[statecom-discuss]Re: [statecom] Re: [adcom] Oct 27 Anti-WarEvent,can we endorse, turn out supporters, get a speaker?

[BillCunningham]

For whioh war, how about: Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, for starters?
Plus don't attack Iran or Sudan.  As to the "war at home," the 2005 District 7 Principles of Peace are posted under "documents" on The Bridge website. Maybe this can be updated and stated in fewer words, keeping the essence. Here's my suggestion. 

TURN AWAY FROM WAR

"Congress commits two-thirds of its discretionary spending each year to expanding the military-industrial complex. The Senate has just voted to raise this amount to over $600 billion. This shows they have no intention of turning away from war. 

"The anti-war movement has been said, “bring the troops home.”  But peace will not come just by taking the troops out of Iraq.  

"Peace is inseparable from justice.

"Thus, peace means shrinking military funding down to its core defense functions. We must end discretionary spending for discretionary violence.

"Economic conditions are linked to cynical government policies that have pushed millions into prison and recruited millions for war without end.  These communities are rarely heard or considered. Government should redirect its priorities and public resources toward producing decent jobs—with adequate benefits—for every resident seeking employment. 

"US institutions, founded on white male supremacy, rest on the violence of the wealthy and powerful. The “democracy” the US proposes for other countries is domination by military force. This self-serving, cynical and short-sighted strategy threatens the lives and livelihoods of the poor and people of color everywhere.

"To achieve peace, we must sever the roots of white supremacy.  We must dismantle the institutions, legal structures and social customs that reward, sustain or reproduce white supremacy.  The structures of oppression must be replaced by well resourced, autonomous, anti-racist, class conscious, and anti-sexist institutions built from the ground up."

There is one key point of the D7PofP which we can't include, of course. The PofP stated that we should not participate in any more antiwar demos that did not put these matters at the top of their agenda. The GRP has already endorsed this demo and we are prparing to mobilize for it. So the least we can do is put this out as a flyer.

Please notice also the absence of the D7PofP language about US military "peacekeeping" as part of its core function. We talked in MRGRA about this in 2005 and agreed that a lot of nasty stuff has been called "peacekeeping."

BTW, are people aware that there is a major Palestine rally planned for Copley Square, also on Oct 27? I presume there will be some coordination of these events. 

* * * * *

However I must respectfully disagree with the survey idea. I bet that, if we got enough responses, they would be all over the map. I would first like to hear people's ideas of how we are going to bring people into the GRP. Just bring people into the locals os the state party "cold"? What do would ask people to do in the GRP once they join? 


-----Original Message-----
>From: Mike Heichman <mikeheichman at verizon.net>
>Sent: Oct 4, 2007 1:31 PM
>To: Discussion List for StateCom members <statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org>
>Subject: Re: [statecom-discuss]	Re: [statecom] Re: [adcom] Oct 27 Anti-War	Event,	can we endorse, turn out supporters, get a speaker?
>
>Hi Jamie et al,
>
>Interesting idea about the survey.
>
>The creation of the survey will do a lot in determining the results.
>
>Specifically, what do we mean by "ending he war"? Which one? I suggest a 
>"GRP definition of what we mean by "ending the war"? For me there are 3 
>separate wars going on simultaneously:
>
>    -The war "over there" ("foreign wars") which are being fought by 
>different weapons (military, economic, "diplomatic", ideological, etc.)
>    -The "War at Home" (military (police, the courts), economic, civil 
>liberties, ideological, etc.)
>    -The "War Against the Ecosystem"
>
>I'm concerned that if we just ask, "How do we get out of the war?", most 
>people will think that we mean Iraq.
>
>What do others think?
>
>Mike Heichman
>
>
>
>Jamie O'Keefe wrote:
>
>>Hi Ebony, et. al.,
>>
>>On 9/25/07, David Barkley <blackindian_art at verizon.net> wrote:
>>  
>>
>>>"District 7 refused to endorse an antiwar demo last year because of its
>>>failure to deal with racism."
>>>My humble two cent
>>>Pleaser Note: failure to deal with racism was only one part The peace demos
>>>also didn't address the war at home and was not part of a consistent
>>>strategy for change.
>>>    
>>>
>>
>>Here are a few suggestions for how we could use the Oct 27th march to
>>help the process of developing a consistent strategy for change.
>>
>>1)  At the rally before the march (there are two hours which seems
>>really long too me), we could have members walking around and asking
>>participants if they want to fill out a survey on how we can end the
>>war and stop other wars.  It wouldn't be too long, and no one would be
>>required to give their contact info out.  We could also put it up on
>>our web site so people could fill it out there as well.
>>
>>We could announce that we will put the results of the survey up on the
>>web for all to see and review and that we hope it will be the start of
>>a discussion about developing a consistent strategy for change.
>>
>>2)  After the rally, 4-5pm, we can hold a party (charging $5-10 min)
>>for NE GP members to socialize, eat good local food, and, hopefully,
>>listen to some music (anyone know any GP members who would want to
>>perform?).  We can have people going around with a more in depth
>>survey asking party goers to be surveyed.  We can post this result for
>>the NE GPs.
>>
>>It doesn't get us there immediately, but it hopefully gets the ball rolling.
>>
>>Jamie
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>>  
>>
>
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Bill Cunningham