The Troops Out Now Coalition's response to Bush's "surge" speech

The Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) urges antiwar activists to participate in the many protests being organized over the coming days in response to Bush’s call for escalating war.

In addition to the protests scheduled for Thursday, TONC is calling on activists in NYC to gather on

Monday, January 15, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday for a United “Surge” Against the War Between 4 and 6 pm at the Times Square Recruiting Station, 43rd St. & Broadway

**THE TROOPS OUT NOW COALITION’S RESPONSE TO BUSH’S "SURGE" SPEECH

The War Will Go On Forever Unless We Rise Up and Stop It

   Force Congress to Cut Off ALL War Funding

   We can do it if we move from symbolic protest to mass resistance

   Be prepared to stay in D.C. this spring

An Appeal for Unity in the Antiwar Movement:

   Lets work together for the January 27 and March 17 antiwar marches

The point of President Bush’s “surge” speech this evening is not in the details of his proposals; rather, it’s the message. The details of Bush’s proposal amount to nothing more than a desperate effort to bolster a criminal colonial occupation by ordering more killing and destruction. Bush’s message is more important. He’s telling us once again that he doesn’t care that the majority of us want the war and occupation to end immediately; he’s going to continue the war until the people literally rise up in mass rebellion in the streets to end it.

Indeed, Bush is not only determined to continue the war and occupation in Iraq; he’s opened a new front for his global war of colonial conquest in Africa. At this very moment, U.S. AC-130 gun ships are attacking the people of Somalia, as an armada of Pentagon war ships with thousands of troops and bombs waits off the Indian Ocean coast of that country for orders to attack. At the same time, the Pentagon is strengthening it’s land and sea forces around Iran in preparation for a military attack on that country.

The time has come for the antiwar movement to move from symbolic protest to mass resistance.

Congress must be put on notice; it is not enough to merely oppose Bush’s proposal for a “surge” in troops to Iraq.

It’s not enough for Congress to hold more hearings to criticize the war–talk is cheap and people are tired of it. It’s not enough for Congress to vote on resolutions calling for phased withdrawals and timetables, or any other partial measures. It’s not enough for Congress to threaten to oppose funding for new troops.

Last November, the voters mandated the government to get out of Iraq. The elections changed the leadership of Congress to serve this purpose. It is now up to the people to insure that Congress does not betray this mandate.

The people want nothing less than the immediate, unconditional, and complete withdrawal of all troops, and the shortest route to that end is for Congress to vote "no" to any further request for war funds, period.

When Congress gets President Bush’s request for $100 billion more to fund the war, it must say "no" to the entire amount. To ensure that Congress does not approve another dollar for the war, on March 17, (the fourth anniversary of the war) when we march on Washington against the war, instead of getting back on our buses and heading home, we must be prepared to stay in Washington to make sure that Congress votes "no."

Forcing Congress to cut off all war funding is the defining struggle for the antiwar movement this spring, and we can do it if we think and act big. The people are on our side, the momentum is on our side; the whole world is on our side. The only question is whether we have the conviction and the courage to take our struggle against the war from the level of symbolic protest to real mass resistance.

A key factor will be our ability as a movement to rise above our differences and renew a commitment to work for unity with each other–for all anti-war forces, especially the national antiwar coalitions, to work together this spring. We appeal to our sisters and brothers in United For Peace and Justice to work together with the ANSWER Coalition, TONC, and the more anti-imperialist forces in the antiwar movement, as well as all of the other national and local forces organizing against the war, especially those organizations and leaders that represent the most militant forces in the Black and immigrant workers rights movements, and the militants in the anti-globalization movement whose energy, imagination and fearlessness will be helpful in moving from protest to resistance to make both the January 27 march in Washington, as well as the March 17 march, as strong as they possibly can be.

Let’s get ready to march on Washington on January 27, and we will come back on March 17. And when we come back in March, this time we must be prepared to stay there in the thousands to force Congress to vote "no" on more war funding. If Congress tries to rush a vote on war funding before March 17, this time we must be prepared to come to Washington in mass to make sure that the war funding is voted down.

We are asking people to bring their medical bills, rent, heating and utility bills, student loans, credit card bills, and food bills that they can’t afford to pay, as well as shut-off notices, mortgage foreclosures, eviction notices to the march on Washington. It must be made clear to Congress that feeding more money to the war while more and more people cannot pay for their basic living expenses is criminal.

The cost is not the only reason why we oppose the war. We oppose it because it is an imperialist war for colonial conquest and plunder.

Yet the cost of the war is important because it’s paid for by money stolen from social needs. The money that has paid for death and destruction in Iraq could have gone towards reconstruction in New Orleans, for example.

In his famous speech declaring his opposition to the Vietnam war almost 40 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “It is disgraceful that a Congress that can vote upwards of $35 billion a year for a senseless immoral war in Vietnam cannot vote a weak $2 billion dollars to carry on our all too feeble efforts to bind up the wound of our nation’s 35 million poor. This is nothing short of a Congress engaging in political guerilla warfare against the defenseless poor of our nation.”

* Immediate, Unconditional & Complete Withdrawal from Iraq

— Out Now!

* End Colonial Occupation and Imperialist Aggression, from Africa to Asia, from Iraq to Palestine, from  Afghanistan to Haiti, from the Philippines to Puerto Rico

* No New Wars Against Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Somalia — Hands Off Cuba and Venezuela

* Stop the War at Home –Stop Racist Police Terror – Stop the Raids Against Immigrant Workers –Solidarity with Immigrant Workers and Katrina Survivors

Read the call for March 17 – Washington DC – http://www.troopsoutnow.org/mar17.html

Endorse the call for March 17 –  http://troopsoutnow.org/mar17endorse.html

Volunteer to help –http://troopsoutnow.org/mar17volunteer.html

Donate to help with organizing expenses – http://troopsoutnow.org/donate.html

Troops Out Now Coalition

55 W. 17th St. 5th Fl.

NY NY 10011

212.633.6646