| Feature Archive |
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from 16 february 2003 blue vol II, #70 |
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to Stop the War on Iraq WE ARE MILLIONS 
Compiled and written by Guy Dauncey
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Email The
shorter, the sweeter. Speak from the heart, in one paragraph. Speak with
kindness, not anger. We want peace, not more belligerence. Individual
addressing is better than CCing; BCC is better than CC NEW!
A clear and compelling third alternative has emerged.
Following an hour-long meeting of US church leaders with British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, the Sojourners have outlined a 6-point plan that details a more
effective way to remove Saddam Hussein from power without killing innocent
people. Read the plan, and e-mail it to President Bush, Prime Minister Blair,
and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan: http://www.sojo.net/action 1.
Send an email to every member of the UN Security Council at the same
time, urging them to vote against war: http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailUNSC.asp.
See also www.ctausa.org/iraq.html 2.
Send an individual email to the French Ambassador at the UN. The French
are begging to hear from Americans and Canadians in particular. Urge them to
uphold their veto over any US plans to go to war on Iraq: france-presse.
Send a cc to Jean Chretien, Canada’s Prime Minister: pm You
can email President Jacques Chirac of France (www.elysee.fr/ecrire/index.htm)
and Gerhard Schroeder, Chancellor of Germany (gerhard.schroeder)
personally, to thank them for not lining up behind George Bush. 3.
Send 400 emails all at once to UN members, the US government and the
Canadian government: gmacagainstwar.
This service has been set up by the good folks at McMaster University Science
for Peace. For Germany at the UN, fill in the form at: www.germanyinfo.org/UN/contact.html 4.
Send an email to Britain at the UN, urging Tony Blair to stop supporting
Bush, and to work instead with France and Germany to make Saddam destroy his
weapons of mass destruction without going to war: uk 5.
Send an email to George and Laura Bush at The White House: president
Urge them to come to their senses. Send the same email to Colin
Powell, Secretary of State, at contact-us.state.gov/ask_form_cat/ask_form_secretary.html 6.
Send an email to Saddam Hussein in Iraq, urging him to comply with the
UN Inspectors' demands: press 7.
Send an email to every member of Canada’s Parliament, urging them to
help the UN find a peaceful way to disarm Saddam Hussein, and not to support
the US war. www.earthfuture.com/CanadianMPs.
If you want to email just a few, send your email to Jean Chretien:
pm, with a cc to John Manley Manley.J,
John McCallum McAllum.J,
and Bill Graham Graham.B. To email
every Canadian MP at the same time, see www.earthfuture.com/CanadianMPs 8.
Vote to impeach George Bush. This is a proposal from former Attorney
General Ramsey Clark. The votes submitted will be delivered to the House
Judiciary Committee and the leadership from both parties on the committee. See www.votetoimpeach.org/redirect.htm 9.
Sign an online petition against the war. There are many good online
petitions and pledges that are properly designed. Try these sites for a valid
petition: · The Iraq Peace Pledge: www.peacepledge.org · Campaign for Peace and Democracy
statement of opposition to war against Iraq, · outlining an alternative, democratic
U.S. foreign policy: www.cpdweb.org · To President Bush and Congress: www.moveon.org/nowar · Time to Move beyond War Petition: www.PetitionOnline.com/iraq123 · To President Bush and Congress: www.PetitionOnline.com/iraq/petition.html · To Jean Chretien, Canada’s Prime
Minister: www.ploughshares.ca · To Tony Blair (for British
residents): www.PetitionOnline.com/cndstwc/petition.html · To the US Congress: www.votenowar.org · Women United for Peace Petition, to
George Bush and Congress: www.petitiononline.com/waw2002/petition.html · One Voice for Peace Petition
(Australia): www.onevoiceforpeace.org · To Tony Blair: www.oxfam.org.uk/iraqactnow Ignore
any petition that asks you to add your name and send it off when it reaches 50,
or 500. This kind of petition is useless – dump it as soon as it arrives. 10.
NEW! Send an email to the Pope, urging him to go in person to
Iraq to be a presence for peace: accreditament. I believe the
correct way to address him is "Your Holiness".
The amazing Dr Helen Caldicott has written a very moving letter asking him
to go, which you can see at www.rense.com/general35/topope.htm. Nelson Mandela
said he would go to Iraq if invited. His email is nmandela 10a.
