Our World Can't Wait for Peace Fair in Greensboro

Press conference and reception

Currently watching Bill Moyers (HBO) discuss the disastrous war, our media's complicity, and that we need more people like Cindy Sheehan to get out there and say "NO..."

She Said NO!

Terri Johnson of Greensboro was like a lot of other young people with limited options after high school who are set upon by US Army recruiters. She believed the promises of the recruiters who told her that the Army was nothing more than a good shot at a college education and a prosperous future. She discovered, as do many others who sign up, that not only was she signing her life away, but the lives of the people targeted by the illegal and immoral war on Iraq as well. So she did the right thing. She refused to fight.

"Terri didn't want to kill people who had done nothing to her," said Gladys Shipman, Terri's grandmother. Terri struggled hard to make the decision to go against the grain, and bravely chose to refuse to finish basic training. She went Absent Without Leave (AWOL), and was given an "other than honorable discharge".

Terri is one of a growing number of people who have refused to be a part of a program that has caused so much suffering for people in Iraq, and has destroyed the lives of thousands of US troops. For her bravery, "The World Can't Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime" will honor her with a People's Award at our April 21st rally to Stop the Wars, Impeach Bush and Cheney, and Support Military Resisters!

Peace Fair in Greensboro featuring Cindy Sheehan

The world needs ACTIVISTS, not SPECTATORS

Saturday, April 21st
12 noonDowntown Greensboro, Governmental Plaza, Greene St.Contact: The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush RegimeFeatured Speaker: Cindy Sheehan

Friends:

As April 21st approaches, we're finding all kinds of new people stepping forward to register their disgust with every aspect of the criminal Bush regime: their illegal and murderous war, their use of torture, their criminal neglect of the people of New Orleans, their wiretapping and surveillance of citizens, and their broad attacks on the rights of women, immigrants, gay people and indeed civil society at large. It's heartening to see a new wave of protest emerging on campuses and in communities. But more needs to happen, and more people need to step forward, ready to become activists!

Our organization, the World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime, has always made it clear that ONLY the people can stop the deadly trajectory of the Bush regime. That means YOU. Our observation made a year and a half ago that "there will be no savior from the Democratic Party" has been proven even more painfully to be true since the November elections. Despite the fact that the American people overwhelmingly rejected the war by voting in Democrats in the last election, the bill that they voted through actually gives Bush MORE money than he asked for, and even gives a green light to attack Iran, fully-funded. At the same time, they have done NOTHING to roll back the attacks on the rights of the people, to undo the damage done by Hurrican Katrina, or to stop torture. If we want those things to happen, it's up to US to make them happen.

YOU can make April 21st the ringing success that it needs to be. YOU can help bring forward the numbers of people who represent the all-too-silent MAJORITY of people who want the war to end, and who want Bush and company IMPEACHED for war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

How you can help:

Outreach/publicity
We have thousands of fliers that need to get into every community and on every campus. We can put them in your hands, and you can get them in other people's hands.

Banners/artwork
The themes for this rally are "Stop the Wars/Don't Attack Iran; Impeach Bush Cheney for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity; and Support Military Resisters". Make banners and posters showing YOUR support for the demands that can end this war, and remove these criminals from power!

Clean-up
We need people to stick around after the event is over to help make sure that the Plaza is left how we found it, that all trash is picked up so we can use the Plaza in the future, so we can stay visible in the eyes of this country and the eyes of the world!

Contact us ASAP to find out how you can help by replying to this email or calling

(336) 574-9088.

Below is the latest article by Cindy Sheehan, founder of Gold Star Families for Peace and our featured speaker on April 21st. Note how she calls on Americans to take responsibility for ending this war. If it's just the same old faces at every demonstration, nothing new will happen. Get involved. Making history is not a spectator sport!


Onward to April 21st!
Scott, Greensboro WCW
ncworldcantwait@yahoo.com

Number 3291
Cindy Sheehan

Out of war nations acquire
additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly
acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few -- the selfsame few who
wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the
bill.
And what is this bill?
This bill renders a horrible
accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken
hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant
miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.
From:
War is a Racket
Major General Smedley Butler


I met the
aunt of number 3291 today. I was sitting in seat 11E and a flight attendant gave
me a note from a woman in seat 33C: "My nephew was killed in Iraq yesterday. I
would like to meet you."

Seat belt light or not, I headed back
toward the rear of the airplane. We held each other and she said: "What can I
do? My brother was in the Army and he initially supported the effort. Yesterday,
he made a sign with a picture of his son saying: 'Murdered by George Bush.'" I
prayed for the Universe to give the families strength yesterday as I do everyday
our soldiers are killed, as I pray for the Iraqis and their families who are
also murdered unnecessarily. I don't often get to meet the people I pray for in
such a timely manner.

Four of our brave and abused troops were
killed in King George's escalation of the conflict in Iraq. Ten over the Easter
weekend while George was hiding out at his ranch in Crawford. George Bush and
his bloody gang of war-bandits have caused so much pain and heartache in the
world without so much as a blink of the eye. Number 3291's aunt recounted how
she heard her sister 'screaming for her son," on the other end of the phone.
Number 3291's family is just beginning to realize the true meaning of broken
heart and betrayals.

