Text of speech delievered by Anastasia Gomes at Hunter University on May 9th.
Living in a country where patriotism is taught from a young age and
where you are instilled with the idea that this is the greatest most
free country on earth, it is important i think to note that this
country doesn’t and hasn’t ever held any type of moral high ground.
This country was founded through the
murder, rape and pillage of millions of Native Americans, the backbone of this
country’s economy was built on a foundation of 400 years of one of the longest
and most brutal systems of slavery in the world.
Who were the perpetrators of those crimes? Who were the bad guys? In this
country, history is taught as a passive study of what happened, where people are
robbed of the responsibility for the roles they played in shaping it.
These ideas are emphatically false. History does not happen, it is
determined, actively, by the people who fought back, as the people who did fight
against slavery. Sometimes humanity had to be fought for and virulently, and
many times the people who were being hurt themselves could not see the
possibility for change, and the rational for striving for it. Harriet Tubman
once put a rifle to the heads of slaves who refused to try to escape via the
underground railroad. Choose freedom or die she told them.
I am not an advocate of violence, I use this analogy to illustrate the way
history is willfully shaped by people, usually people who had to consciously
force into action those who were too scared, and too used to the way
things were.
Right now history is being decided and there are those who wish you to
believe that there is one fate, and one path, all leading towards
one future filled with danger, terrorism, fear, hatred, and the inevitable
expansion of war. These people want you to accept the world as it is, the way
they asked you to believe that history happened how it did, without the active
decisions and choices of the people living through those times.
The Bush administration not only does not want you to believe that you play a
role in shaping the world you stand to inherit, he’s adamantly proclaiming that
your views, your thoughts, and your values are insignificant. He stands in the
face of overwhelming public opposition to the war and vetoes a bullshit symbolic
nonbinding resolution.
The Democrats themselves understood that this resolution meant nothing in the
scheme of things, it was a suggestion, a faint one, that there should possibly
be an ending for the war.
But the important thing to stress here, in what the media kept annoyingly
describing as “the showdown in Washington” would have meant NOTHING to the
people who are being murdered in Iraq on a daily basis!
The resolution Bush vetoed spoke nothing about removing the VARIOUS military
bases being built in Iraq, the resolution Bush vetoed spoke nothing about the
fact that Iraq’s market has been pryed wide open and made available to
privatized multinational companies, who are making sure that for decades to come
the people of Iraq will have no future, because they are drawing up ownership
contracts, tearing into Iraq’s resources like rabid scavengers, privatizing this
ancient civilization’s wealth and environment.
The resolution Bush vetoed did not discuss removing the 100,000+
mercenary armed forces currently employed in Iraq today, in addition
to the 150,000 US troops already stationed there. These mercenary
forces operate very much like the US’s very own troops, they
are heavily armed and receive similar training, only
they are employed by the Military contractor Blackwater. These
are privatized soldiers, their deaths are not publicly quantified,
and they are not beholden to any kind of rules of engagement, in
fact they do not answer to much of any kind of authority at
all.
The resolution Bush vetoed did not discuss the fact that the use of depleted
uranium in Iraq has caused cancer there to increase 10 fold, or the fact that
since our invasion the infant mortality rate in Iraq has become the highest in
the world. It spoke nothing about justice for the 14,000 people
currently being held in US prisons in Iraq, places where both the Red
Cross and Amnesty international have documented the use of subhuman
practices and torture.
Instead we have people like Hillary Clinton who talk about a “remaining vital
national security interest in Iraq” in Iraq, and who are not even calling for
the immediate withdrawal of the troops, Clinton herself has said she believes
that a portion of troops should remain in Iraq. We have politicians like John
Edwards, and Barack Obama, who all know, like we know, and like anyone who has a
brain and a set of eyeballs knows, that this country launched a four year war
without UN approval, without having been provoked, on the basis of lies, for
oil, empire and power.
And yet Knowing all this, knowing the madman who sits in the conductor’s
seat, they are giving the thumbs up for attack on Iran.
Each of these democratic candidates, Clinton, Obama, Edwards, each of them
have said no option is off the table for Iran.
Some people say they have to say that, in order to intimidate Iran’s Prez
Ahmidenajad, I say, that it is CRIMINAL to allege that someone duped you into a
war and not demand that person step down and be held accountable for lying his
way into that war, it is criminal to leave up to chance, without publicly and
clearly condemning any future attack on Iran, while a mad man who has no
allegiance to any law, ethic or public opinion, sits with his finger on the
nuclear trigger.
The Bush administration is right now waging a war against the people of this
country, and the people of the world, and history is being decided. Right now
walls are being built, lines are being drawn and people are being smacked in the
face by this administration’s blatant disregard for human life, dignity,
responsibility, and to be frank our intelligence.
