Description

At a conference of European-based "Americans Against the War" groups from July 4th-6th in Berlin, we shall launch a drive to organize 100,000 voters who reside abroad to pledge to back major party candidates who support these two goals. We shall also organize a delegation to travel to Washington and lobby representatives.

Goals

To emphasize the importance of the Patriot Act and the "preventive war" doctrine as campaign issues; to support candidates who take on these issues.

Activities

Conference July 4-6: launch of the "100,000 for 2004" initiative. This conference, the first to bring together the expatriate opposition on a large scale, will center (symbolically) on a "Declaration of Independence" emphasizing our right as citizens to alter our government when it ceases to uphold the rights and interests of its citizens.

The "100,000 for 2004" initiative itself: a voting block of 100,000 registered U.S. voters who are resident abroad, dedicated to the specific goals of:
1) abolishing the Bush doctrine of preventive war - ending the state of perpetual war.

2) repealing the USA PATRIOT Act of October 2001 - reversing domestic repression. and pledged to vote for candidates in the party primaries who uncompromisingly adopt these goals in their campaign platforms.

We shall establish national committees to gather signed pledges from 100,000 Americans abroad. These pledges will demonstrate the power and importance of our voting block. (No data will be compiled or distributed; the pledges will be destroyed after the 2004 vote.) We shall use all other available means in achieving these goals, working with movements for change, the media and bodies of government in both Europe and the States. A body of delegates from the member cities of our coalition will be sent to meet with elected representatives in Washington, DC.

Challenge

This campaign strikes at the heart of Bush's agenda by challenging the Patriot Act (domestic repression) and the doctrine of "preventive war" (international aggression). As Americans abroad, we can call attention to the harm which Bush's policies have done to our international standing (trust, credibility) and their dangerously destabilizing effect on international relations.

We can also serve as fence-menders, ambassadors of "another America" in our host countries, listening to their concerns about American policies and educating them about conditions in America.

Constituencies

Americans abroad.

Conservatives and fence-sitters. Our campaign is pointedly non-partisan: our core demands are not conservative or liberal, Republican or Democratic; they are essential to maintaining an open society with democratic rule. We will reach out to conservative constituencies, e.g. by emphasizing the intrusive government powers entailed by the Patriot Act and the cavalier treatment of US soldiers entailed by the "preventive war" policy (Gulf War syndrome, cuts in veteran benefits).

Long Term

It will broaden the support for change in American society by reaching out to the above-mentioned groups.

Dates/Places

July 4-6: Conference of expatriate American antiwar/opposition coalition, Berlin (Coalition name is presently being voted on.)

Submitted By

Name: Isabel Cole
Organization: Americans in Berlin Against the War
City, ST: Berlin, Germany
Email: amis@andere-seite.de
Tel: +011 49 30 484 76 454
Delegate(s) attending: ArieAnna Farnam

Description

We need to declare peace. The worst thing that happened in mid-September of 2001, was not the deplorable tragedy of the 11th, but the declaration of war on the 12th. But war is not only a failed metaphor, it is an extremely dangerous and misguided policy, allowing the administration to increase defense spending, restrict social spending, thwart labor organization, increase domestic surveillance, constrict personal liberties and civil rights and generally assert domination over the people and their government by the executive branch. What happened on September 11, was a criminal act; it should have been and should be dealt with by international police efforts. The military should have little or nothing to do with it.

As long as we are "at war" we cannot expect other desperately urgent agendae to be addressed; no Democratic candidate can hope to beat a war president. And yet it is rationally impossible to describe a victory in this war. It is without end - specially since "terrorism" has never been defined. Once declared a terrorist, an individual loses all constitutional rights as an "enemy combatant." This raises a revealing question about the nature of such declarations of war: If we declare war on crime (as in fact we have from time to time), does that now mean that any common thief becomes an "enemy combatant" and thereafter loses all rights to representation, habeas corpus, public trial, the presumption of innocence, etc.? Bush sr. declared a War on Drugs; should all possessors be enemy combatants?

We need to declare an end to war as metaphor and practice. We need at every opportunity to reject this (now) assumption. We need to say, "No, Mr. President, we are not at war; we have a criminal problem for which we need to find both causes and solutions. You do not have war powers." We need to support only candidates who declare that we are not at war and that war is not an acceptable metaphor.

We can do this through a carefully designed (we must be careful to emphasize that we are not giving terrorism or terrorists a pass) campaign of declaring peace and rejecting war as a solution to anything.

This issue is prior to all efforts to deal with Bush and his empire-building. As long as he can maintain that we are at war and as long as the media and even all the Democratic candidates go along with this notion, he is virtually invulnerable. And when, two months before the next election, another military action in the "war on terror" serendipitously breaks out, we should not be surprised.

Submitted By

Name: Richard M. Hendrick
Organization: Upper Valley Peace and Justice
City, ST: Orford, NH
Email: rhendrick@valley.net
Tel: 603 353 4828
Delegate(s) attending: Deb Hawthorn, Lindsay Dearborn

Area

Get the military out of our schools.

