From the World Can’t Wait messages read at Sept 7th meetings:
These are dire times, consequential
times – times that shape the course of history. Which way it goes is up to us.
This is why you, why we are all here. Time is of the essence – and there is
still time to do something to bring this TO A HALT, if we act now and act
decisively and you in this room take it as your mission to get the critical
numbers we need to start something new and something different in this country
on October 5th.
How do you send a pack of thugs and
criminals packing in disgrace instead of allowing them to overpower the planet?
How do you drive a hated regime from office?
You stop it by not acquiescing to it. By creating a situation where the
populace is no longer paralyzed, silent and complicit–but acting to stop
it….
What is being silenced in the halls
of power must be massively heard in the streets.
Face it, we need to change the face
of EVERYTHING. We are talking about setting a dynamic rolling on October 5 on a
scale that can make a huge change in this country and the world. Many have been
valiantly fighting these many outrages one at a time but constantly losing
ground to the whole onslaught. We have to change the face of EVERYTHING; we
have to say a massive NO to this whole disastrous course. It is worth taking
off work and walking out of class for this! It is worth it to put reputations
and careers on the line. It is right to refuse to participate in war crimes and
resign in protest as Ann Wright and other government officials have done.
We are not calling for just another
demonstration. We are calling for a groundswell of people who will not accept
that this is the future for generations – by starting with many tens of
thousands on October 5. By getting enough people to kick open the door we can
draw in hundreds of thousands of people and give them a way to express their
desire to stop this madness and give them the vehicle they need to act – but only if enough people make this
alternative a reality.
We have 4 weeks, and you can make
miracles in 4 weeks if you decide it’s worth it – if many more people decide to
share the load with the Gold Star families who have changed their lives. As
Bush and Condi calculate going to war with Iran, they have to be dealing with
the prospect of huge political upheaval. Especially on the campuses – a new
student movement is urgently needed! A movement that cannot be dismissed must
find expression in every nook and cranny of the country. In small towns and in
rural areas, people have to know they can go to their city hall with a poster
saying “Drive Out the Bush Regime” and find -others like them there on October
5th. You can hear this momentum taking shape already on Air America Radio.
What difference does a single day
make? -Everything, if it can reach critical mass. And that is up to you. This
won’t happen without people with connections and major resources stepping in to
bring that to bear on a day that can make a huge difference in society. This
can happen with hundreds of people learning to be organizers overnight and
getting the word out to BE THERE on October 5. We will get hundreds of people
involved in raising funds to bring something not being said or heard into the
mainstream media, and to provoke a societal debate that is heard around dinner
tables, in the blogosphere, and among friends and colleagues.
If you find the road being traveled intolerable and
unacceptable, there is another road to choose from. We are calling on everyone
here tonight to pitch in and pave it. We have a plan for the next 4 weeks:
Two Key Prongs – Innovative and Bold Outreach and Massive
Fund-raising
There are hundreds of thousands of
people who will be there with us if we can reach them. Last month, two New York Times ads punctured the
atmosphere of resignation, gradualism and paralysis that has been keeping
opposition quiet. It’s time to get the message that the Bush regime must go out
of the margins and into center court. Then everyone will have to reckon with
the stakes of acting, or not.
A simple plan:
- Public opinion campaign, including major ads, builds so that many millions more
know about October 5 – and get what IS required to bring this disastrous course
to a halt.
- Tuesday, September 19, has been designated Bush Crimes Day. When Bush shows up at the United Nations with his
sights set on perpetrating another huge crime – war on Iran – actions and ads must be
everywhere.
- To make this possible – funds, funds and more funds. All this
requires the skills, creativity, connections, imagination and, yes, real
devotion, from all kinds of people. The world can’t wait!
On Tuesday, September 19, Bush will
be coming to the UN to bully the rest of the world into going along with
widening the “war on terror” and the insanity of preparing for war with Iran. Is this
to be a repeat of his appearance at that same UN podium just four years ago
when he polluted the air with a pack of lies and a thug’s bullying to prepare
the way for another war…Iraq?
Now, can you believe, a full rerun, this time Iran. When Bush comes to the UN he
must be met with serious protest in New
York and all around the country.
On that day the whole country
should wake up to find an ad in USA Today calling on people to BRING
THIS CRIMINAL BUSH REGIME’s PROGRAM TO A HALT, and get involved in the movement
TO DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME. They must be called to join the wave building
towards October 5.
This would be a signal to the whole
country and the world that we in this country will not tolerate this and are
moving urgently to stop it. Advertising in USA
Today means bringing the news of OCT 5 not just to the converted, but to
millions who are agonizing and weighing what is in the balance. It’s a huge
undertaking. The cost for an ad in USA
Today is $104,500. This means finding donors willing to donate tens of
thousands of dollars and a mass grass roots fund-raising campaign that widens
to encompass internet activists, church and professional networks, the anti-war
movement, and far beyond it.
Our efforts to reach people through
print, internet and radio outreach have to be multi-dimensional:
- radio networks such as Air America, Pacifica
and National Public Radio
- Spanish, college and urban radio,
and internet
- African American, alternative
& Spanish press
All of this can create the buzz and
controversy needed to draw into the movement the many prominent artists,
writers, religious and ex-government officials who detest Bush, and when more
of these people get into the media calling for driving out this regime, the
momentum can grow exponentially.
FUNDS: A
key part of the plan for Friday
September 8 to Thursday September 21 is raising $500,000. A movement of
fund-raising must take off starting tonight. Make a commitment now. Consider:
Are you someone who could hold a party and raise tens of
thousands from friends?
Can you invite friends over to show films of the new Bush
Crimes Commission testimony, and then discuss how they can be involved in this
effort?
Do you live in a city where community car washes raise
thousands of dollars in a weekend? How about a stoop or garage sale?
Would students on your campus consume a lot at a bake
sale? Or a used book sale? Is your neighborhood ripe for canvassing door to door?
How about your subway or commuter station?
Fund-raising can take place over the internet, and, very
importantly, by calling people and personally talking with the tens of
thousands of people who have already signed our Call. Your skills are needed. Contact
fundraise@worldcantwait.org
Get out leaflets, canvas your neighborhood or leaflet your
church, campus, social and athletic clubs. Put posters on walls and in shop
windows, leave the postcards in cafés and bookstores. World Can’t Wait has to
be seen rising from the pages of the most prominent publications and from our
most prominent voices at the same time as it’s visible everywhere – coming from
the ground up. Get the word out at plays, concerts and movies – anywhere
thinking people will be.
Find fund-raising resources at worldcantwait.org.
Needed! Volunteers!
What do you bring to the movement to drive out the Bush
Regime?
Fund-raisers, publicists, web designers, media
professionals, attorneys and legal observers, stage production professionals,
graphic artists, musicians, office staff, phone bank volunteers, campus
organizers. Bring skills and ideas you have thought of that we haven’t even
imagined yet.
866-973-4463
worldcantwait.org