Send an email to all your friends , telling them about 101 Ways
to Stop the War on Iraq. www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar Not
a Solution, but who can resist? Amuse
your friends by offering them these artistic contributions to peace: We Shall Not Exxonerate Saddam: traprockpeace.org/oil.jpg The Grinch Revisited: mystic.schism.ca/musings.html If You're Happy And You Know It,
Bomb Iraq, by John Robbins: www.commondreams.org/views02/1216-06.htm I’m losing patience with my
neighbours, Mr. Bush, by Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame): www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,882526,00.html
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Pen A
personal letter is ten times more powerful than an email. The more effort you
invest, the more effect it will have. That’s the way the world works. 11.
Write to your political leaders in Washington. We elect our leaders, and
it is up to us to tell them what we think. For addresses at the US Congress,
see www.congressmerge.com. Here’s a sample letter: www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq/IraqActionAlert.html.
For your Senator's address,
see www.senate.state.mi.us/SenatorInfo/find-your-senator.htm For
your Member of the House of Representatives, see www.house.gov/writerep 12.
Write to the Rt. Hon, Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada, Langevin
Block, 80 Wellington St., Ottawa ON K1A 0A2, urging him to work for peace, and
uphold Canada’s tradition of being an independent, peace-making country. No
stamp needed inside Canada. For MP addresses, see www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/PostalCode.asp?Source=SM 13.
Write to Saddam Hussein, asking him to cooperate fully with the UN arms
inspectors, and to reveal and destroy all of Iraq’s weapons of mass
destruction. Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Mission to the UN, 14 East 79th Street, New
York, N.Y. 10021 Telephone: (212) 737-4433, Fax: (212) 772-1794 14.
Write to George and Laura Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, USA. (Tel: 202 456 1414; Fax: 202 456 2461) .
There’s another White House number – 202-456-1111, where you can leave a
message between 9-5 EST. Some suggest sending a handful of rice, with the
message – "If your enemies are hungry, feed them (Romans, 12, 20). Please send
this to the people of Iraq. Don’t attack them." See www.whyagain.com
and www.cta-usa.org/iraq.html. There’s
another campaign to send stinky socks, with the message "War Stinks!" – see www.wendypolyploidy.com/socks. 15.
Write to the Rt. Hon Tony Blair, Prime Minister, 10, Downing St, London
SW1A 2AA, UK, urging him to come to his senses, and realize that there are MANY
ways to disarm Iraq without going to war. War is a sign of total failure, when
all other options have been exhausted. Only then do we start killing people. 16.
Write to Colin Powell, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State,
2201 C Street NW Washington,
DC 20520, urging him to exhaust every possibility for peace, before he commits
to war. Send him a prayer. 17.
Write a letter to the Editor of your local paper. There’s a first time
for each of us. You’ll feel good when you see it in print. The Washington
Post’s email for Letters to the Editor is abramowitz.
The New York Times is executive-editor 18.
Write an "Op-Ed" (Opinion-Editorial) piece for your local paper. Make it
around 800 words, and ask a friend to critique it before you send it off.
There’s nothing wrong with writing three, five or even ten drafts. We all do
it. 19.
Write to your Mayor and Council, City Hall (address in the Blue Pages in
the phone book), urging them to pass a motion against going to war on Iraq. For
details, and a sample motion, see www.citiesforpeace.org.
Hundreds of city and towns councils are doing it, including Toronto, Vancouver,
Chicago, Washington DC, Santa Fe, and Austin Texas. For a list of US cities
that have signed, see www.ips-dc.org/citiesforpeace/resolutions.htm.
Many Canadian cities have signed too. 20.
Write a cheque . All this campaigning costs money, and people are
dipping deep into their own pockets to fund their costs. Write a cheque to a
peace organization that needs it. They’ll really appreciate it, and it’ll help
them to work more effectively. MoveOn needs $$ for their incredible organizing
effort - go to www.moveon.org/support.html,
and follow the instructions.
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Signs 21.
Download a poster to display in your window: www.anotherposterforpeace.com United
for Peace stickers, bumper signs, posters, lawn signs: www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=592 The
powerful "Not In Our Name" poster of the Earth: www.notinourname.net/org_materials.html. An
easy window sign from Global Exchange/United for Peace: www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq/windowsigns.html More
posters: http://www.progressiveportal.org/resources/flags.html More
posters: www.icujp.org/home.shtml#posters "Not
in Our Name" T-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, pins, Pledge of Resistance posters,
cards, and Earth flags: www.notinourname.net/org_materials.html 22.
Make your own bumper sticker. Print out the words, seal it with stick-on
book-cover paper, and put your "duct-tape to make the world a safer place" to
good use by taping it to your bumper. NO WAR ON IRAQ. SAY NO TO WAR. NO WAR FOR
OIL. PROTECT CHILDREN, NOT OIL. DUCKED APE FOR PEACE. Or
buy one from www.progressiveportal.org/resources/flags.html 23.
