Building Peace in a Time of Perpetual War by Medea Benjamin
Dear Friends,
Our country has been taken over by rapture cultists, who feel they are fulfilling God's will by fighting Muslims. In our name and with our money they are killing, maiming, and torturing the unfortunate people in Iraq, all in the name of "liberating" them.
Calamities are threatening us from all directions: nuclear war, economic collapse, Stalin-type repression, huge storms- you name it. And we Americans deserve what we get, for condoning a government which tortures and murders abroad so that we can have material comfort.
Yet some of us hold on to the dream of peace, and beg God to be merciful, as He promised. This Christmas season we think of His Son, who sacrificed Himself to save us. This does not simply mean to save our individual souls, it also means to help us to save our planet, by giving us His example of how to change history through one person's nonviolent passion.
This is for Me like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah
should never again deluge the earth;
So I have sworn not to be angry with you,
or to rebuke you.
Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
My love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
when I swore that the waters of Noah
should never again deluge the earth;
So I have sworn not to be angry with you,
or to rebuke you.
Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
My love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
Isaiah 54: 9-10
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/121604.htm
Published on Monday, December 13, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Building Peace in a Time of Perpetual War
by Medea Benjamin
Immediately after George Bush declared victory on November 2, 2004, his
administration gave the green light for an all-out attack on the Iraqi
rebel town of Fallujah. The town was virtually leveled, hundreds of
civilians were killed, and over 150,000 became desperate refugees
suffering from hunger, cold and disease. And all this after Bush
supposedly won the election because of his strong moral values!
During the first debate between George Bush and John Kerry, Bush made a
pointed comment about moral values. "What distinguishes us from the
terrorists," he said somberly, "is that we believe that every life is
precious." But according to an October 2004 report in the prestigious
medical journal The Lancet, the U.S. occupation of Iraq has cost the lives
of over 100,000 Iraqis, mostly women and children.
While the Bush administration rarely acknowledges the death toll among
U.S. soldiers, it flatly refuses to talk about Iraqi casualties. When
asked about Iraqi deaths, then U.S. Central Command chief General Tommy
Franks responded tersely, "We don't do body counts."
The Iraqi government also suppresses casualty figures. Dr. Nagham Mohsen,
an official at the Iraqi Health Ministry, was ordered in December 2003 to
stop compiling data from hospital records, and journalists were prohibited
from entering the morgues.
The Lancet study, which is the first scientific study of the human cost of
the Iraq war, was done by US and Iraqi researchers led by School of Public
Health in Baltimore. The team surveyed 1,000 households in 33 randomly
chosen areas in Iraq. They found that the risk of violent death was 58
times higher in the period since the invasion, and that most of the
victims were women and children. While their final horrifying calculation
of over 100,000 civilian deaths made front-page news in many parts of the
world, the U.S. press barely mentioned it.
A United Nations report released in November 2004 found that severe
malnutrition in Iraqi children had almost doubled since the U.S. invasion.
This translates to roughly 400,000 Iraqi children suffering from
"wasting," a condition characterized by chronic diarrhea and dangerous
deficiencies of protein. Iraq's child malnutrition rate now roughly equals
that of Burundi, a central African nation torn by more than a decade of
war. It is far higher than child malnutrition rates in Uganda and Haiti.
And this in a country where, just a generation ago, the biggest
nutritional problem for young Iraqis was obesity!
While Iraqis have certainly suffered the most from this war, the cost in
lives of U.S. soldiers continues to mount, nearing 1,500 by the end of
2004. Another 10,000 US soldiers have been wounded in action, and
thousands more killed in accidents. With attacks on US soldiers now
reaching 100 a day, more and more families will be getting that tragic "We
regret to inform you'ö" visit.
For those who fear that a removal of U.S. forces would result in chaos and
civil war, what is Iraq today but a country plagued by chaos and violence?
If the U.S. occupying forces that gave rise to the insurgency were to
leave, the insurgency would lose its purpose. Certainly there is the risk
of internal power struggles, but as many Iraqis have told us, the
destruction by Iraqis fighting each other would pale in comparison with
the destruction by the U.S. forces, as evidenced in the recent attack on
Fallujah. Moreover, the withdrawal of U.S. troops would open up the
possibility for the entry of UN or other peacekeeping forces.
