[Sosfbay-discuss] Impeachment Actions- Show It Off Campaign...

[Carol Brouillet]

The Show It Off! campaign (the mass wearing of 
impeachment garb) will start in the week 
preceding April 28. If we can get just 5% of the 
58% who want to see Bush/Cheney gone, we're 
talking millions of people whose visibility would 
bypass the media's indifference. It could change 
the whole political atmosphere and put impeachment on the front burner.

One of the building tactics I have in mind in the 
weeks leading up to A28 is for teams of people 
(e.g., 3-8 people) all wearing appropriate shirts 
in the same color (e.g., Bush is Over! Cheney is 
Over! Torture is Over! in black) and going onto 
subway cars, into stations, on buses, in parks, 
down sidewalks, etc. carrying flyers promoting 
the SIO and A28, T's, armbands and bright peach 
or orange decals that people could buy on the 
spot and put on. Individuals could this too and 
they could recruit people to join them on the 
spot! The decals could be manufactured in rolls 
and each decal sold for $1 each. If we could have 
a cameraperson along who could record this, these 
"I-teams" could be popularized and spread 
nationally via YouTube, et al. If you picture 
what teams of people going out this way dressed 
up this way would look like, you can get a sense 
of how this could become a sensation.

For the T's, go to http://bushisover.org. They're 
are on the bottom of the page.

This is the pitch that I made for the SIO idea originally:

The rationale for this proposal is this: we are 
confronting a very difficult situation because we 
cannot rely on the mass media to give us decent 
coverage of our protests. Unlike what we saw in 
the 1960s, the mass media are a different entity 
today. The Democratic Party has also moved 
decidedly to the right and are vigorously 
opposing impeachment proceedings. And thus, we 
are facing the combined opposition of the 
Democratic Party and the mass media. This is the 
main factor holding people back till now because 
the opposition to impeachment by the opinion 
leaders of the society is a huge impediment. All 
of this occurs in the face of the fact that a 
substantial majority of people actually support 
impeachment. How do we then make a breakthrough 
given these factors and the urgency of the situation?

We need to take advantage of our strengths and 
minimize our weaknesses. One of our strengths is 
that we DO have a majority of people behind us, 
but that support is latent, unorganized, and 
largely unexpressed (save the November 2006 
election results). The big elephant in the room 
doesn't realize that it's an elephant and 
therefore hasn't begun to throw its weight 
around. We need to find ways to get this 
widespread support to be manifested and for it to 
be manifested in ways that by-pass to a significant extent mass media coverage.

If even 5% of the 58% plus who support 
impeachment were to wear an impeachment T-shirt 
or orange armband or buttons, etc. we're talking 
MILLIONS of people. The ubiquity of such an 
action would mean that it doesn't matter whether 
mass media cover us or not because millions of 
Americans will be seeing this with their own eyes 
in their own towns, cities, schools, workplaces, 
communities, etc. This would be an 
extension/adjunct to Jacob's Big Billboards' 
campaign in that the masses of people will be 
walking and talking small billboards all over the 
country. (And it will cost a lot less! LOL) 
Moreover, the sales for T's and other materials 
will be very large and a major fundraiser in its 
own right. These proceeds could help us pay for 
things like TV commercial time and billboards.

Not only will this give heart to the people who 
are dying to see this regime ended TO SEE OTHERS 
OUT THERE, but it will allow people to LINK UP 
with each other - exchanging contact information 
with each other to carry forth further actions 
both on that day and on succeeding days. Since 
people will be by definition doing these things 
in their own local communities, the people they 
hook up with also live in the same area and we 
would give a huge boost to the ranks of the movement.

This idea could be supplemented with a campaign 
to get people to put impeachment bumper stickers 
on their cars also and take up wearing big orange 
stickers on their persons and posting these 
stickers in the world. People could do mass 
assemblies on this day or these days and take 
pictures of it, including things like the Impeach on the Beach actions.

We could make orange the recommended color of the 
day (as WCW has because of Gitmo and Abu Ghraib) 
and people could find different ways to do this - 
wear an impeachment shirt (like the "Impeach Bush 
& Cheney" shirt that afterdowningstreet.org has), 
wear a button, an orange armband, a wrist band, 
an impeachment cap, etc. We ought to TAKE 
ADVANTAGE OF THE ENTHUSIASM OF YOUTH too, and 
take this out to the HIGH SCHOOL and COLLEGE 
campuses ahead of the day and have them take this 
up and help to popularize it. Freeway blogging/signs could be part of this too.

