Our generation is coming into a world of military tribunals and unjust wars that threaten the survival of the planet. While many of us are returning to school, children in Lebanon are returning to their villages to bury family members killed by USA-made bombs. Even though you hate this, children in Lebanon cannot see your anti-Bush bumper sticker or the anti-war button on your backpack. We need to manifest resistance in the streets to bring this to light.
A powerful movement to stop the U.S. military invasion of Iraq shook the world and denied President Bush his mantle of legitimacy. Yes, the Bush administration did move ahead in invading Iraq and securing another term in office, but to rationalize your silence with a mantra that “protest does not matter” will leave you complicit in crimes committed by your government. The real problem is that we haven’t done what needs to be done yet. That is why students need to come together in a common voice and in a common commitment to change the course of history–with the resolve to drive out the Bush regime.
As the Bush Administration plans to destroy Iran with nuclear weapons, we cannot go on as normal. As we move closer and closer to losing Roe and the fate of millions of women’s lives are at stake, we cannot go on as normal.
We know about the destruction and human suffering caused when the U.S. decides to drop 80,000 tons of bombs on Iraqi cities. We have seen the pictures of tortured prisoners in Abu Ghraib. We don’t need a fucking draft to wake us up! We need what the world needs: a powerful movement of resistance determined to drive out the Bush regime that refuses to accommodate with war criminals and religious fanatics.
The people of this country have a responsibility to drive this current regime from power. We owe it to the world, as well as to the future. That means more than turning out to a protest every few months and then returning to one’s regular routine. It means a whole different ethos – a whole different set of priorities – a whole different tenor of our lives and of the times. It means refusing to rest or to compromise until those who are ruling over us – and attempting to lock down their rule over the entire planet – are driven from power.
We are not asking for permission….we are not concerned with “respectability”. We are going to make history in the streets!
They have a plan for us. They want us as cannon fodder for their endless wars and as domestic breeders for empire. They have a future of martial law curfews and forced prayer in schools – and it’s all dripping with blood. Who will stop this? We will stop this.
Imagine what it will mean for the people of Iraq and Iran if they saw hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. taking to the streets and youth walking out of school to stand with the people of the world in opposition to Bush’s global rampage. Imagine what it will mean for the Katrina survivors, for the immigrants under attack and for the rest of the world to know that millions of people are not just opposed to President Bush, but are stepping into the streets and changing their lives to drive his regime out of office.
Will ours be the first generation of the New Rome, or the first generation that consciously drives a regime out of power in the U.S.?
You decide.