Description

1) Work with the established groups such as CCCO, Center on Conscience & War, AFSC's Youth & Militarism Project.

2) Speak at all schools in area & make sure literature is available.

3) Get city/county councils to pass resolution like the ones passed in Santa Cruz, CA, San Francisco, CA & Rochester, NY requiring parents to fill out a permission slip before their child's personal contact information is given to military recruiters. It also requires the school system to provide alternative literature to the military. (see below)

4) Develop one or more "Peace Adventure Van(s)" to provide an alternative to the Military Adventure Vans. People from different parts of the country could take part when the van(s) were in their area traveling from school to school. Speakers from ISM, CPT, groups that visited Central & South America as well as other activists working on important issues of peace & justice. We could also have some type of exciting computer software on board promoting a peaceful campaign(s) as an alternate to the high tech gadgetry the military recruiters use on the youth. The Peace Adventure Van(s) would also fullfil the first three goals.

Goals

Get the military out of our schools. Get students and youth involved in the peace & justice movement.

Activities

In addition to the actvities mentioned above. Grassroots organizing of various sorts would be used depending upon the local group/organizer involved.

Messages

Demilitarize Our Schools. Get the military out of schools.

Challenge

This project would benefit all those involved. It would give us an audience in the schools. It will counter the military recruitment of youth, particularly low income & people of color. It will give the youth the ability to get involved with the local peace group. It will give us a chance to educate the youth & others about the Bush Doctrine.

Constituencies

Youth, parents, people of all races.

Long Term

It would be directly supporting & fulfilling UFPJ goals and building a broader movement.

Comments

From the the No Child Left Behind Act (to view the whole Act see www.ed.gov/legislation/ESEA02/107-110.pdf ):

(a) Policy.--

(1) Access to student recruiting information.Ð Notwithstanding section 444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education Provisions Act and except as provided in paragraph (2), each local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters(my emphasis) or an institution of higher education, access to secondary school students names, addresses, and telephone listings.

"OPT IN" Truth & Privacy Resolution
Alternative to "No Child Left Behind" Act
adopted by Santa Cruz City Schools

On Wed. 3/26 this Santa Cruz High School Youth Alliance proposal was adopted by the School Board. Allies included: ACLU, California Federation of Teachers, PTA, School Site Council, Resource Center for Nonviolence, the Youth Action Coalition, and Parents of African American Students. Speakers included the Alliance faculty advisor, teachers, students, Viet Nam veterans, and a constitutional law attorney.

Note: The Privacy & Truth proposal identified below protects student and family privacy. It requires an "opt-in" policy so that student contact information is provided to recruiters only when the parents provides written informed consent to the school. If a parent does not return the permission form, the student information cannot be released to recruiters. Additionally, it provides that students shall also receive full and truthful information about alternatives to military service.

This resolution is legal, has been adopted and is used by the school districts of San Francisco, CA and Rochester, NY. The resolution conforms to a standard practice in most schools -- i.e., written opt-in consent is required from parents for student participation in field trips or events that may be controversial. PASSED AND ADOPTED on this 26th day of March 2003.

This is from the web site http://www.rcnv.org/rcnv/archives/2003/sccounterrecruit.htm

Submitted By

Name: David Dixon
Organization: Charlotte Fellowship Of Reconciliation
City, ST: Charlotte, NC
Email: carolinasfor@yahoo.com
Tel: 704-449-6925
Delegate(s) attending: David Dixon

Area

Military Recruitment

Description

This is a large-scale, long-term campaign to get military recruiters out of our schools and their ads off of MTV and BET by 2004. This campaign focuses mainly on youth and youth organizing but should also be taken up by everyone. We plan to kick off this project this summer with a massive educational campaign that will be centered around our national anti-recruitment flyer that will lead into much more direct methods of resistance once the school year begins again next fall. We are planning on beginning the school year with a major event, and plans for what this would specifically look like are still in the discussion stages.

Goals

To get the military recruiters out of our schools and recruitment ads off of MTV and BET by 2004.

Activities

One of the major components of this campaign is education, especially for this summer. We plan on doing this in a variety of ways, including massive flyering (we have put together an anti-recruitment flyer that can be used nationally), talking directly to people and other organizations, and tabling at concerts. We plan on reaching out mainly to youth, but also to adults, especially parents. We want parents to be supportive of their children, and we understand that parents often have quite a bit of influence in school policy. Once the school year begins, we will supplement our educational campaign with more direct action against recruiters. A few ideas for what this might look like have been national days of mass walkouts, setting up anti-recruitment tables next to recruiter's tables, and non-violent, creative actions at recruitment sites.

Messages

The youth of the world are being lied to. Not only are we trying to get the recruiters out of our schools, but we want to show people the truth.

One hallmark of the US government and its military recruiters is its reliance on people's ignorance. We need to tell people the truth about the war on the world and what it's all about. Additionally, we should elucidate some of the history of the US military and what happens to these kids when they get into the armed forces and when they get out. We will not allow the US government to use the youth of this country as its cannon fodder.

