Silence + Torture = Complicity

[Papercut]

SILENCE + TORTURE
= COMPLICITY

THURSDAY OCTOBER 5
no work! No School!
march with us!

"Can't the United States see that when we allow someone to be tortured by our agents, it is not only the victim and the perpetrator who are corrupted, not only the "intelligence" that is contaminated, but also everyone who looked away and said they did not know, everyone who consented tacitly to that outrage so they could sleep a little safer at night, all the citizens who did not march in the streets by the millions to demand the resignation of whoever suggested, even whispered, that torture is inevitable in our day and age, that we must embrace its darkness?�E
Ariel Dorfman, "Are We Really So Fearful?"

your government HAS NOW CODIFED torture. The new law does not prohibit the government from using "alternative interrogation techniques" that include sleep deprivation, extreme cold, personal degradation, waterboarding (simulated drowning), "temporary" disablement, and psychological disorientation. The new law grants George Bush the sole authority to decide what torture is. Abu Ghraib and the secret renditions were horrible. But to take the next step and write such practices into law is even worse �Equalitatively worse.

Your government has officially shredded constitutional promises of basic and fundamental rights to due process, taking a huge step towards replacing the rule of law with the arbitrary rule of men. The new law will give the president the right to hold people indefinitely without charging them, and without review from the courts, nullifying habeas corpus rights. Congress has now passed legislation that denies defendants the right to see evidence used against them, and allows the use of "evidence" gained through torture. It forbids anyone to invoke the Geneva Conventions in any civil case or habeas corpus proceedings undertaken against the U.S. government, and, according to some experts, it may also forbid this in criminal cases.

Your government, which already holds over 14,000 people overseas without charges, has dramatically expanded the scope of who it can detain to include people anywhere in the world, including within the U.S. People can now be declared an "unlawful enemy combatant" simply for providing what the president decides is "material,"including financial or indirect support for hostilities against the U.S.

Your government is rewriting the law on crimes against humanity to exclude itself, incurring the contempt and hatred of people all over the planet.

Few in Congress made anything but the most token show of opposition, as leading Democrats let Bush set the agenda, staying silent when it mattered, refusing to filibuster, then voting no only when the die was cast.

This unprecedented legalization of torture is part of a package coming from the Bush regime. That package includes an atrocious, nightmarish occupation of Iraq and now the ominous threat of war against Iran. It includes an assault on critical thinking and serious motion toward a theocracy. It includes the criminal response to Hurricane Katrina. It includes a systematic attack on women's reproductive rights, and the demonization of *** people and denial of their basic human rights. It includes the scapegoating of immigrants and severely repressive new legislation aimed at them.

And it't Wait, Drive Out the Bush Regime states: "The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come.�EWith this legalization of torture, who will now deny that? The stakes are clearly enormous.

If Not Now, When? If Not Us, Who?

THIS MUST HALT! This entire package must be repudiated, and the whole direction of this country must be reversed.

There is a way to act against this onslaught, effectively. There is a vitally important step to take now to begin driving out this regime and reversing this nightmare direction:

Join those demonstrating this Thursday, October 5, in over 100 cities across the U.S., raising the demand to DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME.

Think of the message that people taking off work and school and marching this Thursday, would send to the tens of millions within the U.S. who are already deeply distressed and even outraged over the direction that the Bush regime is dragging the country and the world, but who feel paralyzed. And think of the message it would send to the hundreds of millions around the world, who think that Bush acts in our name. Demonstrations like these could galvanize the political atmosphere so that the next day in America, and for days and weeks to come, the conversation and the sharp debate over the water coolers, at the lunch wagons, on the campuses and street corners will revolve around whether and how to stop this disastrous course, and how to remove the regime that is perpetrating it. The mobilization throughout society would reverberate up to the very top, and back down again. The political dynamic of fascist-type onslaught from forces represented by Bush �Eand passivity from everyone else �Ewould begin to be seriously reversed. A real basis for hope could fight its way into existence, drawing forward others. Come out this Thursday. And do more, now, to help make it happen. Donate. Volunteer. Organize your friends.

"The point is this: history is full of examples where people who had right on their side fought against tremendous odds and were victorious. And it also full of examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they ever imagined. WHICH ONE WE GET IS UP TO US." From the call "The World Can't Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!"

