Read this entry to see all posts made before October 28th, 2005.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Educators Against Bush- ” Our Kids Can’t Wait”
NY Teachers Against Bush- “Our Kids Can’t Wait!”
We, as educators, support the call ‘THE WORLD CAN’T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!’ We say, ‘OUR
Education is under direct attack by this administration.
Read more- Click Link
Oakland Educators Association Pass Resolution in Support of Nov.2nd Walkouts
By
a unanimous vote at a October 25 membership meeting, AFT Local 2121
agreed to endorse the following resolution based on the resolution
passed by the Oakland Educators Association:
RESOLUTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 General Membership meeting:
10-25-05
Wheras
WORLDCANTWAIT/DRIVE
OUT THE BUSH REGIME has called for a national day of protest on
November 2, 2005, the anniversary of the GW Bush’s re-election,
Wheras
there will be a covergence in the Bay Area at noon at the Civic Center
in San Francisco followed by a march through San Francisco,
It
is hereby moved that AFT Local 2121 support the right of participation
in the November 2nd 2005 day of protest and support the policy of no
reprisals against students, teachers, and others in the school
community who may take-off work or school to take part in protest
activities that day.
Berkeley Students/Activists Disrupt John Yoo Class
This
week, Berkeley’s Daily Cal reported; “about 15 UC Berkeley students and
activists protested next to Boalt Hall yesterday, blaming Boalt
professor John Yoo for a controversial prison torture memo which
critics have said paved the way for mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at
Abu Ghraib.”
World Can’t Wait Organizers at Berkeley called for
this urgent protest action exposing and denouncing John C. Yoo for his
illegal, immoral, and perverse legal opinions which have directly
contributed to the torture being carried out by U.S. military personnel
at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and other undisclosed locations.
Organizers
burst into John Yoo’s class with activists dressed in orange jumpsuits
worn by Guantanamo Bay torture detainees and one activist was dressed
as a U.S military soldier praising and thanking Yoo for allowing him to
torture people. Yoo fled the scene and it caused a ruckus in the class.
Many students gave cheers, while other complained that protesters were
disrupting a class they were paying for and they owe them for ruining
the last 5 minutes of their time.
A Berkeley organizer
responded, “there’s a lot of concern about the disruption of studies,
but my own studies are being disrupted when I can’t sleep because I
dream about what the world is like”. Student organizers around the
country will continue to challenge people standing on the sidelines as
the Bush Regime continues to commit unthinkable crimes against humanity
and call on them to be on the forefront of launching a movement to
drive this regime from Power starting Nov.2nd.
Check out the Daily Cal at this weblink:
http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=20154
NEW World Can’t Wait High School Website
World Can’t Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime has created a NEW website for High Schools. Below is the link:
World Cant Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime (HS)
This is the place to go for ideas and happenings at high schools that are driving out the Bush regime!
Monday, October 24, 2005
UW Madison Declaration: There will be No Turning Back, November 2 We Start a Movement.
We the students of the University of Wisconsin that will walk out on Nov2 declare:
The theocratic regime that has positioned itself for a fascist takeover of the world will not be allowed to continue. We will no longer complacently and apathetically enjoy our ‘liberal’ enclave , we will confront the challenge that is before us. We will not let this regime turn the women of this country into incubators, barefoot and pregnant. We will not let this regime turn our military into the army of the christian right forming a global empire. We will not let this regime force us to divide ourselves by sex, race, class religion, hair or eye color. We will not let them replace reason with what they think is right.
There will be no turning back, November 2 we start a movement.
November 2 the role that students play in society will be realized: “Students very often can be a kind of spark that sets off, and that increases the power and the energy of a national movement” [Howard Zinn].
November 2 is the beginning of the END of the Bush Regime. We will join this movement because these are our lives, because this is our history and because we can no longer accept the politics as usual attitude that demoralizes students, professors, ethnic groups, sexes, religions and the human race on the whole. We understand that democracy and freedom as we know them, are quickly fading. A shift toward fascism can be seen. We will no longer turn a blind eye to the forced globalization of corporate welfare. The democracy they want to spread is not about freedom or tolerance, it is about spreading a narrow and hateful brand of christian fundamentalism.
We the students will not just think of our future careers, we are thinking of the world we want to live in. We will walk out of our classes, walk out of our jobs, get out of our cars, turn off our T.V.’s, and join our family and friends in the street to take back control. We will not back down and we will not go home. We want the U.N. back,women’s rights safe, homosexual rights to exist, environmental ethics to not go extinct, out of this war, out of this cycle, and an end to corporate news. We are no longer going to accept the genocide and crimes against humanity that this regime has commited in our name.
We are mobilizing to get the most protested man in history out of office.
Recapture your life
before it's too late.
The WORLD CAN'T WAIT!
November 2, 2005.
Madison, WI
Two World Can’t Wait! LA Organizers Ambush David Horowitz Film Festival
Two World Can’t Wait! LA Organizers Ambush Horowitz at Reactionary “Liberty Film Festival”
David
Horowitz, right-wing bully and Bush Regime operative, made an
appearance at a film festival in West Hollywood to introduce a film and
to speak about his “Academic Bill of Rights.” A group of World Can’t
Wait! organizers from here in LA went determined to disrupt and shut
this fascist down. We approached this with the orientation that this
was analogous to a KKK grand wizard coming to town to speak in the
lynching belt of the US south, and that this monster must not be
allowed to speak. We had to make sure his unwelcome was known.
Two
of us were able to walk into the theater free of charge, by pure
chance. We sat right up front and had to endure about 20 minutes of the
most nauseating commentary, film trailers and award-giving for
virulently reactionary, despicable films such as one that honored that
great enemy of humanity, Reagan (it opened with a mushroom cloud,
literally!). One of the vile dogs sitting next to us kept leering at us
and feverishly clapping, noticing that we weren’t showing any love. I
was worried this storm-trooper might try to thwart our actions.
Finally,
Horowitz stepped on stage. He began by talking about the success his
“Academic Bill of Rights” campaign is having across the country,
including by passing legislation and attacking progressive professors.
We jumped up out of our seats and onto the stage and shouted that we
were there to put a stop to all that. We declared that “Fascists have
no right to speak! Horowitz and the whole Bush Regime must be Driven
Out! Horowitz is a bigot who wants to end ethnic studies and all
critical thought on the campuses!”
We
stood our ground as long as we could until we were assaulted by some of
the henchmen in the audience. They literally threw me off the stage and
tackled me to the ground and into the first row of seats. My companion
received the same treatment. We continued agitating and they
strong-armed us out of the theater and shut the doors, dragging us into
the lobby and guarding the door as security came up. The reactionary
watch-dog sitting next to us followed behind the brawl shouting, “I
knew those two were dangerous!” We replied that the real danger was the
NAZI RALLY going on in that theater.
In
the lobby, security pleaded with us to leave and said the pigs were on
the way. We told them they should be kicking out the fascists occupying
the theater! As people continued to come into the theater (having to be
re-routed since we were agitating in the front) we advised people to
work on their goose-step and put up their Nazi salute for Horowitz and
the Bush Regime. All too appropriately, one Horowitz fan responded to
this by giving us the US military salute!
We
were definitely outnumbered and, with no prospect of media coverage or
mass participation, decided to leave the building before the sherriffs
arrived. We had managed to disrupt and denounce Horowitz– and put him
on notice that he and his whole brownshirt movement will be resisted
and defeated as a decisive part of ushering in the END OF THE BUSH
REGIME and everything they represent. Because, truly, the WORLD CAN’T
WAIT!
Tony
World Can’t Wait! LA Youth & Student Organizer
******************
Disruption Causes a Stir in Fascist Blogosphere
** Last night, my new short film Brainwashing 201: The Second Semester was shown at the Liberty Film Festival
in LA. The film was introduced by academic freedom fighter David
Horowitz, whose speech was interrupted by two protesters who ran on
stage screaming, “Fascists have no right to speak.” The irony of that
statement from the people trying to shut Horowitz up seemed to be lost
on the protesters, but it served as a perfect illustration of the
intellectual thuggery covered in the film that followed. The protesters
were quickly whisked off stage and out of the theater in a fashion that
was far more gentle than they deserved.
**Liberty Film Festival, 2:Friday night really had three stars: Even Coyne Maloney, the genius behind Brain Terminal and On the Fence Films; David Horowitz, the force of nature who started Front Page Magazine
and the Study for Popular Culture; and Horowitz’s hecklers, who stormed
the stage the moment he began speaking, and had to be forcibly removed
from the stage(and then the room.
Where, BTW, did Jason Apuzzo
learn to tackle like that? These hecklers(one man and one woman(were
enormous, like two big slabs of left-wing beef. And Horowitz is a small
man; I’m glad Apuzzo and a few other volunteers from the audience (law
enforcement? barflies?) kept them from getting near Horowitz as they
continued to shout “you have no right to speak!”
