News Updates
The following articles have been collected through the justpeace mailing list and have been posted in this section to encourage further reflection and discussion. More articles can be found in the archive.
Wage Peace in Iraq Online Movie
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has produced a stark two minute online movie on the war/occupation of Iraq:
http://www.afsc.org/ (Wage Peace Movie)
::: posted by Sharon : 3/24/2005
International Women's Day Iraq
March 8, 2003
International Women's Day Rally in Baghdad
Peggy Gish
"Musanat! Musanat!" ("Equality, Equality!") and "Where's the human
rights?" about a hundred women, children (from babies to teens), and
men chanted in Firdos Square. This demonstration took place in
central Baghdad, on International Women's Day, March 8, 2005 at a
rally organized by the Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq
(OWFI).
Anne Montgomery, Sheila Provencher, Cliff Kindy, and Peggy Gish,
all from CPT attended to express solidarity with women working
nonviolently for equality and opposing the occupation of Iraq. They
mingled among women dressed in traditional conservative Muslim dress
and women in western style blouses and jeans. Babies smiled shyly
from their mother's arms. Throughout the morning, women arrived from
other organizations and added their banners in Arabic and English.
One banner said "Full Equality between Women and Men." Another
said, "Separation of State from Mosque." Iraqi and international
media personnel took pictures and held interviews.
In the speeches, these Iraqi women and men spoke with fervor about
the new constitution to be drafted for Iraq. They called for a
secular constitution, not based in Islamic law, and one that would
provide for equality for women in all aspects of their lives and all
institutions of society. They referred to this as a time of
opportunity to build on the steps past government and social leaders
have taken, and move even further to recognize the dignity of women
and eliminate social patterns of violence against women.
Although such goals mirror values held by many in U.S. society, the
Iraqi demonstrators made it clear that they did not find the U.S.
military presence liberating. Numerous chants called for an end to
he U.S. occupation and asked "the Americans" to leave.
On the same day in Iraq, top UN Envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, in a
press release, congratulated Iraqi women for continuing to work for
necessary legal protections, despite threats against their lives and
their families." He pointed out that 86 Iraqi women were recently
elected to the National Assembly, comprising 31% of Assembly seats.
The lack of large crowds in Firdos Square that day was attributed to
the increased danger of gathering publicly. The voice of the Iraqi
women there, however, was one of strength, determination and vision,
making visible only a small part of the growing women's movement in
Iraq, working in solidarity with women's movements around the world.
::: posted by max : 3/11/2005
What Happens Next?
What Happens Next?
In yet another effort to keep the lowest in their place in the caste hierarchy, groups of Vanniyar henchmen vandalized about 700 Dalit homes in Villapuram District, Tamilnadu. The choice of January 26th, Republic Day, is very symbolic. It is a clear message to the Outcastes of India that the Constitution of India, written under the guidance of their paramount leader, Dr. Ambedkar, and celebrated every January 26th, is under heavy pressure. The reason: the protection and affirmative action stipulated in the Constitution for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of India is being called up. The reaction to the beginning realization of their basic civil rights by Dalits is revolt and repression from those higher up in the hierarchy. The recent elections in India seem to confirm this.
What is "Dalit"?
The outcastes of India have had many names: pariahs, untouchables, unseeables...As the probable descendants of the original Dravidian and tribals of the sub-continent, they have suffered from millennia of a form of collective slavery and socio-econoic apartheid. Mohandas K. Gandhi, the father of free India, attempted a rehabilitation of what he renamed the Harijans - children of God. But this was within the framework of the Hindu hierarchy and did not go to the root of discrimination. So for the 50 years of India's independence, the "untouchable" question concerning one-fifth of the population has been an unattended issue on the agenda of democratization. The renewed interest in the life and works of Ambedkar is an _expression of the issue finding its way back into the mainstream agenda. The past decade has also witnessed the growing use of the term 'Dalit' to denote the former "untouchables". With the root meaning of "we, the oppressed" this seems to be the name that this group seems most comfortable with. For even though well-intended, Gandhi's term also had the slangish connotation of "father unknown" and as such a condescending undertone.
