Youth and Students - Drive Out the Bush Regime

Pictures from UW- Madison

2005-11-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

Chicago Picture

2005-11-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

students in long island

2005-11-06T14:37:00.000-08:00

New Student/Youth Page

2005-10-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

Click Here
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We are the Future and the Future is at Hand-Letters from HS Students

2005-10-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

The following are two statements from High School Youth. One was read by High School youth in L.A, Friday, at a Press Conference in front of Fairfax High School. The 2nd is a statement from 2 High School students
in NYC.
******
Statement By L.A High School Student
-L.J

We are gather here today to put out this call of The World Cant wait Drive out the Bush Regime, a movement that kicks off on November the second, a movement that will be remember for generations to come. This date marks the re-election of george w bush, but after this year this date will be remembered as Beginning of the end of this whole regime!!!

We as high school students have not only the right to join this movement but the responsibility to do so. November the second will be an extremely important date for all the youth around the united states, this is because on November the second our future will be decided. Are we just going to stand on the side lines and continue to be ran by a bunch of fascist that day by day are taking our rights away ? I say no more! This has to stop NOW!! .This whole regime, if its not stop now it will continue to carry on its genocidal agenda. An agenda that was showed during and on the aftermath of Katrina.

People that want to prevent us from speaking out against this regime are not so different from this regime, but really is there anything or anyone that is important enough to stop thousands of high school students to walk out of their schools and make the bold statement that this government does not represent us and that we will drive them out. The future of this generation and the generations to come is at stake. The tactics that this regime has been using on people is the same tactic that the administrators and police will try to use on us. I am speaking of fear. We will get threaten with tickets, suspension, and probably arrests. The question is are we going to let these little problems stop us from facing and fighting a huge problem head on? I say no!! We owe it to the millions of people that are getting tortured, murdered and left to die by this regime.

If people in the 60’s wouldn’t have resisted and fought against segregation head on, we would still be living in a society in which segregation was a policy that was openly accepted. Now just think for a minute, if we do not resist and drive out this regime out, What would the future hold for us? .I’ll tell you what!! It would be a future in which torture would be looked upon as a good and necessary thing to do, a future in which women will go back into being incubators, depriving them from abortions or any type of contraceptives, and finally a future in which minorities will STILL be looked upon second class individuals.

This is why I say RESIST OR DIE! On November the second. Tickets or no tickets, suspensions or no suspensions, Get out to the streets no matter what. Do not be intimidated by anyone. This will be a struggle but it will get done. “That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn- or be forced-to accept.” Will you accept this??!?!??
LJ from LAHS.

We will not be intimidated! The future is at hand!
- Statement from NYC High School students

Many students jokingly compare schools to prison.
Recently that joke has become a frightening reality. Shortly after news of our organization’s goal to mobilize students to walk out of school on November 2, 2005, the administration of Martin Luther King high school stated that the school will be locked down.

On October 27, 2005, MLK’s administration contacted Beacon School’s administration. Our arranged meeting at Beacon was cancelled as a result and now also on lock down for November 2.

This is unacceptable!

Throughout this week we have received nothing but negative input on our positions as youth organizers for The World Can’t Wait - Drive out the Bush Regime. As concerning as it was to have our teacher, especially known for her activism, tell us that our attempt for youth mobilization was trivial and "cute"; it only makes us try harder. This teacher openly stated that we, as teenagers, have no power and we should focus on people who can vote.

Many students have also brought up this point. But we Do have power,we are the leaders of TODAY, not tomorrow. We are living in dangerous times and its important to take action regardless of how old you are. By participating in November 2 walk out, we will show our power.

We are the future and the future is at hand.

Victoria Lena and Simóne Luminosa
2 High school Students
(From an all Girl Catholic School in NYC)

To Student Organizers - from Sunsara Taylor

2005-10-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

To Student Organizers - from Sunsara Taylor

I am finally back in New York after traveling up both coasts and through the Midwest, speaking on 15 college campuses to hundreds of students
and many local activists.

Over and over again I was struck by the large numbers of people who are attracted to this effort to unseat the Bush regime. At the same time, I learned more deeply how taking this movement out to people requires going up against a lot of "conventional wisdom" and a lot of "settling in" with intolerable outrages that has unfortunately gone on.I’ve run into all the obstacles many of you have run into – lectures from progressive students about how we’ll never end torture, pro-choicegroups who think it is "inappropriate" to suggesting that Judge Roberts’ views are not unknown but highly fascistic, etc

.But – I say to get at a greater underlying truth that I have found, which
is that as challenging as it sometimes is, most students can’t defend the actions of this regime and are horrified by the nightmarish society it is forcing on us all. And I’ve found that when we refuse to compromise on what is actually at stake for the people of this country and the world and the survival of the planet itself – we are able to reach inside people and move them.

The most powerful and important tool in all of this remains the Call for the World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime.

It lays out the stakes of what this regime is doing and how we are called on and can take history into our own hands.Just put it to people – is what’s in the Call right or wrong? Doesn’t the withdrawal of Harriet Miers show even more dangerously how the Christian fascists in this country are determined to change the whole way law is done – moving us each day closer to a theocracy where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule? Don’t the 2,000 deaths of soldiers and the tens of thousands of Iraqis show that we cannot wait – as an utterly illegitimate war is continues, all based on outrageous lies? Isn’t it a fact that the polar ice-caps are melting, that science is being suppressed, that this regime is threatening the survival of the very planet we live on? Can anyone deny that right now people are being TORTURED – beaten, chained to ceilings, stripped naked and stacked up in pyramids, held underwater, denied sleep for days, tormented and worse?!?! Aren’t there people with direct ties to the White House floating out the idea of extermination of Black babies and executions for abortion providers?When we put it to people – either tell us we are making these things up (which we are NOT) or tell us why you can live with these atrocities and worse to come (most don’t want to!)…

OR

get in on stopping this disastrous course. The truth is – we don’t have to live with theseoutrages because The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime isproviding a vehicle for people to take history into our own hands by driving this regime OUT – starting on November 2nd.This is what the world needs from us – and this is by far the most important, the most meaningful, and the most beautiful that youngpeople and every people can be doing.

Just a few days ago at UCLA I met with some students, and as I did one
by one more trickled in – moved and challenged to do so by a knot of organizers dress as torture victims outside. One guy told me, "I guess I
am one of those people who has started to get used to torture, cuz I
hadn’t been thinking much about it until I saw those folks outside." I told him the truth, "Of course you’ve gotten used to it, most people have, but we are changing all that. Now, you have to help us get everyone else!"So, then we staged an impromptu march down Wilshire Boulevard to join a vigil for the deaths of 2,000 soldiers in Iraq, chanting, "The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime!" Our boldness drew in other students and passersby and cars honked their horns and we distributed stacks of leaflets for November 2nd.At several schools, I met students who had poured their hearts and hopes into the 2004 elections - many moving across the country and going door to door to get out the vote. They told me how burned they were after Bush claimed his "mandate" but they added that learning about this movement – that doesn’t hinge itself on non-existent "saviors" fromthe Democratic Party – has reenergized them and filled them with a passion to bring others back in to the life and death fight for the future.

All the struggle and work we have conducted for months now is beginning to unlock the tremendous potential that exists. So, in theselast few days, let’s not ease it up one bit – but let’s go with renewed enthusiasm and open arms to bring everyone on board to make historyon November 2nd.We are getting traction – we really are – through all parts of society.Each day new organizations come on board, prominent people addtheir support, we get in various media about November 2nd – let’sbring this to bear on the campuses in a BIG WAY.Students and faculty should keep running into word about November 2nd every where they go – being both challenged to participate and inspired by the fact that this day is happening on a scale that can really have an impact.

Get Howard Zinn’s statement to the students played over and over again on campus radio stations, blast it in the commons, or have professors play it in classes. Do the same with the fantastic PSA’s recorded by Boots from the Coup, Suheir Hammad, Jessica Blank, Koba, Culture Clash, and Michael Eric Dyson. Get me or another organizer on your college radio
for an interview. Move on this right now!

Go to all the campus groups – Black Student Unions, Gay/Straight Alliances, the Young Democrats, Mecha Chapters, feminist groups, artist collectives, activist groups, and others – and have each of them send out notices of your local actions on their email lists, post it on their web-sites, and help get posters and flyers out by the thousands. Do the same with professors, stuff all their mailboxes and poke your head in during office hours and classes – and let them all know that that Gore Vidal, Tom Morello, Cornel West, Frances Fox Piven, ACT UP, Not In Our Name, Code Pink, Studs Terkel, Ann Wright (former U.S. Diplomat), Cindy Sheehan, Campus Anti-War Network, Anti-Flag and many others have taken this up. (see expanded list at worldcantwait.org)

COMPLETELY SATURATE the whole campus – divide up the dorms and/or lockers and stuff a flyer under EVERY SINGLE door! Leave them on the seats of classrooms and write the info on the chalkboards between classes. Hang banners from major buildings. Chalk thesidewalks vigorously. Table EVERYWHERE. Post dozens of flyers onevery kiosk, bulletin board, and corner and get stickers EVERYWHERE!

Systematically call and email everyone on your sign-up lists – tell them we are in the final count-down to November 2nd, picking up steam, and need their help for a final, major push. Give them concrete tasks that they can do and let them know how it will help. Involving everyone you haveevery been in touch with in these final days will give you the capacity to reach the whole campus in its entirety and will bring firm up those folks’ commitment and involvement on the 2nd and beyond.

Okay – there’s more. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.

Do like the organizers at UCLA and before November 2nd stage a march through campus and to the nearest busy avenue calling on others to JOIN US and taking the signs to the street. This lets people know it is for real, energizes those who take part (and are then joined by other students & honked at favorably by cars), and gets out lots more stacks of leaflets.You can get dressed up to do this – in the orange jumpsuits, hoods, and leashes like torture victims, or women wearing hospital gowns withblood smeared on the lower half carrying coat-hangers, or other ideas you come up with to dramatize the lives on the line by the Bush regime.

Bring lots of signs and have extras for the people who join you. Really – DO THIS! – and do it BOLDLY. It can have a big impact!Then, on the 2nd itself, remember we are ushering a whole new political movement with the concrete objective of forcing the Bush regime to step down and take their whole global problem with them. So, whoever shows up at first is not just a body to be counted, they are now the core of a growing movement who are on the spot changing their relationship to the future and to others – going back into the school buildings and across the campus chanting loudly together, "JOIN US! JOIN US! THE WORLD CAN’T WAIT! DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!" Everyone who doesn’t like Bush but thought they would sit this one out, will get a second chance and a challenge to take part as this message interrupts their classes and pulls many of them out of their seats and into the streets. All day long – everywhere people go, all day long the aim is to GROW and GROW and GROW!

