October 6, 2011, will be a day to remember. Inspired by the courageous, nonviolent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Greece, Spain and Wisconsin, progressive leaders in the United States are organizing a massive national protest in Washington, D.C., at Freedom Plaza. Learn more about “Stop the Machine! Create a New World!” at www.october11.org. Will you join us?
The protest marks the beginning of the 11th year of the U.S. invasion and destruction of Afghanistan. October is also the beginning of the fiscal 2012 federal budget, which will continue the trend of expenditure for wars abroad and austerity measures for human and environmental needs at home. Demonstrators will unite to demand an end to a system that puts profits and warfare over the welfare of people and the environment.
Peace Fresno has joined several other organizations to endorse the October 2011 Movement. Let’s make sure that Central California will be well represented at this historic event. Take the pledge and sign up at www.october2011.org, and join people like Chris Hedges, David Swanson, Margaret Flowers, Kevin Zeese, Cornel West, Ann Wright, Tim Carpenter, Rabbi Michael Lerner and thousands of others. Then contact Peace Fresno at 559-487-2515. Let America know you are going to make history and a new world.
“I pledge that if any U.S. troops, contractors, or mercenaries remain in Afghanistan on Thursday, October 6, 2011, as that occupation goes into its 11th year, I will commit to being in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., with others on that day or the days immediately following, for as long as I can, with the intention of making it our Tahrir Square, Cairo, our Madison, Wisconsin, where we will nonviolently resist the corporate machine by occupying Freedom Plaza until our resources are invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation. We can do this together. We will be the beginning.”
Peace Fresno is committed to a two-level approach on October 6—participating in the national demonstration and hosting a local event. Join Peace Fresno on August 9 at 7 p.m. as we plan for both.
As Mario Savio said in his famous 1964 speech in Berkeley:
There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!