Light a candle and leave it in your window, with the word PEACE written
large beneath it. 24.
Buy a Peace Flag, and fly it bravely and free. My
absolute favorite, the World Peace Flag: www.peacemamas.com Earth
from Space flag: www.progressiveportal.org/resources/flags.html Pray
for Peace, Act for Peace flag: peace.mennolink.org/resources/prayflag.html More
Peace Flags: www.peaceflags.org More
Peace Flags: www.worldpeaceflag.org More
Peace Flags: www.geocities.com/peace_flag2001 25.
Wear a Peace T-shirt. Coffee
House Teach-In T-shirts, hats and shopping bags: scartserver.com/2.0/stopuswars
and www.stopUSwars.org/catalog.htm Quaker
Family Peace T-shirts: www.afsc.org/qsb/02fa/02fa08.htm Pray
for Peace, Act for Peace T-shirt: peace.mennolink.org/resources/toorder/index.html#prayacttshirt Ladybug
peace T-shirt, from New Zealand: www.frog.co.nz/peace.html Steve
Nash, the Canadian basketball player, wore a jersey saying Shoot for Peace. "I
believe theU.S. going to war would be a mistake. I think it's something we need
to be very careful with.Being a humanitarian, I believe war is wrong in 99.9
per cent of all cases." (Steve Nash, Montreal
Gazette, Feb 11th 2003) 26.
Make a sign to hang on your gate. It just needs paper. And words. And
colours. And string. And hope. 27.
Get serious! Get together with some friends and make a BIG sign – see
Solution #61. 28.
Organize an Art for Peace event, when people come together to paint
umbrellas, jackets, gumboots, and posters, make papier maché puppets, and
generally get creative, ready for the next peace march. 29.
Carry a sign on your skin, your clothing, your face, your T-shirt, your
jeans, your jacket, your behind. Stand in front of one of those "Vox Pop" TV
boxes that some TV stations have on the street, and speak your peace, holding
your sign. 30.
Print 100 copies of one of the posters listed above, and give them away
to your friends and colleagues.
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Body 31.
Use your voice! Phone your Senator or Representative, and tell them what
you feel. To connect to your elected officials' offices, call the Capitol
Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Canadians – call your MP in Ottawa. For contact
details, see www.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html 32.
Pay them a visit. Organize a carload of people to visit the offices of
your senator, representative or MP. For US contact addresses, see www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq/IraqActionAlert.html (scroll
down to the bottom). For Canadian MPs, see www.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html 33.
Join the next big day of peace marches set for Saturday, March 15th,
all around the world. 34.
Distribute flyers . Judging by the opinion polls, most people will be
really pleased to hear from you. Good locations include shopping malls, subway
stations, grocery stores, college campuses, libraries, churches, and bus stops.
Go to www.unitedforpeace.org and print a ready-made flyer.
There’s another ready-made flyer at www.peace-action.org/home/iraq/getactive.html 35.
Go without food for a day, or a week. Fasting is a very old and powerful
way of sharing your feelings. Tell the media. Just ring them up and tell them.
Someone will be interested. 36.
Do a silent vigil somewhere in public, with a placard. Invite people to
join you. They will. And tell the media. In January 1991, when it was apparent
that the United States was going to start bombing Iraq, a lone individual
started holding a nightly vigil at a gas station near Lake Merritt, near
Oakland, California, holding a sign that read No Blood for Oil! Richard and
Emma, two Lake Merritt neighbors, were walking home from the grocery store one evening
& saw him. They decided that something should be done to help this one
brave soul who was demonstrating against war. From this one man’s effort has
sprung Lake Merritt Neighbours Organized for Peace, who have an incredible
website at www.lmno4p.org/indexORIG.htm. They also
have the world’s most beautiful logo. 37.
Go on strike. Refuse to work for fifteen minutes every day. That’s what
Richard Lawson, a British doctor, is doing every Monday from 9 to 9.15 each
morning until the threat of war on Iraq is lifted. See www.greenhealth.org.uk 38.
Join the next big global demonstration. Watch for signs in your local
city. If you live in a small community, organize your own. In British Columbia,
120 people showed up in the tiny town of Tofino (pop’n 1200), and 1,000 showed
up on Salt Spring Island (pop’n 10,000). If you’re a woman, join the Women's
Peace March on International Women's Day, on March 8 in Washington, D.C. The
peace vigil in front of the White House culminates in a massive women's peace
march. See www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq/join121202.html 39.
