snip:
With a formality unusual for the anti-war movement, the two main groups organizing Saturday's demonstration have signed a three-page agreement covering everything from who will hold the lead parade banner to how big protesters' placards can be (3 feet by 3 1/2 feet).
In a reference to past political differences, mainly over the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians, the pact signed by International ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice also says, "Between now and the end of the demonstration on Sept. 24, each coalition agrees not to attack the other coalition."
snip:
Criticisms of activists' associations are rooted in a fundamental red and blue political divide: Liberal-led demonstrations often are filled with supporters advocating a variety of causes in an effort to show how the issues are interrelated. That's why International ANSWER insisted on ground rules for Saturday's demonstration allowing signage linking the Iraq war to "the colonial occupation of Palestine, the occupation of Haiti and other anti-imperialist positions."
United for Peace will focus its signage solely on the war.
Conservatives insist that by participating in such a demonstration, marchers endorse the views of those next to them.
"People should be careful of the company they keep in these marches," said Kristinn Taylor, an organizer with FreeRepublic.com. "The question I always ask is, 'If the Klu Klux Klan led an anti-war demonstration, would you march in it?' "
snip:
MoveOn.org, an Internet-based liberal group that rarely gets involved in street protests, decided to endorse this one in a message to its 3.5 million members after Sheehan's protest energized the anti-war movement.
But MoveOn qualified its support by noting that it had "disagreements on a range of issues" with some of Saturday's organizers.
"There's a feeling among some of our members that some of the more vocal people at these rallies are part of the far left and not representative of most Americans," said Tom Matzzie, director of MoveOn.org Political Action, who would not be more specific. "But this is such an important moment in history that we wanted to support the events."
Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of the Berkeley-based Tikkun magazine and one of the scheduled speakers at an interfaith service in Washington on Sunday, was more pointed.
"Support for the anti-war message is so important," Lerner wrote in an e-mail to supporters recently, "that we are willing to participate in a demonstration with others whose views we find obnoxious."
Lerner was referring to International ANSWER. In the e-mail, Lerner said the group's criticisms of Israel have "an anti-Semitic tinge."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/09/23/MNGKHES89D1.DTL
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