Friday, October 21, 2005

World Can't Wait to Drive out the Bush Regime

Just when I was starting to think that I would have nothing ridiculous to post about this week, I came across a fabulous flier an a table in the Physics building. Now, as a prologue, U of C, while not the festering cess-pit of liberality that I had been led to fear, is still a bit left of center in its leanings. Not entirely, but enough to be entertaining. On the way home Thursday, I was offered a revolutionary newspaper by an earnest looking guy with a cigarette- unfortunately, I turned him down automatically or else we could have had a lot of fun about that as well.
But back to the flier- it reflects a theme that has been around campus a lot- the same organization has messages on the sidewalk (a favorite means of advertising), posters, etc.
The flier depicts a sylized globe, a hand with a line through it and an exclamation mark, either symbolize the phrase "The World Can't Wait"-to drive out the Bush Regime, that is- or else indicate the evil Bush regime is cutting off people's hands. Not that I would put it past "people who steal elections and think they're on a mission from God". But more about that later.
I have the text of the flier from their website and have decided that it's too good not to mock specifically. Let's begin:

The World Can't Wait!
Drive Out the Bush Regime!
Mobilize for November 2, 2005!

Why exactly the world can't wait isn't made clear. Nor is the reason that it can hang in there until November 2. A better motto would have been The World Can't Wait Long, but I guess it's hard to find a little symbol for "Long"

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.

Would it be better if the government openly tortured people without justifying it?
Grammatical point- other countries in
its sights. And I'm not quite sure about the last sentance either.

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.

How exactly is the government doing anything about international abortion? Except that, I suppose, that the woman in Iraq are now more likely to have access to both. Darn it, I hate it when those tricky religious agendas conflict.

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

Is a culture of greed capitalism? And how does one enforce a culture? Did they mean encourage? Or perhaps is linguistic precision not the emphasis of the piece?

People look at all this and think of Hitler — and they are right to do so. They know that people think this, because they took several surveys. And they know that they are right to do so, because...um, it is. Because Hitler was really big on Christian fundamentalism, deportations, and a culture of greed. 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. Um, why not? Therein lies the crux of this whole argument, but I don't think it's ever fully explained. Watch for it carefully.

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.

There- right there! Did you see it? Somewhere in those two paragraphs was the proof that you shouldn't just sit around and wait for an election like this was a democracy or something. Read it again- see the bit where moderation is a disaster? Mmm-hmm.

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 is a beautiful bit right here. YOU must resist. And how? By repudiating the Bush regime as a whole. Which will naturally lead to Bush stepping down, presumably followed by Cheney and every other successor down the line until the entire regime has crumbled! And then we will take over the world!!!!!
Sorry, I get carried away.

To that end, on November 2, the first anniversary of Bush's "re-election", we will take the first major step in this by organizing a truly massive day of resistance all over this country. People everywhere will walk out of school, they will take off work, they will come to the downtowns and town squares and set out from there, going through the streets and calling on many more to JOIN US. They will repudiate this criminal regime, making a powerful statement: "NO! THIS REGIME DOES NOT REPRESENT US! AND WE WILL DRIVE IT OUT!"
Um, yeah, it does represent you, people. It's the whole democracy thi- oh never mind.

November 2 must be a massive and public proclamation that WE REFUSE TO BE RULED IN THIS WAY. November 2 must call out to the tens of millions more who are now agonizing and disgusted. November 2 will be the beginning — a giant first step in forcing Bush to step down, and a powerful announcement that we will not stop until he does so and it will join with and give support and heart to people all over the globe who so urgently need and want this regime to be stopped.
This scares me just a bit. Who exactly are we supporting all over the world who wants this regime to be overthrown? Because unless they're terrorists, I really don't see how they are going to be joining in on the American struggle. And what exactly won't they stop until he steps down? Having rallies and missing work? Cuz that's really going to scare him.

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.

One more time- if you're the MAJORITY, why can't you just wait for an election? And why the heck do I care about the people around the world? The whole globalistic flavor is starting to get on my nerves here.

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.

If they're the majority, why are they fighting overwhelming odds? Also, this "people with right on their side"- doesn't it sound a little bit like a "mission from God"? Atheistic fundamentalists?
Not to be grammatically picky- which one of what? You need to have two things- if the antecedent is future, then it ought to be "what kind".

These next days are crucial. The call you are reading has to get out to millions right away — on the internet, passed out as flyers in communities, published as ads in newspapers. DO NOT WAIT!! GET ORGANIZED!! If you agree with this statement, add your name to it!!!

As a book once pointed out, triple exclamation marks is the sign of a diseased mind.

And do more than that: send it to friends, get them to sign it, organize a meeting, take it to your church, your school, your union, (of course) your health club, your barber shop, to concerts and libraries and family gatherings (and that always is the most fun at family gatherings. Here, Aunt Milly, have a flier!), everywhere you go. Raise money, lots of money. (I'm not quite sure what you are supposed to do with it, but it can never hurt to raise money.) Get people together, make plans to be there on November 2, and to build for it.

The world can't wait! Drive out the Bush Regime! Mobilize for November 2!

Ah, the joys of a collegiate life. Is anyone else tempted to go just to watch it?

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Help!

Aah! I owe this thing a post so badly- it sits here sneering at me, waiting for me to post and everyday the pressure gets worse and worse, so that I need a better and better post to excuse myself and I have less and less clever to say and less and less time to say it in (or rather, in which to say it...)...and so the result is this post, which is entirely and unabashedly awful, but at leasts it's words for the hungry monster of the blog. And speaking of hungry monsters, massive amounts of homework are my real excuse for not posting. I will spare you the gory details. (I have little notes in the margins of some of my notebooks reminding myself not to panic. I hope that one day I will find that funny.) So anyway, nothing actually to say, but at least there has been a post. I'll try to squeeze one in tomorrow as well.