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February 23, 2006
Dear CODEPINKer,
It takes just one minute to drop a bomb and destroy an entire city. It takes just one minute to destroy a life. In just one minute Cindy Sheehan decided to camp outside George Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas and it significantly changed the peace movement. Take just one minute right now to help stop the war in Iraq by signing the Global Call for Peace. If you are one of the 44,000-plus people who have already signed, please urge two peace-loving friends to sign the Call. We've provided a sample letter below that you can cut then paste into an email and forward.
International Women's Day, March 8, is fast approaching and women and our male allies all over the world are joining our call for peace in Iraq. Supporters in 15 countries plan to deliver the petition to US Embassies and 22 cities in the US plan to hold Women Say No To War events. A delegation of nine courageous Iraqi women are preparing to come to join Gold Star mothers Cindy Sheehan and Elaine Johnson, singer Holly Near, and many CODEPINK women in New York and Washington, DC for multiple days of events and actions.
Check here to see if there is a Women's Day event planned in your community. Join in if you find one. If there isn't an event planned, please consider organizing friends and allies to hold one, and deliver your petition to the US Embassy/Consulate, a Congressperson's office, or hold a vigil at a visible location in the center of your community to let people know, Women Say No To War! Be sure to let us know so we can post your event on the website and please send photos after your event to info@womensaynotowar.org. An event takes just ten minutes to organize: decide on a spot, pick a time, tell your friends, find a piece of pink cloth and paint a message (Women Say No To War) with white paint, create a flyer, and call the press the day of your event. It's easy, fun and worthwhile.
Iraqi Women's Delegation
Nine wonderful women from Iraq are coming to the US to meet with officials at the United Nations, US Congress, and the US Department of State. march against the war and to speak at community events. . We will march together in the streets of Washington, DC from the Iraqi Embassy to the White House, calling for an end to the occupation. Join us in New York or Washington DC if you can. Our Iraqi friends have agreed to stay in the US after March 8 to be available for speaking events in your community. Click here
to find out how you can invite one or more of the Iraqi delegates to your community.
One final request: We need help to cover travel expenses for the Iraqi Women's Delegation. Please make a financial contribution to this historic campaign to bring the voices of Iraqi women directly where they are most needed -- to Washington DC.
With hope for peace soon,
Dana, Farida, Gael, Jodie, Medea, Nancy, Rae & Tiffany
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Below is a draft email you can use to send the Urgent Call to your friends and colleagues. At the end of this email is the text of the Women's Call for Peace,
if you'd like to add it into your message.
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Sample email:
Sign On Today! Please join CODEPINK's Women Say No to War campaign, and add your name to the thousands of women and men who have already signed the Urgent Call for Peace in Iraq. CODEPINK is gathering over 100,000 signatures on this Call, and the need your signature, and your help, to do it! On
International Women's Day, March 8, they will deliver these signatures to U.S. embassies, consulates, and federal offices all over the world.
Go to http://www.womensaynotowar.org/ to sign the call and to learn where events are happening! Visit http://www.womensaynotowar.org/ for details.
Text of the Call:
Women's Call for Peace: An Urgent Appeal
We, the women of the United States, Iraq and women worldwide, have had enough of the senseless war in Iraq and the cruel attacks on civilians around the world. We've buried too many of our loved ones. We've seen too many lives crippled forever by physical and mental wounds. We've watched in horror as our precious resources are poured into war while our families' basic needs of food, shelter, education and healthcare go unmet. We've had enough of living in constant fear of violence and seeing the growing cancer of hatred and intolerance seep into our homes and communities.
This is not the world we want for ourselves or our children. With fire in our bellies and love in our hearts, we women are rising up - across borders - to unite and demand an end to the bloodshed and the destruction.
We have seen how the foreign occupation of Iraq has fueled an armed movement against it, perpetuating an endless cycle of violence. We are convinced that it is time to shift from a military model to a conflict-resolution model that includes the following elements:
- The withdrawal of all foreign troops and foreign fighters from Iraq;
- Negotiations to reincorporate disenfranchised Iraqis into all aspects of Iraqi society;
- The full representation of women in the peacemaking process and a commitment to women's full equality in the post-war Iraq;
- A commitment to discard plans for any foreign bases in Iraq;
- Iraqi control of its oil and other resources;
- The nullification of privatization and deregulation laws imposed under occupation, allowing Iraqis to shape the trajectory of the post-war economy;
- A massive reconstruction effort that prioritizes Iraqi contractors, and draws upon financial resources of the countries responsible for the invasion and occupation of Iraq;
- Consideration of a temporary international peacekeeping force that is truly multilateral and is not composed of any troops from countries that participated in the occupation.
To move this peace process forward, we are creating a massive movement of women - crossing generations, races, ethnicities, religions, borders and political persuasions. Together, we will pressure our governments, the United Nations, the Arab League, Nobel Peace Prize winners, religious leaders and others in the international community to step forward to help negotiate a political settlement. And in this era of divisive fundamentalisms, we call upon world leaders to join us in spreading the fundamental values of love for the human family and for our precious planet.
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