Claiming the common fruit
Traveling along many of the tarmac roads in the south Indian state of Tamilnadu, one is struck by the numerous and beautiful tamarind trees offering a cooling shade on a hot journey. These knotty-barked broad-leaves are common property, belonging to the road. And traditionally, the tamarinds in the villages are part of the commons. The small, yellowish fruits are much valued, since the powder extracted is an important part of Indian spice box. So the trees along the roads are numbered and carefully monitored. The contracts on the fruits are now up for bids at public auctions. For the rural poor, the harvesting and selling of the fruits can be an important source of income for the household.
Until recently, the firm social and economic hold of caste Hindus over the Dalits has been sufficient to exclude the latter from bidding on the common fruit. Now that Dalit awareness and organizing is on the rise, Dalits have started making more economic claims, expressing interest in putting in bids for the tamarind contracts. The Vanniyars, a numerous "backward" caste in this part of Tamilnadu, countered this by arranging that the public auctioning be held without the possibility for Dalit participation. Being slighted in what they saw as an obvious miscarriage of due process, some Dalits started harvesting some of the common fruit. They were attacked by some Vanniyars. Tensions rose on both sides and a new spiral of conflict started.
Removing the poor
On the day of the celebration of the constitution that has attempted to provide protection and affirmative action for the Dalits, a Vanniyar sena (private army) raided the village of Valuthavoor in Villapuram District. According to Mr. S. Martine, civil rights lawyer and himself a Dalit leader, the attacking Vanniyars came from seven villages. This in itself is a sign of a planned, coordinated activity, not just a spontaneous outburst.
-The village was vandalized by the Vanniyars. Roofs pulled off, moveable property such as kitchen utensils and radios smashed. This is a large Dalit village and all of the 700 families ran off, fearing for their safety. Some were physically injured and some of the women were feared to have been molested.
-After this, the Panthers mobilized, organizing mass protests and at least one physical attack, on a local bus-owner who had apparently organized transportation for the Vanniyars who attacked the village.
And rumor has it that he had been bragging about how he helped 'put
the Dalits in place". The Dalit Panthers, first appearing in Bombay way back in the 1960s, have been experiencing a new surge of activity in Tamilnadu. A volatile, youthful movement, the Panthers are especially active in providing defense for Dalits under the slogan "if you beat us, we beat you" - a clear warning to anyone considering molesting Dalits. Many of the Panthers see the protection of Dalit girls and women as a special mission. For all too long Dalit women have been seen by many caste Hindus as fair game for molestation and rape. When this now happens, the rule seems to be that Panthers mete out sexual retribution in such instances in a very direct, concrete manner. Mr. Martine has many experiences as a lawyer in trying to bring these cases to court instead.
-But getting the local police and magistrates to take action is often very difficult, since they are often either part of or dependent upon the local dominant caste or castes. In the case of the Valuthavoor raid, the local police and politicians seem to have either been involved or at least informed....not even the opposition parties have taken up the matter, much less protested. And this includes even the CPI(M) , the Marxist Communist Party, which just sees these matters as a "caste issue" not a "class issue". Probably because they are so close to the Vanniyars, itself a backward caste, with many members as poor as most Dalits.
The lack of interest by politicians is even more remarkable considering the fact that these events took place in the midst of a national election campaign, with the outgoing United Front government and the Congress unable to put up an center-left bulwark against the rising tide of the BJP/RSS combine. The Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian Peoples' Party) is the party of Hindu restoration, a party using the symbolism of the majority religion of India to pursue its vision of a nuclear-armed 'Hindutva', a Hindu super-state. Some still have the inherited dream of restoring a "Mother India" stretching from the Kyber Pass to Rangoon. The organizational core of the Hindu Right is its "sturmabteilung," the RSS. This is a uniformed, paramilitary organization, black flags and all, with such dubious accomplishments as the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Specifically targeted as their enemies by the RSS are Muslims, Dalits, women's movements, Communists and regional separatists.