The presence of U.S. forces also sets back efforts at reconstruction,
since those who work with the U.S. forces are putting their lives at risk
and often quit because of intimidation by insurgents. Buildings bombed in
the initial invasion of Iraq have yet to be rebuilt, electricity is still
intermittent, and oil production is plagued by sabotage. The lack of basic
services and employment opportunities in turn leads to more animosity
against the U.S. presence.
There are many good reasons to oppose the occupation of Iraq, from the
mounting casualties to the bankrupting of our economy to the increased
anti-American feelings it has engendered. But there is one really
compelling reason to call for the withdrawal of our troops: the Iraqis
want us to leave.
A survey of Iraqis sponsored by the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority
in May 2004 showed that most Iraqis say they would feel safer if U.S.
forces left immediately. An overwhelming majority of 80 percent also said
they have "no confidence" in either the U.S. civilian authorities or
military forces. If we really believe in democracy, then we should listen
to the desire of the majority of the Iraqi people.
Our demands as a peace movement should be for the U.S. government to make
a commitment to withdraw our troops by the end of 2005 at the latest;
pledge that we will not maintain permanent bases in Iraq; and commit to
ending the war profiteering by U.S. companies so that Iraqis have the
opportunity to rebuild their own country.
So how do we build a peace movement that can put forward these demands in
an effective way? Here are some practical things we can do.
1.Make real the human cost of the war on both U.S. and Iraqi lives. Since
the US invasion in March 2003, the public in most countries throughout the
world has seen the horrible pictures of Iraq war victims. The big
exception is the US public, which has seen a sanitized version of the war.
CNN International regularly shows footage of war victims in its worldwide
broadcasts but not on domestic CNN. The world community demands to know
the truth, and we should too. Write letters, call and email your local
media demanding that they cover the victims of war. If they fail to
respond, organize a community delegation to visit them. If they fail to
respond to that as well, organize protests at their offices.
Invite an Iraqi-American to come speak to your community about the effects
of the occupation. Contact Global Exchange Speakers Bureau for a list of
Iraqi and American speakers on the war
(<www.globalexchange.org"http://www.globalexchange.org/www.globalexchange.org).
Regarding the cost of war for US soldiers, ask your local media to read or
print a daily casualty toll. Do screenings in your school, church or
houseparty of videos about US casualties. Two forceful videos are
Arlington West
(<www.arlingtonwestfilm.com"http://www.arlingtonwestfilm.com/www.arlingtonwestfilm.com) and The
Ground Truth (<www.thegroundtruth.org"http://www.thegroundtruth.org/www.thegroundtruth.org).
If the public were able to see, on a sustained basis, the gory reality of
this war-the children without limbs, the wailing mothers, the shivering
refugees, the US soldiers coming home in body bags or incapacitated for
life---support would plummet and the war would end.
2.Support military families who are speaking out against the war, and
soldiers who are speaking out and refusing to fight. Military Families
Speak Out (<www.mfso.org"http://www.mfso.org/www.mfso.org) is a group of over 1,000
families with loved ones in the military. Help get their voices out on the
media or invite one of them to speak in your community. Some of them are
parents of fallen soldiers, such as Fernando Suarez or Lila Lipscomb of
Fahrenheit 911 fame, and their testimonies are heart-wrenching and
compelling.
In the case of Vietnam, dissent within the armed forces itself was
critical in ending the war. There is now a new group of soldiers called
Iraq Veterans Against the War (<www.ivaw.org"http://www.ivaw.org/www.ivaw.org) that
deserves our support. So do the soldiers who are refusing to serve. Over
one-third of some 4,000 combat veterans have resisted their call-ups. One
of the most public soldiers who refused to return to fight in Iraq is
Camilo Mejia (see <www.freecamilo.org"http://www.freecamilo.org/www.freecamilo.org), who is
serving a one-year prison sentence after being convicted of desertion. "I
witnessed the horror of war," said Camilo at his trial, "the firefights,
the ambushes, the excessive use of force, the abuse of prisoners. Acting
upon my principles became incompatible with my role in the military. By
putting my weapon down I chose to reassert myself as a human being."
