Their archives are open to the public, so anyone can read it. Here's the relevant text, anyway. (and hey, for once pugliese only provides the link instead of 55 k of text! hilarity on ice....! :)
Bush Can Be Stopped: A Letter to the Left FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For information: Carl Davidson (773) 384-8827 or (312) 415-2499
Bush Can Be Stopped 545 8th Avenue Room 14NE - A NY, NY 10018
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September 23, 2003
Bush Can Be Stopped: A Letter to the Left
A group of 43 prominent left and movement activists and progressive individuals today issued an appeal to others on the left to join in the effort to defeat the Bush administration's bid to continue in power in next year's Presidential election.
"For the sake of peace, democracy, social justice and racial equality, George W. Bush must be defeated in 2004," reads the open letter to the left. "We believe that he can be defeated and that the left, facing this unprecedented challenge, has a significant, even crucial role in achieving this objective."
The appeal, titled "Bush Can Be Stopped: A Letter to the Left," has been posted on the Internet where others can add their signatures at:
<http://www.petitiononline.com/LttrLeft/petition.html>http://www.petitiononline.com/LttrLeft/petition.html
Initial signers of the appeal, which comes amid ongoing debate within the left over what position to take toward the upcoming Presidential primaries and the general election in November 2004, include: Frances M. Beal, of the Black Radical Congress; law professor Margaret Burnham; Brett Bursey, president, South Carolina Progressive Network, Columbia, SC; Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Chicago peace and community activist Carl Davidson; scholar and activist Angela Davis; actor and writers Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Davis; author Michael Parenti; union leaders Donna DeWitt, Charles Ensley, Bill Moriarity, and Bill Henning; retired trade unionist and labor cultural activist Henry Foner; Attys. Lennox Hinds, Arthur Kinoy and Michael Ratner; San Francisco school official, Eric Mar; scholar Manning Marable, and social justice activists, Robert & Ellen Meeropol, Charlene Mitchell and Tim Wise. Organizational designations are listed identification purposes only.
"Traditional debates on the left about the value of electoral politics and the lesser evil pale in light of the need to defeat Bush and his congressional accomplices," reads the letter. "The essential choice between elementary decency and unprecedented reaction need not be between political parties, but between a powerful movement for peace and justice on one side and Bush and his right-wing zealots on the other."
The letter says the left can play a critical role in the current electoral cycle by "articulating the issues, in advancing unity against the right, in mobilizing the vote against Bush, in building an independent progressive political majority for the present and future." It stresses the need "to fight racism, the persistent element in driving the right-wing agenda; the pivotal factor in fueling repression and demolishing social programs which injure all working people." It calls for activists to build "organized expressions of popular sentiment on the issues through demonstrations, hearings, conferences, petitions, voter pledges and other forms - all seeking to positively influence the electoral process" and "build voter registration and mobilization among neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, retirees, and others; encouraging local peace, justice, and community, religious and social action groups to press candidates at all levels on the critical issues."
The letter urges people on the left to influence the country's politics by "Actively supporting the Presidential candidate of their choice -- even one who may not fully reflect their convictions, but who differs from the destructive policies of the present administration and is responsive to the demands of a growing grassroots movement for progressive change."
"The coming weeks and months are critical for our communities, our country and the world," said Professor Marable. "If we view things strategically and refrain from trying to resolve all controversies at once, we on the left can play a major role in reversing the dreadful path upon which we have been pushed by this administration, reversing the current dangerous direction in international affairs and regain the momentum for the drive to secure peace and greater progress toward equality and economic and social justice."
The open letter and the initial signers follow:
To: Peace & social justice activists Bush Can Be Stopped: A Letter to the Left
For the sake of peace, democracy, social justice and racial equality, George W. Bush must be defeated in 2004. We believe that he can be defeated and that the left, facing this unprecedented challenge, has a significant, even crucial, role in achieving this objective. The forthcoming election is unlike any other in recent memory. The Bush Administration, arguably the most right-wing in the nation's history, has sought to effect a qualitative change of frightening proportions in the conduct of the nation's foreign and domestic policies.
* It has demolished whatever minimal stability has been achieved in treaties and agreements over the last half century to reduce the threat of nuclear war. It openly seeks world domination through military force and preemptive war - with Iran, North Korea, and Latin America now in its sights after Iraq. Its arrogant and reckless quest for a new US empire is inflamed by a frightening fundamentalist religious zeal.
* The Bush Administration is conducting a cruel war on the poor while outrageously lining the pockets of its corporate supporters. It is deliberately driving up the federal debt to create an excuse for wiping out a century of hard won social programs. Its economic and tax policies have contributed to growing recession and unemployment. It has sought to sabotage affirmative action, labor's interests, women's rights, and has grievously undermined education, health care, and the environment.
* Using its fraudulent "war on terrorism" and playing on the public's fears after 9/11, the Bush Administration has savaged the rights of immigrants and foreign nationals, has fanned racism, conducted arrests without warrants, declared detainees "enemy combatants" without the right to counsel and access to families, has vastly expanded spying on the public, and is now preparing an even more repressive Patriot Act II while packing the courts with compliant right-wing ideologues.
