Click here to watch a video of the Jan. 31st rally in Washington DC.
In demonstrations in at least 68
cities across the country Tuesday night, thousands of people answered
President Bush’s State of the Union address with a sharp message: the
State of Union is a State of Emergency. In protests organized by the
World Can’t Wait(Drive Out the Bush Regime movement, people declared
that they are going to bring the demand: Bush Step Down to Washington
DC this coming Saturday, February 4.
Click below for the following:
– Reports From Protests Around the country, including:
[Washington DC] [Chicago] [Los Angeles] [New York City] [San Francisco]
– Statements at or about State of Emergency Protest (audio, video, and transcribed)
– GET ON THE BUS: Protest in Washington DC Saturday, Feb. 4
– Cindy Sheehan was arrested Tuesday
while trying to attend the state of the union address (with a ticket
she was given by a member of Congress). Here “crime”: wearing a T-shirt
that read “2245 Dead. How many more?”.
THE STATE OF THE UNION IS A STATE OF EMERGENCY!
George
W. Bush spent over the first half of his State of the Union address
angrily defending his lying and bloody war in Iraq. He not only
verbally attacked those who dissented from this war, he literally had
Cindy Sheehan illegally arrested and jailed for wearing an antiwar
tee-shirt. Bush brazenly defended his widespread and illegal wiretaps,
while demanding full renewal of the fascistic Patriot Act. He crowed
about getting Alito and Roberts onto the Supreme Court ( and vowed to
ram through more judges just like them. He gave the back of his hand to
the victims of his own actions during Hurricane Katrina. He proposed an
AIDS program for Black people that would be run through his own
hand-picked, government-funded churches and which would no doubt
feature the same ‘abstinence only,’ anti-condom approach that his
regime insists on for Africa ( an approach which has devastated the
people in countries like Uganda. He promised even more repression for
immigrants who are driven to this country to find work. He continued
his attack on gay marriage. The majority of people in this country, not
to mention around the world, detest this program, and there is Bush,
standing up there and vowing to jam it down people’s throats.
And what did the Democrats say? “We could do it better.”
Three more years of this is intolerable ( and extremely dangerous, for
people here and all over the world. Almost as much through his smirks
and body language as his rhetoric and proposals, Bush made clear his
intent to “remake society, very quickly, in a fascist way, and for
generations to come.” He is not stopping. The fact that the majority of
people “don’t approve” of Bush has not and will not alone turn back
this disastrous course. In fact, Bush used his speech to rally his
hard-core followers, some of whom think he was literally “chosen by
God” to run America. He intends to push forward his agenda and use his
power so long as he has it ( that is the message, spoken and unspoken,
of his speech. WE CANNOT RATIFY THIS BY OUR SILENCE.
But
there was and there IS active, organized opposition to this. Going into
the State of the Union, the Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime began to
spread. It was signed and defended by people from all walks of life (
from ministers to movie stars to the parents of
soldiers who died in Iraq; from writers to congresspeople to
scientists; from lawyers to activists to students to those who’ve quit
this regime in disgust; to thousands and thousands of “ordinary
people.” The “International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against
Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration” convened in New York in
January. People like Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn, Alice Walker, Michael
Ratner and others wrote essays and made statements and speeches
demanding that Bush step down. There were ads and radio
interviews, forums and concerts. And on the very night of the speech, thousands of people in at least 68 cities demonstrated, including thousands in some major cities, politically drowning out Bush with noise, glorious noise!
The people in the streets
last night represent the majority of society, here and around the
world. They represent the beginning core of a whole different dynamic
in society, standing in firm and committed opposition to what Bush
represents and taking responsibility to activate millions more in a
movement that won’t quit until he and his regime are driven from office.
Right now, urgently, that opposition must grow, by leaps and bounds. It
must take much more visible and powerful form, in Washington, this
Saturday. We call on everyone to volunteer in this new movement that is
so urgently struggling to be born, to step out and call on others to
GET ON THE BUS and GO TO D.C. this Saturday, February 4. We must, in DC
this Saturday, announce to the world and to this country that there IS
an opposition ( a movement that is determined and committed not to rest
until the Bush regime is driven out, their program repudiated, and the
entire direction of society is changed.
We can do no less.
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