We also need to support counter-recruitment efforts, efforts that provide
young people-particularly in poor communities-with a truthful picture of
the risks of joining the military and of their other options for
employment and education. See www.objector.org for a list of groups doing
counter-recruitment, general support for soldiers (including a GI Rights
Hotline), and advice for those who want to apply for conscientious
objector status.
3. Pressure Congress to stop further funding, investigate war profiteering
and cut Halliburton and other contractors from the government dole. A
December 8, 2004 Associated Press poll found that the majority of
Americans don't believe there will be stable, democratic government in
Iraq and disapprove of George Bush's handling of the situation. More and
more Americans are recognizing that this war is unwinnable and don't want
to see billions more of our tax dollars wasted. We must now convince our
Congressional representatives. In February, the Bush administration is
expected to request an additional $70 billion for the military. This
massive request includes money for building dozens of military bases in
Iraq and the most expensive U.S. embassy in the world, as well as money
for more troops. We must demand that our representatives oppose funding
that further entrenches the U.S. presence in Iraq.
We must also call on Congress to stop government agencies from giving
contracts to U.S. companies for "rebuilding" Iraq. Iraqis have some of the
best engineers and builders in the world, and are totally capable of
rebuilding their own country. The U.S. contractors in Iraq are plagued by
incompetence, waste, corruption, cronyism and lack of accountability. They
also take jobs away from Iraqis, contributing to the catastrophic
unemployment rate of about 70% and the increasing Iraqi bitterness against
Americans. We must demand that Congress stop giving new contacts to U.S.
companies and that it investigate more fully the charges of war
profiteering against companies that have been awarded high-dollar
contracts, particularly Halliburton. In fact, there is an on-going FBI
probe of Halliburton for war profiteering. We should demand that Congress
stop all monies to Halliburton while charges are pending and if found
guilty, ban Halliburton from receiving any future government contracts.
We should also demand a freeze on contracts to companies whose employees
are accused of being involved in human rights abuses, such as CACI and
Titan in the case of the Abu Ghraib prison.
4. Strengthen local peace work and bring the cost of the war home. The
anti-war coalition must reach out to broader sectors of the community,
especially religious groups, labor, communities of color and students. We
must make clear the connections between the $200 billion squandered on
Iraq and the cuts that communities across the US are facing in health
care, education and vital social services. The amazing website
www.nationalpriorities.org will give you an estimate of the cost of the
war for your city and state.
Get local churches, labor unions, student governments and city councils to
pass resolutions against the occupation. Hundreds of such resolutions were
passed before the war began; we need to revive that energy in the call to
bring the troops home. In November 2004, the city of San Francisco had a
"Bring the Troops Home" measure on the ballot, and it passed by an
overwhelming 63 percent. Similar ballot initiatives or resolutions could
be passed in cities all over the country. For the text of the resolution,
see
<http://www.smartvoter.org/20"http://www.smartvoter.org/2004/11/02/ca/sf/meas/N/http://www.smartvoter.org/20
04/11/02/ca/sf/meas/N/.
It is also time to ramp up the anti-war activism with non-violent civil
disobedience. This could include sit-ins at the offices of military
recruiters or congresspeople or military contractors, blockades at
military bases, or "sleep-ins" at schools or libraries to demand money for
books, not for war. A great model is the "sleep-in" staged by students at
the Boulder High School until they secured a meeting with their
congressional representative to express their concerns about a draft (see
<http://www.commondreams.org/views04/www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1105-21.ht
mwww.commondreams.org/headlines04/1105-21.htm). Another great example is
when the Kensington Welfare Rights Union took over their local Army
Recruiters Office calling for "Money for Housing, Not for War!" (see
<www.kwru.org"http://www.kwru.org/www.kwru.org).
Local peace coalitions should work closely with the national umbrella
group United for Peace and Justice
(<www.unitedforpeace.org"http://www.unitedforpeace.org/www.unitedforpeace.org). This is the
organization that put together the largest anti-war rallies, including the
massive February 15, 2004 rally that took place in New York City and
hundreds of cities around the country-and the world.