Challenge

This is an ambitious and incredibly important campaign. To really get recruiters out of our schools, it will take a joint effort by a large number of people and organizations. UFPJ is an organized network of groups, many of which already may be involved in similar campaigns or are interested in getting involved, that can help organize and enlarge this campaign. The US military has been on a massive recruitment campaign. In many schools the number of military recruiters far outnumbers college advisors. Since 9/11, J-ROTC and ROTC programs have been expanding. The warmakers have mapped out their war on the world as one that will last a generation, possibly two or three decades. They want a steady stream of youth to flow right into their military forces in their quest to dominate the globe. This campaign would be a crucial part of building ongoing resistance through the ebbs and flows of the movements of opposition.

Constituencies

This campaign mainly affects youth. Recruiters mainly focus on trying to recruit low-income and poor youth, many of them Black and Hispanic, and it is incredibly important that those who are most affected be a leading voice in any movement. In doing this campaign, we need to closely work with the people in these neighborhoods, including religious congregations, community organizations, and parent's groups.

Long Term

Historically, the question of the armed forces, with regard to the young generations and the movements of resistance, has been an important area of struggle. The US government counts on the youth of this country to act as its cannon fodder in its war on the world. This campaign will help deprive the U.S. government of a key element in establishing empire abroad and repressing people at home.

Submitted By

Name: Liz Vitulli
Organization: Not In Our Name Project
Email: nionliz@riseup.net; info@notinourname.net
Delegate(s) attending: Liz Vitulli

Description

The majority of our actions have really been reactions to the US active involvement in world domination. I agree that something must be done to stop this takeover. However, reaction is always after the fact and will never change the direction of our society. We will always be too late!

What I propose is that we begin the conference by clearly defining a vision of what we want our future to be, then we can begin to act peacefully from that vision to direct our lives rather than react to those who have their own agenda for our society.

Not just a statement of Peace and Justice, but a sharing of our vision of what we want the future to look like, how we treat each other, what our social system can be, and how we can create it. I believe if we look deep inside and see the image we carry, the basic concepts we wish to live by - the paradigm--and share that vision, verbalize it, clarify it, and then see how we wish to accomplish it, we can take back our power--both as an individual and as a society. Without that, we will simply keep reacting to those "in charge".

Let me give you an example: Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Perle, and others of this "administration" have their own vision of peace and justice. They even speak of peace and justice, yet their concept of peace and justice is implemented through war, control, and keeping their wealth and the power they wield. You see, their words are similar to ours, yet their motives, their paradigm, their underlying view of how to function in life is different. Ultimately, they function from the 50's concept of competition--winners and losers, getting ahead means being a "better" person--all from winning, possessing, and accumulating. They rationalize their actions and their greed by this standard. They even feel justified because of their rationalizations! And, from this perspective, they are directing the course of many lives.

So, if we are to change the course of our lives - take back the control of our lives - we must create, in word and deed, a visible, working image of what we want, what we expect, and what is acceptable in our society. We can then walk that vision, share that vision, and truly live that vision!

Examples in question form: What if we were to consider greed as the greatest act of terrorism on this planet? What if we, as a society, were to consider this greed to be a mental disease--since it ultimately has created such disparity, such poverty, such starvation upon this planet? What if we made it illegal to accumulate such great wealth in the face of starvation? What would our world be like? Can you imagine??

And, what if we were to turn from fear, war, and war weapons to compassion, kindness, and cooperation - using all that war/military money and manpower for positive purposes, such as: irrigating the deserts, setting up solar panels for shade, planting gardens throughout those irrigated deserts, and building homes for the homeless? What if we were to produce solar panels on every house so that there would be no need for reliance on the power brokers and polluting power? What if we were to create common ground greenhouses in every neighborhood in order to plant organic foods rather than eating mass produced, herbicide and pesticide poisoned, foods for healthier living?

What if we were to help the children understand that helping each other and taking care of this planet is of prime importance for a peaceful, healthy world? What if they learned that, rather than creating winners and losers through competition, that there is another way we could all live that would create a more harmonious lifestyle on this planet?

What if we were to create a new paradigm to live by?

So, I suggest we take up this issue and create a vision of cooperative living rather than competition--capitalism with a heart - showing how working together and caring about each other can create greater quality for the whole of our society. It sure beats being controlled by corporate greed!

If we start with this as our first project at the conference, then all issues that arise, and all decisions made, can be seen relative to that vision.

Submitted By

Name: Bob Vogelsang
Organization: Coles County for Peace and Justice
Email: bob_vogelsang@yahoo.com

Area

Discover the Shareholders of the World's Central Banks, International Banks, Oil Majors, Defense Contractors, etc. (hint: they are the same bunch in each case), EXPOSE them & Take our anger directly to their HOMES!

Description

I have come to believe after many years in this movement that we the people need to concentrate on exposing those who OWN the global economy. For example, instead of protesting the IMF, let's protest at the homes of those families who own majority shares in Citibank (that would be the Rockefeller, Kuhn Loeb & Stillman families), since the IMF is simply the debt collector for the global megabanks.

