Contents:
- Speaking very truthfully about the stakes involved
- Tell the truth about what will stop this direction, and what
won’t - Plan for how this could happen in 6 weeks
- Priorities
- Calendar
How do
we take this reservoir of millions, break open the wall holding it back,
and do what history requires– create a political situation where the Bush
regime’s program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and
where the whole direction he has been taking society is reversed?
First, we speak very truthfully about the stakes involved.
The new
World Can’t Wait logo says it: the world is burning. People are deeply upset and unsettled
starting with Bush’s ongoing disaster in Iraq;
the incredible destruction of the civilian infrastructure of Lebanon in just
a few weeks. Cheney asserts that anyone
speaking on principle against this is traitorous. Now we have the revelation
that this has been planned all along as the prelude and pretext for war with Iran.
What will
the world be like if U.S.
attacks Iran? Who would stop it? Where will this kind of
war lead the region and the rest of the world? John McCain, the would-be next
Republican president is arguing it will be worse if we don’t attack Iran, and for a troop increase in Iraq. The
leadership of the Democrats says only that they will attack Iran more
resolutely.
Second, we tell the truth about what will stop this direction, and what
won’t.
There is
NO significant voice against this whole direction among the political leaders
that people are looking to and there is no other way to stop the very dangerous
trajectory, including the fascist direction that is being increasingly
institutionalized, other than through massive–really massive–political
upheaval.
The
political will of people is not going to be represented in the fall elections,
where peoples” anger is being channeled into hopes that their disgust and
revulsion for this war will finally be reflected by the candidates. Ned Lamont
is already adjusting his campaign to be a “winner” by coming down as tough in
the “war on Terror”, firmly for the war in Afghanistan and strong border
security, while the powerful interests are working to ensure a Lieberman
victory, while they put any opposition in the category of support for the
terrorists and “Islamo-fascists.” The Democrats
make amendments to the prosecution of the war and the Bushites attack them for
siding with the terrorists. The Democrats
sanction this whole framework by saying they would be tough and effective
managers in Iraq,
in the war on terror, in border security and work to make abortion rare
(proving themselves by affirming all of Bush’s Supreme Court nominees). The whole process keeps going further and
further to the right, and people learn to adapt themselves to the “new normalcy”
and finding a way to plead for more space within that.
The logic
of this leads you to the lesson of German history immortalized by Pastor Neimoeller. He warned us of failing to act when it was
still possible because you thought the danger didn’t affect you – and by the
time it did affect you it was too late to stop it. The point of his famous
statement isn’t for us to repeat the tragic mistake!
In the
last year we”ve had to go out and speak the truth, saying what people don’t
always want to hear; that the easier road leads not to a pendulum swing back to
times where things were not as dire or extreme, but to a modern day dark age. This has been an uphill battle. How could it be otherwise? But there comes a
time when through the combination of events in the world, the reality of what
the Democrats are doing, and our work that people do begin to listen. What we”re saying begins to resonate.
The
response to the August 3 New York Times ad, which came in at 4 times the rate
of our first two ads, is an indication this.
This movement that has been able to mobilize thousands is — if we don’t
miss what we”ve accomplished and come to represent — capable of rapidly
expanding to encompass the sentiments and actions of tens of thousands. If we can break through on October 5 by
mobilizing a critical mass, that can open up a different and radically positive
alternative. It is not hype or wishful
thinking to understand that the pall of political paralysis could be broken and
things can change very quickly.
Are we
thinking of that, or of just the relative handfuls of people we already work
with? Are we thinking of what is
required in this situation and the potential in that reservoir, or proceeding
from a poverty of vision and lowered sights that limit what is possible to what
we have already done, or assumes difficulties encountered along the way cannot
be overcome?
