We Stand Statement from ZNet - Please join us in taking a stand

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" Mark Hull-Richter " <mhull

Mon, 24 Jan 2005 13:11:21 -0800 (PST)

 

 

Multi author We Stand Statement from ZNet - Please join us in

taking a stand

 

Please consider signing if you haven't already.

 

 

Please consider joining me in adding your name to the following

statement.

Thousands of people have already done so, including Ezequiel Adamovsky,

 

Vittorio Agnoletto, Michael Albert, Tariq Ali, Patrick Bond, Leslie

Cagan,

Noam Chomsky, Bill Fletcher, Eduardo Galeano, Susan George, Marta

Harnecker,

Boris Kagarlitsky, George Monbiot, Suren Moodlar, Hector Mondragon,

Tanya

Reinhart, Carola Reintjes, Arundhati Roy, Lydia Sargent and Howard

Zinn.

 

If, after reading it, you like what it has to say, take a few seconds

to

visit http://www.zmag.org/wspj and add your name to the list of

endorsers.

 

The statement was released on March 27, 2003, and already more than

91713

people have signed on! Here it is...

 

 

 

http://www.zmag.org/wspj

 

 

 

Hello,

 

This is another ZNet Free Update. Please consult our website

(http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm) for daily updates as well as to add

or remove names from this mailing list.

 

 

 

 

At the start of the Iraq War ZNet posted a web page featuring what we

called the We Stand Statement. The statement quickly inspired over

90,000 online signatures as well as 25,000 more collected in pen and

ink by the Zapatistas in Mexico.

 

Responding to Bush's second inauguration, to the on-going war in Iraq,

and to injustice more broadly, we have put the We Stand statement back

online at http://www.zmag.org/wspj/index.cfm

 

We hope that if you didn't sign & quot;We Stand & quot; earlier you will

sign

it now.

We hope you will tell others about it, discuss the content with them,

and urge them to sign it as well.

 

At the page at http://www.zmag.org/wspj/index.cfm you can see the

statement and supporting materials. You can display signers by country

or by their name, and of course you can sign up yourself if you haven't

already.

 

The We Stand Statement is not just anti war. It isn't even just about

dissent. & quot;We Stand & quot; offers positive aspirations to inspire

positive

projects.

 

Immediately below is the & quot;We Stand & quot; statement. Directly below

that

is a

multi author short article written to promote the statement when it

first went online. Please take a look at both the statement and the

article. If they resonate with you, please visit ZNet to sign up!

 

 

===

 

 

We Stand for Peace and Justice

This is the statement we hope you will sign)

 

& quot;I stand for peace and justice.

 

I stand for democracy and autonomy. I don't think the U.S. or any other

country should ignore the popular will and violate and weaken

international law, seeking to bully and bribe votes in the Security

Council.

 

I stand for internationalism. I oppose any nation spreading an ever

expanding network of military bases around the world and producing an

arsenal unparalleled in the world.

 

I stand for equity. I don't think the U.S. or any other country should

seek empire. I don't think the U.S. ought to control Middle Eastern oil

on behalf of U.S. corporations and as a wedge to gain political control

over other countries.

 

I stand for freedom. I oppose brutal regimes in Iraq and elsewhere but

I also oppose the new doctrine of & quot;preventive war, & quot; which

guarantees permanent and very dangerous conflict, and is the reason why

the U.S. is now regarded as the major threat to peace in much of the

world.

 

I stand for a democratic foreign policy that supports popular

opposition to imperialism, dictatorship, and political fundamentalism

in all its forms.

 

I stand for solidarity. I stand for and with all the poor and the

excluded. Despite massive disinformation millions oppose unjust,

illegal, immoral war, and I want to add my voice to theirs. I stand

with moral leaders all over the world, with world labor, and with the

huge majority of the populations of countries throughout the world.

 

I stand for diversity. I stand for an end to racism directed against

immigrants and people of color. I stand for an end to repression at

home and abroad.

 

I stand for peace. I stand against this war and against the conditions,

mentalities, and institutions that breed and nurture war and injustice.

 

I stand for sustainability. I stand against the destruction of forests,

soil, water, environmental resources, and biodiversity on which all

life depends.

 

I stand for justice. I stand against economic, political, and cultural

institutions that promote a rat race mentality, huge economic and power

inequalities, corporate domination even unto sweatshop and slave labor,

racism, and gender and sexual hierarchies.

 

I stand for a policy that redirects the money used for war and military

spending to provide healthcare, education, housing, and jobs.

 

I stand for a world whose political, economic, and social institutions

foster solidarity, promote equity, maximize participation, celebrate

diversity, and encourage full democracy.

 

I stand for peace and justice and, more, I pledge to work for peace and

justice. & quot;

 

 

===

 

That's the statement we hope you will sign if you haven't already.

 

Here is the multi-author article that got it all started, including a

list of those who signed it.

 

 

 

===

 

We Work for Peace & amp; Justice

 

Building a movement powerful enough to stop the war in Iraq or to

successfully curb a next war in Syria or Iran or Venezuela, involves

many factors. Among these, and perhaps the most fundamental, is

sufficient numbers.

 

To successfully challenge those in power, our movement must constantly

grow in numbers as well as consciousness and commitment. We must reach

out to people who are against the war, but who have not yet acted on

their beliefs. We must reach out to people who are troubled by what

they are witnessing, but who have not yet decided to oppose the war and

the policies behind it. We must reach out as well to those who now

support the war, but without full knowledge of the context, history,

and implications.

