On the 6th
anniversary of 9/11, College Republicans and College Democrats got together to
stage a “memorial” at Malcolm X Plaza at San Francisco State University. World Can’t Wait (worldcantwait.org) activists, youth organizers with Revolution
Newspaper (revcom.us), and others came together to take them on, to argue that
there are other victims of 9/11 than just the Americans that died that
day. We dressed in the orange jumpsuits
and black hoods of the torture victims of Guantanamo
and Abu Ghraib, and kneeled down on top of an American flag while they sang the
national anthem and pledged allegiance to the flag.
This created a
tremendous controversy and a large crowd gathered around to watch. Hundreds were drawn in by the commotion and
many entered into the debate. The Golden
Gate Xpress, SF State’s campus newspaper,
featured it on the front page with the headline, “A different stand on Sept.
11.” The article however called what we
did a “disruption” of a “nonpartisan memorial service.” Bill O”Reilly had representatives from the
SFSU College Republicans and College Democrats on his show, standing in unity
to denounce the “left wing demonstrators.”
What has become
increasingly clear to this “left wing demonstrator” in the aftermath of our
action, is that what we did was right, and a model for a new generation of
rebels who”ve had enough and don’t want to play by the rules. Below is a response from World Can’t Wait –
Drive Out the Bush Regime! to the Xpress
article.
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/breaking/008769.html
World Can’t Wait response to “9/11 Rally Turns Ugly”:
In the days after September 11th 2001, regular
New Yorkers took over Union Square
to send a bold message to the Bush Administration: “Our grief is not a cry for
war!” Instead of listening to the people
asking “Why do they hate us?” the Bush Regime unleashed a vicious juggernaut of
war on the world and repression at home. On the 6th anniversary of September
11th – with two countries already devastated, and Iran in their
sights – World Can’t Wait felt it was necessary to send a bold message to the
College Republi-Crats: we will not allow you to use the victims of 9/11 to
instill fear, blind patriotism, and unthinking obedience to Bush’s warmongering.
We wanted people to remember all of the victims of 9/11: from the post-9/11 round-ups and
deportations of thousands of innocent Muslim and Middle Eastern people, to the people of Falluja, which was wrapped in barbed wire,
its water and electricity cut, and then reduced to rubble. What about the victims of the Haditha
massacre, or Abu-Ghraib, or the Afghan wedding parties which have been bombed,
or the destruction of Southern Lebanon paid for and directed by the Bush
administration, or the bombing of Somalia? How about the 1 million Iraqis who have been
killed as a result of this war, or the 4 million that have become refugees? What about all of us, whose constitutional
rights have been ground up by the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act,
“Homeland Security,” wholesale and unlimited domestic
spying, and the rest of the fascist police state infrastructure? In short, 9/11 is not a “nonpartisan” day,
as your article suggests – and these are not “nonpartisan” times. Just because the Republican president and the
(Democratic majority) Congress are united in continuing this war, and just
because College Democrats and Republicans share the same stage to cry crocodile
tears and pledge allegiance, does not make it “nonpartisan.”
What happened this past Tuesday at Malcolm X Plaza was not “ugly.” It was actually a much needed break from the
flag-waving rituals repeated on every TV station across the country. Many students and faculty came up to us to
express their appreciation for making the question of 9/11 (and what it’s being
used for) two-sided. In fact, the older
African American man yelling at us and calling us “communists” in your photos actually
came up to us afterward, apologized, and went on stage to resign from the
Campus Republicans saying he’s sick of them using the “N” word in their
meetings. Others told us they were disgusted
by the display of jingoism 6 years into this endless war and said that college
should be a place where people question the official narrative and stand up for
what they feel is right. That is sorely
missing these days. 40 years after the
Third World Liberation Strike the College Republicans can claim to be oppressed
by left-wing campus tyranny, but it is people like them that have state
power. The College Republicans are
having anti-immigrant bake sales at the same time as ICE raids are ripping apart
immigrant families. This is not just a
question of campus politics and a few loudmouth assholes. They have their eyes set on the last
remaining bastions of critical thinking – schools like SF State, UC Berkeley,
and UC Santa Cruz – with the aim of transforming all of society. If they can create an atmosphere at SF State
where it’s OK to be openly racist and reactionary, and progressive faculty are
intimidated by ridiculous claims of “left wing academic dictatorship,” and
radical dissenting ideas are ruled beyond the pale and off the table” then they
have won, not only at SF State, but in their efforts to remake the social
fabric of this country – the so-called “culture wars.” In short, if we ignore them they will not go away.
David Horowitz – responsible for the firing of Professor
Ward Churchill at University
of Colorado Boulder,
famous for arguing that black people should be thankful for slavery, and a
close mentor of the SFSU College Republicans – is calling for a nationwide
right wing campus assault October 22-26 called “Islamo-Fascism Awareness
Week.” They plan to harass Muslim
Student Associations and Women’s Studies departments, and feature speakers like
former U.S.
senator – and Christian Fascist – Rick Santorum, famous for opposing evolution
and sleeping with his wife’s miscarried fetus.
What is needed at SF State, and campuses across the country, is a
political counter-offensive. If you are
tired of sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the magical pendulum to swing
back toward sanity, watching your rights be stripped away and your world burn”
and you”re wondering where is the outrage, where are the protesters” then hook
up with the World Can’t Wait club at SF State and let’s start the
resistance!
For more info about The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the
Bush Regime! check out www.worldcantwait.org or email us at wake_the_folk_up@yahoo.com
-Giovanni Jackson
World Can’t Wait youth/student organizer