5. Build the global coalition February 15, 2004 was indeed an amazingly
powerful day when "the world said no to war." We need to strengthen the
global anti-war coalition and not just organize joint rally days, but
joint campaigns. These could be campaigns against companies profiting from
war, or campaigns to get countries that are still part of the "coalition
forces" to withdraw (by the end of 2004, at least 15 of the original 32
members of the coalition had either left Iraq or had announced their
intention to leave).
Another possibility is to set up a Global Peace Camp on the
Jordanian/Iraqi border. Since it is so dangerous for foreigners to travel
inside Iraq, the border is an alternative site for Iraqis and
international activists to meet, educate each other, and exchanges ideas.
In stark contrast to the violence inside Iraq, the Peace Camp would be a
real-life symbol of how people from different countries, religions and
ethnicities can come together to build the kind of world we'd like to live
in. If you are interested in this idea, contact
<peace@glob"http://us.f541.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=peace@globalexchange.orgpeace@glob
alexchange.org.
We should consider a global campaign to push the United Nations-both at
the Security Council and the General Assembly-to call for a swift timeline
for the withdrawal of foreign military forces from Iraq.
6. Support efforts to decrease our dependence on oil. While the U.S.
invasion of Iraq was not solely about oil, it is certainly true that if
broccoli were Iraqi's main export, we would not have invaded. It's also
true that until we get off our dependence on oil, we will continue to have
policies in the Middle East that tie us to undemocratic regimes like Saudi
Arabia or push us to invade countries like Iraq to control their oil.
There are plenty of ways to start breaking our oil addiction, including
investing significant resources in solar and wind power (see
<www.appolloproject.org"http://www.appolloproject.org/www.appolloproject.org), promoting fuel
efficient vehicles (see
<www.jumpstartford.org"http://www.jumpstartford.org/www.jumpstartford.org), and focusing on
conservation and efficiency (see <www.rmi.org"http://www.rmi.org/www.rmi.org).
George Bush took the 2004 election as a mandate to continue this illegal,
immoral war in Iraq. It is up to us, the American people, to rebel against
Bush's arrogant empire-building. It is up to us-as caring, compassionate
Americans-to force the Bush administration to stop the killing, start
respecting international law, and assume our rightful place as one among
many in the family of nations.
Medea Benjamin is cofounder of the human rights group Global Exchange
(<www.globalexchange.org"http://www.globalexchange.org/www.globalexchange.org) and the women's
peace initiative Code Pink
(<www.codepinkalert.org"http://www.codepinkalert.org/www.codepinkalert.org). She has led
numerous delegations to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and started the
International Occupation Watch Center
(<www.occupationwatch.org"http://www.occupationwatch.org/www.occupationwatch.org).
###
Published on Monday, December 13, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Building Peace in a Time of Perpetual War
by Medea Benjamin
Immediately after George Bush declared victory on November 2, 2004, his
administration gave the green light for an all-out attack on the Iraqi
rebel town of Fallujah. The town was virtually leveled, hundreds of
civilians were killed, and over 150,000 became desperate refugees
suffering from hunger, cold and disease. And all this after Bush
supposedly won the election because of his strong moral values!
During the first debate between George Bush and John Kerry, Bush made a
pointed comment about moral values. "What distinguishes us from the
terrorists," he said somberly, "is that we believe that every life is
precious." But according to an October 2004 report in the prestigious
medical journal The Lancet, the U.S. occupation of Iraq has cost the lives
of over 100,000 Iraqis, mostly women and children.
While the Bush administration rarely acknowledges the death toll among
U.S. soldiers, it flatly refuses to talk about Iraqi casualties. When
asked about Iraqi deaths, then U.S. Central Command chief General Tommy
Franks responded tersely, "We don't do body counts."
The Iraqi government also suppresses casualty figures. Dr. Nagham Mohsen,
an official at the Iraqi Health Ministry, was ordered in December 2003 to
stop compiling data from hospital records, and journalists were prohibited
from entering the morgues.
The Lancet study, which is the first scientific study of the human cost of
the Iraq war, was done by US and Iraqi researchers led by School of Public
Health in Baltimore. The team surveyed 1,000 households in 33 randomly
chosen areas in Iraq. They found that the risk of violent death was 58
times higher in the period since the invasion, and that most of the
victims were women and children. While their final horrifying calculation
of over 100,000 civilian deaths made front-page news in many parts of the
world, the U.S. press barely mentioned it.
