November 2005; Photo by Fred Askew |
By Debra Sweet
For the month of September, as the eyes of the country are turned to 9/11 and people are asked to once again channel their grief into support for unending war, we are returning to the history of this movement – which has always, from the start, held that American lives are not more valuable than other human beings. Please join in helping make this message, this movement, and a better future possible, through sustaining World Can’t Wait today.
In the summer of 2005, people were starting to come out of their 6 month long depression over the outcome of the 2004 election. It was somewhat of a struggle to get people to stop blaming Bush voters, and grasp and grapple with the depravity of the Bush program, and the fact that two aggressive wars had been launched on the basis of lies.
Some of us already working to end the wars, torture, and in many other causes wrangled with the problem that, “fighting against each outrage and winning on important fronts — from immigrants rights to defending the right to due process, to defending abortion, evolution, against discrimination or to defend critical thinking on campus — is invaluable to making real change in a world that desperately needs it. But we are fighting each and every one of these battles on losing ground – ground that is rapidly disappearing under our feet.”
The Call was quickly distributed hand to hand in about a million copies nationwide starting that summer, and published in several full page newspaper ads in The New York Times, many local papers, and USA Today, with 40,000 people ultimately signing it. While it aggravated some, the points outlined in it captured what was coming down from the heights of power in a belligerent way, and moved many to act.
Over Labor Day weekend in 2005, as the waters of Katrina were covering New Orleans, 250 people gathered in New York City to found The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime. Sunsara Taylor and I chaired the discussions. We took time out to march, with about 150 more joining us, around midtown, demanding, “rescue, not repression!” for New Orleans, which set a basic approach of immediate response to government action – or inaction.
Talk to each other…
September 1-30
58 new sustainers giving a total of $1,300 monthly needed to meet operational expenses!
|
|
Goal for Number of Sustainers
|
Goal for Amount (per month) Raised
|
Let’s re-commit to this community of resistance, join it by becoming a sustainer and let’s spend the weekend talking with others about what the past 10 years have meant for the people of the world and the difference World Can’t Wait makes.
Become a sustainer in honor of those lost in the global war OF terror.
This is a weekend to call your friends & phone bank for World Can’t Wait sustenance. Curt Wechsler on why he sustains:
I did a little soul-searching about where my fixed income should go, and decided to cancel cable TV service and spend that $70/month on something meaningful. This is hardly a sacrifice, as I’ve been thinking of doing that for some time, in light of the fact that there is virtually nothing worthwhile to watch anyway. I’m clicking the "sustainer" button right now.
Hell, I may even find time to read again!
We have a donor ready to give $42/month IF we can match that by September 11! If a combination of people sign up as sustainers giving $42 collectively, we will get $84/month for the next 12 months, paying for things like this newsletter.
$32/month more needed to meet the challenge, which started Tuesday.
This will give a big boost towards meeting the goal for this weekend of $650/per month. Please sustain now.