconsin with the protests by the public employees for their right to unionization; the movement surged into a national movement when Occupy Wall Street emerged in New York in September and then that movement swept the country.

On May 19, Chicago will take our place among those centers of struggle when we unfurl our banners: “Jobs, Healthcare, Education, Pensions, Housing and the Environment, Not War! No to NATO/G-8 Warmakers! No to War and Austerity!”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #JoeIosbaker #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8War #Adbusters

Chicago, IL – The City of Chicago bowed to pressure from a growing movement against war and cutbacks. After months of denying organizers permits to protest , the Public Building Commission of Chicago wrote that, “…yes, Daley Plaza will be open to public assembly and public activity during the G8/NATO Summits in May 2012.”

At a press conference Dec. 22, in front of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office, Joe Iosbaker of the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) stated, “This is a clear victory for CANG8 and for all those who want to march against war and poverty when the generals, banksters and heads of state meet here on May 19.”

On Nov. 9, in an email to Iosbaker, the managers of Daley Plaza stated, “Unfortunately we are not approving any permits for the use of the plaza May 15th-22nd.” One week later, CANG8 met with city officials, including those who refused a request to state that protestors would be permitted to gather anywhere in the Loop (Chicago’s downtown) during the dates of the summits.

But after bringing together the support of labor, community, faith-based and civil liberties organizations, as well as Occupy Chicago and national and international pressure to insist on the right to protest, the city has reversed itself.

However, while making this concession, Emanuel launched new attacks last week. Andy Thayer of CANG8 denounced the draconian restrictions being threatened against marches in ordinances submitted to the Chicago City Council. Thayer explained that these could be voted on at the next City Council meeting on Jan. 18 and called on alderpersons to oppose them.

N’Dana Carter of Southside Together Organizing for Power/Mental Health Movement explained why people in Chicago will be marching against NATO and the G8. She related that Mayor Emanuel is closing half of the mental health clinics run by the city, at a time when the need is greater because of the crisis in people’s lives. She explained that the cuts coming down on the poor are coming from the richest 1%, which is who will be at the G8 and NATO summits.

Jennifer Wolan, a student from Dundee Crown High School and president of their Youth Labor Committee, spoke about why she plans to march in May. “I don’t see democracy when restrictions are put on the people, the working class and the students.” While speaking of videoing protesters, Wolan said, “I don’t see anyone planning to video the violence by NATO in Afghanistan.”

With this victory in hand, the group that gathered today is confident that they will win permits to march to within sight and sound of the summits at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #JoeIosbaker #RahmEmanuel #CANG8 #CoalitionAgainstNATOG8War #PovertyAgenda