4/6/06: When Bush spoke at a forum at the World Affairs Council of
Charlotte, North Carolina, one man used the question and answer period
to denounce Bush’s policies. He called out Bush’s hypocrisy for
talking about “freedom” while secretly wiretapping anyone he wants,
detaining people indefinitely without charges, destroying the
environment, and taking away women’s right to choose. The
courageous man said he had never been more ashamed of his government,
and that Bush should be ashamed of himself. All Bush could do was
smirk and arrogantly defend his NSA spy program in the name of
“defeating the terrorists.” This courageous act by one individual
is an example to learn from.
Report from the protest outside Bush’s speech from a World Can’t Wait organizer:
A very noisey and spirited crowd of 250-300
people were in Charlotte to protest George Bush’s visit on Thursday. We
gathered on the sidewalk across from Piedmont Central Community
College. The organizer of the picket expected about 50 people, the cops
were prepared for more. The spirit of the crowd was high and the noise
was constant. People were cramped onto a narrow section of the sidewalk
and told by the police “not to step off the curb” or onto another part
of the sidewalk that ‘was part of the college””! Whatever! There were
two arrests where the cops demanded a kid remove a pull over woolen ski
mask (which was open to show most of his face). He refused and sat down
and was dragged off. The crowd chanted to “Let Him Go!”. Another was
arrested for a “concealed weapon”, a pair of pliers. (Sound like
Greensboro?)
Two WCW Greensboro organizers were joined by
two more from Winston Salem. “Bush Lied” stickers, many green WCW
posters, hundreds of WCW flyers (including Spanish) and some “Wanted
for Mass Murder” T-shirts got into the crowd quickly. People grabbed
the WCW banner and it was right up front along with lots of green
“Drive Out the Bush Regime”signs. The protest was permitted to be on
the side of the main college building where Bush was speaking BUT it
was out of view of most people. But it was totally closer than we have
been “allowed” to be in the past. And the crowd inside was not all Bush
supporters either and apparently he had to face some tough questions.
As Bush was preparing to leave, the
protesters forgot about the permit and marched around to the front of
the building to a much more visible spot. Lots of SWAT team cops were
waiting out of sight, but never came towards the demonstrators. We
stuck together and the cops let us “say goodbye” to Bush as he drove
off into the sunset. It was a really charged up day. The crowd was
“across the board” and mostly “non-movement”, about 2/3 students and
youth and many of the older folks that had come out were there for the
first time.
Almost everyone was glad to meet WCW and
names were gotten, “new drivers” stepped forward and another WCW
chapter is now forming. Bush remains our best organizer and it’s up to
us to join with this sentiment against him and build that movement
that’s so badly needed to drive out this criminal regime and change the
direction of things. Press coverage seemed good (TV everywhere) and I
heard it got on the BBC TV!! The world saw our banner and Green signs
all over the place!!