Goals

Expose those so powerful that their names are rarely heard; band together all single issue causes under one umbrella. The same banks that profit from war also ruin the environment, destroy indigenous communities, subjugate minorities and women and exploit workers. The single issue approach is divide and conquer. Their is only one issue: identify the global oligarchy and expose it.

Activities

Organize protests, videos, civil disobedience at the family compounds of these shareholders. Particular focus on the world's most powerful family- the Rothschilds, majority owners of Royal Dutch Shell and Bank of America, among other entities.

Messages

I have completed a 450-page book titled "Big Oil & Their Bankers in the Persian Gulf: Four Horsemen, Eight Families & Their Global Intelligence, Narcotics & Terror Network". It started as a 1991 Master's thesis and consists of 12 years of research. All potential publishers to this point are running scared, including many of the "alternative" persuasion. Why? The book names names!

I propose that if we are ever to stop this war/oil/drug machine we must identify its very shareholders, which this book has done. We must name names and show up to protest at places like the Rockefeller family compound in Pocantico Hills, NY or the Rothschild estate in Rennes de Chateau, France or the headquarters of Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers.

Because this war like all others throughout the centuries is ultimately about profit. It is a symptom of a system of monopoly capitalism gone international, a system where the US plays praetorian guard to a clique of global old money oligarchs who have their roots in the Holy Roman Empire. Their empire is now based in the City of London, thus the "special relationship" between Washington & London.

Anyway, I believe it imperative that this anti-war movement dedicate itself to tracking down the very highest echelon, the head of this snake, the families who own the banks who own the Fortune 500, including the defense and oil and "reconstruction" firms. Once identified, and I can help greatly here, we should single them out for pressure of all kinds, creating a populist wave by focusing on economics and issues of class.

Also we cannot shy away from the word "conspiracy", which like the word "communism" has been relegated to the dust bin of history by these global elite, in hope that neither ideas will gain traction. I can assure you that after 12 years of scholarly research, I become MORE convinced that history consists mainly of conspiracies followed by establishment historians' attempts to conceal them.

Challenge

I believe that the only way to public support for the anti-war movement is to claim the moral high ground as patriots and to paint the Bush cabal as the traitorous crew they really are. Ultimately Bush serves old money European interests who use the American military as a Hessianized force to protect their global corporate empire. We must name names and study the enemy carefully.

Constituencies

EVERYONE! It's the global super-elite vs. everyone else. If we paint it this way (aka reality) divisiveness disappears and a broad-based POPULIST movement can emerge.

Long Term

It makes your agenda ONE! Example: Lord Victor Rothschild is reknowned as the father of Israel (Balfour Declaration-1917). Israel has always been less some high-minded Jewish homeland than a CIA/MI5 forward base through which to control Middle East oil. Explain it this way and suddenly you have American and Israeli Jews uniting with Arab nationalists to fight the Zionist banker crowd, which has used both sides to achieve its hegemony in the region.

Dates/Places

I suggest we proactively make our own dates rather than reacting all the time to their schedule. The element of surprise can be quite handy.

Submitted By

Name: Dean Henderson
Organization: Ozark Heritage Region Peace Network
City, ST: Peace Valley, MO
Email: loccoperros@yahoo.com
Tel: (417)277-5247
Delegate(s) attending: Dean & Jill Henderson

Area

Proposal to United for Peace and Justice from IPS's Peace Working Group on Unifying Message and Program for Next Phase of Work

Description

A number of us at IPS have been working with UfPJ since its inception and are excited by the possibilities and challenges of the next phase of work. The following proposal is based on discussions with many of you in UfPJ And among ourselves. We look forward to the discussions in Chicago and to working with all of you in the months and years to come. You all should feel very proud of what you have accomplished in 8 short months.

We think that some version of the following proposal on Message and Program can unify not only UfPJ, but is likely to parallel closely with Win Without War, US Labor Against War, CodePink, Cities for Peace, MoveOn, and other groups in the emerging global peace movement (and we think it will resonate with the global justice movement). The proposal also responds to the two "Ts" that will dominate the Republican agenda: terrorism and tax cuts. At the end of this proposal, we fill you in on some initial ideas on next steps for both Cities for Peace and IPS.

For the next period, we would suggest that UfPJ unite around a three-component message under the common title of an "Alternative Vision for Human Security." In short, the three key components are:
1. A Safe Internationalist Foreign Policy
2. An Open Society that Protects Civil Liberties
3. A Shift from a War Economy to Meeting Human and Environmental Needs

Messages

Unifying Message: an "Alternative Vision for Human Security"
We need to build on the key messages of UfPJ in its first phase that focused on Bush's Iraq war but now shift to the broader national security doctrine of aggressive war.

Most Americans feel unsafe and unsecure. We reject Bush's doctrine and policies as as reckless, unsafe and unfair. We urge replacing these with a framework and policies that are responsible, safe, and fair. We believe there are three components to such an approach that combine the aspirations for peace and justice:

1. A Safe Foreign Policy (based on multilateralism):
Bush's unilateral aggressive war doctrine makes us in this country and others around the world less safe and secure. We believe that a new internationalist foreign policy based on multilateralism, a strengthened United Nations, and general disarmament will make us all more safe and secure. Details of such a new internationalist foreign policy are spelled out, among other places, in the Nation debate on "What We Do Now: A Peace Agenda" (www.thenation.com), and in Foreign Policy in Focus's "Our Fateful Choice" document and Phyllis Bennis' article on empire (both at www.fpif.org).

