The People's Organization for Progress, the terrific Newark, NJ, group which is at the center of recent anti-war initiatives in the Black community in Northern Jersey has stepped forward again. (I have diaried their previous activities, including posts here and here.) I strongly believe this kind of grassroots activism demands not only attention but emulation.
On Saturday, POP held a rally that drew 80 peace and justice activists to the intersection of Broad & Market Streets in Newark. Their demand was simple: that the entire Bush regime be held accountable for lying to start the war.
"Impeach Bush and Cheney, Bring the Troops Home Now!" the pickets chanted as Larry Hamm, POP's state chairman, read the applicable articles from the US Constitution explaining the impeachment process. He also ran down the reasons to impeach and try both Bush and Cheney, as well as Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Gates, Alberto Gonzales, Homeland Security Director Chertoff and former SecDef Rumsfeld. They are, after all, collectively and individually responsible for the unjust war against Iraq and Afghanistan as well as for the war against the poor at home.
Speakers slammed the administration, and so did participants in the crowd:
Today, the overwhelming majority of people in the US agree that the war must end and the troops must be returned home now. Still the Bush regime shows their true stripes, ignoring the will of the people in order to follow the dictates of Exxon, Mobil, Shell, and BP Oil.
[Crossposted at Fire on the Mountain, where you can also find an inspiring photo and text of the POP press release announcing the demonstration.]