The BJP has been doing well at the polls. This is the result of several factors and trends. The RSS family of organizations is well-organized, pursuing a long-term goal, in which the capture of political power is just one step towards the restoration. The BJP is a more moderate interface into the political scene. For moderate Hindus, intellectuals and others worried about decaying social values and negative Western influence (often equated), the BJP offers a renewed vigor to the meaning of Indian nationalism, swadeshi. This family of Hindu organizations is not merely a a conservative, backward-looking set but very much into shaping technologies to their use. For example, the BJP was the first Indian political party out on the World-Wide-Web and the RSS publishes extensively on the Internet.
The advance of the Hindu Right is also a reflection of the break-down and confusion of the democratic, secular forces. "Secular" in India is a term under renewed debate. At minimum, it means a state based on universal, non-religious principles. In political practice, it has meant minority protection, the major minority being the some 120 million Muslims in India who have everything to fear from the realization of Hindutva. But the other minorities, not in the least the Dalits, have been protected by the Congress strategy of building a minority coalition as an electoral base. With the demise of both the Congress and the Nehru dynasty as the dominant party and family in Indian politics, the center-left has yet to arrive at the reconstruction of a new coalition that can offer a viable democratization alternative to the re-brahminization of the Hindu Right. For many Indians, "viable" means going beyond a purely Western model of political democracy that has become corrupted by elitism and crass materialism, both in theory and in practice.
Due to the electoral system (first-past-the post in single-member constituencies), the BJP has captured a near majority of seats in the national Parliament, the Lok Sabha, with only 25% of the popular vote in the elections held in February 1998. This is very much a reflection of the inability of the democratic forces to combine into a comprehensive popular front. The election results in Tamilnadu show that the restoration of the Hindu hierarchy is gaining ground even in south India. For the first time, the BJP allied with a state party, the Anna-DMK, has made serious inroads into the otherwise very Tamil-oriented electorate of the State. The BJP and its predecessors have usually been seen as representatives of north Indian cultural imperialism.
Shaking off the slave mentality
Martine, who started breaking stone in the quarries when he was eight years old, often expresses himself in terms of the need for Dalits themselves to get up off their knees, shake off the slave mentality and get hold of the tools of freedom: organization and education. After a quarter century of organizational, social and legal work he does note some positive changes.
-It is no longer possible for an individual landlord to publicly flog a Dalit worker and get away with it. But only ten years ago this was still possible. And individual discrimination, while still very prevalent, is fading into the background. Instead, the strategy of the higher castes is to destroy Dalit property - a reflection of the fact that Dalits ARE starting to build up an economic base.
-Part of the background to the Vanniyar attack on Valuthavoor village was a wage struggle carried on by Dalit agricultural workers. Those Vanniyar landowners who hire wage labor are worried about this, especially if and when Vanniyar field workers and other non-Dalits join with Dalits in strikes and wage struggles. This has happened elsewhere in the State and it frightens the big farmers.
-Using the existing judicial system can be difficult, sometimes impossible. The aftermath of the Valuthavoor raid was that 27 Vanniyars and 7 Dalits were arrested. However, the Vanniyars arrested were not those accused or pointed out by the Dalit victims. Instead, they demanded their release and the arrest of those actually responsible and involved, Martine explains.
-Another Dalit demand was for the payment of the relief stipulated in the SC/ST Atrocities Act of 1989. Without the arrest of those accused and the payment due under the Act, the Dalits have refused to participate in a "peace committee" set up by local officials.
The "Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribes Atrocities Act" is one example of the many suburb pieces of progressive legislation in India that are on the books for protection and affirmative action. "Scheduled" in Indian terminology means "on the list" (schedule) created in the British census in the beginning of the century as a preliminary to, among other things, the introduction of separate constituencies for "separate communities". Under the Act, victims of atrocities are entitled to relief from the government even prior to court decisions and investigations. But like so many other rights that are in the law book, relief available under the Act has been blocked by the reluctance of local officials in signing the order. But this time, it may not be the simple matter of expected baksish (bribe) that is blocking implementation.
The culture of silence
Oppression, be it racial, caste, gender, class or whatever, thrives best in silence. What those involved in caste repression least want is publicity. So silence has to be maintained. According to Martine, there was only one, very brief notice about the Valuthavoor raid in a local Tamil newspaper, basically that the police were doing their job to restore communal harmony.