The future we get is up to us, so every day for the next four days – ask yourself and ask others – how much of yourself should you give? And, when you answer, think of the Iraqi children in towns like Abu Hishma which have been turned into prison camps, literally wrapped in barbed wire, the fathers and brothers dragged off in hoods and cuffs.

Considerthe strength and devastation of Katrina, and ask yourself what kind of planet we will be left to inhabit if we leave in place a regime that suppresses science and blocks moves to stem Global Warming. Think of what you will tell your children and grandchildren about how you livedas your government was normalized torture, disappeared people without charges, threw women in jail for desperately inducing their ownabortions, bitterly betrayed hundreds of thousands of poor and Black people in the largest disaster this country has ever seen, and greasedall of this with outrageous knowing LIES.And, consider the fact that we are acting in the interests of the vast majority of people in this country and the world.

Consider that in just a few short months we have drawn together organizers in over 70 cities,40 colleges, 75 high schools that we know of and some of the mostknown, beloved, and respected artists, intellectuals and prominent individuals of conscience in our society. Consider that we are living in days around which the future is pivoting – in a society undergoingshocks and jolts at a dizzying pace. In these times, each day people can change, movements can leap further ahead, new possibilities can befought for and wrenched out.

Then, give all of yourself, every thing you’ve got, in these next few days.I am talking about less than 100 hours to go – skip class or a bunch of classes, call in to work, stretch your wallet and make another donation,call up friends and family and struggle with them to join you, stay upmad late and get up again insanely early – go all out! Every effort you bend, every dollar you spend, every uncompromising truth you defend – will be worth it and more than worth it.On November 2nd we’re making history.

Every action, every voice, ounce of outrage and daring and love will be amplified through the combined actions of many tens of thousands across the country and many more as the day goes on. We will act in unison to say: NO! GEORGE BUSH DOES NOT REPRESENT US AND WE WILL DRIVE HIM OUT! And, throughout the day we will call forward many others – going back into the halls and classrooms, and then through the streets calling out, "Join us! Join us! The world can’t wait! Drive out the Bush regime!"On November 2nd – we’re making history.

Lets do it with vigor, with determination, with moral certitude and with absolutely everything we’ve got.

Expanding on the 6 Essentials

2005-10-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

Reading the WCW Call at L.A Vigil to mark 2,000th US Death

In thinking about and expanding on the 6 Essentials on the youth page here are some key things that could kick up our efforts for Nov.2nd.

Campus Anti War Network Nationally Endorses & Mobilizing Student Groups

Over the weekend Campus Anti War Network C.A.N nationally endorsed The World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime and mobilizations on the 2nd. This is a very positive development and is part of bringing in a myriad of voices around Nov.2nd. We need to involve C.A.N and all of the other groups that have endorsed the 2nd more closely. Contact local groups like CAN chapters and strategize on how they can mobilize for the 2nd.

They should send a email through their mailing list announcing the local convergence spots and calling on people to take part on the 2nd, different student groups should bring their own Banners on the day of the 2nd along with contacting all the student groups on campus to have a speaker at the rally. We are not asking for help, we are calling on people to taking history into their hands.
- Mark James from the National Steering Committee of World Can’t Wait wrote a very strong letter to the LGBT Community that can be utilized in approaching all of the LGBT student groups on campus.
Read LGTB Letter Here
-Also we urgently need to be meeting with more professors, asking them to endorse the call, send out an email throughout their department and announcing the 2nd in class.

Saturate The Airwaves
-We need to be making a bigger deal about the Howard Zinn message to the youth; both playing it with people we are meeting, but also beaming it out on the airwaves at local College radio stations.
-There are also BRAND NEW P.S.A’s by Boots from The Coup and Culture Clash. There needs to be a special emphasis on this; you can check out more on these P.S.A’s at:
Student Plan for P.S.A's
HALLOWEEN

-HALLOWEEN needs to a list minute push. Make a call for all the youth to gather and march in any Halloween festivities planned in your cities. This will give us sneak peek for the 2nd and good experience for people leading a march, calling on people to JOIN US.
-The morning of Halloween (Monday) we should make a special effort to be at the High Schools when they let out with rolls and rolls of stickers and World Can’t Wait calls.

Plaster and Popularize the 2nd on Campus

- In the last few days before an event you have a different dynamic in outreach. The 2nd is right around the corner and should be on people’s minds. Get into all the dorms, stuff flyers in all the lockers, leave Calls in the Teachers’ mailboxes and have a schedule for tabling that could include street theatre and agitators.
-Drawing on the lessons from this summer if there are any concerts that draw massive crowds of youth we need be there in full effect making a scene and challenging the crowd to rewrite history and be part of Driving out this Regime Nov.2nd.
- get together all of your contacts for a last minute email blast and phone banking session

Orientation Going Into the 2nd
"We are in a countdown – as I told everyone everywhere I’ve been: how should the people in Germany in 1939 have acted? Multiply that times ten, and get out there without the slightest bit of defensiveness or hesitation. The future of the world is riding on it!"
- Sunsara Taylor

Allen Lang
National Student and Youth Organizer
youth_students@worldcantwait.org

New Radio P.S.A's Saturate The Airwaves

2005-10-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

NEW World Can't Wait

P.S.A's

SATURATE THE AIRWAVES ABOUT NOV 2ND

Boots Riley of The Coup is featured on a brand new World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime P.S.A, that sharply lays out the stakes the world is facing and calling for massive resistance centered around Driving Out this Regime to manifest on Nov.2nd. There are also with local PSA's including info for NY, SF, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago and L.A.

Culture Clash, the country's leading Chicano/Latino theater and comedy troupe have recorded an announcement bringing their creativity to publicizing Nov.2nd.

Listen Here

We need to have these P.S.A's beeming out over the airwaves on dozens and dozens of college radio stations today and over the weekend. The fact that artists who are in the spotlight and looked to by a multitude of people are calling on people to come out on Nov.2nd is very significant, but we really need to have this reach hundreds of thousands of people.

* Head over to the local college radio stations and have DJs and programmers play the P.S.A's back to back at peak times. There is a huge basis to have these P.S.A's played on the college stations, who are not as limited by advertising schedules or clear channel. The Air America ads kicked us up to another level and it powerfully spoke to people. In the 5 days we have until Nov.2nd these P.S.A's are one of the key things we need to be pushing on to take a leap going into the 2nd.

*Text message people announcing the new P.S.A's, include http://www.worldcantwait.org/media/ and tell them to text message it to five other people they know.

*Send out an email with the P.S.A attatchement to all of your contacts, including the link to the the mp3 downloads. Play it in school! Give it out to fellow students! Play it on the loudspeaker, on stereos outside school.

Educators Against Bush- " Our Kids Can't Wait"

2005-10-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

NY Teachers Against Bush- "Our Kids Can't Wait!"

We, as educators, support the call “THE WORLD CAN’T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!” We say, “OUR KIDS CAN’T WAIT, DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!” We are calling on all teachers, parents, and students to take this up!

Education is under direct attack by this administration.

Read more- Click Link

Ny Educators Statement

Oakland Educators Association Pass Resolution in Support of Nov.2nd Walkouts
By a unanimous vote at a October 25 membership meeting, AFT Local 2121 agreed to endorse the following resolution based on the resolution passed by the Oakland Educators Association:

RESOLUTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 General Membership meeting:

10-25-05
Wheras
WORLDCANTWAIT/DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME has called for a national day of protest on November 2, 2005, the anniversary of the GW Bush's re-election,

Wheras there will be a covergence in the Bay Area at noon at the Civic Center in San Francisco followed by a march through San Francisco,

It is hereby moved that AFT Local 2121 support the right of participation in the November 2nd 2005 day of protest and support the policy of no reprisals against students, teachers, and others in the school community who may take-off work or school to take part in protest activities that day.

Berkeley Students/Activists Disrupt John Yoo Class

2005-10-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

This week, Berkeley's Daily Cal reported; "about 15 UC Berkeley students and activists protested next to Boalt Hall yesterday, blaming Boalt professor John Yoo for a controversial prison torture memo which critics have said paved the way for mistreatment of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib."

World Can't Wait Organizers at Berkeley called for this urgent protest action exposing and denouncing John C. Yoo for his illegal, immoral, and perverse legal opinions which have directly contributed to the torture being carried out by U.S. military personnel at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and other undisclosed locations.

Organizers burst into John Yoo's class with activists dressed in orange jumpsuits worn by Guantanamo Bay torture detainees and one activist was dressed as a U.S military soldier praising and thanking Yoo for allowing him to torture people. Yoo fled the scene and it caused a ruckus in the class. Many students gave cheers, while other complained that protesters were disrupting a class they were paying for and they owe them for ruining the last 5 minutes of their time.

A Berkeley organizer responded, "there's a lot of concern about the disruption of studies, but my own studies are being disrupted when I can't sleep because I dream about what the world is like". Student organizers around the country will continue to challenge people standing on the sidelines as the Bush Regime continues to commit unthinkable crimes against humanity and call on them to be on the forefront of launching a movement to drive this regime from Power starting Nov.2nd.

Check out the Daily Cal at this weblink:
http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=20154

NEW World Can't Wait High School Website

2005-10-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

World Can't Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime has created a NEW website for High Schools. Below is the link:

World Cant Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime (HS)

This is the place to go for ideas and happenings at high schools that are driving out the Bush regime!

http://wcwhs.blogspot.com/

Quick Notes on Midwest Campus Speaking Tour

2005-10-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Quick Notes on Midwest Campus Speaking Tour
- Sunsara Taylor

"We are in a countdown – as I told everyone everywhere I’ve been: how should the people in Germany in 1939 have acted? Multiply that times ten, and get out there without the slightest bit of defensiveness or hesitation. The future of the world is riding on it!"-S.Taylor

Just got back yesterday from Chicago. I spoke at Madison, Harpers Community College, Columbia College and University of Chicago.

Every stop was different – a couple were smaller and we got more deeply into the challenges facing a relative handful to break loose the many, many others who need to get their butts in motion in a serious way to prevent the looming high-tech dark ages.

To read more click below:
Sunsara's World

UW Madison Declaration: There will be No Turning Back, November 2 We Start a Movement.

2005-10-24T19:43:00.000-07:00

We the students of the University of Wisconsin that will walk out on Nov2 declare:

The theocratic regime that has positioned itself for a fascist takeover of the world will not be allowed to continue. We will no longer complacently and apathetically enjoy our “liberal” enclave , we will confront the challenge that is before us. We will not let this regime turn the women of this country into incubators, barefoot and pregnant. We will not let this regime turn our military into the army of the christian right forming a global empire. We will not let this regime force us to divide ourselves by sex, race, class religion, hair or eye color. We will not let them replace reason with what they think is right.

