Schedule
Guidelines
June Training Reading List
Every generation should have a mission- Ours is to Drive out the Bush Regime. It is time to confront reality, organize and resist.
Kick off your Summer with a bang and come to NYC, June 2nd- June 11th for a week long gathering of youth from around the country to instill the historic political responsibility and moral conviction needed to drive out the Bush Regime, develop the skills and methods that will enable youth to organize on campus and establish plans for the National Day of Resistance on October 5th, through a series of workshops, discussions, film screenings and outreach.
“It is up to us. We must not sit with our arms folded, and we must be as radical as the reality we are facing.”*
The World Can’t Wait – Drive out the Bush Regime is issuing a call for student activists to be in NYC this June for a Student Organizing Project that will be part of building for a major Day of Resistance on October 5th. This NYC-based organizer’s training will bring together youth from around the country who are deeply agonizing over the prospects of living in a future under the Bush Regime and refuse to bow down to the official politics of silence and compromise. Through the course of attending a series of workshops, discussions, film screenings, guest speakers, outreach and learning from the collective experience of organizing against the Bush Regime, attendees will (1) gain a deep sense of the responsibility, purpose and moral conviction needed to build a student movement that is part of driving out the Bush Regime, (2) acquire the skills, tools, and political understanding that will enable youth to organize on campus, (3) brainstorm and develop plans for October 5th, all of which are part of fueling a society wide discussion where the legitimacy of the Bush Regime is seriously questioned and a movement of millions from below drives the Bush Regime from power.
For those who refuse to live in a world of endless war and repression, where blind religious obedience trumps scientific endeavor and dissent is outlawed; come to New York in June and be part of this week-long gathering of youth determined to make October 5th a turning point in history where we will let the country and the world know: That there are millions of us who reject an illegitimate regime that is as criminal as it is dangerous to humanity & the future existence of the planet.
If you can imagine a situation where the nation’s top athletes wear black armbands in solidarity with the people of Iraq, where every major Law School is shut down until Guantanamo Bay is shut down, where major officials resign from their positions in protest of the President’s use of spying, and the people’s massive showing of resistance draws a clear line that distinguishes the people of this country from the rulers of this country to the rest of the world ( then you need to be at this week-long gathering and mobilize for a major Day of Resistance on October 5th. Only through struggle can we forge a different future for ourselves and only by aiming to drive out the Bush Regime can we take on the enormity of the situation we face. We cannot go into the November elections with terms of debate being whether war on Iran should use nuclear weapons, or just white phosphorous bombs and conventional forces like in Iraq. We cannot allow the next shocking atrocity to settle in as the new normalcy.
This October 5th we are calling for nationwide demonstrations where campuses are shut down and student walkouts bring business-as-usual to a halt. To do this we need a generation of leaders who challenge the stifling politics-as-usual atmosphere with a “Be Realistic: Demand the Impossible” spirit and the moral clarity concentrated in the statement of “I would rather die than to have than have anyone tortured to save my life” from former U.K. Ambassador Craig Murray. From the most experienced organizers to youth just beginning to get involved in political activism, we need come together to:
-Have guest speakers and group discussions that dig into: What doess it mean to live in a country where the President is radically remaking society in a fascist way? What would a theocracy look like in the United States and what is the difference between religion and theocracy? Why won’t the Democrats take a stand and why is it fatal to rely on them?
-Brainstorm and concretize plans for organizing for October 5th including: distributing the World Can’t Wait Call, sending volunteers to New Orleans, tabling at this year’s Van’s Warped Tour and other summer concerts, organizing screenings of the Bush Crimes Commission DVD, and making plans for the Fall semester.
-Attend a film screening of the Vietnam G.I resistance documentary “Sir, No, Sir!”
-Strengthen our understanding of the current political terrain and dynamics on campuses in order to transform them.
-How to organize on college campuses, in inner-city high schools and small towns, including how to start a World Can’t Wait chapter.
-Organize outreach teams to distribute materials at events and in communities.
If you want to be part of something bigger then yourself then join with the truth tellers and rebels for a week of learning, discussing, planning and dreaming of a different future.
Check back on the web for a posting of the schedule and agenda.
To register please email youth_students@worldcantwait.org.
Free Housing will be provided. Please indicate if you need housing and for how many people.
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* from Michael Ratner’s speech at the Bush Crimes Commission