Oppression does not want the kind of publicity given to such events as the 1968 Kilavimeni massacre in southern Tamilnadu when 43 Dalit men, women and children were burned alive in their huts during the midst of wage struggle. This level of violence gave, and still gives in the academic literature, a national and international exposure unwanted by the culture of silence. So keeping the level of violence just below what is "newsworthy" is part of the new strategy of oppression. This also means avoiding those acts that automatically get reported in the police and bureaucratic hierarchies: police firings, violent deaths, and payments of relief funds...
But sometimes, things blow their way into front-page news.
Coimbatore exploding
Starting on February 14, 1998, a series of home-made bombs blasted the south Tamil city of Coimbatore. The toll: at least 50 dead and hundreds injured. The apparent target was the president of the BJP, L.K. Advani who was scheduled to arrive in the city that day.
Subsequent police raids and round-ups of the usual suspects uncovered a network of clandestine bomb-making sites. The reports released pointed toward Muslim extremists. The press and politicians were quick to point the finger at "the foreign hand" behind it all, that is, Pakistan. That many Indians of the Islamic faith were becoming terrified at the prospect of a Hindutva government was not given much discussion.
Southern Tamilnadu had been the scene of severe caste conflicts in 1997. Again, largely unreported.
-In the south, Martine explains, meaning southern Tamilnadu, the conflict is more of a political struggle to keep the Dalits away from political power. The anti-Dalit actions, led by the dominant caste of Thevars down there, are for this purpose. Up here, the Periyar Dalits are not as politically aware.
What is feared is that the Dalits may organize and mobilize enough to make serious impacts on State politics, as is occurring in India's most populous State, Uttar Pradesh in the north. And what is feared by civil rights activists like Martine and others is that impatient Panthers might start considering armed struggle as a means of becoming "newsworthy". This has worked for the Tamil Tigers, the guerrillas in Sri Lanka, with bases and support networks in Tamilnadu. So it is something of a race against time, of bringing national and international attention onto the plight of the Dalits before such violence starts.
The continuing confrontation
Indians like heroes. One way of expressing this is to erect statues. In recent years, statutes of Ambedkar have begun to dot the roadsides and road-crossings. The heroes are honored with garlands of flowers, sometimes coconuts are smashed at their feet. But on February 20, the Dalit inhabitants of Tindivanam awoke shocked to see that their Ambedkar statue had been disgraced with a garland of chappals (sandals) - a classic method of defamation. Demonstrations broke out, busses in the nearby bus terminal were vandalized. In order to make this a newsworthy event, roads were blocked by demonstrators, including the new National Highway running through Tindivanam and the new East Coast Road running from Chennai (Madras) to Pondicherry and beyond.
The regional press did pick up on this, but without making any connection to the ongoing caste conflict in the district or why this happened right now. And in keeping with "caste censorship" the term Dalit was not used, and, of course, not that there might be an organization called the Panthers. Instead, the euphemism "Ambedkar groups" was used in the disinformation process. In my thirty years of working with grassroot groups in Tamilnadu, I have never heard anyone refer to themselves (or others) as an Ambedkar Group, but as Dalit Movement, Dalit Liberation Front, Christian Dalit Movement and the like, but never as an Ambedkar group.
What next?
What happens next depends on several things. First, the course of caste conflicts will be affected by the ability of civil rights groups such as the Tamilnad Peoples' Watch to break the culture of silence around ongoing oppression. If this silence is not broken by words, there is a risk that it may be broken by bullets. And the tremendous capacity for repression by the Indian state will come down on those already suffering the most.
If the BJP becomes secure in power in New Delhi, then caste and communal polarization will increase. As several Indian analysts are already pointing out, this would probably mean that several Muslim defense organizations would increase their presence and probably go for heavier weapons. And there is a danger that this might spill over into the arena of inter-caste conflict, giving India yet another push down the road toward a shooting society.
Subash Chelliah
Tamilnadu
(HMI
::: posted by max : 3/10/2005
The Line
Below are the words to a song by a Japanese singer whose name is Sawa Tomoe. It articulates very creatively the fact that we are the ones who create divisions (lines) and so we are the very ones who can cross them and thus eliminate them. Justpeace is in our hands.
