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VOICES IN THE WILDERNESS
Voices in the Wilderness US,
set up in 1995, is closing down its operations as the result of
a
recent court case arising from its sanctions-breaking campaign.
Kathy Kelly and other leading figures from
Voices in the Wilderness are setting up Voices
for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV). The first sponsors of the
100,000 Rings project,
when it was getting off the ground, were Voices in the Wilderness
US and JNV; now VCNV has taken over as US co-sponsor.
Voices in
the Wilderness UK is unaffected by these changes.
VOICES FOR CREATIVE NONVIOLENCE
Here is the text of a letter circulated on
26 September 2005:
ANNOUNCING A NEW CAMPAIGN TO CHALLENGE U.S.
MILITARY AND ECONOMIC WARFARE AGAINST IRAQ AND TO END THE "GLOBAL
WAR ON TERROR"
SEPTEMBER 2005:
Dear Friends,
Over these past months, as the war in Iraq and the so-called "Global
War On Terror" have expanded, we in Chicago have been endeavoring
to discern our next steps. After much deliberation, we are launching
a new organization: Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
This campaign intends to build and strengthen active nonviolent
resistance to the U.S. war against Iraq's people; to foster international
and domestic peace teams; and to challenge the United States'
"Global War on Terror", which is a war OF terror far
more than it is a "war ON terror."
We earnestly hope our efforts will merit your support.
For all of fourteen years starting in 1991, the U.S. has waged
a merciless war against the Iraqi people -- in the form of bombing
and sanctions when not of outright invasion and occupation. Our
response to this fourteen-years war has altered several times
with the changing strategies of the war-makers:
* In 1990, at the start of the "First" Gulf War, international
activists gathered on the Iraq-Saudi border as the Gulf Peace
Team (GPT), seeking to interpose themselves between the invasion
force and Iraq.
* In 1996, GPT veterans and others formed
Voices in the Wilderness (VITW) as a concerted campaign to challenge
the murderous U.S. and U.N. economic sanctions against Iraq.
* In 2002, VITW organized the Iraq Peace
Team which mobilized international activists to accompany and
live in solidarity with ordinary Iraqis in the days before, during
and after the U.S. invasion.
Our response is altering again. Days after Voices in the Wilderness
announced the creation of the Iraq Peace Team, the U.S. government
imposed a $20,000 Fine against Voices in the Wilderness for bringing
medicine to Iraqi citizens in violation of the sanctions. A short-lived
legal battle ensued in which VITW reiterated, as it had always
done, that it would refuse to pay any Fines.
In August 2005, U.S. Federal Judge John Bates ordered Voices in
the Wilderness to pay this fine, rendering several aspects of
the group's work legally unfeasible.
What now?
It is now 2005 - a full 2 1/2 years since the U.S. occupation
of Iraq began. We believe that it is necessary to embark upon
a new effort now, to challenge this occupation, and to do so in
new ways. We must also challenge ourselves in new ways to act
for peace and justice in our world. Our hope is that Voices for
Creative Nonviolence will help inspire and sustain resistance
to U.S. militarism. Our first but not sole priority is of course
ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq and securing full reparations
- but our work will be both domestic and international.
Voices for Creative Nonviolence is initiating an ambitious yet
promising six-month plan. We are committed to organize four distinct
actions between September 2005 and March 2006. These are:
A FAST FOR
ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR IRAQ (September 13th - 29th, 2005).
We are currently gathered at the doors of
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to fast for
economic justice for Iraq. We are voluntarily going without food
as we seek to highlight and oppose the continued economic warfare
against the people of Iraq. At the conclusion of the IMF / World
Bank meeting we will journey to NYC to continue the fast at the
doors of the United Nations. We are demanding the following:
1) the cancellation of all odious debt incurred by Saddam Hussein
(which conservatively is estimated at $125 billion);
2) the cancellation of all war reparations
charges imposed against Iraq by the United Nations ($53 billion
total, with about $33 billion still to be paid);
3) a commitment not to attach any economic
conditions to the cancellation of the odious debt and war reparations
charges; 4) the full funding and payment of war reparations by
the U.S., U.K. and their allies to Iraq for the past 14 years
of economic and military warfare; 5) a strong commitment to cease
privatization of Iraq's state-owned enterprises, especially its
oil industry, and to ensure respect for workers' rights as defined
by international law; and 6) an end to the U.S.-U.K. led occupation
of Iraq.