I guess they aren’t too happy with Horowitz’ stance on the Bill of Academic Rights.
Once we all knew these left-droids were being taken care of, most of us
simply started laughing at them. Maloney started changing “Na na na na,
na na na na, hey hey, goodbye” as the hecklers were “escorted” (forced,
kicking and screaming) out of the room.
***As
David Horowitz began to introduce Maloney’s film, two audience members
rushed onto the stage and ran towards him threateningly, shouting, “You
have no right to speak!” They were quickly surrounded and escorted out
of the hall. An audience member was heard to ask, “Who were they?”
Quipped Horowitz, “They’re called Communists.”
When
Maloney took the stage, he commented, “David was up here exercising his
right to free speech, and they literally said, ‘You have no right to
speak.’ …. That’s not uncommon on college campuses.”
http://www.bigpicweblog.com/exp/index.php
.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
New Group Wants Bush Out: World Cant Wait appears in Daily Texan
New group wants Bush out
Organization hands out fliers, graffitis to get message out
There
are only 16 days until the beginning of the end of the Bush regime,
according to the World Can’t Wait, a new political organization. The
Austin chapter plans to be on campus and around town handing out fliers
and actively advertising their cause.
This administration does not represent us … even though they say they do,” said Sonya Morales, head of the Austin chapter.
Today
marks the fifth day of encampment outside the White House counting down
to Nov. 2, the day WCW has organized protest marches in 40 cities and
college campuses across the nation. Nov. 2 is also the one-year
anniversary of President Bush’s re-election to office.
Read the Rest of the article at:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/paper410
/news/2005 /10/17/ University/New-Group.Wants.Bush.
Out-1022590.shtml
The Truth About Torture Comes to UCLA
The Truth About US Torture Comes to UCLA
We
got out to the UCLA campus around noon to kick off the Torture Victim
guerilla theater. To our disgust/delight there was a giant US army
recruiting bus parked in the middle of Bruin Plaza. It was disgusting
and outrageous that they were there at all… yet delightful that they
were out there like that so we could expose them in a highly visible
way.
At first it was just two of us. I walked straight up to the
five or six goons standing in front of the recruiting bus, leash in
hand, and called on all of them to take the leash, pushing it out in
front of them. They looked back and forth at each other and kept
silent. No one would take the leash or utter a word.
I told
them, “Maybe if you had me all alone in Abu Ghraib or Gitmo you’d take
the leash, give it a yank! But you cowards won’t do that shit in the
light of day and show all these students what you’re really all about!
Recruiting the next generation of torturers and war criminals!” Still,
none would engage me, so I turned to the students who were looking on
and offered them the leash. This was met with avoidance, laughs and
some interest from the students.
When students laughed, I asked
them if they thought torture was funny, if they thought it was funny
that the Bush Regime is torturing people around the world, as we speak.
When people avoided me, I told them that keeping silent and laying low
would not stop these atrocities from going down. I told them that they
are holding the leash every day they remain silent in the face of these
crimes against humanity.
The visual effect was very jolting for
people and a small number approached me to find out what we were doing.
Almost nobody would take the leash. While I approached people in the
suit, another organizer was doing some agitation and getting out
flyers. She was telling people that we can stop this US torture from
going down if we speak and act out now and mobilize for Nov. 2nd.
After
about 20 mins., some campus police came up and told me that they had
received a complaint. I asked them what it was and they wouldn’t answer
me. Their presence attracted many more people to the scene and there
were students who were telling the campus police that they had no right
to fuck with us. They tried to tell me to be patient while they radioed
in, but I kept agitating to the masses, exposing their aims to silence
opposition to the Bush Regime and to squash the movement determined to
Drive Them Out.
They had no charges on me, and they were
definitely going to pay a political price (from the students that were
now encircling this whole scene and calling out their bullshit) if they
persisted to arrest me. They left and let us continue. In the course of
all this, a high school tour group came right through the plaza where
we were located. All these youth came over to see what was going on and
were thrilled to hear about a movement to drive out Bush, whom they
quickly identified as a hated and vile figure.
One young woman
was laughing and joking and eagerly grabbed the leash, at my request. I
told her who I was, that I was locked up in Guantanamo and that I
hadn’t seen my family, friends or the outside world for several years.
I told her that her government has been torturing me. I asked her if
she felt more powerful since she was able to degrade me and treat me
like less than a human being. She got a lot more serious very quickly
and let go of the leash. She said she didn’t understand at first, but
now she gets it.
A couple students we have been working with on
campus came by and got materials from us and started passing them out
to everyone who was going by. This was a good beginning and we will be
stepping up the presence and boldness of the torture victims skit at
UCLA and other campuses in the LA area.
The Six Essentials
( DJ at Battle Bush M.C contest in the Bay Area)
10 Days Until the Beginning of the End of the Bush Regime!
The Six Essentials Between Now and November 2nd
(1) Concretize Plans for November 2nd. We
need more than simply calling for convergences. Who will be speaking?
What will be the march route? What creative and bold actions need to
happen on the day? What plans do we have to call on others to JOIN US
throughout the day, challenging students to walk out of class? One idea
is to have a banner on the 2nd that reads ” Join Us” along with the
other visuals.
(2) Call for a Massive City Wide Emergency Meeting. Comb
through all of your contacts, inviting them to the meeting and don’t
take NO for an answer. The meetings should not go too long, if there
are people who want to get into this more deeply set up a time to sit
down and have a longer meeting. We need to hit at the key points,
outline the plans and have plenty of materials for people to take.
-Sharply
get into What will it mean if Nov.2nd falls short of galvanizing a
critical mass on that day and is not on the minds of hundreds of
thousands? But what if we do? The impact that this day would have on
the terrain and dynamics in this country. We can accept nothing less
than what this Call is putting forward and we should be losing sleep
over where the world is heading and fighting like hell to derail this
disastrous path.
-Tremendous leaps can be made in 10 days. Each day
needs to be planned and assessed on did we get to a different place
today, will Nov.2nd have a different character because of a
breakthrough made today?
(3) Saturation on the Campuses and High Schools
-Getting
into dorms can make a big impact. Get calls with local info into all
the dorm rooms, up in the hallways and lounges. Talk to students who
are around and ask them to take responsibility for covering a floor.
Students can hang World Can’t Wait Posters in their dorm room windows
or homemade signs supporting NOV 2. For high schools, stuff all the
lockers with flyers.
-Make announcements every day about Nov.2nd in
lecture halls, class rooms and cafeterias. Break people out of the
normal routine; stand on tables and challenge people to be part of a
day Nov.2nd when a new political movement will burst through with
enough strength and political force to give the whole world notice that
Bush Regime will be driven out.
– Have a banner drop everyday
counting down until Nov. 2nd. ” 10 days until Nov 2nd, 9 Days until
Nov.2nd, ect” with local convergence info on it.
-Contact local
college papers to do a story on the organizers building for Nov.2nd or
carry announcements about local Nov.2nd convergences.
-Get PSA’s for
Nov. 2nd played on college radio stations. Contact dj’s, send in the
PSA’s along with a press release to the station, etc. PSA’s are
available at http://www.worldcantwait.org/media/PSAs.php.
(4) Study and perform Guantanamo Bay Torture dramatizations
on campus (check out the instructional video on the student page,
http://www.worldcantwait.org/youthandstudents.php). If you have already
done this, follow up on the buzz created on campus.
(5) Listen (or listen again) to Sunsara Taylor’s speech at
the Labor Day National Conference. Throw it on your I-pod or burn it.
In the midst of running around saturating campuses, calling contacts,
making plans, jumping up on cafeteria tables we need to stay grounded
in why this regime needs to go and how people in their millions can
drive out this regime.
http://www.worldcantwait.org/media/sunsara_conference.mp3
(6) Check the student/youth page constantly for the latest- http://www.worldcantwait.org/youthandstudents.php
and send in news and photos to youth_students@worldcantwait.org
Allen Lang
National Student and Youth Organizer
youth_students@worldcantwait.org
Friday, October 21, 2005
A Homecoming To Remember
Today,
as U of Wisconsin students were putting on their pirate costumes for
school spirit and preparations were made for homecoming parade, and new
students were gallantly toured around campus. Students finished up a
week of class and made plans for homecoming weekend. They were
confronted with the reality of becoming a country of torturers. They
were forced to face the images of tortured prisoners that they turn the
page on everyday.
Standing outside the student union on a fall
afternoon, we told students to “take the leash” There was a lot of
nervous laughter and looking away, taking the long way to go around us.
