ANSWER Coalition

Background

ANSWER was founded on September 14, 2001 after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to oppose war. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., ANSWER Coalition has twelve other offices: in San Francisco (its “Western Regional Headquarters”), Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Seattle, Syracuse, Connecticut, Florida, and New Mexico. ^{7 8}

History

Antiwar and “Anti-Imperialism” Demonstrations

ANSWER opposes economic sanctions and blockades on foreign nations by the U.S. government and other Western countries and opposes “regime change” directed by the U.S. and its allies. It claims that any action by the U.S. against foreign regimes is an attempt to “create human suffering” in those regions. ⁹

On October 26, 2002, roughly one year after its founding, ANSWER hosted a demonstration that reportedly was attended by 200,000 people to protest the War on Terror. ANSWER held further events on January 18, February 15, and April 12, 2003 to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq.  ⁴

In April 2002, ANSWER hosted what it claims was the largest demonstration in U.S. history for the Palestinian people that was allegedly attended by more than 100,000 people. ¹⁰

In January 2005, ANSWER protested the second inauguration of President George W. Bush. According to ANSWER’s website, it successfully organized 10,000 antiwar protestors to come out for the demonstration between 3^rd and 4^th street on Pennsylvania Avenue, with thousands of other protestors allegedly blocked from entering by the Secret Service. ¹¹

In September 2005, ANSWER held a protest in Washington, D.C. calling for the end of the Iraq War; the end of the “colonial occupation” of Palestine, Haiti, and other regions; the recognition of Palestinians’ “Right of Return” to lands lost after the Israeli War of Independence; the end of “threats” made by the United States to Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea; the end of “Racist, anti-Immigrant and anti-Labor” activities within the United States; and a ban on military recruiters visiting schools and communities. ¹²

In August 2006, ANSWER hosted a demonstration with the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation and the National Council of Arab Americans, against the U.S.-supported Israeli bombing campaign against terrorists in Lebanon and Gaza. ¹³

In 2013, ANSWER protested against the U.S. military involvement in the Syrian Civil War. ¹⁴

In August 2014, ANSWER demonstrated outside the White House in Washington D.C. and protested what it called a “U.S.-backed Israeli massacre in Gaza.”  ¹⁴

In March 2016, ANSWER members joined other protestors to demonstrate against Israel and in support of Palestine at a Washington, D.C., conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). ¹⁴

In January 2020, ANSWER protested against the United States’ killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike ordered by then-President Donald Trump. Members from activist group Code Pink were in attendance, as was actress Jane Fonda and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. ANSWER wrote at the time that the “targeted assassination and murder of a central leader of Iran is designed to initiate a new war. Unless the people of the United States rise up and stop it, this war will engulf the whole region and could quickly turn into a global conflict of unpredictable scope and potentially the gravest consequences. ¹⁵

In June 2021, ANSWER referred to Israel as an “apartheid” system and showed support for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), an anti-Zionist pro-Palestine campaign. ¹⁶

Additionally in June 2021, ANSWER Coalition published a blog post criticizing then-President Joe Biden for ordering airstrikes against Syria and Iraq, claiming that the U.S. government was “once again employing the manufactured specter of Iran to justify its crimes in the Middle East.” In the post, ANSWER called the U.S. government “an illegal occupying force” with possession of “neo-colonial proxies.” ¹⁷

In July 2021, ANSWER claimed that the United States government was attempting to overthrow the Cuban government and “bring the island back under their control.” It encouraged its supporters to attend actions protesting alleged U.S. meddling in Cuban affairs, titled “U.S. hands off Cuba!” Actions were held in dozens of cities around America and were sponsored by chapters of socialist organizations such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). ¹⁸

In November 2021, ANSWER Coalition joined other organizations to purchase a full-page ad in the New York Times with the headline, “LET CUBA LIVE!” It called for the U.S. blockade against Cuba to be ended and praised socialist Cuba for having allegedly “led the way in providing free healthcare for its own citizens and poor people around the world.” It also encouraged its supporters to attend protests around the U.S. to demand an end to “CIA plots” against Cuba. ¹⁹

