George W. Bush spent over the first half of
his State of the Union address angrily defending his lying and bloody
war in Iraq. He not only verbally attacked those who dissented from
this war, he literally had Cindy Sheehan illegally arrested and jailed
for wearing an antiwar tee-shirt. Bush brazenly defended his widespread
and illegal wiretaps, while demanding full renewal of the fascistic
Patriot Act. He crowed about getting Alito and Roberts onto the Supreme
Court ( and vowed to ram through more judges just like them. He gave
the back of his hand to the victims of his own actions during Hurricane
Katrina. He proposed an AIDS program for Black people that would be run
through his own hand-picked, government-funded churches and which would
no doubt feature the same ‘abstinence only,’ anti-condom approach that
his regime insists on for Africa ( an approach which has devastated the
people in countries like Uganda. He promised even more repression for
immigrants who are driven to this country to find work. He continued
his attack on gay marriage. The majority of people in this country, not
to mention around the world, detest this program, and there is Bush,
standing up there and vowing to jam it down people’s throats.
And what did the Democrats say? “We could do it better.”
Three more years of this is intolerable (
and extremely dangerous, for people here and all over the world. Almost
as much through his smirks and body language as his rhetoric and
proposals, Bush made clear his intent to “remake society, very quickly,
in a fascist way, and for generations to come.” He is not stopping. The
fact that the majority of people “don’t approve” of Bush has not and
will not alone turn back this disastrous course. In fact, Bush used his
speech to rally his hard-core followers, some of whom think he was
literally “chosen by God” to run America. He intends to push forward his
agenda and use his power so long as he has it ( that is the message,
spoken and unspoken, of his speech. WE CANNOT RATIFY THIS BY OUR
SILENCE.
But there was and there IS active, organized
opposition to this. Going into the State of the Union, the Call to
Drive Out the Bush Regime began to spread. It was signed and defended
by people from all walks of life ( from ministers to movie stars to the
parents of soldiers who died in Iraq; from writers to congresspeople to
scientists; from lawyers to activists to students to those who’ve quit
this regime in disgust; to thousands and thousands of “ordinary
people.” The “International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against
Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration” convened in New York in
January. People like Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn, Alice Walker, Michael
Ratner and others wrote essays and made statements and speeches
demanding that Bush step down. There were ads and radio interviews,
forums and concerts. And on the very night of the speech, thousands of
people in at least 68 cities demonstrated, including thousands in some major cities, politically drowning out Bush
with noise, glorious noise!
The people in the streets last night
represent the majority of society, here and around the world. They
represent the beginning core of a whole different dynamic in society,
standing in firm and committed opposition to what Bush represents and
taking responsibility to activate millions more in a movement that
won’t quit until he and his regime are driven from office.
Right now, urgently, that opposition must
grow, by leaps and bounds. It must take much more visible and powerful
form, in Washington, this Saturday. We call on everyone to volunteer in
this new movement that is so urgently struggling to be born, to step
out and call on others to GET ON THE BUS and GO TO D.C. this Saturday,
February 4. We must, in DC this Saturday, announce to the world and to
this country that there IS an opposition ( a movement that is
determined and committed not to rest until the Bush regime is driven
out, their program repudiated, and the entire direction of society is
changed.
We can do no less.