demonstratr

Welcome to the new website of the Committee for Democracy and Social Change. We hope through this new tool to change the way that we operate on the campus of the University of Kentucky and in the Lexington area generally. The idea behind this website is to keep ourselves informed and involved in ongoing conversation about the issues with which we are concerned. Chief among these issues are 1) the ongoing War in Iraq, 2) The current situation in the Middle East generally, 3) the recent and unprecedented increase in domestic surveillance, 4) the use of torture and secret prisons. As a group we are also interested in local environmental and labor issues. We believe that this website can help us understand these issues and formulate strategies for concrete local action.

It is important that we be clear: our emphasis must be on action. In a New York Times editorial on 08/31/06 Andrew Rosethal decried the “silence in the streets” (http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0831-21.htm). This must be taken as a provocation. We have not been silent and we cannot fall silent. Rather, we must turn up the volume and make sure we are heard. On one hand, this means continuing our weekly campus demonstrations against the illegitimate and immoral war in Iraq. On the other hand, it means thinking of new and inventive ways of disrupting daily life with the message that war, colonialism, imperialism, greed, and racism are wrong.

This coming week will be the perfect time to set much of this into motion. Bush only Thursday admitted to the existence of secret torture prisons. At the same time, former Deputy Secretary of State Dick Armitage has admitted to leaking the identity of Valerie Plame. Despite Armitage’s claims to the contrary, this was an obviously malicious act to take revenge on her husband former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

This is the perfect time for action but we must not have an idealized understanding of what is called for. “Action” means highlighting in your daily encounters the injustices and atrocities of the Iraq War. “Action” means taking the time to talk with people you do not know about the war. “Action” means taking to the streets with a sign, a banner, a flag, or a bullhorn by yourself if need be. It’s time for action. This doesn’t mean another big rally. It means a sustained and pervasive public critcism of the War in Iraq.

We’ll keep posting here regularly and working to make sure that the University of Kentucky community has an outspoken voice for peace and justice in its midst. We encourage anyone who is interested to listen in, to participate, and to act.