Troops Out Now Coalition Response to the State of the Union Address
January 23, 2007 A s the U.S. occupation of Iraq grinds on and the numbers of dead and wounded mount, President George W. Bush and Democratic Party leaders, the supposed opposition, continue to reject the growing demand to bring the troops home now. In Bush's State of the Union address to Congress last night, George W. Bush continued to stick to his “stay the course” position and claimed he has a “plan for victory” despite clear evidence that the attempt to colonize Iraq has been defeated.
Bush made a desperate attempt to restore confidence in his failed adventure in Iraq, outlining a "new strategy" that is really just a repeat of the same lines he has been using since he declared "mission accomplished" almost four years ago. The so-called "surge" of 21,000 troops will not succeed in crushing the resistance of the Iraqi people; it will only bring more death and destruction. He did not mention the more than 600,000 Iraqi people that have died as a result of the U.S. invasion and occupation. Nor did he address the fact that every reason he gave to justify the war has now been exposed as a deliberate lie.
Despite his talk of “a democratic Iraq," the ghastly torture chambers of Abu Ghraib, the continued bombing of Iraqi homes, the use of depleted uranium, phosphorous, napalm, and other illegal weapons of mass destruction, all reveal the brutal nature of the war against the people of Iraq. This war is not and never was about bringing democracy to Iraq--it has always been about seizing control of the country's oil reserves.
What Bush also failed to mention is that even as the attempt to colonize Iraq is clearly failing, the Bush administration is moving towards another reckless adventure—war on Iran. Bush has deployed two second aircraft carrier groups—with destroyers, cruisers, submarines, cruise missiles and combat aircraft—to the Gulf, while sources report that the Pentagon is already identifying targets for U.S. air strikes.
Health care
Bush attempted to deflect attention from the catastrophe in Iraq by offering a tax deduction for workers who purchase health insurance or use employer-supported plans. His plan would allow standard deductions for health insurance — $7,500 for individuals, $15,000 for families — while subjecting employer-paid health insurance to income taxes.
Bush's plan would do nothing to help the estimated 47 million people in the US without health insurance. Rep. Pete Stark, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee's health subcommittee, has said that Bush's proposal to tax existing health benefits is so ludicrous that it is unlikely to be seriously considered by Congress. He said, "The president's so-called health care proposal won't help the uninsured, most of who have limited incomes and are already in low tax brackets. But it will hurt middle-income Americans, whose employers will shift even more cost and risk to their employees.''
Most of the uninsured don't have coverage because they cannot afford to pay the premiums. Making those premiums tax-deductible will not make healthcare more affordable for most workers. Many others cannot get coverage because of
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pre-existing conditions, which Bush's plan does nothing to address.
The net result of Bush's plan would be a decline in the number of workers having access to health coverage. Paul Fromstein, director of the health research and education programs at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, said the Bush proposal would ``mean the end of employment-based coverage as we know it because it gives employers an incentive to drop coverage. If employees can go out and get private coverage with the same tax breaks as they'd get through employer-sponsored coverage, more companies will simply give them the money and let them find their own coverage because they view [health coverage] as a headache."
We must continue to demand health coverage for all. The $300 billion that the Bush Administration has spent on war on occupation could easily provide complete health coverage for all uninsured children in the U.S.
The War at Home: Police Brutality and Police State Tactics
As he has done since repeatedly since the attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush used the threat of "terrorism" to drum up support for his policies of endless war and repression. He said, “For all of us in this room, there is no higher responsibility than to protect the people of this country from danger." But he did not address the fact that many communities face threats of violence every day--not from "terrorists," but from the police. The police who gunned down Sean Bell the night before his wedding, firing 50 shots at an unarmed man, and the police who killed 92-year old Kathryn Johnson in her home in Atlanta, the ICE raids that haul away families in the middle of the night, and the police who commit acts of racist brutality in communities across the country, are a daily threat to the lives and safety of communities of color, immigrant communities, and the LGBT communities. Antiwar and progressive organizations must stand in solidarity with communities that are under daily attack from police terror.
Bush has used the words "freedom" and "democracy" repeatedly as justification for his policies of endless war, but an examination of his actions here and world-wide demonstrates that he has no interest in either. He has authorized the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on and infiltrate meetings of progressive organizations that oppose his policies. Under the PATRIOT Act, FBI agents search library records, book store sales, and other personal records and conduct widespread surveillance without any probable cause. He has ordered intelligence agencies to kidnap people off of the streets and drag them from their homes, fly them to other countries, and torture them in a secret global network of detention camps. Under his mantra of "freedom and democracy" lies a full-scale war on civil liberties and civil rights.
