As Americans celebrate the fall of a ruthless dictator the likes of Saddam Hussein--as we certainly should--let us not forget our problems with enemies of democracy closer to home. As the war itself turns into a humanitarian quagmire of occupation for the American-led forces, and anger over the invasion quickly wanes, the time has come to assemble a coalition of the willing to challenge the ruthless Bush regime in the streets and in the election booths.
The Bush regime are evil-doers of true comic book proportions. They liberate the people of the world from their own traditions and development goals, giving them the free choice to eat American imports or starve under American sanctions, while those countries' elites--embedded with American corporations--drive to their secure enclaves in American SUVs.
The regime reacts aggressively to the demands of their own people as well. They use the threat of terrorism as a shield to spy on and to attack the rights of their own citizens. They target the political gains of immigrants and working people, and subject environmental protections to mass destruction.
This will be the mother of all battles. We will no longer have the war to rally our forces, and the successes of the regime will surely test our resolve. However, in the coming weeks and months we should continue to organize against and oppose the actions of the Bush administration. We must shock and awe the enemies of democracy with our unity and organization as we fight against corporate domination of politics and the economy, against imperial arrogance and hegemony abroad, and as we fight for a just and humane future in a livable and diverse world.
The war may be ending, but the real fight has just begun.

--Victor U.