First of all, the vast majority of such attendees haven’t the slightest idea that the rallies are organized by hardcore Communists. This is of crucial significance, because when someone attends an event whose purpose is to take a stand on an important social issue, he generally ascribes an air of legitimacy and expertise to the assertions of the organizer and the featured speakers. If he is blind to their true agenda cloaking itself in the rhetoric of “peace,” he cannot know that he is being used as a propaganda tool by the enemies of his own country—and is being purposefully indoctrinated with all sorts of ugly beliefs about America that he probably did not hold in the first place. Indeed he will hear speech after speech referring to the US as the world’s foremost terrorist nation; as a greed-driven, power-hungry empire seeking world domination; as an outlaw country aspiring to take control of all Middle Eastern oil. And just as importantly, he is unlikely to hear so much as a word offering a different perspective. In short, he will hear the Communist party line about the many evils of the United States and capitalism.

This is in many ways reminiscent of the 1995 Million Man March, organized by Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Though publicly billed as a “day of atonement” for African American men, it was in reality a tag-team exhibition of racial hucksters taking turns verbally thrashing America as they stepped to the podium. Farrakhan, for instance, condemned “the idea that under-girds the setup of the Western world . . . white supremacy.” Kwanzaa founder Maulana Karenga lamented “the increasing racism and continuing commitment to white supremacy in this country.” Congressman Charles Rangel called black men “victims” of American racism and injustice. Jesse Jackson said blacks are “under attack by the courts, legislatures, [and] mass media.” “We’re despised,” he asserted. “Racists attack us for sport to win votes.”

A barrage of such rhetoric continued, virtually uninterrupted and unopposed, for several hours. And while it is possible that some of the men in attendance really did go for purposes of “atonement,” they were quickly buried by an avalanche of ugly, incendiary rhetoric much likelier to foster bitterness and hatred. And that rhetoric did not come from nameless talking heads behind a distant microphone, but from people they viewed as legitimate, authoritative commentators on the issues of race and justice. A great many minds were poisoned that day, all under the righteous-sounding banner of “atonement.” Marches and demonstrations inevitably reflect the agendas and philosophies of their organizers.

That is why, during the months leading up to the now-inevitable war in Iraq, not a single “peace” rally anywhere on earth has convened at an Iraqi embassy or publicly called upon Saddam to disarm. That is why no such protest has even implored the Iraqi dictator to free the tens of thousands currently being tortured to a slow and agonized death inside his notorious political prisons. Instead, the wrath of the

protesters has been aimed solely at the United States – the “Great Satan” in the Communist worldview.

Take a look around. So long as America is not involved, we do not see protesters gather to denounce military actions anywhere in the world. Nor have we ever. Indeed, when did “peace” groups ever convene en masse to denounce the Soviet Union for exiling the entire Chechen nation to Siberia; for annexing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania; or for sending troops and tanks into Warsaw, Budapest, and Prague? When did they ever condemn the wars and ethnic cleansing campaigns that China’s Communist regime waged against Manchuria, East Turkestan, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia? Why did they never once protest against these military incursions, the way they marched in opposition to America’s leadership of a UN coalition to drive North Korea’s Communist invaders out of the South? Why did they never even politely request the removal of Soviet missiles from Central Europe, whereas they vehemently demanded that President Reagan refrain from deploying missiles in Western Europe to achieve a balance of power? And more recently, why did they utter not a word about the systematic campaigns of mass torture and slaughter in Liberia, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Angola, Rwanda, Congo, or Sudan? For that matter, where were they hibernating when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990? They saw fit to begin barking for “peace” only when the “meddlesome” United States threatened to drive Saddam’s invading army out of the tiny Persian Gulf state.

Predictably, there was stony silence from the “peace” crowd when the US virtually ignored pre-9/11 attacks by Islamic extremists during the past decade—the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 bombing of two American embassies in Africa, and the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. So long as America continued to meekly “turn its other cheek” in the face of unprovoked barbarism, the “anti-war” activists were content. Yet when President Bush responded to 9/11 by sending troops to dismantle al-Qaeda’s Afghan training camps and their Taliban benefactors, the guardians of “peace” instantly swept back into action, condemning this “moral atrocity” that would supposedly kill countless innocent Afghans.