Join in mass protests in over 150 cities & towns

[Derillion]

Originally posted by Papercut
"The point is this: history is full of examples where people who had right on their side fought against tremendous odds and were victorious. And it also full of examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they ever imagined.

And also full of protestors who took plenty of Tank ammo to the face.

There are plenty that got swept away from inaction.

But I'm ignorant to the ones that marched out in the street and achieved huge poilitical change.

[Papercut]

- The Rodney King riots: Two of the officers were finally found guilty.

- The January 15 protests against going to war with Iraq: the Bush regime was forced to cook up that bogus WMD line which totally backfired on them when it became obvious to the world that Iraq doesn't have WMD's (duh).

- The 1969 Detroit riots, unarguably the biggest, baddest of the '60's race riots: Suddenly, car manufacturers mysteriously "discovered" they had thousands of jobs for black people

- Civil rights for Black people.

- Vietnam

- Nixon

Here's WCW's answer to the protest question - it comes up quite a bit not surprisingly:

Q:  Does protest make any difference?

A:  It does -- and it doesn't.  Let's start with how it doesn't. Protest doesn't make a damn bit of difference if it's "protest as usual".  Protest that trims its sails to the political terms set by electing Democrats, or that tries to be respectable, or that doesn't convey that THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE AND MUST BE BROUGHT TO A HALT. No, protest like that doesn't really amount to much.  Never has and never will.

We're talking about tens of thousands going into the streets with a clear standard -- BRING THIS TO A HALT -- and a spirited call to others to join this.  Our recent statement envisions "a great wave of people unleashed from the huge reservoir of people who are deeply distressed over the direction in which the Bush regime is dragging the country and the world, moving together on the same occasion, making, through their firm stand and their massive numbers, a powerful political statement that could not be ignored: refusing that day to work, or walking out from work, taking off from school or walking out of school -- joining together, rallying and marching, drawing forward many more with them, and in many and varied forms of creative and meaningful political protest throughout the day, letting it be known that they are determined to bring this whole disastrous course to a halt by driving out the Bush Regime through the mobilization of massive political opposition."

That kind of protest could and would make a difference.  It would begin to galvanize into an active political and moral force the millions who hate the way things are going but are now paralyzed. The possibility of turning things around and onto a much more favorable direction would take on a whole new dimension of reality. This would send a different message to the whole world.

Face it: no great change has ever been won without protest, without people acting "from the bottom up" to set a new agenda, without struggle, without upheaval.  No. The protests in 2002 and 2003 didn't succeed in preventing the Iraq war, but they let the whole world know that Bush was acting in the face of huge public opposition. They put him on the moral defensive. And they helped to set terms for the future - as the ugliness of the war got revealed and people increasingly have come to oppose it.  The problem is not that our actions have had no impact; it's that we have not acted up enough.  A new season of upsurge must start now, one that sets out to reverse the whole direction in which this society is now hurtling, and to dramatically change the course of history.

The stakes now are too high to keep going through the motions of protest as usual -- politics that say: the people in government exercise power and make the corresponding decisions and our only role is to protest certain things they do. Instead, we need to act on the truth that when people take massive and independent political action, they can change things very profoundly. People in the 60's did not ask the liberal Democrats then in office for permission to fight for civil rights and Black liberation or to protest the war. They just did it, mobilizing millions and effectively saying in the immortal words of Bob Dylan that "your sons and daughters are beyond your command." The whole ethos of a generation and a country changed.

Look, what it might take (and probably will take - lunatics who steal elections and believe they have god on their side won't go down without a fight) will be for people to bring society to a grinding halt until all this sh*t - all this torture sh*t, all this attack on science and critical thought sh*t, all this all this theocracy sh*t, all this kangaroo court sh*t, all this sh*t - is stopped. We have to say that this is unacceptable.

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, you can't take part. And you've got to put your body upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop.[/color]

-- Mario Savio (leader of the Free Speech Movement)

[Derillion]

Originally posted by Papercut
- The Rodney King riots: Two of the officers were finally found guilty.

- The January 15 protests against going to war with Iraq: the Bush regime was forced to cook up that bogus WMD line which totally backfired on them when it became obvious to the world that Iraq doesn't have WMD's (duh).

