Below are first reports that are coming in. More reports, as well as pictures & video, will be up soon.
CHICAGO:
Well after some initial hassle from the park
district security and CPD’s finest Our DIN impeach fest picnic turned
out to be brilliantly orange. Estimated turnout would be 30-50 people.
But 30 or 50 people with enthusiasm and who are ready to act despite
security’s and CPD’s attempts to intimidate us. These attempts only
seemed to make the picnic goers more determined to stay to hear the
message of “Declare it Now” and spread this message.
Because we
were told by Chicago Park District security that we could not have
political signage in the park a number of people(folks who were newer
faces) took up signs and moved to along the side of Western Ave. and
held up the WCW “Stop the War Now! And Impeach Bush for War Crimes!”
which drew many honks from vehicles passing by. Our infamous Impeach
Bush for War Crimes banner was stationed at the corner of Montrose and
Western Ave. The Chicago Chapter in summing the event this evening kept
coming back to this and we were deeply moved by people’s conviction and
sense of the need to do something.
And we give our heartfelt
thanks to you folks. From beginning to end people pitched in setting up
and taking down and most importantly making themselves a part of this
movement to Drive Out the Bush Regime.
People pledged to get
family, friends, and coworkers etc. to wear orange. There was a strong
sense among the crowd that “Declare it Now-Wear Orange” must spread as
well as the sense that it was each person’s responsibility to get
others to visibly oppose the Bush Regime and demand impeachment by
wearing orange. Many people took ribbons and bandannas with them. One
gentleman had already taken this up screen printing messages like “He
Lied, He Spyed, Impeach Him” and “Regime Change U.S.A The World Can’t
Wait” on orange swatches of cotton fabric which he gave out to picnic
goers. A couple of people expressed a desire to start up WCW chapters
in their areas. There were a few people who happened on the picnic and
stayed to listen and be apart of the discussion. One man who is
currently working on a documentary was in his car and saw the banner.
He drove his kids home and came back with his video camera to
interview, Liz who is one of Chicago Chapter’s steering committee
members. Better still is when we were taking down our picnic a few
people came through the park and stopped to talk to us and asked for
literature.
A special thanks goes out to Mars our Revolutionary
Sister, Liz Lazdins, Lave Raven for their powerful poetry, Carlos Perez
from the Immigrant Rights movement who spoke so eloquently about the
urgency of now in Driving Out the Bush Regime, and others who came
forward to speak about why people need to take actions to Drive Out the
Bush Regime. And a huge thanks to Richard and others for drawing the
attention of passerby to the message of WCW and DIN.
We look forward
to having more of these DIN gatherings once a month and of course look
forward to doing our weekly Orange Outrage Fridays.
ATLANTA:
A
group of us converged in Midtown Atlanta at 10th and Peachtree on
Friday evening at 5pm. Not the best location due to moving traffic
heading home for the weekend… but had the chance to engage some folks
in good debate which resulted in several additions to our membership
roster. Additionally, the horns and thumbs up gestures we received well
surpassed any of the other gestures of non-support. We passed out
fliers, ribbons, wristbands (orange rubber bands… which were
enthusiastically welcomed) and streamers.
From there we drove
downtown to Woodruff Park where the monthly Critical Mass ride was
commencing. Several more folks joined us and we spread throughout the
crowd and surrounding area… passing out more orange paraphernalia
including bandannas… again engaging folks in debate which in some
instances continued even after moving on to spread the word to another
group. We packed up after the riders departed destined for midtown and
the indie theater the Landmark. On the way, the critical mass riders
intercepted traffic where we witnessed our handiwork… bandana,
streamer, wristband and ribbon laden riders weaving their way through
the city.
We arrived at the Landmark Theater… were warmly
welcomed by patrons and eatery staffs alike… spread the “Declare it
NOW” word… added yet more names to our mailing list… but then our
stomachs overruled and dictated we satisfy their needs, which we did.
Even at dinner a group sitting behind us requested to take a picture of
our t-shirts (we were all wearing the same one) which opened up yet
another good debate, which we more than welcomed.
From there the night came to a close… which was now 10pm. Overall a positive
endeavor made by all… with the commitment of more ORANGE Fridays to come.
