|
Women Organize(d)
1. WAMM volunteers have been even more busy than usual, distributing “Say No to War in Iraq!” signs and answering a huge volume of calls about how to get the signs and get involved in the movement. More than 10,000 signs have been sold so far! To purchase your lawn sign (or button or bumper sticker), call the WAMM office at 612-827-5364.
2. Code Pink, a newly formed national women's antiwar movement, started outside the White House this fall. Code Pink features a big button and lots of activism. Pink is the movement's response to our government's color-coded levels of "terrorist" alert. For more information, see www.codepink4peace.org, www.unreasonablewomen.org, and www.utne.com.
3. Now twenty years old, Grandmothers for Peace continues its work of bringing the antiwar message to Edina. They gather every Tuesday-in ever greater numbers-from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the corner of 50th Street and Halifax (west of France Avenue) in Edina. For more information, call 952-935-1305.
Poets Against the War
Laura Bush cancelled a White House literary evening when invited poet Sam Hamill decided to read antiwar poetry as his comment both on the war and on the connection between art and politics. The national response? Poetry readings in 125 cities, including local readings at the very crowded Black Dog Cafe in St. Paul and at a University of Minnesota antiwar protest. See www.poetsagainstthewar.org.
Lawsuit Against the War
Six members of the House of Representatives-including John Conyers (Dem., MI), Dennis Kucinich (Dem., OH), and Sheila Jackson Lee (Dem., TX)-have joined members of the military and their families in filing for an injunction banning a U.S. war on Iraq. They argue that Congress has not declared such a war, and that the October 2, 2002 congressional resolution illegally hands war-making powers to the executive branch.
The World Social Forum
In late January, 100,000 people gathered in Pôrto Alegre, Brazil, not only to protest a U.S. invasion of Iraq and capitalist globalization, but also to explore progressive economic and social ideas.
Worldwide Demonstrations on February 15, 2003
Needless to say, the numbers are still being debated, but no one disputes the fact that millions of people all over the globe gathered to protest the Bush Administration's plan to invade Iraq. The following are high-end estimates, on the theory that the mainstream press usually deflates the numbers. Twin Cities: 10,000. New York: 400,000 (with no permit to march). London: 1 million. Rome: 2 million. Berlin: 500,000. Paris: 200,000. The New York Times says that protests occurred in 350 cities.
War? No Thanks.
Britain's biggest call-up of reservists since World War II has revealed a significant reluctance to serve in the possible Iraq war. One in five have either asked to be excused from active duty or have just ignored the order.
Open Letter for Peace
A group of Jewish Americans published an open letter to the U.S. government in a full-page ad that appeared in the front section of the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday, January 21, 2003. The ad promoted the possible solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the following values: Israeli and Palestinian lives are equally precious; both peoples have equal rights to national self-determination, peace, and security; and both peoples have equal rights to a fair share of the land and resources of historic Palestine.
|
