On Nov. 2, the first anniversary of Bush’s
“re-election,” people in 67 cities, at 43 colleges and universities,
and 90 high schools (at last count) will leave work and school and gather in
the city centers to declare No! This Regime Does Not Represent Us! and to
launch a movement to drive Bush from power. (www.worldcantwait.org).
The World Can’t Wait’s call to Drive Out the Bush Regime is
resonating deeply and broadly, and gaining increasing momentum, due to Bush’s
ongoing outrages, his crumbling legitimacy, and the inability – or
unwillingness( of the Democrats to provide an alternative. Here’s a snapshot:
* 67 CITIES, 45 CAMPUSES, 90 HIGH SCHOOLS ( RED STATE &
BLUE: In the four months since the WCW call was issued, chapters have been
formed in 53 cities, with demonstrations
taking place in another 14; students at 43 colleges and universities will be
participating; and there are 90 high schools
where significant numbers of students will take part. The 34 states now covered are an equal mix of
blue and red. Demonstrations are being
held in the usual places: New York,
San Francisco, Chicago,
LA, Portland,
Madison, Seattle,
but also in Norfolk, Virginia;
Burlington, Vermont;
Chattanooga, Tennessee;
Tulsa, Oklahoma;
Hood River, Oregon;
Boone, North Carolina;
Great Falls, Montana;
and Springfield, Missouri.
* KATRINA SURVIVORS WILL DEMONSTRATE IN NEW ORLEANS and
they’re calling on those displaced from the Gulf to join actions in other
cities. Miami
organizers will hold a protest despite the recent hurricane; people in Franklin,
NH will converge at a softball field;
students at Roberto Clemente High in Chicago
will walk out; fraternities at Hampton University,
Virginia which took part in the recent
Millions More March in Washington, DC
have organized a demonstration.
* ENDORSERS: Harold
Pinter, Jane Fonda, Gore Vidal, Cornel West, Russell Banks, Jonathan Kozol,
Studs Terkel, Cindy Sheehan, Howard Zinn, Edward Asner, Ed Begley, Jr., Kate
Clinton, Sam Hamill, Leland Yee (Speaker Pro Tem, CA State Assembly), Tom
Ammiano (SF Board of Supervisors), Deborah Glick (NY State Assembly), former US
diplomat Ann Wright, Michael Eric Dyson, Cal. State Assemblyman Mark Leno
(author of gay marriage bill), Not In Our Name, ACT UP, Code Pink, Progressive
Democrats of America; musicians Anti-flag,
Grammy Award Winning Ozomatli, Axis of Justice, the Hip Hop Caucus, Saul
Williams, Boots Riley, Steve Earle, Kathleen Hanna and Jd Sampson (Le Tigre),
Rickie Lee Jones, Casey Kasem, Tom Morello, Outernational ( and thousands more.
* HOWARD ZINN, MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, OZOMATLI CULTURE CLASH,
BOOTS RILEY, POET SUHEIR HAMMAD, and JESSICA BLANK, have recorded World Can’t
Wait RADIO ADS; the campaign has been covered on stations across the country
including Air America, Pacifica stations, and NY’s HOT 97 Radio; Anti-Flag has
contributed an exclusive track to www.worldcantwait.org ‘Welcome to 1984″;
WCW has been featured on websites including Michael Moore’s,
Afterdowningstreet, and the Millions More Movement, as well as on the marquis
of Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater; Calls to join have been issued by clergy,
educators, lawyers, poets, parents, conservative businessmen, veterans, Black
law students, and people in the ‘heartland.’
(http://speakingoutondrivebush.blogspot.com/)
* SPEAKERS ON NOV 2 INCLUDE CINDY SHEEHAN, New York State
Senator Tom Duane, Michael Ratner, Jody Evans of Code Pink, Esther Kaplan,
Lynne Stewart, representatives of ACT-UP, Veterans for Peace, Pitzer College
Dean of Faculty Alan Jones, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace Bill Mitchell,
SF Supervisor Chris Daly, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, San Francisco Labor
Council Executive Director Tim Paulson and many others.
* YOUTH AND STUDENTS are stepping out despite threats and
warnings; the Campus Anti-War Network C.A.N endorsed WCW and is mobilizing for
Nov 2; students at UW Madison state: ‘We will no longer complacently and apathetically
enjoy our ‘liberal’ enclave, we will confront the challenge that is before us;’
a leaked Oct 26 internal memo on Nov 2 from the LA Unified School District
instructed staff, ‘do not attempt to prevent students from leaving the campus.’
* A QUICKENING PACE AND NEW TENOR TO RESISTANCE: WCW
organizers joined the anti-Minuteman demonstration in Chicago
and anti-war protests across the country, and initiated anti-torture actions at
Hunter College (NYC), UCLA, and UC Berkeley where torture theorist John Yoo was
confronted by protesters wearing orange jumpsuits and held on a leash. They challenged Yoo, “Take the leash.
Take responsibility.” Yoo did not take the leash, said nothing, and left
his classroom. Attorney Michael Ratner
said such anti-torture protests should happen on every campus; KPFA host Dennis
Bernstein introduced the youth protestors as heroes after they disrupted Yoo’s
class.
* WCW ENCAMPMENT IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE begun October
13 has held days to protest crimes against humanity, a “No Theocracy
Day” with anti-Bush clergy, joined with Cindy Sheehan at the die in
response to the 2,000th death of US military personnel in Iraq, and held a
“Vets and Families Speak Out at the White House Gates Against the Iraq
War.”
**********
GORE VIDAL: ‘that 70 percent who are beginning to grasp just
what is going on join together in a popular movement dedicated to ending
pre-emptive wars and restoring the nation . . . Join the demonstrations this
Wednesday, November 2, to launch a movement to drive out the Bush regime.’
HOWARD ZINN: ‘I see the November 2nd action as something
really important, [that] might be a
turning point in the development of a student movement and then a national
movement to change the direction in which the country has been going. I don’t
think the world can wait, I don’t think the nation can wait, I don’t think
history can wait.”
BOOTS RILEY: ‘November 2nd. No Work. No School. We’re going to march…We have to stop this
now. If we don’t, we will be forced to accept it. The future we get is up to
us.’
CINDY SHEEHAN on November 2: ‘It makes a lot of difference.
We cannot let them continue to make us believe that our voices don’t make a
difference.’
RETIRED ENGINEER FROM WILSONVILLE, OREGON: We now must face the terrible fact that we
are ruled by a regime that claims a mandate to do as they please, when in fact
they represent an illegitimate and criminal tyranny over us.’
LA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT:
I say RESIST OR DIE! On November the second. Tickets or no tickets,
suspensions or no suspensions, Get out
to the streets no matter what. Do not be intimidated by anyone. This will be a struggle
but it will get done. ‘That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you
will learn- or be forced-to accept.’
Will you accept this??!?!??
FORMER KERRY VOTER: ‘I finally understood that what we were
doing, and what needed to be done, was different from what had been done
before.’
2 STUDENTS FROM AN ALL
GIRL CATHOLIC SCHOOL
IN NYC: ‘We are living in dangerous times and its important to take action
regardless of how old you are. By participating in November 2 walk out, we will
show our power. We are the future and the future is at hand.’
POST ON STUDENT & YOUTH PAGE OF WORLDCANTWAIT.ORG:
‘Sorry there was no post yesterday (October 26), but the blogger was in the
slammer!’