[Sosfbay-discuss] McKinney: Impeach -- the fate of mankind is at stake.

[Drew Johnson]

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Submitted by admin on Wed, 10/24/2007 - 01:50.

Cynthia McKinney
The World Didn't Wait
"elevate" Democracy Conference
October 24, 2007

It is a great pleasure for me to have been invited to participate in this
Conference dedicated to democracy. I look forward to joining the
international community of activists dedicated to change based on the
principles of dignity, justice, self-determination, and peace for all the
peoples of the world.

Everyone in this room and every participant in this Conference is here
because we want peace and justice.

And these principles of peace and dignity, justice and self-determination
are oftentimes pronounced as the reasons why certain policies are pursued
by governments, only later do we discover that the opposite was the case.
In the case of my own country, the United States, it pronounces itself a
protagonist for peace -- as it makes war; a crusader for religious freedom
-- as it targets for sometimes illegal and unconstitutional treatment,
members of a particular faith. My country postures as a country deeply
concerned about the spread of democracy -- yet denies democracy at home by
systematically disfranchising poor, black, and minority voters. And
finally, let me not forget to mention the incarceration rate of the U.S.
My country incarcerates more people than any other country on the planet
-- many of whom are innocent--while it champions its pursuit of "justice."

Many people inside the United States struggle selflessly to return our
country to a position of economic vitality, Diplomatic trust, and
reliability as a true champion for justice and peace.

But, from my own personal history and that of many who struggled before
me, such independent thinking and confidence in the goodness of our people
comes at a personal price. For while our message may ricochet around the
world, the people we fight for are rarely in a position to reward such
acts of courage. Yet the powers that be always seem to be able to exact
their punishment. So oftentimes, where there is courage, truth,
compassion, belief in the people, and a solid sense of right and wrong,
there is also aloneness, vulnerability, or sometimes even deep
disappointment.

I was the only Democrat to lose in the entire 2006 election cycle. The War
Party Democrats needed 218 votes to pass the war-funding bill in the
House. That initial war-funding bill passed exactly by 218 votes, with my
replacement in Congress voting to fund the war. Had I been there, the vote
would have failed; the war would not have been funded, and we'd be having
a different conversation now about the prospects for peace in the world.
One vote is important and my one vote -- not being there -- did make a
difference.

But instead of abandoning the struggle, we come together at conferences
like this one to commune with each other, learn from each other, give love
and support to each other, recharge our batteries, and continue our work
on behalf of what is right in a world currently filled with so much wrong.

Last year, I was asked by Debra Sweet to endorse the activities of World
Can't Wait, the American pro-peace and pro-impeachment organization. It
advocates the impeachment of George Bush because in its view, Bush is such
bad news that the World Can't Wait.

I agree with them.

And so, on my last day in Congress, after 12 years of service to my
constituents and my country, I offered Articles of Impeachment against
President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of State Rice.

Impeachment is America's roadmap back to dignity. Impeachment is the
Constitutional way to handle an Administration that has, from the outset,
violated the tenets of the U.S. Constitution. It is also a way of the
people to say "No, we do not condone what has been done in our name, and
we are not complicit."

The first time I felt the sting of Republican retribution and Democratic
Party indifference was in 2002 when I questioned the Administration's
explanation of what happened on September 11th, 2001. I am the Member of
Congress who asked the simple question, "What did the Bush Administration
know and when did it know it, about the tragic events of September 11th."
After I was defeated in 2002, I traveled all over my country supporting
the anti-war movement and informing the American people of the lies of the
current Administration.

The film "American Blackout" tells the whole story of how Republicans
stole two Presidential elections and of how Republicans stole two
Congressional elections from me.

Well, as it turns out, the world didn't wait. And activists in the rest of
the world are the people now practicing the art of effective resistance.

I guess it started in 1959 with Cuba. However, Cuba is no longer alone in
its attempt to chart its own course.

In 1998, Venezuelans elected Hugo Chavez who has used oil profits to set
up healthcare for all, arts programs for the children, and subsidized
education, including free universities.

In 2001, the people of Cote d'Ivoire rejected dictatorship and up to
today, continue to try and chart an independent course despite huge big
power interference due to offshore oil reputed to be of the quality of
Nigeria's.

