JustPeace #5

Hot News

• ”He promised the world a smoking gun, but in the end he couldn’t even deliver a leaking water pistol” said Keith Locke on February 6, saying that the US Secretary State Colin Powell had failed to make the case for war on Iraq to the Security Council. Keith condemned Helen Clark for giving credence to Powell’s presentation, which was a list of unsubstantiated claims, vague linkages and unauthenticated pictures and audio, all of which would be ruled inadmissible in any court of law. Read
  
  Keith’s Press Release
  
• Anti-nuclear and anti-war motions initiated by the Australian Greens were passed in the Australian Senate on February 5 and 6. The anti-war motion expressed no confidence in the Prime Minister’s handling of the Iraq war issue – it was the first no-confidence motion in a government or Prime Minister put or passed in the Senate’s 102 year history. Visit
  
  Bob Brown’s website
  
• Green Co-Leaders Rod Donald and Jeanette Fitzsimons wrote to the new President of the UN Security Council, German Foreign Minister (and fellow Green) Joschka Fischer, on February 2. They supported Germany upholding the United Nations principles and processes, and opposing unilateral action. Read
  
  Keith’s Press Release
  

Hot Action

• February 15 and 16 have been designated global days of action against war on Iraq – and New Zealand will (as always) kick off the action. We will send you a ”JustPeace Special” listing all the actions we know of throughout New Zealand – make sure you get involved in making the one in your town a big success.
• On Sunday February 9 Aucklanders who want to make a good showing on February 15 and 16 are welcome to come to the Anti-War Banner Painting Session at the Green Party Office, 308 Great North Road, Grey Lynn at 12:30 p.m. Call Kim on 361 5925 for more information, or just turn up. Bring paint, calico, rags, drop cloths, brushes if you can – clever slogans and enthusiasm also welcome.
• Leaflets expressing Green opposition to Bush’s war will be available from Wednesday February 12 – if you want some to hand out then e-mail your order now to
  
  
  tim [dot] hannah
  
  [at]
  
  parliament [dot] govt [dot] nz
  
  
  stating number required and address to send them to.
• A Call to Conscience from US Veterans to Active Duty/Reserve Troops was issued on February 1. Veterans of the American wars of the 20th century called on current military personnel to refuse to fight in a war on Iraq. Those who had been in the Gulf war said:
  
  
  “In the last Gulf War, as troops, we were ordered to murder from a safe distance. We destroyed much of Iraq from the air, killing hundreds of thousands, including civilians. We remember the road to Basra – the Highway of Death — where we were ordered to kill fleeing Iraqis. We bulldozed trenches, burying people alive. The use of depleted uranium weapons left the battlefields radioactive. Massive use of pesticides, experimental drugs, burning chemical weapons depots and oil fires combined to create a toxic cocktail affecting both the Iraqi people and Gulf War veterans today. One in four Gulf War veterans is disabled.”
  
  
  More on this Call to Conscience can be found at
  
  www.calltoconscience.net
  
  , while this and other material on the anticipated invasion of Iraq is posted on
  
  Dr Tim Beal’s US and world page
  
• Rice is nicer than war…a peace action idea from the USA, with the US Ambassador to New Zealand substituted for the US President.
  
  Place 1/2 cup uncooked rice in a small plastic bag. Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag. Wrap it in a piece of paper on which you have written:
  
  “IF YOUR ENEMIES ARE HUNGRY, FEED THEM. Romans 12:20.

  PLEASE SEND THIS RICE TO THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ; DO NOT ATTACK THEM.”

  Place the paper and bag of rice in a suitable envelope and send it to

  Ambassador Charles J. Swindells,
  
  Embassy of USA,
  
  P.O. Box 1190,
  
  WELLINGTON

  Drop this in the mail TODAY. It is important to act NOW to send a strong message to the US about the opposition to war on Iraq.

  Will it work? There is a positive history of this form of protest, as follows:

  “In the mid-1950s, the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation, learning of famine in the Chinese mainland, launched a ‘Feed Thine Enemy’ campaign. Members and friends mailed thousands of little bags of rice to the White House with a tag quoting the Bible, “If thine enemy hunger, feed him.” As far as anyone knew for more than ten years, the campaign was an abject failure. The President did not acknowledge receipt of the bags publicly; certainly, no rice was ever sent to China.

  What nonviolent activists only learned a decade later was that the campaign played a significant, perhaps even determining role in preventing nuclear war. Twice while the campaign was on, President Eisenhower met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to consider U.S. options in the conflict with China over two islands, Quemoy and Matsu. The generals twice recommended the use of nuclear weapons. President Eisenhower each time turned to his aide and asked how many little bags of rice had come in. When told they numbered in the tens of thousands, Eisenhower told the generals that as long as so many Americans were expressing active interest in having the U.S. feed the Chinese, he certainly wasn’t going to consider using nuclear weapons against them.”

  [From: ”People Power: Applying Nonviolence Theory”, by David H. Albert, p.43]

Hot Analysis

• President Bush takes money from terrorists and invites known terrorists to share a platform with him. These terrorists have hijacked planes and flown attack planes – and have been awarded damages and compensation payments by US courts for the trouble this caused them (!). They have also been convicted in the USA of assassination, attempting to blow up warehouses, and firing heavy guns at commercial shipping. They have taken the ”credit” for blowing up a commercial airliner and other crimes. But these are ”good terrorists”, because they are attacking Cuba, and they give money to Bush campaigns. The details on the Bush family’s support for and by terrorists are given in ”Terrorists on the run: Some away from, and others toward, Bush” by Saul Landau at
  
  http://www.tni.org/archives/landau/run.htm
  
• What made the Australian Senate inclined to pass its historic motion of censure? See
  
  John Pilger’s commentary
  
  on John Howard’s toadying to the USA.
• Who do you believe – the independent UN inspectors or the American politician? Phyllis Bennis contrasts what they have to say in ”Powell’s Dubious Case for War” at
  
  www.tni.org/archives/bennis/dubious.htm
  
  (Least we forget – Colin Powell was the US Army major responsible for the initial cover-up of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968.)

JustPeace is produced by Christine Dann, Tim Hannah and Keith Locke, MP

If you have feedback on the content of JustPeace, or news items, please e-mail


christine [dot] dann

[at]

clear [dot] net [dot] nz


.