Sign the Pledge of Resistance, and prepare to take part in non-violent
civil disobedience, if Bush goes to war. See www.peacepledge.org
and Solution #89. For civil disobedience resources, in the traditon
of Martin Luther King and Gandhi, see www.civildisobedience.org.uk 40.
Go to Iraq. OK – it’s a big one, but people are doing it. They are in
Iraq, right now, with Human Shield Action - see www.humanshields.org
and/or www.humanshieldaction.org .
They are there with Voices in the Wilderness– see www.nonviolence.org/vitw. Since
September 2002, seasoned nonviolent activists have been on the ground in Iraq
standing in solidarity with the people of Iraq while working to prevent a US
attack. See www.iraqpeaceteam.org. For
one woman’s journey to Iraq, see www.iraqpeaceteam.org.
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Mind 41.
Educate yourself. Your arguments will be more powerful if you study
what’s happening. *
Read Michael Renner’s superb article The New Oil Order -
Washington's War on Iraq is the Lynchpin to Controlling Persian Gulf Oil from
Foreign Policy in Focus: www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=5529. *
Watch the slide show www.usgreens.org again,
and note the data at the end. *
How can we be so `sure Saddam has weapons of mass destruction? The US companies
that sold them to him kept the receipts. See www.cbc.ca/insite/COMMENTARY/2003/2/20.html *
What is the Project for a New American Century? See truthout.org/docs_03/022803A.shtml 42.
Develop Clear Arguments. They will help you enormously in any kind of
debate. Top
Ten Reasons Why the US Should Not Invade Iraq : www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq/invadeIraq082702.html Fifteen
Arguments Against the War on Iraq: www.eclipse.co.uk/exeter/stopwar/15args.shtml Seven
Arguments Against Bombing Iraq: www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13898 The
War on Iraq – the Debate Summarized: www.greenhealth.org.uk/IraqDebate.htm Scott
McLarty's "64 Reasons to Oppose George W. Bush's Planned Invasion of
Iraq". See www.themoderntribune.com/60_reasons_not_to_go_to_war_with_iraq_-_iraq_war_-_war_on_iraq.htm The
moving speech of Charlotte Aldebran, a 12-year old from Maine: www.commondreams.org/views03/0218-05.htm 43.
Learn by reading. Here are some books you can order from your library or
bookshop: Target
Iraq, by Norman Solomon and Reese Erlich. Context Books, 2003. www.contextbooks.com/newF.html The
Fire This Time by Ramsey Clark. Left Books, Updated 2003. Tells
the truth about U.S. war crimes against the Iraqi people in the 1991 war. www.iacenter.org War
on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You to Know, by William
Rivers Pitt with Scott Ritter.
Context Books, September 2002. www.war-on-iraq.com Before
And After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Sept. 11 Crisis by
Phyllis Bennis & Noam Chomsky.
Olive Branch Press, September 2002. Tinderbox:
U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism by
Stephen Zunes, Common Courage
Press, September 2002. War
Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons Against War with Iraq by Milan Rai,
Noam Chomsky (Introduction), Verso Books, (November 2002). Challenge
to Genocide: Let Iraq Live by Ramsey Clark and others,
International Action Center, 1998. Iraq
Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War eds.
Anthony Arnove, and Ali Abunimah,
South End Press, December 2002. 44.
Learn from the Internet. Here are some useful reading places: TruthOut:
www.truthout.org Common
Dreams: www.commondreams.org ZedMagazine:
www.zmag.org The
Nation: www.thenation.com Alternet:
www.alternet.org Pacific
News: www.pacificnews.org End
the War: www.endthewar.org War
on Iraq: www.contextbooks.com/waroniraq Lawyers
Against the War: www.lawyersagainstthewar.org Forum
and live chat site against this unjust war: www.real-humanity.com 45.
Learn about depleted uranium. Why is it so relevant? Look at the photos
of horribly deformed babies born in southern Iraq, and ask yourself, "Is this
right?" You’ll find the location for the photos in the EcoNews article. EcoNews:
www.earthfuture.com/econews/du Helen
Caldicott on Depleted Uranium: traprockpeace.org/caldicottondu.html 46.
Read some good speeches. Start with "This reckless administration may
reap disastrous consequences"
by Senator Robert Byrd" www.wagingpeace.org/articles/03.02/0213byrd_speech.htm 47.
Call your local radio station whenever they have a phone-in or open
phone-lines, and speak your mind. 48.
Exchange your US dollars for Euros. This fits here, because it takes
some clear thinking to get your mind around it. The core of the argument is that
the US has enjoyed economic primacy through the US dollar for the past 50
years. This has allowed the US to run enormous deficits and accumulate an
enormous debt, based on the belief around the world that the US dollar is the
world’s most secure currency. The current US national debt is $6,416 billion,
growing by $1.29 billion a day (see brillig.com/debt_clock).