An April poll by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (see www.fpif.org) found strong public opposition to Bush's "global cop" approach and overwhelming support for a more multilateral foreign policy with a central role for the United Nations. Hence, despite a majority of Americans voicing support for the Iraq war, that same public calls for a new foreign policy that would make Americans safer and be fair to the rest of the world.

The core demand of UfPJ over this next period on this first component would be to pressure the U.S. government to repudiate the preemptive war doctrine and replace it with an internationalist foreign policy. We would also measure success by our work with allies in the global peace movement to prevent new aggresive wars by the Bush administration.

2. An Open Society that Protects Civil Liberties
UfPJ also united from the start around the demand that we protect civil liberties and stand beside those (overwhelmingly among immigrants and in communities of color) whose civil rights were being violated by the Patriot Act and other extremist policies of the Bush administration.

We must continue to assert this demand and come up with creative new programs to advance it (as well as supporting current campaigns such as the 112 cities that have passed anti-Patriot Act resolutions). One idea we have begun to discuss at IPS is a campaign to get all elected officials, candidates for public office, and judges to sign the Bill of Rights and promise to enforce it. This could be broadened to include an effort to get a million Americans to sign the Bill of Rights. This campaign to protect civil rights should also be joined to the broader campaigns of groups like the Kensington Welfare Rights Union to extend economic and social rights to all. (Advocacy for economic rights also responds to the key policy plank of the Republicans: tax cuts.)

3. A Shift from a War Economy to meeting Human and Environmental Needs
Many organizations, including a number in communities of color, joined UfPJ in part to emphasize the adverse economic impact of a war economy on the health, education and other human and environmental needs in their communities. City council resolutions against the war often began by noting the precise economic costs of the war on their communities. Likewise, many of us have pointed out the environmental and social costs of a war fought partly for oil.

Hence, it is critical to continue to emphasize the centrality of reshifting national priorities from a war economy to meeting human and environmental needs. The overall frame for this could be: "redefining the peace." Never has it been clearer that this war economy serves corporations like Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, ExxonMobil, and Halliburton, at the expense of people in the United States and Iraq. While many people see this, few believe that much can be done about it. This is part of our task.

A campaign over the next year could focus on a call to shift $100 billion (a quarter of the defense budget) in the 2004 federal budget from the war economy to the cities and states facing severe budget cuts due to widening budget deficits. This can fit well into the many campaigns opposing the tax cuts for the rich. The campaign could specify items to be cut that make the world least safe (nuclear weapons, ABM, "smart bombs," and testing them, and it could specify key social and environmental areas where the money could be well spent.

Overall, in each of these three areas, it is important that we define what success would mean: stopping new wars; educating about and enforcing the Bill of Rights; shifting funds from war into basic needs. (Other related goals include clean energy and foreign debt cancellation.)

Activities

Ideas on Collaborative Work in the Electoral Realm Over the Next 17 Months
Here are some ideas for those UfPJ members who plan to spend some time over the next 17 months relating some of their work to the elections. Some of the members of UfPJ are tax-exempt (501C-3) organizations which cannot take part in partisan political activity. However, all these groups can participate in voter education and registration around key issues.

Many progressive organizations are beginning to discuss some coordination of their voter education and registration work. Much of this will concentrate on the 13 states which are currently consider "swing states," meaning that it is viewed as a toss-up whether Bush or the Democratic Party nominee will win there in November 2004. These 13 states include: Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennslyvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Individuals that are liberal but often don't vote include new immigrants from Latin America, Asia and the Middle East; youth; and unmarried women. Likewise, rural people and suburban white women are swing voters which can go either way. Many of these people in these 13 states were touched by the message of the peace movement. Voter education and registration that focuses on these groups on the themes of an alternative vision for human security could be very helpful in influencing the outcome in November 2004.

As important, it can help build a strong and diverse long-term peace movement. UfPJ groups that intend to do such education and registration work could coordinate in any number of the 13 swing states. Remember that anti-war work done in Iowa and New Hampshire, and even New Mexico and Wisconsin, has twice the power since these states are not only general election swing states, but they are also the first (IA & NH), or among the first (NM & WI) of the early primary and caucus states.

All of us recognize that there is a danger that the Democratic Party will put little emphasis on the need for an alternative foreign policy. It is critical that we press all candidates on the importance of this for world peace and for mobilizing and energizing the millions of Americans that have joined the peace movement.

IPS and Cities for Peace Work over this next Period
IPS will continue to adapt its work to help advance the goals of the peace movement. Here is an overview of where our plans are evolving in both the Cities for Peace program, and our other work.