THE LINE
By Sawa Tomoe
Where’s the line between love and hate
Where’s the line between the north and the south
Where’s the line between man and woman
Where’s the line between you and me
There’s the line, invisible line
Everywhere in this world, everyday of our lives
And it’s you, to go over the line
It’s easy if you try, ‘cause the line is you
Where’s the line between war and peace
Where’s the line between adult and child
Where’s the line between black and white
Where’s the line between life and death
The line is me, the line is you
There’s no line, no line anymore
There’s no line
::: posted by max : 3/10/2005
Building Bridges
Building Bridges
1. A Hindu temple built by a Muslim
A new Shiva Temple was inaugrated in Benares, UP, India, to mark the annual festival of Mahashivratri. Although new temples are being opened everyday, the unusual thing about this one is that it was built by a Muslim women, Noor Fatima. (Zee News, March 9, 2005)
2. Pakistani doctors to adopt village near Wagah, Vibha Sharma, (The Tribune, March 9, 2005)
New Delhi, March 8: A group of physicians of Pakistani descent is working on a project to adopt a village near the Wagah border in India and provide it with all basic amenities and facilities.
Chairman of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America(APPNA), Hussain Malik, told The Tribune that APPNA was planning to adopt Khurmnian village near Amritsar in collaboration with the Escorts group, which has a heart institute in Amritsar, and provide it with water purification system and other facilities, including sewage and sanitation system.
The APPNA delegation, he said, was in India to build bridges of friendship through collaboration in the field of medicine.
During its three-day stay in Delhi, members of the delegation will participate in an international medical conference with eminent Indian doctors to work out strategies of cooperation between the two countries.
"Adopting the village near the Wagah border is the focal point to take medical diplomacy forward," said Dr Malik.
The association, with an initial budget of Rs 10 to 12 lakh, will improve the conditions of the village by providing a water purification system and spruce up the sewage and sanitation conditions in the village.
The APPNA will also improve the condition of the local school there and open a primary health centre.
Dr Malik said the association was running similar projects in Pakistan in Murree, Mardan, Sahiwal and Badine
::: posted by max : 3/10/2005
International Women's Day
Dear friends:
Tomorrow, March 8, is International Women’s Day. It is a day especially set aside to remember the tremendously important role women have played and continue to play in the mission of building a more just and peaceful world. It is also a day to remember the lack of equality within our present societies where women still are often not accepted as equals. On this special day, let us all focus our thoughts on the significant contributions women have made, and are making, in our homes, villages, nations and the world. Let us listen to their voices on this March 8 and in all the days to come so that we may understand more clearly where injustice and inequality still remain in our communities. And then let us all commit ourselves to participating, supportively and constructively, in the movement for genuine justice, equality and peace for all.......max ediger
Below is a brief history of International Women’s Day as provided on the UN website.
International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.
The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:
1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913.
1910
The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.
1911
As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.
Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.
1913-1914
As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.
1917
With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.
Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.
::: posted by max : 3/07/2005
Women in Iraq
February 27, 2005
Women of Samawah Speaking Out
Peggy Gish
"I have had two assassination attempts on my life, one last July and
one before the election in January. I believe they were carried out
by local Ba'athists trying to return to power." Noor,* director of
the Organization of Free Women, spoke to our group of three CPT
delegates and three team members on February 25 at her office in
Samawah. As she shared her concerns and described the center's work,
we began to sense what might have been behind the attacks.
"Local terrorists will kill people for as little as $50," she
commented. Since the war, she had been speaking out strongly about
the pervasive corruption in her community. "A lot of reconstruction
money goes into projects that don't amount to anything. We know
there's money under the table, because it is a glass table, and we
can see the hand."
The women's center has also focused on the high unemployment rate
among women, literacy education, constitutional rights for women,
and helping battered women. Noor told stories of the mistreatment of
women, such as women being made homeless when divorced or sent away
by family members. "Too many young women are not getting educated
because they are being married as young as 13. This must stop." She
lamented that in the recent Iraqi election, many women who can't
read, had men instructing them how to vote.