KALAMAZOO BLACK ARTS FESTIVAL:
Here are photos from our Declare it now launch at the Kalamazoo Black Arts Festival on 7/27. Joetta will write up a report tomorrow morn. The people were enthusiastic about the wear orange campaign and very receptive. We handed out almost everything we had.
BAKERSFIELD:
A dozen Bakersfield residents showed up to the local protest corner (Stockdale Highway and California Street) on Friday decked out in orange t-shirts and ribbons to call a halt to the criminal 
Bush regime. Lots of supporters honked as they drove by, and some stopped long enough to get ribbons being handed out on the scene. Many had some very negative things to say about the Bush’s beyond-belief abuses of power, and some noted that Congress seems bent on doing absolutely nothing to stop this. The seeds for wearing orange were planted that night, and can only continue to spread by Labor Day.
NEW YORK:
People were out in Union Square park all day on Friday getting out bandanas, spreading the word about the event coming up that evening, and selling t-shirts. Union Square Park was prepared for our arrival! People were there, wearing orange, lounging in the grass, talking with friends, DECLARING their sentiment against this regime.
The program began at 5:00 with Debra Sweet welcoming people to the rally. People began to converge in front of our stage. At the same time, our tables set up between the park and the sidewalk was surrounded by people wanting to buy bandanas and buttons! People stopped and watched. People joined the crowd in curiosity. There was orange in all directions. At different times there seemed to be between 200 – 300 people in the park participating in the rally!
The program included speakers, singers, poets, and a marching band! It was exciting to say the least. Cindy Sheehan came and spoke to the crowd. She said, “New Yorkers are my people.” She talked of her journey over the last month. She declared this war illegal, immoral, and way over its time to be over. Many other speakers came from other organizations to join in DECLARING IT NOW! Victor Toro spoke of his experience being rounded up by Homeland Security for simply not having enough proof that he wasn’t “illegal”. Cindy Sheehan, Ann Wright, Reverand BillyThe Granny Peace Brigade, Troops Out Now, Military Families Speak Out, Peace Action New York, and many other groups were there. We had performances from Bliss Blood, Lizzie West & Ba Ba Buffalo, Mitch Kessner’s band “The Deciders”, and Daniel Cioper (toured with Sheehan and sang his original song “Fascist Dictator”). In the midst of all the powerful speeches and wonderful performances we had Sabina, from the local steering committee, go up and present the “Declare It Now” call to the crowd. People gladly joined in with a call and response stlye. The crowd was chanting “Declare It Now!”
At 6:00, we led a snake dance through the park with the Himalayan Marching Band up front. The music andlively nature of the snake dance attracted much positive attention. We chanted, “Do you want this war to end? We can tell you how! Wear Orange! Declare It Now!” and later chanted “Do you want Mush to go? We can tell you how! Wear orange! Declare
It Now!” The energy was uplifting, postive, and determined!
We came back from the snake dance and had an open mic. People from various backgrounds came up tp speak about why they were Declaring It Now – including a young man who came up and admitted to voting for Bush in 2000! He said that he realized it was all wrong and knows now that Bush has got to go.
It was an inspiring and exciting event in which people seemed intrigued and engaged!
New York pictures at following link,
http://www.antiauthoritarian.net/NLN/photo-gallery/2007_union_square/
CHARLOTTE:
July 27 Orange Friday Launch report from Charlotte, NC
By David Dixon
A group of people kicked off Declare It Now Orange Fridays: Drive Out The Bush Regime! in Charlotte, NC at the busy intersection of 7th St & Pecan Ave.
Support from passersby was overwhelming. It was incredible, so many people smiling, waving, giving us a thumbs up, and car horns filled the air in response to the bright orange “Honk For Impeachment” signs. Several people walking by said beep, beep to us show us support. One man driving by was so happy to see us out there that after laying on his horn while passing by, he came back and brought us drinks & ice.
A lot of times, our street rallies only last about an hour, but due to the excitement from all the public support, two and half hours quickly passed by before we decided to wrap it up.
We were able to tell quite a few people in their cars stopped at the red light, in addition to the people on foot & bike, about wearing orange everyday & gathering every Friday. People showed a lot of enthusiasm for the idea.