- The 1969 Detroit riots, unarguably the biggest, baddest of the '60's race riots: Suddenly, car manufacturers mysteriously "discovered" they had thousands of jobs for black people

- Civil rights for Black people.

- Vietnam

- Nixon

I don't see the direct correlation between most of those.

Rodney King, that was a riot not a protest.
Jan 15th. ... um we're at war, didn't work.
1969, again a riot not a protest.
Civil Right, I guess this is true, but thats mostly because my knowledge is limited to high school history.
Vietnam and Nixon, There were many many larger things that played much bigger roles than the protests.

[Papercut]

What WCW is calling for is a "historical mass resistance." Riots as well as protests expressions of mass resistance - the Rodney King and Detroit riots were political expressions of mass outrage. Now, for all you FBI agents out there neither I nor WCW are calling for a riot so let's get this very clear but these are perfect examples of how change only came when the masses of people rose up - they said this is unacceptable and we're not going to take it any more. That's why they worked, and that's why only another mass resistance will work.

As far as the January 15th protests go well, they did and they didn't. A whole lotta people went into the Jan 15 protests under the delusion that this is a democracy and if they just expressed the will of the people George would get the hint and do what he was "supposed to do." What people don't get is that Geoge actually did do what he was supposed to do... he carried out the will of the people who actually got him, and every other president, into office. Because what we have here in the U.S.  isn't a democracy... at least not a democracy the way most people think it is.

In school they always talk about how democracy originated in Greece - well, look at ancient Greece: it was a society founded on slavery in which the majority of the population, being slaves, had no vote. The small handful of slave-owners decided amongst themsleves. In the same way, although much more hidden than in Greece, we have a system of democracy for the handful of ruling elite who actually decide who's present and the course of the country itself... Although this is being undermined by the insane regime that's got the "bit between it's teeth" and is running wild-eyed, with sweat flying off it's sides, and dragging the rest of the ruling elite headlong into fascism with it.

So yes, if you thought that protesting was going to influce elected officials and stop the war then of course you were going to be sadly disappointed. BUT:

1) It did  have enormous, far reaching effect that millions throughout the world, in particular hundreds of thousands here in the "homeland," refused to meekly go along with the program. First off, it stripped him of his "mandate" - and not only did he have to come up with the bogus WMD tall-tale that backfired and further delegitimized his position but the world saw that the American people did not support this illegitimate war.

This makes me think of what one woman said Monday night at a WCW event I went to: This woman had just returned from India where people were saying that everything Bush was doing was the fault of the citizens of this country - they'd ask why he was still president if so many people here were so opposed to what he was doing. They can't see the buttons and t-shirts, the anti-Bush bumper stickers, or the angry letters written to congresspeople. They also don't see how those very congresspeople and others do their utmost to divert people into ineffectual voting for the "lesser of two evils", or even undermine the people's attempts to stop this.

Mass actions of this kind give heart to people fighting this in other countries, and forces people here who are undecided, and even those who've swallowed the party line, to question. It puts Bush and everyone who supports his stinking regime on the defensive.

And it gives those who hate what's happenening but are afraid courage to step forward. Daniel Ellsberg, a WCW call signatory, has written about how the massive protests all over the country gave him the courage to leak the Pentagon Papers that lead to the Watergate scandal. These kinds of actions have enormous, widespread influence, especially in volatile political situations like we're in today. Without it, people are going to go along with the program, gritting their teeth and hating every single step, but they're going to go along with it. Like the Richard Pryor quote, people are going to say "I don't think you goin' to make it!" I was talking with a woman today who hates what's happenening but is afraid to do anything. When I asked her what would get her to do something she said a huge, massive movement. The ruling elite knows about everything I've just written and will do, and has done, everything it can to prevent, divert and bury this kind of mass movement.

2) On the other hand, precisely because it was aimed at influencing elected officials and not not actually at stopping the machinery, the way WCW is saying, January 15, despite being a good and beautiful thing, was pretty much doomed to fail.

Which is why it mustn't stop at tomorrow's protest. We have to keep on going, like Mario Savio said we've got to put our bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and MAKE IT STOP!

