A World
Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime ALERT
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 17, 2008
www.worldcantwait.org
Press contact: Linda Rigas (714) 235-8213
National contact: Debra
Sweet, World Can’t Wait (718) 809 3803
National Leaders Call for Massive AUG 24 ANTIWAR Demonstration
at Democratic Convention
Prominent
anti-war voices are calling for thousands to march in Denver
on August 24, on the eve of the August 25-28 Democratic National Convention, and make it the
largest antiwar march in Denver
history.
Pentagon
Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, noted historian Howard Zinn, actor Mark
Ruffalo, anti-war mother and Congressional candidate Cindy Sheehan, Vietnam war
veteran Ron Kovic, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Iraq war
veteran Camilo Mejia, former Congressperson and current Green Party candidate
Cynthia McKinney, Progressive Democrats of America head Tim Carpenter, and Ret.
Col. and former State Dept. official Ann
Wright are among the 1,000 plus who have signed the letter, which calls
for ending threats against Iran, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
expanded government spying.
“The anti-war
movement must set a standard of resistance, not accommodate what is
intolerable,” the letter states. “Only
the people-not the politicians-can force open debate over why the U.S. occupation
must end now.” Letter and signers online at: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/t/4666/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1313
This prominence of the letter’s signers, the Denver
appearance of the renowned antiwar band Rage Against the Machine, and the
growing number of groups involved in the protests signals rising anger and
concern over Obama’s positions and that an opposition is congealing in Denver
determined to end the war, torture and the Bush program no matter who is
running or eventually elected.
“Whether one plans on voting for Obama or not, we all must be in the
streets making our clear opposition to torture, bloody occupations and any new
war against Iran
vividly clear,” the letter continues.
“Only you –
not your government – can bring any of this to a halt,” states Debra Sweet,
Director of World Can’t Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime!, which is circulating
the letter and bringing protesters to Denver. “If there is not a strong showing from the
anti-war movement against this whole direction outside the convention, it will
signal those who make war and the victims of these wars around the world that
the people of this country will go along with continued occupation, with McCain
or Obama sending many more troops to Afghanistan, and with threats to Iran,”
says “The Bush regime promised a war to last generations. Are we against
this, or not?”
Vietnam
veteran and “Born on the Fourth of July” author Ron Kovic adds, “I strongly and
enthusiastically support your call to march at the Democratic National
Convention in Denver this August and encourage everyone to join in
these important and historic actions. The time has come to put
away our differences and join in building the most powerful and
united anti war movement possible. War is not the answer. Violence is not the
solution. A more peaceful world is possible!”
The Aug
23-29 week of protest in Denver will include anti-war and
pro-immigrant marches, counter-protests
against anti-abortion actions by the Christian right, film showings, strategy
sessions, a wide range of panel discussions, and much more.
Interviews on Denver
protests available with anti-war mother/Congressional candidate Cindy Sheehan;
Vietnam war veteran Ron Kovic; Debra Sweet; revolutionary activist and
journalist Sunsara Taylor; military mother Elaine Brower; and author Larry
Everest.
SPEAKER BIOS
Ron Kovic is an anti-war activist, veteran and
writer who was paralyzed in the Vietnam War.
He was a decorated U.S. Marine who served two tours of duty in the
Vietnam War, where he was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device for valor and
the Purple Heart. He is best known as
the author of the memoir Born on the Fourth of July, which was made into
an Academy Award-winning movie directed by Oliver Stone, with Tom Cruise
playing Kovic. Kovic received the Golden
Globe Award for Best Screenplay on January 20, 1990, exactly 22 years to the
day that he was shot and paralyzed in the Vietnam War. “I strongly and enthusiastically support your
call to march at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August and encourage everyone to
join in these important and historic actions,” Kovic states. “The time has come to put away our
differences and join in building the most powerful and united anti war movement
possible. War is not the answer. Violence is not the solution. A more peaceful
world is possible!”
