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Bakersfield July 31st 2006
WCW Protests "In God We Trust-America" event in Bakersfield.

"Next Meeting - Iran Action Session"

Co-sponsored by World Can’t Wait-LA and the Westside Progressives, and will take place on July 12th, Noon - 3:30 PM, in Community Room A (near 3rd Floor food court) at the Westside Pavilion, 10800 W Pico Blvd, LA 90064.


Emergency Iran Forum Los Angeles 

June 25, 2008

World Can’t Wait-Los Angeles and the Westside Progressives co-sponsored an emergency Iran Forum at a community center in West Hollywood.  Out Against the War-LA, Topanga Peace Alliance, LGBT Greens, and the Union of Progressive Iranians endorsed and participated in the event.

Close to ninety people filled the room as the evening unfolded.  The first speaker, Gareth Porter, author of “Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam” laid out similarities of historical significance between the deceptive framework that this government used to justify the war in Vietnam and the more current unjustified invasion of Iraq. He drew attention to the similarities of dogmatic language used by government officials and the media as the question of Iran’s nuclear capabilities has been nationally discussed, and a case is built for the justification for an attack on Iran. Porter emphasized the need for civil dissent and debate around these issues throughout society, not discounting the effectiveness of petitioning and lobbying, but in conjunction with these things.

Larry Everest, author of “Oil Power and Empire-Iraq and the US Global Agenda”, devoted much of his presentation to explaining what the necessity is that those in the halls of power, and in the interests of imperialism and global empire, have for expansion of military invasion and pre-emptive war into Iran.  He continually underlined that this was not an electoral or a particular thrust of a particular political party in the US, but that all are part of a capitalist-imperialist system of government that is pushing its oppressive agenda on the people of the United States and hence, the world. Everest also outlined clearly the role of the US/Israel relationship, and how the media and the government portrays this, and colors public perception incorrectly; that perceived verbal threats or attacks on Israel are dangerous to the right of Israel to exist, and the US must stand by them.  He starkly outlined how the US and Israel work together to push forward US empire and hegemony in the Middle East.

The audience received both speakers with serious attentiveness.  There was enthusiastic applause from the Iranian Progressives that caught many others up into hoots and hollers of approval when Larry Everest spoke out strongly that matters of state politics and religious fundamentalism would be best addressed by the Iranian people, and not by US invasion.  He alluded to the uprising of the people of Iran against the Shah in the 80's.

The forum moved into the question and answer period of the program, and a moderator from the Westside Progressives read questions from the audience that had been collected on note cards throughout the speakers' presentations. The most often asked question was a general one of what can we do to stop this, and what are some ways to break out of the usual processes to do this?   Both speakers emphasized the need for informing others of the challenge we all face of the possibility of a terrible invasion of Iran, and the need for protest and civil dissent to avert the current trajectory.  Everest pointed out the examples as outlined in the four point plans presented by the World Can’t Wait speaker earlier in the program.

The evening ended with a smaller group discussion, after the speakers had left, and as others broke away and left, or visited materials tables and had quieter conversations there.  There was discussion about how to get the Iran Pledge, written by the WP’s and an agreement to participate in massive acts of civil resistance, out to people for signing and thus building an emergency response network to mobilize people now to stop an attack on Iran.

An organizer with the Westside Progressives offered that she was very interested in learning more about World Can’t Wait, and that even though she did not have much hope of being able to stop an attack, or even in being successful in making a dent in or stopping the Bush Program, that she would not stop resisting and acting, because she would not go down in history as being complicit in crimes.

Arrangements for a follow up strategizing meeting were made, co-sponsored by World Can’t Wait-LA and the Westside Progressives, and will take place on July 12th, Noon - 3:30 PM, in Community Room A (near 3rd Floor food court) at the Westside Pavilion, 10800 W Pico Blvd, LA 90064.

It should also be noted that a few hours before the event, Ron Kovic connected with one our organizers over the phone.  He apologized for not being able to attend, but dictated a phone message, culled from some of his writings, to the attendees, that was read to them at the beginning of the evening. It was warmly received and applauded.