We were an undeniable presence that had to be confronted. Those who did
take the leash had similar nervous laughter and defensiveness. They
were confused and irritated, then engaged and interested. Some said,
no, I don’t like this, it makes me feel uncomfortable. And so we
said”What are you going to do about it? Everyday when you go to class,
and you feel bad about it, but turn they other way, this is going on in
your name.” Then world cant wait organizers hooked them up with the
call and continued conversation.
The situation erupted when a
young black man went and got his friends to show them this torture
victim. They laughed and tugged at the leash and pretended to punch the
torture victim. They said, as black people they were with us, they were
victims of this terrible regime as well. At the same time they were
uncomfortable and resented this confrontation. They said they hated
Bush, and one of them had been in the military, he said he supported
us, but was very disturbed and uncomfortable with the “torture victim”
He continued to laugh and pull on the leash beyondwhat was appropriate.
The torture victim challenged with outrage that thisis not
funny and goes on in their name every day and if they think its a joke
than they are accepting torture, and they are holding the leash. They
continued to laugh at the torture victim, until they confronted them
head on, accusing them of accepting torture. They fell silent and
passersby witnessed they emotion and outrage.
We moved on to
the main street in town from there. Everyone who walked by had to
confront this. Some stared, some yelled out in anger, some stopped to
discuss this. People were literally walking backwards with wide eyes
shaking their heads in disbelief. Anolder man who was from Germany
stopped and told us that he remembered Nazi Germany, and at the same
time remembered the United States bombing their towns and cities. He
said to us- “we Germans, we know” .
We thought this experience
was very sobering and upsetting. Revealing, and deep. We have been
trying to charge the atmosphere to wake students up, and this seemed to
cut through the bull shit and get at very deep outrage and paralyses,
shaking and working at the complacency that’s already setting in. It
was exhilarating to challenge that and to embody this contradiction
between what people are aware of and outraged by, and their sense of
responsibility compelling them to act.
We are making plans to
build on this sense of deep responsibility and righteousness that we
were standing on in doing this action. We want to do this again with
more costumed people. Including possibly at thehomecoming charity ball
tomorrow.
UW Madison may be having their annual homecoming
parade this evening, and it may be on the surface another football
season, another party school, another activist University died out- but
there is something a foot. There is a buzz about Novemenber 2, there
are plans being made, there are students calling us. People say they’re
apathetic, people say they won’t be mobilized unless it relates to
their campus issues,they say we have to go to them one at a time and be
nice, and they have their schedules and their own agendas. We will not
be nice. We will fight for what is right. We will challenge students to
inspire them, and we will aim to rip open the terms that have been set.
It was stirring in the surprised faces of the students on State street
this afternoon.
Will this be the same campus Monday morning?
Will it bethe same campus Nov 2?
Not if we have anything to do with it. And we aim to.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
A Call From the Heartland- Drive Out The Bush Regime
(Mega- Church of 16,000 in the Houston, Texas)
World Can’t Wait:
Living
in the small town I live in, and waking up and going to a public school
where religious posters hang on the walls and school officials are paid
with my tax dollars to organize a Christian Fundamentalist organization
on campus makes me realize everyday why driving out the Bush Regime is
so important.
Everyday I walk down the halls with fellow
students who have been pretty well brainwashed from early childhood to
now. In my Government class, kids bend over backwards to defend George
Bush, not because they necessarily agree with his policies, but because
their minds have been molded to believe that anyone who opposes the
Bush regime is a ‘baby-killer’ and is ‘disrespecting our troops’.
I
attended Elementary School in a district where once a week, the
Teachers walked the students across the parking lot to a church in
which they were given a fundamentalist education on everything from
Creationism to Anti-Birth Control, for two hours. Of course, this
wasn’t ‘required’, but only two other students did not attend the
class, and we were ridiculed by the other students, I can recall being
asked ‘aren’t you afraid of going to hell?’
Talking to some of
these people is really frightening. You can tell when anything critical
of the extreme right-wing fascism they believe is brought up, they
simply stop listening. They take the idea of ‘blind faith’ to the
extreme. I remember bringing up evolution with one kid, and he
immediately put his hands over his ears, started moving his head back
and forward and repeating ‘There is nothing you can say to get me to
believe this) there is nothing you can say to get me believe this) ‘
There
are a lot of students who don’t go along with this, but they know if
they speak up there are lots of consequences. I can recall having
Teachers scream at me and tell me I was ‘un-American’ because I opposed
the Iraq War. When I dared to bring up the evil things promoted in the
Bible such as killing children who are disrespectful to their parents,
one student responded by screaming ‘you are going to hell!’
This
is the Bush plan for the schools of America. Change them from places
where diverse ideas can be discussed, and diversity is respected, to
training grounds for their new American Taliban, where every child is
raised to believe that daring the question the strict fundamentalist
interpretation of the Bible is a ticket to eternal damnation, so the
best thing to do is simply to do as you are told and obey those in
power.
I’m not going to let George Bush and Pat Robertson get away with this.
DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!
Carl Miller, a youth from the Heartland
Note: Feel free to foward, post and use this letter.
Eyewitness Account and Lessons from Hunter College Arrests
On
Tuesday, Oct. 18, Hunter College, a popular liberal arts college in
Manhattan, was buzzing about the question of torture. Five youth from
the NYC chapter of The World Can’t Wait and the NYC Revolutionary
Communist Youth Brigade dressed in orange jump suits and put black
hoods over their heads, and knelt in a cluster in the hallway right
outside the cafeteria – where several buildings intersect and hundreds
can congregate within minutes. It was a startling and powerful sight –
the anonymous, faceless men we’ve seen in photos for two years were now
right in front of us, asking us, if we don’t like the fact that our
country tortures, why do we accept it through our silence and inaction.
One of the âvictims’ would walk around, asking people to grab the dog
leash that was around his neck – telling them, ‘George Bush says I’m a
bad guy. Do you believe him? Do you feel better that I’m in Guantanamo?
Do you want to be holding the leash? Because, as long as you do
nothing, you’re holding the leash. They’re raping me and torturing me!
What are you going to do?!’ The idea was to challenge people with what
it means to people, in real terms, to say, ‘we can/must wait three more
years’ – it means, ‘we can tolerate these horrific, dehumanizing
actions of our government’.
We had done this twice before at
this same campus, but this time was very different. As the security
guards came to stop the youth, one of them grabbed the leashes of three
of the guys, and pulled them together – causing some students to laugh,
and others to cringe. The room was sharply divided – with some saying
we were interrupting their day, and others – the majority, in fact –
who were stunned and felt confronted and challenged, in a good way –
and then others who verbally supported us. As the guards attempted to
arrest people, and the crowd saw that people protesting torture were
themselves being physically assaulted -with the guards picking people
up by their arms, trying to drag people, threatening to break one
youth’s arms – and as they saw that the youths themselves were not
going to go quietly – it became clear that the crowd of 200-300 were
upset and wanted to do something, but were unsure what.
WCW
organizers in the crowd were calling on people to intervene, and a
chant went up of, ‘Let them go!’ and ‘Torturers!’ – especially after
one of the guards, very visibly, punched one of the youths in the groin
– while he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and being
carried out! People in the crowd were crying, they were so upset. One
young woman, who had at first, was like, ‘Who? Me? Do something?’ was
particularly outraged and filed a complaint with the school,
documenting the sexual nature of the abuse. Once they had all been
dragged out, a portion of the crowd stayed around debating what had
just happened, and whether they should be ‘dropping out of school’ to
do ‘what’s right’. We also learned the next day, when we approached
professors, that they had already heard about it from students who came
to class wanting to discuss it.
The youths were all charged with
misdemeanors – though two were singled out and charged with felonies at
first, and the action was covered by the Associated Press, whose story
was picked up by Newsday, 1010 WINS (the radio station with the largest
audience), CBS, NBC, and the free Metro – and all kinds of people were
saying they had heard about it, and had heard about Nov 2!
**************
11
Days until Nov.2; the Beginning of the End of the Bush Regime. We can
not rest content with the explosive actions at Hunter and allow them to
subside into the margins. We must forge what we have tapped into with
these bold actions into an organized resistance movement with crews of
students going all- out day and night making Nov.2nd a burning question
at school and transforming the political terrain on campuses; but for
what? Why? TO DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Student Group Endorsers/ Sunsara Taylor’s Speaking Schedule In California
Student Groups who have officially endorsed the World Can’t Wait Call and Nov.2nd
Please send your group’s endorsement to youth_students@worldcantwait.org. Specify whether it is a Chapter or National endorsement.
