Revolution #63, October 1, 2006
GIVE YOUR ALL, NOW, FOR OCTOBER 5!
The articles in this issue, taken together, give a picture. From Mexico to Iraq, from Guantanamo to New York, you see an imperialist system, based on international exploitation. On that foundation arises a whole apparatus of military domination, prisons, suppression, enforced ignorance, torture, and death. A system of exploitation and oppression that must end, and can only be ended, by communist revolution.
Right now, the Bush regime sits atop this system. The crimes they have committed—and the ones they are planning to commit—have incurred the righteous anger of people all over the world. But people around the world have not yet seen a force within this country step forward, in a serious and visible way, to challenge this. Absent that, many are drawn either into the dead end of Islamic fundamentalism, which can only lead backward to oppressive archaic social relations, or reformist schemes for a little bit better place under imperialist rule. Neither can lead to liberation; but the idea of a real alternative seems far away for those yearning for something different.
Meanwhile, every week the atrocities of this system and of those running it get worse. Cluster bombs in Lebanon, made in USA. Slaughter on the streets of Baghdad, courtesy Bush-style democratization. Torture, legalized in a most “bi-partisan” way. Further steps along the road to theocracy, and religious warfare from presidents, popes, and mullahs.
What next? U.S. war on Iran? Perhaps even using nuclear weapons?
It’s already in the works.
THIS MUST HALT!
But right now, the political discourse and debate in this country is dominated by the top Democrats and Republicans, and it’s all about “who can better fight the war on terror.” This doesn’t speak to the real interests of the people, and it doesn’t even speak to the felt sentiments of tens of millions around the country. To let it stay at that…to confine oneself to voting for lesser evil…only leads to a deeper circle of hell. Staying in that framework today is complicity.
The discourse and debate must change, radically and urgently. Something different must emerge: a massive force in the streets on October 5, actively demanding that the Bush regime go, and determined to keep fighting until that regime is politically driven out. Such a struggle can politically reverse the deadly momentum of events in the U.S. and worldwide, making known to millions and millions across the planet that there are people right here in the belly of the beast refusing to choose between McWorld/McCrusade and Jihad…people determined to not just “protest as usual” but to drive out this regime…
Bringing forward that force is the urgent next step. Driving out this regime would not only work to stop some of the horrors coming down on people—and the even worse ones being planned; it would also raise people’s sights as to what is possible, it would open up their minds to new ways of thinking and help them get organized to struggle. Massive demonstrations on October 5 in this country would bring joy to people all over the world, and they would draw courage and new ideas from seeing people here standing up against the regime. From our revolutionary point of view, all of these are crucial.
At the same time, many other people and political and social forces, from their point of view, have also thrown in with October 5. They, too, see the urgent need to drive out the Bush regime. They, too, see the importance and the need to sacrifice to bring about the kinds of changes they want and they see October 5 as a critical vehicle for those changes. And out of all this a new and precious “unity in diversity” is beginning to emerge.
But can it be done? Can Bush be driven out? Can October 5 succeed in taking that to a whole new level?
Yes. The real possibility exists to do this. Over the past few weeks, momentum has been growing for the demonstrations planned on October 5. The turnout to the planning meetings on September 7, the publication of the call to Drive Out the Bush Regime in USA Today, the response to the civil disobedience at the United Nations, the actions by people well-known and not known at all…all this and more, much more, show the potential. But that potential still has to be realized, on the 5th itself. And that requires struggle and work.
Truly powerful demonstrations on the 5th can change everything. Truly determined demonstrations, involving tens of thousands at first and growing from there, can politically electrify things literally overnight. Such manifestations could change the discourse into one that is founded on the need to STOP these crimes, and could make the debate turn on how to politically drive out those responsible for them as soon as damn possible—and prevent them from doing even worse! Truly massive demonstrations on the 5th—demonstrations that are not a one-shot deal but a leap in a movement which will stay on the political offensive and really compel the changes that are needed—these can set a whole different dynamic into motion. It can change what everyone has to speak to, and how they have to speak to it—from the bottom to the top of society and back down again.
This sort of thing has happened before. And increasingly, people are hearkening back to the ‘60s, a time when people more and more felt that a century of segregation and racism and a bloody war in Southeast Asia were just not tolerable or acceptable in any way any longer…and when some event within that mix would lead thousands to suddenly change their lives and take great risks, sometimes overnight, and lead millions more to act in mass mobilizations to end those things…and when in so doing those thousands and millions changed the terms and direction of society and gave a glimpse of the possibility of something very much better for humanity. That very hearkening back is also evidence of the potential…and a call to realize it as well.
This regime could be driven out. It is possible. The next major step in doing that looms before us, and it can be taken. It is within reach.
But again—urgent work must be done, now, to transform potential into reality. This paper comes out a little more than a week before October 5. If you are reading this editorial, you must give that week to making October 5 happen. What you do, what you contribute, can be and must be part of making the world change.
What would you give to stop this juggernaut, to turn this society around?
What would you sacrifice?
Start with a week.
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