Katrina
The President made no mention of one of the biggest failures of his Administration, the ongoing catastrophe that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But the whole world remembers watching the scenes of horror and despair on the streets of New Orleans, as people died, abandoned by every level of government because they were poor and Black. While everyone watched newscasts of people dying of thirst, as FEMA did nothing to help, Bush praised the FEMA director, saying, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
We must continue to support the right of Katrina survivors to return to their homes and to determine how the region will be rebuilt. They, not Bush's millionaire friends, have a right to control the money for rebuilding the area.
Energy policy
Every year, in an attempt to grab headlines on the following day, Bush has introduced a new initiative that never lasts longer than his address. A few years ago, he promised $15 billion for AIDS treatment in Africa--money that never materialized. Throughout his presidency--at every State of the Union address, Bush has talked about energy independence, but the funding for research and development never materializes. In last years address, he promised to take on the US "addiction to oil," but his 2007 budget actually proposed to spend less on energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy resources in inflation-adjusted dollars than was appropriated in 2001. In 2005, he cut the funding for alternate energy by 50%.
As soon as Bush took office, he proposed cutting the Department of Energy's renewable fuels and energy efficiency budget by as much as 40 percent. Meanwhile, Vice President Cheney was in secret meetings with executives from Enron, Exxon, Conoco, Shell Oil and other energy companies, where they studied petroleum maps of Iraq and developed the national energy policy of the Administration. We can only conclude that when Bush talks about looking for "alternative fuel sources," he actually means looking for another oil-rich country to invade.
For some, this policy has been enormously successful--oil companies are reporting record profits. But for others, like the people of Iraq or the soldiers and military families who are paying the ultimate price, Bush's policies have been an unmitigated disaster. We can be sure that, despite his talk about "alternative fuels," his primary and central goal is to ensure maximum profits for the oil companies.
No Opposition from the Democrats
Bush's criminal war against Iraq has brought justified resistance throughout Iraq and outrage across the globe. Everywhere he travels, he is met with massive protest in the streets.
President Bush's poll numbers are in a freefall. A new CBS News poll has the President's approval rating at a career low of 28 percent-- 14 points below where he was at before he delivered his State of the Union speech a year ago. In November, he had a 34 percent approval rating. In December, it was 31 percent. In early January, it was 30 percent.
Less than 3 months ago, voters in the U.S. made their opposition to the war very clear as they handed the Republican Party a resounding defeat at the polls. President Bush's announcement of a "surge" in the occupation was met with more than 500 protests across the U.S.
Despite this clear and overwhelming opposition to the ongoing occupation, the Democratic response to the State of the Union offered no real opposition to the Bush Agenda. Senator James Webb did not call to bring the troops home--in fact, he waited until he was half way through his speech before even mentioning Iraq. When he did get around to it, he merely indicated that the U.S. needs a "new direction."
It was clear from his remarks that his difference with the Bush Administration is only tactical. The Democratic Party criticism of the war in Iraq is not based on the fact that the war is a criminal act that has resulted in the death of more than 600,000 Iraqis, but on the fact that Bush has been unable to successfully crush the resistance and establish a stable puppet state. The Democrats in Congress marched in lockstep with the Administration when they thought the war to seize Iraq's oil would be over in weeks.
Senator Webb claimed that the President "took us into this war recklessly." But the President could not and did not act alone. He could not have launched the war in Iraq without the eager complicity of the Democrats in Congress, a complicity that continues to this day, as Democrats continue to assert that they do not plan to carry out the mandate that brought them into office -- the demand to end the war now and bring all the troops home now.
It is clear that politicians in Washington are not going to end the war. The people themselves must take action to force them to bring the troops home now.
If we want to end the war, to have health care, education, and housing for all, to fight racism, to defend the rights of women, immigrants, and the LGBT communities, then we have to build a mass movement in the streets, and we have to stay in the streets. We can never again allow the antiwar movement to be misled into serving the interests of corporate politicians.
We must build a movement that will do what the war parties will never do --link the struggles of working people here with the struggles against war and occupation everywhere, including not only Iraq, but Palestine, Haiti, Afghanistan, Nepal, the Philippines, and everywhere people are struggling to for freedom and self-determination..
March 17, 2007 will mark the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. The Troops Out Now Coalition is working with the Answer Coalition and other national coalitions to organize a massive march on the Pentagon on the fourth anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq. This time, we are going to Washington prepared to stay until we force Congress to cut off all war spending--it is time to move from protest to resistance.
