Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

U-M students plan for Bush inauguration

30. November 2004 • Matt Hollerbach
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The following e-mail has been making its way around campus:

CALL TO ACTION—UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN/ANN ARBOR COUNTER-INAUGURATION, JANUARY 20TH, 2005

***FIRST COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING—
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2ND, 8 PM
POSTING WALL, ANGELL HALL***

On January 20th, 2005, our worst fears will come true. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney will be sworn in to another 4 years as president and vice-president of the United States.
This will mean violence, intolerance, and hatred for another 4 years, for Americans and for the world. The most recent attacks on Fallujah have left the region utterly devastated, with no signs of the destruction ceasing. The administration’s disregard for the opinions of the global community have left us even more vulnerable as a nation. We must join hands with our brothers and sisters of the world, and stand up for our future.
We cannot be silent on January 20th. The world is counting on us to be the voices of dissent, to march and rally for peace, to reclaim our rights, to destroy the mandate. We call for people all over the nation and the world to converge in Washington, D.C., on January 20th, for peaceful anti-war, anti-hate, anti-intolerance, anti-greed actions. We also call for a student walk-out on the campus of the University of Michigan on J-20, followed by pro-peace, pro-diversity, pro-compassion actions on campus.
We call to organize rides, housing, know-your-rights training, legal observance, and risk-appropriate affinity groups for travel to Washington D.C. on January 20th. We call for campus activists and student groups to join the call, to participate in the student walk-out, and organize actions and events on the University of Michigan’s campus on J-20. We call for University of Michigan’s administration and faculty to participate in the events of the day, and to provide support for students on J-20.
WE ARE NOT LIMITED, NOR ARE WE BOUND BY ANYTHING IN THIS CALL. The people will determine the direction and content of this coordinating committee meeting.
There is no organization behind this call. We will meet to begin organizing and create necessary organizational structures on Thursday, December 2nd, at 8 pm by the posting wall of Angell Hall. Let us come together and stand with the people of the world who want justice, peace, truth, and love. Let us come together and stand peacefully against the leadership of George W. Bush.

Signed,
Ashwini Hardikar

PLEASE FORWARD THIS ALONG TO ANY AND ALL, AND SIGN YOUR NAME TO THE CALL IF YOU WISH WHEN YOU FORWARD IT.

http://www.counter-inaugural.org

Ann Arbor Working Group:
http://www.counter-inaugural.org/lightningbug/web/index.php?
action=detail&mode=view&listing=23



  1. This moron is going to embarrass UM alum yet again?

    Wonderful.

    Why not have a little class?
       —T.J.    Dec. 1 '04 - 02:31PM    #
  2. So much for bipartisanship and pulling together after the election, huh? This is why moderate Republicans are turned off by the left.
       —r02    Dec. 1 '04 - 03:29PM    #
  3. Cry me a river, whiners. Instead of bitching and bleating, why not form an effective opposition? This is beginning to sound like the WTO protesters, whose sound and fury accomplish nothing.
       —Ben    Dec. 1 '04 - 05:04PM    #
  4. That’s right. The gentlemanly thing for the left to do would be to sit down and shut up for four years. They’ll get their 24 hours in which to say something on Election Day 2008, and, until then, any dissent is annoying, unconstructive, petty, and downright gauche.

    The gall of some people, thinking that dissenting viewpoints are an essential part of the on-going political process.
       —Murph    Dec. 1 '04 - 05:08PM    #
  5. I am sorry, but Ashwini and her idiot minions are far from an “essential” part of the political process.

    I mean, she is why Republicans win, so I am not about to try to stop her from making an ass of herself. But what people like her don’t seem to care about is that every time she opens her mouth and makes a fool of herself, she represents the alumni of the University of Michigan.

    One would hope that she would have some class. One, apparently, would be hoping for too much, it would seem.
       —T.J.    Dec. 1 '04 - 11:43PM    #
  6. as someone who refers to the president of the university as a “cunt” and refers to jews as people with big noses and the like, t.j. is hardly the one to talk about class…but then again, neither am i!!!!!

