Brian Becker

Brian Becker

Brian Becker. is the National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition and a leader of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Becker has been a central organizer of the mass anti-war demonstrations that have taken place in Washington, D.C. over the past decade.

'What is to Done?'

The People's Forum.

Claudia De la Cruz, Jorge Torres, Eugene Puryear, Miriam Osman, Brian Becker.

Pro-Hamas Letter

In the wake of a terror attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, Harvard University students signed an open letter blaming Israel. After the students received negative media coverage, the ANSWER Coalition jumped to their defense in an open letter titled: "Open letter against intimidation at Harvard: Defend the freedom to speak in support of Palestine!" Brian Becker signed the letter. Excerpt:

We stand together against the racist harassment and demonization of Pro-Palestine student activists at Harvard and elsewhere across the country. These attacks are designed to intimidate, weaken, and silence people's right to speak out in support of the Palestinian people's struggle against occupation and apartheid. Their educational and professional futures are being threatened and right wing political operatives have even rented a TV truck to drive around campus displaying the students' faces. Some are even receiving death threats..."

China's Great Road

The People's Forum June 2 2021·

Book Launch: China's Great Road >> Tomorrow at 7PM ET

Join us in conversation to celebrate the launch of China's Great Road: Lessons for Marxist Theory and Socialist Practices by author and economist John Ross.

With John Ross (author), Wang Wen (Renmin University of China), Radhika Desai (Renmin University of China), Vijay Prashad (Executive Director of Tricontinental), and Brian Becker (Director of the ANSWER Coalition).

Defending Venezuela

Gloria La Riva May 15, 2019 ·

Washington DC, Saturday, May 18!

— with Brian Becker and Steve Patt, Sean A. Blackmon, Carlos Naranjo, Ann Wright, Claire Cook, Jordan Wolf.

Peace for Cuba Appeal

In 1994 Ramsey Clark, Alice Walker, Brian Becker, Teresa Gutierrez, Quentin Young, Gloria La Riva, Paul Epstein and Kathy Durkin were signatories to an International Peace for Cuba Appeal letter. The appeal was an affiliate of the Workers World Party dominated International Action Center.

Delegation to Iraq

While the U.S. prepares for war against Iraq, formerU.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark arrived in Iraq, August 2002, with a five-person fact-finding peace delegation.

The delegation metwith high government officials, family members of people who were killed in the U.S. bombing of Basra August 26, and visitinghospitals and food distribution centers. The group is touring Basra at the site of yesterday's bombing raid that killed eight civilians.

The purpose of this trip is to report on the latest effects of U.S.-led UN sanctions against the Iraqi civilian population, and to show solidarity with the people of Iraq who are facing the prospect of an imminent US war of aggression. Ramsey Clark is the founder and chairperson of the U.S.-based International Action Center, which has campaigned against the devastating economic sanctions on Iraq for the last decade.

The delegation also included Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney and co-founder of the Partnership for Civil Justice, Johnnie Stevens, co-director of the People's Video Network, Kadouri al-Kaysi, coordinator of the Committee in Solidarity with the Iraqi People, and Brian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center.

ANSWER "Rally Against War and Racism"

April 20, 2002 International A.N.S.W.E.R. Rally Activists representing various groups met on the Ellipse in Washington, DC to voice their support for a Palestinian state, criticize the Bush administration for its support of Prime Minister Sharon’s government in Israel, advocate a stop to racial profiling, and protest the treatment of Muslims at home and abroad.

The event was coordinated by the organization Act Now to Stop War and End Racism.

