"That which you do not resist and mobilize to stop you will learn – or be forced – to accept.”
To the Anti-War Movement in the United States:
Barack Obama is sending a surge of 20,000 troops to Afghanistan.
An antiwar movement that does not move immediately to oppose the Obama doctrine of shifting the central front of the war on terror to Afghanistan, no longer deserves to be called an anti-war movement.read more...
The World Can’t Wait organizes people living in the United States to repudiate and stop the fascist direction initiated by the Bush Regime, including: the murderous, unjust and illegitimate occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan; the global “war of terror” of torture, rendition and spying; and the culture of bigotry, intolerance and greed. This direction cannot and will not be reversed by leaders who tell us to seek common ground with fascists, religious fanatics, and empire. It can only be possible by the people building a community of resistance - an independent mass movement of people - acting in the interests of humanity to stop, and demand prosecution, of these crimes.
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Debra Sweet is the National Director of World Can't Wait.
The U.S. government’s case against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani who holds an advanced degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will go to the jury Monday in federal court here in New York City. I’ve been in the courtroom, and several times in the overflow room with dozens of supporters and reporters.
Even when we are only watching the trial through cameras in the overflow rooms, we are forced to give ID to enter, all to bolster the impression that Dr. Siddiqui is a dangerous terrorist, and that we are dangerous for caring what happens to her. Everyone entering the courthouse goes through airport style security screening, but to go into her trial, one must be searched again.
I am hearing from around the world, and especially Pakistan, that our protest against U.S. drone bombings was much appreciated. We got as close to CIA headquarters as we could, then marched to Dick Cheney's new house.
Drones and artificial intelligence are the weapons of choice for US investment in expanding empire and occupation. We should and will be doing a lot more visible protest of the military and CIA drone programs... (read more at debra.worldcantwait.net)
Last night, on both coasts, World Can’t Wait, Code Pink and other people of conscience demanded the prosecution of John Yoo, the principal legal architect of the justification of torture by the United States.
In Berkeley, where Yoo’s 2010 class schedule called for the first class of the semester, UC officials made the location secret, they said, because of “concerns for students’ safety.”
One might note that it would be more dangerous for a law student to be taught Constitutional law by someone who opposed international law on the subject of torture (not to mention U.S. law) than for those students to encounter advocates against torture.
Eight years ago today the Bush regime opened their detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It went on to become a notorious symbol of the torture and racism that people the world over associated with the U.S. "war on terror."
As we mark this anniversary, many people hoped Barack Obama's promise to close Guantánamo by Jan 22, 2010 would close that chapter. But there are 2 things in the way of that... (more on this and coverage on Guantánamo all week at debra.worldcantwait.net).
This week:
Protests of John Yoo on both ends of the country Tuesday, Jan. 12th! Fire, Disbar, and Prosecute War Criminal John Yoo!
John Yoo, principal author of the "torture memos" justifying the Bush torture enterprise, is on a book tour, appearing on John Stewart's show (!) Monday night.
Monday January 11 is the 8th anniversary of the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo. The emblematic symbol of the Bush regime’s “war on terror,” in which men have been openly tortured, kept in isolation, force-fed, and for years deprived of any legal respresentation or contact with the outside world, is still open.
It’s being called “Obama’s prison” now. On January 22, 2009, the new president announced that he would close Guantanamo in a year because it’s existence was a public relations nightmare for U.S. foreign policy makers. As of this week, there’s no closing date, but a vague indication it could be closed in 2011.
Last week the New York Times finally reported the story of Sami al-Hajj, who was held for seven years in Guantanamo, and then suddenly released. He was a cameraman for Al Jazeera in December 2001, taken by US forces on the border of Pakistan & Afghanistan.
He was tortured at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and eventually moved to Guantanamo. But the US never charged him with anything.
On Tuesday, December 15th, after many months of deliberation and searching the Obama administration announced its plan to transfer under 100 detainees currently held at Guantanamo detention center in Cuba to Thomson Correctional Facility in Thomson, IL.
Reports indicate that the detainees transferred will be tried under military commissions (very similar to the Bush regime trials the world criticized) and30 to 40 will be detained indefinitely.
This move on the part of the Obama administration is intended to be part of Obama's promise to close the US detention facility at Guantanamo, which symbolizes to the world a disgusting and flagrant disregard for human rights.
The need to continue tosupport this resistance movement is urgent and great.
With the help of many participants and donors, World Can't Wait has carried out protests across the country against what is presented as the "good war" in Afghanistan.
We do all this with your financial contributions, and I thank you for all that you've given. As the end of the year approaches, I'm asking you to remember this movement with a contribution (you can now use your credit card to make a tax-deductible donation).
Giving to this movement is one of the important political acts you can make right now. This is the time for moral clarity and resistance. The World Can't Wait!
Last week, thousands, -- but not tens or hundreds of thousands, or the millions needed to stop this war -- protested Obama's war surge in Afghanistan. Across the country, groups of people from Honolulu to Maine to Florida, gathered, mostly on Wednesday, to respond with anger and outrage to 30,000 more troops from the US, and others from NATO, destroying one of the poorest countries in the world.
About 300 people gathered outside the gate at West Point on December 1 to protest the escalation Obama announced, more than protested there during the Bush era. Over and over, people talked about having voted for Obama, but now being disillusioned, and really "heart broken" as Matthis Chiroux, the Iraq war resister put it. The protest was intense, as the group marched silently to the main gate of West Point. Once there, we chanted "STOP THIS WAR NOW!" and "30,000 More! What the hell FOR?"
18 people, including 4 high school students, sat in front of the gate, with 6 arrested for disorderly conduct.
What You Can Do to Protest the Stupak Amendment:Why should anti-abortion fanatics in Congress be allowed to set the terms for women's lives?
One house of Congress passed health care "reform" including the Stupak-Pitts Amendment which extends the federal ban on abortion to millions more women. Even women paying for private insurance plans with their own money will not be able to buy abortion coverage.
Theocrats who believe they are on a mission from God, advocate the subjugation of women, and think gay people should burn in hell, don't back down without a fight. Now the Senate is debating health care reform. This abortion ban cannot stand!
We need to set our own terms with widespread resistance and visible protest.
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Debra Sweet is the National Director of World Can't Wait.
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