Expats Against Bush

Stop Bush Protest - Photo Gallery

Hi guys,

Just thought you'd like to see some photos we managed to snap over the course of the last couple of weeks and at yesterday's protest. Some good ones in here, especially the great signage (thanks Nick and Graham!)

There are some more floating around Yahoo! which I will gather up this weekend when I have a spare couple of minutes.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

First of all, let me extend my condolences to the families and friends of those who were killed or injured in yesterday's blasts in Istanbul. Totally senseless acts, and clearly timed to call attention to the British relationship to America during George Bush's visit.

We must continue to fight against terrorism. But fighting against terrorism must not only consist of the active pursuit of terrorist cells and the elimination of terror groups. The fight against terrorism must acknowledge the root causes of terrorism, and the genesis of these terrorists. They do not spring forth fully formed and sporting explosive vests. The anger that creates terrorism has a root cause, and if we inflame that anger then we must accept that it will, in turn, create more young men willing to become martyrs. That is not appeasement, that is an undeniable fact.

That basic equation has eluded our President, it seems. And yesterday, despite the somber mood that pervaded the protests in light of the attacks, you all showed the world that you want a change in our leadership. You showed your true patriotism by raising your voices and demanding democratic change.

Today you can rest easy knowing that for the moment you have done your country a service, and showed the world your true character. It's not easy standing up in these times, with everyone around you warning of retaliation, and the hate mail flowing in (and it has been immense the last few days). But you all came out and did it.

Thank you so much for making the world take notice.

So, some people have asked, will I fold the site now that the big day is over? What happens tomorrow?

I answer by saying: While Bush is still in power, this site and this organization will fight him.

Our mission is unchanged. We want to gather together Americans from all corners of the globe, and make sure that next year they vote Bush out, and tell their friends and family back home to do the same. That must be the driving force of this organization.

So, as of today, I am announcing that I intend to set up Expats Against Bush chapters in every country where there are American expats. I have already had contact from so many people around the world willing to help, that this is the obvious next step.

What I need now is volunteers. The UK chapter is obviously going strong already, and we'll continue to gather and plan our next steps. If you're reading this outside the UK, and you want to get involved and start a new country chapter, get in touch. You will come to the end of next year knowing you've done everything in your power to get out the vote against Bush, and that's something you can take with you for the rest of your life.

I have set up the Expats Against Bush website so that sub-sites can easily be added at will, and with the TypePad software at your disposal managing and updating your country site will be easy and uncomplicated. The hard part is organizing your fellow Americans to get involved - but believe me once you start the ball rolling, it will take on a life of its own... and you will end up with a fantastic group of people working for a common cause:

FINAL PLAN FOR TOMORROW'S PROTEST

I just sent this email out to all of you on the Yahoo! list. Please read this carefully if you're just seeing it now, there are some important changes.

Hi all,

This should be the last email you receive from me prior to the protest. You should print it out and bring it with you for reference if possible.

Please pay attention as the plan has been slightly altered (again) at the request of the Stop the War Coalition.

I still want you to come to the Northeast corner of Russell Square, but we need you there earlier than 1PM if possible. If there's any way you can be there by 12 noon that would be ideal. An Expats Against Bush steward should be there to give you further instructions.

The reason for this change is that Stop the War have now requested that some of us be available at the head of the procession from 12 noon onwards for press purposes. The more of us, the better. So, when you get to Russell Square, ask the EAB steward (identified by holding an EAB placard) where you should go - they will have the latest information.

The EAB Steward will only be there until 1:30 or so, at which point he/she will proceed to join the rest of the EAB folks at the head of the procession. The actual procession will set off at or around 2PM along the march route.

If you get to Russell Square later than 1:30PM, or generally have any questions or concerns, then call one of our stewards for the latest information:

Angelique 0796 625 3211
Sarah 0781 293 8767
Graham 0797 660 1193

If none of those work, you can call me (Luke) on 0771 512 0153 - though please try to keep my line free for emergencies etc.