There will be no turning back, November 2 we start a movement.

November 2 the role that students play in society will be realized: "Students very often can be a kind of spark that sets off, and that increases the power and the energy of a national movement" [Howard Zinn].

November 2 is the beginning of the END of the Bush Regime. We will join this movement because these are our lives, because this is our history and because we can no longer accept the politics as usual attitude that demoralizes students, professors, ethnic groups, sexes, religions and the human race on the whole. We understand that democracy and freedom as we know them, are quickly fading. A shift toward fascism can be seen. We will no longer turn a blind eye to the forced globalization of corporate welfare. The democracy they want to spread is not about freedom or tolerance, it is about spreading a narrow and hateful brand of christian fundamentalism.

We the students will not just think of our future careers, we are thinking of the world we want to live in. We will walk out of our classes, walk out of our jobs, get out of our cars, turn off our T.V.'s, and join our family and friends in the street to take back control. We will not back down and we will not go home. We want the U.N. back,women’s rights safe, homosexual rights to exist, environmental ethics to not go extinct, out of this war, out of this cycle, and an end to corporate news. We are no longer going to accept the genocide and crimes against humanity that this regime has commited in our name.

We are mobilizing to get the most protested man in history out of office.

Recapture your life

before it’s too late.

The WORLD CAN’T WAIT!
November 2, 2005.
Madison, WI

Two World Can't Wait! LA Organizers Ambush David Horowitz Film Festival

2005-10-24T09:26:00.002-07:00

Two World Can't Wait! LA Organizers Ambush Horowitz at Reactionary "Liberty Film Festival"

David Horowitz, right-wing bully and Bush Regime operative, made an appearance at a film festival in West Hollywood to introduce a film and to speak about his "Academic Bill of Rights." A group of World Can't Wait! organizers from here in LA went determined to disrupt and shut this fascist down. We approached this with the orientation that this was analogous to a KKK grand wizard coming to town to speak in the lynching belt of the US south, and that this monster must not be allowed to speak. We had to make sure his unwelcome was known.

Two of us were able to walk into the theater free of charge, by pure chance. We sat right up front and had to endure about 20 minutes of the most nauseating commentary, film trailers and award-giving for virulently reactionary, despicable films such as one that honored that great enemy of humanity, Reagan (it opened with a mushroom cloud, literally!). One of the vile dogs sitting next to us kept leering at us and feverishly clapping, noticing that we weren't showing any love. I was worried this storm-trooper might try to thwart our actions.

Finally, Horowitz stepped on stage. He began by talking about the success his "Academic Bill of Rights" campaign is having across the country, including by passing legislation and attacking progressive professors. We jumped up out of our seats and onto the stage and shouted that we were there to put a stop to all that. We declared that "Fascists have no right to speak! Horowitz and the whole Bush Regime must be Driven Out! Horowitz is a bigot who wants to end ethnic studies and all critical thought on the campuses!"

We stood our ground as long as we could until we were assaulted by some of the henchmen in the audience. They literally threw me off the stage and tackled me to the ground and into the first row of seats. My companion received the same treatment. We continued agitating and they strong-armed us out of the theater and shut the doors, dragging us into the lobby and guarding the door as security came up. The reactionary watch-dog sitting next to us followed behind the brawl shouting, "I knew those two were dangerous!" We replied that the real danger was the NAZI RALLY going on in that theater.

In the lobby, security pleaded with us to leave and said the pigs were on the way. We told them they should be kicking out the fascists occupying the theater! As people continued to come into the theater (having to be re-routed since we were agitating in the front) we advised people to work on their goose-step and put up their Nazi salute for Horowitz and the Bush Regime. All too appropriately, one Horowitz fan responded to this by giving us the US military salute!

We were definitely outnumbered and, with no prospect of media coverage or mass participation, decided to leave the building before the sherriffs arrived. We had managed to disrupt and denounce Horowitz-- and put him on notice that he and his whole brownshirt movement will be resisted and defeated as a decisive part of ushering in the END OF THE BUSH REGIME and everything they represent. Because, truly, the WORLD CAN'T WAIT!
Tony
World Can't Wait! LA Youth & Student Organizer
******************
Disruption Causes a Stir in Fascist Blogosphere

** Last night, my new short film Brainwashing 201: The Second Semester was shown at the Liberty Film Festival in LA. The film was introduced by academic freedom fighter David Horowitz, whose speech was interrupted by two protesters who ran on stage screaming, "Fascists have no right to speak." The irony of that statement from the people trying to shut Horowitz up seemed to be lost on the protesters, but it served as a perfect illustration of the intellectual thuggery covered in the film that followed. The protesters were quickly whisked off stage and out of the theater in a fashion that was far more gentle than they deserved.

**Liberty Film Festival, 2:Friday night really had three stars: Even Coyne Maloney, the genius behind Brain Terminal and On the Fence Films; David Horowitz, the force of nature who started Front Page Magazine and the Study for Popular Culture; and Horowitz's hecklers, who stormed the stage the moment he began speaking, and had to be forcibly removed from the stage—and then the room.

Where, BTW, did Jason Apuzzo learn to tackle like that? These hecklers—one man and one woman—were enormous, like two big slabs of left-wing beef. And Horowitz is a small man; I'm glad Apuzzo and a few other volunteers from the audience (law enforcement? barflies?) kept them from getting near Horowitz as they continued to shout "you have no right to speak!"

I guess they aren't too happy with Horowitz' stance on the Bill of Academic Rights. Once we all knew these left-droids were being taken care of, most of us simply started laughing at them. Maloney started changing "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye" as the hecklers were "escorted" (forced, kicking and screaming) out of the room.
***As David Horowitz began to introduce Maloney's film, two audience members rushed onto the stage and ran towards him threateningly, shouting, "You have no right to speak!" They were quickly surrounded and escorted out of the hall. An audience member was heard to ask, "Who were they?" Quipped Horowitz, "They're called Communists."

When Maloney took the stage, he commented, "David was up here exercising his right to free speech, and they literally said, 'You have no right to speak.' .... That's not uncommon on college campuses."
http://www.bigpicweblog.com/exp/index.php

New Group Wants Bush Out: World Cant Wait appears in Daily Texan

2005-10-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

Media Credit: Joe Buglewicz

Spray painted signs calling for a "walk out" on Bush and displaying the logo of World

Can´t Wait,a new political organization, have appeared around campus recently.

New group wants Bush out

Organization hands out fliers, graffitis to get message out

By Jimmie Collins

There are only 16 days until the beginning of the end of the Bush regime, according to the World Can't Wait, a new political organization. The Austin chapter plans to be on campus and around town handing out fliers and actively advertising their cause.

This administration does not represent us ... even though they say they do," said Sonya Morales, head of the Austin chapter.

Today marks the fifth day of encampment outside the White House counting down to Nov. 2, the day WCW has organized protest marches in 40 cities and college campuses across the nation. Nov. 2 is also the one-year anniversary of President Bush's re-election to office.

Read the Rest of the article at:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/paper410
/news/2005 /10/17/ University/New-Group.Wants.Bush.
Out-1022590.shtml

The Truth About Torture Comes to UCLA

2005-10-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Truth About US Torture Comes to UCLA

We got out to the UCLA campus around noon to kick off the Torture Victim guerilla theater. To our disgust/delight there was a giant US army recruiting bus parked in the middle of Bruin Plaza. It was disgusting and outrageous that they were there at all... yet delightful that they were out there like that so we could expose them in a highly visible way.

At first it was just two of us. I walked straight up to the five or six goons standing in front of the recruiting bus, leash in hand, and called on all of them to take the leash, pushing it out in front of them. They looked back and forth at each other and kept silent. No one would take the leash or utter a word.

I told them, "Maybe if you had me all alone in Abu Ghraib or Gitmo you'd take the leash, give it a yank! But you cowards won't do that shit in the light of day and show all these students what you're really all about! Recruiting the next generation of torturers and war criminals!" Still, none would engage me, so I turned to the students who were looking on and offered them the leash. This was met with avoidance, laughs and some interest from the students.

When students laughed, I asked them if they thought torture was funny, if they thought it was funny that the Bush Regime is torturing people around the world, as we speak. When people avoided me, I told them that keeping silent and laying low would not stop these atrocities from going down. I told them that they are holding the leash every day they remain silent in the face of these crimes against humanity.

The visual effect was very jolting for people and a small number approached me to find out what we were doing. Almost nobody would take the leash. While I approached people in the suit, another organizer was doing some agitation and getting out flyers. She was telling people that we can stop this US torture from going down if we speak and act out now and mobilize for Nov. 2nd.

After about 20 mins., some campus police came up and told me that they had received a complaint. I asked them what it was and they wouldn't answer me. Their presence attracted many more people to the scene and there were students who were telling the campus police that they had no right to fuck with us. They tried to tell me to be patient while they radioed in, but I kept agitating to the masses, exposing their aims to silence opposition to the Bush Regime and to squash the movement determined to Drive Them Out.

They had no charges on me, and they were definitely going to pay a political price (from the students that were now encircling this whole scene and calling out their bullshit) if they persisted to arrest me. They left and let us continue. In the course of all this, a high school tour group came right through the plaza where we were located. All these youth came over to see what was going on and were thrilled to hear about a movement to drive out Bush, whom they quickly identified as a hated and vile figure.

One young woman was laughing and joking and eagerly grabbed the leash, at my request. I told her who I was, that I was locked up in Guantanamo and that I hadn't seen my family, friends or the outside world for several years. I told her that her government has been torturing me. I asked her if she felt more powerful since she was able to degrade me and treat me like less than a human being. She got a lot more serious very quickly and let go of the leash. She said she didn't understand at first, but now she gets it.

A couple students we have been working with on campus came by and got materials from us and started passing them out to everyone who was going by. This was a good beginning and we will be stepping up the presence and boldness of the torture victims skit at UCLA and other campuses in the LA area.

The Six Essentials

2005-10-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

( DJ at Battle Bush M.C contest in the Bay Area)

10 Days Until the Beginning of the End of the Bush Regime!

The Six Essentials Between Now and November 2nd

(1) Concretize Plans for November 2nd. We need more than simply calling for convergences. Who will be speaking? What will be the march route? What creative and bold actions need to happen on the day? What plans do we have to call on others to JOIN US throughout the day, challenging students to walk out of class? One idea is to have a banner on the 2nd that reads " Join Us" along with the other visuals.