The “peace” movement clearly has very little to do with preserving peace and trying to spare innocent lives, and a great deal to do with sowing seeds of anti-Americanism in as many unsuspecting minds as possible. Those who attend such rallies with the purest of intentions should be aware that they are being used toward that end. They should be no more eager to attend a “peace” rally organized by revolutionary Communists than to attend a “civil rights” rally organized by the Klan or the Aryan Nation.

—FrontPageMagazine.com, March 19, 2003

Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization
by Michael Tremoglie with Chris Blackburn

In the run-up to this war, Not In Our Name became one of the major “peace” organizers and coalitions in the United States. Not In Our Name has spared no cost purchasing ads in newspapers around the world to publish its anti-American Statement of Conscience. Its signatories include scores of Hate America bigwigs, like Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Gloria Steinem and Barbara Kingsolver. Hollywood icons (and many more has-beens) like Danny Glover, Jessica Lange, Tyne Daly, Martin Sheen and Ed Harris have also signed or endorsed the statement. NION organizes marches and other protest activities in its support.

However, Not In Our Name is deeper than the latest academic babblers and limousine liberals. NION professes peace, yet it is involved—directly as well as indirectly—with terrorist organizations and anti-American propaganda campaigns headed by fanatical Communist and Muslim groups. NION has cemented alliances with bona fide radical organizations like the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Revolutionary Communist Party.

Not In Our Name: What is IFCO?

Not In Our Name (NION) requests donations on its website, yet on this site donors are asked to make checks payable to NION/IFCO. IFCO is the acronym for the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization. NION states that the “ Interreligous Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO)… is our fiscal sponsor.” Fiscal sponsorship by IFCO means Not In Our Name receives donations that are tax deductible because of IFCO’s 501c(3) (charitable, federal tax-exempt) status. IFCO charges a fee for this service.

Why is NION not a 501c(3)?

Donations to NION/IFCO are then mailed to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), which is located at 339 Lafayette Street in New York City. The address is the same as NION’s. The intimate nature of a financial partnership shows how closely aligned these two organizations are. And that’s scary, because the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom has been associated with Communist causes since its inception. Molly Klopot of the WILPF is a NION organizer. The WILPF is related to IFCO as well as NION. Marilyn Clement, who is the Executive Director of WILPF, is the Treasurer of IFCO.

The building where the offices of NION, the WILPF and the War Resisters League are located is known as the “Peace Pentagon,” and is owned by the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute. A.J. Muste was a “peace” advocate who compiled frequent flier miles visiting Hanoi during the Vietnam War era. The Muste Foundation funds groups like the War Resisters League, School of the Americas Watch, Nicaragua Solidarity Network, International Peace bureau, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Coalition for Human Rights of Immigrants, and WILPF.

NION: Castro and Islamist Terror

The Interreligous Foundation for Community Organization is a pro-Castro proxy group. Members of their staff such as Lucius Walker (Executive Director), Marilyn Clement (Treasurer) and Ellen Bernstein (Grants Administrator) are all Castrophiles. In Havana in November 2000, Lucius Walker proclaimed, “Long live the creative example of the Cuban Revolution! Long live the wisdom and heartfelt concern for the poor of the world by Fidel Castro!” This was a follow-up to his pro-Castro speech in 1996, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Communist Party USA. Marilyn Clement is a co-organizer of the WILPF’s Sister-to-Sister Cuba project. The WILPF also issued a condemnation of Clinton’s Cuba policy in 1998. Bernstein was also quoted as saying she believes Cuba is the paradigm of democracy.

IFCO does not limit its activity to pro-Castro factions, though. Its management maintains relationships with extremist Islamist groups as well. Walker travels frequently to Iraq, usually alongside Ramsey Clark. IFCO is a member of ANSWER Steering Committee. Bernstein is a member of the American Muslim Council’s campaign against the use of secret evidence. Clement met with Palestinians during a WILPF “solidarity” conference in May 2002. IFCO is also a fiscal sponsor of the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF). The co-founder of NCPPF was the recently indicted terrorist financier Sami Al-Arian.

