Skip to content
The World Can't Wait
Menu
  • Home
  • Events
  • About
    • About World Can’t Wait
      • History of World Can’t Wait
  • Projects
    • War Criminals Watch
    • We Are Not Your Soldiers!
    • Fire John Yoo
    • Sudan’s Struggle
  • Media
    • Audio
      • Video
    • Public Svc. Announcements
    • Press & Press Releases
      • Press Releases
      • Press Coverage
    • Photos
  • Take Action
    • Materials in English
    • Materials in Spanish
    • What You Can Do Now
    • Donate
    • More Resources
      • News & Analysis
        • Alternet
        • Antiwar.com
        • Black Agenda Report
        • Common Dreams
        • CounterPunch
        • Dissident Voice
        • Media Matters
        • Next Left Notes
        • OpEd News
        • Project Censored
        • Raw Story
        • Revolution Newspaper
        • Truthdig
        • Truthout
      • Anti-War
        • Afghans for Peace
        • Courage to Resist
        • Drone Warfare Awareness
        • Iraq Vets Against the War
        • Peace of the Action
        • Veterans for Peace
        • Voices for Creative Non-Violence
        • War is a Crime
      • Anti-Torture/Detention
        • Andy Worthington
        • Close Guantanamo
        • Free Detainees
        • Int’l Justice Network
        • No More Guantánamos
        • Religious Campaign Against Torture
        • Witness Against Torture
      • Political Repression
        • Bill of Rights Defense Committee
        • Center for Constitutional Rights
        • Committee to Stop FBI Repression
        • Drop the Charges on Gregory!
        • National Lawyers Guild
        • No Separate Justice
        • Project Salam
        • Stop Mass Incarceration
      • Women’s Rights/Theocracy
        • Defend Science
        • Feministing
        • RH Reality Check
        • Stop Patriarchy
        • Talk 2 Action
        • Theocracy Watch
        • Walk for Choice
      • Environment
        • Bill McKibben
        • Climate Connections
        • Enviros Against War
        • Grist
        • Tar Sands Action
  • En Español
Menu

Opening 2016 with Anti-War Message

Posted on December 21, 2015
Share:
Debra Sweet | December 17, 2015

Thanks to all who have been writing & discussing the state of the US “war on terror” and all it has wrought. We’ll continue Thursday night in our conference call format, and I invite you to join.

One of the questions raised in these discussions was what should we — who oppose the projector of US military domination on the Mid East in particular, which has strengthened reactionary Islamist movements including the Islamic State — should do to help others not be pulled into cheering the crimes of our government, but be moved to oppose them?

Two writers I’ve met in my years directing World Can’t Wait wrote recently about how people living in this country are being influenced to think by being denied the truth of what the U.S. is doing.

In Where’s the Rule of Law in Our War on ISIS? L. Michael Hager looks at how key institutions in this society looked the other way, or justified crimes:

“TV anchors and newspaper reporters blithely echo the demands of political candidates that the U.S. “carpet bomb” Islamist targets and “take out suspected terrorists” anywhere in the world. They ignore international laws and conventions that put a strict limit on preemptive strikes and prohibit the endangering of civilians.”

More distressing is the general failure of our religious institutions, universities and bar associations to speak out against the current degrading of the rule of law. Why has there been no strong outcry from the nation’s premier law schools as they witness military strikes that violate the UN Charter and international conventions? Why do they ignore the lack of due process, indefinite detention and the inadequacies of jerrybuilt “military commissions?”

Why have our churches, synagogues and mosques not questioned human rights violations (some detailed in the recent Senate report summary) including the now regular use of drones for targeted killing and the reliance on torture and force-feeding?

John Hanrahan, an editor at ExposeFacts.org, asks how the opposition among the US public to drone strikes could be higher in Killer Drone News Blackout Continues As Mainstream Media Ignore 4 Whistleblowers:

“How well informed can U.S. citizens be on this subject when the major news media time and again ignore or under-report drone-strike stories — as we have discussed here and here in recent weeks? Stories — such as The Intercept’s October series based on a trove of classified materials provided by a national security whistleblower — that would likely raise serious questions about the drone program in many more Americans’ minds if they were actually given the information?”

Meanwhile, the Air Force proposes to vastly expand its weaponized drone program.