Text follows:

Message to those attending the Emergency Forum on Iran in Los Angeles

Ron Kovic, Author; Born on the Fourth of July, Vietnam Veteran
June 25, 2008

"Have we become so complacent, so cowered and intimidated by this government that we have forgotten our own revolutionary birthright of rebellion and dissent?   Have we become so paralyzed by the 11th of September that we would give up our own liberty and freedom for the promise of a security that does not exist, by a government that now threatens our very lives? 

What will it take before we finally realize the true reality of the crisis?  How many more pre-emptive invasions, terrorist attacks, senseless wars, flag draped caskets, grieving mothers, paraplegics, amputees, stressed out sons and daughters, before we finally begin to break the silence of this shameful night? 

Let us open our hearts and speak in a way that we have never spoken before, knowing that lives now depend on it, and the very survival of our nation and the world is at stake.  Let not our silence in this crucial moment betray us from our destiny.

 "There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" Mario Savio

It is time to stop the war machine.  It is time for bold and daring actions on the part of us all.  Precious lives are at stake. And this government and its policies must be confronted at every turn. In every town and city across America. The days of deceiving, manipulating and victimizing the American people are over.  We have had enough!

And I strongly encourage all of you to use every means of creative non-violent civil disobedience to stop deeply immoral, illegal and reckless policy.

I stand with you in this important and courageous fight. And I am confident your actions in the days ahead will inspire countless others across our country and around the world to end this deeply illegal and immoral war."


New RATM Wears Orange Videos

Click here to watch these amazing videos or go to the Spread the Resistance - Wear Orange Daily Page on your right


WCW National Day of Resistance – Military Recruiters Off Our Campuses and Out of Our Communities
Report from Los Angeles

"May 16th - Shut Down The Recruiters!"

Friday, May 16th - 3rd period bell sounds at an East Los Angeles high school, and 75 students & several teachers are out in the main quad chalking silhouettes of their bodies all around the school pathways. (The day before they had listened to presentations by a WCW organizer which included testimony from Winter Soldier, the Declare It Now video and the waterboarding AP clip.)  This is the period before lunch-time in this school that numbers 5,000 students, and is a heavily-targeted recruitment ground for the Armed forces and the Marines. Some of the drawings are quite powerful and include outlines of children, bodies with amputated limbs, tanks and wording on number of casualties, number of suicides among U.S. servicemen, and cost tape goes up around tree trunks, and students start sporting orange flagging tape as hair bands, wrist bands, on their backpacks, etc. Four volunteers put on the orange jumpsuits and taking seriously their detainee role, remain silent, heads cast down, arms tied as they start a procession, surrounded by other students with large poster of No Torture and enlarged photos of Iraqi war casualties. The students begin to march, amidst the clamor of lunch time and a school sponsored election campaign for senior class president. But the march was cut short because school administrators stopped the march and brought students into the office for participating in an "unauthorized activity." The jumpsuits, posters, black hoods were confiscated and the teachers were told they would be returned after a conference with the school's vice-principal to be held on Monday. One of the teachers asked what the response would have been from the administration if he had requested permission to have this lunchtime procession. The administrator told him, they probably would not have authorized it. The two WCW organizers who were invited there by the teachers were escorted out of the school due to a regulation that "does not permit outside visitors from mingling with students at lunchtime without previous clearance".

The sponsoring teachers were not on hand while this was happening – coincidentally one of them had been called outside of the school to investigate a student walk-out which turned out to be false. 

 Not to be discouraged, we met up with three teachers and about eight students in the 90+ degree heat and carpooled down to the Recruitment Center.  We were later joined by a social worker, and an impeachment activist. One teacher marched into the Marine recruitment station demanding to know why the marines go after her students, challenging the marine recruiter to stand up to her, not prey on students with their lies; sending youth off to kill and die.

Teachers repeatedly asked recruiters to come to the school and debate, but the recruiters adamantly refused. One recruiter said that they fight to protect our right to protest!  Two high school students walked into army recruiting station and one of the students recognized her classmate. All of us went in to Army recruiting with our signed eviction notices talking over the recruiters heads, directly to the two students shouting, "Don't sign,  you're being sent to kill." Six recruiters came over telling us we had to leave and we demanded to know why – why can they come onto the school and yet we have no right to be there. All six came over and escorted us out. Then we noticed another student at the Marine Center next door talking to a recruiter watching a video. The marines had locked the door, so we pounded on it, using the bull horn, demanding that he stop lying to the student. One by one, the social worker, the teacher and then the students used the bull horn shouting thru the glass to the student that he had options, don't get sent off to kill and be killed, maimed, commit suicide. We chanted loudly "Don't listen to his, we want you home alive". We knew we were getting through b/c the student turned when one of the young women, took the bull horn and said "you're too cute to go to war and kill".