(2) Call for a Massive City Wide Emergency Meeting. Comb through all of your contacts, inviting them to the meeting and don’t take NO for an answer. The meetings should not go too long, if there are people who want to get into this more deeply set up a time to sit down and have a longer meeting. We need to hit at the key points, outline the plans and have plenty of materials for people to take.
-Sharply get into What will it mean if Nov.2nd falls short of galvanizing a critical mass on that day and is not on the minds of hundreds of thousands? But what if we do? The impact that this day would have on the terrain and dynamics in this country. We can accept nothing less than what this Call is putting forward and we should be losing sleep over where the world is heading and fighting like hell to derail this disastrous path.
-Tremendous leaps can be made in 10 days. Each day needs to be planned and assessed on did we get to a different place today, will Nov.2nd have a different character because of a breakthrough made today?

(3) Saturation on the Campuses and High Schools

-Getting into dorms can make a big impact. Get calls with local info into all the dorm rooms, up in the hallways and lounges. Talk to students who are around and ask them to take responsibility for covering a floor. Students can hang World Can’t Wait Posters in their dorm room windows or homemade signs supporting NOV 2. For high schools, stuff all the lockers with flyers.
-Make announcements every day about Nov.2nd in lecture halls, class rooms and cafeterias. Break people out of the normal routine; stand on tables and challenge people to be part of a day Nov.2nd when a new political movement will burst through with enough strength and political force to give the whole world notice that Bush Regime will be driven out.
- Have a banner drop everyday counting down until Nov. 2nd. " 10 days until Nov 2nd, 9 Days until Nov.2nd, ect" with local convergence info on it.
-Contact local college papers to do a story on the organizers building for Nov.2nd or carry announcements about local Nov.2nd convergences.
-Get PSA’s for Nov. 2nd played on college radio stations. Contact dj’s, send in the PSA’s along with a press release to the station, etc. PSA’s are available at http://www.worldcantwait.org/media/PSAs.php.

(4) Study and perform Guantanamo Bay Torture dramatizations on campus (check out the instructional video on the student page, http://www.worldcantwait.org/youthandstudents.php). If you have already done this, follow up on the buzz created on campus.

(5) Listen (or listen again) to Sunsara Taylor’s speech at the Labor Day National Conference. Throw it on your I-pod or burn it. In the midst of running around saturating campuses, calling contacts, making plans, jumping up on cafeteria tables we need to stay grounded in why this regime needs to go and how people in their millions can drive out this regime.
http://www.worldcantwait.org/media/sunsara_conference.mp3

(6) Check the student/youth page constantly for the latest- http://www.worldcantwait.org/youthandstudents.php
and send in news and photos to youth_students@worldcantwait.org

Allen Lang
National Student and Youth Organizer
youth_students@worldcantwait.org

A Homecoming To Remember

2005-10-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today, as U of Wisconsin students were putting on their pirate costumes for school spirit and preparations were made for homecoming parade, and new students were gallantly toured around campus. Students finished up a week of class and made plans for homecoming weekend. They were confronted with the reality of becoming a country of torturers. They were forced to face the images of tortured prisoners that they turn the page on everyday.

Standing outside the student union on a fall afternoon, we told students to "take the leash" There was a lot of nervous laughter and looking away, taking the long way to go around us. We were an undeniable presence that had to be confronted. Those who did take the leash had similar nervous laughter and defensiveness. They were confused and irritated, then engaged and interested. Some said, no, I don't like this, it makes me feel uncomfortable. And so we said"What are you going to do about it? Everyday when you go to class, and you feel bad about it, but turn they other way, this is going on in your name." Then world cant wait organizers hooked them up with the call and continued conversation.

The situation erupted when a young black man went and got his friends to show them this torture victim. They laughed and tugged at the leash and pretended to punch the torture victim. They said, as black people they were with us, they were victims of this terrible regime as well. At the same time they were uncomfortable and resented this confrontation. They said they hated Bush, and one of them had been in the military, he said he supported us, but was very disturbed and uncomfortable with the "torture victim" He continued to laugh and pull on the leash beyondwhat was appropriate.

The torture victim challenged with outrage that thisis not funny and goes on in their name every day and if they think its a joke than they are accepting torture, and they are holding the leash. They continued to laugh at the torture victim, until they confronted them head on, accusing them of accepting torture. They fell silent and passersby witnessed they emotion and outrage.

We moved on to the main street in town from there. Everyone who walked by had to confront this. Some stared, some yelled out in anger, some stopped to discuss this. People were literally walking backwards with wide eyes shaking their heads in disbelief. Anolder man who was from Germany stopped and told us that he remembered Nazi Germany, and at the same time remembered the United States bombing their towns and cities. He said to us- "we Germans, we know" .

We thought this experience was very sobering and upsetting. Revealing, and deep. We have been trying to charge the atmosphere to wake students up, and this seemed to cut through the bull shit and get at very deep outrage and paralyses, shaking and working at the complacency that’s already setting in. It was exhilarating to challenge that and to embody this contradiction between what people are aware of and outraged by, and their sense of responsibility compelling them to act.

We are making plans to build on this sense of deep responsibility and righteousness that we were standing on in doing this action. We want to do this again with more costumed people. Including possibly at thehomecoming charity ball tomorrow.

UW Madison may be having their annual homecoming parade this evening, and it may be on the surface another football season, another party school, another activist University died out- but there is something a foot. There is a buzz about Novemenber 2, there are plans being made, there are students calling us. People say they're apathetic, people say they won't be mobilized unless it relates to their campus issues,they say we have to go to them one at a time and be nice, and they have their schedules and their own agendas. We will not be nice. We will fight for what is right. We will challenge students to inspire them, and we will aim to rip open the terms that have been set. It was stirring in the surprised faces of the students on State street this afternoon.

Will this be the same campus Monday morning?

Will it bethe same campus Nov 2?

Not if we have anything to do with it. And we aim to.

A Call From the Heartland- Drive Out The Bush Regime

2005-10-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

(Mega- Church of 16,000 in the Houston, Texas)

World Can’t Wait:

Living in the small town I live in, and waking up and going to a public school where religious posters hang on the walls and school officials are paid with my tax dollars to organize a Christian Fundamentalist organization on campus makes me realize everyday why driving out the Bush Regime is so important.

Everyday I walk down the halls with fellow students who have been pretty well brainwashed from early childhood to now. In my Government class, kids bend over backwards to defend George Bush, not because they necessarily agree with his policies, but because their minds have been molded to believe that anyone who opposes the Bush regime is a “baby-killer” and is “disrespecting our troops”.

I attended Elementary School in a district where once a week, the Teachers walked the students across the parking lot to a church in which they were given a fundamentalist education on everything from Creationism to Anti-Birth Control, for two hours. Of course, this wasn’t “required”, but only two other students did not attend the class, and we were ridiculed by the other students, I can recall being asked “aren’t you afraid of going to hell?”

Talking to some of these people is really frightening. You can tell when anything critical of the extreme right-wing fascism they believe is brought up, they simply stop listening. They take the idea of “blind faith” to the extreme. I remember bringing up evolution with one kid, and he immediately put his hands over his ears, started moving his head back and forward and repeating “There is nothing you can say to get me to believe this…there is nothing you can say to get me believe this…”

There are a lot of students who don’t go along with this, but they know if they speak up there are lots of consequences. I can recall having Teachers scream at me and tell me I was “un-American” because I opposed the Iraq War. When I dared to bring up the evil things promoted in the Bible such as killing children who are disrespectful to their parents, one student responded by screaming “you are going to hell!”

This is the Bush plan for the schools of America. Change them from places where diverse ideas can be discussed, and diversity is respected, to training grounds for their new American Taliban, where every child is raised to believe that daring the question the strict fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible is a ticket to eternal damnation, so the best thing to do is simply to do as you are told and obey those in power.

I’m not going to let George Bush and Pat Robertson get away with this.

DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!
Carl Miller, a youth from the Heartland

Note: Feel free to foward, post and use this letter.

Eyewitness Account and Lessons from Hunter College Arrests

2005-10-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Oct. 18, Hunter College, a popular liberal arts college in Manhattan, was buzzing about the question of torture. Five youth from the NYC chapter of The World Can’t Wait and the NYC Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade dressed in orange jump suits and put black hoods over their heads, and knelt in a cluster in the hallway right outside the cafeteria - where several buildings intersect and hundreds can congregate within minutes. It was a startling and powerful sight - the anonymous, faceless men we’ve seen in photos for two years were now right in front of us, asking us, if we don’t like the fact that our country tortures, why do we accept it through our silence and inaction. One of the ‘victims’ would walk around, asking people to grab the dog leash that was around his neck - telling them, “George Bush says I’m a bad guy. Do you believe him? Do you feel better that I’m in Guantanamo? Do you want to be holding the leash? Because, as long as you do nothing, you’re holding the leash. They’re raping me and torturing me! What are you going to do?!” The idea was to challenge people with what it means to people, in real terms, to say, “we can/must wait three more years” - it means, “we can tolerate these horrific, dehumanizing actions of our government”.

We had done this twice before at this same campus, but this time was very different. As the security guards came to stop the youth, one of them grabbed the leashes of three of the guys, and pulled them together - causing some students to laugh, and others to cringe. The room was sharply divided - with some saying we were interrupting their day, and others - the majority, in fact - who were stunned and felt confronted and challenged, in a good way - and then others who verbally supported us. As the guards attempted to arrest people, and the crowd saw that people protesting torture were themselves being physically assaulted -with the guards picking people up by their arms, trying to drag people, threatening to break one youth’s arms - and as they saw that the youths themselves were not going to go quietly - it became clear that the crowd of 200-300 were upset and wanted to do something, but were unsure what.

WCW organizers in the crowd were calling on people to intervene, and a chant went up of, “Let them go!” and “Torturers!” - especially after one of the guards, very visibly, punched one of the youths in the groin - while he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and being carried out! People in the crowd were crying, they were so upset. One young woman, who had at first, was like, “Who? Me? Do something?” was particularly outraged and filed a complaint with the school, documenting the sexual nature of the abuse. Once they had all been dragged out, a portion of the crowd stayed around debating what had just happened, and whether they should be “dropping out of school” to do “what’s right”. We also learned the next day, when we approached professors, that they had already heard about it from students who came to class wanting to discuss it.

The youths were all charged with misdemeanors - though two were singled out and charged with felonies at first, and the action was covered by the Associated Press, whose story was picked up by Newsday, 1010 WINS (the radio station with the largest audience), CBS, NBC, and the free Metro - and all kinds of people were saying they had heard about it, and had heard about Nov 2!