Beacon High School
New York-SOS Students Organizing Students
Mt.Holyoke
Student Coalition for Action
NYU
Voices for Choice
Ohio University
Positive Action
Inneract
Students for Peace and Justice
Paideia High School
Atlanta P.A.I.N
Sarah Lawrence
Flux
Daniel Casper, President of the Ammnesty International Chapter
Sarah Lawerence Human Rights Coalition
Shoreline Community College Seattle
Hip Hop Elements
Black Student Union
Muslim Student Union
Hong Kong Student Unioin
U of Illinois at Chicago
SWORDS- Students Without Religious Dogma
Professors
Leigh Raiford
Department of African American Studies
University of California at Berkeley
***********
Sunsara Taylor’s Speaking Tour Schedule- California
Oct. 24th
U of California- Berkeley
Wheeler Hall Room 110 4:00 P.M
Oct. 25th
University of Southern California
Place and TBA soon.
A Message from the Black Law Students Association at Columbia U
A Message From The Black Law Students Association at Columbia University
The
people of New Orleans lived in a place where a natural disaster was
expected to strike. For years the federal government knew that the city
would be flooded if it was hit by a Category 3 or larger hurricane.
Last month that day came. The local leaders did the only thing they
could- order everyone to evacuate to avoid the catastrophic loss of
life and human suffering that would result from Katrina.
But
some were left behind, because they had no means to flee or no where to
go or no money to pay for shelter and food while they waited until it
was safe to return. The only man in the nation who had the authority,
power, and resources to quickly and efficiently bring these people and
their families to safety was in the next state ) on vacation.
Only once it is too late to act, too late to save those who could not save themselves- he comes to survey the damage.
President
Bush chose to let the chips fall where they may for the poor in New
Orleans. The self appointed evaluator of the fitness of others to rule
their nations sat by and let only God knows how many die. Had this
happened in Iran, there is no doubt he would have been planning
‘Operation Irani Freedom’ the next day. There would have been no end to
the outraged speeches on morality and human rights emanating from the
White House. Yet there have been no apologies from George W. Bush to
those he abandoned, only entreaties that we not ‘play the blame game.’
There
is no game to be played here. Instead of acting when he heard there was
imminent danger to American citizens, President Bush stayed on his
Texas ranch and only deigned to cut his vacation short when the outcry
and criticism by elected officials, the press, and the public at his
lack of response became so overwhelming that he could no longer sit
back and watch. The outcry peaked unexpectedly on a live NBC telecast
when rap star Kanye West emotionally declared ‘it’s been five days
…America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less
well-off, as slow as possible.’
However, the crime of omission
happened long before that sentiment was uttered. We have witnessed what
is likely the biggest avoidable disaster in U.S. history. Ironically,
the very people Bush allowed to die in the floodwaters in New Orleans
are the parents and grandparents of those he sends to die in the
deserts of Iraq. Out of this disaster, he said, we as Americans could
begin a ‘dialog’ on race and poverty issues. As we all know that dialog
has yet to be started. In a nation that has proclaimed that all men are
created equal and that liberty and justice stand above all else, what
happened to the poor in the Gulf Coast cannot be tolerated or ever
allowed to happen again.
On Wednesday, November 2, 2005 there
will be a nationwide student walk-out to show our President that this
type of callous disregard for the welfare of the poor is unacceptable.
We hope that other students at Columbia University will heed the call
for action and join the protest.
contact: nyc@worldcantwait.org
212.969.0772
Try this on your campus and beyond (Instructional Video)
Check out the instructional video at
www.worldcantwait.org/media/
Campuses
this has been done at: NYU, Hunter College, University of Illinois –
Chicago, Berkeley, UCLA, U Of Wisconsin-Madison, U of Texas-Austin,
Arrests so far: 9
There
is a huge contradiction in society. On campuses especially, many have
taken a stand by campaigning or protesting against Bush, but have then
returned to life as usual and resigned themselves to the idea that they
have done all they can. We get a good response every where we go, but
still far too few are taking the reigns and acting in a way that can
actually prevent Bush’s program from being bolted into place
permanently and around the world.
The truth of the sentence,
‘That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn –
or be forced – to accept,’ is being born out.
Despite their
better intentions, people all around us are learning to accept the
unconscionable, learning to turn the page on the photos of torture,
learning to count down the days to the end of Roe V. Wade, learning to
open their backpacks up to hysteria-driven police searches, learning to
‘watch what they say’ in class rooms, learning to protest only in
police pens, if at all.
The logic of ‘not offending’ anyone, and
of ‘not making waves’ is a guarantee that we will land in the full
fascist nightmare of Bush’s new Rome. People need to be snapped out of
their paralysis, woken the fuck up, and given a way to really affect
the enormity of what we are confronting.
To this end, we have
made this instructional video to show how we can do this. The point is
to challenge students with the reality of what it means that ‘Your
Government is openly torturing people and justifying it.’ And that
unless you are throwing in everything you’ve got to drive out this
criminal regime, you are learning to accept this.
An interesting
note, as you will see, even for those of us producing this video, the
experience of being confronted with the responsibility we all have for
this country becoming a nation of torturers was very sobering and made
us uncomfortable. This is the point. People don’t want to be
responsible for these heinous cruelties, but they need to know that
just wanting it to stop is not enough, every time you look away, or
walk away, or turn the page, or refuse to challenge others, or get ‘too
busy’ with schoolwork to organize, you are holding the leash. The fact
that ‘everyone else is’ going about their daily lives too only makes it
worse!
The idea is to destroy people’s ability to separate
themselve from what is being done in their names, to break them out of
their ‘normal routine,’ and hook them up with the only way out – taking
on and driving out the criminal regime forcing this on the world. This
will take struggle, sacrifice, bravery, and disruption of our own and
other’s routines – but when torture becomes routine, this is the only
moral and sane way to live. All out for November 2nd!
Some important instructions:
1)
The ‘torture victim’ must stay in character the whole time. This
includes staying ‘in costume’; you can’t take the hood on and off. And
importantly, this means you need to act and talk like a ‘torture
victim’- don’t start giving political speeches, and don’t turn into an
organizer. You can compare the answers that people say to you against
the weight of your experience. There should be others in the crowd and
at a table nearby getting the crowd organized after they have been
shocked by the reality of what their government is doing.
2) The
‘torture victim’ has to really engage people in a very personal and
challenging way. This has to not just be a rant, but a way to reach
inside people’s souls. You know people are agonizing over this, and you
want to reach that part of them. You need to get a lot of back and
forth going between yourself and the crowd, as well as creating a whole
scene around you, where students are gathering to see what’s going on
and debating it out amongst each other. It is important to tell people
to ‘take the leash’ and respond to their response. First, you may need
to challenge people to take the leash- ‘it’s okay, your government does
it all the time. You won’t get in trouble. Doesn’t it make you feel
safe? Aren’t you patriotic?’ Then, if they refuse the leash, say things
like- ‘I know, you like to think you’re not holding it – its set up
that way. But you are, every time you turn the page from the pictures
of me, every day you walk around and I am here – you’re holding it. Go
ahead, see how it feels in your hand. You might like it, part of you
seems to, every day you get more use to being part of a nation of
torturers – I bet some days you don’t even think about it at all, do
you?’ You have to take control of the conversation, think on your feet,
and keep challenging people with the horrible reality they are
accepting.
3) The element of surprise is really important for
this. The whole point is to jolt people out of their daily routine and
show them the daily routine forced on the Iraqi people. You need to do
this once and do this well on campus. And run with it- get students to
take you into their classes. This should be what everyone is talking
about that night, with some becoming organizers, some arguing ‘that was
going to far’, etc., but no one sitting on the sidelines anymore.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Media Coverage of Hunter College Arrests
In
ongoing news on the Hunter College arrests the story was picked up from
the Associated Press by Yahoo News, 1010 WINS ( largest NY radio news
station) and New York News Day. There will be a Press Conference tommorow Wends. October 19th at 10:00 A.m at Hunter Hall
( across from Radio Shack), 68th and Lexington to not accept this
attack on political dissent and demmand that these charges be dropped
immediately ( incuding felony charges of rioting).
The Hunter Officer in the blue jacket threatened to break one of the arrestees arms and punched a protester in the crotch.
Five Arrested at Hunter College War Protest
Oct 18, 2005 3:37 pm US/Eastern(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK)
Five
young men wearing hoods and orange jumpsuits were arrested at Hunter
College on Tuesday in a protest of conditions at the Abu Ghraib and
Guantanamo Bay detention camps.
Shouting “They’re raping me!
They’re torturing me! Please do something! Don’t just go to class,” the
five knelt on the floor with leashes around their necks, evoking photos
of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib camp in Iraq, before being handcuffed
and dragged away by campus police.
The protest in a third-floor
student commons area of the Manhattan campus was part of an effort to
drum up support for a nationwide day of protest against the war in Iraq
on Nov. 2.”If there isn’t a movement that’s resisting these outrages,
this is not going to change,” said Ati Lagos, an organizer of the
protest, who said she was with an organization called The World Can’t
Wait.
