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| VOICES NEWSLETTER (JAN 2003)
Contents
1) DISRUPT THE MASTERS OF WAR
Following the success of the 'War Zone Whitehall' die-in in London on Mon. 2 Dec. (see p. 2), and as the US and UK continue their war preparations, voices in the wilderness uk and ARROW have called a weekend of nonviolent direct action at Northwood, a key military base in North London on Sat.18 and Sun.19 Jan.2003. Officers from Northwood, the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) of the British Armed Forces, are already in Qatar participating in a US wargame preparing for the projected invasion of Iraq. The PJHQ is the command post for British rapid deployment forces, and will play a key role in directing British forces in any war on Iraq. On the twelfth anniversary of the outbreak of the 1991 war, and in parallel with US mass demos, we are inviting anti-war groups and activists to come to Northwood for a weekend of resistance, to express the strength of our opposition to war, through direct action or through non-arrestable forms of protest. There will be a blockade on Sun.19 Jan. (organised with the 'D10' group), and legal support for any other nonviolent direct action that affinity groups decide to engage in. (For non-Londoners, there is floor space accommodation available). The date for war continues to move back, partly because of our pressure. Let us say with all the power that is in us: NO WAR ON IRAQ. 2) WARZONE WHITEHALL
Warzone Whitehall, the nonviolent die-in in Whitehall on Mon. 2 Dec., initiated by voices uk, saw 90-odd people wearing bandages and blood stains lying in the road blocking traffic, leading in the end (after over two hours of dying-in) to 34 arrests. The event started with moving and powerful statements from Mark Thomas and Caroline Lucas MEP, and proceeded with slow drumbeats to Whitehall, where a series of die-ins took place (and Rosy Bremer carried out multiple invasions of the Cabinet Office). Thanks largely to great press work by Richard Byrne, Emma Sangster and Jo Macinnes we got on over a dozen local radio stations. Radio 5 Live, BBC and Channel 4 News; got photos into the Financial Times, the Independent, and the Guardian; were noted on Canadian TV; and were reported in the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. 'Gabriel and Richard also got a lot of media to pick up on the Amnesty International criticism of the selective use of human rights reports, as in Jack Straw's dossier. Thank you to everyone who took part in the die-in, to all the supporters who helped out in so many ways, and to everyone who helped financially. Support Still Nested The trials of 13 people charged with highway obstruction are still to be arranged. ARROW is setting up a Defendants Fund to help pay fines and court costs for this and future actions. Please check details on Appreciation The success of the day was due to Kathryn & Matthew (who ran the nonviolent direct action workshop the day before),Emma, Julianna, Fred and Jo (who made the props), Kes (who made banners), Salih (who provided the food) and David Baker (who kindly arranged the venue at Kingsley Hall); AND Jesse & Patrick (sound effects), Sian, Di and Jim (legal support), Richard B (press). Pat (chief steward), Gareth, Glenn, and lots of other fantastic helpers, stewards and legal observers; AND Mark Thomas, Caroline Lucas for their wonderful contributions AND Evelyn (herculean mobilisation efforts) and Gabriel (the foundation stone of the whole thing). NOTE Thanks are also due to Anna-Marie, Marion, Fred, Josephine, J, Matt, Andrea, Richard B, and Ann for helping Gabriel with newsletter 26. 3) PHIL BERRIGAN
A great spirit has gone out of this world. On 6 Dec., Phil Berrigan, the great warrior pacifist protester, died at Jonah House, a community he helped to found, in Baltimore, USA. Phil, a former Jesuit priest, helped lead the burning of draft board files in Catonsville in 1968 in protest against the Vietnam War, helped initiate the international Ploughshares movement in 1980, and spent 11 years in prison for extraordinary acts of nonviolent resistance. He was an inspiration to' a generation of activists. Phil, 79, died of liver and kidney cancer. At his funeral on 9 Dec., his youngest daughter Kate Berrigan said, 'He showed us all what it meant to be free.' Phil, you will be sorely missed. 4) THE SPIRIT OF THE CHILDREN
Nathan Mauger visits the Al-Bakel Primary School for Girls in Basra with the Iraq Peace Team on 24 Sept. 2002: At the school we go from classroom to classroom introducing ourselves. All of the Iraqi students are little girls. They are silent and motionless, cowed by six strange foreigners. Eventually the voices delegation moves to an empty room to talk with the teachers. I start to videotape, then duck out and go back into one of the classrooms. There is no teacher now, and the students giggle and point at me. I turn the LCD screen around on the camera, so the girls can see themselves on a monitor a few inches wide. They crowd around and start laughing. I'm quickly surrounded by twenty-five laughing eight-year-olds. They start to wave at the camera and yell out greetings in Arabic. After a few minutes they begin jumping up and down. They climb on the desks, on the window sill, on each other. They're laughing and screaming and I'm laughing too; the noise is deafening. Things are getting out of control and I'm worried the girls on the desks will fall off. I'm trying to tell them to get down, but everyone is excited and yelling and they don't pay much attention. Someone starts throwing water from a water-bottle. The scene is so amazing I turn the monitor on the digital camera around to make sure it's still recording. Suddenly all of the noise, jumping and chaos stops. A few seconds later I turn the screen around again, facing the girls, and they start cheering and bouncing up and down again. One of the teachers pokes her head in and students shut the door and block it with their bodies. Ten minutes later I make my way outside and am mobbed by over one hundred little girls. Back in the van, I play the footage