**************
11 Days until Nov.2; the Beginning of the End of the Bush Regime. We can not rest content with the explosive actions at Hunter and allow them to subside into the margins. We must forge what we have tapped into with these bold actions into an organized resistance movement with crews of students going all- out day and night making Nov.2nd a burning question at school and transforming the political terrain on campuses; but for what? Why? TO DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME.

Student Group Endorsers/ Sunsara Taylor's Speaking Schedule In California

2005-10-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

Student Groups who have officially endorsed the World Can’t Wait Call and Nov.2nd

Please send your group’s endorsement to youth_students@worldcantwait.org. Specify whether it is a Chapter or National endorsement.

Beacon High School
New York-SOS Students Organizing Students
Mt.Holyoke
Student Coalition for Action
NYU
Voices for Choice
Ohio University
Positive Action
Inneract
Students for Peace and Justice
Paideia High School
Atlanta P.A.I.N
Sarah Lawrence
Flux
Daniel Casper, President of the Ammnesty International Chapter
Sarah Lawerence Human Rights Coalition
Shoreline Community College Seattle
Hip Hop Elements
Black Student Union
Muslim Student Union
Hong Kong Student Unioin
U of Illinois at Chicago
SWORDS- Students Without Religious Dogma

Professors

Leigh Raiford
Department of African American Studies
University of California at Berkeley

***********
Sunsara Taylor’s Speaking Tour Schedule- California

Oct. 24th
U of California- Berkeley
Wheeler Hall Room 110 4:00 P.M

Oct. 25th
University of Southern California
Place and TBA soon.

A Message from the Black Law Students Association at Columbia U

2005-10-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

A Message From The Black Law Students Association at Columbia University

The people of New Orleans lived in a place where a natural disaster was expected to strike. For years the federal government knew that the city would be flooded if it was hit by a Category 3 or larger hurricane. Last month that day came. The local leaders did the only thing they could- order everyone to evacuate to avoid the catastrophic loss of life and human suffering that would result from Katrina.

But some were left behind, because they had no means to flee or no where to go or no money to pay for shelter and food while they waited until it was safe to return. The only man in the nation who had the authority, power, and resources to quickly and efficiently bring these people and their families to safety was in the next state …on vacation.

Only once it is too late to act, too late to save those who could not save themselves- he comes to survey the damage.

President Bush chose to let the chips fall where they may for the poor in New Orleans. The self appointed evaluator of the fitness of others to rule their nations sat by and let only God knows how many die. Had this happened in Iran, there is no doubt he would have been planning “Operation Irani Freedom” the next day. There would have been no end to the outraged speeches on morality and human rights emanating from the White House. Yet there have been no apologies from George W. Bush to those he abandoned, only entreaties that we not “play the blame game.”

There is no game to be played here. Instead of acting when he heard there was imminent danger to American citizens, President Bush stayed on his Texas ranch and only deigned to cut his vacation short when the outcry and criticism by elected officials, the press, and the public at his lack of response became so overwhelming that he could no longer sit back and watch. The outcry peaked unexpectedly on a live NBC telecast when rap star Kanye West emotionally declared “it's been five days ...America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible.”

However, the crime of omission happened long before that sentiment was uttered. We have witnessed what is likely the biggest avoidable disaster in U.S. history. Ironically, the very people Bush allowed to die in the floodwaters in New Orleans are the parents and grandparents of those he sends to die in the deserts of Iraq. Out of this disaster, he said, we as Americans could begin a “dialog” on race and poverty issues. As we all know that dialog has yet to be started. In a nation that has proclaimed that all men are created equal and that liberty and justice stand above all else, what happened to the poor in the Gulf Coast cannot be tolerated or ever allowed to happen again.

On Wednesday, November 2, 2005 there will be a nationwide student walk-out to show our President that this type of callous disregard for the welfare of the poor is unacceptable. We hope that other students at Columbia University will heed the call for action and join the protest.

contact: nyc@worldcantwait.org
212.969.0772

Try this on your campus and beyond (Instructional Video)

2005-10-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

Check out the instructional video at
www.worldcantwait.org/media/

Campuses this has been done at: NYU, Hunter College, University of Illinois - Chicago, Berkeley, UCLA, U Of Wisconsin-Madison, U of Texas-Austin,
Arrests so far: 9

There is a huge contradiction in society. On campuses especially, many have taken a stand by campaigning or protesting against Bush, but have then returned to life as usual and resigned themselves to the idea that they have done all they can. We get a good response every where we go, but still far too few are taking the reigns and acting in a way that can actually prevent Bush's program from being bolted into place permanently and around the world.

The truth of the sentence, “That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn - or be forced - to accept,” is being born out.

Despite their better intentions, people all around us are learning to accept the unconscionable, learning to turn the page on the photos of torture, learning to count down the days to the end of Roe V. Wade, learning to open their backpacks up to hysteria-driven police searches, learning to “watch what they say” in class rooms, learning to protest only in police pens, if at all.

The logic of “not offending” anyone, and of “not making waves” is a guarantee that we will land in the full fascist nightmare of Bush's new Rome. People need to be snapped out of their paralysis, woken the fuck up, and given a way to really affect the enormity of what we are confronting.

To this end, we have made this instructional video to show how we can do this. The point is to challenge students with the reality of what it means that “Your Government is openly torturing people and justifying it.” And that unless you are throwing in everything you've got to drive out this criminal regime, you are learning to accept this.

An interesting note, as you will see, even for those of us producing this video, the experience of being confronted with the responsibility we all have for this country becoming a nation of torturers was very sobering and made us uncomfortable. This is the point. People don't want to be responsible for these heinous cruelties, but they need to know that just wanting it to stop is not enough, every time you look away, or walk away, or turn the page, or refuse to challenge others, or get “too busy” with schoolwork to organize, you are holding the leash. The fact that “everyone else is” going about their daily lives too only makes it worse!

The idea is to destroy people's ability to separate themselve from what is being done in their names, to break them out of their “normal routine,” and hook them up with the only way out - taking on and driving out the criminal regime forcing this on the world. This will take struggle, sacrifice, bravery, and disruption of our own and other's routines - but when torture becomes routine, this is the only moral and sane way to live. All out for November 2nd!

Some important instructions:

1) The “torture victim” must stay in character the whole time. This includes staying “in costume”; you can't take the hood on and off. And importantly, this means you need to act and talk like a “torture victim”- don't start giving political speeches, and don't turn into an organizer. You can compare the answers that people say to you against the weight of your experience. There should be others in the crowd and at a table nearby getting the crowd organized after they have been shocked by the reality of what their government is doing.

2) The “torture victim” has to really engage people in a very personal and challenging way. This has to not just be a rant, but a way to reach inside people's souls. You know people are agonizing over this, and you want to reach that part of them. You need to get a lot of back and forth going between yourself and the crowd, as well as creating a whole scene around you, where students are gathering to see what's going on and debating it out amongst each other. It is important to tell people to “take the leash” and respond to their response. First, you may need to challenge people to take the leash- “it's okay, your government does it all the time. You won't get in trouble. Doesn't it make you feel safe? Aren't you patriotic?” Then, if they refuse the leash, say things like- “I know, you like to think you're not holding it - its set up that way. But you are, every time you turn the page from the pictures of me, every day you walk around and I am here - you're holding it. Go ahead, see how it feels in your hand. You might like it, part of you seems to, every day you get more use to being part of a nation of torturers - I bet some days you don't even think about it at all, do you?” You have to take control of the conversation, think on your feet, and keep challenging people with the horrible reality they are accepting.

3) The element of surprise is really important for this. The whole point is to jolt people out of their daily routine and show them the daily routine forced on the Iraqi people. You need to do this once and do this well on campus. And run with it- get students to take you into their classes. This should be what everyone is talking about that night, with some becoming organizers, some arguing “that was going to far”, etc., but no one sitting on the sidelines anymore.

Media Coverage of Hunter College Arrests

2005-10-18T16:39:00.000-07:00

( photo credit AP)

In ongoing news on the Hunter College arrests the story was picked up from the Associated Press by Yahoo News, 1010 WINS ( largest NY radio news station) and New York News Day. There will be a Press Conference tommorow Wends. October 19th at 10:00 A.m at Hunter Hall ( across from Radio Shack), 68th and Lexington to not accept this attack on political dissent and demmand that these charges be dropped immediately ( incuding felony charges of rioting).

The Hunter Officer in the blue jacket threatened to break one of the arrestees arms and punched a protester in the crotch.

Five Arrested at Hunter College War Protest

Oct 18, 2005 3:37 pm US/Eastern(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK)

Five young men wearing hoods and orange jumpsuits were arrested at Hunter College on Tuesday in a protest of conditions at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay detention camps.

Shouting "They're raping me! They're torturing me! Please do something! Don't just go to class," the five knelt on the floor with leashes around their necks, evoking photos of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib camp in Iraq, before being handcuffed and dragged away by campus police.

The protest in a third-floor student commons area of the Manhattan campus was part of an effort to drum up support for a nationwide day of protest against the war in Iraq on Nov. 2."If there isn't a movement that's resisting these outrages, this is not going to change," said Ati Lagos, an organizer of the protest, who said she was with an organization called The World Can't Wait.

Louis Mader, director of the public safety for Hunter, part of the City University of New York system, said the demonstrators would be given desk appearance tickets and released."This space is by permit only," he said. "These individuals had no permit."

Some students who watched the guerrilla theater unfold were supportive while others were puzzled."I think it's great that they're doing this," said freshman Eileen Woie. "People need to know."But sophomore Jason Balroop said, "It's a distraction. We all have class. I have to take a test right now."

(check this site for an Instructional Video on Torture Dramatization)

http://youthdriveoutbush.blogspot.com/2005/10/try-this-on-your-campus-and-beyond_15.html

Dear Jason Balroop: Fuck Your Exam

2005-10-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Sophomore Jason Balroop said, "It's a distraction. We all have class. I have to take a test right now."

Dear Jason Balroop,

Fuck your Exam

Sincerely,
Allen Lang

-excerpt from AP article on the the World Can't Wait Hunter arrests-

Some students who watched the guerrilla theater unfold were supportive while others were puzzled."I think it's great that they're doing this," said freshman Eileen Woie. "People need to know."

But sophomore Jason Balroop said, "It's a distraction. We all have class. I have to take a test right now."

http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_291153903.html

Schedule for Sunsara Taylor's Speaking Events in the Midwest

2005-10-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

Schedule for Sunsara Taylor's Speaking Events in the MidWest

Wisconsin
Oct. 19th Wends.
5 P.M
University of Wisconsin- Madison
b102 Van Vleck

Chicago
Oct.20th Thurs.