Louis Mader, director of the public safety for Hunter,
part of the City University of New York system, said the demonstrators
would be given desk appearance tickets and released.”This space is by
permit only,” he said. “These individuals had no permit.”
Some
students who watched the guerrilla theater unfold were supportive while
others were puzzled.”I think it’s great that they’re doing this,” said
freshman Eileen Woie. “People need to know.”But sophomore Jason Balroop
said, “It’s a distraction. We all have class. I have to take a test
right now.”
(check this site for an Instructional Video on Torture Dramatization)
http://youthdriveoutbush.blogspot.com/2005/10/try-this-on-your-campus-and-beyond_15.html
Dear Jason Balroop: Fuck Your Exam
Sophomore Jason Balroop said, “It’s a distraction. We all have class. I have to take a test right now.”
Dear Jason Balroop,
Fuck your Exam
Sincerely,
Allen Lang
-excerpt from AP article on the the World Can’t Wait Hunter arrests-
Some
students who watched the guerrilla theater unfold were supportive while
others were puzzled.”I think it’s great that they’re doing this,” said
freshman Eileen Woie. “People need to know.”
But sophomore Jason Balroop said, “It’s a distraction. We all have class. I have to take a test right now.”
Schedule for Sunsara Taylor’s Speaking Events in the Midwest
Schedule for Sunsara Taylor’s Speaking Events in the MidWest
Wisconsin
Oct. 19th Wends.
5 P.M
University of Wisconsin- Madison
b102 Van Vleck
Chicago
Oct.20th Thurs.
12:15 P.M
Harper College
Building J Room 160
6 P.M
University of Chicago
Harold Leonard Stuart Hall 5835 South Greenwood Avenue
Rm. 102
Oct.21 Friday
6:00 P.M
Columbia College
Hoken Hall
Schedule For California ( details tba check site for updates)
Oct. 24 Monday
Berkeley
Oct. 25th Tues.
L.a
Please go to http://www.worldcantwait.org/media/
To hear Sunsara Taylor’s speech at the World Can’t Wait conference.
Friday, October 14, 2005
10 Day Count Down at Mt Holyoke
10 DAY COUNTDOWN !
Protest of the Minute Men Convention outside of Chicago
At
Mt. Holyoke starting Oct 23 will be the 10 day countdown to Nov. 2nd.
We will have a room that will function as an organizing center. Each
day will have a theme- No theocracy, No forced motherhood, No
suppression of science, No environmental degradation, No repression, No
Detentions and round -ups, No War, No torture, No Intolerance each day
there will be banner drops etc advertising the theme and countdown. The
days will include actions in accordance of the theme- teach-ins,
documentary showings, open-mics, discussions etc..
In addition there will be a sign-up/pledge table
-possibly dorm competition, sale of materials….
Running
up to the 10 Day countdown there will be daily Visual Saturation,
guerilla theatre including one centered around the Torture Victim ( see
Instructional Video on Youth page)and announcing the 2nd at the Howard
Zinn Speaking Event
****************************************************8
NOV
2nd Plans for the Mt.Holyoke/5 College area. Check Nov. 2nd Link for
November 2nd Plans in your area. If there are no plans, it’s on you to
make them and begin mobilizing for the 2nd.
Specific to MHC- 10:30am Walk-Out converge at SKINNER
GREEN snake march through buildings around campus
calling on people to JOIN US, 11:20 storm PVTA/
carloads go to amherst
MASS ALL SCHOOL CONVERGENCE!!
NOON at Amherst center rt 116 side
music, theatre, art, admist bold audacious action
A Day in the Life of a Chicago WCW Youth Organizer
A Day in the Life of a Chicago WCW Youth Organizer
The 3 Week Countdown
6:30am (yes, AM)- Wake up, put on your Resist or Die Shirt, brush your teeth, get some OJ and a bagel and OUT THE DOOR
7am-
Arrive at a high school (a different one each day). Meet up with the
crew of 5 people (or usually many of you’ve all come together because
you’re all crashing at each other’s places anyway.) One person gets on
the bullhorn doing agitation, two collecting contacts, and two handing
out flyers. Getting out stickers. Calling for leaders to step forward
in a movement that won’t stop till Bush crew is driven out.
Specifically, vision of Nov. 2- as this happens all over the country,
asking who will lead a walkout at this school that will join with
thousands downtown at noon on November 2? Asking what time are you
walking out? How will you get downtown? What other schools might you
march by or through, pulling out other students? Calling for a meeting
right after school at a fast food joint across the street. (A flyer for
the meeting is made from a template the night before, where we just
write in the specifics for that high school and run off about 100
copies.) We send in s! tacks of flyers, including the flyer for the
meeting, and stickers.
8am- Banner drop over the expressway.
9am-
Arrive at a college. Bold actions- busting into classrooms, someone
dressed up like an Abu Ghraib torture victim, etc. Agitation in the
quad in a similar fashion to the high school model, but usually there’s
more time for talking and struggling with people on the spot around
‘what time it is in world history’ and what’s really called for to
bring into being a different future than the Bush regime’s.
Noon-
Busting into the cafeterias, making announcements. Some people in the
crew don’t have WCW t-shirts so when we get kicked out, they might be
able to stay under the radar and get down with people, bringing forward
some organizers.
2:30pm- After school meeting at the high
school.to solidify the vision of November 2 and make some concrete
plans of how we’re going to do this. Who’s talking to what student
group? Who’s going to the school newspaper? Where can we leave flyers
for people to pick up? How do we get the specifics for the campus on
that flyer? (Note: one high school decided specifically to spread the
details by word of mouth to avert repression.) How will we stay in
contact?
5pm- Meeting on college campus. Similar model to high schools but more complexities, scale to deal with.
6pm-
Making pitches at student organization meetings around the city to take
up WCW. Also, hooking up at the same apartment every night (so we can
plug in others) to follow up with contacts, see how things are going at
different campuses, make plans, etc. Dinner.
8:30pm- Going out
on the town. Picking different parts of the city each night (sometimes
strategically linked to where we’re going the next day) and getting out
posters, stickers, flyers.
2am- Pass out- until the next high school!
This is the approach we’re fighting for. If we aren’t fighting like hell for November 2, it ain’t gonna happen. Now
that doesn’t mean every single person is doing every single thing every
single day. And in between all this we’re doing all kinds of stuff like
emailing and calling people, meeting with individuals, etc. But this is
the basic schedule and we think it’s the only thing that measures up to
what’s needed at this time. We are far behind where we need to be and
can be right now but there is tremendous basis to turn things up right
away. We’re trying to turn the fact that we only have three weeks into
a real positive- it brings November 2nd and the need to step up right
away into reality. We’re honest with people about being behind in our
efforts and put it in their hands that we need to be on other campuses,
they need to take this up here right away. And people are really
responding and stepping forward. More on that to come.
Resist Or Die! No School Nov 2nd
RESIST OR DIE! No School Nov. 2!
For
all of the youth brought into political life last November because they
recognized there were extreme dangers for the world if the Bush Regime
continued it’s disastrous course, for all those who were left vexed and
contemplating what next on November 3rd; now is
not the time to lose more ground to Bush’s onslaught–now is the time
to organize for a movement that seeks to drive the Bush Regime from
power and reverse the direction society has been taking. This is the
way-the only way-to respond on a level commensurate with this
situation, to reach the hearts of millions who are deeply anxious and
outraged, and to break the grip of current “political alternatives”
that are so suffocating and paralyzing.
We face the real life
prospects of a future where it is illegal to refuse to serve in their
foreign wars of plunder, where critical thinking and science are cut
out of the education system, where U.S. military occupies parts of
cities to institute forms of martial law and where women are forced
into dangerous ” back-alley abortions”. This is real. This is the
future our generation faces if we do not Resist and pour our energies
into driving out this regime.
Resist Or Die can capture people’s
attention and allows youth to take a bold stand against the naysayers
and “play-it-safe” forces that are urging us to sit on our hands until
2008.
Take part in making RESIST OR DIE a household slogan and
bringing the powerful message RESIST OR DIE into every corner of youth
culture:
* Download the Resist or Die template to make flyers
and stickers or order Resist Or Die stickers from the National Website
to use and distribute at your school, neighborhood, downtown areas and
cultural events. Plan with others how to raise money to get a roll of
stickers for this. Stickers will be key in creating a buzz in building
for November 2nd. (available soon!)
* T Shirts let people know
what’s happening. Shirts with the Resist Or Die slogan need to be
common throughout society especially among young people. Ordering one
for your self is great but we need much more than that. Is there a
store or vendor in your area that would carry Resist Or Die T shirts?