Together we must grasp the opportunity to help transform the turning tide against the war into a human tidal wave of antiwar resistance in the streets. Nothing should stand in the war of building a massive, united movement to converge on Washington and end the war. Our sisters and brothers in United for Peace and Justice had initially called for a national march on the fourth anniversary of the war, but have now changed to calling for "local actions." In the interest of unity and strength we call on them to unite with the call for to converge on Washington DC on March 17. The crisis and opportunities ahead of us demand unity, and we will continue to do all we can to work for that unity.
Six hundred thousand Iraqis are dead. More than 3,000 U.S. soldiers are dead and tens of thousands have been wounded. This is not time to talk about timetables and "non-binding resolutions" or to get distracted by 2008 Presidential politics— it's time to take direct action to stop the war. We call on everyone to descend on Washington this weekend – January 27, followed by local actions on February 17 at Congressional offices. Then, on March 27, come to Washington, prepared to stay until we stop the war.
Immediate, Unconditional, & Complete Withdrawal from Iraq--Out Now!
End Colonial Occupation & Imperialist Aggression from Africa to Asia, from Iraq to Palestine, to Afghanistan, to Haiti, to the Philippines, to Puerto Rico
No New Wars Against Iran, Syria, North Korea
Hands Off Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, & Lebanon
Solidarity with Immigrant Workers and Katrina Survivors
Stop the War at Home -- Stop Racist Police Terror -- Stop ICE raids
Military Recruiters Out of Our Schools and Communities -- No Draft -- Education, Not War
Summit maps out strategy opposing U.S. wars at home, abroad
A significant anti-war summit meeting took place Nov. 18 in the heart of "Little Senegal" in Harlem. The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) sponsored the event at the spacious Africa Kine Restaurant located on 116th Street near Frederick Douglass Blvd.
Anti-war, community, labor activists meet in 'Little Senegal' in Harlem, New York Nov.18.
The turnout was standing room only. An estimated 150 organizers and activists-representing more than 50 different antiwar, community, immigrant and labor organizations from around the region-were in attendance.
Some of the key activists at the summit included Comrade Shahid, Pakistan U.S.A. Freedom Forum; Charlotte Kates, New Jersey Solidarity/Activists for the Liberation of Palestine; Ardeshir Ommani, American-Iranian Friendship Committee; members of FIST-Fight Imperialism, Stand Together-student and youth group; Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; former Pennsylvania death-row inmate Harold Wilson; Mexican activist Brian Barraza; and a delegation of Latino immigrant workers representing the Freeport, Long Island Day Laborers. Elena Everett from Raleigh FIST spoke about the inspiring two-day wildcat strike carried out by a majority of Latin@ workers at the Smithfield, N.C., hog processing plant on Nov. 17 and 18.
Following a delicious Senegalese buffet/lunch, the meeting included opening and closing remarks from key activists, and then broke into smaller discussion groups. Fallou Gueye from the Union of African Workers-Senegal gave welcoming remarks. The four-hour meeting was co-chaired by Larry Holmes and Sharon Black from TONC and Sara Flounders from the International Action Center.
The group discussions on solidarity with liberation movements and countries fighting the empire were summarized by Ellie Ommani; on community, labor and anti-racist organizing by Philadelphia IAC activist Betsey Piette; on students, youth and counter-recruitment activism by Raleigh FIST organizer Dante Strobino; and on immigrant workers' rights by Teresa Gutierrez.
The following are some of the major issues that were agreed upon unanimously at the summit: The need to organize mass and militant actions in the streets to stop the wars abroad and at home now that the Nov. 7 elections are over. The importance of linking the fight against racism and national oppression to the anti-war struggle in order to build a strong, multi-national movement for social change. And the urgency of forging unity between all the anti-war formations to organize a national mobilization in Washington, D.C ., on March 17, the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war.
The proposal that was greeted with the most enthusiasm was the idea of launching an encampment in Washington DC to stop Congressional approval of mar war funding, sometime in the early spring of 2007.
In a preliminary report on the Nov. 18 meeting, a TONC statement read, "Participants in the meeting felt very strongly that notwithstanding important political differences within the broader anti-war movement, including past difficulties in working together, that it was most critical at this time when the mass struggle in the streets against the war needs to be revived, that all coalitions reject fragmentation, unnecessary divisiveness and competition around protest dates and national protest, and instead pull together so that the movement in the U.S. can do what the world is waiting for it to do and shut down the war machine."
