Thousands across nation protest Bush presidency

Hundreds of people called the Bush administration's policies a crime and held up yellow police tape in front of the White House on Oct. 5 amid a nationwide day of protest against the president organized by World Can't Wait (WCW). The 500 demonstrators were among many who gathered for similar events in more than 200 cities to protest Bush on issues ranging from global warming to the war in Iraq. Some dressed in costume, including a hooded prisoner in an orange jumpsuit, a devilish rendition of President Bush and two grim reapers. One man wore a red cheerleader outfit with "Radical" emblazoned on the jersey. In New York City, thousands of protesters clogged the streets as they marched from the United Nations headquarters. Some people laid down in the middle of the street, while others carried signs saying "Expose 9/11" and "This war should be over." They also handed out fliers reading, "Drive out the Bush regime." Lydia Sugarman, 82, of Manhattan, said she believed in the power of demonstrating. "That's how we got our civil rights," she said. "If we didn't protest, we wouldn't be Americans." In San Francisco, CA, hundreds of people shut down westbound Market Street in protest against the war in Iraq. One hundred protesters marched though downtown Greensboro, NC, as part of the national campaign to oppose the Bush administration. In Olympia, WA, a protest and parade drew 300 people, according to organizers and the Washington State Patrol. In Portland, OR, at least ten people were detained because they did not follow police instruction to get out of the street during a protest march through downtown. Across the country, speakers included: Daniel Ellsberg, Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, former UN inspector Scott Ritter, along with actors and musicians Edward Asner, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Phillips, and Tom Morello. A statement from Sean Penn read nationwide said: "This is an administration that advocates torture, deceives the public, spends billions of dollars on a failed war.... Out of Iraq. And out with Bush." Gore Vidal has lent his support to World Can't Wait, which calls for the immediate impeachment of President George W. Bush. "We have lost the republic, it's gone," Vidal said with a sigh, "and it has happened in five years because of a great coup d'etat." But despite this broad support, World Can't Wait is at heart another spin-off of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), an ultra-left Maoist group founded in the 1970s and headed by the reclusive Bob Avakian. Recently, the RCP helped instigate the antiwar coalition, Not In Our Name, which in turn helped kickstart the antiwar movement in 2002. Atlanta's Mike Smith, the Southeast coordinator for WCW, spoke in New Orleans to a group of 50 protesters. "This is how fascism happens here, with an orderly handing over of power to the executive branch," Smith said. "It's unacceptable in a civilized country to debate the terms of torture."