A United Nations report released in November 2004 found that severe
malnutrition in Iraqi children had almost doubled since the U.S. invasion.
This translates to roughly 400,000 Iraqi children suffering from
"wasting," a condition characterized by chronic diarrhea and dangerous
deficiencies of protein. Iraq's child malnutrition rate now roughly equals
that of Burundi, a central African nation torn by more than a decade of
war. It is far higher than child malnutrition rates in Uganda and Haiti.
And this in a country where, just a generation ago, the biggest
nutritional problem for young Iraqis was obesity!
While Iraqis have certainly suffered the most from this war, the cost in
lives of U.S. soldiers continues to mount, nearing 1,500 by the end of
2004. Another 10,000 US soldiers have been wounded in action, and
thousands more killed in accidents. With attacks on US soldiers now
reaching 100 a day, more and more families will be getting that tragic "We
regret to inform you'ö" visit.
For those who fear that a removal of U.S. forces would result in chaos and
civil war, what is Iraq today but a country plagued by chaos and violence?
If the U.S. occupying forces that gave rise to the insurgency were to
leave, the insurgency would lose its purpose. Certainly there is the risk
of internal power struggles, but as many Iraqis have told us, the
destruction by Iraqis fighting each other would pale in comparison with
the destruction by the U.S. forces, as evidenced in the recent attack on
Fallujah. Moreover, the withdrawal of U.S. troops would open up the
possibility for the entry of UN or other peacekeeping forces.
The presence of U.S. forces also sets back efforts at reconstruction,
since those who work with the U.S. forces are putting their lives at risk
and often quit because of intimidation by insurgents. Buildings bombed in
the initial invasion of Iraq have yet to be rebuilt, electricity is still
intermittent, and oil production is plagued by sabotage. The lack of basic
services and employment opportunities in turn leads to more animosity
against the U.S. presence.
There are many good reasons to oppose the occupation of Iraq, from the
mounting casualties to the bankrupting of our economy to the increased
anti-American feelings it has engendered. But there is one really
compelling reason to call for the withdrawal of our troops: the Iraqis
want us to leave.
A survey of Iraqis sponsored by the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority
in May 2004 showed that most Iraqis say they would feel safer if U.S.
forces left immediately. An overwhelming majority of 80 percent also said
they have "no confidence" in either the U.S. civilian authorities or
military forces. If we really believe in democracy, then we should listen
to the desire of the majority of the Iraqi people.
Our demands as a peace movement should be for the U.S. government to make
a commitment to withdraw our troops by the end of 2005 at the latest;
pledge that we will not maintain permanent bases in Iraq; and commit to
ending the war profiteering by U.S. companies so that Iraqis have the
opportunity to rebuild their own country.
So how do we build a peace movement that can put forward these demands in
an effective way? Here are some practical things we can do.
1.Make real the human cost of the war on both U.S. and Iraqi lives. Since
the US invasion in March 2003, the public in most countries throughout the
world has seen the horrible pictures of Iraq war victims. The big
exception is the US public, which has seen a sanitized version of the war.
CNN International regularly shows footage of war victims in its worldwide
broadcasts but not on domestic CNN. The world community demands to know
the truth, and we should too. Write letters, call and email your local
media demanding that they cover the victims of war. If they fail to
respond, organize a community delegation to visit them. If they fail to
respond to that as well, organize protests at their offices.
Invite an Iraqi-American to come speak to your community about the effects
of the occupation. Contact Global Exchange Speakers Bureau for a list of
Iraqi and American speakers on the war
(<www.globalexchange.org"http://www.globalexchange.org/www.globalexchange.org).
Regarding the cost of war for US soldiers, ask your local media to read or
print a daily casualty toll. Do screenings in your school, church or
houseparty of videos about US casualties. Two forceful videos are
Arlington West
(<www.arlingtonwestfilm.com"http://www.arlingtonwestfilm.com/www.arlingtonwestfilm.com) and The
Ground Truth (<www.thegroundtruth.org"http://www.thegroundtruth.org/www.thegroundtruth.org).