If all else fails (the much-mooted total mobile network meltdown for instance) - go through to Malet St and find the head of the procession, which should be at the south end.

Now, a couple of points.

- In case of any trouble breaking out, get as far away from the trouble as possible. If it looks like the police are disbanding the protest, especially in Trafalgar Square or on Whitehall, then make your way to the southwest corner of Leicester Square and we'll regroup there. If in doubt, contact one of the stewards.

- If anything dodgy starts going down, such as anti-American displays (flag burning and the lot) try to distance yourself from it. We don't want to be photographed with any of that sort of thing!

- If the press approaches you, please direct them to me or, if you know who they are, one of our other press people. We've got the soundbites ready to go, and will do the best job communicating the reason behind the march.

I think that's about it.

(whew)

I will see you all tomorrow. Stay safe, and remember why we're doing this. We want to show the world that we disapprove of Bush, and the best way to do that will be in a calm, determined, serious and above
all PEACEFUL manner.

Here we go.

-Luke
0771 512 0153

Logistics for November 20th March

A couple of points on logistics for Thursday's march.

Stewards
I need 5 or 6 people to volunteer to be stewards, to help keep us organized in the time leading up to the march and sort out any small problems that occur as we go forward, to field questions from members of the group, and to help out any group members who get lost. If you're comfortable with publishing your mobile number internally to the group that would be perfect - as I need to keep my phone completely free for emergency calls from the Stop the War folks and others involved in the march, as well as for logistical arrangements with the press.

Press people
We've got a couple volunteers for this already, but I need to get a couple more people on-deck who are media trained and comfortable possibly taking some of the press heat off me should it prove necessary. I've no idea at the moment what level of press coverage we can expect, but I would err on the side of "a lot". Press are already reserving time slots with me for the day of the march.

Contingency Plans
I am working on a plan for a rally point outside of Trafalgar Square in the unlikely event that trouble occurs and we have to scatter. My current thinking is Leicester Square, but I'm open to suggestion. It needs to be easy to get to and big enough to hold a couple hundred people.

Tying up some loose ends

Hi there,

There's some errata I've been meaning to post over the last day or so and haven't gotten around to:

- GM.TV want to get someone from our group to do a video diary tomorrow:

I'm looking for one or two ex-pats (ordinary mums and dads who feel so aggrieved at Bush's visit) who could do a video diary for us this week. We want to get people making placards, perhaps travelling down to London from elsewhere in the country, and find out why they're so against Bush visiting, what they think of Tony Blair etc. We'd ideally like to show the video diary on Wed morning, or even Thursday although I know it's very short notice.

If you're interested, let me know.

- Manic over at Bloggerheads.com would like our group to participate in the "Chasing Bush" moblogging drive. I know some of you might not be able to make the protest, so if you see Dubya racing by in a motorcade, pop off an email to [email protected].

- Check out the ingenious Oust Bush site.

- Finally, in a bit of a weird segue, I have a pair of tickets to see The Coral at the Brixton Academy on Thursday night, but something tells me I'm not going to be A) in the mood or B) able to get there on time. So if you fancy seeing some fine rock and roll after a good days' demoing and want to buy these off me (£30 for the pair), let me know. I can give them to you at the protest.

New Placards online now

Thanks to Graham, a new set of issue-specific placards is now available as a single PDF (15K) - each placard has its own "page" within the document. Pick one or more that takes your fancy, and follow the instructions here to put your placard(s) together for Thursday, making sure to tell the printers which page you want done.

Protest tonight at Euston

The Stop the War Coalition have asked me if I can ask any of you if you're available tonight to join the public rally in Euston - they'd love to get some of the Americans on board early in the process. Plus there's a fair chance you'll be able to introduce yourself to Ron Kovic, one of the nicest guys I've ever met.

If you have placards already made, all the better!