Although we focused on encouraging people to take a visible, public stand for impeachment with us, we also collected signatures for an impeachment petition & contact info.
We expect to have hundreds of people in Charlotte standing with us soon on Fridays, Declaring It Now, Wearing Orange & determined to Drive Out The Bush Regime!
HOUSTON:
We freeway blogged. The people in the cars were lively. We also had
negative responses-quite a bit. I think that this was in regards to the hoopla surrounding Gonzales. I think this highlighted the need for mobile protest units. We met someone who goes to city council every week wearing orange and trying to get city council to pass a resolution to impeach Bush.
I think that if July 27th was to be a big launch then more preparation
should have been made. I did not get the sense that this was suppose to be a “to do” nationally. We were supposed to go and have flash protests but it did not happen for a number of reasons including the fact that traffic did not lessen like we thought. Plus side, we reached a lot of people.
People like orange. One guy told us that he never wore orange in his life and that today he went out and bought orange. People who endlessly
promoted writing to their congressperson wore all orange and expressed their frustration at the democrats. We have plans to sew bandanas together and make skirts and tops.
We needed more people and we need to figure out how to reach the drivers and encourage them to do something. We decided to make signs that say: Do Something. Wear Orange. Impeach.
I really like the idea of flash protests. Bringing Orange to as many people as you can and we did not get to do that like we planned, things come up, but I think that if you pick a list of a couple of places to go around town and get a group of people to go. Get out the bandanas, the call, stickers etc. I would suggest flash protests to people in big cities where everything is spread out or to anyone who wants to do it.
SF BAY AREA:
On Friday the sun was barely up when thousands and thousands of Bay Area freeway commuters looked up over the freeways (one in San Francisco and one in Berkeley) to see huge banners that launched our first Orange Friday. Over the stop-and-go traffic on 101 in San Francisco, WCW’s banners said “Impeach Bush and Cheney – Wear Orange – www.worldcantwait.org”. But in Berkeley the situation was even better [see photo] because we had that same banner and three WCW youth organizers waving down at the traffic — and we were joined by people who brought two other banners. One was a regular freeway blogger with his huge “impeach” banner. And four Code Pink women also showed up with their own which said “do something for peace today.” Everybody said we”ve got to do this every Friday and promised to be back next week.
Next, a very big and enthusiastic WCW group set up tables and big signs at the world famous San Francisco tourist area, Fisherman’s Wharf. We talked with crowds of people all afternoon – they came from all over the country and the world, and a lot of them will be returning home newly equipped with their orange bandanas, ribbons, and fliers. We got something like 1200 orange flyers passed out.***
People come to Fisherman’s Wharf for fun (and our “camp” was between the robot men, a steel drum band, and later some high octane breakdancers). World Can’t Wait caused a lot of smiles and laughter too, as people caught sight of our (life-size but portable) jail cell with “Bush” (a guy in a suit and a mask) behind bars under a big “International War Criminal” sign. But many many people had serious thoughts, anger, anguish, and hope right under the surface too. Conversations and debates broke out in many languages, and most of the time the crew staffing our tables were kept busy talking, signing people up, and getting “Declare It Now” materials into their hands. More of us were out in the crowd, and we too found a lot of people would see the headline on our orange flyers** and were glad to tell us what they thought***.
All together we had a crew of 27 (about 15 at any one time) and we estimate we were seen by a couple of thousand people, and talked to hundreds. Notably, a lot of people who get our emails and haven’t come out to do outreach before, showed up on time and enthusiastic to jump out into the action.
We ran across almost no international tourists who like the Bush regime. Travelers from other countries often were utterly delighted to hear the determined message of World Can’t Wait, and amazed to learn we”re spreading a nationwide movement. Over and over, people from Spain, Venezuela, the Ukraine, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, China, Canada, told us how important it is to make it known around the world that there are people here trying to take responsibility for driving out the Bush regime. For example, we met a Danish family who totally supported us, dropping money into our donation can “to help both countries.” Generally, most tourists in family groups .- i.e., ordinary middle-class people – were very open toward WCW, including great conversations with German, British and Latin American families. Several of us found our message seemed to attract conversations with French people, who would point out that their own new president (Sarkozy) is just like Bush, so we”ve both got to get presidents thrown out.