If the public were able to see, on a sustained basis, the gory reality of
this war-the children without limbs, the wailing mothers, the shivering
refugees, the US soldiers coming home in body bags or incapacitated for
life---support would plummet and the war would end.
2.Support military families who are speaking out against the war, and
soldiers who are speaking out and refusing to fight. Military Families
Speak Out (<www.mfso.org"http://www.mfso.org/www.mfso.org) is a group of over 1,000
families with loved ones in the military. Help get their voices out on the
media or invite one of them to speak in your community. Some of them are
parents of fallen soldiers, such as Fernando Suarez or Lila Lipscomb of
Fahrenheit 911 fame, and their testimonies are heart-wrenching and
compelling.
In the case of Vietnam, dissent within the armed forces itself was
critical in ending the war. There is now a new group of soldiers called
Iraq Veterans Against the War (<www.ivaw.org"http://www.ivaw.org/www.ivaw.org) that
deserves our support. So do the soldiers who are refusing to serve. Over
one-third of some 4,000 combat veterans have resisted their call-ups. One
of the most public soldiers who refused to return to fight in Iraq is
Camilo Mejia (see <www.freecamilo.org"http://www.freecamilo.org/www.freecamilo.org), who is
serving a one-year prison sentence after being convicted of desertion. "I
witnessed the horror of war," said Camilo at his trial, "the firefights,
the ambushes, the excessive use of force, the abuse of prisoners. Acting
upon my principles became incompatible with my role in the military. By
putting my weapon down I chose to reassert myself as a human being."
We also need to support counter-recruitment efforts, efforts that provide
young people-particularly in poor communities-with a truthful picture of
the risks of joining the military and of their other options for
employment and education. See www.objector.org for a list of groups doing
counter-recruitment, general support for soldiers (including a GI Rights
Hotline), and advice for those who want to apply for conscientious
objector status.
3. Pressure Congress to stop further funding, investigate war profiteering
and cut Halliburton and other contractors from the government dole. A
December 8, 2004 Associated Press poll found that the majority of
Americans don't believe there will be stable, democratic government in
Iraq and disapprove of George Bush's handling of the situation. More and
more Americans are recognizing that this war is unwinnable and don't want
to see billions more of our tax dollars wasted. We must now convince our
Congressional representatives. In February, the Bush administration is
expected to request an additional $70 billion for the military. This
massive request includes money for building dozens of military bases in
Iraq and the most expensive U.S. embassy in the world, as well as money
for more troops. We must demand that our representatives oppose funding
that further entrenches the U.S. presence in Iraq.
We must also call on Congress to stop government agencies from giving
contracts to U.S. companies for "rebuilding" Iraq. Iraqis have some of the
best engineers and builders in the world, and are totally capable of
rebuilding their own country. The U.S. contractors in Iraq are plagued by
incompetence, waste, corruption, cronyism and lack of accountability. They
also take jobs away from Iraqis, contributing to the catastrophic
unemployment rate of about 70% and the increasing Iraqi bitterness against
Americans. We must demand that Congress stop giving new contacts to U.S.
companies and that it investigate more fully the charges of war
profiteering against companies that have been awarded high-dollar
contracts, particularly Halliburton. In fact, there is an on-going FBI
probe of Halliburton for war profiteering. We should demand that Congress
stop all monies to Halliburton while charges are pending and if found
guilty, ban Halliburton from receiving any future government contracts.
We should also demand a freeze on contracts to companies whose employees
are accused of being involved in human rights abuses, such as CACI and
Titan in the case of the Abu Ghraib prison.
4. Strengthen local peace work and bring the cost of the war home. The
anti-war coalition must reach out to broader sectors of the community,
especially religious groups, labor, communities of color and students. We
must make clear the connections between the $200 billion squandered on
Iraq and the cuts that communities across the US are facing in health
care, education and vital social services. The amazing website
www.nationalpriorities.org will give you an estimate of the cost of the
war for your city and state.