12:15 P.M
Harper College
Building J Room 160

6 P.M
University of Chicago
Harold Leonard Stuart Hall 5835 South Greenwood Avenue
Rm. 102

Oct.21 Friday
6:00 P.M
Columbia College
Hoken Hall

Schedule For California ( details tba check site for updates)

Oct. 24 Monday
Berkeley

Oct. 25th Tues.
L.a

Please go to http://www.worldcantwait.org/media/

To hear Sunsara Taylor's speech at the World Can't Wait conference.

10 Day Count Down at Mt Holyoke

2005-10-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

10 DAY COUNTDOWN !

Protest of the Minute Men Convention outside of Chicago

At Mt. Holyoke starting Oct 23 will be the 10 day countdown to Nov. 2nd. We will have a room that will function as an organizing center. Each day will have a theme- No theocracy, No forced motherhood, No suppression of science, No environmental degradation, No repression, No Detentions and round -ups, No War, No torture, No Intolerance each day there will be banner drops etc advertising the theme and countdown. The days will include actions in accordance of the theme- teach-ins, documentary showings, open-mics, discussions etc..

In addition there will be a sign-up/pledge table
-possibly dorm competition, sale of materials....

Running up to the 10 Day countdown there will be daily Visual Saturation, guerilla theatre including one centered around the Torture Victim ( see Instructional Video on Youth page)and announcing the 2nd at the Howard Zinn Speaking Event
****************************************************8

NOV 2nd Plans for the Mt.Holyoke/5 College area. Check Nov. 2nd Link for November 2nd Plans in your area. If there are no plans, it’s on you to make them and begin mobilizing for the 2nd.

Specific to MHC- 10:30am Walk-Out converge at SKINNER
GREEN snake march through buildings around campus
calling on people to JOIN US, 11:20 storm PVTA/
carloads go to amherst

MASS ALL SCHOOL CONVERGENCE!!
NOON at Amherst center rt 116 side
music, theatre, art, admist bold audacious action

A Day in the Life of a Chicago WCW Youth Organizer

2005-10-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

A Day in the Life of a Chicago WCW Youth Organizer

The 3 Week Countdown

6:30am (yes, AM)- Wake up, put on your Resist or Die Shirt, brush your teeth, get some OJ and a bagel and OUT THE DOOR

7am- Arrive at a high school (a different one each day). Meet up with the crew of 5 people (or usually many of you’ve all come together because you’re all crashing at each other’s places anyway.) One person gets on the bullhorn doing agitation, two collecting contacts, and two handing out flyers. Getting out stickers. Calling for leaders to step forward in a movement that won’t stop till Bush crew is driven out. Specifically, vision of Nov. 2- as this happens all over the country, asking who will lead a walkout at this school that will join with thousands downtown at noon on November 2? Asking what time are you walking out? How will you get downtown? What other schools might you march by or through, pulling out other students? Calling for a meeting right after school at a fast food joint across the street. (A flyer for the meeting is made from a template the night before, where we just write in the specifics for that high school and run off about 100 copies.) We send in s! tacks of flyers, including the flyer for the meeting, and stickers.

8am- Banner drop over the expressway.

9am- Arrive at a college. Bold actions- busting into classrooms, someone dressed up like an Abu Ghraib torture victim, etc. Agitation in the quad in a similar fashion to the high school model, but usually there’s more time for talking and struggling with people on the spot around “what time it is in world history” and what’s really called for to bring into being a different future than the Bush regime’s.

Noon- Busting into the cafeterias, making announcements. Some people in the crew don’t have WCW t-shirts so when we get kicked out, they might be able to stay under the radar and get down with people, bringing forward some organizers.

2:30pm- After school meeting at the high school.to solidify the vision of November 2 and make some concrete plans of how we’re going to do this. Who’s talking to what student group? Who’s going to the school newspaper? Where can we leave flyers for people to pick up? How do we get the specifics for the campus on that flyer? (Note: one high school decided specifically to spread the details by word of mouth to avert repression.) How will we stay in contact?

5pm- Meeting on college campus. Similar model to high schools but more complexities, scale to deal with.

6pm- Making pitches at student organization meetings around the city to take up WCW. Also, hooking up at the same apartment every night (so we can plug in others) to follow up with contacts, see how things are going at different campuses, make plans, etc. Dinner.

8:30pm- Going out on the town. Picking different parts of the city each night (sometimes strategically linked to where we’re going the next day) and getting out posters, stickers, flyers.

2am- Pass out- until the next high school!

This is the approach we’re fighting for. If we aren’t fighting like hell for November 2, it ain’t gonna happen. Now that doesn’t mean every single person is doing every single thing every single day. And in between all this we’re doing all kinds of stuff like emailing and calling people, meeting with individuals, etc. But this is the basic schedule and we think it’s the only thing that measures up to what’s needed at this time. We are far behind where we need to be and can be right now but there is tremendous basis to turn things up right away. We’re trying to turn the fact that we only have three weeks into a real positive- it brings November 2nd and the need to step up right away into reality. We’re honest with people about being behind in our efforts and put it in their hands that we need to be on other campuses, they need to take this up here right away. And people are really responding and stepping forward. More on that to come.

Resist Or Die! No School Nov 2nd

2005-10-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

RESIST OR DIE! No School Nov. 2!

For all of the youth brought into political life last November because they recognized there were extreme dangers for the world if the Bush Regime continued it's disastrous course, for all those who were left vexed and contemplating what next on November 3rd; now is not the time to lose more ground to Bush's onslaught--now is the time to organize for a movement that seeks to drive the Bush Regime from power and reverse the direction society has been taking. This is the way-the only way-to respond on a level commensurate with this situation, to reach the hearts of millions who are deeply anxious and outraged, and to break the grip of current "political alternatives" that are so suffocating and paralyzing.

We face the real life prospects of a future where it is illegal to refuse to serve in their foreign wars of plunder, where critical thinking and science are cut out of the education system, where U.S. military occupies parts of cities to institute forms of martial law and where women are forced into dangerous " back-alley abortions". This is real. This is the future our generation faces if we do not Resist and pour our energies into driving out this regime.

Resist Or Die can capture people's attention and allows youth to take a bold stand against the naysayers and "play-it-safe" forces that are urging us to sit on our hands until 2008.

Take part in making RESIST OR DIE a household slogan and bringing the powerful message RESIST OR DIE into every corner of youth culture:

* Download the Resist or Die template to make flyers and stickers or order Resist Or Die stickers from the National Website to use and distribute at your school, neighborhood, downtown areas and cultural events. Plan with others how to raise money to get a roll of stickers for this. Stickers will be key in creating a buzz in building for November 2nd. (available soon!)

* T Shirts let people know what's happening. Shirts with the Resist Or Die slogan need to be common throughout society especially among young people. Ordering one for your self is great but we need much more than that. Is there a store or vendor in your area that would carry Resist Or Die T shirts? Do you or any of your friends perform music at shows and could include Resist Or Die T Shirts on the merchandise table? Brainstorm about how else we can utilize the Resist or Die shirt. You can download this .eps file and take it to a t-shirt printer to have shirts made or order them from the national office.

Bring the Speaking Tour To Your Campus

2005-10-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

Campuses the Tour has hit: Ithaca, Kent State, Ohio University, Brandeis University, Harvard, Oberlin, University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, Columbia College, Univeristy of Chicago, Harper Community College, Hamphshire, Mt Holyoke, UCAL- Berkeley, USC, Pitzer

Sunsara Taylor Speaking Event

U of California -Berkeley
Monday Oct 24th 4:00 P.m
Wheeler Hall 110

L.A USC
Tuesday Oct 25th, 12:15pm
RGL Room 101

Pitzer College
Tues Oct 25th 4 P.M
Avery Auditorium

World Can't Wait CAMPUS SPEAKING TOUR

We are sending speakers across the country to transform campuses into centers of resistance. The tour will feature people capable of firing a crowd, a living room gathering, a bored classroom, an open-mic audience, with the vision of how we can drive out this regime, the possibilities for the world once we do, and the peril if we sleep on this one day longer... Start something. Contact us about sending someone out. Our speakers are also available by phone for your campus radio station. Put us in touch with the Djs directly.

*Hear speakers that will take apart the whole direction the Bush Regime has taken; from the suppression of science and critical thinking, to their murderous rampage in Iraq, to their brutal program of making women second-class citizens and reinstituting a horrific morality throughout society

*Meet the leaders of a new generation that will not hesitate for one moment to call out the crimes of this Regime

*Strategize how to mobilize and kick things off in a major way for Nov. 2nd in your area

*The indispensable role of students and youth in Driving Out the Bush Regime

Campuses the Tour has hit: Ithaca, Ohio University, Kent State, Brandeis University,Harvard, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Oberlin

SPEAKERS AVAILABLE NOW:
*Sunsara Taylor, an initiator of World Can't Wait, has traveled the country and written extensively about the growing danger of Christian fascism in this country, including reporting live from Terri Schiavo's hospice in Florida and Justice Sunday I in Louisville. She is described by the New York Times as "a slight and intense young woman" who "protests by day and turns poet and dreamer by night." In the past year, Taylor has emerged as an important voice of a new generation rediscovering communism and the possibility of revolution, as re-envisioned by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Taylor, who can go head to head with Biblical literalists and raving right-wing radio jocks, has appeared on Fox's Hannity & Combs and Fox News, Laura Flander's Show on Air America, 1010 Wins, NY1, CNN, in The New York Times, Amsterdam News, numerous college radio programs and other media outlets. She is a contributing writer for Revolution newspaper.

*RJ Schinner is a National Student/Youth organizer with The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime. He came from Cleveland, OH to the organizers conference, and stayed in New York to fulfill a great need. RJ has been an organizer with the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade for several years, and led high school walk-outs and protests against the Iraq war in 2003 in Cleveland. He has spoken at campuses, conferences, forums, and rallies in Ohio on a wide range of topics and is known for a quick ability to come up with catchy and powerful chants on the spot and a beat-red face while agitating on a bullhorn. Notably, RJ got a mention on frontpagemag.com for disrupting a speech by David Horowitz at Bowling Green State University. If you want someone to unabashedly call out the status quo and challenge students and youth to change their lives and change the world, bring RJ to your campus.

*Allen Lang is the National Student and Youth Coordinator for The World Can't Wait! Drive Out The Bush Regime. Allen got his start as a political organizer after witnessing the horrors that suffocate millions of sweatshop workers in the 3rd World and being inspired by the anti-Globalization movement that burst on to the scene during the 1999 Seattle/ IMF protests. As a member of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, he led student walkouts and demonstrations protesting the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and was part of shutting down a military recruitment center during the March 5th 2003 Moratorium To Stop the War. After visiting the West Bank of Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement in 2002, he organized an East Coast Speaking Tour. He leads workshops to stop military recruitment in high schools and has organized progressive film festivals in Utah and Philadelphia.