However, NION’s links with Muslim terrorists are not just indirect, through IFCO. NION invited both Sami Al-Arian and Lynne Stewart to address their October 6, 2002 rally in Central Park. Stewart was indicted for passing messages on behalf of her terrorist client Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman.

One of the members of NION’s Advisory Board, Abdeen Jabara, is a member of the legal advisory board for the American Muslim Council. He is a past president of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, a board member of William Kunstler’s Center for Constitutional Rights, and a co-counsel with Lynne Stewart for Sheik Rahman, the terrorist convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The American Muslim Council is one of the current members of Al-Arian’s NCPPF (the same group to which IFCO’s Bernstein belongs). Leaders of the AMC have been quoted as praising Hamas and Hezbollah. Jabara’s AMC advisory board colleagues include Fakhri Al-Barzinji. Al-Barzinji is involved in Mar-Jac Poultry, which was raided last year by the FBI for links to Sami Al-Arian.

Bashir Ahmad is another of Jabara’s AMC advisory board colleagues. Ahmad is a member of the SAMAD Group (a financial operation) and Justice Taqi Usmani works for the SAMAD Group. Taqi Usmani is a suspected major player in the Muslim Brotherhood International money laundering network of Dallah Al-Baraka, Al-Taqwa, Al-Rahji Investment and Development Corp. Taqi Usmani operates the Al-Balagh.net, which has an online bookstore in California selling books written by individuals who are on the U.S. and UN terrorist lists.

Jabara is a member of the legal advisory board for the Council for Palestinian Restitution and Repatriation (CPRR) as well. The non-profit CPRR exists to “provide legal assistance to Palestinian refugees and their heirs and to educate the public about the legitimate rights of Palestinians.”

Two members of the CPRR, Ishaq Farhan and Abdulateef Arabiyat, are members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF)-an Islamist party affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

Abdeen Jabara also works closely with another IFCO project called the Coalition Against the “Counter Terror” Act. He distributes its flyers and has appeared in a video for the group, which may be purchased for $15 a copy - from IFCO.

Apparently someone is buying. According to a New York Post report, “the most recent IRS records available for IFCO, from the year 2000, show that the foundation took in $1,119,564 in contributions. A Not In Our Name statement reports that they have taken in more than $400,000 in recent months for the purpose of publishing their statement.”

NION and Narco-terrorism

As disturbing as NION’s relationships with IFCO and Muslim organizations are, just as disturbing is its relationship to the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Not In Our Name’s administration cadre comes from the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), through such luminaries as C. Clark Kissinger and Mary Lou Greenberg, both of whom are Directors of NION and members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Clark Kissinger, co-director of NION and the RCP, was quoted as saying that when the RCP took over, “it would be necessary to shoot everyone who didn’t agree with them.”

The RCP is a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist group that practices Lenin’s “vanguard” philosophy, which states that a vanguard of intellectuals is needed to lead the proletariat in establishing a worker’s utopia. It fosters the worldwide revolution through its membership in the Revolutionary International Movement (RIM). It is through this affiliation that the RCP is related to two organizations listed by the State Department as terrorist organizations; the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path/Sender Luminoso) and the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) are are closely associated with RIM. (The PKK is no longer a formal member of RIM; however, it was one of RIM’s founders. The Shining Path is still a member.) Other groups that comprise the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement are the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, the Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran)and the Nepal Communist Party.

The RIM via its publication A WORLD TO WIN declared its belief in the Palestinian intifada. The February 28, 2002, edition stated “the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement once again reaffirms its unwavering support …and calls on all revolutionary and progressive people to step up their actions on (the Palestinians’) behalf.” Another edition advised Palestinians to “link up with …the parties and organizations that make up the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement. With the weapon of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and its military strategy, people’s war, the Palestinian people’s fight will surely become …a more integral part of the world revolution, hastening the day when imperialism, Zionism …meet their doom.”

