[Peace-discuss] material which could go into AWARE flyer - from Phyllis Bennis, and UFPJ

[Stuart Levy]

I've been looking for some recent writing by Phyllis Bennis - putting US
involvement in Syria in perspective and making specific non-military
suggestions as to what the US and other countries should do - along the
lines of her comments on the recent UFPJ conference call.   A recording
of that call is here:
  
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/2015/11/14/audio-syria-peace-call-phyllis-bennis/

An especially good line from her talk:    You can't bomb terrorism out
of existence.  *Terrorism survives war.  *

I didn't find a transcript of her talk, but the key recommendations are
similar to those she'd written here a couple months earlier (some of the
text is below):

     http://fpif.org/what-america-owes-the-refugees-pouring-into-europe/


Also note this statement from United for Peace and Justice, calling for
*coordinated actions on International Human Rights Day, December 10th:*

    
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/2015/11/16/call-for-dec-10-human-rights-daysyria-actions

which closes with some proposals of its own, which the peace movement
here and around the world should call for:

  * Pursue diplomacy and negotiations to end the wars in Syria,
    including the governments of Iran, Russia and Syria.
  * Remove all foreign troops from and pursue diplomacy and negotiations
    to end the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Ukraine and
    Somalia, including the relevant governments.
  * Honor the commitment not to move NATO a centimeter closer to Russia
    from Western Europe.
  * Remove all NATO troops from the Russian borders.
  * Retire the Cold War NATO Alliance
  * Accept and abide by the human rights of the millions of refugees
    created in these wars.
  * Support peaceful negotiations among nations bordering the South
    China Sea (East Sea) based on the UN Charter and the Law of the Sea.


----

Here are excerpts from Bennis's FPIF article mentioned above:

[...] Indeed, the refugee crisis growing out of the multi-faceted Syrian
war and others is now a full-blown global emergency. It’s not only an
emergency because it’s now reaching Europe. It’s an emergency several
years in the making as conditions have deteriorated throughout the
Middle East and North Africa. In addition to Syria, refugees are also
pouring into Europe — or dying as they try — from Libya, Afghanistan,
Eritrea, Bangladesh, and beyond.

But it’s the war in Syria — now involving a host of regional, sectarian,
and global actors all fighting their own wars to the last Syrian — that
lies at the bloody center of the current crisis. And here the United
States bears no small responsibility.

The Syrian war — and particularly the rise of ISIS — has everything to
do with U.S. actions dating back to the 2003 invasion and occupation of
Iraq, which gave rise to ISIS in the first place. Even now the U.S.
airstrikes in Syria and neighboring Iraq are escalating the war in both
places.

So emergency responses, particularly from the United States, need to
start — though they must not end — with Syria. The Obama
administration’s decision to allow 10,000 Syrian refugees
<http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/politics/u-s-take-10000-syrian-refugees/index.html>
into the country next year is a welcome step, but not remotely adequate.

Here’s what needs to happen next.

Immediately, the United States should announce:

  * An increase in daily U.S. refugee assistance to the World Food
    Program and the UN Human Rights Committee equivalent to the daily
    cost of U.S. military action against ISIS — that is, about $9
    million a day
    <http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/the-us-has-spent-9-million-a-day-to-fight-isis/>.
  * A decision to immediately accept 65,000 Syrian refugees by the end
    of the year, as called for by leading human rights organizations
    <http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/04/politics/martin-omalley-syrian-refugees/>.

In next 30 days, Washington should roll out:

  * A plan to parole desperate refugees into the United States on
    humanitarian grounds. They should be provided with temporary
    protected status as long as conditions in their home countries
    remain dangerous. Once they’re in the United States, safe and
    provided with medical care, housing, work, education, and other
    support, longer-term protection can be determined on a case by case
    basis. Such an administrative decision can be made by the White
    House alone.

In next 45 days, the White House should announce:

  * That the United States will provide 28 percent of needed emergency
    refugee assistance, equivalent to the U.S. share of global wealth.
    That means…
  * That it will immediately pay 28 percent of the current United
    Nations refugee relief request, which totals $5.5 billion to support
    almost 6 million Syrian and related refugees through the end of this
    year. That would amount to approximately $1.5 billion in U.S.
    contributions by the end of 2015.
  * That the United States will accept 28 percent of those refugees from
    Syria (and others forced to flee as a result of the Syrian war) who
    need refuge abroad. That means 28 percent of up to 4 million
    refugees as determined by the United Nations, or up to 1.12 million
    refugees who are allowed to come to the United States.

[...]

Finally, in next 60 days, the U.S. should develop:

  * A new plan, now that the Iran nuclear deal is being implemented, to
    engage with Iran as well as all other regional and global players in
    a renewed United Nations-led diplomatic and arms embargo initiative
    to end the Syrian war.

/Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism project at the
Institute for Policy Studies./



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