Check it out! America looks great in pink

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    Jan. 12, 2008

New Yorkers host vigil TOMORROW outside U.N.
Demand ceasefire to Gaza attacks, end to U.S. support for illegal Israel assault with U.S. weapons

Participants in the vigil will ask fellow citizens to contact elected officials and call on them to publicly demand an immediate, unconditional ceasefire, an end to the funding and supplying of Israeli weapons with American taxpayer dollars, and support for U.N. Security Council motions for a ceasefire.

They will also demand the Red Cross and other aid groups be safely allowed into Gaza. Such groups were last week forced to temporarily suspend their work due to attacks on their personnel. Israel’s assault on Gaza, entering its third week, has resulted in the killing of over 900 people, including at least 194 children and 58 women.  Israel is the single largest foreign recipient of American military aid, and the current offensive is being carried out with U.S.-funded and manufactured helicopters, tanks, rockets and, most controversially, phosphorous bombs.

“While we in the States don’t see many images of the Palestinian women and children being killed and maimed with our tax dollars, these gruesome photos are being broadcast in the rest of the world,” said Nancy Kricorian, coordinator for CODEPINK NYC. “It is our responsibility as Americans to call on our government to stop aiding and abetting this slaughter.”

Rally organizers include CODEPINK NYC, United for Peace and Justice, American Friends Service Committee, World Without War and Center of Cultures.

9 Steps To Peace for Obama in the New Year

by Deepak Chopra

You have been elected by the first anti-war constituency since 1952, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected after promising to end the Korean War. But ending a war isn’t the same as bringing peace. America has been on a war footing since the day after Pearl Harbor, 67 years ago. We spend more on our military than the next 16 countries combined. If you have a vision of change that goes to the heart of this country’s deep problems, ending our dependence on war is far more important than ending our dependency on foreign oil.

The most immediate changes are economic. Unless it can make as much money as war, peace doesn’t stand a chance. Since aerospace and military technologies remain the United States’ most destructive export, fostering wars around the world, what steps can we take to reverse that trend and build a peace-based economy?

1. Scale out arms dealing and make it illegal by the year 2020.

2. Write into every defense contract a requirement for a peacetime project.

3. Subsidize conversion of military companies to peaceful uses with tax incentives and direct funding.

4. Convert military bases to housing for the poor.

5. Phase out all foreign military bases.

6. Require military personnel to devote part of their time to rebuilding infrastructure.

7. Call a moratorium on future weapons technologies.

8. Reduce armaments like destroyers and submarines that have no use against terrorism and were intended to defend against a superpower enemy that no longer exists.

9. Fully fund social services and take the balance out of the defense and homeland security budgets.

These are just the beginning. We don’t lack creativity in coping with change. Without a conversion of our present war economy to a peace economy, the high profits of the military-industrial complex ensures that it will never end.

Do these nine steps seem unrealistic or fanciful? In various ways, other countries have adopted similar measures. The former Soviet army is occupied with farming and other peaceful work, for example. But comparisons are rather pointless, since only the United States is burdened with such a massive reliance on defense spending. Ultimately, empire follows the dollar. As a society, we want peace, and we want to be seen as a nation that promotes peace. For either ideal to come true, you as president must back up your vision of change with economic reality. So far, that hasn’t happened under any of your predecessors. All hopes are pinned on you.

Deepak Chopra is acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest leaders in the field of mind-body medicine. He is the author of over 50 books, including Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind.  Spiritual philosopher

This article was originally posted on Alternet.

*  President-Elect Obama, you were elected in large part because of your promise to end the War in Iraq.  Will you sit down with leaders of the peace movement to talk about bringing our troops home?

*  What will you do to find a viable, negotiated solution that ends the violence in Afghanistan and fosters sustainable economic development, women’s rights, healthcare, education and civil society in the region?

