Not In Our Name – 2006-10-04 23:21:02
http://www.worldcantwait.org
On October 5th a “National Day of Resistance” is being called by “World Can’t Wait — Drive out the Bush Regime” and an amazing array of endorsers. (See http://www.worldcantwait.org and their full-page ad in USAToday) There will be demonstrations in over 150 cities.
Two facts now make it incumbent on us to act. First, the warnings that plans for a military attack on Iran are already in the works. A military attack on Iran will not only mean untold humanitarian disaster, but a war on Iran will surely intensify a situation in the Middle East where people are being driven to believe that their only choices are between an American imperium and Islamic fundamentalism.
Second, the “torture bill,” that hurtled through Congress, has enshrined in law President Bush’s power to detain indefinitely anyone he designates as an “enemy combatant,” it will allow the admission of evidence obtained by torture, it gives the President the power to “interpret” the Geneva Conventions and specify what acts constitute torture, and it will gut the right of habeas corpus for persons held as “enemy combatants.”
These, and especially the assailing of habeas corpus, undo hundreds of years of basic legal precedent considered to be at the foundation of a democratic society.
This is a very serious leap towards the Bush Regimes consolidation of a very reactionary and dangerous program which World Can’t Wait has described as a remaking of society in a fascist direction. That is where we are now going, albeit in an orderly manner — one where nearly every picture you witnessed of the horror at Abu Gharib has now been made legal and justified by Congress.
What will the world think if the people of this country do not show their repulsion and repudiation of this in the one place the world is going to really hear us — in the streets.
As a critical step in calling people into resistance, the World Can’t Wait initiative is seeking to place a full page ad in the New York Times that denounces the torture bill just passed by Congress and calls people to act on October 5.
At the end of each of the NION statements, we made a pledge. In 2002, we said: “we will resist the machinery of war and repression and rally others to do everything possible to stop it.” Then in 2005, we wrote: “It is our responsibility to stop the Bush regime from carrying out this disastrous course. We believe history will judge us sharply should we fail to act decisively.”
I think the time has come for us to make good on our pledge. If not now, when? At this point, silence and inactivity add up to complicity.
C. Clark Kissinger is the Initiator of the Not In Our Name statements and Convener of the Bush Crimes Commission
YOU CAN HELP: Chicago has been denied a reasonable march permit, although they have rally permits at noon and 4:30 pm. Call the Mayor’s Office at 312-744-3300 or fax 312-744-8045. Updates.
Because of expected crowds, we have increased need for stage & sound equipment, more flyers, posters & materials. Help make all this happen tomorrow!
To the community of The World Can’t Wait:
There is something new rising up in this country. With just three days planning, an emergency gathering against Bush’s new torture legislation was packed with 600 people to hear from Sean Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Olympia Dukakis, Reno, and Malachy McCourt. In these same three days, the number of protests planned nation-wide jumped from 150 – 180!!
Another 600 joined Alice Walker, Boots Riley, and Dan Ellsberg in Oakland.
It is becoming clear to many that if you protest on October 5th your efforts will be amplified by many tens of thousands more. Today and tomorrow there is great potential to grow these outpourings to a whole higher level – so, read the below and then hit the forward button, get on the phone to your friends, print and distribute flyers. Don’t let anyone you know miss this chance to make history!
Sean Penn, read by Mark Ruffalo:
“…At the US/Mexico border, we panic at the notion of illegal entry, without blinking an eye as our elderly line up every Saturday morning with wheelchairs, walkers, canes and joint pain, queued up in the desert heat to enter Mexico where they can purchase affordable medication. In the human family, this President is indeed pushing his wheelchair-bound grandmother down the stairs with a smile on his face. Everyone knows that these are true statements…What an exciting thing to reverse this as one America and show the world who wears the pants in this house. Stand up as an American and join World Can’t Wait and those demonstrating this Thursday, October 5.”
Boots Riley:
Join me along with thousands and thousands of others on October 5 to drive out the Bush regime. Don’t wait and say u did later and not really be there. Be there on October 5, because we need everybody to come together and show that we’re tired of all this bullshit and we’re tired of a government that doesn’t represent us. You’ve got to get out there and do it or else no one else will, all right?
Alice Walker:
They have to go. I had a dream about two wks ago. And I was on my way here to be with you and I was coming along and as I was coming thru the back door back there, someone up here was about to call me, because they thought I was not coming. And so I came on in and came up here and I started right away fussing and ranting and raving and kvetching because there weren’t many people. And I was saying where are they? So when I came tonight, I was looking to see if, in fact, you had come, and you have come.
Craig Murray:
It is the anti-war movement in the United Kingdom that has caused Tony Blair to have to leave. The architects of this crusade are being driven out. Eznar is gone, Berlosconi is gone, Blair has gone and now Bush must go!
Read many more statements calling people into the streets Thursday, and join them! It’s not too late to make a really positive change in this country.
Debra Sweet is the National Coordinator, The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime
info@worldcantwait.org
http://www.worldcantwait.net
