Wednesday, October 26, 2005
[The
following analysis of Bush’s recent important speech to military
spouses was written by a supporter of the World Can’t Wait efforts.]
In
the televised speech Bush gave on October 25 to military spouses (and
this is very similar to one he gave earlier this month to the National
Endowment for Democracy) he asserted once again and argued very
aggressively for a whole vision and plan for what can only be
accurately described as an open-ended and endless war–which will not
only continue in Iraq but will target any country, government, or other
force that the Bush regime declares to be a supporter of terrorism and
an enemy of freedom. And Bush specifically and explicitly raised the
level of threats his regime is directing against not only Iran but
Syria as well. This is Bush’s response to the growing criticism of his
war policy and what it has led to in Iraq. And this is a dramatic
illustration of what is in the WCW Call–and specifically the very
first point that “YOUR GOVERNMENT, on the basis of outrageous lies, is
waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other
countries in their sights.”
Bush insisted once again in this
speech that the people of the U.S., and of the world, have no choice
but to accept American imperial domination in the world, and the
endless wars to enforce and extend that domination. The only
alternative, according to Bush, is to face the prospect of living
under–and to be cast as supporters and “enablers” of–an “evil empire”
of fanatical Islamic fundamentalists who are intent on ruling over the
whole world…when, as Bush sees it, only the U.S.–and in particular
the Bush regime, with its own brand of fanatical religious
fundamentalists, including Bush himself–have the right to do that! But
these are not the only possible choices: Bush’s perverted version of
reality, and catastrophic vision of the future of humanity, cannot and
must not be accepted–it must be massively and actively rejected,
opposed, resisted and defeated–by people in the U.S., together with
others throughout the globe.
This speech by Bush, with its
vision and call for unending war, was given in the midst of mounting
scandals within the Bush regime and among its allies in Congress, and
in the context of intensifying investigations and possible indictments
of key people associated with this regime. Once more, this speech is
Bush’s response to these scandals and to the fact that his regime is
increasingly embattled and unpopular. This is the articulation of a
vision and agenda that is indeed worthy of a Hitler. This is yet
another powerful demonstration of why this regime must be driven from
power, why the world can’t wait!–and why there is a growing basis for
actually driving out this regime.
Is the Bush regime actually in
trouble? Yes, definitely. Does that mean that it is no longer powerful
and dangerous? No, in a very real sense, it is all the more dangerous
and determined, and will bring about more and even greater horrors,
until it is driven out. And no investigations, or even indictments, are
going to change this, in and of themselves. In fact, there is a way in
which the growing scandals, difficulties and, yes, real crises of the
Bush regime can contribute to something good, but that is if, and only
if, they are recognized as illustrating, all the more strikingly, the
need to, and the basis to, drive out this regime–and if they are
seized on to build, ever more powerfully, a movement of massive
resistance to do just that, beginning in a big way on November 2 (the
first anniversary of Bush’s “re-election”).
Of course, there are
still people who hate everything the Bush regime represents, and its
whole agenda, but who are holding out the hope that the difficulties it
is facing will make things more favorable for electing a Democratic
Congress in 2006 (and a Democratic President in 2008) and who therefore
think that, rather than mobilizing to drive out the Bush regime, we
should pin our hopes on, and wait for, those elections. But the
questions must be honestly, and urgently, posed: Can we afford to wait
that long before doing something decisive to defeat this regime and its
whole agenda? And by voting for Democrats would people really be doing
anything to change the whole course on which this regime has set the
country, and indeed the world? The answers are NO and NO.
If,
instead of bringing forth, from here forward, the kind of massive
resistance, of millions, that is both urgently needed and is possible,
we focus our attention on elections and on electing Democrats, this
will only mean that things will be in an even far worse place by a year
from now, in terms of what is happening in the world and what it is
possible to do to oppose it. And, anyway, what exactly is it we would
be “waiting for” in terms of these elections? Can anyone honestly say
that in 2006 (or 2008) it will be possible to vote for a Democratic
Party that would:
Bring an end to U.S. occupation in Iraq and other wars to enforce and extend American imperial domination in the world?
Put a stop to the torture being carried out by the U.S. government and others cooperating with it?
End the imprisonment of people without rights or legal representation and the heightened repression embodied in the Patriot Act?
Actively
and uncompromisingly oppose Christian fundamentalist attacks on
evolution and on science and the scientific method in general, and on
the separation of church and state?
Vigorously defend the right to abortion, and to birth control?
Consistently and systematically defend the rights of gay people?
Seriously
address and do something to actually end the continuing discrimination
and institutionalized racism, oppression and poverty that were once
again and dramatically brought to light through hurricane Katrina and
in the way the government has dealt with that natural disaster and its
aftermath?
The answer to these questions, as well as the actions
of Bush himself, in the face of growing difficulties for his regime and
its agenda, show once again why the Call, “The World Can’t Wait! Drive
Out The Bush Regime!” is speaking to a profound truth and a profound
need when it says:
“There is not going to be some magical
`pendulum swing.’ People who steal elections and believe they’re on a
`mission from God’ will not go without a fight.
“There is not
going to be some savior from the Democratic Party, This whole idea of
putting our hopes and energies into `leaders’ who tell us to seek
common ground with fascists and religious fanatics is proving every day
to be a disaster, and actually serves to demobilize people.
“But
silence and paralysis are NOT acceptable. That which you will not
resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn–or be forced–to accept.
There is no escaping it: the whole disastrous course of this Bush
regime must be STOPPED. And we must take the responsibility to do it.
“And
there is a way. We are talking about something on a scale that can
really make a huge change in this country and in the world. We need
more than fighting Bush’s outrages one at a time, constantly losing
ground to the whole onslaught. We must, and can, aim to create a
political situation where the Bush regime’s program is repudiated,
where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction
he has been taking society is reversed. We, in our millions, must and
can take responsibility to change the course of history.”
Once
again it is crucial to understand that the growing difficulties and
mounting crises of the Bush regime, and Bush’s response to all this,
only serve to underline both the urgent need, and the growing
possibility, to drive out this regime, through the mobilization of
millions of people who know in their hearts that in fact they must, and
are coming to see that they can, change the course of history through
their own independent historical political action. And, as the “Call”
for November 2 concludes:
“The point is this: history is full of
examples where people who had right on their side fought against
tremendous odds and were victorious. And it is also full of examples of
people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a
horror beyond what they ever imagined.
“The future is unwritten. WHICH ONE WE GET IS UP TO US.”
THE WORLD CAN’T WAIT! DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!
MOBILIZE ON NOVEMBER 2.