Among American tourists the sentiments were much more mixed and across the spectrum. The most interested people would cluster at our table and want to know more about how World Can’t Wait thinks the Bush-Cheney impeachment might happen, or what our plan is for getting the regime out and what would happen then. We sold about $400 worth of bandanas and ribbons, buttons and literature among all of them. And like so many of these conversations WCW always has when we”re reaching out to the broad public lately – you really cannot predict just by looking at people what they think about all this. Some way “conservative-looking” people are the most excited to meet WCW because they”re so angered and/or distraught at the direction of things, and sometimes cool-looking people just cannot be bothered to give you the time of day.
Of course many many people young and old who come from more conservative areas than the Bay Area were really happy to meet us and wanted ribbons and bandanas, and signed up for WCW emails. They told us about the political atmosphere where they live. Some have plenty of friends who like themselves want the war to end, but there isn’t much public activity to get involved with locally, so the sentiment stays relatively private. Other people said they don’t feel much hope for change because most people they know or who they see around them support Bush, or at least are going along with it. Grammar school kids wanted to take our literature for school, one wanted to personally thank us all “(“You people are doing the right thing!”). Older people who were Vietnam war protestors said they were inspired by seeing the World Can’t Wait youth who were handing out the orange, passionately talking on the bullhorn, organizing other youth right out of the crowd, and also periodically taking on loud debates on the spot with right-wingers.
A lot of people who we met – including many of those who”ve been following WCW for a while, but who came out to help organize yesterday for the first time – have been jolted by the latest performance from the Democrats. They are, like so many other people who have looked to the Democratic Party to take care of things, angry at Pelosi, the Democratic leadership, and many are now angry at John Conyers because they knew about last week’s meeting and civil disobedience (where several hundred demanded he back impeachment, and when he refused, 46 were arrested). Some said they cannot uunderstand why Conyers won’t do the right thing as he has done many times in the past. It isn’t as if the words of WSCW’s Call didn’t move these friends before and suddenly it all just clicked into place magically or 100%. But this emerging situation where a rising people’s demand for impeachment is undeniable – yet the Democratic leadership insists on denying it – is causing people to ask themselves in a new way “OK then, what do I do now?” The idea that the Democrats really are doing what they are doing — and if you want something different people will have to in very large numbers go outside the bounds of politics as usual and waiting for saviors from the Democrats, and force the question in a whole other way — this is a big and maybe daunting picture to look at and enter into, but it seems like many people are seeing this is what they need to do. Several of the people who came out yesterday have told us that it was our recent Town Hall program (Sunsara Taylor, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Dennis Bernstein, and the whole World Can’t Wait message) that convinced them of this.
Now, with an action as bold as this, at Fisherman’s Wharf not at a progressive event, we certainly weren’t “preaching to the choir!” We also met people who don’t agree with us at all. Some turned up their noses walking by, saying things like “I’m a Republican for Bush and proud of it!” Only a few were outright belligerent, mainly pro-war but sometimes also very openly bigoted and racist. There were the typical jerks who yelled intelligent things like “Bush Is Number One! Bush is My Man” while giving us two middle fingers, or screamed obscenities into our faces. The old chestnut “Get A Job!” seems to never go out of fashion either. But this didn’t phase us. Mainly we avoided getting drawn into fruitless arguments, although sometimes we would challenge hecklers to defend their position and then as nearby people would overhear these exchanges, others would be drawn forward to come talk to us, ask for flyers, etc.
And with crowds this big there were maybe 40% who we couldn’t tell what they really think. They would stop at the jail cell to listen to the speakers on the bullhorn, and they might smile, or snap a picture, but wouldn’t take a flyer or talk to us.
We also learned that even with the people who liked our message, it wasn’t that easy to sell the orange bandanas. Lots of people agreed in a heartbeat that the Bush regime is criminally dangerous – especially in terms of the Iraq war and occupation – but to want to take up the wearing of orange, they had to hear some good reasons why an orange groundswell would make any difference to the possibility of stopping that regime. There was much pro-impeachment opinion, but a lot of people also responding back that it won’t be possible, and others saying”it would have been good but now it’s too late” or tossing off the problem because “they”ll be gone soon anyway.” We had those kinds of conversations a lot.
