July 31, 2005

Actions Nationwide Demand: Impeach Bush!
Internet Monopolies Block Emails Calling for Bush Impeachment

Initiatives Underway Nationwide
Military Recruiters Out of Our Schools!
College Not Combat Ballot Initiative


Actions Nationwide Demand: Impeach Bush!

TOP: Madison, WI. BOTTOM: Wyomissing, PA; Sacramento, CA

On Saturday, July 23, from Bellingham, Washington to Pompano, Florida, from Wailuku, Hawaii, to Boothbay, Maine, from San Diego, California, to Birmingham, Alabama, from Houston, Texas to Detroit, Michigan, thousands of people from all walks of life organized over 300 actions to demand that the crimes of Bush and his administration be punished. The main slogan raised by people from coast to coast was “Impeach Bush.”

The creative and undaunted energy of Americans to oppose the crimes of the U.S. government were shown in the breadth and variety of events organized. These included teach-ins, demonstrations at busy intersections and monopoly media offices, house meetings, discussion groups on campuses and in churches, leafleting campaigns and more, all with the spirit of bringing everyone together to investigate the crimes of Bush and demand his impeachment.

Numerous organizations, such as the women’s group Code Pink, anti-imperialist globalization activists of Global Exchange, military families from Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out, coalitions like AfterDowningStreet.org, and many many more groups and individuals joined together to target Bush, not only for his lies about the war, but for the crimes of the war itself. Speakers from the military families and Iraq Veterans Against the War, for example, addressed the war crimes being carried out in Iraq and the just stand of soldiers who are refusing to serve and carry out such crimes. Grandmothers and youth, workers and lawyers, activists and newcomers to the movement all across the country, south and west, north and east, joined in. And whether events were large or small, whenever the crowd was asked if Bush should be impeached, they shouted back, “Yes! Do it now! Impeach Bush!”

In place after place, the crowd called for an end to the war in Iraq. They also demanded that politicians take action and do it now. As one person said, “Why is it so hard to get a Democrat from a solidly Democratic district to introduce articles of impeachment? What are they waiting for?” Others emphasized that Congressional intelligence committees can hold hearings, including minority hearings by Democrats, and what are they waiting for! People also repeatedly made clear that they are not waiting on Democrats or anyone else but instead are organizing broadly to mobilize all concerned in the effort to Impeach Bush! The level of enthusiasm and organization developing was seen not only in the actions themselves but also in the streams of reports that poured in July 23, with participants sharing information and views on the internet, in conference calls and through videos.

The teach-in in Los Angeles saw an overflow crowd of more than 1,000, in Oakland 500, in Seattle more than 300, in Detroit another 300, in Houston 250, and thousands more in smaller meetings and demonstrations in cities and towns. As one participant in the Louisville, Kentucky demonstration put it, “We had an 82 year old grandmother and babies in strollers,” all standing against the war and calling for impeachment. Raleigh, North Carolina brought people together for lively discussion, with participants reporting “We’re excited about building on this momentum and adding even more voices to this movement.” Everywhere participants commented on their commitment made to carry forward on the basis of their own efforts.

July 23 was chosen as the date for the actions to mark the anniversary of the Downing Street meeting and the memo based on it. The Downing Street Memo was among a series of documents detailing the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. The papers, which summarized meetings between U.S. and British officials in 2002, show that the White House had long been determined to invade Iraq and that it doctored intelligence to try and justify aggression against Iraq. Organizers bring out the Memo is compelling evidence that Bush lied about the Iraq invasion, lied to Congress, lied to the people, and set the precedent of taking pre-emptive action when no threat of any kind existed.

Also involved in the actions were members of Congress, including John Conyers of Detroit, Michigan, Barbara Lee of Oakland, California, Jim McDermott of Seattle, Washington and Maxine Waters of Inglewood (Los Angeles) California. Constitutional attorney John Bonifaz, Co-Founder of the After Downing Street Coalition spoke in Northampton, Massachusetts. Democrats.com president Bob Fertik, Co-Founder of the After Downing Street Coalition, moderated a forum in New York City.

All of the actions made clear that the will of the American people is to impeach Bush now and that this struggle is building in strength and will go forward.

Phoenix, AZ; New York City

[TOP]


Internet Monopolies Block Email Calling for Bush Impeachment

A U.S. broadband provider and an-Internet security company blocked emails relating to opposition to the Iraq war and organizing efforts for actions July 23 demanding that Bush be impeached.

American online activist David -Swanson says the provider, Comcast, and security services company Symantec, blocked emails drawing attention to the Downing Street Memo, which exposes Bush’s lies, and those calling for Bush’s impeachment.

Swanson, one of the founders of the AfterDowningStreet.org website, claims emails sent to and from his subscribers were blocked for a week as he tried to coordinate events for the July 23 nationwide actions (see page 1). He said the events would have had an even bigger turn-out had the block not been in place.

“We didn’t know it, but for the past week, anyone using Comcast has been unable to receive any email with “www.afterdowningstreet.org” in the body of the email,” Swanson wrote on his website.

Comcast said that Symantec, which deals with viruses and spyware, refused to lift the block. Symantec had supposedly received 46,000 complaints about emails with our URL in them. Forty-six thousand! “Could we see two or three, or even one, of those 46,000 complaints? No.”

He said that when one of the activists involved in the campaign posted Symantec’s phone numbers on his site, and Symantec’s communications department received complaints, the block was removed.

Antoinette Trovato, a Symantec spokeswoman, said the company had advised that a spam rule was created due to an increase in email traffic identified by the Symantec Probe Network. “The rule was determined to be too broad and has since been turned off,” she said.

[TOP]


Initiatives Underway Nationwide

Military Recruiters Out of Our Schools!

