On the eve of the Democratic Convention

“Sunday, on the eve of the Democratic Convention, thousands of people
will march against the United States’ illegitimate occupations in the
Middle East.  Permits for the march were blocked until a lawsuit
challenged the City of Denver and the Secret Service.  Even so, the
permit does not allow a march to the Pepsi Center where the convention
will start the next day.

We will be in the lead contingent of
the march.  Our demands are righteous.  But while we see editorials in
the US press decrying the suppression of protest in Beijing, the
preparations in Denver include barbed wire topped “protest zones” and
surveillance against people who take notes, use maps, ride bicycles or
take photos.  Is there “free speech” or is there a police state while
the Democrats meet?

Join us to make political dissent massive! 
As people with our histories of disrupting and challenging President
Nixon in public, we’re calling on other public figures, writers, DNC
delegates, and artists to help lead the march.”

  –Ron Kovic and Debra Sweet

You can come too.  After two days in Denver, I’ve met people in World Can’t Wait on this list, and of course, many Denver people organizing. Find the highlights of World Can’t Wait’s plans.

Abortion Without Apology: Pro-Choice Message Will Counter Anti-Abortion Protests During the Democratic Convention

Groups including Operation Rescue and the Christian Defense Coalition, both with a connection to extreme anti-abortion violence in the last 20 years, are calling for eight days of protests at abortion facilities and public locations where the Democratic Party is meeting.  Information on anti-abortion violence is available via the National Abortion Federation.

Anti-abortion groups managed to get an amendment to the Colorado constitution on the November ballot which would declare – in contradiction to all known science and logic – that legal “personhood” starts at conception.  The right of a woman to control her own body, including to use birth control would be gone.  We’ve been there before.  It was called the ‘Dark Ages’.

Pro-choice activists plan to bring their own messages to counter the large photos of fetuses, and what they describe as “disinformation” on abortion and birth control usually carried by anti-abortion protesters.  Emma Kaplan, a young World Can’t Wait organizer here from Seattle said:

“People who see where this is going – to the outlawing of birth control — need to raise our voices now. The anti-abortion lies must be countered directly, with substance, courage, and reality.  Hoping they will go away or conciliating with their anti-woman agenda is not working”.

The Democratic Party in its new platform has taken a noticable step back in supporting abortion rights, and the choice of Senator Robert Casey, who is strongly anti-abortion, to speak Tuesday night at the convention is seen as a sop to the right.  Abortion with apology has gotten us where we are today: in danger of losing not only abortion, but access to birth control.  George Bush — who we continue to point out has not stepped back from his program — is pushing new executive orders which, under the guise of protecting “individual conscience” sets the legal basis for widespread denial of birth control.

Speaking out Against a War on Iran, or Pakistan…and more troops to Afghanistan:

Evening of Conscience: Ron Kovic, Cindy Sheehan, Cynthia McKinney, Jeremy Scahill, Sunsara Taylor with Cleo Parker Robinson and Tom Chelston from Denver, united in speaking out – NO War on Iran!  At a restored theater in the historic African American community of Five Points, and because your donations last week paid for the event, we’ll be ending the anti-war march looking forward to what we must do, no matter who is the president.