In 2002, Brazilians sent shockwaves throughout the Americas by electing
the Workers' Party Lula to become their head of state.

In 2003 Argentina elected Kirchner, 2004, Spain elected Zapatero, and
India rejected the BJP politics of division. In 2005, Bolivia elected
Morales; 2006, Bachelet in Chile, Correa in Ecuador, Ortega in Nicaragua
were all elected, with one agenda -- to provide prosperity, independence,
justice, and peacei -- to the people that they represent.

And let us not forget the valiant people of Haiti who twice have had their
elected President, Aristide, removed from office by means of U.S.
intrigue. But in the midst of an attempt to steal the Haitian election
away from Rene Preval, a friend and supporter of Aristide, the Haitian
people took to the streets and demanded that their votes be counted and
that the election not be stolen.

Today, Preval is the President of Haiti because the Haitian people took
every step within their means to ensure that their votes and their
democracy were respected. Today, even, despite a harsh occupation, the
Haitian people stand strong.

Against tremendous odds, people who have far less than most Americans have
-- in terms at least of material things -- stood up and took their fates
in their hands. They did what Mario Savio asked Americans to do in the
1960s. They put their bodies against the levers and the gears and the
wheels of the machine and they said to the owners if you don't stop it, we
will. And stop it, they did. The people of these countries stopped the
machine. And I know that Americans can do it, too.

On the day before he was murdered, in his less-celebrated "I've Been to
the Mountaintop" speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that he was
happy to be living in the second half of the 20th Century because
something was happening in our world. He said,

"The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled . . .
whether in Johannesburg, Nairobi, Accra, or New
York City, the cry is alway s the same: 'We want to be free.'"

Well, I can stand here nearly 40 years later and say that at the dawn of
the 21st Century, "Something is happening in our world." The world's
marginalized, exploited, and dispossessed are taking center stage because
they have decided to defy imperial domination. They are saying that
resource wars that hurt the masses and benefit the few are illegal,
immoral, and just plain wrong.

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were with us today, I think he would be
proud of the people around the world who are standing up for themselves.

I'm sure Dr. King would wonder why people in the U.S. didn't demand that
their votes be counted on election days in 2000 and in 2004.

In 2000 there were approximately 2 million voters who went to the polls
and thought they voted, but actually, their votes were not counted.
Approximately 1 million of those were minority voters. George Bush did not
win Florida by 537 votes. Approximately 97,000 blacks who went to the
polls and voted had their votes invalidated because the authorities said
that the ballots were "spoiled."

In 2004, the black vote, once again, was a victim of racial profiling. And
again, the Republicans did it and the Democrats let them get away with it.
As Talam Acey writes, the new New World Order is that you can win the
election and still lose.

What is clear is that the world didn't wait for the people of the United
States to take their country back. We can also point to action right here
in Europe. For example, Aznar in Spain lost the election even at the most
painful moment for the people of Spain. Bush's coalition of the willing
crumbled as Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Hungary, Norway, Ukraine,
Bulgaria, Italy, and Slovakia, in that order Portuguese, and the
Norwegians pulled their troops in that order. What surprises me is that so
many countries fell for the lies anyway. More importantly, what the world
is showing us, is that people power is real and that if we, in the United
States, fail to act, we will be the ones left far behind. Here's what the
people in the U.S. have faced:

Republicans stole the 2000 Presidential election.

Then, on September 11th a grave tragedy befell our country. The American
people were promised a white paper by Colin Powell stating what happened,
how it happened, and who did it. We have yet to receive such a white
paper, Osama bin Laden is on the FBI website, but not for September 11th!

Hot on the heels of September 11th, however, the Administration pushed
through a series of draconian laws that usurp the United States
Constitution and the civil liberties embodied in the Bill of Rights that
make us "free," the ostensible cause of the September 11th attacks in the
first place, according to the Administration story.

Then, the Administration seized the September 11th tragedy to invade and
occupy Iraq while lying to the American people and the global community
about why this action was necessary.

A campaign of terror ensued at home with the U.S. government targeting the
Muslim community and actually rounding up innocent, law-abiding residents
for interrogations. Those of all faiths, races, and ethnicities who
dissented from the Administration's policies found themselves targeted for
surveillance and worse. Medical records, bank records, telephone
conversations, e-mails, regular mail, and more, all became subject to the
government's watchful eyes. Even church sermons, environmentalists, and
peace groups were monitored. he Administration spied on the American
people, breaking U.S. law, and lied to them about it.