I am often warned about using strong language when I talk about this subject,
because it is a dangerous time to speak. I am inspired by those like Martin
Luther King Jr., who once while giving a speech about Vietnam said;
The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they
call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner
truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy,
especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great
difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom
and in the surrounding world.
There is a time he said, when silence is betrayal.
Betrayal. Hear that word and think about it, it implies responsibility. To
whom? To whom to we have a responsibility to?
Do we have a responsibility to the people of New Orleans, who were left to
die on their rooftops without food or water for five days? Bush’s message to the
people then was loud and clear too:
“You don’t mean anything, you are worthless, you are Black and you are poor,
and your lives are not valuable!”
At what point do we have a responsibility to rebuke that lesson being
instilled in the men women and children, 75 thousand of which are still living
behind barbed wire in trailer encampments next to Exxon oil refineries, a year
and a half after the tragedy happened?
What responsibility do we have as we read reports now in the New York times
that the levees that the Army corps rebuilt are full of weak spots, making them
vulnerable to even small storms. They are not just weak, they are incomplete.
And by the way, hurricane season begins in a few weeks.
Who will bear the blame for having been silent after Hurricane Fatima or
whatever the name will be, drowns a trailer park this time?
What responsibility do we have to the people of Iraq whose towns are being
made into prisons by the newest draconian strategy being implemented by the
military that goes block by block building walls enclosing whole neighborhoods
along sectarian lines.
The people of Iraq do not want this, they do not want to be
locked into virtual prisons where they are patrolled by big booted army men on
their streets, and where they are forced to show their IDs and have their
movements controlled like common criminals in enormous prisons. They do not want
this, and what responsibility do we have to tell the politicians in power that
its fucking unacceptable for them to be forced t live this way one more day
longer, because OUR president lied to get us into a war for oil and power?!
Think about that! A war for oil, we all say it over and
over, its an accepted idea, but what the hell does that mean? It means the
people who talk about “we have to stay there now its too late” want us to accept
that these people should live like slaves and prisoners, in perpetual war
because it makes US feel safer from a handful of radical zealots, whose ideology
is growing stronger by the misery we are causing there? NO. There is a time when
a NO has to be said, there is a time when equivocating must end and truth must
be spoken. And It is a time as DR Martin Luther king said, for dangerous
unselfishness.
How dare this administration build military encampments, immigrant detention
centers or JAILS as they should really be called, to imprison ordinary people,
while the criminals in the Whitehouse are free to bandy about society like you
and me,
How dare this administration make building walls to keep immigrants out of
the country more important than building levees and rebuilding homes,
How dare the Bush regime smack us in the face over and over again, and how
dare the Democrats, stand by and WATCH, debate and bullshit on television left
and right?!
Shame on anyone who tells you that you should not be outraged by these
crimes, shame on anyone who tells you that you can’t change this, how dare
anyone tell you that this is life and that it is acceptable, and shame on anyone
who believes them.
Asking the Bush regime to fix what its done in Iraq is like asking a
murderer, a thief, a rapist to console and give therapy to the family they have
destroyed, no in sane people land, we do not entrust the people who carry out
crimes to be in charge of helping the people they’ve injured and assaulted.
There’s this movie that I really love, called North Country and I was
watching it the other day and found myself very moved by the speech given at the
end by Woody Harrelson who is asking this guy to tell the truth about a rape he
witnessed.
He said…
What are you supposed to do when the ones with all the power are hurting
those with none? Well, for starters, you stand up. Stand up and tell the truth.
You stand up for your friends. You stand up even when you’re all alone. You
stand up.
Who are the friends you stand up for? How about the Iraqi people, how about
the Afghani people, how about the people of hurricane Katrina, how about the
millions of immigrants under assault by vicious raids that tear families apart?
HOW ABOUT FOR YOUR PEERS, you are fortunate enough to not be alone in this
fight, because there are plenty of people your age, and in your generation who
are being brave enough to move, be courageous and stand up for what’s right, not
with symbolic protest but with risk taking fierce rebellious resistance. You may
not hear about these things often because the media is f-ed but they are
occurring, on a regular basis, and I’d like to amplify them loud enough for you
to hear them,
In LA Over 600 students from dozens of high schools walked out just a few
days ago to join the May 1st protests for immigrant rights.
“We are not going to accept the INS going into our cities and terrorizing the
people who live with us, the people who are in our schools, our friends, our
families. We are not accepting it any longer. Its over and we are going to keep
building this movement until our needs are met.”
In Detroit hundreds of students also walked out for May 1st in protest of the
ban on affirmative action and in solidarity with immigrant rights.
Students who took part were terrorized by guards and administration officials
who taunted them that they can’t make a difference, students who organized the
walkout were beat by the cops, their school doors were locked, and middle school
students were maced. One organizer said “the police attacked students and tried
to terrorize the students who were fighting for their right to a decent
education in our city.”
