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Click here to watch a video of the Jan. 31st rally in Washington DC. 

In demonstrations in at least 68 cities across the country Tuesday night, thousands of people answered President Bush's State of the Union address with a sharp message: the State of Union is a State of Emergency. In protests organized by the World Can't Wait(Drive Out the Bush Regime movement, people declared that they are going to bring the demand: Bush Step Down to Washington DC this coming Saturday, February 4.

Click below for the following:

- Reports From Protests Around the country, including:

[Washington DC]     [Chicago]    [Los Angeles]    [New York City]    [San Francisco]

- Statements at or about State of Emergency Protest (audio, video, and transcribed)

- GET ON THE BUS: Protest in Washington DC Saturday, Feb. 4

- Cindy Sheehan was arrested Tuesday while trying to attend the state of the union address (with a ticket she was given by a member of Congress). Here "crime": wearing a T-shirt that read "2245 Dead. How many more?".

THE STATE OF THE UNION IS A STATE OF EMERGENCY!

George W. Bush spent over the first half of his State of the Union address angrily defending his lying and bloody war in Iraq. He not only verbally attacked those who dissented from this war, he literally had Cindy Sheehan illegally arrested and jailed for wearing an antiwar tee-shirt. Bush brazenly defended his widespread and illegal wiretaps, while demanding full renewal of the fascistic Patriot Act. He crowed about getting Alito and Roberts onto the Supreme Court ( and vowed to ram through more judges just like them. He gave the back of his hand to the victims of his own actions during Hurricane Katrina. He proposed an AIDS program for Black people that would be run through his own hand-picked, government-funded churches and which would no doubt feature the same 'abstinence only,' anti-condom approach that his regime insists on for Africa ( an approach which has devastated the people in countries like Uganda. He promised even more repression for immigrants who are driven to this country to find work. He continued his attack on gay marriage. The majority of people in this country, not to mention around the world, detest this program, and there is Bush, standing up there and vowing to jam it down people's throats.

And what did the Democrats say? "We could do it better."

Three more years of this is intolerable ( and extremely dangerous, for people here and all over the world. Almost as much through his smirks and body language as his rhetoric and proposals, Bush made clear his intent to "remake society, very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come." He is not stopping. The fact that the majority of people "don't approve" of Bush has not and will not alone turn back this disastrous course. In fact, Bush used his speech to rally his hard-core followers, some of whom think he was literally "chosen by God" to run America. He intends to push forward his agenda and use his power so long as he has it ( that is the message, spoken and unspoken, of his speech. WE CANNOT RATIFY THIS BY OUR SILENCE.

But there was and there IS active, organized opposition to this. Going into the State of the Union, the Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime began to spread. It was signed and defended by people from all walks of life ( from ministers to movie stars to the parents of soldiers who died in Iraq; from writers to congresspeople to scientists; from lawyers to activists to students to those who've quit this regime in disgust; to thousands and thousands of "ordinary people." The "International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration" convened in New York in January. People like Gore Vidal, Howard Zinn, Alice Walker, Michael Ratner and others wrote essays and made statements and speeches demanding that Bush step down. There were ads and radio interviews, forums and concerts. And on the very night of the speech, thousands of people in at least 68 cities demonstrated, including thousands in some major cities, politically drowning out Bush with noise, glorious noise!

The people in the streets last night represent the majority of society, here and around the world. They represent the beginning core of a whole different dynamic in society, standing in firm and committed opposition to what Bush represents and taking responsibility to activate millions more in a movement that won't quit until he and his regime are driven from office.

Right now, urgently, that opposition must grow, by leaps and bounds. It must take much more visible and powerful form, in Washington, this Saturday. We call on everyone to volunteer in this new movement that is so urgently struggling to be born, to step out and call on others to GET ON THE BUS and GO TO D.C. this Saturday, February 4. We must, in DC this Saturday, announce to the world and to this country that there IS an opposition ( a movement that is determined and committed not to rest until the Bush regime is driven out, their program repudiated, and the entire direction of society is changed.

We can do no less.

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