Special WCW Benefit Performance of "DIRT"


"YOUR GOVERNMENT enforces a culture of greed, bigotry, intolerance and ignorance." - World Can't Wait's Call

Come to a special performance of
"DIRT"
to benefit World Can't Wait.

A special talk-back with the actor Chris Domig will follow the performance immediately after the show.

8:00 pm April 9th at "Under Saint Marks" Theater

94 St. Marks Place (between 1st Avenue and Avenue A)

About Dirt:

A powerful, mesmerizing play about racism and the havoc it wreaks upon the human soul.

Dirt is a 75 minute monologue. Sad is its narrator. A desperately alienated illegal immigrant from Iraq, Sad lives on the fringes of Western society. He confronts xenophobia, latent racism, and ethnocentrism as he peddles roses to eke out an existence. Issues of identity, anti-foreign sentiment, and self-worth are brought hauntingly to life through the character's disturbing pychological self-portrait.

Sad's gripping, heart-wrenching monologue by Austrian novelist and playwright Robert Schneider is as highly relevant today in New York City in 2008 as it was in Vienna where it was published over 15 years ago.

Performed in German, Dirt was the most performed solo show in Austria, Germany and Switzerland in the mid 90's and the leading European theater magazine Theater Heute awarded Robert Schneider Best New Playwright Of The Year.

Originally Dirt is currently having its U.S. premiere and Austrian/American actor Christopher Domig was awarded the Outstanding Actor Award for his performance while critics rave:

"See this show!!!" - NYTheatre

"Riveting" - Time Out

"Stunning" - Back Stage (Critic's Pick)

"I start with the premise that the war was important. Even necessary. When one compares the pictures of the great American cities with the pictures of our cities. The pictures of the beautiful people with pale skin. Then the war has meaning. That's the premise I start with." - Dirt excerpt

Seating: General Admission

You choose your seats when you get to the theater.

TO BUY TICKETS:

Regular Tickets ($30 each)*

Student Tickets ($20 each)*

(*prices for this show are slightly elevated from normal show prices because this is a fundraising

performance for World Can't Wait, also featuring a talk-back with the actor.)

Length: 1 hr 15 mins / Intermission: None For more information on this play go to: http://www.dirt-nyc.com

If you have problems with buttons for purchasing tickets click here for alternative route.

Mobilize in Washington, D.C. Wednesday March 19

After a weekend of powerful testimony of U.S. veterans
of the U.S. wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan Winter Soldier,
what will you do to end these endless and criminal wars NOW?

After Bush vetoes ban on torture, including waterboarding,
what will you do to tell the world that
we won't live in a torture state?

On the 5th Anniversary of Endless and Criminal War in Iraq,
what will the world see on March 19th?

Be in Washington, DC
on Wednesday, March 19th!

Join in mobilizing, leafleting, phone banking, donating funds for determined protest!

In the next five days, there is much you can do:

1. Make plans to go to Washington, D.C. on the 19th.

World Can't Wait is organizing rides, vans, car caravan, leaving at 7:00 am from Union Square (east side of park at 16th Street). Call or email to reserve a spot, if you have a car or van call and volunteer to join and take others. Very important to RSVP so there will be space for everyone [ call 347-678-5905, email: nyc@worldcantwait.org to RSVP]. Estimated cost $40.00 round trip. Donate/reserve a space belwo so that we can rent vans if needed. Description of plans in D.C. below.

Gather with friends to view the Winter Soldier hearings and then make plans to act, going to DC and/or plans below. There will be a group showing on Friday night at Judson Memorial Church and live audio and video coverage on the internet.

2. Join in phone banking, Saturday 3-6, Sunday 4-7, and youth phone banking on Monday evening. Call 347-678-5905 to hookup. And call all your friends as well.

3. Do flyering and outreach. There will be important events to flyer at and enlist people to go to DC over the next few days: Left Forum (Saturday and Sunday), Richard Dawkins at Ethical Cultural Society on Saturday, Speak Up!/Speak Out! concert and expo on Tuesday evening Call 347-678-5905 to hookup. And do your own flyering over the next four days -- download flyer, print it and spread it.

4. Donate generously. Funds are urgently needed. Donate yourself, ask for donation from your friends. You can donate on-line below.

5. For those who can't go to D.C., meet at Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn at 6:00 PM and march on military recruitment center, join World Can't Wait Contingent.

***

Take action in Washington, D.C. Wednesday March 19

Too Many Years of a Criminal Regime!
5 Years of Illegitimate War! End It!
Drive the War Criminals from Office!

On March 19, World Can’t Wait, along with other organizations, plans to disrupt business as usual in Washington, D.C. Come to the home of the criminals!

Gather in Lafayette Park at 1:30 pm with people in a sea of orange jumpsuits, in solidarity with and representing those that are being tortured in Guantanamo Bay Prison, Abu Ghraib, Bagram in Afghanistan, and CIA “black sites” around the globe. A demonstration showing that waterboarding IS torture, is planned directly in front of the residence of the biggest war criminal in history.

The Park will become a rallying point for those determined to put an end to this illegitimate and immoral war, and who demand justice by driving the war criminals from Office now, not waiting until 2009! We are done with secret renditions, spying on people, lying to the public, using hundreds of signing statements to disobey laws, rounding up immigrants and detaining them in facilities still being built.

JOIN US in Washington, D.C. at the SCENE of the CRIME!

WRAP THE WHITE HOUSE IN TAPE!!!

Visit www.5yearstoomany.org and www.resistinmarch.org for info about daytime events in D.C.

