By Debra Sweet
Last week I asked you to hold the dates of Monday & Tuesday October 5 & 6 and Friday March 19, 2010. I reported on the unity of plans achieved at the Pittsburgh conference to end the occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan. See the message here.
World Can’t Wait is not waiting for someone else to re-build the kind of resistance needed, in the face of horrors that must be stopped. We are eager to work with organizations and people who are not arguing to give President Obama "more time" but want to stick to anti-war principles now by visibly resisting the wars with the intention of stopping them.
We’ve put out a proposal for actions in early October, including Monday October 5 in Washington DC for actions at the White House & Congress, and a national day of resisting the recruiters in high schools Tuesday, October 6.
After networking and consulting with other organizations and leaders, the World Can’t Wait Steering Committee will meet on August 1 to finalize fall plans. We want your input. Please take the survey here by July 31. Or write me about the questions below…or what is on your mind.
1. Do you feel the controversy over the Obama administration not prosecuting anyone involved in torture has changed the political climate in this country? If so, how so? If not, why not?
2. What do you think of Obama’s expansion of the war in Afghanistan? Why? Do others you know agree or disagree? How much has that war been successfully re-branded as the "good war"?
3. In the past few months has your opinion of Obama changed? Favorably or unfavorably? Why? How about people you know?
4. After reading the October 5/6th proposal what do you think is possible for these days of resistance? What do you think is necessary? What is your vision of protest for those days?
Your input is needed! Please complete this survey by July 31 to feed into our discussions on August 1. To make all this possible, send along a donation, or become a sustainer 4RealChange.
Here is the message World Can’t Wait brought Thursday, when Barack Obama spoke in NYC:
The Illegitimate Occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan & the Torture State All Belong to Obama Now!
If you hated what was done in your name under Bush, you must act against crimes being done in your name during the Obama administration. We must visibly and loudly oppose and resist crimes of our government, no matter who is commanding the "war of terror" on the people of the Middle East.
The election of the first Black president is effectively re-branding preemptive and illegal wars of aggression to make us feel good about them. Massive anti-war sentiment and action is already being transformed into flag-waving patriotism, passivity and capitulation in the face of horrors.
Barack Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan begun by George Bush. It’s a war of aggression, a supreme war crime. Most of the people killed by the US military there are civilians, with the U.S. justifying collateral damage and collective punishment, secret prisons, denial of due process and torture.
It is wrong, unjust, illegitimate and immoral. And it won’t be otherwise, no matter who is president. There is no such thing as a "good" war on terror. Obama widened the war to Pakistan where air strikes by unmanned aircraft are a regular occurrence which killed hundreds of civilians in Pakistan since October.
While troops are being withdrawn from the urban areas of Iraq, 130,000 troops and 150,000 civilian contractors remain in bases near the cities, where they can strike in minutes. US combat troops are now classified in name as "advisers" bringing to mind the war crimes carried out on civilians by US "advisers" in Southeast Asia.
If you don’t think this is right, say so!
Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can’t Wait
There are no such things as an anti-war principle, well, nothing that an American can conceive anyways. Sorry to break your hearts but they simply do not exist within a vast civilization.
Everything done in humanity and by humans is just a gravitational bending around war, until it happens. War is the culminating act of two things, and two things only – consumption and optimism. Nothing more and nothing less.
Think about it, WCW has waged a personal war against the U.S. Presidency with the belief that you will be victorious, despite the fact you have 0 chance of being victorious. Your war was lost before you even started, and thankfully very little was shed on either side during this conflict. But you have been forced to conform. You pay your taxes, which is consitutionally all you are required to do.
But you keep trying. You keep failing, and will continue to fail. You will reach for a forlorn hope which does not exist.
WCW very much stands upon as many principles of war as a United States Marine does. A Marine does not care where he fights, but you do. A Marine does not care where his money comes from, but you do. A Marine does not care why he fights, but you do. All these principles are aspects of war which you partake in. Polar opposites are not mutually exclusive, and opposite sides fuel the same results – basic princple of quantum physics (i.e. matter/antimatter).
The only opposite is apathy. Not caring. A U.S. Marine cares less about war than any of you. The platform of WCW is really laughable. Quality entertainment.
Scott and J,
I have to strongly unite with you sentiments for another world, and to stop the Bush direction. This empire really in a nightmare, and we need a new world.