So that’s a snapshot for now. Our chapter intends to (a) build strength off our experience so far and what we can learn from other WCW chapters, including how we want to strengthen and deepen our “presentation” and the ways we “pitch our message” and (b) there”ll be the following “Orange Fridays” where we want to expand this project to a LOT more people. We are planning to take this to different crossroads areas for the next two weeks, and all of the newest people who came yesterday have said they want to do this again so we may have the potential to set up in more than one place each Friday. (Although part of what attracted the quality of attention from the crowd was how big our crew was, we weren’t just an ordinary political leafleting scene – of which there are many many in the Bay Area – people could see right away that we had a BIG MESSAGE.)
LOS ANGELES:
A press conference was held at noon at the new National Impeachment Center (aka the Peace Center) to kick-off the Declare It Now – Wear Orange! campaign. It began when 3 orange-jumpsuited, black-hooded figures knelt before the podium while actor René Auberjonois (Boston Legal) delivered a stunning dramatic reading of the World Can’t Wait Call. A flurry of media cameras captured the images. Then Prof. Dennis Loo of the WCW National Steering Committee contextualized the campaign and brought out the vision of transforming the situation where far too many people who hate what’s going on are still not expressing or acting on that sentiment. Constitutional lawyer Stephen Rohde made clear why it’s not too late to push forward for impeachment and why it’s urgently needed. John Duran, Mayor of West Hollywood, who recently led the first city in southern California to pass a resolution for the impeachment of Bush & Cheney, spoke to why he’s wearing orange. Musician Wayne Kramer (formerly of the MC-5, co-founder of the White Panther Party) powerfully declared his feelings through his song, “Something’s Broken in the Promised Land”. Last, but not least, Peter Thottam, Executive Director of the National Impeachment Center, announced the next steps of the Center while sporting the orange ribbon that he’s been promoting. On Saturday, La Opinion printed a photo of the press conference on p. 3 showing the orange jumpsuits, poster and new banner; this is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the country.
At 6:00 p.m., a small group gathered for a Speak Out. Earlier that afternoon, WCW volunteers, including several dressed in orange jumpsuits and black hoods, took out orange flyers, ribbons and encouraged people along busy Santa Monica Blvd to take up orange. The responses from people who were eating at sidewalk cafes, waiting at bus stops, or working at the car wash, was 80% positive.
At the park many passersby, including two very well-dressed women who specifically came to buy War Criminal t-shirts for their husbands, stopped to talk, and took ribbons and orange flyers to pass out to friends. Cheryl, an actress who sported an orange top, belt, earrings, and WCW’s signature bandana started things going by reading the Call. She declared she was so outraged that it made her want to cry, which she did as she ran down the first Your Governments. She later added that in a fashion conscious city like LA, Orange had to become a fashion statement. Diane Lefer, an award winning writer, read from her newly-published collection of short stories, while dressed in an orange jumpsuit. Poet Gayle Brandeis, active in CODEPINK, dressed in pink with a multicolored orange sash read a favorite poem. Eva James, singer/songwriter led people in Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On and sang an original number.
People were invited to come up to the mike and declare themselves. We heard from Mary, a 72-year old grandmother who was outraged and wanted to stop this madness for the sake of her grandchildren. Michael, a member of Interfaith Communities United for Peace and Justice reminded us of importance of taking a stand such as that of the young people who dared to sit at the lunch counters in the 1960s Jim Crow south. Some people chose not to speak out but were present in orange; one woman had crocheted a bright orange scarf and had made more to give. Another West Hollywood senior said she would take it out to neighborhood block parties in the coming week and have people take it up from there.
A well-known actor stopped by with a friend and told us that in his circles many think we”re preaching to the choir; the challenge now is to have people whether prominent or ordinary folk, take up and Declare It Now! so this campaign moves beyond the choir and impacts society over all.
While the group was small, the significance of the moment may be best summed up by a new WCW activist, Seth, who wore an orange jumpsuit all day. He declared that he was outraged at how the constitution was being torn apart and shredded by a despicable and criminal group. It was good to be a part of this movement and while the group was small, it was the first time and our job is to wake people up so this grows.