To promote this we could encourage groups of 
people, esp. youth, to don appropriate gear 
(e.g., 5-8 people all wearing black "Bush Is 
Over!" T-shirts) and going out into gatherings 
like clubs, subways, buses, parks, walking down 
the street, etc. with wide orange armbands with 
IMPEACH on them, t-shirts, decals on rolls, 
flyers, and a camera person to record this, and 
encourage people to don the gear, buy and use the 
stickers. We want this to take on the character 
of a sensation that starts to spread like wildfire.

People could do the "Bush is Over," "Torture is 
Over," "Cheney is Over," "War is Over," etc. on 
their bodies and on signs as a part of this campaign.

The point is, we have at least 58% of the people 
in support of impeachment, but we need to find 
ways besides mass demonstrations (which are, of 
course, terribly important), to manifest this 
fight and get people to start talking to each 
other about this. People like David Swanson and 
Cindy Sheehan (and Dinah Mason) who make a 
regular practice of wearing an impeachment shirt 
all report that people approach them and start 
excitedly talking about it. Impeachment T Day 
could be abbreviated as "IT," which, of course, 
works with the "I want it, do you want it?" slogan that Jacob proposed.

Sociologist Noelle Neumann has a phrase, the 
"spiral of silence," that describes how people 
who think that their views are in the minority 
shut themselves up in the face of what seems to 
be the prevailing dominant opinion. The fact that 
a large majority support  impeachment is a 
strategic factor in our favor. The fact that the 
mass media are on the other side is of course a 
strategic factor going against us.

We want to make impeachment a dividing line 
question in society as a whole and get people 
debating this and choosing sides. With a lot 
people everywhere wearing something to show their 
support for impeachment, it doesn't matter in a 
way if mass media don't cover us, although if 
this succeeds, of course, they will cover us to some extent.

The point is that we should carry this out in a 
way that makes media's coverage or non-coverage a 
secondary or tertiary factor or even almost a 
non-factor because our t's and other visible 
messages are so widespread. We want to get the 
backward forces - those who oppose impeachment - 
who now dominate the airwaves and political 
institutions to have to step back and deal with 
the strength, numbers, visibility and determination of our forces.

The reason I suggest making a special effort to 
get high school and college students to take this 
up ahead of time is because they can be a 
catalyst to broader sections of the people and 
also, of course, because the presence of youth 
and students is lagging and badly needs to be buttressed and it needs to bloom.






Dennis Loo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology



-----Original Message-----
Dennis,
Thanks for calling this morning! I posted our
postcard and this text on indymedia.org
at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/04/03/18388290.php

The text on the postcard reads:
9/11 Truth

The 21st century's defining event is the crime of
9/11, used by the Bush Administration to launch
illegal wars and assaults on the Constitution,
the Bill of Rights, and habeas corpus. The
institutionalization of torture, and the Military
Commissions Act's authorization of the use of
martial law and military force against US
citizens, were supported by Congress and
unchallenged by the media. They have both failed
to investigate and report the basic facts about
9/11. 115 serious omissions and distortions in
the 9/11 Report are listed by Dr. David Ray
Griffin in his essay, "The 571 Page Lie." The
lies, the cover-up, and the conspiracy theory
Bush and Cheney used to connect 9/11 to invasion
of Iraq are high crimes meriting impeachment.
communitycurrency.org, 911truth.org, 911review.com

National Shopping Boycott - April 15-22nd Impeach for Peace and Justice

To defend the U.S. Constitution against all
enemies foreign and domestic, to hold accountable
those who through fraud and malfeasance have
sought endless war, demonstrated endemic
corruption and heartless disregard for the
weakest among us, for justice, we will begin a
one-week shopping boycott, along with other civil
disobediences, uniting citizens who agree we must
do something NOW. Simultaneously withdrawing from
the retail economy, millions of us can send a
wake-up call to the corporations that back our
national leaders. During this week, shop only at
local independent stores. We can show the
corporate powers and our elected representatives
that we are determined, that the time for truth
and justice has come, that "We're not buying it
any more" and a full accounting is expected from
Washington and Wall Street both.
www.wearenotbuyingit.org
The National Day of Action for Impeachment (April 28th)
www.a28.org
We're almost out of the first 1000 and could
print more for the weekend/rally/march.  Where do
you have a write-up of your "show support for
impeachment idea?"  We should be able to slip
that in somewhere- at least on our website-
http://www.communitycurrency.org/impeach.html

I look forward to seeing you on the 15th!