[Derillion]

I don't know. I wish you the best. To me the best option is to wait out the next 3 years and see what happens. I know you have your whole, but the democrats aren't good either-thing you believe also and I'm not saying they are, or even the next republican. But I think that trust has to come back sometime, and atleast given a chance. It's like blaming your ex-gf for cheating but taking it out on your current one. I'm not ready to believe that the world is doomed and anyone that could ever come in power, is inherently evil.

Also, I have enough things in my life that I enjoy and enjoy spending time on. Everyone in life is just trying get by with the most amount of smiles as possible. There will always be goods and evils, and they'll always be the people fighting against them.

I think fighting for either of the sides to be fighting a never ending battle. The battle just cycles on again with new bad guys and good guys. Someones always got to fill the role of the bad guy, and it's our turn(if you choose to view it that way). But we will cycle back out again, whether by force or natural human nature.

I prefer to kick back with my robe and wizard hat, and staff of fun + 7.

[Papercut]

I'm curious, what will it take for you to get involved? To realize that your freedoms are also probably going to be taken away?

Also yeah, there is the remote possibility that, like many "average" Germans who were basically able to go about their lives without being pushed into a ghetto, or thrown into a concentration camp, you'll be able to hunker down and live your life with the minimal freedoms they allow you as a sort of sop for your complicity... but what are you being complicit to?

And the logical extension of that point is, if you actually are complicit - that is, if, knowing full well that your country is putting people in concentration camps, torturing and murdering then, and you do nothing in order to be able to continue living your relatively inconvenience-free life, then how are the Muslim radicals wrong when they blame you? You want to sit back and do nothing while all these horrors are being done, by your government, and in your name and then you want to know why people are bombing you?

The entire world despised and reviled the Germans for what they allowed the Nazi's to do to the Jews... Is this the role you want to play in history?

[Derillion]

Originally posted by Papercut
I'm curious, what will it take for you to get involved? To realize that your freedoms are also probably going to be taken away?

There really isn't anything that could make me get involved. If I were to ever join a "cause" I would have to be in the mood, and have my own personal reason. And to be honest with you I don't think there is a freedom that you could take away that I value.

Originally posted by Papercut

... but what are you being complicit to?

I don't associate myself with anyone or anything. You may consider it complicity. But you can twist anyone in any situation to appearing to be complicit. I owe no allegiance to anyone or anything, and if I don't want to be here I'll leave if I'm able.

Originally posted by Papercut


And the logical extension of that point is, if you actually are complicit - that is, if, knowing full well that your country

lol my country, please.

Originally posted by Papercut

is putting people in concentration camps, torturing and murdering then, and you do nothing in order to be able to continue living your relatively inconvenience-free life, then how are the Muslim radicals wrong when they blame you? You want to sit back and do nothing while all these horrors are being done, by your government, and in your name and then you want to know why people are bombing you?

I don't wonder anything. I know exactly why the Muslim government and American government do what they do. And I find your use of "your" to be rude. That's as bad as looking at some race and talking about "their" people. Nothing is "mine" except for what I choose. If anyone in the world is going to blame me for a governments issues, then they are no one I want acceptance from anyway.

As for your "horrors" there are "horrors" everywhere, but are you only going to only fight the "horrors" that are being done in this country? What about the "horrors" everywhere else? Better not plan on you or any of your decendants to ever get a chance to breathe because there will always be "horrors" to stop. If you stop fighting "horrors" after this whole thing is in the past then you're a hypocrite. We're all living things one persons "horror" is not more important than anothers.

I choose to not spend my life in a never ending battle of fighting some evil that keeps taking another form.

Originally posted by Papercut

The entire world despised and reviled the Germans for what they allowed the Nazi's to do to the Jews... Is this the role you want to play in history?

If the entire world chooses to despise me, then so be it. But I'll be honest with you, as a human being I don't/won't/wouldn't blame the German people for doing anything their government does. I blame individuals, not make sweeping generalizations about huge groups of people. As for history, who cares, once I die it becomes irrelevant. And for some reason I think my name will somehow be omitted from the next edition of high school text books.

But I am glad that you have found something that means something to you. How did it go for you guys anyway?