In November 2000, Saddam started selling Iraqi oil for Euros, instead of
dollars, and the rumor is that the US government is alarmed that if other
countries followed, the flow of dollars needed to sustain the debt would dry
up, causing a collapse in the value of the dollar. For more
on this, see www.whatmatters.nu/wmeletters/wmeletters26.html. 49.
Set up a local debate, and invite representatives from politicians who
support going to war to pitch their case, in dialogue with those who oppose
war. Tell the media. 50.
Prepare a public talk based on the "Ten Reasons Why We Should Not Invade
Iraq", and offer to present it to local schools, colleges and clubs.
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Spirit 51.
Pray for Peace. You don’t need a church, or a prayer book. You don’t
even need to be religious. If you have any sense that there is a greater
reality, a greater being, or a greater purpose in this world, take a moment of
silence, and give words to your thoughts. If you would like to draw on the
words of ages, there is a beautiful collection of prayers for peace from every
religion at www.peaceprayer.org/iraq.html. If you
have never prayed before, all you need do is choose the words that feel
comfortable, and say "Dear (Lord, Creator, Spirit of the Universe) - I don’t
know how to pray, but please hear my words." And then speak from your heart.
Don’t be shy to ask for the biggest blessing you can imagine, to help turn this
world from war to peace, from dominance to cooperation. St Francis of Asissi’s
Peace Prayer: www.americancatholic.org/Features/Francis/peaceprayer.asp 52.
Organize a Prayer Service for Peace. Light candles, sing hymns, write letters,
offer petitions. Share your concerns about the war during the prayers of the
people, or in small group gatherings. Among
the Jesuits: www.scu.edu/news/release.cfm?month=0203&story=PeaceLive In
the Philippines: www.tinig.com/v26/v26stand.html Prayer
for Peace: www.peaceprayer.org Peace
Liturgy: www.ucc.org/justice/peace.htm Pope
declares war a defeat for humanity: www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq/20030114_522.html Buddhist
prayers for peace: www.mipham.com/newsitem.php?id=20 53.
Meditate for Peace. Choose a quiet place, light a candle, and find your
inner peace. Visualize Iraq in your mind, and picture a hundred candles for
peace being lit there, in people’s homes. Now picture a candle for peace being
lit in every Iraqi home. Now visualize Washington in your mind, and repeat the
process. Expand that, to the whole of America. Now visualize people all over
Iraq and all over America, with their candles, turning to look towards each
other. Feel their desire for peace; feel them sharing it. Visualize them
opening their hearts to each other, and asking their God for help. Visualize
the prophet Mohammed and the saviour Jesus reaching out their hands to each
other in heaven, sharing their compassion, and their desire that the people on
Earth should stop, listen, and work together
for peace. (It was for his skills as a peace-maker and mediator that the
prophet Mohammed first came to his people’s attention.) Visualize them reaching
down to Earth together, responding to the prayers of their people. Visualize
the whole Earth responding. Visualize everyone in heaven responding. Visualize
everyone, in every home in every nation, saying "Teach us how to live in
Peace." When you feel complete, breathe in deeply, and stretch your fingers and
toes. Hold your hands over your heart, to ground your meditation, and bring
your consciousness back to the present. Give
thanks to all who might have been present, in whatever dimension. Repeat daily. 54.
Hold Them in the Light. In your prayer or meditation, or during a quiet
moment in the washroom, take a moment to hold the key world leaders in the
light. Visualize George Bush sitting quietly on his own, taking a moment to
reflect. Invoke the deepest peace you can imagine, and invite it to descend
upon him, surrounding him with love. Visualize it filling him with faith,
instead of fear. Visualize it filling him with compassion, instead of
hostility. Visualize him opening to the possibility that together, as a world
community, we can solve this problem. Visualize him letting go of his fears,
and saying no to the big financial interests who are goading him into war.
Visualize him turning into a truly great leader, choosing the path of peace.
Repeat the exercise for Saddam Hussein. 55.
Say Grace for Peace. Every time you sit down for a meal, whether alone
or with your family and friends, say a brief prayer for peace. Ask that the
people of Iraq and the people of America may break bread peacefully, in the
hope that one day, they may be able to break bread peacefully together. 56.
Dance for Peace. If you are alone, clear away the furniture, and put on
some appropriate music. Light a candle, and dedicate your dance to peace in the
world, peace in Iraq, peace in the hearts of Americans. The let your body dance
its wisdom, as your spirit soars free. If you have friends, do the same
together. If you have confidence, take your dance into a public place. Tell the
media. 57.