Noor mentioned three construction projects she has been trying to
get funding and approval for, including a kindergarten and a
children's park. Since it is difficult and dangerous for women to go
to Baghdad for higher education, the center also wants to establish
a university in Samawah where women can study. She believes the
reason she hasn't been able to get funding for these is because she
is a woman. "It doesn't matter that I am on the Council in Samawah.
I am being ignored."
An Iraqi journalist, who introduced CPT to the Organization of Free
Women, showed us video footage of a workshop on the constitution for
170 women, which the center had hosted a day earlier. At the
workshop Noor advised women to refuse to vote for the constitution,
unless it gives them their rights."
. When asked how her concerns for women's rights developed and how
tribal and religious leaders have responded to her work, Noor
said, "At first they were shocked by what I was doing. Then later
they began sending their wife or daughter to me for help or to join
in our programs." She added, "I have always had these ideas about
women's rights. Even as a young girl I helped other children solve
their problems. Under Saddam Hussein, I had secret talks with other
women."
"The Koran gives complete rights for women," she continued. "It
talks about the family of Adam, which includes both men and women. A
caliph can be either male or female. Anyway, I believe that if women
don't work for their rights, who will do it for them?"
*Not her real name.
Christian Peacemaker Teams is an ecumenical violence-reduction program with roots in the historic peace churches. Teams of trained peace workers live in areas of lethal conflict around the world. CPT has been present in Iraq since October, 2002.
To learn more about CPT, please visit http://www.cpt.org.
Photos of our projects may be viewed at http://www.cpt.org/gallery
::: posted by max : 3/03/2005
Anti-war movement
FORWARD THIS TO PEOPLE YOU THINK WILL BE INTERESTED
NEWS FLASH:
Bush Family War Profiteering
POST THIS EMAIL TO PEACE AND JUSTICE LISTS
Dear Friends:
Every day the occupation of Iraq does damage to Iraq, the United States and the world. Anti-war activists recognize it is time to re-ignite efforts to end the war and bring the troops home. Democracy Rising, founded by Ralph Nader and a founding member of United for Peace and Justice, is proud to announce its' 'Stop the War' campaign designed to empower grass roots organizations as well as individual activists throughout the country to end the war as soon as possible.
As you will see on our website, http://www.DemocracyRising.US , we provide tools you can use:
Iraq War Facts: A compilation of key facts, statistics and reports on the Iraq War and occupation. Armed with these facts you will become a more effective advocate – not only will you have a strong rationale for opposing the war but now you will have the facts to back it up.
E-Postcards to make it easy to spread the word - get people involved. The e-postcards can include a photo of U.S. war protests or of the horrors of the war as a way to encourage involvement in anti-war efforts. To send a picture as an E-Postcard, find the picture in the Multimedia Gallery and then click
Up-to-Date News from our news feed. You can get a daily news video from Iraq as well as connections to all the latest news on the war and occupation.
Highlight Anti- War Activists: Democracy Rising will regularly profile peace activists, authors and elected officials. Our first interview is with Jimmy Massey and his wife Jackie. Jimmy is an Iraq War vet who has become an outspoken peace activist. Read his interview and you'll understand better why this war must end.
Contact Decision Makers: Through our ‘Stop the War’ Campaign we make it easy for you to contact your elected officials, an email, write or call to let them know it is time to stop the war and bring the troops home.
Influence the Media: We’ll be sending out action alerts that provide a coordinated campaign to influence the media and urge more complete coverage of the impact of the war and occupation. Coming soon will be a page with email address for letters to the editor for major media outlets.
The anti-war movement had an impressive beginning, putting millions of people in the streets throughout the world. The arguments we put forward before the invasion have come true – the occupation has become a quagmire, made us less safe, costs hundreds of billions of dollars, weakened U.S. relationships around the world – it is a catastrophic failure and the longer it goes on the more damage it will do. Democracy Rising wants to help all of us create an even stronger anti-war movement that not only elected officials hear – but one they cannot ignore.
We can end the war in Iraq if we act together with a concerted effort at stopping the war and bringing the troops home.
Sincerely,
Kevin Zeese
http://DemocracyRising.US
::: posted by max : 3/01/2005
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