100,000 RINGS
(October 24th – 28th, 2005).
Voices for Creative Nonviolence has joined
the UK's Justice not Vengeance (http://www.j-n-v.org), and
groups around the world to launch a project called "100,000
Rings." Over a five-day period participants in 100 groups
will ring bells, once a minute for 1,000 minutes, to commemorate
each of the Iraqis who've died since the U.S. invasion. We invite
people to visit http:// www.iraqmortality.org, sign up, and avail
themselves of our call, press releases, and background information
to organize their own local contingent of this campaign.
VOICES LANGUAGE STUDY PROGRAM
(January – February 2006).
A small (5-7 member) team will travel to
Jordan to study Arabic. We believe that language study is a critical
component of peace team work; hence this experimental language
immersion program. While in Jordan, participants will live among
Iraqi refugees and seek to learn from and document their experiences
both in Iraq and in Jordan. We also hope that part of this team
will be able to travel to Syria to begin to explore a possible
Voices presence, especially if the U.S. intensifies its threats
of attack against that country.
THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT
(February 15th – March 19th, 2006).
Iraqis continue to die by the tens of thousands.
The death toll of U.S. soldiers nears 2,000. Billions are spent
on military occupation and war. Virtually nothing is spent on
war reparations or even reconstruction for Iraq. It is time to
bring our dissent and discontent in a prolonged effort to those
making the war in Washington, D.C.. We are therefore committed
to organizing The Winter of our Discontent, ordinary U.S. citizens
gathering in Washington, D.C. to do the extraordinary -- demanding
and achieving an end to U.S. military and economic warfare against
Iraq with full payment of U.S. war reparations. Beginning February
15th, (the anniversary of the 2003 global mobilization against
the U.S. invasion), we will engage in the following actions:
* Fasting: an open-ended 33-day fast, possibly including a relay
fast, with individual activists fasting all or part of the period.
* Civil disobedience: bringing people to
the Pentagon, the White House, the Capitol, and other sites where
death, quick or slow, is planned for Iraqi citizens.
* Lobbying: demanding an end to the occupation;
an end to all forms of economic and military warfare against Iraq;
and the payment of war reparations owed Iraq by the United States.
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May We Ask For Your Support?
We hope the work we've outlined above merits your financial support.
We remain committed to working on a shoe-string budget and to
ensuring that any contributions which you entrust to Voices for
Creative Nonviolence will go 100% towards the above work.
If you believe that this work is necessary,
would you kindly consider making a contribution?
Please let us know also if you would like to be involved with
The Winter of Our Discontent. We are still in the rough-draft
stage of writing the proposal, but the more we know ahead of time
about who will be able to come to Washington, DC and organize
in their local communities, the stronger the Winter of Our Discontent
will be.
Contributions can be made out to:
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
1249 W Argyle Street #2
Chicago, IL 60640
Thank you for your support,
Kathy Kelly, Laurie Hasbrook, Scott Blackburn, Dan Pearson, Bob
Abplanalp, Joel Gulledge, Sean Reynolds, Cathy Breen, Jeff Severns
Guntzel, Chuck Quilty, Ceylon Mooney, Rev. G. Simon Harak, Virgine
Lawinger OP, Jerry Zawada OFM, Rudy Simons, Bob Bossie, Marie
Braun, John Braun, Jim Douglass, Shelley Douglass, Ken Hannaford-Ricardi,
Phil Runkel, David Smith-Ferri, Bert Sacks, and Jon Rice
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Voices for Creative Nonviolence
1249 W Argyle Street #2
Chicago, IL 60640
Phone: (773) 878-3815
email: info@VCNV.org
web: www.VCNV.org
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