The March 20th Blog Spot has compiled media coverage of the student walkouts and protests on March 20th.
March 20th Protest Coverage
Whoever you are…
Wherever you are…
Walkout on March 20th
End the War Now
Drive out the Bush Regime
The U.S. war machine has Iran and its people in the cross hairs – and there is every reason to believe the threats on Iran are serious and U.S. military strikes would engulf the entire region in the flames of war and chaos.
If you had known about Hiroshima in advance, what would you have done to stop it? We face a cataclysmic moment on the horizon, as bodies continue to pile up on the streets of Baghdad.
March 20th marks the 4th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. 4 years of U.S. air strikes, massacres, economic standstill, military curfews and cities left in rubble. 4 years of a war that has created 4 million Iraqi refugees and a country that has been ravaged by a civil war initiated and perpetuated by the U.S. government. Whether or not Bush’s troop escalation “stabilizes” Iraq, this war has been unjust from the beginning and will only continue to be an illegal occupation.
At a time when your government is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, your silence is complicity. The war in Iraq, the government’s use of torture, and domestic spying do in fact rise to the highest levels of criminality, and failure to indict the Bush administration for carrying out these crimes will have horrible repercussions for future generations.
The Bush regime’s drive for global empire has brought about a chilling “new normalcy” of immigrant roundups, spying, fear campaigns, and a restructuring of the law that makes it difficult to distinguish our current society from a police state. While students in the U.S. are making plans for their future, the Bush regime is cementing a fascistic agenda into place that will radically alter the world our generation will inherit. Any progress society makes will be overshadowed by the fact that the government is openly torturing people. The ability for youth to engage in critical thought is being dramatically undermined by a Christian fundamentalist assault on everything from gay rights to evolution to reproductive rights.
We face an unprecedented situation that calls for unprecedented resistance. We saw the sparks of that resistance catch and begin to spread on February 15th when students on twenty seven campuses gathered in protests and strikes against the war. On March 20th, this resistance must grow. On this day we must expand and escalate resistance on campuses that goes beyond symbolic protest into stopping business as usual. We refuse to allow “the acceptable political framework” to put limits on what is possible. We refuse to wait until 2008. We refuse to hide behind the hopes that those in the halls of power are going to fix things.
As the world reflects on 4 years of war with Iraq, resistance erupting from college campuses and high schools could signal a new phase of resistance and struggle that places its energies and hopes in the kind of independent, massive resistance that could bring an end to this war, prevent the launching of future wars and change the direction of society. As the U.S. military continues to sink into a deeper crisis, a generation of youth on a mission to end the war and drive out the Bush regime from within the empire could have a profound impact on the outcome of the historic moment we face today. Resistance where we live and where we go to school, resistance that opens up space for soldiers to speak out, resistance that pulses with a culture of defiance, and resistance through finding the ways to bring these crimes to a halt.
This is what the people of the world need; this is what the rulers in the halls of power fear.
On March 20th, every student needs to ask: where do I stand and what will I do?
The whole world is watching!
Every generation has a mission- Ours is to drive out the Bush regime!
World Can’t Wait – Drive out the Bush Regime will be mobilizing students to take part in the March on the Pentagon March 17th and building of the momentum of the March on the Pentagon to mark the anniversary ( March 20th) with a day of national resistance- joining with walkouts called for by SDS ( Students for a Democratic Society) and other campus anti war coalitions.
March 20th NYC
Washington Sq. Park
11:00 A.M.
Various student groups in NYC are mobilizing for a day of action on March 20th.
Start planning at your school right away!
Write into:
youth_students@worldcantwait.org
to find out more about planning an action at your school or town.
How to Organize for March 20th at Your High School
The simple, but powerful demand to end the war now and force Bush to step down could influence and move hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of students to protest on March 20th- even if it starts out with only a handful of organizers. When we speak out against this immoral and illegal war, we speak the truth and we speak for millions around the world. By stepping out in defiance on the anniversary of the war, youth can provoke a much needed debate among students and in society – are you for killing Iraqis or are you against it? Are you for torture or are you against it? This debate is missing in society and needs to happen as part of actually ending this war, preventing a future war in Iran, stopping torture and changing the course of history.
No matter where you live, silence is unacceptable and resistance must be manifested.
Three Key Features to build for March 20th:
* Visibility
* Myspace
* Text Message
Visibility
Call for walkouts or action on March 20th right away – delay will only weaken the day.
* Plaster your school with flyers. Make sure to stuff every locker and place a flyer on every classroom seat. Get people talking and debating about the walkout/action as soon as possible. Distribute flyers in cafeterias and post them in all of the bathroom stalls.
* Create different kind of flyers. For example: one with an image of dead Iraqis, one with prisoners in Abu Ghraib, one with photos of victims from Hurricane Katrina that states ” This Must Stop – We Must Stop It” and info on the action on March 20th.
* Create banners to hang before the 20th.
* Find out if there are any shows, concerts, parties going on to distribute flyers. Post flyers where people hang out like skate parks, record shops, barber shops, bus/train stops, the mall, bookstores, coffeshops – wherever people are, find them and flyer!
Myspace
Everyone at your school/town could hear about the March 20th walkouts within 24 hours if it takes off on Myspace. Create a creative and compelling bulletin to send out. Use a graphic if you can. Make sure to include text in the bulletin that encourages everyone recieving it to send it out to everyone they know and so on and so on.
Text Message Blitzes
Similar to Myspace bulletins, getting out the word through text messages can rapidly spread the word in a short amount of time. The key is to get a chain reaction of text messages going around so the messages multiply as time goes on. Include the basic info of: walkout against the war, the time, place and text that encourages the reciever to send it to 15 of their friends and on and on and on.
All three elements could create a very lively dynamic and synergy where people are hearing about the protest from a combination of places- internet, flyers and possibly phone. This all creates a buzz for the walkout.
Email youth_students@worldcantwait.org with any questions or things that you found worked. Email us to let us know how it went – we want to know!
Letters from Students Who Organized Walkouts on Nov.2nd, 2005
March 20th Blogspot Started by North Carolina SDS: http://march20antiwar.blogspot.com/