To help build for the March 17 mobilization, nationally coordinated days of action linking the anti-war, anti-racist and pro-worker movements will be called for Jan. 15-the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. The follow-up TONC meeting will be held in New York on Dec. 5 at Solidarity Center. For more information, call 212-633-6646 or go to www.troopsoutnow.org
Fallou Gueye Hospitality is a big word in our culture. To have you in little Senegal is very important because we feel that you are just like us. We don't have borders. We are fighting for the same noble cause-to defeat imperialism which is the cause of war. People who are living here are deeply, deeply victimized and negatively impacted by that war. We are fighting against the war, we are fighting against IMF, World Bank. International corporations are dominating us daily and impacting negatively on our lives.
Sara Flounders What kind of a movement is being built? Connections must be made between Iraq , Palestine, Lebanon , Syria , Sudan , and North Korea . We have to look at the struggle globally; we can't allow the imperialists to criminalize and demonize the liberation movements. We must oppose the massive raids and detentions of our immigrant sisters and brothers and endless war and no money for education, day care, healthcare, etc. We are stronger when we are united, when we embrace these issues.
Teresa Gutierrez May 1 Coalition We have to recognize the power that each and every one of us in the room represents because these are the same people who quickly shifted to support the rise of one of the most oppressed sectors of our class, immigrants, and came out on May 1 and supported workers marching around the country; when you consider the support that this sector of the anti-war movement has for one of the most oppressed sectors, you have to know how extremely powerful this support is. What TONC can do is everything possible to bring out the anti-war movement for May Day. The workers know what the heck they are doing like in Smithfield, No. Carolina. What a contribution the anti-war movement is making to the people of Iraq , Palestine and everywhere by making this kind of this connection.
Larry Holmes The top Democratic Party politicians were not against the war in principle. They are not against wars of colonial conquests; they want to recolonize the Middle East . Their problem against the [Iraq] war is that it was done badly, incompetently. Their program now is how to fix it. They don't have an anti-colonial difference, or anti-exploitation difference or anti-racist difference [with Republicans]. It's just a tactical difference of people who have the same interests. The [Nov. 7] anti-war referendum took place because the Iraqi people are refusing to be occupied. The Iraqi people are doing what is expected of them. The question is what the hell are we doing? We have to challenge ourselves to carry out more militant tactics; campuses must be shut down. We are not speaking to just one racial demographic grouping. We have to reach out to immigrant communities. The Palestinian liberation movement is central to Arab liberation. The Israeli Army acts as if it is a detachment of the U.S. armed forces. All wars are connected. It isn't just an issue of having a bad president-wars are systemic. The road to unity is to adopt an anti-imperialist world view.
Brenda Stokely Labor, community leader Regarding Katrina survivors, the same forces that dismantled people and their lives are still alive and well. Demonstrations took place on Nov. 18 in New Orleans and Baton Rouge confronting Gov. Kathleen Blanco who has set up a blue ribbon commission stacked with wealthy people, developers, financiers, real estate barons to solidify control in that region including Mississippi . Who is missing are people of color; those adversely affected particularly African Americans, people who work and people who were not homeowners. Fifty-seven percent of the people before the hurricane were renters. Blanco's proposal has nothing to do with renters. Public housing folks are not being allowed to go back home and nothing is wrong with the housing. The people are not being welcomed back; inner displaced persons have been created in Mississippi , Alabama and Louisiana which is a violation of UN Human Rights Charter for Displaced Persons; the U.S. does not carry about human rights.
Lourdes Vela Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle Please help us educate the immigrant communities about [Hugo] Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution because we have not been allowed in that door in spite a lot of the work you all have done. Chávez is someone that we need not only in the U.S. but all over the world.
Chuck Mohan Guyanese Workers Association The immigrant movement is not about one group of people but about everyone. We need to come together as one. I have no illusions about the new Congress. We can't struggle in a vacuum. Our struggle is linked to other struggles that were here before we came-Native American, African American, Latin@, women and other struggles present in the U.S.
NY City Councilperson Charles Barron What should Bush's sentencing be after so many Iraqis and soldiers are dead? If you have some elected officials who have problems with Hugo Chávez saying that Bush is a devil, well, if you act devilish, it makes you a devil. You can't murder people all over the world and not be the devil incarnated; you can't be playing golf, while people are dying in New Orleans and not be the devil. Right on to Chávez; I think he did the right thing and is doing the right thing in our communities. I don't know if this is something that you want to brag about but you are the reason why the Democrats are in office now because it is the anti-war movement that is the only movement in this country that was against the Iraqi war; the Democrats voted for war. We have one party, the Republicrats. The Democrats voted for Bush to have the right to go to war; Democrats voted for him to finance the war and when [John] Murtha said you have a way out, I want to put forth a resolution for a phased withdrawal, none of the Democrats voted for it. Now you have to keep marching so that the shift in positions means a shift in policy. We have to continue to go forward to revolutionize this country; America needs a revolution; we need a radical change in America and I believe it can happen; we shouldn't compromise our principles, compromise our position. Free Mumia, free all political prisoners, and pay us our reparations. Forward ever, backward never.