Cindy Sheehan (http://www.cindyforcongress.org/)
is the internationally renowned “Peace Mom,” who emerged as an antiwar leader
following the April 4, 2004 death of her eldest child, Casey Austin, who was
serving in the Army in Iraq. She founded Gold Star Families for Peace in
January 2005, and her August 2005 encampment outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas
galvanized antiwar sentiment nationally and drew global attention. Since then Cindy has spoken in countries
around the world, met with foreign leaders, written three books, and been
nominated (in 2005) for the Nobel Peace Prize.
She is currently running as an independent for the Congressional seat
now held by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Debra Sweet is the Director of World Can’t
Wait, with a long history of challenging US presidents over wars of
aggression. In 1970, Richard Nixon
refused to speak to the press for six months after the US invasion of Cambodia. When he finally appeared
before the White House press corps, it was to make awards for service and
bravery to Young Americans, including Debra Sweet. “I was 19. When he handed me the award, I
told him that he was responsible for killing millions of people in southeast
Asia. He got angry, turned and left the room, making a front page story and
international news.” Debra leads a
movement which has helped make the Bush regime synonymous with the terms “war
crimes” and “crimes against humanity” while organizing national street
protests, ads in The New York Times and USA Today, and whose work
against US sponsored torture was called the “most valuable crusade” by The
Nation magazine in 2007. Her latest
article on the Denver protests is “Gitmo on the Platte”(http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4861&Itemid=265)
Sunsara Taylor is a member of the World Can’t Wait
Advisory Board and a writer for Revolution Newspaper (www.revcom.us). Her recent polemic against The Nation
magazine’s support for Obama (“On The Nation’s Open Letter to Obama: Wishful
Thinking and Deadly Self-Deception” http://revcom.us/a/139/Nation-en.html)
was widely posted on the web. She co-hosts WBAI’s “atheist” radio show, “Equal Time
for Free Thought,” and has appeared on CNN’s Showbiz Tonight, Air America
radio, and many other programs.
Following one of her appearances on The O”Reilly Factor, NewsHounds.us remarked “Taylor, as always, was tough and confident
telling [O”Reilly] all the truths that drive him crazy.” Sunsara helped organize the protests at the
2004 RNC in New York City, which was she was
featured in the The New York Times (“The Republicans: the Convention in New York – Night Life; At Midnight,
Protesters Turn Poets and Dreamers,” Julie Salamon, August 31, 2004).
Elaine Brower is the outspoken mother of a US
Marine who served in Afghanistan
and Iraq.
She is a leader of The World Can’t Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime and of
several groups of military families and veterans/active duty military. She has appeared on “Good Morning America,” “Fox
& Friends,” Ashaki TV, NOVA TV, BBC’s “Morning Show,” and “The Montel
Williams Show,” advocating for the removal of the Bush Regime and an immediate
end to the occupation of Iraq & Aghanistan. She has been featured in
numerous New York
area newspapers, as well as national radio talk shows, and writes at Op-Ed
News. Her son is shipping back to Iraq for another tour within weeks.
Larry Everest (www.larryeverest.com) is the author
of Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq
and the U.S. Global Agenda (Common
Courage 2004), which Dan Ellsberg calls “remarkable, horrifying, brilliantly
illuminating,” and of Behind the Poison Cloud: Union Carbide’s Bhopal Massacre. He has covered the Middle East and Central
Asia for over 25 years for Revolution newspaper and other publications,
reporting from Iran, Iraq, Palestine
and India. He was an organizer of the 2005-2006
Commission of Inquiry Into Crimes Against Humanity by the Bush Administration
and is a contributor to Impeach the President – the Case Against Bush and
Cheney from 7 Stories Press. He has
appeared on NPR, Democracy Now, Book TV, and many other radio, TV, and print
outlets across the country. His recent
KPFA radio debate with author Norman Solomon on Obama can be heard at: http://www.kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=27718. Larry’s recent articles can be found at www.revcom.us including his extensive coverage of
the danger of war on Iran,
which he”ll be speaking on at a forum in Denver
on Monday, August 25 at 7pm at the Phoenician Kabob Restaurant (on Colfax and Ivy).
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