Dear Resisters of Bush,
I would like to write now to humbly appeal to all of you who like myself, want so desperately to make change in this world so that our environment, our minds and our futures become less negative and menacing places.
I have come of age in the time when Bush has been president of the USA. I have seen my own country's (Ireland) constitution ripped up while our government bend over backwards to let the US administration turn Ireland into one of the most used refuelling stop offs on the soldiers way to Iraq and Afghanistan. Let me just tell say that from my few years of having my head above the political parapet I have had troublesome yet fulfilling experiences. Along with others I've been arrested for resisting Bush's war, defended myself in court and had both positive and less than positive outcomes from these events.
I just want to emphasise that I do not pretend to be an expert in the struggle against imperialism and the assaults against civil liberties. I do however want to say that I've been there over the last few years and I would actively like to end the currents of zealotry that are rushing around our globe like fanatical floods.
Next I would like to say that I think that we can do that. But not through perennial pessimism and aggressive self-defeat. To recap on the last few years I suppose the one thing I've learnt is that Bush is a focus and not the source of everything we resist. Generations of people before resisters of my own age have been fighting against Thatcher, Nixon, Franco and other tyrants who have contribute to shape of the 'Bush world' which we currently fight. I want to take this opportunity to salute the great inspiratory figures of resistance in our past, Victor Jara in Chile, Las Madres de La Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, those who lost their lives 30 years ago in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Mexico City, the Irish hunger strikers, the victims of Bloody Sunday in Derry, The Maquisards in Europe and the millions of other outstanding human beings from whom we draw our current passion for justice.
One generation ago both my parents made the youthful contribution that I am now trying to make. I also want to salute my parents and all parents of the current generation who have made the current movement that what it is; The largest anti-imperialist movement to ever exist on the face of the earth. Let us remember that the focus of this movement is George W. Bush.
30 years ago my father stood side by side Bush's presidential opponent as a VVAW in Detroit, in Washington D.C., in Paris. Winter Soldier, the siege of the Betsy Ross house in Philadelphia, the protest on the Mall, the testimony and the Paris Peace Accords were all things that he contributed to in his little way. These events were instrumental in the ending of the war against the Vietnamese people and therefore indirectly contributed to saving many lives.
Let's face it Kerry is capitalist, he's a multi-millionaire who is all but excommunicated from the current world of resistance. He is now indeed one of 'them' on Capitol Hill. I'm not for a second suggesting that he is going to wave a magic utopian wand and cure all the ills that we seek fixed. Neither am I saying that all the US citizens among our numbers should vote for him on an 'Anybody but Bush' basis. He is however very likely to bring about an environment of improved reasoning in world politics. An environment where perhaps the roots of terrorism will be studied and treated humanely instead of the reactionary frenzy that currently caracterises mainstream political thought. Where there is an emphasis on the will of people and fairness.
Kerry is the short-term solution in a long-term goal. I believe that energy policies need to be directed away from oil based industries and that the likes of those jailed in Guantanamo need to have their rights as soon as possible.
I do not pretend to know Kerry but though my own 2nd hand knowledge of events 30 years ago from the word of a witness and participant in what was a very turbulent and important part of history that shook the world, I can say that I believe that Kerry can broker a passage of history that is open to an end to imperialism. He isn't the light at the end of the tunnel but I do think that his defeating Bush is crucial to sustaining a non-extremist alternatives for the future of the world.
I really don't think it's time to resign ourselves to a permanent place behind the barriers of history. Bush's opponent was once, if only briefly, also outside the barriers too. It is possible that the biggest barrier of all, the White House, could be occupied by a Bourgoise King who once pumped through his heart the passion that the current movement palpitates with.
I would encourage those who have been active in the fight against Bush, to finish him off as a focus before we focus on the next stage. It's about finishing one job at a time. Let's try our best to encourage the population of the USA to end Bush's job. Bring him down, people will feel empowered to continue the search in a less ideological washed world.
I'm appealing to you who have votes in the U.S.A. to use them to bring Bush down before regrouping for the next stage of the struggle.
Yours Faithfully,
Guerrero de la Luna