Dr. Asha Samad-Matias SAFRAD-Somali Association Repression is continuing; City College is not what it is not what it use to be; we have to bring the struggle to the students who are workers; that refugees, whether they are so-called refugees from New Orleans or those seeking political asylum who are struggling, imprisoned, having their homes raided, having their homes washed away purposely, just like Harlem is being re-gentrified for Black and Latin@s, all of this should show that this is one struggle.
Larry Hamm People's Organization for Progress African Americans, from the beginning, have consistently opposed the war in Iraq and oppose the policies of the Bush administration but a lot of times when we go to the peace activities we really don't see the numbers of African Americans that reflect that opposition to the war. Every time there is a poll, 95 percent of the African American community is opposed to the war but this opposition has not been made manifest in the streets; and it's in the streets where it really counts. On the wave of anti-war sentiment, the Democrats got control of the House and Senate; Democrats are backpedaling on the issue of the war; troops are hostages of the Bush administration. Veterans Administration had funds cut. There are a bunch of liars at the White House . We need to take many buses to the White House to make a citizens' arrest of Bush for crimes against humanity, for war crimes; impeachment is just a process, it's not a conviction. It is pressure from the masses of people who will end this war, not electing politicians. The people's movement ended the Vietnam War. POP is calling for a People's Peace Conference at Rutgers Law School on Jan.20. We are going after groups who have not come out against the war-ministers, unions, street gangs, politicians. This conference has a particular objective-when white folks come to the conference, bring some Black folks with you; we don't want the conference to be another conference of the left; we want the conference to be dominated by masses of the people. We want to get people who may not be politically active. A millions for peace march in New Jersey is needed.
Pam Africa These monsters have been trying to pull every trick to divide us off but we have to be strong; it is nothing new; we know the game, we know the tricks; we must continue to teach and bring unity. This government is at war with every form of life and we must unite with every movement to bring this monster down. Onamove!
Gary Labao BAYAN USA We stand here in solidarity with immigrants, the workers' struggle and the anti-war movement. Whether it is the struggle for liberation in the Philippines , Iran , Iraq , North Korea ; whether it's the workers, the immigrants or the soldiers in Iraq right now, our common enemy is U.S. imperialism. Down with U.S. imperialism.
Panama Vicente Alba Puerto Rican activist, immigrant rights organizer We need to think globally and act globally. We need to take responsibility for what goes on in this country because it affects the rest of the world. This is the empire and this empire is out of control. The environmentalist movement has been telling us for the past 30 years that the world is on the way to destruction; now you got Chomsky, Chavez saying it; we are not listening, we don't act; we need to take every step against the empire and globalization; we must engage in the Katrina front, anti-war front; immigrant rights movement; we are going to win not because the Democratic Congress is anything different from the Republican Congress. We're gonna win because we take it to the streets. We need to learn to collectively transfer the power of the people into the streets into legislation that gives all of the legalization necessary for 12 million human beings; not only the workers but their children, their grandmothers, grandfathers; we don't have the time or the luxury not to come together in a principled way.
Sharon Black The energy at the anti-war summit in Harlem was incredible. Not only was there a resounding call for unity of the anti-war movement to descend on Washington on March 17. The gathering itself was an expression of unity. To bring representatives of both the class struggle at home against racism and for immigrant rights, and the anti-war and anti-imperialist movements abroad, points in the direction that the anti-war movement must go-this fact, along with many others including the political content of the meeting, made the Troops Out Now Coalition summit unique and important.
TELL BUSH AND CONGRESS: STOP THE EVICTIONS OF KATRINA/RITA EVACUEES!
Please join the online campaign to STOP THE EVICTIONS OF KATRINA/RITA EVACUEES! YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW! Send emails to President Bush, Acting FEMA Head Paulison, the Governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, key senators and representatives, U.N. Secy General Kofi Annan and your own governor, Federal senators and representatives, and state senators and representatives, DEMANDING that the EVICTIONS OF KATRINA/RITA EVACUEES BE HALTED IMMEDIATELY and that money raised for reconstruction go to the evacuees, not the corporations.
The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) is a national grassroots coalition of antiwar activists, trade unionists, solidarity activists and community organizers.
For more information, or to find out how you can get involved, visit our homepage at TroopsOutNow.org