Here’s how you can vote:

1.  Go to the Change.gov Open for Questions page
2.  Sign In to your account
3.  Search for the questions using the keyword:  peacevoter
4.  Vote by hitting the checkmark next to each of the questions

After voting, you can also submit your own question for Obama.

Update:  Jodie Evans wrote a piece for Tikkun magazine today to President Obama calling for him to End War Altogether and meet with the peace community.  Check it out here.

A rally calling on the Iraqi Government to free Muntadhar Al-Zeidi, the man who threw his shoes at George W. Bush, will be held Monday, December 29 at noon in front of the Iraqi consulate to the United States, located at 1801 P Street NW in Washington, DC.

The rally is timed to immediately precede Mr. Al-Zeidi’s appearance in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq on Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve. Mr. Al-Zeidi was arrested December 14 after hurling his shoes at Mr. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad.

“Al-Zeidi did not attempt to physically hurt George Bush but to insult him and express the deep anger that so many Iraqis feel over the U.S. occupation. He should be immediately released and the Iraqi government should be held accountable for abusing him while in custody,” said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK.

“The treatment Al-Zeidi has received should shame all Americans and is likely to motivate as much anti-American sentiment as have the photos of torture at Abu Ghraib,” said David Swanson, cofounder of AfterDowningStreet.org. “While our President and Vice President openly confess to authorizing torture, their puppet government in Iraq tortures a man for throwing shoes, in complete absence of even the pretense of ‘interrogation,’ much less a ticking time bomb. Freeing Al-Zeidi will not fix this situation. We must also put Bush and Cheney behind bars.”

“There are credible reports that Muntadhar Al-Zeidi has been tortured while in the custody of the government of Iraq,” said Nick Mottern, Director of Consumers for Peace, one of the rally organizers, “and this alone provides the basis for setting him free.”

“Mr. Al-Zeidi’s act, in the context of the suffering caused by the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, can be seen as a legitimate form of self-expression,” Mottern said, “but in any case his action is something that should be treated as nothing more than a misdemeanor in which his time already spent in jail would be more than sufficient.”

The rally is being called by a coalition of peace and justice organizations including: CODEPINK: Women for Peace; Iraq Veterans Against the War; AfterDowningStreet.org; Consumers for Peace; and others.

At the close of the rally, organizers will deliver a petition to Ambassador of Iraq to the United States Samir Sumaida’ie at the Iraqi embassy at 3421 Massachusetts Avenue NW.

In our recent visit to Iran, we saw among the young university women what an important role model Shirin Ebadi is to them. As a female law student told us, “Shirin is our hero. That’s why many of us decided to study law. We want to be like her and help the women of Iran gain equal status with men in areas such as marriage, divorce, custody of children, inheritance.”

Shirin Ebadi received worldwide recognition when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. The Iranian government has tried repeatedly to silence her, but to no avail. The latest government clampdown happened this weekend,  when  two human rights centers that she founded were illegally shut down without explanation or written justification.  Both groups are highly respected in Iran and worldwide for their role in improving human rights conditions.  The Center for Participation in Clearing Mine Areas helps victims of landmines in Iran, and Defenders of Human Rights Center, reports human rights violations in Iran, defends political prisoners, and supports families of those prisoners.  Ebadi was also taken into police custody briefly Sunday following the raids.

The closure occurred just hours before a 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day celebration at the center, and is a sign of the increasing actions against women’s rights and human rights activist by the government.  “The collective activities of the human rights activists in Iran have angered the Iranian authorities so much that they have illegally ordered the closing down of two NGOs,” Ebadi has stated in response to the incident.

Ebadi vowed to continue her work, saying “Obviously such a move does not have a positive message for other rights activists in Iran, but my colleagues and I will fulfill our duties under any circumstances.”

If Iran truly champions human rights, the centers must be allowed to remain safely open.   CODEPINK Women for Peace has created a petition to Iranian President Ahmadinejad calling on him to allow women’s right and human rights activist to continue their work in Iran safely and freely, and to re-open the two organizations. Please sign it here:   http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/424/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1787