    “I’m just my undefinable, undescribably unique self.” -Reagan Youth

    no class,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Dec. 2 '04 - 12:11PM    #
  7. let me amend my last statement, t.j. also said that because i (and someone else) was jewish, i therefore, was unable to tell the difference between right and wrong…

    how unclassy of me,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Dec. 2 '04 - 01:03PM    #
  8. ben-

    re: your comment about WTO protesters

    before writing off the WTO protesters as “ineffective” and a bunch of angry whining activists, i suggest you sit down and think critically about WHY the protesters were portrayed in this light and WHO portrayed them to be that way. mainstream media is largely corporate and corporations have agendas. when the mainstream media portrays an event or story, the biases and perspectives of the corporations shine through. i would like to purport that what you (and most of the public) thinks happened in seattle is not exactly accurate or the only way to see things. there is much more to the story than you think. i am not the most knowledgeable on this subject, but i felt that your comment needed to be addressed.

    you say:
    “This is beginning to sound like the WTO protesters, whose sound and fury accomplish nothing.”

    i would like to respond that the protesters did in fact accomplish something and this is evidenced first and foremost by the fact that we are still discussing it even tho it happened in 1999. the protest and actions of the police, not to mention the WTO are still very relevant to the discourse about trade, globalization, activism, multi-national corporations, indigenous rights, etc and should be looked at much more carefully than simply writing it off as a bunch of annoying activists “b—-tching” and moaning and not accomplishing anything. perhaps they DID accomplish something but THEY (i.e. “the man” and his corporate buddies)dont want you to know about it! ever think about that?

    i invite you to re-evaluate your perception of history, especially recent history where multiple alternate sources can be sought out and found for information. re-examining and re-learning and un-learning can be quite liberating. i reccommend it.

    please do not accept mainstream corporate media’s portrayal of something as accurate or absolute. and please do not disrespect those who chose to not remain silent and take action about the WTO but instead chose to exercise their democratic right to assemble and speak freely.

    i will close by saying that i love ukraine and ukrainians and they are an inspiration to us all. i also invite others to add on to this topic, b/c there is more to be said and more articulate fashions to address this topic, but i could not let it slide without saying at least something.

    thank you.

    peace,
    sam
       —sam    Dec. 2 '04 - 08:40PM    #
  9. i’ll second what sam is saying…

    the wto protestors were misrepresented…as the famous robert c. goodspeed once jested, “let’s just go throw a brick at starbucks”...its actually much more different from that…

    anyhoo…its pretty bad when america’s election system looks like that of a former stalinist rouge state…what’s worse is that their people are actually doing something about it, while we just sit back and watch ‘desperate housewives’...

    reject shampoo, demand real poo,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Dec. 2 '04 - 09:51PM    #
  10. Ari,

    First of all, I never said Jews had big noses. I said that YOU have a big nose. You do. It’s huge. When you don’t shave, you look like Osama Bin Laden.

    Second, I never said that Jews can’t tell right from wrong. You’re insane.

    But hey, don’t let the truth get in the way of your smear campaign…

    The people of the United States of America picked George W Bush. Plain and simple. Don’t like it? Run someone who is electable next time.

    Get the fucking clue. We don’t want your sadistic, immoral garbage. You’re selling crazy and we’re not buying.
       —T.J.    Dec. 3 '04 - 12:54AM    #
  11. T.J.

    wake up and see reality. the people of the u.s. did not in fact elect bush in 2004. there is much evidence to support that kerry won ohio. again, just b/c republicans control the voting machines, technology behind the voting machines and certain media outlets that does not mean that the things all of the above purport to be true or reality actually are.

    there is much more to the story than they want you to know. i am embarrased not b.c i live in a country that elected bush (b/c i dont think that we did), but b.c i live in a country that remained largely silent while bush et. co. illegitmately declared themselves the winners when (among other things,) many americans were denied the right to vote, many american’s votes were not counted, and once again minorities were disenfranchised.

    there is more info, on this site alone in addition to others. you can start by performing a search for “ohio” on arborupdate to look at some of the voter irregularities and go from there.

    with love for ukrainians and yushenko,

    sam
       —sam    Dec. 3 '04 - 01:51AM    #
  12. t.j.,

    http://arborupdate.com/article/92/wal-mart-faces-sex-discrimination-suit

    comment 8, line three…

    osama bin ari,
    ari p.
       —Ari P.    Dec. 3 '04 - 04:56PM    #