Share Poems for Peace. Go to the Nth Position website, and download
their book of 100 Poets Against the War. Choose one of the poems each day, and
send it with a suggested email action to all your friends. See www.nthposition.com.
Organize a Poets for Peace reading in your public library – see www.unitedpoets.org. 58.
Sing for Peace. Get together with your friends and sing songs for peace.
If you are a singer, or if you belong to a choir, folk club, rock group, or
chanting circle, include peace songs in your next concert. Suggest that all the
singers in town come together for one big peace concert. Mennonites
singing for Peace: old.mbherald.com/40-24/news-6.html London
artists singing for Peace: www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_750725.html?menu= New
Songs for Peace: www.newsongsforpeace.org Songs
for peace in Korea: www.korea-np.co.jp/pk/048th_issue/98062405.htm Peace
songs recordings: www.people4peace.net/songs Raffi’s
songs "Turn This World Around": www.turnthisworldaround.org Artists
United to Win Without War: www.artistsunitedwww.org 59.
Paint for Peace. Invite your city’s artists to come together with their
paints, chalks, and crayons in a big "Paint for Peace" event. If you know
someone who runs a pub or restaurant where they have colours and paper napkins,
suggest they hold a "Paint for Peace" evening – every night. Colfax,
California, paints for peace: www.californiaartwalk.com/artwalks/colfax 60.
Make a Personal Invocation for Peace. In the morning, when you get up -
or whenever it feels right - turn to the Universe, and say HERE I AM. I’M READY
TO SERVE. SING THROUGH ME. DANCE THROUGH ME. LET ME BE YOUR FLUTE. SHOW ME HOW
I CAN HELP STOP THIS WAR, AND CREATE PEACE ON EARTH. Then prepare for miracles.
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Friends 61.
Create a banner together, and hold it over a bridge or overpass. Here’s
how to make the banner: www.traprockpeace.org/bannerpainting.html.
And tell the media! 62.
Rent some films and put on a public showing, If you go to United for
Peace www.unitedforpeace.org,
and click on "films", you’ll find a listing of a dozen films, and where to
obtain them, eg Hidden Wars of Desert Storm by Gerard Ungerman and
Audrey Brohy, 2000. In Shifting Sands: The Truth About UNSCOM and the
Disarming of Iraq by Scott Ritter, 2002. And tell the media! 63.
Write letters together. Get together with your friends to write letters
to world, political, media, business and artistic leaders. Sign each letter
together, to give it more power. 64.
Make plans together. Get together with your friends and neighbours and
discuss what you can do. For a step-by-step guide to organizing a new group,
see www.stopUSwars.org/organize.htm. Global
Exchange has a superb organizing toolkit – see
www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq 65.
Hold a silent vigil together. Choose a prominent place, and maybe all
wear the same colour – black, white, pink, green. Be creative. Women in Black
hold their silent vigils to protest war, rape as a tool of war, ethnic
cleansing and human rights abuses all over the world. See www.womeninblack.net. If
you don’t want to wear black, and you’re a woman, wear pink! There are Code
Pink vigils happening
all over the place. See www.codepink4peace.org/support.html 66.
Bare witness for peace. Get some friends and join in - it’s happening
everywhere. See Baring Witness: www.baringwitness.org and
www.baringwitness.org/Australia-ByronBay.htm.
Wendy Polyploidy and her friends win the medal for bravery – they’re naked in
the snow together in a very public place in New York City’s Central Park at
Bethesda Fountain – see www.wendypolyploidy.com/nobush/index.html
for this and many other Baring Witness photos. They’re
doing it in Britain - see www.barewitness.org.
They’re doing it in Salt Lake City: pages.ivillage.com/aspenmoonda.
They’re doing it everywhere. 67.
Persuade your City. Work together to persuade your local city, town or county
council to pass a motion opposing the war on Iraq. For details, and a sample
motion, see www.citiesforpeace.org. Hundreds of city and towns
councils are doing it, including Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago, Washington DC,
Santa Fe, and Austin Texas. For the full list, see www.ips-dc.org/citiesforpeace/resolutions.htm 68.
Collect signatures. Get together, and go door-to-door, collecting
signatures to one of the various petitions. You can download a petitions and
pledge-forms from www.votenowar.org and www.peacepledge.org 69.
Women – get together with your friends and form a Code Pink group. It’s
just an incredible partnership of sharing and action. See www.codepink4peace.org
For personal stories about what groups of women are doing, see
www.codepink4peace.org/comments.lasso 70.