Number 3291 has a name: Brian. The only thing
I know for sure about Brian was that he was in the army, he was probably blown
up by an IED (which could have been avoided with an IED detector in his
vehicle), and he has a loving aunt named Sheryl. His family lives in North
Carolina and that's where his body will be returning to under the cover of
darkness to hide the shame of the Bush Regime.

Brian will never be
a number to his family or friends. To the few people in this country who still
incredibly support this horror and his war, Brian's sacrifice will be noted as
"freedom isn't free," or "he volunteered." To the anti-war movement, Brian
will be commemorated in a candlelight vigil when the 4000th troop is killed in
Iraq. To the man sitting next to me in seat 11D, Brian is a non-entity because
he: has no opinion on the occupation one way or the other because he has no
"time to worry about it." Trust me though, that's all Brian's mom did for the
entire time he was in Iraq and there are 160,000 moms who lie awake at night
worried about their child and Iraqi moms who never know when the last "I love
you," is the last one forever.

To me Brian represents a failure. I
have been struggling with all my energy and resources to insure that Brian's mom
never had to fall on the floor screaming in agony or so that Aunt Sheryl would
never have to take a sad and lonely trip across the country to be with her
family in this terrible occasion for mourning. Every death since Casey's has hit
me with a fresh assault of suffering. How can my wounds heal when so many new
ones are being opened up on a daily basis in three countries that are being
devastated by the Bush doctrine of inflicting immeasurable damage with his war
for profit being masqueraded as a war on terror?

The anti-war
movement is failing in many areas. First of all, like the man sitting next to
me, there are too many apathetic people in this country. How can anyone still be
so indifferent to so much death and destruction? Even the people who are still
confused and support the war have an opinion. The anti-war movement is also
failing in its lack of influence on the policy makers. When such pro-occupation
entities as MoveOn are being hailed as the "anti-war left" and our Congressional
leadership are listening to them and using their corrupt polls as tools to
hammer theoretically anti-war Reps into voting for a bill that would extend our
troop presence in Iraq indefinitely, then the true anti-war movement has not
been effective in getting our message out.

Another goal that the
anti-war movement should have would be to move the overwhelming majority of
Americans who are against the occupation of Iraq off of their couches and into
the streets. The leaders of our country are in the obscenely deep pockets of the
war machine and are exceedingly comfortable there. Only a massive electoral
revolt will be able to pick the pockets of the war profiteers and force our
elected officials to represent us and not the wealthy.

Brian's
family, my family, 3293 other families, our military families who are
financially and emotionally strapped by the constant deployments and getting
ready for deployments are sacrificing too much on the altar of greed. The Iraqi
people who did not ask for Bush's help are sacrificing horribly on this imperial
altar. The rest of this nation is not sacrificing the way that so many others
have. I am working so you don't have to.

But if we, as a nation,
want to end the farce of false patriotism to justify wars for profit and empire,
we will have to sacrifice until it hurts. In this cleansing act will come
redemption, because we can be assured that all of the children of the world are
safe and sound. If we don't work to end the absolute stranglehold of violence we
are clutched in, then we deserve what we get.

Our movement has to
move toward peace…at all costs.


Please go to The Camp Casey Peace Institute for more info

Donate to GSFP/CCPI

Cindy Sheehan to visit Greensboro 4/21

Stop the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
No Attack on Iran!
Impeach Bush/Cheney for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
Support Military Resisters!

George Bush and Dick Cheney must be impeached for war crimes and crimes against humanity! Millions are against the war, spying, torture, the abandoning of Katrina survivors, a spreading theocracy and suppression of science—and want the whole disaster of the Bush regime to be brought to a halt. The more we demand impeachment, Bush’s war options will grow more limited; the more his war crimes are exposed, the greater the impetus for his removal and repudiation.
It is time we rise to this challenge in unity with each other. The opposition to the war people feel in their hearts must become something they put on the streets. Resistance to the war from within the military by people like Lt. Ehren Watada and many, many others must be supported and encouraged by people outside of the military. And the invasion of Iran MUST NOT HAPPEN.

Featured Speaker:
Cindy Sheehan
Founder, Gold Star Families for Peace
Cindy Sheehan is an internationally known mom and peace & social justice advocate whose son, Army Specialist Casey A. Sheehan, was killed in action in Sadr City, Baghdad, on April 4, 2004. As an act of protest against the war, in August 2005 Cindy took a stand outside of George Bush's home in Crawford, Texas, asking what noble cause her son died for. She is also a central leader in the movement to impeach President George W. Bush.

(Cindy with Col. Ann Wright and David Swanson at the Whitehouse.)

The people are on our side, the momentum is on our side, the whole world is on our side. The challenge: are we going to move heaven and earth to remove the criminal Bush regime, ending the war and repudiating the direction they’ve taken this society?

April 21st, 12 noon
Downtown Greensboro, Governmental Plaza, Greene St.
Contact: The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime

Greensboro chapter (336) 574-9088