On Jan. 11, the day after Bush announced an escalation of
the war, with 21,500 more troops headed to Iraq
and threats towards Iran and
Syria,
people in over 1,000 cities and towns across the country came out to the
streets in protest. This escalation was
seen as a slap in the face when only months ago so many people voted in large
part in the hopes of bringing an end to the war. The number of protests quickly mushroomed in
the days leading up to Bush’s speech.
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While it was important that Bush’s announcement was met with
protests, there is an urgent need for massive resistance way beyond what happened
Jan. 11. An escalation of the war that
has already killed 655,000 Iraqis and over 3,000 US troops should have been met
with campuses shut down in strikes, massive protests clogging traffic and
disrupting normal life, and actors, artists, and anyone with a public voice
speaking out on the media. With Bush’s
new strategy posing tremendous new dangers (including provocations toward Iran), intense
debate inside the government, and millions of people hating what Bush is doing,
now is the time for resistance powerful enough to stop this war and drive out
this regime to come into being through our actions.
Check out the following media coverage of World Can’t Wait
during the Jan. 11 protests:
US
senators fear Iraq war may spill to Iran and Syria, Activists campaign to block
Iraq troop increase, Daily Times (Pakistan), 1/13/07:
Activists scheduled 1,000 protests for Thursday night in all
50 US
states, before a Jan. 27 march around the US Capitol that organizers expect to
draw hundreds of thousands of participants.A couple of hundred noisy protesters gathered in New York’s Times Square on Thursday evening.
“There’s no way to make good on a war that was illegitimate and illegal to
begin with,” said Sunsara Taylor, spokeswoman for the “World Can’t Wait – Drive
out the Bush Regime” campaign. “The only thing that’s just is to end the war
now.” Carrying placards reading: “You can bomb the world to pieces but not to
peace,” “Troops home now,” and “No more blood for oil,” the protesters booed
when footage of Bush appeared on one of the large television screens in Times Square.
Antiwar
Protests Held In Bay Area, Across Nation, CBS 5 / AP San Francisco, 1/11/07
Nine
arrested in protest of Iraq decision, News-Record (Greensboro, NC),
1/12/07:
Nine protesters were arrested Thursday during a
demonstration downtown against President Bush’s decision to increase troop
levels in Iraq.
One was taken to the ground with a Taser.The rally began at around 4:30 p.m. with chanting, signs and
music from a local drum corps. Drivers in cars honked their support as they
passed through Elm and Market streets”But shortly before 6 p.m., a large group of protesters
charged into the middle of the street, erecting a sign, refusing to move and
holding up traffic. Some danced; others held banners.
Police moved in to break up the crowd, shocking Kristopher Michael Hilbert, 19
, of Raleigh,
with a Taser when he refused to move”Hopkins,
who was among those arrested, said moving into the street was a shocking act
designed to wake people to the dangers of continuing the war.“I wanted to make a nonviolent statement that this is a state of emergency
now,” Hopkins
said . “Things are getting worse and we have to get people to pay
attention.”
Local
protesters add their voices to debate, Kalamazoo Gazette, 1/12/07:
“Members of the World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime
also held a protest near the intersection of Oakland Drive, Lovell Street and Michigan Avenue that drew about 30
people, said Joetta Carr, a Western
Michigan University
professor and adviser for the group.Protesters dressed in orange jump suits, wore black caps and
carried signs to protest an “escalation of the war in Iraq” and to mark the
five-year anniversary of the U.S. government using Guantanamo Bay as a prison
for detainees accused of terrorism, Carr said.