[Papercut]

Yeah, I have to apologize about that - that I, of all people, would use the pronoun "your" with a government... No, the government is not "us" there is no "us" with the jackals that rule the country, that's true.

However, there is an "us" in a different sense. The connections aren't clear in our society which promotes this incredibly selfish and flat-out wrong (and by wrong I mean factually incorrect, not morally wrong, although it certainly is morally wrong as well.)

You see a child lying in the street bleeding to death after having been run over by a car. You're the only one around - there's no one else who can take the responsibility. If you refuse to call an ambulance to get the child to a hospital then are you responsible for her subsequent death?

As a person living in the belly of the beast, so to speak, you have unmatched access and ability to stymie them, to get in their way. And by not taking any advantage of your priviledged position, then, I'm sorry, but you are responsible.

Why do you think you even have the luxury of being able to say "it doesn't affect me"? This country is a parasite on the rest of the world*, sucking it dry of resources and it's people of their lives. The only reason you and I are able to have the standard of living we do and even be able to choose if we get involved or not is the direct result of this parasitism - that bit of wealth, the sop of blood, that they throw to us to shut us up.

What's going on in Iraq is an integral part of maintaining the parasitic relationship the U.S. has with the rest of the world* - and this is why the Democrats, who are also representatives of the ruling elite, aren't doing anything to stop the war. Because, for the ruling elite, it's necessary to secure the Middle East, both strategically and in order to secure a reliable source of energy to run the machinery, and to also control that energy source, thereby gaining the upper hand vis-a-vis rival "first world" countries.

So, your toys and comfortable lifestyle and it's continuation are only made possible by the U.S.'s continuing parasitism in the world. And this parasitsm is only made possible by the U.S. continuing to rape, pillage and terrorize the countries it's feeding off of.

Honestly, if the only thing that's important to you is that you're able to continue being comfortable then you actually should help Bush. And since you're helping them, they'll doubtless continue giving you the blood bribes to keep you fat and content.

But think of the kind of world they'll be buying with that blood sop:

- A world where g.ay people are treated like the new Jews (the bible calls for their death.)

- A world where large numbers of black people are also murdered (the biblical punishment for minor crimes is usually having parts of your body chopped off. Major ones - and this includes children talking back to their elders - are punished by death. A huge percentage of black and brown people are in jail. You figure it out.)

- As a corollary to that, pornography, devil worship, etc. are all considered "stains on a nation" that incur the wrath of god. Say goodbye to all your video-games except for the Left Behind one. That is, if you're still around to play it - the punishment for such a "serious" crime is, of course, death.

- A world where women are subject to their husbands in the same way that slaves were subject to their masters (the bible places women in the same category as slaves and animals, in other words, property.)

- The possible enslavement of non-Christians (the extremists - the Dominionists and Reconstructinists - all say that it's ok to enslave non-Christians, even those who aren't of "right kind," their kind, of Christian. This might not happen, but then again, the extremists amongst the Nazi's had called for the purging of the Jews who'd brought the taint on the German people so it's well within the realm of possibility. Plus, what do you think all those liberals and Muslims are going to be doing in the detention camps Halliburton was given $400 million to build?)

But, you're going to be living your comfortable life so don't worry your pretty little head about it.



Edit: I have to say that I respect your honesty - I know quite a few people who won't actually come out and say that they just can't be bothered but that's what they basically think. I can't say I respect your position but I respect your honesty.



*For the sake of precision I'm going to qualify - the U.S. doesn't feed off every single country in the world. First off, there are rival imperialist countries (the "first world" countries and countries like China which are rising to become future "first world" countriesd.) Of course the U.S. doesn't feed off them. Then there are the countries that these rival countries feed off - the U.S. doesn't generally interefere with those... unless it's seeking to steal them from them.

[Derillion]

I'm not trying to convince you to change you from your path, we both know that isn't possible. Nor am I trying to justify my thoughts, as long as I am satisfied that's all that matters. That being said, in case you're interested here are some responses to your accusations.

You may consider yourself part of some bigger "us." I hold no such feelings. No matter what country I live in, no matter what the surroundings or the governmental structure I would live my life. And I don't know what fact system you are using, but because you consider people who live in the same locale an "us" does not make it fact. Sure it may be selfish of me, but I've never claimed to be anything else.

