Posted by STUDENTS AGAINST BUSH'S STUPID WAR on November 19, 2002 at 13:19:39:
John,
Thanks so much for your fantastic books--especially Over the Wall--so needed right now.
Here's what we strongly believe: "As people living in the United States it is our responsibility to resist the injustices done by our government, in our name"
In this spirit, the Not In Our Name Project is calling for a National Day of Youth &
Student Action against the juggernaut of war and repression the US government
has unleashed on the world.
On Wed, November 20th, thousands of us must take
history into our hands and do all we can to resist the unjust, immoral, and illegitimate
war that the U.S. government is planning to unleash on the people of Iraq. To go up
against all this we need a powerful movement of millions, refusing to let this war be
waged in our names, and determined to stop it from being waged at all. Students
have a special role to play in all this - throughout history it is the youth who have
always been the first to step out there and build determined resistance, inspiring and
making room for others to act.
Our campuses and high schools must become CENTERS OF RESISTANCE!
As they proclaim to the world that
the American people are united
behind this monstrous invasion of
Iraq, and try to isolate and
intimidate all those who don't agree
- we must fly GLOBE flags on our
schools' flag poles - in solidarity
with the people of the world AND
as a message to all those who are
looking to resist that they are not
alone. We must stage walkouts,
sit-ins and marches. We must hold
teach ins, wear blue triangles in
solidarity with the immigrant communities that
are being hit with round ups,
detentions and deportations.
Assemblies and debates must be held in high schools
to question what is driving the government to be so hell bent on invading Iraq.
Youth must be taking the Not In Our Name Pledge of Resistance everywhere to
strengthen our resolve and spread the Resistance. We must create a situation so the
millions of people who don't like these war plans know they are not alone and are
inspired to join the Resistance. The troops being hauled off to Iraq must question
what they're being told to do and not follow orders to massacre innocent people.
November 20th must be a big step toward making all this real.
We must do all this and more because we cannot go along with the 'new normalcy'
while the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis rest on the whim of Bush, Cheney
and Rumsfeld. We must do this because:
A US invasion of Iraq will cause the deaths of many thousands of Iraqi
people, on top of the starvation, disease and death that US backed
sanctions and bombings have already inflicted on Iraq since the Persian
Gulf War.
Bush's real aim in invading Iraq is to expand the US' global domination
and deliver a gangster style message to anyone anywhere in the world
that they better not even think about challenging the US strangle-hold on
wealth and power.
Thousands of immigrants have been subjected to interrogations and
hundreds have been rounded up, detained and deported for nothing
more than the color of their skin, the part of the world they come from
or the religion they practice. ·
Hard won civil liberties are being snatched back from the people in this
country as part of the "War on Terrorism."
If those dinosaurs in Washington have their way, our future will be one
unjust war after another and a police state clampdown for generations
to come.
The movement of Resistance to the war and the repression has taken giant strides in
the face of the beating drums of war. On Oct. 6th, 100,000 people came together in
cities across the US, and together took the Not In Our Name Pledge of Resistance
against the whole steamroller of war and repression. On Oct 26th, 200,000 people
marched in DC, San Francisco and other cities in opposition to a US invasion of Iraq.
This movement must continue to grow by leaps and bounds.
Bush has arrogantly declared that he will stop at nothing to rain death and
destruction on Iraq. Most of the Democrats in Congress rolled over and climbed
aboard Bush's war wagon. If this invasion and the whole "War On Terrorism" is
going to be stopped, people like us have got to shoulder the responsibility to stop
it.
In the 60's it was the youth who spearheaded massive movements against the
Vietnam War and in the Black liberation struggle. Throughout history, it's been
young people who have sparked movements for justice and change. This is the
challenge our generation faces: to stand with the people of the world and stop this
war and repression.
We refuse to go forward shut-eye. These Asses Of Evil have a plan for our
generation--to send us off to be cannon fodder, spilling blood for oil and global
domination. They need the rest of us to follow in complicity like faithful sheep. They
would have us believe the lies that all this is being done to protect people in this
country and 'liberate' the people of Iraq. They need our silence, demand our
subservience, and are calling on our generation to go off and fight their dirty wars
against the people of the world. We must shove this evil plan back down their
throats. And rallying large numbers of youth to act against the war and the
repression will represent a powerful advance towards doing just that.
We must be serious about this. We have to get people organizing for November
20th going from campus to campus, high-school to high-school, from city to city
spreading the word and enlisting more and more student organizations in this effort.
If we succeed, we can bring into being a future far different from the one Bush & Co.
have in store for us.
Contact Not In Our Name and start organizing today!
Send this to student groups and individuals and post this call on websites,
list-serves, e-lists.
Not in Our Name
www.notinourname.net
NO War Without Limits
NO Detentions & Round-ups
NO Police State Restrictions
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