A.N.S.W.E.R.
Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, also known as International A.N.S.W.E.R. and the ANSWER Coalition, is a United States–based protest umbrella group consisting of many antiwar and civil rights organizations. Formed in the wake of the September 11th attacks, ANSWER has since helped to organize many of the largest anti-war demonstrations in the United States, including demonstrations of hundreds of thousands against the Iraq War. The group has also organized activities around a variety of other issues, ranging from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict to immigrant rights to Social Security to the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles.
ANSWER is closely associated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and characterizes itself as anti-imperialist, and its steering committee consists of socialists, communists, civil rights advocates, and left-wing or progressive organizations from the Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, Filipino, Haitian, and Latin American communities.
ANSWER has faced criticism from other anti-war groups for its affiliations, tactics at demonstrations, and allegedly sectarian approach to joint anti-war work. It also faced criticism from various sources for its anti-Zionist politics.
History
Many of ANSWER's lead organizers at its founding were also members of the Workers World Party and its affiliate, the International Action Center.After the Party for Socialism and Liberation split from the WWP in 2004, ANSWER remained tightly tied to PSL. ANSWER's National Coordinator is Brian Becker, a PSL co-founder who said "we do a great deal of work through" ANSWER. A writer for The New Republic described ANSWER as a PSL "front group," and the two have significant financial overlap.
Major protest actions
2001–02
ANSWER's first major action was a September 29, 2001 "Anti-War, Anti-Racist" political rally and march in Washington, D.C., primarily in protest of the impending U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. An estimated 8,000 people participated.The group's next major demonstration took place on April 20, 2002, which according to ANSWER's website, drew 100,000 people to Washington in the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration in U.S. history. On October 26 of that year, the group held a demonstration against Congress' vote to authorize the use of force against Iraq, which according to its website drew 100,000 in San Francisco and 200,000 in Washington, D.C.
2003–04
ANSWER called antiwar demonstrations on January 18, 2003, in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, which were each attended by 200,000 people, according to the group's website. ANSWER was one of several groups organizing the U.S. component of the worldwide February 15, 2003 anti-war protest, which was, across the globe, the largest anti-war rally that has ever taken place. ANSWER sponsored emergency demonstrations just before the launch of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, on March 15, 2003, which according to its website drew 100,000 people each in San Francisco and Washington. With United for Peace and Justice, it cosponsored an anti-occupation protest in Washington on October 25 of that year which, again according to the group's website, brought out 100,000 people in Washington.ANSWER called for national anti-war, pro-Palestinian, and anti-Haitian coup demonstrations on March 20, 2004,. The protest in New York, cosponsored by UFPJ, was attended by 100,000 according to the ANSWER website. ANSWER participated in the March for Women's Lives on April 25, and the protests of the 2004 Republican National Convention from August 30 to September 2.
2005–06
ANSWER and UFPJ jointly sponsored a rally in Washington, D.C., on September 24, 2005, with attendance estimated by police at 150,000 and by organizers at 300,000 people.ANSWER was involved with demonstrations on May Day, 2006, in support of rights for undocumented immigrants, which brought out several million people across the U.S. These protests were organized by a number of groups unrelated to ANSWER as well.
In late June 2006, ANSWER organized and participated in local rallies against the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Shortly after Israel invaded Lebanon two weeks later, ANSWER—along with the National Council of Arab Americans and the Muslim American Society—initiated a call for protests on August 12, 2006, against the "U.S.-Israeli War on the People of Lebanon and Palestine." Organizers estimated that the August 12 demonstrations drew 30,000 protesters in Washington, 10,000 in San Francisco, and 5,000 in Los Angeles.
2007–2010
ANSWER called national antiwar demonstrations in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., for September 15, 2007. According to the group, the attendance was 100,000.ANSWER joined with other groups to organize the March 20, 2010 anti-war protest in Washington, D.C.