1. Cities for Peace: IPS has played a key coordinating role for the Cities for Peace network (see www.citiesforpeace.org). Cities for Peace is an extensive network of over 200 cities and towns with grassroots organizations and locally-elected officials that launched campaigns for peace in the months preceding the March 2003 war with Iraq. These towns and cities raised questions about the legality and wisdom of a pre-emptive strike doctrine, about US diplomacy and relations with other nations through the United Nations, and about the wisest ways to achieve disarmament and peace in a dangerous world, and the costs of war at home.

We are discussing with activists and city council members in the network a proposal for a series of National Town Hall Hearings/Teach-ins/Debates, as well as Action Alerts and Links to related campaigns working on Civil Liberties Resolutions and Fair Taxes For All local campaigns.

There are 42 cities and towns of the 165 that passed peace resolutions that are in the 13 swing states. We are discussing putting a priority on these 42 cities. 23 of these are in just two states: Michigan and Ohio. One current idea we are exploring is doing rolling hearings/teach-ins in these two states, involving those hurt most by Bush's policies in these states as well as celebrities such as IPS Board member Harry Belafonte (Harry has suggested that Cincinatti would be a key place to work in). The hearings/teach-ins would bring media into poorer and immigrant neighborhoods in these cities as well as into town halls.

2. Other IPS work:
- Coalition work: IPS will continue to devote staff to help UfPJ, Cities for Peace, and will help facilitate joint work with other coalitions;
- Research: IPS is doing work on the companies that are profiting from the Iraq war and its aftermath. We are continuing the work we began in "Crude Vision" (see www.seen.org) that examined the role of Donald Rumsfeld and other officials in an early-1980s attempt to build a Bechtel pipe line from Iraq through Jordan. We are tracking the use of US taxpayer funds,t hrough US agencies like OPIC, the Export-Import Bank, US AID, and the US Trade and Development Agency, and through the World Bank, to promote post-war profiteering, particularly in the fossil fuel sector.
- Education: We are updating Phyllis Bennis' "The U.S.-Iraq Crisis: A Primer" for this new period, and doing a lot of educational pieces through Foreign Policy in Focus. We are also doing nation-wide educational work on the costs of the U.S. war in Columbia. We will also be holding a conference in January around the theme of "PetroPolitics," linked to a broader education campaign on the links between energy policy and national security.
- Constituency-wise, we are doing a great deal of work with youth and student groups through our Foreign Policy in Focus project (with the Interhemispheric Resource Center) and the Democracy Action Project, which is housed at IPS. We are discussing a new round of campus teach-ins, and a new round of DAP education and mobilizing work.
- Media: The IPS media office is pressing a wide range of voices into the mainstream media as well as the African-American and Latino media and the independent media around these themes.
- Longer-term: In addition to the short-term work, IPS is focussing at least half of its efforts on the longer term, by doing the teach-ins, continuing to work with our new European and worldwide antiwar allies, finding ways to plug in African American and Latino community groups into the antiwar movement structure.

Submitted By

Name: John Cavanagh, Amy Quinn, Karen Dolan, Phyllis Bennis, Marc Raskin, Sarah Anderson, Emira Woods, Erik Leaver, Miriam Pemberton, Juliette Niehuss, Sanho Tree, Daphne Wysham, Steve Kretzmann, Jim Vallette, Nadia Martinez, and Steve Cobble (with thanks to Kevin Zeese and Linda Schade)
Organization: the IPS Peace Working Group
City, ST:
Email:
Tel:
Delegate(s) attending:

Description

1) Patriot act I & II

a. To create awareness among the general public on how they are directly affected by this issue.
b. To build national and local coalitions to develop tactics for action

2) World hunger and disease and living wage for all

a. To challenge Democratic candidates to replace our current arrogant foreign policy of pre-emptive war with a pledge to wage an INTERNATIONAL WAR AGAINST HUNGER AND DISEASE.
b. To request that congress decreases defense spending for at least $50 billions annually and commit the money to this campaign.
c. To Challenge world leaders to commit to a LIVING WAGE for all workers.

3) Media Reporting and misinformation

a. To constantly remind the media of their duties to serve the public interest.
b. To challenge the media to find out and tell us the truth

4) Right to vote and be counted

To study and support a bill proposed by Representative Rush Holt of NJ that requires that all voting machines produce a voter-verified paper trail.

5) Young people and College students awareness of current events

To reach and utilize energy of young people young people as a Vital human resource in all campaigns

6) Mothers with sons in the military

To contact women with children in the military and create a national database.

Submitted By

Name: Myriam C. Velez
Organization: Peace South Florida
City, ST: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Email: mcvg@att.net
Tel: 954-252-7221
Delegate(s) attending: Myriam C. Velez

Area

Improving use of the media to spread our message.

Description

A campaign to pool resources and unify progressive voices; to explicitly define goals in the form of tangible social, economic and political change; to use positive propaganda as a marketing method, leveraging new-media in the same way as the cross-platform consolidated mass media.

Goals

Establish a unified progressive force; re-frame the notion of progressivism as centrist, with the dialogue focused on defining "what would be better?"; restore legitimacy in voting; end the two-party system; remove the Bush administration; prevent privatization of water; nullify the PATRIOT Act and reaffirm the Bill of Rights and the Constitution; abolish corporate personhood; diversify ownership of public airwaves.

