I received this letter today from Medea Benjamin. Please consider signing this call to action:
Dear local Green Party coordinator,
As Green Party members who hold non-violence and feminism as core values, we’d greatly appreciate it if you would sign and help us circulate this women-initiated Urgent Call for Peace in Iraq. We hope to gather over 100,000 signatures on the Call by March 8, International Women’s Day, when we will deliver them to U.S. embassies/consulates/federal offices all over the world.
You can help by signing the Call today at http://www.womensaynotowar.org/ , spreading the word to your friends, downloading a banner to put on your website (http://www.womensaynotowar.org/article.php?id=698) and joining us in action on March 8. If you want more information about the campaign, email info@womensaynotowar.org.
With thanks,
Medea Benjamin
Green Party candidate for California Senate, 2000
CODEPINK: Women for Peace
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Women’s Call for Peace: An Urgent Appeal
We, the women of the United States, Iraq and women worldwide, have had enough of the senseless war in Iraq and the cruel attacks on civilians around the world. We’ve buried too many of our loved ones. We’ve seen too many lives crippled forever by physical and mental wounds. We’ve watched in horror as our precious resources are poured into war while our families’ basic needs of food, shelter, education and heathcare go unmet. We’ve had enough of living in constant fear of violence and seeing the growing cancer of hatred and intolerance seep into our homes and communities.
This is not the world we want for ourselves or our children. With fire in our bellies and love in our hearts, we women are rising up—across borders—to unite and demand an end to the bloodshed and the destruction.
We have seen how the foreign occupation of Iraq has fueled an armed movement against it, perpetuating an endless cycle of violence. We are convinced that it is time to shift from a military model to a conflict-resolution model that includes the following elements:
The withdrawal of all foreign troops and foreign fighters from Iraq;
Negotiations to reincorporate disenfranchised Iraqis intoallaspects of Iraqi society;
The full representation of women in the peacemaking process andacommitment to women’s full equality in the post-war Iraq;
A commitment to discard plans for any foreign bases in Iraq;
Iraqi control of its oil and other resources;
The nullification of privatization and deregulation lawsimposedunder occupation, allowing Iraqis to shape the trajectory of thepost-wareconomy;
A massive reconstruction effort that prioritizes Iraqicontractors,and draws upon financial resources of the countriesresponsible for theinvasion and occupation of Iraq;
Consideration of a temporary international peacekeeping forcethatis truly multilateral and is not composed of any troops fromcountriesthat participated in the occupation.
To move this peace process forward, we are creating a massive movement of women—crossing generations, races, ethnicities, religions, borders and political persuasions. Together, we will pressure our governments, the United Nations, the Arab League, Nobel Peace Prize winners, religious leaders and others in the international community to step forward to help negotiate a political settlement. And in this era of divisive fundamentalisms, we call upon world leaders to join us in spreading the fundamental values of love for the human family and for our precious planet.
Sign today at http://www.womensaynotowar.org !
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 