A key answer to this problem — as part of fighting to get the truth known — is actions on our part exposing those crimes. We can’t get jaded or lose our outrage. Here’s what we are doing in January:Jumpsuit march

Close Guantanamo NOW actions

Saturday January 9
Miami Protest to Shut Down Guantanamo Bay
U.S. Central Command 2:00 pm
Facebook Event

Monday January 11
Washington DC 12:00 pm The White House
Facebook Event

Los Angeles 12:00 pm Federal Building
Interfaith Communities United for Justice & Peace
Details

State of the Union Anti-War Protest

Tuesday January 12
12:00 pm East side of The Capitol, opposite the Supreme Court on 1st Street, Washington DC

KnowDrones.com, World Can’t Wait and the National Campaign for NonViolent Resistance will be in Washington making a visual protest against US drone war. 
Details

kNOwdrones.com suggests content for teach-ins on US drone war & the State of the Union:

Why We Fight – To Stop Drone War  During WW II, the US government commissioned a series of documentary films called “Why We Fight” to, as Wikipedia says, “persuade” the US public to support US involvement in that war.   Mauro Oliveira has created a powerful 25 – minute video that would be excellent for teach-ins, providing persuasive testimony by Americans on why the US should not fight drone war.

“Bugsplat” Powerpoint  Also with respect to planning teach-ins, you may want to review a Powerpoint presentation created by Mathias Quackenbush. While some of the data needs to be brought up to date, the Powerpoint discusses basic issues with respect to war for resources, drone war and the connection between current wars and climate change.

Strongly Suggested Reading: Flier

Break the Silence: No More War on Syria and Beyond

“In four years of war, more than 200,000 Syrians have been killed, and almost 12 million more have been driven from their homes (out of a total population of 22 million). This is on top of the toll of death of millions across Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Palestine and beyond, and the creation of millions more refugees.

Civilians throughout the Middle East are dying, or roam the continent for survival, only to be demonized by those governments who are responsible for this situation.”

Continue reading…

Download the statement above as a flier >

Why We Should NOT Root for Our Own Rulers… And Why It’s Better If They LOSE Their Wars by Larry Everest:

“A recent study found that since 2001, U.S. wars were responsible for a total of 1.3 million deaths in Afghanistan (220,000), Pakistan (80,000), and Iraq (one million) alone!

“All these U.S. actions have strengthened reactionary Islamist movements, which have in turn carried out horrific crimes against the people—also in order to enforce backward, oppressive social and economic relations. Why should anyone expect that further U.S. interventions and escalations will do anything other than this? Why should anyone who understands this want to see those moves succeed—or “win”?”

Journey to torture: Aamer tells of how he went from working for the US army to being savagely abused in an American base under the noses of British intelligence officers

The most interesting news on Guantanamo is the extensive interviews Shaker Aamer has done with BBC and the Daily Mail in the UK. What an interesting, sensitive human being, who seems to have retained both his sense of humor and principles. “Guantanamo is built on how to destroy a human being,” he said.


Make these plans into reality

Donate to help fund the production and transportation of powerful visual displays at protests in D.C. and other cities on the anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo and during the State of the Union.

The powers that be in this country have shifted the story away from the 1.3 million people killed by U.S. in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya to “the threat of terrorism in the US.”

Your gift will support bold and visible action that put people’s attention where it should be — on stopping the crimes of this government. These actions will expose the crimes of this government — their war on the world and indefinite detention.

Will 2016 begin with people siding with the crimes of this government or will it start with a re-awakened movement to put humanity and the planet first?

It’s up to us. It’s up to you. Make your end-of-year donation to make these plans real. 

Donate Now

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Because humanity & the planet come first...
store
Don’t stop… Don’t conciliate... Don’t accommodate... Don’t collaborate... and support World Can't Wait.

Sign up for email

Stop FBI Repression
Know your rights
If An Agent Knocks

About

World Can't Wait mobilizes people living in the United States to stand up and stop war on the world, repression and torture carried out by the US government. We take action, regardless of which political party holds power, to expose the crimes of our government, from war crimes to systematic mass incarceration, and to put humanity and the planet first.

Read More

Subscribe to E-Newsletter

Contact World Can't Wait

TOPICS

  • Afghanistan & Pakistan
  • Covert Drone War
  • Crimes are Crimes
  • Culture of Bigotry
  • Environment
  • G.I. Resistance
  • Haiti
  • Immigrants
  • Iran
  • Iraq
  • Libya
  • Mass Incarceration
  • Obama
  • Occupy
  • Palestine
  • Police State Repression
  • Real History Lessons
  • Reproductive Rights
  • Reports on Protest & Resistance
  • Theocracy
  • Torture
  • Wikileaks
  • Calls to Action
  • The Expanding War on the World

Projects

  • War Criminals Watch
  • We Are Not Your Soldiers
  • Get Involved

  • Donate
  • Download filters, stickers and posters
  • More ways to get involved
  • ©2025 The World Can't Wait | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme