The World Can’t Wait – 2007-09-24 00:19:14
http://www.worldcantwait.org
Peace Activists to Rally in New York on Tuesday
The World Can’t Wait.org
When General Petraeus testified before Congress this month, he did nothing but uphold the unjust and murderous war in Iraq, praise the Bush administration’s surge, and argue for keeping the US military in Iraq and in the Middle East as a whole. This outraged millions of people in this country who want to see an end to this war.
MoveOn.org published an ad with the headline “GENERAL PETRAEUS OR GENERAL BETRAY US?” In response, Bush and Congress have declared this kind of criticism completely out of order.
Thursday, Bush called the ad “disgusting” and said, “I felt like the ad was an attack not only on General Petraeus but on the U.S. military.” And, on cue, the Senate passed a resolution condemning the MoveOn ad. Only 24 Democrats voted against resolution.
When Bush speaks at the United Nations Tuesday, to tell the world the United States is a permanent presence in the Middle East and to drum up support for attacking Iran, there must be a powerful and defiant resistance out in the streets that makes clear our intent to stop the whole disastrous course Bush is taking the world.
Make sure to WEAR ORANGE to the protests, and cover NYC in orange that day to show a sea of visible opposition to Bush and everything he represents.
IF YOU LIVE IN NYC: Spend the next days organizing everyone you know and people you don’t know to come out on Tuesday to show the world that we refuse to go along with what Bush has in store for the Middle East and the rest of the world, and we intend to stop it! Call the World Can’t Wait office at 866-973-4463 to hook up with organizing efforts, get flyers, etc.
Join with: World Can’t Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the War Resisters League, Code-Pink, Granny Peace Brigade, National Lawyers Guild, Students for Democratic Society, Iglesia San Romero de Las Americas, Movement for a Democratic Society-NYC and many more in a broad range of bold and determined actions.
And that evening at Judson Memorial Church, to hear Chris Hedges, Cindy Sheehan, and Sunsara Taylor.
Join an orange jumpsuit contingent that will act throughout the day on the 25th. E-mail your commitment to wear a jumpsuit to orangejumpsuits@worldcantwait.org. Ominous Capitulation by New York Times • NEW YORK CITY (September 23, 2007) — On Thursday Metro newspaper in NYC refused to run an ad headlined “Who is the Real Nuclear Threat” from the World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush regime in its September 21 issue. The reason given by the publisher was that the content was “too inflammatory” for the prominent back page. On Friday, a second ad “One Million Dead in Iraq” was first rejected for placement on the September 25 back page explicitly because of its content. Then they offered placement on the back page at a price almost four times higher than what was originally agreed upon. We were offered an inside page to run the “One Million Dead in Iraq” ad. However, we want it to run on the back page, which is much more visible. We’ve had a significant response from people who wrote The Metro publisher and suggested avenues for media attention. Thanks for the letters, which were thoughtful and heartfelt … and urgent. In the meantime, in what is a disastrous capitulation to the terms being set by the Bush regime against those who oppose the war, the New York Times Public Editor, Clark Hoyt, wrote today in “Betraying Its Own Best Interests” on the controversy over the Times publishing the MoveOn ad, “By the end of last week the ad appeared to have backfired on both MoveOn.org and fellow opponents of the war in Iraq and on The Times. It gave the Bush administration and its allies an opportunity to change the subject from questions about an unpopular war to defense of a respected general with nine rows of ribbons on his chest, including a Bronze Star with a V for valor. And it gave fresh ammunition to a cottage industry that loves to bash The Times as a bastion of the ‘liberal media’”. Hoyt says the Times should not have published the ad because it amounted to “an attack of a personal nature” on Petraeus, a public official. Hoyt does not speak to the content of the ad, which accurately said “General Petraeus has actually said American troops will need to stay in Iraq for as long as ten years.” The betrayal going at The Times with this editorial is of the public space for dissent even at the price of $65,000 for an ad running stand-by. It’s been the case since 2003 that if you want to challenge the official narrative, you have to buy space. What will it mean when even that avenue is closed? Friends, dissent is not an abstract principle these days. The Bush regime is openly preparing the political ground for an air attack on Iran, even while we know the Pentagon has the military plans ready to go. Whether Bush and Cheney are able to do so has a lot to do with how much protest there is in the country against such an attack. That’s the reason we’re timing ads with Tuesday, when Bush speaks at the United Nations. Putting fear of Congressional sanction or investigation, saying that MoveOn should be “thrown out” of the country, as John McCain did, is backed up with new police powers that have already led to unprecedented police powers in the U.S. We, including the publishers of newspapers, either stand up the bullying, or get what we accept. You can reach World Can’t Wait at 866 973 4463. And, donate generously to get these ads published in more newspapers. Write me if you have ideas and can help. Debra Sweet is the director of The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime
The World Can’t Wait.org
The ads can be seen and reprinted at:
http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4337&Itemid=223