Both the Federal Office of Homeland Security and the local police came, and told us we "could protest", but not disrupt the military recruiter's 'place of business.' We couldn't shout into the center or obstruct pedestrian traffic. We started a picket line, led by the students, shouting "What are they recruiting for? Murder, Rape, Torture, War. -  Shut it Down, Shut it Down!"

 All during this time, many drivers honked their support. One of the chants that drew an enthusiastic response was – "Bush, cochino, marrano y asesino!" (Bush – pig, hog, and assasin). As the protest drew to a close, one of the teachers summed it up with her students: "We hit their weak spot – the recruiters called the cops b/c we were getting to them. This is the real deal – your fellow students were in there getting fed lies, all for a $2000 commission for these recruiters. This is what it means to stand up for something you believe in". The teacher later joked that the students could call her to bail them out if they land up in jail, but she may be in the cell next to them. This was the same teacher that told her students, that one of the reasons why their high school walked out during the East Los Angeles blowouts of the 1960s was due to the disproportionate amount of Chicano youth dying in Vietnam. The Walkouts were not only about racism and inequality in the schools - it was about the Vietnam war.

Spirits were high, and both teachers and students, thought this was a great success for the awareness that it had sparked. There was a commitment among the participants to continue this battle, including with next month's 3rd Friday Iraq Moratorium.


"We Won't Live in a Torture State!"

The Church at Ocean Park,
Santa Monica

Social Public Arts Resource Center (SPARC)
a non-profit art gallery and community space - located in Venice, CA

At a private home in Santa Monica

To purchase a No Torture banner for $35, contact us at 323-462-4771 or worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com


Pledge to resist attack on Iran –

Create a No Attack on Iran Network!

An eye-opening presentation was given at last week’s national conference about the VERY REAL POSSIBILITY of an attack, including use of tactical nuclear weapons, against Iran. This is only underscored by the ‘opposition’ candidates; Clinton vows to obliterate Iran, and Obama says he will not hesitate to respond forcefully if Iran attacks Israel . WCW says NO! – we must Pledge to Resist/Stop this Attack – See 20 minute download: www.iranisnottheproblem.org.

Contact us at worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com or 323-462-4771 to:

1) Build this No Attack on Iran network.

2) Organize Emergency Meeting & Presentation/forum. 


We Pledge: No Attack on Iran!

Bush and Cheney are committing war crimes in Iraq.

We refuse to be silent.

Bush and Cheney are readying another war on Iran,

We refuse to be complicit.

We declare now:

We will do everything possible to stop a war on Iran.

We pledge to bring business as usual to a halt if the US bombs Iran.

We will draw forward many others to act.

We pledge our resistance now because the world cannot wait.

Iraq – Get Out!
Iran – Stay Out!
Bush and Cheney – Drive Out!

This is the time to stop accepting what we are told: that nothing we do will make a difference in ending the global disaster represented by the Bush regime. 

Bush & Cheney can be driven from office by a movement independent of “politics as usual”, and waiting to vote in 2008 is too late!

Challenge the people you know to raise their voices and act.  Ask 3 people to Declare it Now by wearing orange (ribbons, buttons, bandanas, shirts) to make this determination visible.  Ask each of them to talk to 3 more people, and check back with them in 3 days.

Sign this pledge now

Click here to download the Pledge to distribute in either PDF or MSWord format.


Envision these new posters on campuses, in store windows, in your homes, in the streets!

Donate generously to make that possible.

Send checks made out to "World Can't Wait" to our office at 5507 Santa Monica Blvd., #207, LA, CA 90038.  For tax deductible contributions of $100 or more, make the check out to "Alliance for Global Justice" (and put WCW in the reference field) and mail it to our office.  To donate online via PayPal (not tax deductible) by click on the donate button on this page


Winter Soldier Investigation: Iraq and Afghanistan

March 13-16, Winter Soldier Investigation: Iraq and Afghanistan was held in Washington D.C.  At these hearings, organized by the Iraq Veterans Against the War, almost 50 American veterans testified about what they had done to the people and land of Iraq and Afghanistan. The audience, about 350 people at any time, were mostly American veterans, military families, and parents whose children were killed in the war. The four-day event brought together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan—and present video and photographic evidence.  In addition, panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, and other specialists gave context to the testimony.  These panels covered everything from the history of the GI resistance movement to the fight for veterans’ health benefits and support. You can listen to testimony at ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony.