Also Brooklyn, March 19, march on military recruitment center, meet at Grand Army Plaza @ 6:00 PM

March 22nd - 14th Street "River to River" against the war - Be part of World Can't Wait / No Torture / No War / Stop the recruiters contingent. Stay tuned for time and place and other details.

Download and distribute flyer to mobilize for March 19!

Iraq Veterans Against the War Brings Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will feature testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.

The four-day event will bring together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan - and present video and photographic evidence. In addition, there will be panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, and other specialists to give context to the testimony. These panels will cover everything from the history of the GI resistance movement to the fight for veterans' health benefits and support.

YOU can participate by watching live, or later, and by inviting many others to join you. Plan an event to watch the testimony together.

When: Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16 WATCH & LISTEN LIVE

Winter Soldier will be broadcast live. Here's how you can watch and listen:

Live Video Satellite TV Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15 Get satellite details

  • Streaming video on ivaw.org Thursday, March 13 through Sunday, March 16

Live Audio

Video and audio archives of Winter Soldier will be available after the event ivaw.org

Make a Generous Contribution

On-line (via paypal) - Don't forget to include your contact info!

If you are donating for specific purpose: such as reserving a space on van to DC, note this on the notation line of the PayPal form.

Or by mail: Send checks, payable to NYC-World Can't Wait, to NYC World Can't Wait, 305 Madison Avenue, Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165
Official PayPal Seal

To make a tax-deductible donation of $100 or more in support of WCW’s educational activities, make check out to: “Alliance for Global Justice”, a 501(3(c) organization, and designate “for WCW” on check memo line and mail to NYC World Can't Wait, 305 Madison Avenue, Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165.

Carry forward the actions Against the Military Recruiters and the War!

Important actions have been taking place around the country, especially in Berkley, but also here in DC (see report below), and people want to take it higher.

Come to a meeting to plan for the next action.
Thursday, March 13th, 6:30 at 1199/MLK Labor Center

310 West 43rd St, 7th Floor between 8th and 9th Avenues (closer to 8th Avenue)

Report from NYC:
February 15th Actions against the Military Recruiters and the War
Two NYC recruiting stations were closed and thousands were touched in various ways by actions that were part of a national day of action against the military recruiters and against the war in Iraq, on the 6th Iraq Moratorium Day. Our actions were charged and inspired by the battle shaping up in Berkeley and hope to seize on this moment to popularize the outpouring of resistance to the new recruiting center in Berkeley, among students from Berkeley High and from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

At 1:00 P.M., organizers held a press conference on the steps of City Hall. Debra Sweet, national director of World Can't Wait, Elaine Brower, a national steering committee member of World Can't Wait whose son was stationed in Iraq, and representatives of CodePink and the Granny Peace Brigades spoke stations about the day's protest in East Harlem and delivered a strong message in support of the protests in Berkeley over the past week. The American Friends Service Committee came with their "Cost of War" exhibition. Lots of press were there including: El Diario/La Prensa, New York Times, NY1, CNN, IndyMedia and WBAI.

At 3:00 PM people from World Can't Wait, college students from Students for a Democratic Society, the Granny Peace Brigade, MDS-SI, the Harlem Revolution Club, and CodePink gathered outside the Army Carrier Center in East Harlem/"El Barrio". Again, lots of media were there: CNN, New Tang Dynasty TV, the New York Times, Next Left Notes and the student paper at Yeshiva University.

Though it was only mid-afternoon, the center was closed with its gate down. A number of news media were there and the on-line edition of New York Times had an article about it entitled "the Army Recruiter Is Not In", which included the following reporting:

"'The question of military recruitment is important because you can't carry out this war without fresh troops,' said Debra Sweet, the director of an organization called World Can't Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime. 'These troops are being trained to carry out war crimes. We're sending a message that military recruiters are not welcome to prey on youth. The war will be stopped by the action of the people. That is the only way it will be stopped'."

"'What are they recruiting for?' the protesters chanted, replying, "Murder, rape, torture, war!"
"They held aloft signs with the messages 'Say No to the Military Recruitment Center' and 'Shut Down The Military Recruiters! No Iraq War! Drive Out Bush Regime!""

This picture was posted on NY Times on-line edition (Photo: Jennifer S. Altman):

"Capt. Charles V. Jaquillard, the Army Recruitment Command's company commander for New York City, said the East Harlem office was not closed because of the protest. 'We were conducting a training,' he said, 'We had everybody out at Fort Hamilton today."
What occurred as further protest actions continued that day appears to contradict the Army's explanation for the center's closing. (see below)

With the East Harlem recruitment center closed, protesters marched to another recruitment station, in central Harlem on 125th Street. The spirited march of 40, joined at this point by students coming from Fordham Students Against the War action, marched up through East Harlem/"El Barrio", and then across on 125th Street. It was warmly greeted by many of the hundreds it passed along its route. Several street vendors took signs. Some joined the march along the way, including a very outspoken Afro-American woman from East Harlem, whose son is now in Iraq, who came and spoke the bitterness of many of how the lives of their sons were being jeopardized in an unjust war, based on lies.


Caught by surprise, this central Harlem recruiting station was still open. A crowd gathered as demonstrators stood in front of the doors. There was an informal "speak out" as a small crowd gathered. Minor scuffles broke out when a couple of people tried to brush through the protesters standing in front of the door entrance to the recruiting center and eventually the police were called to escort the military recruiters out of the recruitment center. By 5:00 PM, the central Harlem recruiting center was closed.






2 closed recruitment centers in one day - not bad.