2022

In February 2022, ANSWER told its supporters to attend events demanding “Peace, Not War with China!” hosted by anti-war group Pivot to Peace. The event was held to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the “Shanghai Communique,” a diplomatic document produced by the United States and the People’s Republic of China declaring a mutual agreement to recognize Taiwan as a part of China. ²⁰

In March 2022, ANSWER called for the abolition of NATO. ²¹

In May 2022, ANSWER announced that it would be a “convening organization” for the People’s Summit for Democracy 2022 in Los Angeles, a left-of-center gathering of activists that protested the simultaneous “Summit of the Americas,” that year hosted by the Biden administration and the Organization of American States (OAS). ANSWER called the event an “arena to push U.S. economic and political interests in Latin America and the Caribbean, without regard for the peoples of our shared continent. ²²

In August 2022, ANSWER members joined activists with the Hatuey Project to deliver medical supplies and equipment to Matanzas, Cuba, to help people who suffered burns from an oil tanker fire. ANSWER claimed that the U.S. blockade of Cuba made the situation far worse and called for the “false designation” that Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism to be lifted by the Biden administration. ²³

In September 2022, ANSWER convened a summit featuring the foreign ministers of Cuba and the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela discussing their views on the development of popular participation and state of democracy in their countries. ⁶

2023

In February 2023, ANSWER called the U.S. military “the world’s largest institutional polluter” and said the future of the planet… is jeopardized everyday[sic] by the existence of the monstrous U.S. war machine.” ²⁴

In December 2023, ANSWER claimed that the United States and Israel were committing a genocide against Gaza and called for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war. ⁵ In June 2024, ANSWER alleged that President Joe Biden was guilty of genocide for his support of the Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza. ²⁵

2024

In November 2024, ANSWER called for mass protests to take place at the second inauguration of President Donald Trump scheduled for January 20, 2025. ANSWER claimed President Trump won the election after working a “con” on the American people while his real agenda was to “destroy workers’ rights,” execute a “complete corporate capitalist takeover,” and transfer “ever-larger parts of the National Treasury to the military industrial complex.” ANSWER further claimed that the Democratic Party lost the 2024 election because it was “adopting much of the program of the extreme right.” ²⁶

In 2024, the ANSWER Coalition was involved in organizing a series of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Washington, D.C., including a permitted protest in Lafayette Park near the White House. An internal after-action review by the National Park Service (NPS), later released by the Department of the Interior in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, found that U.S. Park Police and permit monitors were insufficiently deployed during the event. The report stated that two Park Police officers were injured, a park ranger was assaulted, and park property sustained damage. It also noted that some event marshals were unable to control attendees and that no arrests were made. The review concluded that traditional permitting and crowd-management strategies may be inadequate for increasingly disruptive demonstrations. ²⁷

The Lafayette Park protest was part of a broader series of demonstrations in 2024 surrounding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress. Additional protests in Washington, D.C., including one at Union Station on July 24, escalated into unrest involving vandalism and confrontations with law enforcement. ²⁷

2026

In January 2026, the ANSWER Coalition organized protests across the United States calling on activists to oppose the U.S military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of Venezuelan regime leader Nicholas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. According to a post on X (formerly Twitter), the protests were organized to “oppose U.S. bombings in Venezuela and demand no war on the country.” ²⁸ The ANSWER Coalition to partnered with CODEPINK, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), the People’s Forum, and the 50501 Movement to protest the Venezuelan raid. ²⁸

In January 2026, ANSWER promoted a “WALK OUT” protest against war and white supremacy. ²⁹

In January 2026, the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition was listed as an endorser and participant in a nationwide protest effort opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The action, referred to as a “National Shutdown,” emerged from student-led organizing in Minnesota and expanded to coordinated demonstrations across multiple states. ANSWER Coalition members and affiliated activists promoted the January 30 protests through social media and allied media outlets, framing the action as a response to recent immigration enforcement incidents.³⁰