Do you or any of your friends perform music at shows and could include
Resist Or Die T Shirts on the merchandise table? Brainstorm about how
else we can utilize the Resist or Die shirt. You can download this .eps
file and take it to a t-shirt printer to have shirts made or order them
from the national office.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Bring the Speaking Tour To Your Campus
Campuses the Tour has hit: Ithaca,
Kent State, Ohio University, Brandeis University, Harvard, Oberlin,
University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, Columbia College, Univeristy of
Chicago, Harper Community College, Hamphshire, Mt Holyoke, UCAL-
Berkeley, USC, Pitzer
Sunsara Taylor Speaking Event
U of California -Berkeley
Monday Oct 24th 4:00 P.m
Wheeler Hall 110
L.A USC
Tuesday Oct 25th, 12:15pm
RGL Room 101
Pitzer College
Tues Oct 25th 4 P.M
Avery Auditorium
World Can’t Wait CAMPUS SPEAKING TOUR
We
are sending speakers across the country to transform campuses into
centers of resistance. The tour will feature people capable of firing a
crowd, a living room gathering, a bored classroom, an open-mic
audience, with the vision of how we can drive out this regime, the
possibilities for the world once we do, and the peril if we sleep on
this one day longer… Start something. Contact us about sending
someone out. Our speakers are also available by phone for your campus
radio station. Put us in touch with the Djs directly.
*Hear
speakers that will take apart the whole direction the Bush Regime has
taken; from the suppression of science and critical thinking, to their
murderous rampage in Iraq, to their brutal program of making women
second-class citizens and reinstituting a horrific morality throughout
society
*Meet the leaders of a new generation that will not hesitate for one moment to call out the crimes of this Regime
*Strategize how to mobilize and kick things off in a major way for Nov. 2nd in your area
*The indispensable role of students and youth in Driving Out the Bush Regime
Campuses the Tour has hit: Ithaca,
Ohio University, Kent State, Brandeis University,Harvard, Mt. Holyoke,
Hampshire, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Oberlin
SPEAKERS AVAILABLE NOW:
*Sunsara
Taylor, an initiator of World Can’t Wait, has traveled the country and
written extensively about the growing danger of Christian fascism in
this country, including reporting live from Terri Schiavo’s hospice in
Florida and Justice Sunday I in Louisville. She is described by the New
York Times as “a slight and intense young woman” who “protests by day
and turns poet and dreamer by night.” In the past year, Taylor has
emerged as an important voice of a new generation rediscovering
communism and the possibility of revolution, as re-envisioned by Bob
Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Taylor, who can
go head to head with Biblical literalists and raving right-wing radio
jocks, has appeared on Fox’s Hannity & Combs and Fox News, Laura
Flander’s Show on Air America, 1010 Wins, NY1, CNN, in The New York
Times, Amsterdam News, numerous college radio programs and other media
outlets. She is a contributing writer for Revolution newspaper.
*RJ
Schinner is a National Student/Youth organizer with The World Can’t
Wait ( Drive Out the Bush Regime. He came from Cleveland, OH to the
organizers conference, and stayed in New York to fulfill a great need.
RJ has been an organizer with the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade
for several years, and led high school walk-outs and protests against
the Iraq war in 2003 in Cleveland. He has spoken at campuses,
conferences, forums, and rallies in Ohio on a wide range of topics and
is known for a quick ability to come up with catchy and powerful chants
on the spot and a beat-red face while agitating on a bullhorn. Notably,
RJ got a mention on frontpagemag.com for disrupting a speech by David
Horowitz at Bowling Green State University. If you want someone to
unabashedly call out the status quo and challenge students and youth to
change their lives and change the world, bring RJ to your campus.
*Allen
Lang is the National Student and Youth Coordinator for The World Can’t
Wait! Drive Out The Bush Regime. Allen got his start as a political
organizer after witnessing the horrors that suffocate millions of
sweatshop workers in the 3rd World and being inspired by the
anti-Globalization movement that burst on to the scene during the 1999
Seattle/ IMF protests. As a member of the Revolutionary Communist Youth
Brigade, he led student walkouts and demonstrations protesting the U.S.
invasion of Iraq, and was part of shutting down a military recruitment
center during the March 5th 2003 Moratorium To Stop the War. After
visiting the West Bank of Palestine with the International Solidarity
Movement in 2002, he organized an East Coast Speaking Tour. He leads
workshops to stop military recruitment in high schools and has
organized progressive film festivals in Utah and Philadelphia.
What Can You Do:
*Organize teachers, professors and student organizations to sponsor the speaking tour at your school.
*Talk with bands about bringing on a speaker to make an announcement for Nov. 2nd at their show.
*Contact us funds needed for the tour to come to your town. We’ll help you figure out a plan to raise the money.
*Contact us to make a date.
Dont Be a Bystander: High School Students are getting in the Driver’s Seat
Don’t Be a Bystander: High school students are getting in the driver’s seat
RJ Schinner
10/05/05
‘If
you feel and know something is wrong, you need to speak up. You can’t
just be a bystander, or it will get worse. Not just for yourself, but
for people in the future.’
-student at Beacon High School, NYC
High
school students across the country, from the South Bronx to
Springfield, Missouri to Berkeley are gearing up for walk-outs and
protests on Nov. 2nd. It stands out how these youth are taking this up
with the spirit captured in the above quote: that we cannot accept the
future as it is shaping up under Bush.
From Under Surveillance to Out on the Streets: Dewitt Clinton High
Some
are directly facing the latest police state measures on the road
towards fascism. Students at Dewitt Clinton High in the South Bronx are
now forced through metal detectors in the morning, locked inside an
overcrowded school all day (built for 2-3 thousand, now with a student
body of 5,000), and instead of having adequate teachers and books,
getting harassed and sometimes attacked by increasing numbers of
police, inside and outside of school. As one student remarked, ‘there’s
more police than teachers,’ and (the police) ‘treat us like animals.’
Rather than accept going to what looked more like a prison than a
school, 1,500 students walked out on Sept. 19th, took to the streets,
and marched on the school board, demanding an end to this repressive
environment. These are the youth who are treated like ‘criminals,’ who
by and large are offered no future but prison, the military, or
hustling to survive, and they are setting a powerful example of
defiance and refusing to be treated this way.
There are some important lessons from this advanced experience. First,
how this walk-out started: while everyone at the school were outraged
by the police state conditions, most were hesitant to do anything about
it. This all changed when one student stood outside in protest one
morning, and after a few hours, as others got fed up of waiting in line
to be searched and criminalized through metal detectors, was joined by
1,500. As one student put it, ‘unless we who have the guts and passion
stand up, others won’t join up with us.’
Second,
taking this action also showed these students the potential power they
have. These are youth who are constantly told they are worthless and
discarded by a rotten education system which holds out no future. But
when these youth stood up, this galvanized support from others and put
a check on the powers-that-be.
And third,
taking part in this outpouring of resistance got these youth thirsty
for a deeper understanding of what are the problems and solutions to
the problems humanity faces, and how to continue the struggle. One
student described seeing people she thought were apathetic before
digging into World Can’t Wait fliers and copies of Revolution
newspaper. These youth are not only concerned about the repression they
face at their school, but are making the connections between this and
the other outrages in society (like the mass murder committed by the
Bush regime in New Orleans), and gearing up for walk-outs and protests
on Nov. 2nd.
Spreading the Spirit
What’s
going down at Dewitt is a particularly inspiring example, but there’s a
lot more shaking at high schools across the country. One student
described the scene at his school in a progressive middle class suburb
of Chicago when he was joined by World Can’t Wait student organizers
after school:
‘As students poured out of the front door at
3:25pm, they were greeted by calls over a bull horn and a mass of
flyers. In only a few minutes the entire crowd had become polarized,
most cheering on the WCW, a few yelling at them. Friends took different
sides of the debate; exposing the underlying outrage and worry over
this regime. Students poured over the organizers; all wanting a flyer
and to sign up. The one problem that we then faced was the security at
my school. They falsely stated that the public school was private
property and that they could not be there. Most of the crowd was
yelling for us to continue, and people continued to sign up and grab
flyers. Eventually we were forced by the security and police across the
street, but much of the crowd followed. Over the next half an hour or
so we continued to sign people up, talk to students, and get out the
call. Often we would arrive at a group of students only to find that
others had beaten us there and had already gotten around the call. Even
with the setback of being kicked off the school in only a few minutes,
we received tons of support, got around hundreds of copies of the call,
received dozens of signatures, and made a lasting impact on the student
body.’
This infectious defiance is beginning to spread.
One good example of breaking through boundaries was when some students
at Beacon High, a mostly white middle class progressive school in NYC,
held an impromptu march to nearby LaGuardia High (a multi-national arts
school) and MLK high (which has a mostly Black student population and
resembles a prison more than a school). The youth from Beacon got out
fliers to and made connections with others. This was a good first step
at breaking through these barriers, especially as at Beacon, students
are always told to avoid the ‘dangerous’ MLK students, but there’s lots
more work to done on this, and what better way to do it than building a
youth movement to drive out the Bush regime.
