Fw: [ANSWER]: Why Nov. 5 election is NOT a mandate for war

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg@tin.it>]

From: "A.N.S.W.E.R." <answer.general@action-mail.org>
To: <answer.general@action-mail.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 3:37 AM
Subject: [ANSWER]: Why Nov. 5 election is NOT a mandate for war


 Why the November 5 election is NOT a mandate for war

 The promoters of war would like you to believe that the
 November 5 election was a mandate for war. Bush rapidly
 seized on Republican gains in the House and Senate to
 claim increased authority for his military campaign.
 Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle stated, "I think it
 means that the president has an opportunity here [from the
 election] to enact and proceed with the plan [on Iraq] as
 he has articulated it." Daschle said on NBC, "I think the
 American people appear now to give him the benefit of the
 doubt."

 We challenge Bush and Daschle's assertion that the
 administration now has a mandate to commit mass murder in
 an illegal war.

 The election could have been a de facto referendum on the
 war issue but that possibility was eliminated when the
 majority in Congress spinelessly rubber stamped Bush's war
 plans in early October hoping to remove the issue of war
 from the political discourse. Following on Congress'
 abdication of its responsibility to the people, Senator
 Daschle's comments are an announcement of not only a
 wholesale capitulation, but an embrace of Bush's global
 war drive.

 It is no wonder that voters had an extremely difficult
 time differentiating between the pro-war program of the
 Republicans and that articulated by the Democratic Party
 leadership. Two thirds of registered voters stayed home on
 election day. To describe the turnout as mere voter apathy
 misses the main point. In fact the people of this country
 have been keenly attuned to politics especially in the
 last year. Low voter turnout reflects many discouraged
 voters' view that the U.S. Congress does not represent the
 will of the people but instead serves the interests of
 other constituents: Big Oil, multinational corporations,
 the Military-Industrial complex, and a relatively few
 wealthy elite.

 The President and the Congress must feel the heat from the
 people. "Formal" democracy has been hijacked by the
 war-makers. But we are fighting back. People are
 justifiably angry and disgusted. Thousands of organizers
 around the country are energetically building a mass
 movement from the grass roots up. Bush, Cheney, Daschle
 and the generals and corporate executives don't actually
 fight the wars and risk their lives, nor is it their labor
 that makes the war machine function. The anti-war movement
 is organizing the people without whose blood and labor the
 war machine cannot function.

 Congress didn't stop the Vietnam war, the people stopped
 it. We know that the majority sentiment in the US opposes
 a new war against Iraq. On a global scale the antiwar
 sentiment is nearly a universal consensus. If the White
 House and Congress rejected the will of the people, if the
 member states of the UN bow to US pressure rather than
 listening to their own people -- if governmental leaders
 shred international law -- then the people must act
 themselves. This has always been the path to genuine
 change.

 By early January 2003 a massive number of people will have
 voted in the People's Anti-War Referendum
 (http://www.VoteNoWar.org). Local Vote No War committees
 in cities, towns, campuses, and high schools will be going
 door to door to collect anti-war votes. The results of the
 referendum will be a pillar of the mass organizing
 campaign timed to coincide with the return of the new U.S.
 Congress. On January 18 and 19 there will be massive
 street protests in Washington, D.C. at the same time as
 the convening of a Grass roots Peace Congress.

 By acting now we can make a difference.

 HERE'S HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED:

 1) Register your vote by signing the referendum at
 http://www.votenowar.org/referendum.html

 2) Download the VoteNoWar referendum and collect votes in
 your area (this is very easy, only Acrobat Reader is
 required). You can also download a two-sided flyer
 explaining both the People's Anti-War Referendum and the
 January 18-19 mobilization. The referendum can be
 downloaded at http://www.votenowar.org/referendum.pdf and
 the flyer at http://www.votenowar.org/flyer.pdf. If you
 have problems downloading the flyers, call us at
 202-332-5757 and we'll send you a packet in the mail.

 After you download and reproduce the referendum and
 flyers, ask you friends, co-workers, neighbors and family
 to Vote No to War. Hand out flyers or set up a table in
 front of a supermarket, at a college or high school, at a
 place of worship, or at a metro station.

 3) Send people you know information about the People's
 Anti-War Referendum. You can forward this message to
 personal contacts or email listserves, or go to

http://161.58.14.9/cgi-bin/birdcast_clm2.pl?Tell+your+friends+about+the+Anti
-War\
 +Referendum=Click+here+to+send+e-mail and enter the names
 of up to five people and they will be sent general
 information about the campaign.

 4) Add a link to VoteNoWar.org to your website -- or
 suggest that others do this. Go to
 http://www.votenowar.org/add_link.html for a graphic
 button and instructions (it's very simple, you just cut
 and paste one single line of HTML code onto your web
 page).

 5) Make a donation to advance the anti-war movement at
 http://www.votenowar.org/donate.html

 FOR MORE INFORMATION
 http://www.VoteNoWar.org
 http://www.InternationalANSWER.org
 Email: dc@internationalanswer.org
 New York 212-633-6646
 Washington 202-332-5757
 Chicago 773-878-0166
 Los Angeles 213-487-2368
 San Francisco 415-821-6545

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