Troops Out Now Coalition blog: from Protest to Resistance...

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

from Protest to Resistance...
Cut Off ALL War Funding!
Fund People's Needs -
NOT War!

It's time to turn up the heat! Funding for the criminal war in Iraq will expire on October 1. The month of September will see the next big struggle over war funding, but this time the antiwar movement needs to be there to demand the immediate cut off of all war funding.

We have all seen that the Democratic leadership in Congress, despite being elected with a clear mandate to end the war, has completely capitulated to the Bush Administration. We cannot wait for politicians to end the war.

In addition to the enormous cost in human lives - more than 600,000 Iraqis and nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers - the attempt to occupy and colonize Iraq has already cost more than $1 trillion. Every day, the Pentagon spends another $720 million.

This is money that is stolen from working people who need funding for human needs.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported last week that:

• 36.5 million people in the U.S. lived below the official poverty line in 2006.

• 47 million people in the U.S. were without health insurance in 2006, up from 44.8 million in 2005.

• The number of uninsured children increased from 8 million (10.9 percent) in 2005 to 8.7 million (11.7 percent) in 2006.

Meanwhile, infrastructure is crumbling. Schools are understaffed and falling apart. Affordable housing is disappearing. And almost nothing has been done to rebuild the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.

Let's bring the occupation to Washington and demand money for human needs, not war! On September 29, tens of thousands of activists, community organizers, youth and students, veterans, military families, and health care activists will march on the White House to Demand: Cut off ALL War Funding! Fund People's Needs, NOT War!

Buses, vans, and car caravans are coming from more than 75 organizing centers, with more than 100 buses already scheduled, and more being added every day. Organizing a mobilization of this scale is enormously expensive -- please consider making a donation online at http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml.

Also, during the week of September 22-29, antiwar activists will erect an Encampment on the Lawn directly across from the Capitol. The site of the Encampment is a square of land directly in front of the Capitol, where we will maintain a determined, visible 24-hour antiwar presence as a direct challenge to the politicians - both Republican and Democrat - who voted for the war and vote to continue to fund the war.

Organizing a week-long enccampment and a national march is an enormous organizational challenge, and we need your help. Please consider helping with the costs by making an online donation at http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml.

Activists, military families, veterans, trade unionists, and community organizers from activists from across the U.S. are planning to erect a tent city, in Washington, DC, which will be a center of organizing, resistance, and action for the week. At the same time, activists will also be converging in Los Angeles for a West Coast week-long antiwar Encampment and March (see http://www.iacenterla.org for more information and to get involved.)

If you want the social justice issues you are fighting for to be seen and heard around the world and by the national media, then bring your displays, art, graphics and signs to the week long encampment.

Many local and national organizations are planning to have their own tents for the Encampment. There will be actions, protests, and speak outs organized by health care activists, military family members, immigrant rights organizers, and more.

Each day will have a variety of different activities, focused on the impeachment of Bush and Cheney for war crimes, student and youth action, political prisoners, Katrina, stopping a war against Iran, and more. Each night will feature "Culture and Resistance," including spoken word artists, musicians, poets, and more.

Many of the working people that Michael Moore featured in SICKO are planning a special candle-light vigil for all those who have died for lack of health care.

Youth are meeting and planning resistance actions in the Congressional office buildings and streets of DC.

At the end of the week, activists at the Encampment will join tens of thousands of people from across the country for the massive March on Washington on September 29.

Organizing a week-long encampment and a national demonstration is a major challenge, and we need your help with the enormous expenses. Please consider making a donation online at http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml.

We need your input planning giant displays, literature and organizing tents, skill sharing sessions, and acts of creative protest and resistance. Please contact us to share your ideas and to volunteer to help organize for the encampment.

Over the next few days, we will be posting a calendar of events for the Encampment. If your group would like to organize a tent, protest action, teach-in, etc. please contact us.

We are developing a list of inexpensive housing in the area and will be posting it soon -- activists who are able to join us all week, should also line up housing in the area. We can be a presence on site around the clock but we can not actually sleep at night or cook on-site.

If you are in the Washington DC - Maryland - Virginia area, we need your help with housing, food, transportation and help on set-up. Please contact us online or by phone at 212-633-6646.

Labels: encampment to stop the war, iran, iraq, september 29