What Can You Do:

*Organize teachers, professors and student organizations to sponsor the speaking tour at your school.

*Talk with bands about bringing on a speaker to make an announcement for Nov. 2nd at their show.
*Contact us funds needed for the tour to come to your town. We'll help you figure out a plan to raise the money.

*Contact us to make a date.

Dont Be a Bystander: High School Students are getting in the Driver's Seat

2005-10-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

Don’t Be a Bystander: High school students are getting in the driver’s seat
RJ Schinner
10/05/05

“If you feel and know something is wrong, you need to speak up. You can’t just be a bystander, or it will get worse. Not just for yourself, but for people in the future.”
-student at Beacon High School, NYC

High school students across the country, from the South Bronx to Springfield, Missouri to Berkeley are gearing up for walk-outs and protests on Nov. 2nd. It stands out how these youth are taking this up with the spirit captured in the above quote: that we cannot accept the future as it is shaping up under Bush.

From Under Surveillance to Out on the Streets: Dewitt Clinton High

Some are directly facing the latest police state measures on the road towards fascism. Students at Dewitt Clinton High in the South Bronx are now forced through metal detectors in the morning, locked inside an overcrowded school all day (built for 2-3 thousand, now with a student body of 5,000), and instead of having adequate teachers and books, getting harassed and sometimes attacked by increasing numbers of police, inside and outside of school. As one student remarked, “there’s more police than teachers,” and (the police) “treat us like animals.” Rather than accept going to what looked more like a prison than a school, 1,500 students walked out on Sept. 19th, took to the streets, and marched on the school board, demanding an end to this repressive environment. These are the youth who are treated like “criminals,” who by and large are offered no future but prison, the military, or hustling to survive, and they are setting a powerful example of defiance and refusing to be treated this way.

There are some important lessons from this advanced experience. First, how this walk-out started: while everyone at the school were outraged by the police state conditions, most were hesitant to do anything about it. This all changed when one student stood outside in protest one morning, and after a few hours, as others got fed up of waiting in line to be searched and criminalized through metal detectors, was joined by 1,500. As one student put it, “unless we who have the guts and passion stand up, others won’t join up with us.”

Second, taking this action also showed these students the potential power they have. These are youth who are constantly told they are worthless and discarded by a rotten education system which holds out no future. But when these youth stood up, this galvanized support from others and put a check on the powers-that-be.

And third, taking part in this outpouring of resistance got these youth thirsty for a deeper understanding of what are the problems and solutions to the problems humanity faces, and how to continue the struggle. One student described seeing people she thought were apathetic before digging into World Can’t Wait fliers and copies of Revolution newspaper. These youth are not only concerned about the repression they face at their school, but are making the connections between this and the other outrages in society (like the mass murder committed by the Bush regime in New Orleans), and gearing up for walk-outs and protests on Nov. 2nd.

Spreading the Spirit

What’s going down at Dewitt is a particularly inspiring example, but there’s a lot more shaking at high schools across the country. One student described the scene at his school in a progressive middle class suburb of Chicago when he was joined by World Can’t Wait student organizers after school:

“As students poured out of the front door at 3:25pm, they were greeted by calls over a bull horn and a mass of flyers. In only a few minutes the entire crowd had become polarized, most cheering on the WCW, a few yelling at them. Friends took different sides of the debate; exposing the underlying outrage and worry over this regime. Students poured over the organizers; all wanting a flyer and to sign up. The one problem that we then faced was the security at my school. They falsely stated that the public school was private property and that they could not be there. Most of the crowd was yelling for us to continue, and people continued to sign up and grab flyers. Eventually we were forced by the security and police across the street, but much of the crowd followed. Over the next half an hour or so we continued to sign people up, talk to students, and get out the call. Often we would arrive at a group of students only to find that others had beaten us there and had already gotten around the call. Even with the setback of being kicked off the school in only a few minutes, we received tons of support, got around hundreds of copies of the call, received dozens of signatures, and made a lasting impact on the student body.”

This infectious defiance is beginning to spread. One good example of breaking through boundaries was when some students at Beacon High, a mostly white middle class progressive school in NYC, held an impromptu march to nearby LaGuardia High (a multi-national arts school) and MLK high (which has a mostly Black student population and resembles a prison more than a school). The youth from Beacon got out fliers to and made connections with others. This was a good first step at breaking through these barriers, especially as at Beacon, students are always told to avoid the “dangerous” MLK students, but there’s lots more work to done on this, and what better way to do it than building a youth movement to drive out the Bush regime.

(As a side note here, I was talking with a friend recently, and it hit us that there’s all these high schools across the country named after Martin Luther King, Jr., and all of them are virtually all-Black and receive some of the worst funding and resources for education. Here they are naming these schools “MLK” in an attempt to show “how far we’ve come” in breaking down segregation, yet these same schools are the most stunning examples of segregation and the continued oppression of Black people. People should check out Jonathon Kozol’s new book, Shame of the Nation for a stunning look into just what terrible condition public schools are in for the poor and oppressed nationalities.)

This example of spreading the movement from school to school is one dynamic we need to get going even more. Beyond doing this directly, it’s been striking how quickly word of mouth, fliers, stickers, and “Resist or Die” T-shirts have gotten the word around. We are now hearing about schools we have no direct connection to beginning to organize walk-outs. And we are getting a steady stream of emails from students in random cities and small towns across the country that are organizing for Nov. 2nd.

A Frightening Future

“Bush isn't only waging an illegitimate war, but is UNRAVELING THE SOCIAL CONDITIONS that we won through protest in the 60s and 70s… This country is being led by a few thousand Christian Fascists, and if we do not begin to oppose them RIGHT NOW, then they can be sure that whoever comes after Bush will be worst.”

-student at New Trier High in a Chicago suburb

“Global warming is not something you can easily reverse and undo.”

-student at Berkeley High

As the above comments from high school students suggest, many are confronting the realities around them and not wanting to live in a world like this. These youth were outraged to see people left to die in New Orleans, and the callous and criminal neglect on the part of the Bush regime. They watch as Iraqis are murdered, and threats are made to invade more countries, and their generation is expected to carry out these atrocities. They are lied to and fooled by military recruiters who now attempt to lure them in with video games (if the blatant lies don’t work), and those who aren’t fooled fear a draft. Young women see the right to choose in the crosshairs, and don’t want a fate of forced motherhood. This generation takes a look outside and sees the vast and widening disparity between those people at the top of the food chain and those cast off as worthless, who receive no access to resources, education, healthcare, or jobs. And the implications of this deadly path for the future are horrific.

To anyone who cares about the planet and its people, all this is unacceptable. And for these youth, who are looking at all this with fresh eyes, and have not yet completed the conditioning process for acceptance and aquiecence, the only thing that makes sense is to resist all this. This stand outs in contrast to the many rationalizations out there – “now that he got elected, we just have to deal with it” or “it’s not really that bad” or “this is just the way the world is” – rationalizations that only serve to accept this nightmare.

The “Resist or Die” slogan has resonated with this generation, because this is the reality they are confronting.

Getting Ready for Nov. 2nd

While there is a lot of enthusiasm for Nov. 2nd, it is also the case that student walk-outs won’t happen without a lot of struggle. Youth who are organizing in the high schools describe how there is a constant battle against not just apathy but getting youth to take a risk and be part of the resistance. Youth have been bombarded with a constant message that they are worthless, don’t know enough to have an opinion, and can’t effect anything. It’s striking how the very education system, and overall political structures in society actually reinforce this- from the schools that, despite many teacher’s best efforts, don’t teach much, and are now having fundamentalist Christianity shoved into the discourse, to the political processes that keeps people on the sidelines as bystanders. In contrast to this, when youth take it upon themselves to learn the truth about the world and step out of the “political process” and act with defiance and determination, this has a big effect on the rest of society.

The high school students who are stepping forward in the movement to drive out the Bush regime not only have a developing understanding of what are the problems humanity faces and how to solve them, but are hungry to understand this more fully. These youth are not settling for facile answers or just raw anger at how the world is, but are finding the ways to articulate their righteous anger and win over more.

One thing everyone I interviewed loved about this movement is that it invites their active and thoughtful participation, and that the leaders and organizers foster this dynamic. This is not a movement of spectators or cheerleaders, but one that depends on and is built by those who step forward to take responsibility for the future, and there is no age requirement.

Building a movement like this is part of rising to the challenges before us. There is already beginning to be debate in the high schools about whether or not to walk-out on Nov. 2nd, what the ramifications will be, and whether it is worth it. Those who are stepping forward first have a big responsibility to engage this debate and win over the millions who can make history. Through our actions and our words, we need to be setting a standard to follow and continually challenging those who are still on the fence. And there must be a huge buzz about Nov. 2nd and big momentum building up to the day that is the beginning of the end of the Bush regime. And while the youth are stepping to the forefront of this movement, their parents, teachers, and others need to step forward in support and as part of this movement, not allowing the most defiant to be isolated and crushed by intimidation, police batons, or punishment.

All the risks youth are taking to drive out this regime are well worth it, and stand out in sharp contrast to the ethos promoted in this society: to concern yourself solely with your own future (in some “me-first” and careerist way). These youth are developing a whole new model for how to live your life, and this is something everyone, including all those who are jaded or cynical about the prospects for resistance, should take inspiration from.

Finally, on thing that struck me in interviewing youth for this article is that when I asked “what kind of world do you want to live?”, this was the first time they had ever been asked this. So it took a second to put their thoughts together, but when they did, they had quite a clear view of many of the heavy burdens on people that could be easily solved in a different society. And while it’s clear that growing up in this society has put blinders on people’s ability to envision a better future, being part of this resistance and beginning to ask these questions is enabling these youth to dream about how the world should be, and what it will take to get there.

A shout-out to everyone who I interviewed for this article, and to all the youth who “can’t just be a bystander.” If you’re organizing a walk-out at your school Nov. 2nd, or are trying to figure out how to, email youth_students@worldcantwait.org

From A Student at Columbia

2005-10-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

From a student at Columbia University...

Imagine that you live in a place where a natural disaster is expected to strike. The local leaders order everyone to evacuate to avoid the catastrophic loss of life and human suffering that will result.

Now imagine that you are left behind: because you had no means to flee or you had no where to go or you did not have the money to pay for shelter and food while you waited until it was safe to return. The only man in the nation who has the authority, power, and resources to quickly and efficiently bring you, your family, and all others in your predicament to safety is in the next state …on vacation.