Seeing a bleeding child in the street is a completely different thing from seeing something on TV. Maybe it isn't to you, but it is to me. When I help that little girl it is direct help, but when I write letters or walk out of work or walk through the streets and protest, that is indirect help. I do not believe indirect help gets anything done. Obviously you do which is fine.

Like I've said if you want to hold me responsible for inaction, then so be it. I can't change that. For me it is a matter of priorities. Protecting people I could care less about doesn't rank up there. It's commendable that you feel there are so many people worth fighting for says a lot about you. I hold no such feelings.

I've never said that it doesn't affect me. I said I don't care, there is a big difference. It's not that my current lifestyle allows me this style of thought. No matter where I was I wouldn't care. You believe the US is the parasite. If anything Humans in general are a parasite. But I'm not going to  start raging against the entire race. I care nothing for the things I own or the things I have, I am who I am because of me. And that exists independent of living conditions, or even immenent death.

The political agendas of all countries involved are transparent. Their Game of Thrones maybe something that you find worth getting involved in, but I don't. My life will still either continue or end. It may be a comfortable or less than comfortable life. But either is okay with me.

As for "helping" Bush, to you anything short of marching on them is helping them. So if that's the way you choose to see it then that is fine.

But, you're going to be living your comfortable life so don't worry your pretty little head about it.

Ouch. You always have to add the one scathing comment in.

[Papercut]

Sorry about that :p

(Or maybe not too sorry about that :p )



I don't actually think you're the kind of person who'd let a child bleed to death in the street, but I'm sorry but I do think what you're doing is analagous to it, which is why I've been so harsh.

In your post you didn’t actually address the points I'd made other than to state it’s your personal belief. Sorry but that doesn’t cut the mustard. It may be my personal belief the moon is made of cheese, that doesn’t make it so. You don’t get to choose the way reality is, it just is. However, this is separate from the issue of whether or not “indirect action� like protests do anything. Since this seems to be a secondary point of disagreement I’ll go into this later in the post.

The main impression I get from your posts is that you think you're separate from what the U.S. is doing but this couldn't be further from the truth. Where does the money you get every other week (or whenever you get paid) come from? And who do they get it from? And who do they get it from? If you trace the money back far enough you'll find most of it comes from exploiting people in the third world, especially in the aftermath of Clintonian neoliberalism which has sent not only factories but even many white collar jobs (even banking analysis!) to third world labor markets which can be even better exploited, in large part thanks to U.S. dominated institutions like NAFTA and the IMF/World Bank.

Globalisation, neoliberalism, etc. are the turbo-capitalist version of what oppressor people’s have done since nations first came on the scene; they dominate other nations and rob them of their resources and enslave them (nowadays through things like NAFTA and the IMF), forcing them into positions where people have to work 14 hour days, 7 days a week so we can have our stuff… and, more importantly, they, the ruling elite, can ac***ulate even more wealth and power to do it all even more. Iraq is a perfect example: Before the fires had even been put out (literally!) Bremer “fired 500,000 state workers, most of them soldiers, but also doctors, nurses, teachers, publishers, and printers. Next, he flung open the country's borders to absolutely unrestricted imports: no tariffs, no duties, no inspections, no taxes. Iraq, Bremer declared two weeks after he arrived, was “open for business.�

“…Before the invasion, Iraq's non-oil-related economy had been dominated by 200 state-owned companies, which produced everything from cement to paper to washing machines. In June, Bremer flew to an economic summit in Jordan and announced that these firms would be privatized immediately….

“…to entice foreign investors to come to Iraq, he enacted a radical set of laws unprecedented in their generosity to multinational corporations... There was Order 39, which allowed foreign companies to own 100 percent of Iraqi assets outside of the natural-resource sector. Even better, investors could take 100 percent of the profits they made in Iraq out of the country; they would not be required to reinvest and they would not be taxed... All that remained of Saddam Hussein's economic policies was a law restricting trade unions and collective bargaining.�

(http://www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html)

And this kind of sh*t goes on all over the world, every single day. And we here benefit from it, at least as long as the ruling elite can afford to buy us off with a few crumbs… and for as long as they think they need to.