Traditional debates on the left about the value of electoral politics and the lesser evil pale in light of the need to defeat Bush and his congressional accomplices. The essential choice between elementary decency and unprecedented reaction need not be between political parties, but between a powerful movement for peace and justice on one side and Bush and his right- wing zealots on the other.
During this period, people on the left can exercise vital influence on the country's politics and on the outcome of the election by:
* Articulating, advocating, and acting upon the inseparable connection between the deepening economic and social crisis at home and Bush's drive to dominate the world through military force - establishing that those domestic and foreign policies are cut from the same ultra-right cloth, aiming to line the pockets of Bush's corporate friends and advance the interests of his right-wing and fundamentalist constituency.
* Building organized expressions of popular sentiment on the issues through demonstrations, hearings, conferences, petitions, voter pledges and other forms - all seeking to positively influence the electoral process.
* Working in the coming weeks and months to build voter registration and mobilization among neighbors, co- workers, fellow students, retirees, and others; encouraging local peace, justice, and community, religious and social action groups to press candidates at all levels on the critical issues.
* Supporting and assisting emerging movements around issues which will spur voter registration, mobilization, and fund raising like Progressive Voter '04, the People's Convention, MoveOn, US Labor against War, and campaigns organized by United for Peace and Justice, Win without War, labor's Partnership for America's Families, and others.
* Assisting in focusing the energies of activists upon the dozen critical "battleground states" and upon key Senate and House races.
* Actively supporting the Presidential candidate of their choice - even one who may not fully reflect their convictions, but who differs from the destructive policies of the present administration and is responsive to the demands of a growing grassroots movement for progressive change.
* Stressing the need to fight racism, the persistent element in driving the right-wing agenda; the pivotal factor in fueling repression and demolishing social programs which injure all working people.
* Developing independent political forms with progressive political content, which will continue to contest for influence and office after 2004.
The left has a critical role to play in articulating the issues, in advancing unity against the right, in mobilizing the vote against Bush, in building an independent progressive political majority for the present and future. We can and must rise to that challenge. Please join us in this historic effort.
Initiating signers (organizations for identification only)
David Bacon, labor journalist, Berkeley, CA
Frances M. Beal, Black Radical Congress National Council, Oakland, CA
Carl Bloice, moderator, portside, San Francisco, CA
Linda Burnham, Women of Color Resource Center, Oakland, CA
Margaret Burnham, Assoc. Prof., Northeastern University Law School
Brett Bursey, President, South Carolina Progressive Network, Columbia, SC
Leslie Cagan, co-chair, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, New York, NY
James Campbell, co-chair, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Charleston, SC
Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Barry Cohen, moderator, portside, New York, NY
Carl Davidson, Chicago, IL
Angela Davis, University of California at Santa Cruz
Ossie Davis, actor, writer, New York
Ruby Dee Davis, actress, poet, playwright, New York
Donna DeWitt, President, South Carolina State AFL-CIO, Columbia, SC
Charles Ensley, Local 371, SSEU, AFSCME, New York, NY
Martin Fishgold, President, International Labor Communications Association, New York, NY
Al Fishman, Peace Action of Michigan
Henry Foner, retired president, Fur, Leather and Machine Workers Union, New York, NY
Paul Friedman, First Vice President, SEIU-1199 New Jersey
Elaine Hagopian, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Simmons College, Boston, MA
Bill Henning, Vice President, Communication Workers of America, Local 1180, New York, NY
Lennox Hinds, Vice President, International Association of Democratic Lawyers, New York, NY
Connie Hogarth, Center for Social Action, Manhattan College, NY
Arthur Kinoy, National Lawyers Guild, Center for Constitutional Rights, New Jersey
Frank Llewellyn, National Director, Democratic Socialists of America, New York, NY
Eric Mar, Vice-president, San Francisco Board of Education, CA
Dr. Manning Marable, Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY
Ray Markey, President, New York Public Library Guild, Local 1930, AFSCME, New York, CA
Elizabeth Martinez, Institute for Multiracial Justice, San Francisco, CA
Robert & Ellen Meeropol, Rosenberg Fund for Children, Easthampton, MA
Charlene Mitchell, co-chair, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, New York, NY
Bill Moriarity, Local 802, American Federation of Musicians, New York, NY
Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH, Chicago, IL
Michael Parenti, Author, Social Commentator, Berkeley, CA
Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY
Mel Rothenberg, Chicago Jobs with Justice, Committee for New Priorities
Jay Schaffner, moderator, portside, New York, NY
Pete Seeger, musician, writer, environmentalist, Beacon, NY
Mark Solomon, co-chair, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Boston, MA
William K. Tabb, professor, Queens College, New York, NY
Don White, CISPES-LA and KPFK LAB(Local Area Board), Los Angeles, CA
Tim Wise, Nashville, TN
Sincerely,
The Undersigned