What
should October 5 be? It should look like our opening protests on November 2nd,
but 10 to 20 times that size. It should have the undeniable moral authority and
conviction that Nov. 2nd had with all the energy and focus and
clarity of message, only more so. It should have the participation of the youth
and many others with them this time. It
should be serious and reflect people stepping out of the political bounds of
politics and protest as usual. It should be determined with people in their tens
of thousands refusing to go to work or to school and to shop that day,
converging in town squares, federal buildings and city halls; then marching as
we have in on Nov 2nd and during the State of the Union protests,
through the streets in the kind of demonstration for all the new people joining
us know they”ve never been in before.
It’s not
going to be, essentially, some new tactic that gets us to what is required on
October 5. It’s masses of people
stirring and throwing off illusions and paralysis to see the stakes and the
actual possibility of doing something that will make a difference. Deciding that they have the responsibility to
take history into their own hands will make this not be “protest as usual”.
We are
going to have to redouble our efforts at outreach and fund-raising and make a
compelling argument. (Along our side of
the divide, even having a strong opinion seems too much out of fashion these
days!) We are going to have to tell it
like it is, and ruffle peoples” assumptions and denial. To get the wave to roil and crest, we”re
going to have to tell people that either mass political opposition–and yes
political upheaval–to halt this is will be needed to make it happen. Or, we will have to live with the
continuation of the current disastrous direction under this regime. To go along
with the later (the continuation of the current regime and the current course)
in an attempt to avoid the former (political upheaval) is in fact to become
complicit with the great crimes already carried out, and still greater crimes
being prepared by this regime. This fear
of upheaval is holding some people back. We have to speak to this plainly, and
get them to see that avoiding what must be done makes you complicit in the eyes
of history. Right now we are deciding if
history will thank us or judge us sharply.
Our
discussion in the Steering Committee of WCW has been about two things:
1) A plan
for the next 6 weeks and
2) The
political and moral argumentation this is going to take to prepare people to be
willing to act.
Three, we have a plan for how this could happen in 6 weeks:
There are
millions of people who don’t know about October 5 yet. WE HAVE TO REACH THEM. We”ve
already tapped into the sentiment, in a beginning way, with our ad in the New
York Times. All the follow-up we”ve done on that ad has uncovered people who
are highly informed, eager and ready to act quickly, and very, very glad that
there is a way to do so.
Having
plenty of time is not the main factor in whether October 5 is successful as a
turning point. The main factor is whether it we can create and gain the kind of
momentum that begins to snowball.
We need
streamlined plans and very clear priorities. There are many things we need to
do planning from October 5 back, but our assessment is two key prongs of this
in the next two weeks:
1. Advertising
and materials that put October 5 before the people looking for this and the
large amounts of money essential to making that happen. We need to create the kind of buzz in society
that becomes a real focal point of discussion. If you are trying to figure out
what to do about Bush, you will have to have something to say about what World
Can’t Wait is doing. A benchmark of
progress might be being attacked by pundits in the media and leading Democrats.
To do this we need to raise money immediately for national advertising. We are preparing a new ad which will focus on
“October 5: Bring this to a Halt” that will announce the second key prong of
this plan:
2. Meetings held across the country on Thursday
September 7 – 4 weeks from October 5 — where people find out more about the 5th
and get involved. With major national
advertising and a huge push to hit the streets leafleting and fund-raising
through, and especially over Labor Day weekend, we should be able to rapidly
expand the base of World Can’t Wait. We
should be aiming for hundreds of people to come to meetings in the larger
cities, and for the meetings to be well attended everywhere including in places
where WCW has not previously existed. (New
chapters have already been set up off the NYT ad.)
1. Opening the week of August 27, ads
in major national publications. It will take a very large ad budget to
bring people who are currently inactive and unorganized into motion
quickly. But all the signs are there that we can start something
profound, if we can get the word out quickly enough.
Week of August 27:
Full-page New York Times ad;
National ads on Air America
Radio;
Ads in the Chicago Reader, DC City
Paper, San Francisco Bay Guardian and LA Weekly, and commercial postering.
“All announcing September 7
organizing meetings for October 5.