New MP3s

On Tuesday, May 18th on Beneath the Surface with Michael Slate, KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles
Marjorie Cohn, Law Professor, author "The Cowboy Republic", President of the National Lawyers Guild, was interviewed about the Bush Regime, Torture, War Crimes and John Yoo.

Why we can't rest easy for 8 more months of the Bush regime -- the current situation in the world and what we need to do about it, with Debra Sweet, National Director of The World Can't Wait, Drive Out the Bush Regime.


Donate!

Donate via PayPal at worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com

Or send a check to:
World Can't Wait
5507 Santa Monica Blvd., #207, LA, CA 90038

Now is the time to donate – You are one of millions of people who hate this regime and what it is doing.  Your financial support can make a huge difference in the chances of driving this regime out.  We urgently need money to pay for more ads to break into the media and reach the homes and hearts of millions across the country who are looking for a way to act, to support our volunteers working full-time in our National Office and in DC, to supply millions of pieces of materials and much more.  We need you to dig deep, but more than that to reach out to many others (friends, family, colleagues) who also dream of a very different world, and ask them also to give as if the future depends on it...because it does.

Donations over $100 are tax-deductible, and those checks must be made out to the Alliance for Global Justice and earmarked for WCW.

The Call for Mobilization:

Sign The Call NOW!

Download
the latest version of the call here. Make copies, get it out far and wide.

Your government, on the basis of outrageous lies, is waging a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights.

Your government is openly torturing people, and justifying it.

Your government puts people in jail on the merest suspicion, refusing them lawyers, and either holding them indefinitely or deporting them in the dead of night.

Your government is moving each day closer to a theocracy, where a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism will rule.

Your government suppresses the science that doesn't fit its religious, political and economic agenda, forcing present and future generations to pay a terrible price.

Your government is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.

Your government enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance.

People look at all this and think of Hitler — and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake society very quickly, in a fascist way, and for generations to come. We must act now; the future is in the balance.

Millions and millions are deeply disturbed and outraged by this. They recognize the need for a vehicle to express this outrage, yet they cannot find it; politics as usual cannot meet the enormity of the challenge, and people sense this.

There is not going to be some magical "pendulum swing." People who steal elections and believe they're on a "mission from God" will not go without a fight.

There is not going to be some savior from the Democratic Party. This whole idea of putting our hopes and energies into "leaders" who tell us to seek common ground with fascists and religious fanatics is proving every day to be a disaster, and actually serves to demobilize people.

But silence and paralysis are NOT acceptable. That which you will not resist and mobilize to stop, you will learn — or be forced — to accept. There is no escaping it: the whole disastrous course of this Bush regime must be STOPPED. And we must take the responsibility to do it.

And there is a way. We are talking about something on a scale that can really make a huge change in this country and in the world. We need more than fighting Bush's outrages one at a time, constantly losing ground to the whole onslaught. We must, and can, aim to create a political situation where the Bush regime's program is repudiated, where Bush himself is driven from office, and where the whole direction he has been taking society is reversed. We, in our millions, must and can take responsibility to change the course of history.

This will not be easy. If we speak the truth, they will try to silence us. If we act, they will to try to stop us. But we speak for the majority, here and around the world, and as we get this going we are going to reach out to the people who have been so badly fooled by Bush and we are NOT going to stop.

The point is this: history is full of examples where people who had right on their side fought against tremendous odds and were victorious. And it is also full of examples of people passively hoping to wait it out, only to get swallowed up by a horror beyond what they ever imagined. The future is unwritten. WHICH ONE WE GET IS UP TO US.

Sign The Call NOW!

World Can't Wait LA

5507 Santa Monica Blvd., #207, Los Angeles
323-462-4771
worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com

Local website: www.worldcantwait-la.com
National website: www.worldcantwait.org