These Maoist terrorist organizations are financing their activities by trafficking in controlled substances. According to December 13, 2000, testimony by Frank Cilluffo, to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) “ is heavily involved in the European drug trade, especially in Germany and France. French law enforcement estimates that the PKK smuggles 80 percent of the heroin in Paris.” Cilluffo is Deputy Director, Global Organized Crime Program Counterterrorism Task Force at Washington, D.C.’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

This same testimony reveals the Nepal Communist Party, “…turned to drug trafficking for funding. Nepal serves as a hub for hashish trafficking in Asia.” The CIA Fact Book lists Nepal as a major source for heroin from Southeast Asia to the West.

The South Asia Terrorism Portal wrote of the Nepal Communist Party: “The Maoists (Nepal) draw inspiration from the ‘Revolutionary International Movement,’ among whose affiliate is the American Revolutionary Communist Party that provides them their ideological sustenance. Observers have noticed striking similarities in the policies and guerilla tactics adopted by the Maoists and those of the Shining Path of Peru…. Maoist violence has already cost Nepal several hundred lives and destruction of property worth millions of rupees. In 1996, the year the insurgency commenced, 82 people were killed. This figure included insurgents, security forces, personnel and civilians. During the next year, total killings came down by half —38 people died. The following year, in 1998, after the Maoists intensified their program of violence, 408 people were killed—nearly an elevenfold increase in the number of deaths over the previous year. Ever since, the death toll has been on the rise. By late 2000 the death toll has risen to over 2,100. As of August 2002, nearly 5,000 lives have been lost to the insurgency.”

Shining Path sent congratulations to RIM for its first anniversary in May of 1985. The Central Committee wrote, “...the people’s war in our country continues to blaze defiantly, expanding, spreading its roots and preparing for newer and higher tasks, guided always by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, battling for the emancipation of our people for the purpose of and at the service of the world revolution. Thus we are contributing and will contribute to the tasks of the RIM, more and more willing and able to aid in every possible way our glorious common cause: the emancipation of the proletariat and communism prevailing thoughout the earth.

“Comrades, the Communist Party of Peru is part of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement and feels honored to be so, honored to serve in such a far-reaching and historic vanguard battle, as well as to have the comrades in arms found in our Movement’s ranks; and furthermore, the Party feels fortified and augmented by the repeated expressions of support, of proletarian internationalism, which it receives from the very outstanding fraternal communist parties and organizations, and very especially from the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement to which we extend our revolutionary gratitude for its constant encouragement and support. All this, comrades, increases our proletarian internationalist responsibility and our unshakeable commitment to the world revolution and its concrete form today, the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement.”

NION: ANSWERs Needed

Is NION’s financial relationship with IFCO some innocuous charitable funding arrangement? Is it a coincidence that NION donations are funneled through an organization with links to communist and pro-Palestinian groups? Is it a coincidence that NION’s donations are mailed to an organization that has links with Castro? Is it a coincidence that NION is operated by an organization with links to Communist terrorists? And are the long list of entertainment industry notables who have signed onto its “Statement of Conscience” aware of NION’s links? If not, why not?

The government needs to explain some things, as well. Have the appropriate authorities examined these affiliations? All the data presented in this article is culled from public data. NION’s radical connections have been the subject of articles in publications as politically diverse as Mother Jones and National Review. If the government is reluctant to investigate NION because of political concerns, then it has no right to ask military personnel to sacrifice their lives.

—FrontPageMagazine.com, March 19, 2003

National Youth and Student Peace Coalition
by Julia Dunn

Unlike Vietnam-era protests, Muslim students are a major influence in today’s anti-war movement. Muslim students are steering committee members of Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, a radical leftist group that organized the Oct. 26 and Jan 18 anti-war demonstrations on the Mall.

The MSA chapter at the University of Pennsylvania has formed its own political action committee, Penn Muslims for Justice, which will make its campus debut today during a Books Not Bombs demonstration.

The University of Michigan’s 250-member MSA has joined forces with the student group Antiwar Action to sponsor today’s all-day “teach-in,” which includes a speaker on civil liberties furnished by the MSA. In January, the two groups co-hosted a “stop the War” conference about Iraq.

“We work a lot with members of their political committee,” said Max Sussman, an organizer with Antiwar Action who expects at least 500 people to attend today’s rally.