2. Thursday, September 7 mass
organizing meetings. If they are well advertised, people will come to learn
the plan for October 5. These should be well attended, well organized and
informative (see separate attachment on plan & agenda for these meetings)
Then we have exactly 4 weeks to create a groundswell. The minute someone finds
out about October 5, they go out to 20-50 friends, and it spreads. Small towns,
college campuses, churches and institutions can be mobilized this way.
3. Funds. We are going to
people who have significant influence in society, including through their
resources, and are in positions to make large donations. We need immediate
money; half a million is seed money. If we can get these things underway,
things snowball. This needs to be accompanied by a grass roots effort that is
gaining momentum from below. Our goal is
$500,000 by September 15.
4. Materials, and more materials
getting the October 5 message up everywhere. Our logo of the world on
fire has begun to really connect. Flyers, stickers, buttons, postcards
and messages zooming around the internet can spread it. A special
designers group is being convened in NYC so we can rapidly create well-designed
materials. Then we need the mechanisms to get these distributed in
massive quantity. We will have all the materials needed for the September
7 meetings designed, but printing may need to be done locally. So this
needs to be in local plan.
5. Concrete plans for October 5
should already be listed on the website. People going to the site from our ads
already want to know when and where to be in different cities. As you can see
in the proposal on the September 7 meetings, permits and march routes have to
be final by then.
6. A national October 5
Committee is being formed to bring representatives from organizations and
churches into taking major responsibility for the 5th. The
first national conference call is Wednesday, August 23. If there are key
organizations or prominent individuals from your city who should be included,
contact oct5committee@worldcantwait.org.
Tuesday, August 29: Katrina
anniversary. By
now we have seen Spike Lee’s very powerful documentary that brings it all back
home again. The anniversary will bring everyone back to the inescapable fact:
George Bush doesn’t care about Black people. Just the word “Katrina” has come
to symbolize the heartlessness and greed of the regime. This is a day to be reaching
everyone who has a heart with the message: October 5! Drive Out the Bush
Regime! We are designing an armband for everyone to wear that day – which can
also be run as an ad in newsletters, the African American press, on MySpace
pages, etc.
September 1-4 is Labor Day weekend:
Materials! Get a
leaflet/mass distribution schedule posted to your lists so people can get
involved, and send it to be posted on the website ASAP. Major phone
banking operations need to be set up now to get back to all the people
contacting us from the advertising and leafleting. We really need to set a
standard that everyone who contacts us is talked to by someone in person within
days, and no more than a week. People who are trying to get involved are being
squandered and the quality of the people signing up right now is really
impressive. People are willing to contribute funds, organize friends and
get involved many of them for the first time in their life.
Thursday September 7 at 7pm:
nationwide mass organizing meetings to mobilize for October 5.
Monday September 11: Especially in NYC but all around
the country, a day of bannering and street level statements similar to the Not
In Our Name “Our Grief is Not a Cry for War” day organized by artists shortly
after 9-11-01. We think it would be very helpful for people to challenge
the “accepted wisdom” of that day by holding posters along major streets that
read “The War on Terror is a War for Empire – Drive Out the Bush Regime!
October 5!”
Wednesday, September 13: Bush
Crimes Commission at Camp Democracy, in Washington
DC. Verdicts of the Commission
will be delivered to the White House.
September 19:
Bush Crimes Day across the country, centered on campuses. Called
by the Bush Commission and joined by WCW, and new people. War crimes and crimes
against humanity will be THE issue, pointing toward Oct 5. (This and
above item in finalization by Bush Crimes Commission -see bushcommission.org)
Sunday, September 24 and Sunday, October 2: Grand Lake
Theater in Oakland California. The theater owner has donated two
nights. Stay tuned for programming. Former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who
testified at the Bush Crimes Commission on torture, is appearing on September
24.
Every chapter needs to meet and
discuss this plan this week! Call urgent meetings, and get in gear to go
all out for October 5!
Pastor Neimoeller’s statement:
First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing.
Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing.
Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist.
And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little.
Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.
Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.