for the other voices people. Barbara's eyes get red and she's near tears. "God bless 'em," she
says. The Iraq Peace Team, organised by voices in the wilderness us, is
keeping online diaries at Our very own Matt Barr will be travelling out to Iraq shortly with the IPT. Please call 0845 458 2564 (local rate) if you would like to see him off. 5) BREAK THE SANCTIONS: VOICES US FINED
On 6 Nov. 2002, the US Treasury office in charge of sanctions (Office of Foreign Assets Control - OFAC) sent a letter to voices in the wilderness us, and co-founder Kathy Kelly, imposing a fine of $20,000 for delivering medicine without a permit to Iraq on two occasions in 1998. OFAC simultaneously sent a letter to activist Dan Handelman of Portland, Oregon, imposing a fine of $10,000 for his part in a November, 1997 voices delegation to deliver medicine to Iraq. This notice was similar to ones received in May and June of 2002 by other members of that delegation, Bert Sacks, a retired engineer, and Rev. Randall Mullins, both of Seattle, Washington. Both Bert and Randall refused to pay their fines, and instead raised money for more medicine, which was delivered to Iraq in September 2002. Since 1996, voices members have broken sanctions with over fifty delegations to Iraq. They stand with hundreds of others who have traveled on humanitarian, fact-finding and rebuilding missions, and who refuse to see the people of Iraq as enemies. Voices us has responded by launching an appeal for $30,000 toward humanitarian and peacemaking efforts in Iraq as an alternative to paying penalties to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Two voices us activists were arrested
but not prosecuted for sanctions-breaking in 1998—no other proceedings
have been taken in the UK. To support voices us, please check the website 6) BISHOP/BRIAN/JO
Homily of Rt.Rev.Thomas Burns, Bishop of the Armed Forces Remembrance Sunday, Alders hot, 10th Nov. 2002 referring to war on Iraq: The families, friends, and loved ones of those killed and wounded will grieve all the more if the losses they face result from a non-credible cause. The prospect of British troops arriving home from war in body-bags is never acceptable, though sadly it is often inevitable. The burden may be easier to carry if they have died in a just cause, in pursuit of something believed in, in defence of a widely embraced principle. When a bereaved family ask me if their loved one died in a just cause, I want to be able to reply unequivocally: YES. When they say: Was if worth it? I want to be able to look them in the eye and say without hesitation: Yes, it surely was. War diminishes countries on both sides, for peaceful solution has not been found, and it is the innocent and helpless who suffer. Can this situation be avoided? It has to be. Full text: Brain Please do send a card to Brian, the one-man round-the-clock anti-sanctions/anti-war vigil: Brian Hoare, the man in Parliament Square, London SW1A. Practical offers of support: 020 8806 6272. Jo Charlotte Paterson reports on Jo Wilding's attempt, at a hearing in Bristol on 2 Dec, to retrieve sanctions-breaking dates seiyed by Customs: Jo was GREAT! In a court packed with supporters, Jo argued that the customs statute under which the dates were seized contravened the Geneva Conventions, but the magistrates found against her, and imposed court costs of £100. I felt very inspired by Jo's arguments and her controlled passion and good humour, and I am sure others did too. Thanks Jo. Jo is going out to Iraq on a non-voices delegation in January. 7) KILLER FACTS
Nearly One Million Malnourished Children While acute malnutrition among Iraqi children under five has more than halved since 1996, UNICEF reports, chronic malnutrition, which leads to lifelong mental and physical stunting has only fallen from 32 to 23 per cent. 'Despite improvements there are still close to one million children under the age of five suffering from chronic malnutrition in Iraq today - that's nearly a quarter of all children of that age,' said Mr. Carol de Rooy, head of UNICEF in Iraq. 'This is unacceptable. More still needs to be done to end the suffering of a generation of children.' Estimated Death Toll From A War On Iraq 'Estimates of the total possible deaths on all sides during the conflict and the following three months range from 48,000 to over 260,000. Civil war within Iraq could add another 20,000 deaths. 'Additional later deaths from post-war adverse health effects could reach 200,000. If nuclear weapons were used the death toll could reach 3,900,000. In all scenarios the majority of casualties will be civilians.' Summary of a report by Medact, the global health campaign. More info: |
5 Caledonian Road, King's Cross, London N1 9DX telephone : 0845 458 2564 voices@viwuk.freeserve.co.uk |