Speakers included Larry Adams - Labor Against the War, Pam Africa Activist International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Sami al-Arian Professor University of South Florida (Tampa, FL)->Computer Science, Tariq Ali Author, Luis Alvarez Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques, Nihad Awad Co-Founder and Exec. Dir. Council on American-Islamic Relations, Brian Becker, Co-Director International Action Center, Vernon Bellecourt Director (Former) American Indian Movement, Mahdi Bray Director Muslim Public Affairs Council->Communications, Helen Caldicott M.D. Founder Physicians for Social Responsibility, Illel Cohen Activist, , Tarek Elgawhay Spokesperson Muslim Student Association Shaker Elsayed, Secretary-General Muslim American Society, Sara Flounders Spokesperson Iraq Sanctions Challenge, Jane Franklin Author, Teresa Gutierrez Co-Director International Action Center, Graylan Hagler Minister Plymouth Congregational Church of Christ (Washington, DC), Cheri Honkala, Founder and Executive Director Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Rafik Jaber President National Islamic Association for Palestine, Teresita Jacinto Member Committee for Indigenous Solidarity, Randa Jamal Member Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Amer Jubran Activist, Sala Kahn, Activist Magdy Mahmoud, President , Metropolitan Muslim Federation->New York, New Jersey, Carl Messner Co-Founder, Partnership for Civil Justice, Riya Ortiz, Representative Asha Samad-Matias Spokesperson Muslims Against Racism, Grace Trevettn Activist.

National Campaign to Defend Civil Rights

Representatives and supporters of the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) coalition held a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., June 18 2002, to announce the National Campaign to Defend Civil Rights. The group announced a major demonstration on June 29 at the headquarters of the FBI and Justice Department.

"Our community is uniting with other civil rights and anti-war organizations to mobilize for the June 29 demonstration protesting the attacks on civil rights and civil liberties," stated Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation.

Rainbow Coalition/PUSH leader Joe Leonard explained that his organization was mobilizing for the June 29 protest because President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft's use of racial and political profiling was "a threat to all the hard won civil rights gains of past generations."

"The Bush administration is substantially expanding the FBI and CIA authority to conduct domestic spying in the absence of probable cause or criminal conduct and is authorizing indefinite detention for citizens and non-citizens at the sole discretion and the direction of George Bush and John Ashcroft--without charge or trial, and without access to an attorney," Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice explained in analyzing the government's latest move.

Other speakers at the news conference included: Lubaba Abdallah, Muslim Student Association of U.S. & Canada; the Rev. Graylan Hagler, senior minister, Plymouth Congregational Church; Macrina Cardenas, Mexico Solidarity Network; Peta Lindsay & Daniel Keesler, ANSWER youth and student organizers; Chuck Kaufman, national coordinator, Nicaragua Network; Damu Smith, Black Voices for Peace; and Brian Becker, co-director, International Action Center.

"NO WAR, NO WAY"

Jan 19, 2003, ANSWER brought together an impressive array of speakers at two rallies—one that began at 11 a.m. in the sprawling National Mall, and a concluding rally at the Washington Shipyard.

Moonanum James, co-chair of United American Indians of New England and a Vietnam-era veteran, opened the rally by connecting the U.S. government’s ongoing racist war against Native peoples with their preparations for a racist war against Iraq.

Anti-war speakers included Charley Richardson and Nancy Lessen from Military Families Speak Out and Liz McAlister, partner and widow of the late peace activist Philip Berrigan. “No blood for oil!” demanded disabled Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic, author of “Born on the Fourth of July.”

Speaking out for labor against the war: Brenda Stokely, president of AFSCME 1707 and Local 215 as well as a co-convener of New York City Labor Against the War; Fred Mason, president of statewide Maryland and D.C. AFL-CIO; Michael Letwin from U.S. Labor Against War and Dr. Nadia Marsh from Doctors and Nurses Against the War.

ANSWER speakers included Youth and Student Coordinator Peta Lindsay, Elias Rashmawi from the Free Palestine Alliance. Jennifer Wager from IFCO/Pastors for Peace, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard from PCJ and Larry Holmes and Brian Becker, both from the International Action Center.

Speakers representing other anti-war coalitions included Bill Fletcher, Jr., co-chair of United for Peace and Justice; Damu Smith from Black Voices for Peace; Medea Benjamin from Global Exchange, and Miles Solay from Not In Our Name.