Activities

Develop central multimedia programming to be supported and promoted by all member organizations. Within the programming, develop initiatives that incorporate the ideas and actions of the audience. In this way, everyone is an activist, encouraged to determine "the least you can do" and to commit to doing at least that much.

Messages

Achieving the changes we seek is the only legitimate measure of our success. This view should shape how we identify goals and choose actions likely to attain them.

Capitalism and democracy are not the same thing. By definition, both have a "survival of the fittest" element that promotes competition. In reality, corruption and antitrust violations are so rampant that neither our financial system nor our political system is operating on the basis of a free market.

Progress is not a dirty word and is not indicative of the political left. Positive messaging and solution-oriented community outreach will enable more widespread self-identification with progress.

There are always more than two choices (i.e. with us/against us). Re-framing the debate means calling out either/or pressure as manipulative and offering an extended range of alternatives.

Challenge

UFPJ is an awesome vision of immense scope. This size is commensurate with the degree to which the Bush administration has hijacked the world. Our goals must also match this proportion. In order to reach such massive tipping points, however, we must plot a course through smaller pivot points ("tilts"). This is what is meant by defining goals as explicit change. UFPJ should work on this campaign because it represents new adventures in problem solving. We must learn from out past and recognize that it does not work to size up gigantic changes and strive to achieve them in one step.

Constituencies

First and foremost, this would legitimize the strategic alliances within UFPJ, allowing all members to see their agendas pursued. This would establish the unity that has been lacking, and even more importantly, it would assert this unity.

This campaign would be supremely empowering to activists at all levels. It will be particularly powerful as a recruiting tool for engaging youth, indoctrinating them for a lifetime of active citizenry.

Long Term

This campaign intends to create a new-media machine; to introduce an enlightened, positive-oriented progressive lexicon; and to redefine how goals are identified and pursued. These steps represent the foundation for more effective activism now and forever.

Dates/Places

On June 30, 2003, I will be facilitating an interactive evening called "What Would Be Better?--Strategies For Change." This event is sponsored by The Company of Friends, the readers network of Fast Company magazine. This will start at 5:30pm PST at the Hyatt Hotel, located at Drumm and Market Streets in San Francisco, CA.

Comments

This brief overview has been presented in much greater detail here: http://www.maquimedia.com/JoePresident/proposal/RAMain.html

The ideas are all fluid and evolving so the content at this URL will be changing. These ideas are more than a campaign, they are a model. If UFPJ does not adopt this plan, it will be presented for consideration to other umbrella groups. Conversations are also underway towards the possibility of building a customized mission-specific coalition.

Submitted By

Name: Dave Berman
City, ST: Oakland, CA

Area

Preemptive War

Description

Initiate and support an internet based campaign to defer buying products from American corporations, beginning with the companies which make up the Dow Jones Industrials Average.

Goals

Bring economic pressure on the companies who represent the major decision making bodies in the U.S. Give people a concrete action to perform. Develop solidarity among diverse populations.

Activities

To organize public support for these demands and apply pressure on decision-makers to support this proposal: Develop a concise description of the proposal including a list of DJIA companies and some of their products. Provide a guide to generalizing from the list to other products and companies. Describe the criteria for a successful program. Send it out on every available email list and listserve.

Messages

War is not profitable for all corporations.

Challenge

UFPJ should work on this because they have access to vast populations, evinced by the Iraq demonstrations it organized. It is a low risk, low cost proposal which would give people opposed to the Bush agenda a substantive act to commit: not buying. It also has the advange of being low risk to participants.

Constituencies

This campaign would be focused on the next war, and would bring in populations leery of many of the groups now part of UFPJ ( and other anti war organizers like ANSWER) by giving them an action which would not involve their direct association with any of those groups.

Long Term

Were this campaign even slightly effective, reducing the sales of targeted firms even a couple of percent in a reporting period, it would imply power to the organization which proposed it. This campaign need not interfere with any other UFPJ campaigns, and can give it a reason to target citizens at shopping centers and malls.

Dates/Places

The only key date would the intensity of the drums of war, a matter of debate. With Iraq, there were perhaps 4-5 months of serious advance notice.

Comments

A War Deferment for Everyone: Defer buying until the war ends.

Up to now, the peace movement is all about symbols, from rallies and marches to wearing white scarves, and sending little bags of rice to the White House. Many cannot or will not come to mass rallies, and many of us are coming to the conclusion that the movement must move beyond rallies. We need to move from symbols to action, action without risk of jail, or condemnation for property damage. In this action there would be no perpetrators, only non-buyers. In these Patriot Act times deferred buying is an anonymous action which can be remarkably effective and safe.

The Bush administration is all about money and privilege. A campaign like this is directed right at this constituency. This economy is teetering on the edge. A five to ten percent drop in consumption would be calamitous, and would lead businessmen to demand an end to this war. As we know, economic statistics and forecasts and stock market responses focus on gross movements in spending. None of the deferments have to be targeted or specifically war related. And we don't have to defer everything. Defer some or all of what we might call discretionary spending gifts, stocking-up purchases, early washer/dryer replacement. Of course, food and necessaries would not be included. And one could defer some or most of their spending. Be sure to target corporate goods, and not services, or your neighborhood small businessman, florist, bookseller, restaurateur, etc.

