oct 5 update

I recently blogged about World Can't Wait, the massive peace and justice demonstration planned for October 5. I thought it was a global demonstration, but in fact it is being organized specifically in the United States.

I emailed the organization to note that their current sign-up form is only for US addresses; since this can be understandably off-putting to the rest of the world, I was wondering if they could change it. (I asked this very gently. As an organizer, I'm very sensitive to people who aren't doing any of the work appearing to say "you should do this".) The organizer who replied said:

We have been in the main geared towards calling on people inside the US to act and take responsibility for the actions of their government - because if there is not a movement coming from inside the US to stop this regime, it probably won't get driven out and people around the world will think all Americans are just going along. This is not at all to be "American-centric" - it's called "the world can't wait" for a reason, and a big part of the point is to say to Americans that when your gov is carrying out war crimes on people around the world, you have a responsibility to stop this.

I thought that was great.

Meanwhile, I contacted the Canadian Peace Alliance to see if they are planning anything in conjunction with World Can't Wait, and if they are, to get involved. I haven't heard back yet. I see that there is an action on October 28: Canada Out Of Afghanistan. My guess is all their people and organizing resources are going towards that.

So. Canadian readers, including myself: October 28. American readers: October 5. All of us can help publicize these important events.

Local chapters of World Can't Wait are holding organizing meetings on Thursday, September 7. Find a meeting here.