In high schools, university campuses, school districts, cities and towns across the country, numerous initiatives are being taken by youth, parents, teachers, military families and many others to keep military recruiters out of schools and universities. Unions, women’s groups, numerous anti-war groups and other organizations are joining to oppose military recruitment and support the many soldiers resisting.

Chicago

In Chicago, efforts continue to block establishment of a military academy at Senn High School. Numerous efforts have also been organized at the University of Illinois Circle campus. Among the most recent efforts was the mobilization of dozens of people to counter the Army’s “Army of One” campaign at the Taste of Chicago. The groups participating in the action included the Committee Against the Militarization of Youth, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Code Pink, Peace Pledge, Chicagoland Anarchist Network, Students for Social Justice, DePaul Students Against the War, Education Not Empire, Chicago Media Action, Andersonville Neighbors for Peace and other youth and students.

Activists spent the entire day providing information to the youth, countering the recruiters and visibly opposing the war. They had a large banner reading -“Recruiters Lie, People Die,” wore bright t-shirts donated by Code Pink/Peace Pledge, had numerous other signs and as one participant put it, “tons of leaflets.”

The Army was using its usual efforts to draw youth in, with a tank simulator, basketball hoop (free Army T-shirt with 3 baskets in a row), decked out humvee, and registration tent where they were making personalized dog-tags and handing out free copies of the official Army video game, so violent the Army is prohibited from distributing it to children under 13. They did so anyway. The Army also maneuvered to secure names and addresses. In order to take a ride on the simulator, or take a shot at the basket people were required to sign a “waiver.” The Army recruiters were targeting sixteen year olds, the minimum age for participation in the Delayed Entry Program, and older youth.

Despite repeated harassment from the police and security guards trying to force activists to leave, they persisted through out the day and had a very positive response from youth and parents alike.

Fayetteville, North Carolina

In Fayetteville, North Carolina, home to Ft. Bragg, one of the largest U.S. bases and main employer in the town, activists are also initiating anti-recriutment efforts, alongside their work in support of soldiers refusing to serve. Site of a large anti-war rally in March, demanding an end to the occupation and removal of all U.S. troops, the broad unity built for that action is continuing forward.

The NC Peace and Justice Coalition, a main convergence point for many individuals and groups alike, has now launched a “Truth in Recruitment” group. The group plans two initial campaigns. One is joining with other anti-recruitment activists nationwide to set up training camps where youth can exchange experience on organizing at their schools, work together on leaflets, pamphlets and other means to provide views and information, and pool information on alternatives to the military, including other means to fund university education.

A second campaign will focus on educating parents to oppose having high schools turn over student information to the military. The schools are required to do so by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) unless parents specifically ask the school not to. The campaign is aimed at organizing parents to demand that the military receive no information and that they be kept out of the schools.

San Francisco, California

In San Francisco, another broad coalition, College Not Combat, has organized to put an anti-war, anti-recruitment initiative on the ballot for November (see below). The referendum is a means to unify public opinion against recruiters and the war and to strengthen the ability of organizers to kick recruiters out.

Organizers successfully secured more than 15, 000 signatures from the people of San Francisco. The broad spectrum of endorsers for the project is indicative of the widespread opposition to recruiters. Endorsers included the San Francisco Labor Council, locals of the Service Employees International Union, (SEIU) and American Federation of Teachers, Native American Student Association, Al-Awda (Palestine Right of Return), Anti-Arab Discrimination Committee (ADC)-San Francisco, Code Pink, Global Exchange, Green Party local chapters, Lawyers Guild and more.

The San Francisco School District had long forbidden recruiters in the High Schools but succumbed to the government threat, included in the NCLB, that federal funds would be cut if they did not allow recruiters. Organizers are calling on the district to stand up to the government and join the anti-recruitment efforts.

A rally was organized July 9 to celebrate the successful gathering of more than 15,000 signatures (10,400 are needed to get on the ballot) and to urge people to continue the effort to win support for the referendum. Signatures were presented July 11 and must be verified by local elections officials within 30 days.

[TOP]


College Not Combat Ballot Initiative

Whereas, over 1500 American soldiers have died and tens of thousands have been injured physically and psychologically in Iraq; and,

Whereas, a study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Columbia University School of Nursing and Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad estimates that 100,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation; and,

Whereas, the U.S. government is forcing soldiers to serve in Iraq for longer than their contracts require with such devices as “stop-loss” orders; and,

Whereas, the No Child Left Behind Act forces all high schools that receive federal money to give personal records of all children to the military for the purposes of recruiting; and,

Whereas, the federal Solomon Amendment specifically orders colleges and universities that receive federal money to violate their own legal policies of non-discrimination against gays and lesbians by allowing recruiters for the military, which bars gays and lesbians from serving openly, on campus; and,

Whereas, a de facto “economic draft” forces tens of thousands of low and middle-income students to join the military in order to get money to go to college or get job or technical training; and,

Whereas, the Pentagon budget, over 400 billion per year, plus billions more over the last three years for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, is draining desperately needed resources for schools, health care and jobs; and,

Whereas, the people of San Francisco voted by 63% to pass Proposition N in November of 2004 calling on the Federal government to “bring the troops safely home now;” and,

Whereas, the Federal government shows no sign of ending the occupation of Iraq or bringing the troops safely home and, in fact, is threatening military action against other nations; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that the people of San Francisco oppose U.S. military recruiters using public school, college and university facilities to recruit young people into the armed forces. Furthermore, San Francisco should oppose the military’s “economic draft” by investigating means by which to fund and grant scholarships for college and job training to low-income students so they are not economically compelled to join the military!

[TOP]



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