Strategizing Posted by christian h., 05 Oct 2007 04:47 am
On October 27, say NO! to continual war.
The war in Iaq drags on, though opposed by the majority of Americans. Bush is asking for another $200 billion for it and the smaller operation in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Cheney and his allies in- and outside the administration are desperately trying to engineer another war, this time against Iran.
This fall, a number of actions are planned, or have already been implemented. There was a fairly large march and rally, and direct action in Washington, DC on September 15th. Lawmakers offices are being picketed to pressure them into voting “no” on the upcoming supplemental. And on October 27, United for Peace and Justice and other organizations are calling for eleven regional demonstrations against this war, and those being planned. Among the locations are Boston, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago.
The organizers managed to involve an impressive spectrum of groups. I don’t need to rehash here the deep divisions inside the peace and justice movement; but the way it looks, maybe reality has shaken us up a little. The Chicago organizers and endorsers range from progressive segments of the Chicago Democratic Party organization to the radical left, from the Progressive Democrats of America to ANSWER. Labor, church-based groups, anti-racist and immigrant activists and community organizers from all over the Midwest are part of this. The official program concentrates on the war and those who run it, so everyone opposed to the war can attend; but participating groups may of course emphasize broader struggles.
In Chicago, Senators Durbin and Obama have been invited to speak. I don’t know if they will, but I hope so. Not because I can’t wait to hear what they have to tell us; but because it gives us an opportunity to show them where the vast majority of their constituents stand. If they truly oppose war, it may serve to strengthen their resolve; if not, it may show them that they will be held to account.
Let’s turn out, ourselves and our friends, wherever we live and make those Washington elites listen!
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Responses to “On October 27, say NO! to continual war.”
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on 05 Oct 2007 at 5:24 am 1. A.Citizen said …
I am up for this and will blog about same.
Let’s hit the streets as Miss Nancy, ‘Gutless’ Reid, ‘Rabbit’ Rahm, Schumer et. al. seem paralyzed with fear and unable to act.
Oh…yeah….
Can we impeach Mr. Decider now that he’s admitted that his fascist cable think torture is just dandy?
To the Barricades Brothers and Sisters!
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on 05 Oct 2007 at 11:04 am 2. JP Stormcrow said …
Via Glenn Greenwald & Tom Legg - a rather cyncial view of war and its supporters from Adam Smith in Wealth of Nations, but one all too familiar. The obscenity is redoubled this week, with Boy Asshole carping about the cost of $35B investment in the basic human resources of his country, and they still will not even fess up and properly pay for the freaking war of choice they started .
The ordinary expense of the greater part of modern governments in time of peace being equal or nearly equal to their ordinary revenue, when war comes they are both unwilling and unable to increase their revenue in proportion to the increase of their expense. They are unwilling for fear of offending the people, who, by so great and so sudden an increase of taxes, would soon be disgusted with the war; and they are unable from not well knowing what taxes would be sufficient to produce the revenue wanted.
The facility of borrowing delivers them from the embarrassment which this fear and inability would otherwise occasion. By means of borrowing they are enabled, with a very moderate increase of taxes, to raise, from year to year, money sufficient for carrying on the war, and by the practice of perpetually funding they are enabled, with the smallest possible increase of taxes, to raise annually the largest possible sum of money.
In great empires the people who live in the capital, and in the provinces remote from the scene of action, feel, many of them, scarce any inconveniency from the war; but enjoy, at their ease, the amusement of reading in the newspapers the exploits of their own fleets and armies. To them this amusement compensates the small difference between the taxes which they pay on account of the war, and those which they had been accustomed to pay in time of peace. They are commonly dissatisfied with the return of peace, which puts an end to their amusement, and to a thousand visionary hopes of conquest and national glory from a longer continuance of the war.
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on 05 Oct 2007 at 11:24 am 3. spyder said …
Speaking of which, today is the day to pester those same legislators with the demand to overturn the veto by the speech-impediment on SCHIP. We need everyone to call their representatives (esp the GOP ones) and remind them that the amount of $$ in the bill spread out for the five years to cover up to 4 million children, equals only 1/7th of the current supplemental request for one year of war.
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on 05 Oct 2007 at 11:38 am 4. christian h. said …
In the spirit of spyder’s comment, a warm-up slogan: “Money for health and education, not for war and occupation”.
See you all next week, I’m on my way to spend much of the next 5 days in airports and on planes.
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on 05 Oct 2007 at 6:19 pm 5. James Killus said …
Hypothesis: G. W. Bush and a major (i.e. controlling) segment of the Republican Party are criminal in intention and deed.
Query: What effect would demonstrations have on other organized crime syndicates?
Addendum: I realize that this is a very pessimistic view and not at all helpful.
