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Pro-Democracy Means Anti-Fascism
By Cindy Sheehan
“The world is watching the people of Burma take to the
streets to demand their freedom, and the American people
stand in solidarity with these brave individuals,” -
George W. Bush
09/28/07 "ICH" -- -- Watching the pro-democracy marches in
Burma both inspires and sickens me. I am inspired by seeing
thousands of red-robed monks leading the demonstrations and
sickened by the violence they are being met with by the
military.
Seeing the images of the monks and others being beaten
reminds me of the Democratic Convention in 1968 where Chicago
police beat the living daylights out of demonstrators who were
there to try and force the party to come closer to the budding
anti-war movement. It didn’t work. Instead of wonderful
pro-peace candidate, Eugene McCarthy, the party nominated
Johnson’s VP, Hubert Humphrey. We know what happened next:
Nixon. After last night’s Democratic “debate” I am terrified and
assured that the Democrats will have another pro-war nominee.
The other event in my memory that the pro-democracy movement
in Burma reminds me of is Kent State, Ohio in May, 1970. Four
students were killed and nine were wounded marching against
escalation of the Vietnam debacle.. I have heard from many
people who were of age to protest the Vietnam war at that time
that the killings had the affect of frightening them into not
protesting, or scaling their protests back.
Of course the present state of our nation is not as overtly
oppressive as the government of Myanmar (Burma), presently where
a Nobel Peace Laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi has been under house
arrest there for years, but we who have been paying attention to
events can see that America is on the precipice of serious
fascism and only the brave actions of Americans committed to
freedom, democracy and peace will help stem the tide of this
rising neo-fascism that doesn’t march through our streets in
goose-step and swastikas, but is creeping into our lives like
cat’s paws.
According to Chris Rowthorn, in his brilliant article,
When America Went Fascist, we went fascist on December 11,
2000 when the Supreme Court appointed George as our unelected,
un-democratic and illegal President. Although it is easy and
tempting to blame everything on BushCo, this is about the only
assertion that I disagree with in his article.
What about during the Clinton regime? Does anyone remember
Elian Gonzales or The Branch Davidians in Waco? Let’s go back
further. What about when Truman dropped to WMD on hundreds of
thousands of innocent victims in Japan? What about Korea?
Eisenhower and the Military Industrial Complex? What about the
Gulf of Tonkin? What about Watergate? What about Panama? Kosovo?
Nicaragua? Free trade agreements that hurt workers in all
countries that are involved in them and what about the abuse of
language in this country: Patriot Act; Homeland Security; Clear
Water and Clean Skies—and the No Child Left Behind Act that
leaves every child behind and is just a funnel to the
recruiter’s office?
There are just a few measures that we can use to stop this
slide and Rowthorn articulates what has become an important part
of my platform. Only vote for candidates that promise the
following things…for president, or any other federal elective
offices:
* Repeal the Patriot Act
* Repeal No Child Left Behind
* Scale down the Department of Homeland Security and rename
it so it loses its Nazi
tone and is brought under civilian control.
* Restore habeas corpus and close all torture camps by
repealing the Military Commissions’ Act.
* Repeal all contracts with paid mercenary killer companies.
* Restore the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
* Repeal all BushCo-Presidential directives (especially
Directive 51) and review all laws that contain signing
statements.
* Restore the 4th Amendment by enforcing warrants for spying
on Americans.
* Impeach Bush and Cheney-post presidency so they can’t
receive federal benefits.
* Bring all troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan and review
military needs for other bases around the world.
* Repeal all free trade agreements.
* Kick AIPAC and other lobbyists out of the halls of
Congress where they have no business.
One of the most profound ways we can stop this descent into
fascism is by impeaching, removing from office and incarcerating
George Bush and Dick Cheney, et al. I am very skeptical of a
complicit Congress, Inc doing anything about them in this term.
I am also very skeptical of a “professional” and fascist
military leadership taking their oath of service seriously and
above their corporate-military allegiance to the Executive
Branch recently and so tellingly revealed by General Betray-Us,
so a military coup is out of the question and has the tricky
element of becoming a military dictatorship.
I was supposed to be in court today in Washington, DC for my
last arrest. I didn’t go because I am not under allegiance and
repudiate the fascists that run our government and the enforcers
who are doing their best Nazi-job of “following orders” in
oppressing our rights as Americans.
Why are they beating up a Reverend who served in the Air
Force, and honorably left after the illegal and immoral invasion
of Iraq, for wanting to attend a hearing in Congress?
Why are they arresting a Gold Star Mother for exercising the
very freedoms for which George Bush freakishly says her son
died?
Why are my daughter and assistant under indictment for
Contempt of Congress when BushCo have steadily refused to
testify before committees under oath, or any other way? As a
matter of fact, Betray-Us wasn’t even put under oath that day in
the House.
Why are college students being tasered for asking the same
questions that we all want answered from John Kerry who threw
our Representative Republic in the garbage along with the 2004
election?
Why are nooses being hung in the South?
Why do any of us pay our Federal Taxes to a government that
we abhor and which we adamantly disagree with? Why do we allow
our hard earned money to be used for murder and oppression?
Why is Congress giving BushCo more authority to begin a New
World War?
Where are religious leaders to lead us in pro-democracy
demonstrations? Most of our mainstream religions suffer from the
same neo-fascism that our governmental leaders suffer from.
Why do we march in DC on Saturdays and get arrested just to
get arrested? It’s time to descend on DC on a weekday and make
commitments to our world and our posterity to over throw this
fascism right now?
When can we have a country-wide massive general strike?
Recent reports show that Saddam made overtures to America
through the UAE and Spain to go into exile weeks before the
March, 2003 invasion of Iraq. Of course, the overtures were
rejected because George’s small mind was already made up to
invade Iraq before he became president in some sick way to
either show up or gain approval from a dysfunctional family.
What if Spain’s former President Aznar had spoken up then? What
if Colin Powell, George Tenet, or any of the criminal neocons
had spoken up to prevent this horrible loss of life and pain
before it even started?
I wouldn’t be under a bench warrant right now. Rev wouldn’t
be recovering from a badly sprained ankle. Casey would be alive
and hundreds of thousands of others would be alive.
We can’t count on anyone but ourselves. It’s now up to we the
people to follow the example of our brothers and sisters in
Burma to courageously confront the anti-democracy/pro-fascist
elements of our society.
Contact Cindy at:
Cindy@CindyforCongress.org
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan
who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is a co-founder and
President of Gold
Star Families for Peace
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