But during an organizing meeting for Antiwar Action in November, some students with MSA and the American Anti-Discrimination Committee were criticized by the Michigan Daily, a college newspaper, for “injecting anti-Israel sentiment” into the gathering. “Sarah Ahmed, an outreach coordinator for the MSA as well as an organizer for the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, said Muslim students have been demonstrating against a war in Iraq “for years.”

“No one listened before now,” she said, “but now the mainstream public is starting to get involved.”

—The Washington Times, March 5, 2003,p. 1

Sarah Sloan and International ANSWER
by Brian Sayre

In the San Francisco Bay Area, as anti-American violence looms, radicals like Sarah Sloan have been making multiple attempts to recruit high-school teenagers—and not without some success. At a student strike at Stanford on March 5, 2003, where students were being directly recruited to perform illegal acts in direct-action “affinity groups,” approximately twenty students from Palo Alto’s Jordan Middle School cut class to attend, without the permission or supervision of the school.

In Berkeley’s Willard Middle School, the administrators took greater measures to keep leftists from undermining their students’ education, locking students onto the schoolgrounds to prevent them from political truancy. It proved harder to constrain the students of Oakland High School, who clambered over fences and locked gates to join protests. Throughout the Bay Area, hundreds of students left their classes to attend demonstrations at the behest of organizers like Sarah Sloan.

This is a worrying trend, for these protests, organized and controlled by the extreme Left, are growing increasingly violent. And when it comes to law-breaking and mayhem, there’s nothing the Left likes better than a minor. When I was a communist in Toronto, on several occasions I heard teenagers, some barely in high school, make statements like “I can do what I want at this protest. What are they going to do? Arrest me? Put me on probation? I’m under 18!” These naive statements, which underestimate both the danger of a conflict with the police and the punishment and shame that follow arrest, are planted and praised by older radicals. In 1999, a youth organizer for the Canada’s Communist Party would tell me: “If you’re going to do that sort of thing, best to do it when you’re young.” The same month in Toronto “peace” protestors threw Molotov cocktails at the U.S. consulate and set it on fire. Two officers were sent to the hospital with injuries from thrown debris.

In the days leading up to the liberation of Iraq, we’ve yet to see such violence, but there are signs that it is coming. Organizing web sites like Direct Action to Stop the War have posted detailed plans to shut down key intersections and workplaces in San Francisco; anonymous comments in their Pravda-like news services hint at smoke bombs in the subways and riots in the streets. All this at a time when our nation is on high alert; all this at a time when terrorists, using the start of war as a pretext, may be planning to attack our nation. Parents might want to ask themselves some rather obvious questions:

—Is your teenager planning on attending these anti-war protests?

—Do you know what your teenager might be doing there?

—Is there anything you can do to keep your teenager safe?

High-school students are a prime target of the communist sects behind the peace movement. First, because they are young and impressionable, they are easily influenced by the “cool”-acting professional organizers that pretend to be their friends, invite them to parties, and recruit them to their causes. Second, high school students have a large amount of energy and time. The caring support of their parents gives them the time, energy, and freedom to devote themselves to the authoritarian causes of the hard Left. Last, high school students are rarely tried as adults in criminal courts. Because of this, they make excellent foot soldiers when legal protest turns to vandalism and riot. And unfortunately, the Worker’s World Party and similar Communist organizations have a long history of recruitment from American high school students. The jump from opposing war to advocating America’s destruction seems extreme, but

there are many sad examples of young people who have converted to their causes and had their futures ruined. A prime example—Sarah Sloan. An article from the year 2000 reveals she left school to ‘live an activist’s life,’ three years before—in other words, when she was 17. Parents need to ask themselves another question: Is the public face of the organization that is after your children nothing more than a high-school drop-out herself? Will your children be encouraged to follow her lead?

If the anti-war demonstrations were only about a peaceful, reasoned criticism of foreign policy, there’d be little for parents (or others) to fear. Unfortunately, the people behind today’s anti-war demonstrations have more sinister agendas. Teenage rebellion can be only a phase. But when impressionable young people fall in with unscrupulous radicals, the damage to their future may be permanent. America is under attack from within as well as from without. In the crisis that confronts us, we need better and more caring parents than Sarah Sloan’s.

—FrontPageMagazine.com, March 5, 2003