But in the context, I have to strongly say to you, this is an illusion! It\\\’s idealist! To quote from the original steering comittee proposal:
\\\”The whole anti-war movement should descend on Washington DC Monday, October 5 – yes, a week day\\\”
A week day? Why? When we did that November 2nd, 2005 and October 5th 2006 it was because we were aiming at shutting this fucking country down. It was a build up to what could have possibly become a general strike. It was based on the belief that that was possible. And despite Avakian\\\’s rewriting of that history, we were told that it was October 5th or we\\\’d wind up in fascism, which was really an illusion. There was a hyping beyond anything I\\\’ve experienced in my life. And we were declaring that we were going to have millions in a way that smacked of a gimmick and led to so many of my brothers and sisters just throwing up their arms and saying stopping the Bush regime was impossible.
Resistance the the crimes of the government is needed, that is true. But this way of organizing is based on hype and idealism. What basis is there to believe that we should be marching on Washington on a weekday as if we were ready to launch a general strike? What summation is that based on? Is that the point that this movement is at? If so, someone should make that argument. But from what I\\\’ve seen there were less than 200 of us in New York on the anniversary of the war.
We\\\’ve fight this empire, but this work is the wrong work.
I have to agree with Scott. And I will add that this is not a system that can be perfected through an electoral process. Also I think to call a protest a disaster is a bit skewed. Was it disappointing that millions didn’t come out? Yes. But to sum it up as a disaster is incorrect. We had to look at this and examine why millions did come out and we did. We then had to look at what the political climate was which was that there was a congressional election coming up and thats where people decided to put their hopes and most were not happy with what came out of that.Then a presidential election campaign came(earlier than ever and thats where people decided to put there hopes and a section of people is becoming ever disillusioned and angry. So if you see this then you have to take on the responsibility to struggle with people why the electoral process doesn’t work and why people have to join a movement independent of politics as usual to change things. You can’t just be part of something hoping to get what you want and look only at how it is going to serve you. You have to be a part of this movement on the basis of what the reality of situation is (really analyzing whats happening and why its happening)and whats needed in the face of that to change it and transform it. You have to act from what is going to serve the people of the world.
Also just clarify this protest is not another October 5th 2006. We are joining with others groups who have called for this protest to oppose and resist torture and we are joining with them with our message of End U.S. Occupations and Torture for Empire Now. But it seems like October 5th 2006 has been on your mind and not only that but what is really possible. So with that I would encourage you to read http://revcom.us/a/142/Avakian_Objective_Situation-en.html. It might be useful and help reframe things.
I think the only way things are going to change is if far-sighted people stand on the conviction that this empire is not in our interests and it is mass fucking murder for the people of the world. You are not going to be guaranteed victory, I hate to tell all the spoiled-ass whiners who are used to everything going their way–it\\\’s like they forget that there\\\’s a capitalist class that holds state power, and isn\\\’t going to just go quietly because of the \\\”rightness\\\” of our arguments. No, they will find ways to corral dissent into sanitized channels, and end up getting people to support the things they are trying to oppose. If you blame WCW for that, it\\\’s because you fundamentally misunderstand reality.
The fact is, if you follow a strategy that doesn\\\’t even address the problem, you\\\’re not going to get any closer to solving it. The Obama election was precisely that: people thought they could follow the path of least resistance, vote for a handsome smiling face, and the things they hated about Bush would all change, and then some. They were very wrong. WCW pointed out the whole time what Obama represented, but people were too taken by the illusions that were being jammed down their throats to break free. WCW then wasted no time after the election in re-convening, and has since served as one of VERY few voices of sanity in what used to be the anti-war movement.
The only way we\\\’re going to have a movement that is up to the challenge in front of us is if WE MAKE IT HAPPEN. YES it\\\’s a hard thing to do. But that\\\’s why they call it struggle.
October 5th again?! Last time was a disaster, and it led to many, many people burning out. It was an idealist illusion.
This time it isn\\\’t even that.
Oh I think it is totally right Debra and I’ve been with you since you started World Can’t Wait. I really hope you can experience some action this time. You were right to drive out the bush regime, even though that did not happen. And you ar surely right now about Obama.
A lot of people still hope Obama will be a good president, and for this reason are basically selling out the long suffering people of Afghanistan by being quiet about what he’s doing there- sending in the drones is monstrous, as is escalating in the first place.
It is still possible for Obama to be a good president. But this can only happen if he starts listening to the voice of the
people, and manages to separate himself from the big capital wall street clinton retreads and aipacers he is now giving way to much respect.
I love what you are doing. It is very hard for old guys like me to look at this spectacle, and remember how we were in the time of Vietnam.That’s why we need you and more people like you.
love and solidarity
paul