WLOE E-Newsletter: February 6, 2003
Message from Starhawk; Upcoming Anti-War Events; News from Baghdad; Congresswoman
Lee clarifies internet petition; Arundhati Roy on Empire; Women and Life on
Earth Archive Dedication -- an invitation
Greetings! So far we have had good response to our e-mail ‘newsletter’ service
in German and English, with its brief reports on women and peace, globalization
and ecology, and links to useful websites. In this time of tension and war,
international solidarity is crucial. Help us grow and be part of the international
web of information and support. Make a contribution (see end of message); copy
this newsletter and send it to your friends.
- THE
CHOICE BEFORE US
(Starhawk is the author of “Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising”
and eight other books on activism and earth-based and feminist spirituality.
Her website is www.starhawk.org.)
Somewhere tonight in Iraq, a small girl lies sleeping who in a few weeks may
be a lump of scorched flesh buried under concrete.On a basketball court somewhere
in the United States a young man lands a jump shot, who in a few weeks may
have no legs, or eyes, or have tumors already brooding in his brain from exposure
to the depleted uranium of our own weapons.A young boy who is healthy
and vibrant today will be racked with cancer.
A mother will hear her children crying for food and have nothing to give them
but tainted water to quench their thirst. Land that is today rich and fertile
will, a short time from now, be contaminated with radioactivity that lasts
longer than all the years between ancient Sumer and Babylon and now.And young
men and women who in the innocence of their hearts volunteered to serve their
country will be led to perpetrate unspeakable crimes that will haunt their
nights and blight the rest of their lives. When they complain of strange
ailments, the Veteran’s Administration will admit no connection.
And for years afterwards, as has happened since the first Gulf War, they will
take their own lives in a steady stream of suicides. They will not be the
sons and daughters of the men and women who sit in Congress or the White House.
A disparate number of them will come from communities in our own land who
suffer poverty, dispossession, discrimination. And all of this will be done
at the command of men who have never themselves faced combat or fought a war,
who rob our schools and hospitals to pay for their own weapons of mass destruction,
who promote an empire-building agenda of their own that will not provide the
security they claim. For the sheer injustice of our attack on a country
that has not attacked us will provoke such fear and hatred against us that
all our bombs and missiles and cops and spies will not be able to keep us
safe.The media and the politicians tell us this war is inevitable, that we
canąt stop it, that our protests and petitions and pleas make no difference.
They murmur a constant incantation of our powerlessness, lulling us into a
nightmare sleep.But we can still wake up. We can choose to walk out of the
nightmare, and dream a different dream.All it takes is for
each one of us who cherishes the lives of children to refuse to be silent,
to say no to war, to say yes to peace.And to ask ourselves, how have
we abandoned our country, our fate, into the hands of callous men who have
no compunction about wasting lives? What spell has been cast that fogs our
eyes and binds our hands? What lies have we believed? What power have we
let slip away?Replace the nightmare with this dream: that in the moment when
one world power has amassed the unchallenged military might to make its bid
for global empire, its own people rise up and say, "No. That is not
what we want to be. We don’t want to rule the world over the broken bodies
of children. We don’t want blood on our hands. We want children who are sick
to have the best possible care, in Iraq and in our own country.
We want schools and jobs and parks and hospitals and food for the hungry.
We want to join hands with the people of the world, and strengthen the institutions
that are slowly and painfully learning to solve conflicts without bloodshed,
and teaching us to respect our differences. We know that peace must be built
on justice, and we want peace."Dream that we wake up, stand up, speak
out, not in the thousands but the millions, joining with millions around the
world. Dream that soldiers refuse their orders, dockworkers refuse to load
ships, secretaries shut off their computers, workers close their factories,
and even politicians find the courage to stand for what is right. And make
the dream real.
If you have spoken out before, now is the time to speak again, to make another
phone call, write another letter, stand in another vigil. If you have marched
before, march again and this time bring more of your friends and neighbors.
If you havenąt marched, if you have been immersed in the demands of your own
life, if you feel that your small voice makes no difference, now is the time
to speak anyway, to interrupt your ordinary pursuits, to become the one small
drop that just might turn the tide.If you can get to New
York or San Francisco on the weekend of February 15-16 for the big marches
and rallies, come, because the numbers are vitally important.If you
can’t, there will be marches and rallies and vigils to join all across the
country.
Find one, or call one of your own.Be public. Be visible.Be the loud, uncomfortable
conscience that has disappeared from the halls of power.And
believe that truth is stronger than lies, love trumps fear, and no cabal of
power can contain the multitudes when we awaken and choose life.
- THE
WORLD SAYS: DON’T ATTACK IRAQ!
