Over 1,200 came out to meetings in nearly 50 cities on Sept. 7 to organize for the Oct. 5 protests. The high attendance in major cities and meetings taking place in areas like Tennessee and Oregon reflect a huge reservoir of people who are fed up with the state of the world and ready to act. Dozens of youth attended meetings in cities like New York and Chicago and many students called for first- time meetings in areas like Albany, NY and Salt Lake City.
As the World Can’t Wait states, ” Millions and millions are deeply disturbed and outraged by this. They recognize the need for a vehicle to express this outrage, yet they cannot find it; politics as usual cannot meet the enormity of the challenge, and people sense this.”
Dozens of youth attended meetings in cities like New York and Chicago and many students called for first- time meetings in areas like Albany, NY and Salt Lake City. A report on worldcantwait.org said, ” The meetings occurred against a backdrop of looming war against Iran and the news Thursday morning that Bush is finally acknowledging — brazenly and without apology — the secret prisons where the U.S. is torturing people. People were gripped with a sense of urgency.” The times are calling forward people like Daniel Ellsberg and New School graduate Jean Rohe to speak out and compel people to take a stand on October 5th.
In San Francisco, Daniel Ellsberg said “We’re in a situation today that demands a lot of people in this country. We have to create a political situation like that in 1969 where 5,000 people went to jail rather than serve in Vietnam. I met some of those people on their way to jail, and they put in my mind that they were doing everything they can truthfully and nonviolently, they are changing their lives, they are giving up their future and their career. They are doing everything they can to end the Vietnam war. That’s the correct thing to do what can I do?”
It is on all of us to make the plans discussed on September 7th a reality and involving growing amounts of people and networks every step of the way. Here’s from our plan that was distributed nation-wide last night:
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.
Students and Youth have an important role to play in making October 5th a day where a massive crowds of people step into the streets on October 5th to bring this to a halt.
* Our initial experience in doing outreach on campuses has shown that people are trying to make sense of why the Bush Regime is pushing things to extremes and that youth see the need to do something about it, but are questioning if walk outs on October 5th will do any good? Many students have not heard about protests on October 5th.
There is a tremendous amount of students who would take part in the protests on October 5th if they only knew about them and many who need to make mobilizing for October 5th the central thing in their lives. Plan out the key areas where large amounts of youth are concentrated and can be reached in a compressed amount of time ( dorms, auditoriums, lecture halls, cafeterias, shows, Myspace). Put October 5th into the hands of hundreds. Focus on a handful of key schools that could be transformed into organizing centers. Strategies with professors and student groups, teachers and churches.
* Tuesday Sept. 19, Bush Crimes Day
Bush War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity- Bring them to a Halt!
In addition to the national plans for September 19th- organize events at your campus right away. When Bush speaks at the U.N. on September 19th and full page ads run in the USA Today; there must a visible and bold rejection of the Bush Agenda and putting the crimes of the Bush regime in front of the whole school. Right away set a time and location to hold an action at your school on September 19th. George W. Bush’s recent speeches on torture and secret detention centers are horriffic and core features of their facsist agenda. Students need to be challenged with fact that they live in a country carrying out worldwide torture and asked are they going to be complicit with torture? One example is an action that Harvard Law Students organized on the second anniversary of Abu Ghairab. Click here for more pictures and a full report on the Harvard protest. The Bush Crimes Commission has a powerful DVD available detailing the crimes of the Bush administration – email youth_students@worldcantwait.org to get a copy of the DVD to show at your school on Sept.19th.
* Massive Fundraising for the U.S. Today Ad on Sept. 19th
Be Creative!
Any time we are tabling, doing outreach on campus or flyering at a concert, have donation bucket to raise funds. Set up meetings with professors who could give large donations. Throw a house party and charge five bucks at the door. Fifty people donating twenty dollars is a thousand dollars.