The era of the political demonstration is back. The immigrants' rallies are a harbinger: they've proven that demonstrations,
done right, can be powerfully relevant again. But we now need to prepare for something far bigger.
It is now clear that George Bush plans to attack Iran, most likely before Election Day, and quite possibly with tactical nuclear weapons. Early this fall, we will need to get out into the streets for the largest peaceful anti-war demonstrations in American history. Given the horror of what's in store, we have no choice.
And we can do it. The largest anti-Vietnam war rallies brought together roughly half a million people. We can run rallies all over the country, and bring together 20,000,000 people to stop this.
But the planning needs to start now, and it needs to start with a planning group that can gain broad-based support. Not ANSWER, the people who've been running the anti-Iraq war demonstrations. There are millions of people who have vigorously opposed the war in Iraq, but will never go to an ANSWER-led demonstration, because they don't want to be regaled with propaganda about causes they've never heard of, and aren't comfortable with.
(I've tried to envision which existing community could make this happen. I can think of only two: MoveOn.org, and Daily Kos. Any thoughts?)
This fall's marches need to be impeccable. Learn the lessons the immigrants have taught us: bring your American flags. We are Americans. We speak for true patriotism. And we don't want America, our country, in our generation, to be remembered as the mass murderers who unleashed a horrifying new age of nuclear warfare.
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A word about these "tactical" nukes...
They will call them "bunker busters." The weapon most likely under consideration is the B61-11. Make no mistake: we're talking about true, serious nuclear bombs. Courtesy of the Federation of American Scientists (http://www.fas.org/...):
The earth-penetrating capability of the B61-11 is fairly limited, however. Tests show it penetrates only 20 feet or so into dry earth when dropped from an altitude of 40,000 feet. Even so, by burying itself into the ground before detonation, a much higher proportion of the explosion energy is transferred to ground shock compared to a surface bursts. Any attempt to use it in an urban environment, however, would result in massive civilian casualties. Even at the low end of its 0.3-300 kiloton yield range, the nuclear blast will simply blow out a huge crater of radioactive material, creating a lethal gamma-radiation field over a large area...
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Cross-posted in slightly different form at www.billcamarda.com/weblog.htm