I want to thank you for your very generous contribution and give you a quick update of where we are today with this unfolding Free Speech battle. I will continue to keep you posted in the coming week about important developments.
As you can imagine, the government's action to delay and obstruct our receiving all the basic permits is partly undertaken, we believe, with the aim of forcing us to divert energy from mass mobilizing for the March on the Pentagon during the critical last stage. We are taking great care to fight this Free Speech fight and not be thrown off track from our basic mission of mobilizing the largest possible turnout on March 17.
The government is also, as I mentioned in my letter two days ago, hoping to drive up our expenses with the hope that they will "spend us down" and force us to cancel. Because of the generous donations from you and others, however, we will thwart this effort as well. We are still far from achieving what we need in the next three weeks but we are very heartened by the strong response from the supporters of the anti-war movement.
Here is the latest news: Thursday, ANSWER Coalition leaders and our attorneys met with the representatives of the State of Virginia. At that meeting they requested that we sign a document agreeing to pay the the State of Virginia an unspecified amount for "reimbursed" expenses for the use of a section of Route 27 that leads to the Pentagon parking lot where we will have a major rally. They said that we must sign the document although they would not even tell us what the amount was that we were to agree to pay. They cited different possible figures, all in the range of thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. We, of course, did not sign. They were also insisting that we post a $1 million insurance bond for the use of the roadway under their jurisdiction. This is an incredible affront to the First Amendment. The entire stretch of roadway that we are talking about is approximately 100 yards!
We, along with the renowned constitutional rights legal team from the Partnership of Civil Justice are launching a political and legal effort to defend the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and demonstrate. The Pentagon and the State of Virginia are not in territory that is exempt from the provisions of the Constitution. I have attached a copy of a letter sent yesterday from PCJ to the Attorney General of Virginia.
Thanks to the outpouring of support from people like you we are entirely confidant that we can raise the funds needed for the March on The Pentagon. We are not there yet, however, and we are urgently needing pay contractors for the sound, stage, set-up, and other logistical requirements for an activity that will draw many tens of thousands of people. If you are able to contribute again or know a friend or family member who might want to show their support either with an online donation or by sending a check, you can click on this link.
Thank you again for your commitment and support in the Free Speech fight. Please be sure to read our lawyer's letter to the Attorney General of Virginia which is attached as a link below.
Standing Together to Defend Free Speech and End the War,
Brian Becker
National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition
Click http://answer.pephos...
on this link to see the letter we sent to the Attorney General of Virginia.