And that’s why you can even have the luxury of making the kinds of choices you can make – should I get this game or should I get that DVD? Should I spend the money to go to college when it might not pay off that much… and if so, which school should I go to? But, as a direct result of the U.S. and other “first world� countries predations, people in other countries get to make the choice or whether to sell their 10 year old daughters in to prostitution or have them work 14 hour days, 7 days a week, just so the family doesn’t starve to death.

We are living in the belly of the beast, giving us unmatched access and ability to disrupt and even stop them if we disrupt them enough which is precisely what happened during Vietnam. It’s true that there were many complicated issues involved but there’s no f***ing way the U.S. would have let some pissant little third world country get the better of them and make them look weak (mafia logic) unless they absolutely had to. And the main reason they had to was because a) the army was no longer reliable (soldiers were fragging, or killing, their officers when ordered to go out… that is, when they didn’t refuse and join the anti-war movement) and b) because the “homebase� was was totally chaotic, due to all the protests rocking the country – you had soldiers throwing medals back at the White House, students taking over campuses, riots between protestors and police, the Kent State and Jackson State massacres of peaceful student protestors – people living at that time really felt like their country was being torn apart! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_the_Vietnam_War) Certainly the ruling elite were not only not going to be able to go make war on other countries, something which takes a lot of money and national unity to carry off… it wasn’t even going to be able to continue running the country with the way things were! So they pulled out of Vietnam and spent the next 10 years giving concession after concession to people while stealthily building for what’s become the Neo-Conservative/Christian Fascist movement as the foundation of making their current bid for world hegemony.



But most importantly, do you want to live in the world described below?

- A world where g.ay people are treated like the new Jews (the bible calls for their death.)

- A world where large numbers of black people are also murdered (the biblical punishment for minor crimes is usually having parts of your body chopped off. Major ones - and this includes children talking back to their elders - are punished by death. A huge percentage of black and brown people are in jail. You figure it out.)

- As a corollary to that, pornography, devil worship, etc. are all considered "stains on a nation" that incur the wrath of god. Say goodbye to all your video-games except for the Left Behind one. That is, if you're still around to play it - the punishment for such a "serious" crime is, of course, death.

- A world where women are subject to their husbands in the same way that slaves were subject to their masters (the bible places women in the same category as slaves and animals, in other words, property.)

- The possible enslavement of non-Christians (the extremists - the Dominionists and Reconstructinists - all say that it's ok to enslave non-Christians, even those who aren't of "right kind," their kind, of Christian. This might not happen, but then again, the extremists amongst the Nazi's had called for the purging of the Jews who'd brought the taint on the German people so it's well within the realm of possibility. Plus, what do you think all those liberals and Muslims are going to be doing in the detention camps Halliburton was given $400 million to build?)

[Papercut]

Message from the World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime Steering Committee on Oct. 5  (read at Oct. 5 rallies around the country)

A day we’ve all been waiting for is happening.  We are standing up together, all over the country, determined to carry forward a great movement to drive out the Bush Regime.  This movement is made up of many people of many different viewpoints and backgrounds---all uniting to accomplish something that must be done. This audacious and historic venture is born of urgent necessity. “The Bush Regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come. We must act now; the future is in the balance.â€�

In just the past year we have seen:

Government spying--bolted into law;
Alito & Roberts - installed in the Supreme Court;
The Patriot Act passed - again;
Theocratic anti-abortion and anti-*** laws - spreading intolerance;
War in Iraq--more murderous;
War on Lebanon - approved and fueled;
War on Iran - in preparation;
Cuba, Venezuela and other countries in their sights;
Torture - legalized.

The act passed last week stripped the fundamental right of habeas corpus for 14,000 detainees in secret prisons around the world and to anyone anywhere that the president accuses of being an enemy combatant - all without any real opposition in the halls of power.

This is how fascism happens here, with an orderly transfer of power to the executive branch, to a president and administration claiming war time powers - in a war promised to last generations; to a president who lied about Iraq and is now laying plans for a catastrophic war with Iran; to a president who believes he is on a mission from God.

This is indeed a defining moment. It is not too late to stop this fascist trajectory.  But if it goes unopposed by the people of this country, it could be too late.  The darkness of this regime descending on the country and the world will succeed in silencing dissent, critical thought, science, the ideals of equality and even the way people think of basic human decency.