2010–2020
In response to the escalating tensions in Iraq between U.S. military and diplomats and Iraqi shia militias in correspondence with Iran, ANSWER called for a national demonstration against war in Iraq and aggression against Iran. The call for the demonstrations was made public via social media on January 1, 2020, but the importance of the proposed demonstrations on January 3, 2020, when the U.S. targeted and bombed a convoy of vehicles in the Baghdad International Airport, killing the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and several key figures in the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, including the militia's Deputy Chairman Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. On January 4, 2020, over 70 demonstrations, led by ANSWER and other organizations in coordination with ANSWER, took place across the United States. Demonstrations ranged from smaller in size in small cities to large gatherings in cities like New York City and Chicago. The Washington, D.C., demonstration included actress Jane Fonda.Since 2021
ANSWER has increasingly turned its attention to the growing conflict between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China. Brian Becker, the National Director of the ANSWER Coalition, is an endorser of the organization "Pivot to Peace" mission statement, which is an organization of "concerned Americans from all walks of life who have come together in opposition to the dramatically increasing drive toward confrontation between the United States and China." They have also worked with "No Cold War" on events, including their webinar, "For a Peaceful Pacific," which featured ANSWER organizer Derek Ford.After several Asian women were killed in a hate crime in Atlanta on March 16, 2021, the ANSWER Coalition organized a nationwide day of action to protest the anti-Asian hate crime. ANSWER sees the hate crimes as "the result of the growing hostility towards China".
In March 2023, the ANSWER Coalition organized demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and other American cities against the "U.S. empire" in commemoration of "the 20th anniversary of the criminal U.S.-invasion of Iraq." The demonstrations' major theme was protesting American involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War after Russia's full-scale invasion a year earlier. The organization stated that "The Biden administration is determined to escalate the Ukraine war. The real goal of the massive arming and training of Ukrainian forces has nothing to do with the interests of Ukrainian, Russian or American people. The aim instead is to “weaken Russia” as stated by the U.S. Secretary of Defense himself, even at the risk of a catastrophic nuclear war that could end life on Earth."
In October and November 2023, the ANSWER Coalition joined with other groups such as the Palestinian Youth Movement to organize a series of protests across the USA. Prominent events included protests in New York City and Washington DC.
Attendance figures
ANSWER figures for the size of its March 2007, protest were higher than corresponding San Francisco Chronicle figures. ANSWER engaged in a public dispute with the San Francisco Chronicle about the size of that demonstration. ANSWER Western Regional Coordinator Richard Becker wrote in an op-ed:While tens of thousands of spirited anti-war marchers were still entering the San Francisco Civic Center on Sunday, March 18... organizers got word that a Chronicle reporter covering the event had already determined that only 3,000 people were present... Mainstream media undercounting of progressive demonstrations is nothing new, but this one had a magician's touch.
Analyzing the width and pace of the march together with the time required for the march to pass a certain point, Becker argues that the Chronicles estimate is "impossible".
Some on the left have also accused ANSWER of exaggerating protest attendance. An October 2007 Socialist Worker editorial penned by Todd Chretien and republished on CounterPunch asserted: "Ask anyone who has worked with ANSWER, and they will tell you that its organizers always double the number of people at their marches. More recently, the multiplication factor has increased." Chretien describes this as "disorienting for the movement".
Controversies
Relationships within the anti-war movement
For much of its history, few other prominent antiwar groups in the U.S. or elsewhere have had formal relationships with ANSWER, although many have participated in major ANSWER-sponsored protests.During the protests against the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, there was much discussion among U.S. leftist opponents of those invasions, as to the degree to which they are or are not willing to work with ANSWER because of its affiliations.
Michael Albert and Stephen R. Shalom writing in Z magazine argue that regardless of the political views of some speakers at a major antiwar demonstration, "as long as other speakers can and do express positions with a different point of view, the overall impact of the event will still be positive, particularly in the absence of other options. Most of the people at the demonstration will in fact be unaware of exactly who said what and whether any particular speaker omitted this or that point. What they will experience will be a powerful antiwar protest. And most of the public will see it that way too."