Jesse Heiwa, from Queers for Peace and Justice, New York, pointed to the growing coalition of lesbian, gay, bi and trans organizations against the war. Brooklyn-based activists Viola Plummer from the December 12th Movement and City Councilman Charles Barron raised the need for anti-racist solidarity, including fighting for reparations. Singer Patti Smith and D.C. cultural artists Pam Parker and Lucy Murphy performed.

Workers World Party

In 2003, Brian Becker was a leading member of the Workers World Party

Global Day of Action

More than 250 U.S. cities took part in the March 20, 2004 Global Day of Action protesting Pentagon wars and occupations. The biggest demonstration was in New York, where 100,000 people marched and rallied.

The event was initiated by the International ANSWER--Act Now to Stop War and End Racism--Coalition, and United for Peace and Justice.

During the ANSWER segment of the rallies, Brian Becker, a co-director of the International Action Center and member of the ANSWER Steering Committee, applauded the courage of the Muslim community in turning out for the march, given the current repression, surveillance and raids.

Palestinian flags flew, and speakers in this segment included Ihab Darwish, Free Palestine Alliance; Lamis Deek, Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition; Imam Asharaf Uz Zaman, Islamic Circle of North America; Ismail Kamal, Muslim Student Association; Mahdi Bray, Muslim American Society and Freedom Foundation; and Waleed Bader, Arab Muslim American Federation/National Council of Arab Americans.

Teresa Gutierrez of the International Action Center appealed to the crowd to boycott Coca-Cola, implicated in the assassination of workers unionizing its Colombian plants.

Brenda Stokely, chair of New York City Labor Against the War and president of AFSCME District Council 1707, vowed, "We're going to bring down the imperialist powers who think they have the right to slaughter our children!" Larry Holmes of the International Action Center spoke and a taped message from political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal urged resistance to racist oppression, police occupation and imperialist oppression.

In the UFPJ segment of the rallies, speakers included Suheir Hamma of Def Poetry Jam; Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi filmmaker; David Cline, national president of Veterans for Peace; and Todd Ensign of Citizen Soldier. Fernando Suarez del Solar of Military Families Speak Out said: "Bush lied. Who died? My son."

Also featured were Tony Benn, former member of the British Parliament, representing Stop the War UK; New York City Councilmember Bill Perkins; and U.S. Rep. Major Owens. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Dorothy Zellner, a Jewish activist, advocated an end to Israeli occupation, and Ziad Abu Rish of SUSTAIN--Stop U.S. Tax Aid to Israel Now--supported Palestinian self-determination.

National Conference on Socialism

The Party for Socialism and Liberation held a National Conference on Socialism, December 6-7, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA.

The Opening Plenary introduced conference participants to the Party for Socialism and Liberation, highlighting recent struggles and campaigns.

The Keynote Plenary featured;

• Gloria La Riva, PSL Presidential Candidate
• Eugene Puryear, Vice Presidential Candidate
• Brian Becker, member of the PSL's Political Committee.

Meeting Ahmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met in New York , September 21, 2010, with 100 leaders and representatives of anti-war, labor, alternative media and Iranian and Palestinian solidarity organizations. Among the participants were Sarah Martin, Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!, Margaret Sarfehjooy, board member of the Minneapolis-based Women Against Military Madness, former attorney general Ramsey Clark, former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Sara Flounders from the International Action Center, Brian Becker of the ANSWER coalition, Ramona Africa of the Free Mumia Coalition and Amiri Baraka, poet and activist.

PSL/Cuba/NOI

Brian E. Muhammad December 19, 2014:

ON CUBA--Against the machinations of the U.S. State Department and the CIA, Cuba has always worked to maintain connections to freedom loving people & organizations in the United States & worldwide. Up to last year Cuban Ambassador Patricia Prego represented the spirit of the Cuban endurance fostering people-to-people alliances with independent groups like the Nation of Islam and others.

