Subj: Call to Action on Iraq for April 27 by 8 National Peace Groups
Date: 4/2/99 11:33:18 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: wrl at igc.apc.org (War Resisters League)
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee * American Friends Service
Committee * Fellowship of Reconciliation, * Pax Christi USA * Peace
Action * Student Committee of the Iraq Action Coalition * Voices in the
Wilderness * War Resisters League
Dear Friends
Many of us have been working in our communities to draw public attention to
the economic sanctions which are having such catastrophic effects on the
civilian population of Iraq, and ultimately to get those sanctions lifted.
Unfortunately, the media attention paid to this crisis has been virtually
non-existent.
As eight national organizations that have been working on this issue, we
would like to do something to force this issue into the media and into the
public mind, something large, nationwide, and nationally coordinated. After
some discussion and deliberation, we would like to call for a National Day
of Action on the Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq Tuesday, April 27, 1999.
The concept is simple, but should be effective. While the national
organizations put on a press conference in Washington, D.C., we are calling
on our respective affiliates, chapters, and grassroots activists to organize
an event in their respective locale. The national offices will do PR work to
promote the actions taking place around the country, which should show,
perhaps for the first time, the width and breath of the movement in this
country that is demanding to have the sanctions ended.
We would like to recommend two actions in particular for you to organize on
this national day of action:
1) A press conference featuring local religious leaders, relief efforts, or
other community leaders.
Many of you might have been notified about our organizations' previous
efforts to put together a press conference with representatives of the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Council of
Churches, which represents the mainstream Protestant denominations. While
these two national groups have decided to do a press event on their own
timeline, local religious leaders still carry huge credibility. We strongly
recommend a press conference, which features local religious leaders and
individuals who have participated in aide shipments to Iraq and have first
hand knowledge of the devastation there. (Religious leaders are being
invited to speak at the press event in Washington, along with Congressional
leaders and those who have taken aide to the Iraqi people.)
A list of statements by the mainstream religious denominations opposing the
sanctions is available upon request, and could be very helpful in recruiting
local religious leaders to your event.
2) A post-office action.
Many of you might have heard of this also. Basically, you send a group of
people with packages of medicine or other aide addressed for organizations
in Iraq, and one by one these people get turned away by the post office,
which is not allowed to mail them due to the sanctions. This has gotten
great press where it has been done, and a good follow-up is to then
deliver the rejected packages to the office of your Representative or Senator,
demanding that the economic sanctions be lifted. A short description of
a post office action is attached. (Note: This is not an act of civil
disobedience, and we are not recommending that anyone try to risk arrest
in any fashion.)
Congressional Lobbying
In addition to one of the two above actions, we also urge all local
activists to get as many people as possible to contact their
Congresspersons on this date, by phone, mail, fax or email, demanding that
the economic sanctions be lifted. (Note: Efforts are being made to develop
a Congressional resolution in time for our actions in April; updates on
this effort will follow in the days ahead.)
Finally, many of you might have also already heard of the student "Week of
Actions" on Iraq sanctions which is being called for by a number of campus
groups for April 25 - May 1, and the Congressional Lobby Days on Iraq
which is being organized here in the Washington from April 25 - 28. While we
are asking you to take one of the suggested actions on April 27 itself, we
would also encourage you to link up and work together with other groups in
your community as possible. (To find out about the week of student actions
and campus activists near you, email Bob Witanek at bwitanek at igc.org; for
the lobby days, contact Erik Gustaphson at epicenter at igc.org.)
For the April 27th actions, please contact the national organization listed
above which you work most closely with and let us know what you will be
doing. We hope that this can be a big step forward in a campaign to end
the economic sanctions against the people of Iraq, and your participation
counts.
Post Office Action
Conduct your own medical relief operation and call attention to economic
sanctions by taking a package of medical supplies to your local post
office addressed to:
The Iraqi Red Crescent Society
General Headquarters
Al-Mansour -- Baghdad
PO Box 6143, Iraq.
Contact the media and arrange a media event/press conference at the post
office or a nearby location.
US Postal Regulations prohibit the transfer (mail) of anything of value or
anything exceeding 12 ounces to Iraq. If and when post office officials
refuse to mail the package, describe to the media conditions in Iraq and US
complicity for the deaths of 5,000 to 6,000 people each month. Ask the
media to accompany you to the office of your congressperson/senator
(arrangements should have been made in advance) and request him/her to help
send the package to Iraq.
Leave the package with the congressperson/senator until such time as she/he
is able to send it or supply you with a justifiable reason for withholding
needed medical supplies from innocent children and their families.
The Postal Regulations Restricting Mail between the US & Iraq from the
Office of Foreign Assets Control, Treasury 31 Code of Federal Regulations,
chapter V (7-1-95 Edition) Sec. 575.514 Transactions related to mail
authorized.
All transactions by US persons, including payment and transfers to common
carriers, incident to the receipt or transmission of mail between the United
States and Iraq are authorized, provided that the mail is limited to
personal communications not involving a transfer of anything of value and
not exceeding 12 ounces.
**********
War Resisters League
339 Lafayette St.
New York, NY 10012
212-228-0450
212-228-6193 (fax)
1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon)
web address: http://www.nonviolence.org/wrl -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: David McReynolds <DavidMcR at AOL.COM> Subject: Call to Action on Iraq for April 27 by 8 National Peace Groups Date: Mon, 5 Apr 1999 05:13:45 EDT Size: 8673 URL: <../attachments/19990405/6837b5cc/attachment.eml>