Millions of people deeply disturbed by this have been looking for a vehicle to express their outrage. Today in more than 200 cities – 90 of them in 26 states that went for Bush in 2004-- people are finding their courage in this vehicle. We are punching a hole in the political atmosphere of silence and fear that has people going along with a fascist program.  And we are opening the way for the kind of resistance we need to stop and reverse the direction this government is taking this society and the world.

Acting in this way, we join with and give support and heart to people all over the globe who so urgently need and want this regime to be stopped.  We have to look at ourselves through their eyes – how is the rest of the world seeing us. We have to reckon with how the people of the Middle East, whose countries have been turned to rubble, are seeing us. To be silent when your country is waging endless war, legalizing torture, and taking step after step towards consolidating a police state to "make us safe" is just not conscionable.  But when we are out here as we are today, we are demonstrating to the world that there is a difference between the people and the government of George Bush.

Having taken this historic step, we must promise to take this forward to make resistance to all this a reality, now. We must go forward--transforming the anguish, outrage and frustration millions of us feel into truly effective, positive and massive political mobilization. We must stay on the offensive with our opposition to the WHOLE direction of things, and to this regime---including through the immediate period before and after the mid-term elections.

We must not stop, we must go forward. No matter who is elected, we ourselves, the people, by our OWN active initiative, have to now set entirely different political terms than the ones presently accepted as “realistic�.

We must not stop.

It is time to change the terms of discourse. It is not acceptable, at a time when the Supreme Court is getting ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, for the opposition to be saying that the right of a woman to control her own body is expendable.

It is not right for the terms of debate on war in Iraq to be “No exit till victory v. sending more troops�. It’s totally unacceptable that in a civilized country there would even be a debate about torture - or that the opposition is only how to regulate and legalize it.

We must not stop. There is time but there is very little time. We have to change the political landscape so everyone has to respond to what hundreds of thousands of people are now actively on a mission to accomplish: to drive out this criminal regime and to repudiate, to reject, to put beyond the pale the whole immoral and unjust program of this regime.

We have taken a gigantic step today - now we have important plans to make, including over the next days and weeks. So, as you end this day, know that this is not one of those demonstrations you march and go back home to the same old same old. What do you do when there is warning of a tsunami coming your way? You make plans for emergency mobilization. And we are going to do just that.

In one week, we are calling for MASS MEETINGS – where thousands across the country must come to be part of summing up what we have accomplished and be part of planning how to go forward, rapidly expanding our capacity. We’ll discuss “how do you drive an illegitimate regime from power?â€�  We have very important plans for what the next ambitious and necessary steps this movement should make.

In the meantime we must not lose an ounce of momentum - immediately getting other people to join us. To keep the profile and message of World Can’t Wait pulsing through the political atmosphere over the next 6 weeks. We are calling on people to:

1) Be out in the streets - be out in the public square. Wear orange. Wear orange armbands.   Decorate yourself and the city with orange Emergency crime tape to symbolize those being disappeared and tortured in our name. Pick a busy area in your city and be there at the same time and day for the next 6 weeks, creating a culture of resistance in song and theater, holding speak-outs on the “Your Governmentâ€� indictments, making exhibits and showing films. We’ll be ready to respond to an October, or November surprise by the Bush Regime.

2) Today is a gigantic step forward in starting the society-wide debate needed for people in their millions to act even more powerfully.  So we are calling today for STATE OF EMERGENCY TEACH-INS to take place before the end of October that can carry out emergency education on each of the “Your Governmentâ€� indictments found in our Call. We are out to wake people up to what is going on, in their name. We will make the case that this regime is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

So go home with something orange and wear it the rest of the month. Come to the meeting next week and plan to bring your courage and your imagination, bring your resources and your political connections because together we will plan our next steps needed to drive out this Regime before 2008.

Because Bush, because Cheney, because Rumsfeld, because Rice, because Gonzales must all be driven out, they must leave the White House politically repudiated and thoroughly discredited as the war criminals that they are. Anything short of that is unacceptable to the world, to our children, to the future.

THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN - WHICH ONE WE GET IT UP TO US