[Peace-discuss] Fwd:Opposing the path of war

[jencart]

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Dear Jenifer M. Cartwright,

As we react to the events now taking place in the Iraq, it is important to recognize and respect what many are experiencing, be it anger at the carnage and our inability to stop it, grief for the innocent lives lost, despair over the loss of American ideals and the erosion of freedoms for all, or fear of what lies ahead.

Yet now is not the time to recede into the sidelines, but to uphold the courageous opposition and the important effect of the anti-war movement, and to move forward with hope and boldness. We are now challenged to transform what we have begun into something on-going; something that stands for the principles as expressed in the NION statement of conscience, raises awareness, works toward ending the violence, and creates an alternative to the alienating policies being perpetuated on the world stage.

The statement of conscience came into being several months after September 11, 2001. As the first published statement criticizing the Bush administration's "War on Terror" program, it has garnered the support of tens of thousands of individuals throughout the world, and has been printed in local towns across the nation. To date, it has been printed in 70 publications, nationally and internationally, translated into 18 languages, and its comprehensive analysis of the current administration's dangerous path has sparked much debate. We want to thank all of the signers and contributors to the statement of conscience for their generous efforts; its influence has grown with each new signer.

The NION statement has greatly affected the extent and content of the opposition to the war. The statement says that: 1) this war is not about terrorism or weapons of mass destruction, it's about the U.S. consolidating global empire, 2) people must first and foremost take responsibility for what their own government does, 3) we need to approach these questions from the standpoint of the interests of people of whole world, 4) the attack on dissent and civil liberties in the U.S. is part of the empire program and is being introduced through an attack on immigrants, and 5) people have to actively resist.

Aspiring to the highest human ideals of justice and freedom, the statement of conscience belies the media assumption that the majority of Americans support the administration and its "coalition of the bribed and coerced" in this invasion of Iraq.

To reach out to the rest of the world, we recently published the statement in two Arabic newspapers, Al-Ahram in Egypt and Al-Khaleej in the United Arab Emirates. In doing this, we hope to raise awareness in the Arab world about the extent of U.S. opposition to not only the war on Iraq but the entire political trajectory of the U.S. government. We also want people in the Middle East to distinguish between the American government and the American people. We are now hoping to purchase an ad on the home page of the web site of the Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera. People will be able to click on the banner, and read the statement in Arabic. 

Please continue to let your voice be heard. The full outcome of this war has yet to be seen, and right now the voices of reason and conscience need to be stronger than ever. For links to activities and to publish the statement in your own community, please visit our website, http://www.nion.us. All our work is made possible through your contributions. Please visit the following link to make a donation on line:

http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/scripts/php/notInOurName/notinourname.html