(As a side note
here, I was talking with a friend recently, and it hit us that there’s
all these high schools across the country named after Martin Luther
King, Jr., and all of them are virtually all-Black and receive some of
the worst funding and resources for education. Here they are naming
these schools ‘MLK’ in an attempt to show ‘how far we’ve come’ in
breaking down segregation, yet these same schools are the most stunning
examples of segregation and the continued oppression of Black people.
People should check out Jonathon Kozol’s new book, Shame of the Nation
for a stunning look into just what terrible condition public schools
are in for the poor and oppressed nationalities.)
This
example of spreading the movement from school to school is one dynamic
we need to get going even more. Beyond doing this directly, it’s been
striking how quickly word of mouth, fliers, stickers, and ‘Resist or
Die’ T-shirts have gotten the word around. We are now hearing about
schools we have no direct connection to beginning to organize
walk-outs. And we are getting a steady stream of emails from students
in random cities and small towns across the country that are organizing
for Nov. 2nd.
A Frightening Future
‘Bush
isn’t only waging an illegitimate war, but is UNRAVELING THE SOCIAL
CONDITIONS that we won through protest in the 60s and 70s) This country
is being led by a few thousand Christian Fascists, and if we do not
begin to oppose them RIGHT NOW, then they can be sure that whoever
comes after Bush will be worst.’
-student at New Trier High in a Chicago suburb
‘Global warming is not something you can easily reverse and undo.’
-student at Berkeley High
As
the above comments from high school students suggest, many are
confronting the realities around them and not wanting to live in a
world like this. These youth were outraged to see people left to die in
New Orleans, and the callous and criminal neglect on the part of the
Bush regime. They watch as Iraqis are murdered, and threats are made to
invade more countries, and their generation is expected to carry out
these atrocities. They are lied to and fooled by military recruiters
who now attempt to lure them in with video games (if the blatant lies
don’t work), and those who aren’t fooled fear a draft. Young women see
the right to choose in the crosshairs, and don’t want a fate of forced
motherhood. This generation takes a look outside and sees the vast and
widening disparity between those people at the top of the food chain
and those cast off as worthless, who receive no access to resources,
education, healthcare, or jobs. And the implications of this deadly
path for the future are horrific.
To anyone who cares
about the planet and its people, all this is unacceptable. And for
these youth, who are looking at all this with fresh eyes, and have not
yet completed the conditioning process for acceptance and aquiecence,
the only thing that makes sense is to resist all this. This stand outs
in contrast to the many rationalizations out there ( ‘now that he got
elected, we just have to deal with it’ or ‘it’s not really that bad’ or
‘this is just the way the world is’ ( rationalizations that only serve
to accept this nightmare.
The ‘Resist or Die’ slogan has resonated with this generation, because this is the reality they are confronting.
Getting Ready for Nov. 2nd
While
there is a lot of enthusiasm for Nov. 2nd, it is also the case that
student walk-outs won’t happen without a lot of struggle. Youth who are
organizing in the high schools describe how there is a constant battle
against not just apathy but getting youth to take a risk and be part of
the resistance. Youth have been bombarded with a constant message that
they are worthless, don’t know enough to have an opinion, and can’t
effect anything. It’s striking how the very education system, and
overall political structures in society actually reinforce this- from
the schools that, despite many teacher’s best efforts, don’t teach
much, and are now having fundamentalist Christianity shoved into the
discourse, to the political processes that keeps people on the
sidelines as bystanders. In contrast to this, when youth take it upon
themselves to learn the truth about the world and step out of the
‘political process’ and act with defiance and determination, this has a
big effect on the rest of society.
The high school
students who are stepping forward in the movement to drive out the Bush
regime not only have a developing understanding of what are the
problems humanity faces and how to solve them, but are hungry to
understand this more fully. These youth are not settling for facile
answers or just raw anger at how the world is, but are finding the ways
to articulate their righteous anger and win over more.
One
thing everyone I interviewed loved about this movement is that it
invites their active and thoughtful participation, and that the leaders
and organizers foster this dynamic. This is not a movement of
spectators or cheerleaders, but one that depends on and is built by
those who step forward to take responsibility for the future, and there
is no age requirement.
Building a movement like this is
part of rising to the challenges before us. There is already beginning
to be debate in the high schools about whether or not to walk-out on
Nov. 2nd, what the ramifications will be, and whether it is worth it.
Those who are stepping forward first have a big responsibility to
engage this debate and win over the millions who can make history.
Through our actions and our words, we need to be setting a standard to
follow and continually challenging those who are still on the fence.
And there must be a huge buzz about Nov. 2nd and big momentum building
up to the day that is the beginning of the end of the Bush regime. And
while the youth are stepping to the forefront of this movement, their
parents, teachers, and others need to step forward in support and as
part of this movement, not allowing the most defiant to be isolated and
crushed by intimidation, police batons, or punishment.
All
the risks youth are taking to drive out this regime are well worth it,
and stand out in sharp contrast to the ethos promoted in this society:
to concern yourself solely with your own future (in some ‘me-first’ and
careerist way). These youth are developing a whole new model for how to
live your life, and this is something everyone, including all those who
are jaded or cynical about the prospects for resistance, should take
inspiration from.
Finally, on thing that struck me in
interviewing youth for this article is that when I asked ‘what kind of
world do you want to live?’, this was the first time they had ever been
asked this. So it took a second to put their thoughts together, but
when they did, they had quite a clear view of many of the heavy burdens
on people that could be easily solved in a different society. And while
it’s clear that growing up in this society has put blinders on people’s
ability to envision a better future, being part of this resistance and
beginning to ask these questions is enabling these youth to dream about
how the world should be, and what it will take to get there.
A
shout-out to everyone who I interviewed for this article, and to all
the youth who ‘can’t just be a bystander.’ If you’re organizing a
walk-out at your school Nov. 2nd, or are trying to figure out how to,
email youth_students@worldcantwait.org
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
From A Student at Columbia
From a student at Columbia University…
Imagine that
you live in a place where a natural disaster is expected to strike. The
local leaders order everyone to evacuate to avoid the catastrophic loss
of life and human suffering that will result.
Now imagine
that you are left behind: because you had no means to flee or you had
no where to go or you did not have the money to pay for shelter and
food while you waited until it was safe to return. The only man in the
nation who has the authority, power, and resources to quickly and
efficiently bring you, your family, and all others in your predicament
to safety is in the next state ) on vacation.
Only once it is too late to act, too late to save those who could not save themselves- he comes to survey the damage.
President
Bush chose to let the chips fall where they may for the poor in New
Orleans. The self appointed evaluator of the fitness of others to rule
their nations sat by and let only God knows how many die. Had this
happened in Iran, there is no doubt he would have been planning
‘Operation Irani Freedom’ the next day. There would have been no end to
the outraged speeches on morality and human rights emanating from the
White House. Yet there have been no apologies from George W. Bush, no
acceptance of responsibility, only entreaties that we not ‘play the
blame game.’
There is no game to be played here. Instead of
acting when he heard there was imminent danger to American citizens,
President Bush stayed on his Texas ranch and only deigned to cut his
vacation short when the outcry and criticism by elected officials, the
press, and the public at his lack of response became so overwhelming
that he could no longer sit back and watch. The outcry peaked
unexpectedly on a live NBC telecast when rap star Kanye West
emotionally declared ‘it’s been five days …America is set up to help
the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible.’
However,
the crime of omission happened long before that sentiment was uttered.
We have witnessed what is likely the biggest avoidable disaster in U.S.
history. Ironically, the very people Bush allowed to die in the
floodwaters in New Orleans are the parents and grandparents of those he
sent to die in the deserts of Iraq.
In a nation that has
proclaimed that all men are created equal, that liberty and justice
stand above all else, and that it is a beacon for human rights and
morality that the world should emulate, such conduct on the part of its
leader cannot be tolerated.
On Wednesday, November 2, 2005
there will be a nationwide student walk out to show our President that
this type of callous disregard for the welfare of the poor is
unacceptable. We hope that the students at Columbia University will
head the call for action and join the protest.
Bronx Students Walk Out- No School Nov 2nd
RESIST OR DIE! NO SCHOOL NOV. 2nd!
Students
at Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, a mostly Latino high school
with about 5,000 students, organizing a walk-out for Nov. 2nd.
These
youth organized a walk-out and protest at their school several weeks
ago in opposition to metal detectors, a “no cell phone” rule, and a
general police state atmosphere at their school. The Bush regime has a
future of prison or the military for this generation, unless we resist.