Children – get together with your friends, and organize a protest
together. Go for 24 hours without food; collect signatures to the peace pledge;
write protest letters; tell the media. Ask the world "What are you doing with
our world?"
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Heart 71.
Visit your local mosque , to meet Muslims in your community. Go with an
open heart, and a spirit of friendship. 72.
Build friendships. Look in the phone book to see if there is an
Intercultural Association, or an Iraq Friendship Society in your community.
Call them up, and ask if you can come and visit. Seek to build friendships. 73.
Organize a Stop the War Peace Meal in your home, and invite a local
Iraqi family to attend. 74.
Assemble a Relief Kit to give to the Iraq Families at Risk Fund,
organized by the Mennonite Central Committee. See www.mcc.org/respond/rapid_respond/iraq
The MCC is working directly in Iraq. 75.
Contact the Peace Action delegates in Iraq. There are 40 Voices in the
Wilderness Peace Action delegates who have gone to Iraq to be peace witnesses.
They can be contacted at the hotel where they are staying – see www.iraqpeaceteam.org/pages/current_delegates_in_iraq.html.
Call them up, and
talk to them. Share their words through your local paper or radio station.
Arrange for your local radio station to interview them. Members of the Iraq
Peace Team are available for interviews at 773-784-8065 info. 76.
Ask Voices in the Wilderness or Human Shield (www.humanshields.org)
for the mailing address of a family in Iraq that you can write to, and
establish a friendship with. Build love; build hope. 77.
Organize a Friendship with Iraq evening with your friends, and invite
one or more local Iraqi families to attend, to tell you about life in Iraq, and
build understanding. 78.
Approach any person whom you see wearing middle eastern clothing, and
ask if you can speak with them. Share your concern, and listen to their views.
If you are carrying the Peace Pledge form to sign, this may make you feel more
comfortable. 79.
Ask your friends if they have any contacts from the Muslim world in the
Middle East, and if they would mind putting you in touch. Reach out to them, to
listen, learn and build friendships. 80.
Work together. When you have built a friendship, ask yourselves what you
can do together to help stop the war. Joint letters to the editor; joint
articles; joint public appearances; widening the circles of Peace Meals – there
are so many possibilities.
Ten
Ways to Stop the War with Your Organization 81.
Start a local Not In Our Name Network. See www.notinourname.net.
Talk to your family and friends who share your concerns. Organize a discussion
of the issues raised by the Pledge of Resistance. Set up a forum or meeting,
and invite other organizations to participate. Or set up a new Peace Action
chapter – it’s one of the largest US peace groups, with 100 chapters and
student groups. 82.
Work for peace at your church or place of worship. Pax
Christi: www.paxchristiusa.org Every
Church a Peace Church: www.ecapc.org/mainframe.asp Friends
Service Committee (Quakers): www.afsc.org 83.
Work for peace with your friends at school. Put up posters, organize a
meeting, and brainstorm ten ways to stop the war on Iraq. Choose the best
three, and discuss them each for 5 minutes. Then settle on one, and start
making plans. 84.
Work for peace with your fellow students at college, to protest the war
on Iraq and develop a peace initiative. 85.
Work for peace with your colleagues at work. Take copies of the
downloadable petitions (see Solution #10) with you to work, and ask your
colleagues if they would help you collect signatures. Organize a sandwich lunch
meeting, and discuss what more you can do. 86.
Call a press conference where local community leaders, religious
leaders, veterans, politicians, and others can speak out against the war. Once
you have people willing to speak out against the war, choose a place and time
for the press conference, send out a press release, and follow up with a phone
call to tell editors and reporters what you're doing. See Global Exchange: www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/iraq/tenthings.html 87.
Use the Peace Pledge as an organizing tool. See www.peacepledge.org 88.
Develop ties with other organizations in your community, and plan joint
protest activities. Reach out to peace and justice groups; civil liberties and
immigrants' rights organizations; high schools, colleges and universities;
women's organizations; civic and community groups; religious congregations;
professional organizations and unions; local ethnic and national community
organizations. 89.
Sign the Iraq Pledge of Resistance, and prepare to practice civil
disobedience, if the US goes to war. Choose a facility that is associated with
the government or the military, and plan a sit-in, lock-in or a non-violent
occupation. Because this involves the likelihood of arrest, it is critical to
prepare carefully, and to understand the importance of non-violence as a
method. 12,000 people have signed the pledge so far - see www.peacepledge.org Philadelphia
activists prepare to oppose the war: www.geocities.com/brandywinepeace Idaho
activists prepare for civil disobedience: idaho.indymedia.org/news/2002/12/552.php Pax
Christi urges civil disobedience: www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/081602/081602k.htm Thousands
prepare for non-violent action: www.peacepledge.org/resist/actiondays.htm Brandywine
(New Jersey) calls for civil disobedience: www.nowarnj.org/brandywine_community_pledgeofresistance.htm 90.