Only once it is too late to act, too late to save those who could not save themselves- he comes to survey the damage.

President Bush chose to let the chips fall where they may for the poor in New Orleans. The self appointed evaluator of the fitness of others to rule their nations sat by and let only God knows how many die. Had this happened in Iran, there is no doubt he would have been planning “Operation Irani Freedom” the next day. There would have been no end to the outraged speeches on morality and human rights emanating from the White House. Yet there have been no apologies from George W. Bush, no acceptance of responsibility, only entreaties that we not “play the blame game.”

There is no game to be played here. Instead of acting when he heard there was imminent danger to American citizens, President Bush stayed on his Texas ranch and only deigned to cut his vacation short when the outcry and criticism by elected officials, the press, and the public at his lack of response became so overwhelming that he could no longer sit back and watch. The outcry peaked unexpectedly on a live NBC telecast when rap star Kanye West emotionally declared “it's been five days ...America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible.”

However, the crime of omission happened long before that sentiment was uttered. We have witnessed what is likely the biggest avoidable disaster in U.S. history. Ironically, the very people Bush allowed to die in the floodwaters in New Orleans are the parents and grandparents of those he sent to die in the deserts of Iraq.

In a nation that has proclaimed that all men are created equal, that liberty and justice stand above all else, and that it is a beacon for human rights and morality that the world should emulate, such conduct on the part of its leader cannot be tolerated.

On Wednesday, November 2, 2005 there will be a nationwide student walk out to show our President that this type of callous disregard for the welfare of the poor is unacceptable. We hope that the students at Columbia University will head the call for action and join the protest.

Bronx Students Walk Out- No School Nov 2nd

2005-10-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

RESIST OR DIE! NO SCHOOL NOV. 2nd!

Students at Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, a mostly Latino high school with about 5,000 students, organizing a walk-out for Nov. 2nd.

These youth organized a walk-out and protest at their school several weeks ago in opposition to metal detectors, a "no cell phone" rule, and a general police state atmosphere at their school. The Bush regime has a future of prison or the military for this generation, unless we resist. These youth are setting an example for others to follow: the walk-out happened because one student stood outside in protest by himself one morning, and after almost an hour, was joined by 1,500 students. They took over a major street and marched to the school administration. This is an example of the tremendous potential out there when people "refuse to be ruled this way." This kind of defiant resistance is something we urgently need right now. Youth all over the country should take inspiration from this, spread the word, and organize for Nov. 2nd.

If you're organizing a walk-out at your high school on Nov. 2nd, tell us about it so we can post a list of school walking out on the website. Send to youth_students@worldcantwait.org

Below is from an email we received:

"Hi, I just wanted to let you guys know, so that you can list this on the national site or whatever, that there will be a student walkout at Central High School in Springfield, MO on Nov 2nd. Heehee! Well, keep up the great work, guys! The whole tone and focus of this mobilization is just brilliant. RESISTANCE, not just protest - that's what I'm talking about! This mobilization has injected a whole new level of excitement into my activism, and it has given me and others I know an opportunity to TAKE REAL ACTION. Forward to Nov. 2nd, and beyond!"

Shaken Not Stirred: A Bold, Audacious Student Movement to Drive Out the Bush Regime

2005-10-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

Shaken Not Stirred: A Bold, Audacious Student Movement to Drive Out the Bush Regime

by R.J. Schinner, National Student Organizer for World Can’t Wait, youth_students@worldcantwait.org

We need to shake things up on the campuses. The fact is, people are not by and large apathetic right now. Millions have watched with horror the mass murder in New Orleans at the hands of the Bush regime, torture after bombs after lies in Iraq, and this past week hearings to appoint a fascist to preside over the Supreme Court, while the right to abortion (among other things) hangs in the balance. Millions are agonizing over all this but don’t know what to do about it. People are paralyzed. They are up against a powerful regime that doesn’t care about what people think, what is true, or what is good for the planet and its people. They have been played by a Democratic Party that works overtime not to stop any of this nightmare (in fact it is part of making it); stirring people around in circles that go nowhere, only demobilizing and preventing people from stepping out in resistance that could actually stop the Bush regime.

World Can’t Wait—Drive Out the Bush Regime is heading a different route. We are acting on what’s true, what’s right, and what the world needs. And we’re not afraid to go out and challenge people to be a part of this. If we are to break the millions who hate where the Bush regime is taking things out of this deadly paralysis, we need to shake things up in bold, creative, and determined ways that connect with and draw forward millions in resistance to drive out the Bush regime.

To this end, we are calling for and leading a student movement that will pierce the paralysis on campuses across the country. Truth generally starts off in the hands of a minority, and it is on this minority to go out and win others to understand and act on this truth. If you understand that the world really cannot wait for fascism to consolidate power in the U.S. and for further and more atrocious crimes to be committed by the Bush regime around the world, and if you understand that the only way to do this is by breaking out of the framework of relying on the Democrats to save us and taking independent historic action to drive the Bush regime from power, then you have a big responsibility on your hands. You must become an organizer, step out and shake things up, and draw forward millions in massive resistance to drive out the Bush regime.

How Can We Do This?

First, we need to keep a firm grip on the fact that this is what the world needs. That all the reality that is described in the opening paragraphs of the World Can’t Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime call about the crimes this government is committing are simply true, and need to be stopped. Some have told us we need to tone down our message or find some way to gradually convince people, instead of putting out the truth straight up and then struggling for it. For a number of reasons, this logic is not only wrong, but deadly. For one thing, we do not have time to gradually convince people, baby-step by baby-step. And furthermore, the logic of compromise and cutting to the middle only loses ground to the Bush regime and trains people in paralysis and capitulation. It must also be said that no major social change has ever happened without a minority stepping out and standing up for what’s right and true, refusing to compromise, and winning over millions. It’s time to “call a spade a spade.”

Second, we need to step out and act on this understanding even if we are at first acting alone. This means finding the ways to shake people up and show that there is a way to resist and STOP the Bush regime. This past Thursday (9/15), we put out a call for students to go out on campus in the midst the Roberts hearings with visual displays of coat hangers bearing the words “Resist or Die,” “The World Can’t Wait—Drive Out the Bush Regime,” and exposure of where society will be going with the Supreme Court of the Bush Regime (i.e. they intend to outlaw abortion, in case you haven’t noticed by the fact that people like and including Roberts have openly stated this as their goal1). Where students took this up, this shook things up on campus, stopped students in their tracks, and got people thinking about what needs to be done. This kind of action is the beginning steps of sharply bringing home the stakes for humanity right now and breaking people out of the paralysis. We need far more and far greater of this. We need to be bold, determined, and creative.

Third, we need to connect all this with the millions out there who do hate what’s going on, and desperately want a way out, and begin reaching out to those who have been fooled by Bush. But we CANNOT do this, as some have argued, by watering down our message or making reality or our resistance more palatable to the “mainstream”. And while this may offend some at first, this will also inspire and galvanize those who are looking for a way out from this nightmare. There is a basis, especially now, as the crimes of the Bush regime in New Orleans are exposed for all to see, to bring millions of people into this resistance, if we go out and challenge them to.

Fourth, we need to take on the Bush regime and its shock-troops on campuses whenever they rear their ugly head. If David Horowitz comes to your campus to advocate fascist thought police and purging progressive thought and faculty, he needs to be publicly repudiated and made to look like the bumbling fascist fool that he is, and we must make NO APOLOGIES for doing so. And all these Young Republicans and Students for Academic Freedom (sic) need to be put on the defensive, because they are not simply “expressing their views”, but are part of a well-funded and organized brown-shirt movement to impose a fascist clampdown on the campuses. Similarly, whenever some crony of the Bush regime comes to your campus to justify their crimes, they need to be publicly repudiated. When this has happened, as much as the media tries to cover this up and make people forget about it, it has a huge effect.

And fifth, we need to do all this in a way that builds strength, momentum, and organization up to November 2nd. We must take bolder and more determined actions, including making sacrifices, and spread these to campuses across the country. And we must seize on moments and places where students are ready to step out in resistance and set an example for others to follow. Beginning now, students need to write statements about why they are taking up the Call for World Can’t Wait—Dive Out the Bush Regime and what they are doing at their campus on November 2nd,, and spread these statements to other campuses. We have called for walk-outs, student strikes, and campus shut-downs. Right now,students need to call for such actions on Nov. 2nd, put this call out to everyone on their campus, welcome and enter into all the controversy and debate this will spark, and galvanize and organize students to walk out and protest on Nov. 2nd.

Build a Student Movement

Students have a big responsibility in all this. This is because they are in a key position in society to act as a catalyst for sparking resistance, exactly because students have more access to progressive and radical ideas, are not weighed down by tradition and acceptance, and are able to organize and sacrifice. This was certainly true of the 1960s, and needs to be true NOW. Just think of what it meant to the world when students shut down campuses across the country in response to the US invasion of Cambodia, risking jail, riot police, and even murder (Kent State and Jackson State) at the hands of the authorities. Think about what it meant when elite universities like Columbia and Harvard turned out determined resisters of the status quo, or when Berkeley was known as the People’s Republic of Berkeley. Just think about what it would mean now for campuses to turn into centers of resistance, refusing to stop until Bush stepped down from power, and spreading this everywhere.

Some people say that the students of the 1960s were just a bunch of spoiled rich kids who really didn’t affect anything. By “some people say,” I mean this is what the status quo that was threatened by the radical student movement has been telling us for decades in order to convince students not to do it again. The simple fact is the student movement shook up society, called forth others to resist, and lost the allegiance of a generation to the American empire, not to mention contributing to ending the war in Vietnam, winning the right to abortion, gains in the civil rights movement, and more. Ever since then, the status quo has been working overtime to reverse anything that was won through the struggle of the people in the 1960’s, and bombard us with the lie that this is the best of all possible worlds, so accept it. So let’s draw the real lessons from the 1960s—that when millions of people break from “mainstream politics” (i.e. the Democrats) and fight for what’s right, it can actually make difference—and take things further.

And while I’m on the subject, let me say a few words about “spoiled college kids.” Instead of just complaining about them or (if you’re one of them) saying “we don’t want to impose our views on others,” let’s organize students at the elite universities to change the whole direction of society and take responsibility to fight for what’s right and true. If this is not our orientation, the only thing that will be “spoiled” is our chance to drive out this horrible regime.

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Become an organizer. Send us your audacious plans for what November 2nd is going to look like on your campus. Take this challenge out to other campuses, and society as a whole. RESIST OR DIE.

youth_students@worldcantwait.org