A.N.S.W.E.R.

[1][2] The group has also organized activities around a variety of other issues, ranging from the Israel/Palestine debate to immigrant rights to Social Security to the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles.

[citation needed] 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.

Many of ANSWER's lead organizers at its founding were also members of the Workers World Party (WWP) and its affiliate, the International Action Center.

[8] 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.

[1] 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.

The call for the demonstrations was made public via social media on January 1, 2020,[13] 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.

"[15] They have also worked with "No Cold War" on events, including their webinar, "For a Peaceful Pacific," which featured ANSWER organizer Derek Ford.

The demonstrations' major theme was protesting American involvement in the Russo-Ukrainian War after Russia's full-scale invasion a year earlier.

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.

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...

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.

Besides giving their own version of the events surrounding September 24, ANSWER's statement indicates some less trivial differences between the groups: they criticize UFPJ for its willingness to support the ideas of mainstream politicians, such as John Murtha, who are disaffected with the war, while ANSWER "considers it harmful to try to tailor the message of the progressive movement to please the long-awaited but fictional support from the politicians."

"[27] At considerable length, ANSWER argued that the current split has historical roots, dating back to "the first Iraq war of 1990–1991, [when] some of the same leadership forces now in UFPJ chose to create a second antiwar coalition and insisted on marching under the banner "Economic Sanctions Not War" while some of those who are today in the leadership of ANSWER argued that economic sanctions were war—and a weapon of mass destruction at that.

"[30] The May–June 2003 issue of Tikkun, a progressive magazine of Jewish interests, contained a special section entitled Authoritarianism and Anti-Semitism in the Anti-War Movement?

[36] ANSWER has also been involved in the much larger demonstrations in opposition to the Sensenbrenner Bill and support of legalization for undocumented immigrants that have occurred across the United States since March 2006.

ANSWER was not the primary organizer of the initial large protests in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas in late March and early April, but endorsed them.

[37] ANSWER's position on the left side of this issue led to criticism; Jaime Contreras, president of the National Capital Immigrant Coalition and chairman of the local Service Employees International Union in Washington, D.C., told The Washington Post regarding ANSWER: "Groups... that have done nothing on immigration have no reason to stick their nose where it doesn't belong...

"[38] In August 2007, the D.C. Department of Public Works claimed that ANSWER broke city ordinances by putting signs, advertising a September 15 antiwar march, on utility boxes and using an adhesive that is difficult to remove.

ANSWER refused to remove the signs, stating that the adhesive used was legal, water-soluble paste and the city's actions were "politically motivated."

An ANSWER spokeswoman stated that they gained support from the publicity and intended to continue to post more posters, stickers, and banners despite the efforts of the city.