Fwd: Call to Action on Iraq for April 27 by 8 National Peace Groups

Charles Brown CharlesB at CNCL.ci.detroit.mi.us
Mon Apr 5 07:46:05 PDT 1999


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)

wrl at igc.apc.org

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