From: Nigel.Allen@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Nigel Allen)
Subject: Ad Hoc Committee to Protest the Republican National Convention
Organization: Echo Beach
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 11:41:02 GMT

I thought you might want to see this press release.
 
 Ad Hoc Committee to Protest the Republican National Convention 
 To: National Desk, Political Writer 
 Contact: Gloria Rubac of All People's Congress, 713-524-4462, or 
          John Anderson of Movement for a People's Assembly, 
          713-673-3912 
 
   News Advisory: 
 
   * Unity march denouncing 12 years of Republican abuse will "greet" 
GOP in Houston Sunday, Aug. 16, at 3 p.m. 
 
   * Protestors will gather in economically oppressed neighborhood 
and march into River Oaks, local symbol of Republican privilege. 
 
   * Photo opportunities include: giant puppets & posters, planting 
of enlarged photos of homeless in front of mansion of chairman of the 
convention host committee. 
 
   A broad coalition of organizations promoting economic and racial 
justice, human rights and the end to the militarization of our 
domestic economy and foreign policy has formed to stage a Unity 
Demonstration against the Republican Party.  The demonstrators will 
rally and march on the afternoon before the Republican Party 
convention begins in Houston. 
   The demonstrators will gather at 3 p.m. in Wiley Park in the 
Fourth Ward, one of many neglected and exploited inner-city 
neighborhoods.  They will then proceed two miles into the exclusive 
River Oaks section, where many leading Republicans have their 
palatial homes.  Among them are Kenneth Lay, CEO of Enron Corp. and 
chair of the host committee for the national convention.  They will 
rally again in Mary Elliott Park in River Oaks. 
   Invited feature speaker at the rally will be Jim Hightower, former 
Texas commissioner of Agriculture and presently head of the Populist 
Alliance. 
   John Anderson, an African American with the Movement for a 
People's Assembly and one of the Unity Demonstration's organizers, 
said, "Our march plan graphically illustrates what the last two 
Republican administrations have done to this country.  They have 
created miserable conditions for millions of people.  Unemployment 
runs rampant.  Millions are homeless.  Racism is fomented by a 
bigoted Justice Department and a right-wing Supreme Court.  Every 
dollar for AIDS has to be extracted from a grudging administration. 
But the richest top 1 percent of the population has raked in the 
wealth through tax cuts and government favors." 
   The Unity Demonstration organizers all emphasized that they are 
not rallying for the Democratic Party, but for policies that must be 
adopted if this nation is to secure the blessings of justice and 
peace for its citizens. 
   Among the policy demands of the Unity Demonstration are universal 
health care; women's right to choose; deep cuts in the military 
budget and new spending on education, peace-time jobs programs and 
AIDS research and treatment; an end to U.S. military intervention in 
Third World nations; government action to end racism, sexism and 
homophobia; a dedication to environmental protection; and an end to 
police brutality and racial and economic discrimination by the 
criminal justice system, especially in its use of the death penalty. 
   Among the sponsoring organizations are those representing Latinos, 
African Americans, organized labor, disarmament and peace forces, 
gays and lesbians and groups serving refugees from Central America 
and Haiti.  In addition to those mentioned elsewhere in this release, 
some of them are Houston Black United Front, El Movimiento Nacional 
de la Raza, Jobs with Justice/Campaign for New Priorities, Houston 
Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, Campaign for Global Security and 
the Gray Panthers. 
   Gloria Rubac of All People's Congress, another Unity Demonstration 
organizer, spoke about the way Republicans have worked on prejudice 
to divide the nation for their own political purposes: "'Family 
values' is a code word to authorize hatred and discrimination.  It 
gives respectability to homophobia and gay-bashing.  It prevents 
proper funding of programs like day-care to assist single-parent 
families.  It says that men get to dictate the reproductive choices 
of women.  The Republicans know exactly what they're doing, and it 
isn't strengthening the family." 
   Teresa Gutierrez of the International War Crimes tribunal 
condemned the preparations for a renewed war in Iraq.  "The military 
policy of this country has usually been controlled by the domestic 
political and economic agenda.  The White House demonizes foreign 
countries and foreign leaders to hide the self-serving designs of 
the National Security State and its allies in the weapons industry 
and the energy corporations.  George Bush's domestic policies have 
failed utterly, so what does he do?  Create the specter of another 
war." 
 -30- 

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