Sincerely, Carol Brouillet

Press
Advisory
April 4, 2007
Media Contacts-
Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance, 
http://www.communitycurrency.org/impeach.html
Carol Brouillet- (home) 650-857-0927,
<mailto:cbrouillet at igc.org>cbrouillet at igc.org

411 on 911
Rally and March for 9/11 Truth and Impeachment

       On Wednesday, April 11, 2007, protesters
will rally at 1:00 p.m. at Lytton Plaza in
downtown Palo Alto to demand 9/11 Truth and the
impeachment of Bush/Cheney. Speakers will include
Janette MacKinlay­a survivor of the 9/11 attacks;
David Kubiak­International Campaign Advisor of
911Truth.org; Gabriel Day­organizer of the "9/11-
Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming the Future"
conference; Ed Rippy­of the Northern California
9/11 Truth Alliance; and Riva Enteen­of the
National Lawyers Guild. Music will be provided by
"Annie and the Vets." The march will begin at
2:00 p.m. and will conclude at Congresswoman Anna
Eshoo's office at 698 Emerson Street.

       The grassroots demand for an investigation
into 9/11 began in 2001, taking stronger form in
January of 2002 with marches on Senator Feinstein
and Congresswoman Eshoo's offices. From a small
weekly "Listening Project" in downtown Palo Alto
(every Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.),
the 9/11 Truth movement has grown into an
international effort with countless websites and
numerous documentaries, books and articles
criticizing and challenging the 9/11 Commission
Report, the NIST Report, the "War on Terrorism,"
the PATRIOT Act, and the policies of the Bush
Administration that hinge upon the official
story. In January of 2003 the demands of the 9/11
Truth movement to "stop the 9/11 cover-up, repeal
the PATRIOT Act, and demand pre-emptive
impeachment of Bush," prior to the war, were
dismissed by Eshoo and the Congress, who continue
to fund the war and have failed to respond to
growing public demands for the impeachment of
Bush, Cheney, and Gonzales. This failure can be
seen in Eshoo's response to Carol Brouillet after
the recent March 14th Impeachment rally in Palo Alto:

              "I've lived through an impeachment
process and witnessed firsthand how it tears the
country apart. The election in November was a
resounding rejection of the President's policies
and the policies of his party. I think it's time
to bring the country together and move forward.
In my view, impeachment will heavily distract
from the important work of reversing the
disastrous course this Administration has set and
will virtually bring to a halt progress on
important issues including healthcare and global warming."

       Activists have been outraged to see
Congress expand funding for the war and work with
those widely considered to be "war criminals."
Activists are calling for a truly independent
investigation of 9/11, a nationwide shopping
boycott from Tax Day to Earth Day, and a national
day of "impeachment actions" on April 28th.
Citizen-led initiatives are taking place across
the country to force a real investigation of 9/11
(Vermont, for instance), and to push Congress to
initiate impeachment through state legislatures,
as well as through city and county resolutions.

       Grassroots efforts have included "becoming
the media." Activists have distributed millions
of "Deception Dollars," tens of thousands of
DVDs, produced television shows, radio shows,
music videos, CDs to reach people in the streets
and via the internet. Polls show they have won
over public opinion and that only 16% of
Americans believe what the Administration has
told them about 9/11.* Impeachment activists
placed their bodies on the beach to spell
"Impeach!" in San Francisco, to send a message to
Pelosi and Congress. On April 28th people are
encouraged to spell "Impeach" everywhere, forcing
the topic into the national discourse. The
national shopping boycott is designed to help
people flex their economic muscle and send a
message to the corporations who sponsor
politicians and profit from war. There is a
convergence of the anti-war, anti-corporate
globalization, peace and justice, impeachment and
truth movements taking place now, seeking to turn
policies away from fear-mongering and war and
towards community building, healing and a just
peace. The rally and march are part of a larger
continuum of educational and empowerment events
addressing 9/11 and impeachment.
* Americans Question Bush on 9/11 Intelligence-
Source New York Times/CBS News,
www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/13469http