 

A key task therefore, in addition to demonstrating, is to talk to

people, to hear their misgivings, their confusions, and their insights,

and to provide an alternative viewpoint able to generate critical

solidarity that can last. We need to address the people whose addresses

we don't have. We need to go door to door in neighborhoods and dorms,

and we need to do it over and over. We need to talk to coworkers on the

job, to people who we encounter during the day shopping, to our

neighbors, and to the person next to us in class or in church or

wherever we may be. We need to organize.

 

On a larger scale, our collective efforts can also reach out to

audiences beyond our current membership. Our marches can go through

neighborhoods instead of only downtown. People on the marches can go

and talk with those who will inevitably be drawn to watch such events.

Thousands of groups can go into shopping areas and set up tables and

then talk to those in the area. Talk. Talk. That is the foundation of

building larger demonstrations, deeper commitment, and raising costs

for elites, and thus winning change.

 

If 100 or 500 or 5,000 or 50,000 people or more are ready and willing

to block streets or obstruct buildings as a means of pressuring elites

in a context where support is growing, that's wonderful, especially

when the targets are part of the war machine, as in the efforts to

block military trains in Europe. But shouldn't as many people, the next

day, or the day before, or both, be willing to spread out and talk to

the population, facilitating their becoming actively involved as well?

 

Our demonstrations create a context that facilitates reaching out to

organize the populace, but as important as they are, marches, rallies,

and obstructions won't by themselves do that organizing. To hear views

and to change minds requires that we listen and then convey evidence,

arguments, and also sympathy and respect for where people are at. It

takes talk.

 

To win against this war, the next war, and the causes of war and of

injustice more broadly, we need to assemble tens of millions of active,

committed movement members. But even if we continually talk to those

who disagree with us, how can we know what we are accomplishing, and

what can be our point of entry?

 

A possible technique would be for all of us, worldwide, to go to people

with a statement for them to sign -- something that's timely but that

won't grow stale, something that is concrete and specific, but that is

also universal enough for international use and thorough enough so that

to get signatures we will have to address all the issues that obstruct

people becoming actively involved in a growing movement for peace and

justice. Maybe something like this:

 

[And inserted here was the We Stand Statement as it appears above...]

 

Article Co Signers and Initial We Stand Signers,

 

Ezequiel Adamovsky, Argentina

Vittorio Agnoletto, Italy

Christophe Aguiton, France

Michael Albert, USA

Tariq Ali, England

Bridget Anderson, England

Katherine Anger, England

Jessica Azulay, USA

David Bacon, USA

David Barsamian, USA

Phyllis Bennis, USA

Elena Blanco, Venezuela

Nadine Bloch, USA

Bill Blum, USA

Peter Bohmer, USA

Patrick Bond, South Africa

Jeremy Brecher, USA

Michael Bronski, USA

Dennis Brutis, South Africa

Paul Buhle, USA

Nicola Bullard, Thailand

Scott Burchill, Australia

Leslie Cagan, USA

Alex Callinicos, England

Daniel Chavez, Netherlands

Noam Chomsky, USA

Tim Costello, USA

David Cromwell, England

Will Doherty, USA

Brian Dominick, USA

David Edwards, England

Barbara Epstein, USA

Laura Flanders, USA

Bill Fletcher, USA

Eduardo Galeano, Uruguay

Susan George, France

Ted Glick, USA

Gie Goris, Belgium

Andrej Grubacic, Serbia

Marta Harnecker, Chile

Betsy Hartman, USA

Tom Hayden, USA

Evan Henshaw-Plath, USA

Doug Henwood, USA

John Hepburn, Australia

Edward Herman, USA

Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pakistan

Sut Jhally, USA

Robert Jensen, USA

Boris Kagarlitsky, Russia

Naomi Klein, Canada

Jerry Kloby, USA

Sonali Kolhatkar, USA

Saul Landau, USA

Joanne Landy, USA

Rahul Mahajan, USA

Dawn Martinez, USA

Elizabeth, Martinez, USA

Antonio Martins, Brazil

Rania Masri, USA

Bob McChesney, USA

George Monbiot, England

Hector Mondragon, Colombia

Suren Moodliar, South Africa

Jonathan Neale, England

Chris Nineham, England

Adele Oliveri, Italy

Pablo Ortellado, Brazil

Cynthia Peters, USA

Justin Podur, Canada

Vijay Prashad, USA

Prabir Purkayastha, India

Milan Rai, England

Nikos Raptis, Greece

Michael Ratner, USA

Judy Rebick, Canada

Tanya Reinhart, Israel

Carola Reintjes, Spain

Arundhati Roy, India

Marta Russell, USA

Manuel Rozental, Colombia

Lydia Sargent, USA

Roberto Savio, Italy

Stephen Shalom, USA

Paul Singer, Brazil

Norman Solomon, USA

James Tracy, USA

America Vera-Zavala, Sweden

Hilary Wainwright, England

Peter Waterman, Holland

Mark Weisbrot, USA

Robert Weissman, USA

Tom Wetzel, USA

Tim Wise, USA

Howard Zinn, USA

Mark Hull-Richter, USA

 

 

=====

Mark Hull-Richter, U.S. Citizen & Patriot

U.S.A. - From democracy to kakistocracy in one fell coup.

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0416-01.htm

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