Lawrence Birns
Lawrence (Larry) Birns
Chile petition
In 1973;
- Lawrence Birns, New School for Social Research
- Congressman Donald M. Fraser, House Foreign Relations Committee; Chairman, Americans for Democratic Action
- Michael Harrington, Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee
Circulated a petition opposing the anti - socialist military government of Chile.[1]
- We urge that the people of the world join in pressing upon the military junta of Chile the realization that they must abide by the norms of civilized practices and human decency.
Cablegram to Portugese Socialists and the M.F.A.
In 1974, after a pro-communist military coup in Portugal;
- More than eighty Americans, all identified with opposition to the Vietnamese war and with various radical and liberal causes, sent on August 9 a cablegram to to the Portugese Armed Forces Movement, to Portugese president francisco da Costa Gomes and to portugese socialist leader Mario soares expressing the hope that "democratic freedoms"...will continue to grow in Portugal".
Michael Harrington, the national chairman of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, organized the effort with help from 5 "Initiators" - Lawrence Birns (writer), Sissy Farenthold (past president National Women's Political Caucus), Congressman Michael J. Harrington, Martin Peretz (chairman, editorial board New Republic), Cleveland Robinson (vice president, Distributive Workers of America), Leonard Woodcock (president United Auto Workers, Jerry Wurf (president AFSME).
Elected officials who signed the cablegram included: Julian Bond, Willie Brown, Jr., John Conyers, Jr., Don Edwards, William Gluba, Edward J. Koch, Parren J. Mitchell, Henry S. Reuss, Benjamin S. Rosenthal and Louis Stokes.[2]