The introduction of electronic voting machines into U.S. elections
inaugurated a whole new level of possible election fraud techniques. As
these unreliable machines are introduced into Europe, I believe European
voters must become even more vigilant for the future of their democracy.

The Administration stole the 2004 Presidential election, and immediately
began warmongering against other countries it didn't like. It told us to
expect war for the next generation and targeted 60 countries around the
world. Its war aims include Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iran, and North Korea.
The current Administration has actually dropped bombs on the poor,
defenseless people of Somalia. Ethiopia, a country with a proud heritage
of never having succumbed to any colonial power is now firmly a U.S.
vassal, part of the Administration's war machine against fellow Africans.
Adding further insult to injury in Africa, the Administration has
inaugurated its Africa Command within the Pentagon and will locate a
permanent presence on the Continent thanks to the acquiescence of Ellen
Sirleaf-Johnson, President of Liberia.

Interestingly, none of what I've said is a secret in the U.S. It's not on
the corporate-owned media, but it is public and could be known by the
masses.

When Bobby Kennedy was asked about a U.S. military strike on Cuba during
the Cuban Missile Crisis, his response was that it was unseemly for a
country the size of the United States to use military force against a
small country like Cuba.

Bobby Kennedy would have been President of the United States had he not
been murdered by assassin's bullets. And I'm told that Bobby Kennedy was
considering Dr. King to be his Vice President, but the assassins got Dr.
King, too.

Who could explain today's U.S. behavior to Bobby Kennedy or Dr. King? How
do we maintain any dignity or responsibility to our children and to the
world's children when we fail to exercise every tool available to us to
stop the current Administration and for that matter, any future
Administration that would do this in our name?

I do believe the American people voted massively in the mid-term elections
for a Democratic majority in Congress in an effort to end the war, restore
the Constitution, and stop the lies. Instead, the Democratic majority in
Congress has funded the war, enabled the illegal spying on the American
people, failed to repeal the Patriot Act and other laws that erode civil
liberties in our country, and passed bellicose legislation targeting Iran.

I have signed so many online petitions, for impeachment, to not vote for
any candidate who has ever voted to fund the war, but ultimately our today
and tomorrow will be written by those who dare to act. As Rosa Parks,
Malcolm X, Dr. King, SNCC, and the Black Panthers, and the hundreds of
thousands of others who forced the southern part of the United States into
the 20th Century. I'm encouraging all peace loving Americans to not only
register to vote and to vote, but to run for office so we all can have
good people for whom to vote!

I have endorsed Cindy Sheehan, the mother who lost her son in the Iraq
war, who is now running for Congress in San Francisco against Nancy
Pelosi, the Democratic Leader who took impeachment off the table and who
continues to fund the war. And I might very well become a candidate for
President in the United States under the Green Party banner.

The complicity of both major political parties in the global and domestic
mess emanating from the United States is becoming crystal clear.

Each one of us, individually, has no choice but to become the leader we
are looking for. Otherwise, we will continue to get what we've always been
given: handpicked leaders who don't represent us.

We will have to change the structure of U.S. politics because changing the
people, clearly, isn't enough.

I believe this becomes more possible as the people in the U.S. understand
that our two parties have morphed into the War Party and the Money Party
and they both are one!

Moreover, the inauguration of electronic voting machines into the election
process requires vigilance on the part of us all. That approximately one
million French citizens voted on electronic voting machines of
questionable reliability should give all of us pause and should instruct
you in Europe on the need for vigilance.

When the Presidential election was stolen in Mexico, defenders of
democracy shut Mexico City down for weeks until the unrightful, new
Mexican President was sworn in. After that, they formed a "parallel"
government. And if Mexican defenders of democracy can do it, certainly
American defenders of democracy can accomplish what we need to do, too.

For us, nothing less than the soul and character of our country are at
stake. But for the world, embroiled in war, nothing less than the fate of
mankind is at stake.

Thank you for hosting this Conference. Thank you for giving us the
encouragement to go forth, especially in the United States, and build an
uncompromised movement for dignity and justice, based on peace and love.

Thank you.

You can learn more about Cynthia McKinney at
www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com.