Debra
Sweet, Director
The World Can’t Wait - Drive out the Bush Regime
Dear Debra, May 7, 2007
We met in person during a World Can’t Wait teach in at Synod Hall
in Manhattan last fall. You said you were webcasting the event but had
no plans to telecast it, as I proposed.
PELOSI FOR PRESIDENT IN 2007. I am very pleased to see
that you have hooked up with a number of other organizations into the
Impeach ’07 campaign. I watched on-line the April 30 press conference
in front of the Capitol at which you spoke. It is good to zero in public
attention that whatever symbolic initiatives the Congress makes, only
the removal of Bush and Cheney from office can in fact end the war on
Iraq. I believe it is also crucial to always include Bush and Cheney together
in any impeachment resolution and to emphasize their actual removal from
office as the point of the action. I recommend the slogan “Pelosi
for President in 2007.” Instead, the current leadership of the Democratic
Party wants to keep impeachment off the table and impose Hilary Clinton
as the only viable candidate in 2008. A recent interview reveals that
she views with equanimity an ongoing presence of U.S. troops in Iraq during
her Administration.
TELECASTING IMPEACH ’07. As I said to you in person,
I believe the key to a successful political mobilization is our self-presentation
on television. The nationwide actions on April 28 favoring impeachment
could really make a difference, if we cover them in depth ourselves at
program length. Several of the participating organizations you list, or
their memberships, can provide funds to edit videos, secure airtime, and
advertise and promote local broadcasts. Public access slots are free and
UHF time is cheap, even for the early Sunday evenings I suggest. Initial
budgets can range from $5000 – 10000 per locality. Airing shortly
after the live events, building on the public awareness these generate,
such broadcasts can draw audiences of 50 - 100,000 in bigger cities. Listing
sponsors’ 800 #s and websites will bring in sizable donations, greater
than costs, enabling rebroadcasts elsewhere.
The five excellent Bush Crimes Commission half hour videos detailing the
Bush Administration’s actions meriting impeachment can provide the
content for subsequent broadcasts, along with edited versions of new events.
If we want to actually achieve impeachment in 2007, against the wishes
of an entrenched political establishment, I suggest we cannot continue
to depend exclusively on local actions, print advertising, commercial
media coverage, and web outreach, We must bring to bear the weight of
public opinion through our own use of the mass media. The people are ready,
if we go to them directly through TV. Once individuals identify themselves
in response, we can interact with them personally through the Internet.
MY ROLE AND WEBSITE. I am a long time video producer
and editor. I can help coordinate this process as a consultant with the
legitimation of your group. My compensation can derive from a small percentage
of the funding that comes in from responses to the broadcasts, rather
than up front.
I proposed this basic idea last fall to exploit the 230 anti-Bush festivals
your group staged then. I had extensive communications with Araby Carlier
and one meeting with her and Mark Green. The addition this year of these
other potentially sponsoring organizations and a focused political objective
could change the calculus. Mass support exists, numerous groups are on
board, events are happening, and video records of them will be shot. What
is needed is to fund edits, airings, and advertising to produce a groundswell
that can force meaningful political results. My brochure, accessible at
www.earthtelevision.org, illustrates the concept. I look forward to an
enabling reply.
Yours,
David Lionel
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