L-R: Brian Becker; A.Akbar Muhammad; Amb. Patricia Prego; Brian E. Muhammad; incoming Amb. Alexander V. Rodriguez Salazar @ Cuban Interest Section in Wash. DC — with Brian Becker, Akbar Muhammad, Suzanne Diaz, Rasheedah M. Muhammad, Jacqueline L. Howard, Rasul Muhammad, L. Kimara Muhammad, Gradwell Bloom, Akilah Muhammad, Abel Muhammad, Herbert Riley, Abraham Sharrieff, George X. Muhammad, Melanie Butler Muhammad, Sistar Cassandra and E. Ture Muhammad.

Rally Against Israeli Violence in Gaza

August 2, 2014 Rally Against Israeli Violence in Gaza, organised by ANSWER Lafayette Park. Speakers included; Osamah Abuirshaid National Coordinator American Muslims for Palestine, Salim Adofo Vice Chair National Black United Front, Lydia Catina Amaya Community Organizer Damayan Migrant Workers Associatio, Mohsin Ansari Chair ICNA Relief USA, Nihad Awad Co-Founder and Exec. Dir. Council on American Islamic Relations, Brian Becker National Director Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), Mahdi Bray National Director AMERICAN MUSLIM ALLIANCE POLITICAL ACTION, Karina Garcia Organizer Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), Carol Gay President New Jersey Industrial Union Council, Abbas Falasteen Hamideh Member Cleveland, Tarak Kauff Board Member Veterans for Peace, Alli McCracken National Coordinator CodePink: Women for Peace, Ray McGovern Analyst (Former) Central Intelligence Agency, Carl Messineo, Co-Founder Partnership for Civil Justice, Akbar Muhammad Representative, Nation of Islam, Lucy Murphy Singer, Mike Prysner Veteran Iraq War, Eugene Puryear Member Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), Tareq Radi Founder George Mason University->Students Against Israeli Apartheid, Khalilah Sabra Executive Director MAS Immigrant Justice Center, Cornel West Professor Emeritus Princeton University->Center for African American Studies, Ann Wright Activist, Fadi Zanayed Attorney Palestinian American Council.

Host of Support Palestine in DC 2017! (Official)

Don Bryant is listed as a host of a Facebook event titled "Support Palestine in DC 2017! (Official)." Other hosts are Abbas Hamideh, Brian Becker, Sarah Sloan, Abbas Bazzi, Faaiza Amna Hameed and Robert Martin.

The Facebook invitation reads:

"Support Palestine! Protest AIPAC! #SupportPalestineInDC2017

Al-Awda, The Palestine Right To Return and our co-organizer, ANSWER COALITION will once again spearhead this National Rally to Support Palestine in DC 2017! This rally will start at The White House with thousands of people from across the nation and around the world and ending up in front of AIPAC's annual convention! AIPAC is the primary organization lobbying to continue the brutal illegal occupation of Palestine for over 68 years. We must protest to end this outrageous lobby that ultimately supports the oppression and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people! Please come out and support the Palestinian people in their noble struggle to be free! End AIPAC! End the illegal occupation of Palestine from the River to the Sea!"

Welcome home Bo

Kevin Zeese June 10, 2014:

With Brian Becker, Mahdi Bray and Walter Smolarek.

"We have a hydrogen bomb now"

North Korea Tells the World "We have a hydrogen bomb now, and it works" Brian Becker, host of "Loud and Clear", with guests Paul Liem of the Korea Policy Institute, Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists; and Daniel Jasper, advocacy coordinator for Asia at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) on 1/7/16.

During this hour long program, the guests discuss core questions surrounding the announced North Korean H bomb test, why the DPRK exited from the NPT Treaty and resumed its nuclear weapons program, Obama’s Asia pivot, what North Korea really wants and whether the US can shift its policy toward North Korea.

