What are people living in the US thinking
about their government? A recent poll in
the Washington Post says Bush’s approval rating has dropped to an all-time low,
because Republicans are now deserting him, not only over immigration, but also
over the Iraq
war. The most interesting part of the
poll is that confidence in Congress is now lower
than it was before the November elections.
People are profoundly alienated from Bush – but also from the Democrats
– with neither having credibility. Some
people are so angry they hardly want to talk about politics, having come up
against what Cindy Sheehan called an “unbendable and rigidly mendacious marble”
paradigm.
“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.” Doesn’t this ring more true than ever right
now in light of the vote to re-fund the war? We have to provide that vehicle, or leave
people abandoned to even deeper despair.
With the collaboration of the Democratic leaders in the war, many people
are looking at the very strong Call
we put out with different eyes. Many are
saying, “OK, you were right.” People who have not wanted to confront the
fascist re-making of society, thinking that somehow the Democratic victory in
November would at least stop the war, are having to deal with the kind of
moment of truth the vote was.
The Bush regime is now turning up
the Republican Noise Machine on Iran, laying all the same lies and pretexts we
heard about Iraq. Maxine Waters said
yesterday, very soberly, that if we don’t remove Cheney we will go to war
with Iran. This is a moment that the Call is going to resonate with new clarity
for people. It will still be
controversial -and that’s good — but events are putting facts before people
that they hoped were not true and are turning out to be proof that the WCW Call
was It’s not surprising that people will put
their hopes and expectations into making the process work as the first things
they try. We know that since the stakes
are so enormous, there is even more of a reason to look for saviors inside the halls
of power. The question is: are we boldly leading things as people exhaust those
avenues and as others fail to speak to the challenge that exists in a way that
really does correspond to both peoples” interests and strongly-felt desires? accurate.
We know from our phone-banking, and
email, that while we are encountering plenty of despair among the people, that
this is not difficult to break through if you pose that something can be
done. And we have the vehicle to
galvanize the majority’s sentiments into something that can exert powerful
political influence in this society.
People from the Los Angeles chapter reported,
“A number of the people we”ve actually gotten to talk to while phone
banking really
hate what they see, but don’t think anything can be done and start out
very cynical,
without much expectation. But there is
a lot of “ferment” going on. People are
trying to figure out what is going on, why we are in this situation?
They have conclusions – usually pessimistic
– but very open once you get past the
initial despair. People are blaming
the system, the media, the Democrats, the people. It often takes
reminding them that the
majority oppose the war and hate the direction society is being taken,
yet
because there isn’t enough outrage in the streets, it is very
disorienting for
people. They are wanting to understand
the gap between peoples” sentiments and their actions. Why is that,
and how do we close that
gap? They”ve been thinking about this –
even if they haven’t formulated it that way.
It’s actually unleashing for people to hear someone pose it that way
because it is exactly the situation.
When an analysis that is closer to the truth is put out, people quickly
gravitate towards it, and the basis and potential for people to
transform their
thinking quickly is there. One woman
started out saying that the NY Times ad won’t really change anything.
“People are asleep.” But when she heard some examples of ways
people are resisting, like the UMass students keeping Andrew Card from
speaking
at commencement, the UCSB students going on strike against the war, she
said,
“That’s where I would put my money! We
need another Mario Savio like in the 60’s!”
And she pledged to donate to the World Can’t Wait Youth Conference.
The designer for the NY Times ad was
thinking about the polls showing all the people (58% answered “yes” to “do you
wish the Bush presidency was over?) who just wish Bush was gone. What if they were not just waiting, but
galvanized to act as a political force? They don’t yet understand the extent of what
he can do before he leaves office, and that he’s not just a lame duck. People would not feel so hopeless if they had
some sense that they could act as an independent political force that could
influence the direction of things. If
they saw that it’s up to us and that our independent political initiative and
latent political power can be brought to bear if thousands of us act to build a
platform that hundreds of thousands can be brought onto, and thus influence and
mobilize millions, they will see a way out of the abyss that is right now
immobilizing them.
WE HAVE TO VERY SHARPLY CHALLENGE
PEOPLE WHO SAY THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO.
That is a cop-out. For one thing it’s not true,
and for another it’s is morally corrupt and unconscionable when so many lives
are in the balance. That is not what the military resisters are saying or where
military families who have changed their lives to end the war are going. But the resisters and the families need to
see the people stop being so passive and get out there with them.
THERE IS A WAY TO MAKE THIS
HAPPEN, if people are willing to combine themselves into an independent
political force. World Can’t Wait is
calling on people to fund the ad in the New York Times to reach those millions,
and calling on people to come to mass meetings in the next month that will take
up how to drive Bush & Cheney from office before the end of the term. How do we get impeachment “on the table” and
bring the message to people of this country that you cannot allow war criminals
to stay in power? The responsibility for
this remains ultimately with the people.
Did they act to stop the Bush regime, or did they remain complicit in
their silence and inactivity?
This is the basic challenge we have
to put to people, by remaining grounded in the basics of what we represent and
having the confidence that if you take this message to people unvarnished in
this moment, you will find people who are deciding that you are right. And they will be willing to help you make
that happen. No one else is calling on
people to do what we are doing. We could
step over what is potentially here – and miss all this — if we don’t boldly
put it out there for people to grab onto.
Very concretely, we need to:
-
Invite people -including new
activists –to phone bank all weekend, sharing experience and bringing this
home the way we did for the USA today ad last September. Let’s make a real concerted effort. -
Ask people to raise money with their
friends and send our messages out so they go “viral.” -
Get announcements into all the newspapers
and radio stations we can, including local Air America, community, Pacifica
stations, etc. -
Flyer at cultural and other events
where we can find people looking for the “what to do”.