These youth are setting an example for others to follow: the walk-out
happened because one student stood outside in protest by himself one
morning, and after almost an hour, was joined by 1,500 students. They
took over a major street and marched to the school administration. This
is an example of the tremendous potential out there when people “refuse
to be ruled this way.” This kind of defiant resistance is something we
urgently need right now. Youth all over the country should take
inspiration from this, spread the word, and organize for Nov. 2nd.
If
you’re organizing a walk-out at your high school on Nov. 2nd, tell us
about it so we can post a list of school walking out on the website.
Send to youth_students@worldcantwait.org
Below is from an email we received:
“Hi,
I just wanted to let you guys know, so that you can list this on the
national site or whatever, that there will be a student walkout at
Central High School in Springfield, MO on Nov 2nd. Heehee! Well, keep
up the great work, guys! The whole tone and focus of this mobilization
is just brilliant. RESISTANCE, not just protest – that’s what I’m
talking about! This mobilization has injected a whole new level of
excitement into my activism, and it has given me and others I know an
opportunity to TAKE REAL ACTION. Forward to Nov. 2nd, and beyond!”
Shaken Not Stirred: A Bold, Audacious Student Movement to Drive Out the Bush Regime
Shaken Not Stirred: A Bold, Audacious Student Movement to Drive Out the Bush Regime
by R.J. Schinner, National Student Organizer for World Can’t Wait, youth_students@worldcantwait.org
We need to shake things up on the campuses. The fact is, people are not by and large apathetic right now.
Millions have watched with horror the mass murder in New Orleans at the
hands of the Bush regime, torture after bombs after lies in Iraq, and
this past week hearings to appoint a fascist to preside over the
Supreme Court, while the right to abortion (among other things) hangs
in the balance. Millions are agonizing over all this but don’t know
what to do about it. People are paralyzed. They are up against a
powerful regime that doesn’t care about what people think, what is
true, or what is good for the planet and its people. They have been
played by a Democratic Party that works overtime not to stop any of
this nightmare (in fact it is part of making it); stirring people
around in circles that go nowhere, only demobilizing and preventing
people from stepping out in resistance that could actually stop the
Bush regime.
World Can’t Wait(Drive Out the Bush Regime is
heading a different route. We are acting on what’s true, what’s right,
and what the world needs. And we’re not afraid to go out and challenge
people to be a part of this. If we are to break the millions who hate
where the Bush regime is taking things out of this deadly paralysis, we
need to shake things up in bold, creative, and determined ways that
connect with and draw forward millions in resistance to drive out the
Bush regime.
To this end, we are calling for and leading a
student movement that will pierce the paralysis on campuses across the
country. Truth generally starts off in the hands of a minority, and it
is on this minority to go out and win others to understand and act on
this truth. If you understand that the world really cannot wait for
fascism to consolidate power in the U.S. and for further and more
atrocious crimes to be committed by the Bush regime around the world,
and if you understand that the only way to do this is by breaking out
of the framework of relying on the Democrats to save us and taking
independent historic action to drive the Bush regime from power, then
you have a big responsibility on your hands. You must become an
organizer, step out and shake things up, and draw forward millions in
massive resistance to drive out the Bush regime.
How Can We Do This?
First,
we need to keep a firm grip on the fact that this is what the world
needs. That all the reality that is described in the opening paragraphs
of the World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime call about the
crimes this government is committing are simply true, and need to be
stopped. Some have told us we need to tone down our message or find
some way to gradually convince people, instead of putting out the truth
straight up and then struggling for it. For a number of reasons, this
logic is not only wrong, but deadly. For one thing, we do not have time
to gradually convince people, baby-step by baby-step. And furthermore,
the logic of compromise and cutting to the middle only loses ground to
the Bush regime and trains people in paralysis and capitulation. It
must also be said that no major social change has ever happened without
a minority stepping out and standing up for what’s right and true,
refusing to compromise, and winning over millions. It’s time to ‘call a
spade a spade.’
Second, we need to step out and
act on this understanding even if we are at first acting alone. This
means finding the ways to shake people up and show that there is a way
to resist and STOP the Bush regime. This past Thursday (9/15), we put
out a call for students to go out on campus in the midst the Roberts
hearings with visual displays of coat hangers bearing the words ‘Resist
or Die,’ ‘The World Can’t Wait(Drive Out the Bush Regime,’ and exposure
of where society will be going with the Supreme Court of the Bush
Regime (i.e. they intend to outlaw abortion, in case you haven’t
noticed by the fact that people like and including Roberts have openly
stated this as their goal1). Where students took this up, this shook
things up on campus, stopped students in their tracks, and got people
thinking about what needs to be done. This kind of action is the
beginning steps of sharply bringing home the stakes for humanity right
now and breaking people out of the paralysis. We need far more and far
greater of this. We need to be bold, determined, and creative.
Third,
we need to connect all this with the millions out there who do hate
what’s going on, and desperately want a way out, and begin reaching out
to those who have been fooled by Bush. But we CANNOT do this, as some
have argued, by watering down our message or making reality or our
resistance more palatable to the ‘mainstream’. And while this may
offend some at first, this will also inspire and galvanize those who
are looking for a way out from this nightmare. There is a basis,
especially now, as the crimes of the Bush regime in New Orleans are
exposed for all to see, to bring millions of people into this
resistance, if we go out and challenge them to.
Fourth,
we need to take on the Bush regime and its shock-troops on campuses
whenever they rear their ugly head. If David Horowitz comes to your
campus to advocate fascist thought police and purging progressive
thought and faculty, he needs to be publicly repudiated and made to
look like the bumbling fascist fool that he is, and we must make NO
APOLOGIES for doing so. And all these Young Republicans and Students
for Academic Freedom (sic) need to be put on the defensive, because
they are not simply ‘expressing their views’, but are part of a
well-funded and organized brown-shirt movement to impose a fascist
clampdown on the campuses. Similarly, whenever some crony of the Bush
regime comes to your campus to justify their crimes, they need to be
publicly repudiated. When this has happened, as much as the media tries
to cover this up and make people forget about it, it has a huge effect.
And fifth,
we need to do all this in a way that builds strength, momentum, and
organization up to November 2nd. We must take bolder and more
determined actions, including making sacrifices, and spread these to
campuses across the country. And we must seize on moments and places
where students are ready to step out in resistance and set an example
for others to follow. Beginning now, students need to write statements
about why they are taking up the Call for World Can’t Wait(Dive Out the
Bush Regime and what they are doing at their campus on November 2nd,,
and spread these statements to other campuses. We have called for
walk-outs, student strikes, and campus shut-downs. Right now,students
need to call for such actions on Nov. 2nd, put this call out to
everyone on their campus, welcome and enter into all the controversy
and debate this will spark, and galvanize and organize students to walk
out and protest on Nov. 2nd.
Build a Student Movement
Students
have a big responsibility in all this. This is because they are in a
key position in society to act as a catalyst for sparking resistance,
exactly because students have more access to progressive and radical
ideas, are not weighed down by tradition and acceptance, and are able
to organize and sacrifice. This was certainly true of the 1960s, and
needs to be true NOW. Just think of what it meant to the world when
students shut down campuses across the country in response to the US
invasion of Cambodia, risking jail, riot police, and even murder (Kent
State and Jackson State) at the hands of the authorities. Think about
what it meant when elite universities like Columbia and Harvard turned
out determined resisters of the status quo, or when Berkeley was known
as the People’s Republic of Berkeley. Just think about what it would
mean now for campuses to turn into centers of resistance, refusing to
stop until Bush stepped down from power, and spreading this everywhere.
Some
people say that the students of the 1960s were just a bunch of spoiled
rich kids who really didn’t affect anything. By ‘some people say,’ I
mean this is what the status quo that was threatened by the radical
student movement has been telling us for decades in order to convince
students not to do it again. The simple fact is the student movement
shook up society, called forth others to resist, and lost the
allegiance of a generation to the American empire, not to mention
contributing to ending the war in Vietnam, winning the right to
abortion, gains in the civil rights movement, and more. Ever since
then, the status quo has been working overtime to reverse anything that
was won through the struggle of the people in the 1960’s, and bombard
us with the lie that this is the best of all possible worlds, so accept
it. So let’s draw the real lessons from the 1960s(that when millions of
people break from ‘mainstream politics’ (i.e. the Democrats) and fight
for what’s right, it can actually make difference(and take things
further.
And while I’m on the subject, let me say a few words
about ‘spoiled college kids.’ Instead of just complaining about them or
(if you’re one of them) saying ‘we don’t want to impose our views on
others,’ let’s organize students at the elite universities to change
the whole direction of society and take responsibility to fight for
what’s right and true. If this is not our orientation, the only thing
that will be ‘spoiled’ is our chance to drive out this horrible regime.