Other activities ANSWER has opposed include the presence of UN forces in Haiti, which it labelled an “illegal coup”; the war to remove former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi; and U.S. anti-terrorist actions in Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, and Somalia. ⁴ ANSWER also helped organize the March for Women’s Lives demonstration in Washington, D.C., in April 2004 and started a campaign against racial profiling in D.C. in May 2004. ¹²

Violence & Foreign Ties

On July 24, 2024, ANSWER Coalition was part of a protest outside of Union Station in Washington, D.C. against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that turned violent. According to a letter by House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AK) to then-U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Director Deb Haaland and National Park Service (NPS) Director Chuck Sams requesting both organizations investigate the protest, ANSWER Coalition activists and other participating groups had violated their original permit to protest, assaulted federal officers, destroyed federal property, and resisted arrest. ³¹

Shortly after on October 31th, 2024, both Rep. Westerman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) sent a letter to ANSWER Coalition national director Brian Becker accusing the organization of being subject to foreign influence and having ties to terrorist organizations. The letter alleged:

“ANSWER and its partner organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and AMP, have well-documented connections to Hamas and Iran. For example, SJP and AMP founder Hatem Bazian raised money for KindHearts, which was investigated and had its assets frozen due to coordination with Hamas and Hamas officials. Furthermore, the Biden-Harris White House acknowledges that Iran is involved in funding U.S.-based anti-Israel organizations and protests. These Iran and Hamas-backed organizations include CAIR and AMP, which partnered with ANSWER to protest on July 24, 2024.” ³²

March Forward!

March Forward! is an affiliate group of the ANSWER Coalition. It organizes anti-war veterans and active-duty service members who want to protest the American military and foreign-policy establishment ¹⁴ It claims to be fighting for the rights of veterans and active-duty service members alike and it resolutely opposes any “wars of aggression” conducted by the United States, in particular the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. ³³

The People’s Forum

In December 2021, ANSWER Coalition sponsored an event in coordination with the New African Institute at which activist journalists Eugene Puryear and Hermela Aregawi discussed conflict in Ethiopia at the People’s Forum, a socialist organization in New York City. ³⁴ Aregawi, an Ethiopian-American journalist who was formerly employed by CBS Los Angeles and Al Jazeera, was invited to discuss the “misinformation” she had had to correct in the mainstream media about the conflict. The discussion specifically criticized the “false and one-sided presentation of the U.S. government and major media outlets” and sought to unveil “the real sources of the conflict.” ³⁴

Organizational Information

As of January 2026, the ANSWER coalition was a fiscally sponsored project of Progress Unity Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization. ³⁵

According to reporter David Corn, as of 2002 ANSWER was a front of the communist Workers World Party. Corn explained that several key ANSWER officials, including its spokesperson Brian Becker, were WWP members, many of ANSWER’s local chapters were hosted in WWP offices, and many speakers at ANSWER’s press conferences were WWP activists ³⁶

In 2008, ANSWER sold t-shirts and sweatshirts on its website featuring Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara’s face.  ³⁷

Leadership

As of January 2026, Brian Becker was the director of the ANSWER Coalition. In March 2022, his name was mentioned on a blog post by the group about a virtual conference at which he spoke regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine organized by the International Manifesto Group and co-sponsored by ANSWER, the International Action Centre, Black Alliance for Peace, No Cold War, and the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. ^38 39

As of February 2004, ANSWER was run by a steering committee consisting of several groups: IFCO/Pastors for Peace, Free Palestine Alliance – U.S., Partnership for Civil Justice LDEF, Nicaragua Network, Bayan USA/International, Korea Truth Commission, International Action Center, Muslim Student Association of the U.S./Canada, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Mexico Solidarity Network, and the Middle East Children’s Alliance. ⁴⁰