People's Congress of Resistance endorsers

Party for Socialism and Liberation - PSL, August 9, 2017;

Conveners, and Endorsers (organizations and individuals) of the People's Congress of Resistance as of August 9, 2017 included Brian Becker, ANSWER Coalition, National Coordinator.

"The New Nepal: Forging an Independent Path of Peace"

According to Liberationt writer Morgan Artyukhina on November 17 2018, the Internationalist Students’ Front (ISF) at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., hosted “The New Nepal,” a forum featuring three guests: Pramod Kaphley, Director of the Nepal-based International Peace Institute; Hiranya Lal Shrestha, Former Nepalese Ambassador to Russia; and Chandra Prakash Mainali, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) and former Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal. The forum was chaired by ISF member Ann Marie Kernen and Brian Becker, National Director of the ANSWER Coalition.. The forum was chaired by ISF member Ann Marie Kernen and Brian Becker, National Director of the ANSWER Coalition.

According to Liberationt writer Morgan Artyukhina on November 17 2018, the Internationalist Students’ Front (ISF) at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., hosted “The New Nepal,” a forum featuring three guests: Pramod Kaphley, Director of the Nepal-based International Peace Institute; Hiranya Lal Shrestha, Former Nepalese Ambassador to Russia; and Chandra Prakash Mainali, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) and former Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal. The forum was chaired by ISF member Ann Marie Kernen and Brian Becker, National Director of the ANSWER Coalition.

Liberation News was pleased to attend and report on the first-hand experiences of these three statesmen with the challenges and successes Nepal faces forging an independent path in a hostile world.

Nepal is a society in transition: in 2018, Nepal celebrated its tenth year as a republic, having ended its theocratic, feudal monarchy in 2008. Ambassador Shrestha told Liberation News how Nepal’s democracy continues to flourish: they have held elections at all levels of society (local, state and national), the government has been secularized and a constitution established. The road to republicanism was an arduous one and the country’s climb toward the future is built on the foundations of its past.

Conveying the history of their country’s struggles was of particular importance for the speakers. Director Kaphley noted to the audience that his country had never been fully colonized. Beginning in the 1950s, a growing anti-monarchist movement struggled for constitutional limits on the power of the king and for a representative system of government.

In 1969, peasant resistance to landowners in the Jhapa district in eastern Nepal, and by 1971 it had become an armed insurgency. The uprising was crushed and most of its ringleaders arrested, but CP Mainali escaped. By 1978, Mainali had founded a new party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist), continuing the underground struggle against landlordism in Jhapa.

The Nepalese Civil War began in 1996 when the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) launched another national uprising widely supported by the peasantry. The United States, Britain and India rushed to support the king, Mainali said. By 2005, mass resistance against the monarchy’s brutal tactics extended to the cities, and an alliance between the revolutionary and parliamentary parties forced the king to allow the creation of a new parliament and to hold elections. Communists and socialists won these elections, and in 2008 the parliament abolished the monarchy, declaring Nepal a republic.

All three speakers noted that Nepal’s strategy for self-development today is survival and triangulation: situated between the gigantic economies of India and China, the country is vulnerable to the influences of either, but also sees opportunities in regional integration.

“We are not safe,” Mainali emphasized to Liberation News. Capitalism and imperialism block the advance of the Nepalese people toward a New Nepal, he said.

ANSWER Coalition National Director Brian Becker noted that in Asia, the administration’s principle goal it to block the economic and diplomatic rise of China to secure U.S. hegemony. Whereas Barack Obama spoke of a “pivot to Asia,” now Vice President Mike Pence speaks of an “Indo-Pacific” strategy, as displayed by his recent visits to Singapore and Papua New Guinea to try to stir up anti-Chinese sentiment among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) at their most recent summits.

In the event of a conflict, the United States will certainly press unaligned nations, including Nepal, to take sides – a situation that can only come to their detriment.ref>[1]</ref>