The new Fortune 500 list of America's largest public corporations is topped by Walmart. A starting point for the deferred buying campaign might be the companies comprising the Dow-Jones Industrials average. If you are uncertain about which corporations to not patronize, start with these companies and expand from there.

The companies which comprise the Dow Jones Industrials average are 3M Co., Proctor and Gamble, IBM, United Technologies, Merck and Co., Johnson and Johnson, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, DuPont, Philip Morris, General Motors, American Express, Citigroup, Eastman Kodak, International Paper, Exon Mobil, Boeing, SBC Communications, AT&T, General Electric, Honeywell, J.P.Morgan Chase, Home Depot, Alcoa, Hewlett-Packard, Walt Disney, McDonalds, Intel

Submitted By

Name: Alexander Gillett
Organization: Human Rights Activists for Peace
City, ST: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Email: agillett@igc.org
Tel: 215.747.8331
Delegate(s) attending: Alexander Gillett

Area

To empower the American people through a transformational solidarity movement toward a more peaceful sustainable and just society and lifestyle away from our war sustaining lifestyle.

To elect representatives by the people of the people and FOR the people, nullifying corporate influence on congress by Supporting Clean Election Acts for all states. Wars, occupation, deportations etc. and are all effects of corporate influence and greed.

Description

A campaign to become the change we seek! Empowering Americans to end corporate domination and support through" First Full Week of Every Month" Boycotts; and to act in Transformationional solidarity the first full week of every month taking small steps nationwide toward a Peaceful Sustainable and Just Society.

Goals

1) For the people to greatly reduce our government war making powers by transforming our war sustaining life-styles to peace sustaining life styles beginning with the First Full week of every month.

2) For the United States people to demonstrate and experience their power, especially over corporations. Through crippling boycotss the First Full Week of every Month.

Activities

Here are ideas that will allow many thousands who do not support the war and the U.S aggressive policies to join in Non-violent Protest and affect Transformation to a Peaceful Society in very simple, yet profound ways.. These ideas are not new and they certainly are not an end in theirselves. However they can be a major step in building solidarity and affecting Transformation to a Peaceful Society.

Please Join us in Transformational Solidarity!
"10 Simple Ways to Join in Solidarity, cripple corporate domination and affect Transformation to a Peaceful Society!"
For the First Full Week of Every Month
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM:
1) malls and major national fast food chains
2) major national chain stores.
3) Specifically boycott Wal Mart and Exxon the First Full week of every month
4) DO Not Buy any New Car until after the Presidential election or until a fair and honest election has taken place

TO DO FOR THE FIRST FULL WEEK OF EVERY MONTH: (steps to transforming to a peaceful society)

1) Turn off the TV! Turn off the TV or GREATLY reduce watching time and replace it with quality time with the family or watching uplifting videos with friends...TV is corporate Americas hypnotic drug. make a list of your most inspiring movies, gather at your church, club or just with friends and families and have a video night or just to Celebrate Life... just be sure and turn off the TV shows

2) Read or watch a video or attend a meeting or join a practice group about Marshall Rosenberg's Non-violent Communication WWW.CNVC.ORG It is the Center for Non Violent Communication. True peace begins in our homes and families.

3) Read or watch a video, join or start a group about Duane Elgin's Book Voluntary Simplicity www.awakeningearth.org. It is up to us to shift from consum-ers to conscious-users. This is a wonderful "how to" and why book!

4) Buy and Watch the Video "Counting on Democracy" and then give it to someone else with the commitment they will watch it and return it to you by the First Full Week of the Month; keep recycling it! Also ask you library and schools to order it. Show it to library groups, town hall meetings, wherever people gather. It can be ordered at www.gregpalast.com Then 1) join the movement led by Martin Luther King lll to protect our freedom by protecting the right of all Americans votes to be counted and counted fairly! 2) register one new person to vote the first full week of every month

5) Reach out and help somebody. And as we begin to experience the temporary discomfort of crippling corporate power (moving from a "consum-er" war supporting society to a "conscious-user peace sustaining society) let us reach out and hold each other.

6) Do something loving and nurturing for yourself and start a "things I'm grateful for list" for yourself and invite family to do one too!--add to it often or at least the First Full Week of Every Month.

Messages

The way to increase the ranks of active supporters is to be "for something" as well as against the war and occupation.

Challenge

It gives the power back to the people.

Constituencies

Many of those who are against the imperialist aggression of our government, are also strongly for peace and have not found a way they that they can embrace. This proposal opens the door for both to join hands in solidarity.

Long Term

We would be helping the people to discover their strength in solidarity.

Submitted By

Name: Cindi Fisher
Organization: Vancouver for Peace
City, ST: Vancouver, Washington
Email: pachacindi@yahoo.com
Tel: 360-360-696-4840
Delegate(s) attending: Cindi Fisher