Details here:
Tuesday 18th November, 7.30pm
Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, opposite Euston BR (nearest tube Euston / Euston Sq).
Speakers: Ron Kovic (Vietnam veteran), Harold Pinter (playwright), George Galloway MP (ex-Labour Party), Tony Benn, John Rees (Stop the War Coalition), Kate Hudson (CND), MAB speaker and Caroline Lucas MEP (Green Party).

I can't say for sure whether I'll be able to make it or not tonight due to possible interviews, but I'll do my best.

Good news and bad news

The good news....
The request to march past Westminster and Whitehall has been granted!

The route is now as follows:

• Malet St
• Russell Square - (Expats Against Bush meet here @ 1PM)
• Southampton Row
• Kingsway
• Aldwych
• Waterloo Bridge
• York Road
• Westminster Bridge
• Parliament Square
• Whitehall
• Trafalgar Square

The BBC have their own map which is slightly incorrect - we're going down Southampton Row, not Bloomsbury.

The bad news....
... is that the headline in today's Guardian is Protests begin but majority backs Bush visit as support for war surges - which is slightly misleading.

It's true, according to the poll more Brits favor the Bush visit than don't (43% for vs 36% against according to the poll) but at the end of the day only 2 out of 5 people are willing to stump up and say that they are definitely in favor of the visit - with 1 out of 5 of people undecided or preferring not to say. Hardly an overwhelming show of confidence. Especially when you add in the usual statistical margin of error, the difference between 43% and 36% is not tremendous.

There's a silver lining to this cloud, though.

The other questions in the poll find that we expats tend to be in step with the British public on a number of fronts. 6 out of 10 see America as a "force for good around the world", which should stick a pin in any arguments from the press in America that all of Europe is a bastion of anti-Americanism.

Nearly half see the Iraq war as justified - now I personally disagree with that statement, but there are a lot of people in Expats Against Bush who are not anti-war per se, and this only serves to underline the fact that we cannot make the war the only issue that we march about.

Nearly 7 out of 10 say we should stay in Iraq to clean up the mess we made, and I for one agree with that wholeheartedly.

Thoughts?

IMPORTANT: Change to meetup location for Thursday's protest

I have been talking with the Stop the War Coalition and they say it's going to be a nightmare on Malet St, and that it would be better for us to assemble somewhere first and then go over as a group to the head of the procession. Therefore, I am changing the meeting point. Hopefully this is not too last-minute for most people to find out, but I am sending a message out on the Yahoo! mailing list just to make sure.

The new meeting point is the Northeast corner of Russell Square at 1PM. By no later than 1:45PM we will move as a group over to the south end of Malet St to join the head of the procession. If you are late, come to the south end of Malet St. If you are later than 2:30 or so it might make more sense for you to head directly for Trafalgar Square as that's where we're heading anyway.

As always, I would encourage you to bookmark this page and sign up for the mailing list to keep up with events as they occur.

Monday report

Thanks to everyone who showed up for yesterday's meet-and-greet, and special thanks to those who subjected themselves to media scrutiny (extra special thanks to Sarah, it must have been hard for you).

We got a number of things accomplished:

• Solicited ideas for alternate issue-specific banners - we should have these as PDFs later on today or early tomorrow
  
• Agreed plan and route for Thursday protests - including great new idea of some of us carrying American flags (thanks Liz)
  
• Signed some folks up for Democrats Abroad (UK) - Thanks Stan
  
• Got lots of you folks talking to the press including CBS News, Algemeen Dagblad (2nd biggest daily newspaper in The Netherlands), LBC Radio, and a documentary crew filming for a doc about the Bush visit
  

In addition, I went to the screening of Born on the 4th of July at the Prince Charles Cinema, which the Stop the War Coalition had so kindly arranged. I got to meet Ron Kovic, who is extremely nice, and quite the speaker. There was a nice mention at the end of the film for Expats Against Bush by Ghada from the Stop the War Coalition, which I am very grateful for - because I picked up a couple of fresh recruits.

More news later. In the meantime, I have posted some pictures from the Thursday and Sunday events for your perusal.