Get local churches, labor unions, student governments and city councils to
pass resolutions against the occupation. Hundreds of such resolutions were
passed before the war began; we need to revive that energy in the call to
bring the troops home. In November 2004, the city of San Francisco had a
"Bring the Troops Home" measure on the ballot, and it passed by an
overwhelming 63 percent. Similar ballot initiatives or resolutions could
be passed in cities all over the country. For the text of the resolution,
see
<http://www.smartvoter.org/20"http://www.smartvoter.org/2004/11/02/ca/sf/meas/N/http://www.smartvoter.org/20
04/11/02/ca/sf/meas/N/.
It is also time to ramp up the anti-war activism with non-violent civil
disobedience. This could include sit-ins at the offices of military
recruiters or congresspeople or military contractors, blockades at
military bases, or "sleep-ins" at schools or libraries to demand money for
books, not for war. A great model is the "sleep-in" staged by students at
the Boulder High School until they secured a meeting with their
congressional representative to express their concerns about a draft (see
<http://www.commondreams.org/views04/www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1105-21.ht
mwww.commondreams.org/headlines04/1105-21.htm). Another great example is
when the Kensington Welfare Rights Union took over their local Army
Recruiters Office calling for "Money for Housing, Not for War!" (see
<www.kwru.org"http://www.kwru.org/www.kwru.org).
Local peace coalitions should work closely with the national umbrella
group United for Peace and Justice
(<www.unitedforpeace.org"http://www.unitedforpeace.org/www.unitedforpeace.org). This is the
organization that put together the largest anti-war rallies, including the
massive February 15, 2004 rally that took place in New York City and
hundreds of cities around the country-and the world.
5. Build the global coalition February 15, 2004 was indeed an amazingly
powerful day when "the world said no to war." We need to strengthen the
global anti-war coalition and not just organize joint rally days, but
joint campaigns. These could be campaigns against companies profiting from
war, or campaigns to get countries that are still part of the "coalition
forces" to withdraw (by the end of 2004, at least 15 of the original 32
members of the coalition had either left Iraq or had announced their
intention to leave).
Another possibility is to set up a Global Peace Camp on the
Jordanian/Iraqi border. Since it is so dangerous for foreigners to travel
inside Iraq, the border is an alternative site for Iraqis and
international activists to meet, educate each other, and exchanges ideas.
In stark contrast to the violence inside Iraq, the Peace Camp would be a
real-life symbol of how people from different countries, religions and
ethnicities can come together to build the kind of world we'd like to live
in. If you are interested in this idea, contact
<peace@glob"http://us.f541.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=peace@globalexchange.orgpeace@glob
alexchange.org.
We should consider a global campaign to push the United Nations-both at
the Security Council and the General Assembly-to call for a swift timeline
for the withdrawal of foreign military forces from Iraq.
6. Support efforts to decrease our dependence on oil. While the U.S.
invasion of Iraq was not solely about oil, it is certainly true that if
broccoli were Iraqi's main export, we would not have invaded. It's also
true that until we get off our dependence on oil, we will continue to have
policies in the Middle East that tie us to undemocratic regimes like Saudi
Arabia or push us to invade countries like Iraq to control their oil.
There are plenty of ways to start breaking our oil addiction, including
investing significant resources in solar and wind power (see
<www.appolloproject.org"http://www.appolloproject.org/www.appolloproject.org), promoting fuel
efficient vehicles (see
<www.jumpstartford.org"http://www.jumpstartford.org/www.jumpstartford.org), and focusing on
conservation and efficiency (see <www.rmi.org"http://www.rmi.org/www.rmi.org).
George Bush took the 2004 election as a mandate to continue this illegal,
immoral war in Iraq. It is up to us, the American people, to rebel against
Bush's arrogant empire-building. It is up to us-as caring, compassionate
Americans-to force the Bush administration to stop the killing, start
respecting international law, and assume our rightful place as one among
many in the family of nations.
Medea Benjamin is cofounder of the human rights group Global Exchange
(<www.globalexchange.org"http://www.globalexchange.org/www.globalexchange.org) and the women's
peace initiative Code Pink
(<www.codepinkalert.org"http://www.codepinkalert.org/www.codepinkalert.org). She has led
numerous delegations to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and started the
International Occupation Watch Center
(<www.occupationwatch.org"http://www.occupationwatch.org/www.occupationwatch.org).
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posted by carol wolman @ 11:45 PM
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