Create a database of as many other organizations that you can think of
in your community, and reach out to them in a systematic way, asking if they
would share the Peace Pledge with their members, and work with you to work for
peace.
Ten
Ways for the Whole World to Stop the War 91.
Join the next big protest. Check these organizations for details: Britain’s
Stop the War Coalition: www.stopwar.org.uk Canadian
Peace Alliance: www.acp-cpa.ca/CPAmainEnglish.htm End
the War: www.endthewar.org MoveOn.org:
www.moveon.org Not
in Our Name: www.notinourname.net Peace.Protest.Net:
www.pax.protest.net Traprock
Peace Center: www.traprockpeace.org United
for Peace: www.unitedforpeace.org 92.
Pull back the troops , and sign on to the joint French/German plan,
involving three times as many inspectors, putting UN forces in Iraq to back the
inspectors, and numerous other initiatives. 93.
Pull back the troops , and set up a full Middle-East Iraqi Summit,
including the Kurdish people and Turkey, and start talking. 94.
Pull back the troops , and make a numbered list of the weapons of mass
destruction that are still wanted, and propose a staged lifting of the
sanctions as each item on the list is checked off, giving Iraq the incentive it
wants. 95.
Pull back the troops , and launch a wave of citizen diplomacy
initiatives to Iran and Iraq – soccer teams, hockey teams, volleyball,
table-tennis, weightlifting and wrestling teams, artistic meetings, women’s
health teams, renewable energy teams, musicians, film-makers, etc. Invite teams
from Iraq and Iran to tour the USA. The organization Search for Common Ground
has been doing this in Iran. See www.sfcg.org/locations.cfm?locus=Iran.
Match the diplomacy with a wave of publicity about the allegations that Uday
Saddam, Saddam’s eldest son, head of Iraq’s Olympic Committee, has been using
torture against Iraqi athletes who lose matches or fail to win medals. Shame
him into resignation, and exile. See www.jsonline.com/sports/oly02/dec02/ap-oly-saddam's-so120602.asp 96.
Organize an Iran/Iraq Truth and Reconciliation Commission, based on the
South African model, to address the pain and anger that underlies the fear and
hostility that exists between the two countries. See www.doj.gov.za/trc.
Organize another Truth and Reconciliation Commission to share the truth about
the history of American, British, Irani and Iraqi relationships in the Middle
East. OK, now we’re really dreaming - but one day, the truth has to come out.
What our Students are NOT Learning about Iraq: 97.
Set up and fund a high-powered UN-supported Middle-East Peace and
Sustainable Development
Initiative, involving people with the stature of Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton,
and Mary Robinson, designed to get the people and the nations of the Middle
East region (including Palestine) thinking about their future, and creating
joint sustainable development initiatives. The one thing that stands as the
greatest barrier to a lasting peace in the region is the absence of any hope
among young people that they can achieve ecologically sustainable economic
prosperity. 98.
Organize and fund a massive youth educational twinning initiative, with
intensive Arabic language immersion schooling, building home-stay relationships
between tens of thousands of Middle Eastern and European/North American
families, to win the hearts of young people, and open a culture-sharing
dialogue. 99.
Focus the world’s efforts to work for Pre-Emptive Democracy in Iraq, for
truly independent and free democratic government in Iraq, chosen by the Iraqi
people themselves, that will hold free and fair elections, and be committed to
civic and human rights. 100.
Form a coalition of nations whose leaders and people agree to change the
way in which they operate their foreign and overseas trade policies, to make
mutually agreed sustainable development the binding purpose of these policies.
As a planet, we simply must move from domination to cooperation. The first will
lead us to mutually assured destruction; the second will lead to lasting peace
and ecologically-based prosperity.
One
Way to Stop the War for All of Us 101.
Give up the belief that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Put
fear to one side, and replace it with the confidence that we can solve
our many problems, if we work together. We are incredibly creative, inventive
people. We have to do this. What other option do we have? There
is a Native American story about a grandfather, talking to his young grandson.
He tells the boy that he has two wolves inside him that are struggling with
each other. The one is the wolf of peace, love and kindness. The other is the
wolf of fear, greed and hatred. "Which
wolf will win, grandfather?" asks the young boy. "Whichever
one I feed," is the reply. THE
END
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