[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Appeal from The World Can't Wait

[Morton K. Brussel]

Will anything work to stop the disastrous course of events vividly  
outlined below? Can enough of the American people be awakened and  
activated  to stop it?
--mkb

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Not In Our Name Statement of Conscience" <info at nion.us>
> Date: October 12, 2005 3:26:15 PM CDT
> To: <brussel at uiuc.edu>
> Subject: Appeal from The World Can't Wait
> Reply-To: <bounce-live-964703168-31249799 at ezinedirector.net>
>
>
> October 12, 2005
>
> An Urgent Appeal To All Signers of the “Statement of Conscience  
> Against War and Repression:”
>
> MAKE NOVEMBER 2nd “THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE BUSH REGIME”
>
> “IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO STOP THE BUSH REGIME FROM CARRYING OUT  
> THIS DISASTROUS COURSE. WE BELIEVE HISTORY WILL JUDGE US SHARPLY  
> SHOULD WE FAIL TO ACT DECISIVELY.”
>
> So concludes the 2005 Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience.
>
> The 9 months since have more than borne out the Statement’s warning  
> that the Bush administration would accelerate and continue a  
> horrific course of unconscionable crimes, and that, therefore, “We  
> cannot, we will not, wait until 2008. The fight against the second  
> Bush regime has to start now.”
>
> I’m Debra Sweet, the national coordinator for the November 2nd  
> demonstrations to drive out the Bush Regime. The Statement of  
> Conscience made a big difference to a lot of people, myself  
> included, in the dark days of Bush’s inauguration. And I’m writing  
> you because it’s time to make good on that pledge.
>
> In just the past month, we’ve all witnessed:
>
> - the outrages in New Orleans, including Bush’s tepid or non- 
> existent response to fascist and quasi-fascist statements by his  
> political allies;
>
> - the upholding of the indefinite detention without trial of U.S.  
> citizen Jose Padilla, strictly on Bush’s authorization, effectively  
> gutting habeas corpus;
>
> - the ongoing criminal occupation of Iraq, with no letup;
>
> - the exposure, by U.S. military personnel, of even more widespread  
> and systematic torture, and the threat of the administration to  
> veto any law that would “bind the government’s hands” in carrying  
> out such torture;
>
> - the placing as chief justice of the court an extremely right-wing  
> justice, and the nomination of another whose principal  
> qualifications seem to be her adoration of Bush and the endorsement  
> of the theocratic kingmaker James C. Dobson.
>
> In short, there is nothing whatsoever in even the recent behavior  
> of the Bush regime that would justify any sort of departure from  
> the urgency you expressed in The Statement of Conscience. To the  
> contrary.
>
> The statement also says that:
>
> “We must change the political reality of this country by mobilizing  
> the tens of millions who know in their heads and hearts that the  
> Bush regime’s “reality” is nothing but a nightmare for humanity.  
> This will require creativity, mass actions and individual moments  
> of courage. . .”
>
> “We affirm ordinary people undertaking extraordinary acts. We  
> pledge to create a community to back courageous acts of resistance.  
> We stand with the people throughout the world who fight every day  
> for the right to create their own future.”
>
> Right now, the very sort of effort envisioned in this statement is  
> being mounted by “World Can’t Wait” campaign. We are mobilizing  
> people to come out in all the cities and towns of America on  
> November 2, under the slogan “The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the  
> Bush Regime!”
>
> I’m appending our call to the end of this letter. But I am urgently  
> asking you to do all you can NOW to make this effort a reality. And  
> I’ll put it bluntly – there is nothing that can justify standing  
> aside. This effort is just the sort of thing that all of you called  
> for last January, and the exact thing that is needed right now to  
> begin to make the stand of the Statement of Conscience a reality.
>
> Look, it’s going to make a huge difference what does – or does not  
> – happen on November 2nd. This call has been put out into society  
> and a certain line has been drawn. A massive showing on that day,  
> something that really launches a movement to not just mitigate but  
> to drive out the regime, could change the whole political calculus  
> in this country. People across the political spectrum – including  
> the tens of millions who’ve been effectively silenced since the  
> election – will think differently about the limits of the possible.  
> A real chance to change the political direction of society could  
> emerge. Conversely, should this effort fail, the consequences would  
> be very bad. Three more years of month after month of outrages and  
> depredations, three more years of the further bolting into place of  
> fascist laws, norms and infrastructure, three more years of  
> misplaced hope in Democrats who [a] agree with much of the Bush  
> program (ie: prevailing in Iraq, for one, The Patriot Act, for  
> two), and, [b] will not meaningfully oppose what they don’t . . .  
> this just cannot be allowed to happen!
>
> “The World Can’t Wait” movement has laid a foundation to realize  
> its vision: a million Calls for 11/2 have been distributed, ads  
> have been broadcast on Air America, and there is an active  
> community organizing from our website. But, to be honest, there is  
> an awful lot of ground to cover to put November 2nd in front of the  
> whole country. That’s why I’m stepping to you, saying that it’s  
> time to redeem the pledge you made last January.
>
> In short I’m asking you:
>
> * To use the platforms you have in this society to lend support to  
> this movement, to spread the word on the media, in your communities  
> and organizations, to talk it up and plan to be part of November 2nd.
>
> * To use the access you have to help us get to the most prominent  
> people in society.
>
> * To put your signatures on to the Call for November 2, now.
>
> The “ordinary people” that you pledged to support in The Statement  
> of Conscience have, in fact, stepped forward as the mobilizers for  
> November 2. The counterparts of the activists of the civil rights  
> and anti-Vietnam war movements – those brave youth that recalled as  
> exemplary in the statement – are on the campuses and high schools  
> today trying to make this movement to reverse the course of society  
> a reality. I’ve met them, and it’s been inspiring. But they need to  
> be supported.
>
> The Call for “The World Can’t Wait, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME” says:
>
> “Silence and paralysis are NOT acceptable. That which you will not  
> resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn — or be forced — to  
> accept.”
>
> Honestly, this is the reality we live. If you are not actively  
> resisting the torture that your government is openly carrying out —  
> in your name, you have learned to accept it. Do not say it can not  
> happen here. All who signed the Not In Our Name Statement of  
> Conscience can not say, we did not know. You do. Now it’s time to act.
>
> For a future we’d want to live in,
>
> Debra Sweet
>
>
> (Debra Sweet is the national co-ordinator of the World Can’t Wait  
> campaign. She rose to national prominence at age 17 for standing up  
> to Richard Nixon at a White House Awards ceremony and has been  
> politically active ever since. During the 1990's she worked on the  
> front lines of the struggle to defend abortion providers and  
> maintain the right to choice.)
>
> Go to www.worldcantwait.org
>
>
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