February 15: Stop the war march in New York City
February 16: Stop the war march in San Francisco, CA Join the massive anti-war
marches in New York City, or San Francisco. They coincide with anti-war demonstrations
that are planned in 11 European cities on February 15th. This has the potential
to be an historic international anti-war event—don’t miss it! Find more information
at: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?calid=1072
See what’s planned for Dublin, Ireland:http://irishantiwar.org/calendar/item.tcl?calendar_id=35
Glasgow, Scotland:http://www.banthebomb.org/news/2002/Sep/15feb.shtml
London, Englandhttp://www.cnduk.org/campains/iraq.htm
and you can find links to websites about actions on Feb. 15-16 all over
the world at:http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
MARCH 8: Join the WOMEN'S PEACE VIGIL and Come to the March in Washington,
DC on International Women's Day (March 8th) Since November 17, women from
throughout the country who oppose a U.S. pre-emptive attack on Iraq have maintained
a constant presence in front of the White House as a reminder to the decision-makers
in Washington of the thousands of people who oppose the Bush Administration's
obsession with war. Join the vigil at the White House -- for one day or for
the whole vigil. Or come to the massive women's peace march and other activities
on March 8, International Women's Day.http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=124
If the U.S. Attacks Iraq, Make Your Opposition Known! If the bombs do start
falling, we call on you to join to get out on the streets immediately and
visibly express strong opposition to this war and demand peaceful, nonviolent
alternatives. http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=559
Internationally, check links at:http://www.stopwar.org.uk/
- NEWS
FROM BAGHDAD
From
3- 8 January 2003 Scilla Elworthy, Director of Oxford Research Group, joined
a group of NGO representatives and former UN officials to meet with cabinet
ministers in Baghdad including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, Foreign Minister
Nagi Sabri and Oil Minister Amer Mohammed Rashid, as well as to talk with
doctors, teachers and scientists. They had the opportunity to meet ordinary
Iraqis and visit sites recently inspected for weapons of mass destruction.
The aim was to contribute to efforts to prevent war and to gather information
not available in the western press, particularly with regard to the human
situation.
For her report and related information on Iraq see:
http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/1programmes-conflict-baghdad.htm
- CONGRESSWOMAN
LEE CLARIFIES MISLEADING AND FALSE INTERNET STORY
(the “Barbara Bell petition”)Internet petitions, like chain letters, have
a life of their own, and circulate around cyberspace without direction or
purpose, often for years. Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA) has issued this statement
on her website about one such petition: “Perhaps some of you have seen or
heard of a false and misleading Internet story claiming that "Barbara
Bell" led a walkout of 25 Congresswomen who refused to vote on the Bush
Administration’s resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq. I want
to make it clear that "Barbara Bell" is a fictional Member of Congress
and that no such event ever occurred. I, Barbara Lee, did offer an amendment
in opposition to the Bush resolution authorizing force against Iraq and I
have been a vocal opponent of the President’s doctrine of preemption and rush
to war. I did not, however, lead or participate in any supposed walkout by
women Members.”
Read her full statement at:http://www.house.gov/lee/Internet.scam.htm
For a real effect (we hope!) e-mail, fax, write or call directly the person
or institution you want to influence.
- ARUNDHATI ROY: "ANOTHER
WORLD IS NOT ONLY POSSIBLE, SHE IS ON HER WAY...
"The well-known Indian activist and novelist gave the
following speech at the recent World Social Forum meeting in Porto Alegre,
Brazil: ”I've been asked to speak about "How to confront Empire?"
It's a huge question, and I have no easy answers. When we speak of confronting
"Empire," we need to identify what "Empire" means. Does
it mean the U.S. Government (and its European satellites), the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and multinational
corporations? Or is it something more than that? In many countries, Empire
has sprouted other subsidiary heads, some dangerous byproducts - nationalism,
religious bigotry, fascism and, of course terrorism. All these march arm in
arm with the project of corporate globalization…”
Click here to read the full speech on Znet, with thanks
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=51&ItemID=2919
(For information on the WSF meeting in English click on: http://www.portoalegre2003.org/publique/index02I.htm)
- DEDICATION:
Women and Life on Earth Archive, March 22, 2003 2-6pm Smith
College, Northampton, Massachusetts, USA Saturday,March 22nd is the spring
equinox and 23rd anniversary of the 1980 “Women and Life on Earth Conference
on Eco-Feminism in the ‘80’s.” At that meeting 600 women discussed ecological-feminist
theory and action; the peace workshop lead to the Women’s Pentagon Action
later that year, when 2000 women surrounded that center of militarism saying:
“We come to mourn and rage and defy the imperial power which threatens us
all. No more amazing inventions for death.”
(For more see:http://www.virtueller-exhibitionismus.de/wloe/WLOE-en/background/calledwloe.html)
On March 22, 2003, the new international Women and life on Earth internet
project invites all interested to the dedication of the Women and Life on
Earth/Women’s Pentagon Action Archive in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith
College, Northampton, MA, USA.The afternoon will feature reunions and new
voices, multi-media presentations, a cabaret performance, open mike presentations
and reports from Grace Paley, Jean Grossholtz and other WLOE/WPA activists
and friends.
If you want to come, please contact us at <womenandlife@t-online.de>
for a reservation and directions. If you are not in the area, we’ll send a
full report – and include your contributions, if you want.“The SOPHIA
SMITH COLLECTION at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository
of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's
history… The holdings document the historical experience of women in the United
States and abroad from the colonial era to the present.”
For more about the Collection see: http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/home.html
See also their on-line exhibit: “Agents of Social Change: New Resources on
20th Century Women’s Activism” at: http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/exhibit/index.html
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