Sunday, October 23, 2005 – and 10 days until the beginning of the end of the Bush Regime
As I write this, I am tremendously optimistic – and working with more urgency than I can ever remember.
We’ve made much progress since my last letter, just two weeks ago:
*The World Can’t Wait Encampment opened at the White House, and has been become quite a dynamic center of activity.
*We
received a really positive response at the Millions More Movement March
on October 15, even to the extent of being one of the four featured
pictures on the Millions More Movement website.
*Howard Zinn and Michael Eric Dyson have stepped out to do statements and Public Service Announcements calling on people to come out on November 2.
*Prominent people from an incredible range of walks of life have endorsed the Call for November 2.
*Some
significant groups and organizations – the After Downing Street
Coalition, the Axis of Justice, Code Pink, Progressive Democrats of
America, as well as others – have endorsed November 2, and put links
onto their web-sites.
*And – very important, very crucial – the campuses are beginning to get galvanized!
Not least, hundreds of people turned out to the first session of the Bush Crimes Commission
in New York this weekend. People heard expert testimony on possible
crimes against humanity by the Bush Administration concerning wars of
aggression; torture and indefinite detention; destruction of the global
environment; and attacks on global public health and reproductive
rights. And on Saturday, there was a special evidentiary hearing on
Hurricane Katrina.
Through all this, during these past ten days,
tens of thousands of new people have visited our website and many have
signed up, wanting to get active. We are striking a very deep chord
with people. There is every basis to make November 2 what it really has
to be – a powerful launching of a movement that is determined to do
nothing short of ACTUALLY DRIVING OUT THE BUSH REGIME!
Yet as
much ground as we covered, there’s a whole lot more yet to make up.
Many, many things cry out to be done, and very quickly and very well,
in order to make November 2 successful. We have to persevere in
everything I said in my last letter.
Before I get into all we
need to do, I want to really stress that we have to keep in mind
exactly WHY we are doing all this. The Call
captures this in a very powerful way: ‘People look at this and think of
Hitler – and they are right to do so. The Bush Regime is setting out to
radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for
generations to come. We must act now; the future is in the balance.’
We’ve got to keep making that argument, from different angles, with
people. (Our new FAQ’s
actually help to speak to some of what people have raised in response.)
At the same time, as illusions are spread about the regime just
‘unravelling’ on its own, Bush supposedly being unable to make any
progress with his agenda, we need to bring home the point that, ‘People
who steal elections and believe they’re on a ‘mission from God’ will
not go without a fight.’
With our mission in mind, and with all
that we’ve accomplished and all that we’ve yet to do facing us, I want
to highlight a few key priorities for this last ten days.
Concretize and popularize the plans for November 2: People need to know, now, what is going to happen in your area on November 2. What we have on the website now
is not concrete enough. Every local chapter should begin to list its
major speakers, main endorsers, where the march or demonstration will
assemble and where it will march. Send these plans to calendar@worldcantwait.org,
and to your local press. Such plans let people know what is really
happening, and give them a sense of the scope and scale we are aiming
for in a very real way.
Enlist more organizations and prominent people into November 2:
As we head into this final stretch, we need many more prominent people
and key organizations to be part of November 2. And when they do, we
need to publicize this. When long-standing activists or public figures
take a stand, this is important in its own right, it gives people a
sense of momentum, and it creates space for other people to take a
stand.
When organizations come on board, they bring knowledge,
resources, and – most of all – people to the table, and can
immeasurably strengthen the overall effort. There are many
organizations which, at this point, we can and must win to take this
up. Right now, it is very important to get to LGBTQ organizations
(including gay-straight alliances in the schools); antiwar groups;
religious groups and progressive congregations; and groups and people
that were part of the Millions More Movement event (especially, but not
limited to, the many there who enthusiastically welcomed World Can’t
Wait organizers).
Raise money: This is crucial.
At this point, hundreds of volunteers have quit their jobs or otherwise
made great sacrifices, but lack of money is holding us back. Can you
imagine if we could publish the Call in, say, USA Today or The New York
Times? If we advertise on the radio stations listened to by the youth?
If we could actually pay our organizers so that they could fly around
the country, speaking out and meeting with people? Not to mention the
expenses that go into major demonstrations (sound systems, platforms,
etc.) We need money – urgently!
Connect with the people who want to get active:
We can’t under-estimate the importance of this and from what I hear
we’re still doing this a bit unevenly. Every single person who has
signed up must be called this week, invited into the fray, and at the
very least be given things they can do right that day – including from
their home or job, if they can’t come into an office. For starters,
they can donate money, they can e-mail the call to friends, they can
download the call and leave copies out all over their neighborhood,
they could volunteer to phone-bank from home. And when we get new
names, we need a system to turn it around right away.
Bring out the students: In many different ways, and in particular using the street theater in the “instructional video” to
dramatize torture, the student movement for November 2 has developed.
But this must take a big step forward. The thousands of youth who’ve
turned in their names or expressed interest must now have their
attention turned to November 2, and to actually driving out the Bush
regime. This is big. This is historic. This is something people have
never seen happen in this country. So we must bring home to these youth
the importance of acting on that day, do the work needed to mobilize,
and turn them out by the thousands.
Something very profound,
something very important to the people of the world and to the future,
is within reach. But we are going to have to work and struggle like we
never have before to actually get it in our grasp. Between now and the
2nd, let’s make every hour count!
THE WORLD CAN’T WAIT!! DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!! MOBILIZE NOVEMBER 2!!
Debra Sweet, National Co-ordinator of the World Can’t Wait