This is your generation’s call to conscience, will you hear it? Will you
answer?
A student from the School of UMBC, organized a hunger strike, called Hungry
for Peace, the strike included students from various schools starving themselves
in protest of the Iraq war.
100 Students of Winthrop University, organized an antiwar rally on the steps
of their school, and the number quickly swelled, one organizer said “I
underestimated the Winthrop student body, they aren’t as apathetic as they
thought, this proves they are looking for an outlet.”
This is your generation’s call to conscience, will you hear it? Will you
answer?
April 18, 2007 – Following a protest against the war in Iraq at the
University of Wisconsin Madison 100 students decide to stay and occupy
overnight, the office of Senator Herb Kohl a quote unquote antiwar Democrat who
continues to support funding the war.
On April 18th over 800 students walked out of school throughout the Seattle
area to demand an immediate end to the Iraq war, and protesting the school
district’s plan to close 7 schools demanding that money be used for education
not war.
125 of those students also interrupted a school board meeting demanding
military recruiters leave their campus.
In Utah just two weeks ago, Cheney traveled to the traditionally Mormon
college Brigham Young University. Over 3,000 students signed a petition opposing
his visit. Students also held protests at school, where they were intimidated by
school officials and had their signs confiscated. Students who opposed Cheney
attended an alternate commencement ceremony they organized which featured Ralph
Nader.
In Chicago, 24 people were arrested, most of them students, for occupying
Senator Coleman’s office and reading the names of those who’ve died in war.
In California On April 19th 10 students from San Francisco State University
protested a military recruiter at the University Career Fair, the students were
physically taken out of the gymnasium and told they were banned from campus, and
would be arrested if they returned.
At Santa Cruz hundreds (April 18) of Students forced US ARMY AND MARINE Corps
to withdraw from their school’s Job Fair. The year before students held a queer
kiss in that effectively ended the military’s ability to recruit.
This is your generation’s call to conscience, will you hear it? Will you
answer?
More than 300 students from Maria Carillo University walked out of
classes.
In Seattle, at the Port of Tacoma just last March, 23 people were arrested,
shot with rubber bullets, and maced as they tried to stop a shipment of Stryker
Armored Vehicles to Iraq, the protest was partly organized by Students for a
Democratic Society.
Over 50 Students from UNCA Asheville, and Asheville High School walked out of
classes in protest of the Iraq war.
Over 400 Rutgers students marched to the Military recruitment center, 250 of
them continued on to march onto Route 18, where they blocked traffic, banged on
drums and screamed for an end to this war.
In Minnesota hundreds of students from the University Of Minnesota walked out
of classes and blocked traffic in protest of the Iraq war.
This is your generation’s call to conscience, will you hear it? Will you
answer?
200 Students from the Michigan SDS went to Congressman Vern Ehler’s home to
demand he sign a contract calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops and to
vote against any new funding for the war. Ehler refused to come outside so
activists put signs in his lawn that read “a war criminal lives here” and handed
out fliers alerting neighbors to a “Crime alert”, drawing attention to Ehler’s
legal support for war crimes.
A student was arrested on Monday after a group of SDS students in Rhode
Island staged a Die in front of Textron Inc, a corporation contracted by the US
military for helicopters armored vehicles and Munitions.
They were joined by 150 Students from NYU 45, Students from Cherry Hill High
School in New JerseyIOWA, more than 350 students from the University of Iowa
rallied. In
This is your generation’s call to conscience, will you hear it? Will you
answer?
Over 24 different schools around the nation striked in protest of the Iraq
war on February 15th including:
In California, Sonoma State students set up a half a dozen tents for a “camp
in” against the war, and followed by a day of strikes protesting the occupation
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sarah Lawrence College
University of North Carolina Greensboro
UC
Berkeley
UC Santa Cruz
SF State
Mills College
Fremont High
Lowell
High
Berkeley High
This is your generation’s call to conscience, will you hear it? Will you
answer?
After organizing a walk out October last year, and a counter
recruitment protest, 6 Students from University of North Carolina Asheville’s
were arrested last September after they refused to leave Congressman David
Price’s office to demand he stop funding the war.
Your generation is calling for you, the world is calling for you, to start
taking risks, to start standing up, to start resisting, because as of now the
voices of your generation have been silenced, and if we do not continue stepping
up our resistance, escalating it in a way that does not stop until it is heard,
we will lose this struggle and history will be decided for us. Harriet Tubman
put a gun to the heads of her people not to scare them but because she loved
them enough to demand they struggle for their lives, and for hers, because one
slave escaping is a runaway, 100 slaves escaping is a symbol of struggle, but
thousands and millions of slaves standing up and taking notice, makes history,
because it redefines reality for generations.