[act-ma] Apr 9th Escalates: Global Day of Action, stand w. Iraqi civil society, fight climate change not wars

[Maggie Zhou]

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Maggie Zhou <mzhou_us at yahoo.com>
To: cjn at lists.riseup.net; climate09-int at lists.riseup.net; 
no-offsets at googlegroups.com
Sent: Thu, April 7, 2011 10:33:30 AM
Subject: Apr 9th Escalates: Global Day of Action, stand w. Iraqi civil society, 
fight climate change not wars


Major exciting development: Iraqi civil society escalates protests, now calling 
for open-ended sit-ins in front of US military bases until they leave their 
country (see message below).

April 9th is now the global day of action marking the beginning of this sit-in, 
echoing the mass bi-coastal antiwar protests in the US (April 9: New York City; 
April 10: San Francisco), endorsed by major labor unions, civil rights 
organizations, immigrant and Muslim rights organizations, environmental groups, 
and of course, antiwar groups.

If your organization has not yet endorsed the April 9/10 actions, it is not too 
late to send it in here: http://nationalpeaceconference.org/Page_2.html
(Pls indicate country of your organization, or 'International' if not limited to 
one country).

If you are in the US, pls try and join one of the 
protests: http://nationalpeaceconference.org/

... and/or the non-violent direct action on April 8 (Friday) in Washington DC at 
the Pentagon, organized by the National Campaign for Non-violent Resistance, in 
solidarity with the April 9/10 protests: http://www.warresisters.org/node/1124

For info on the link b/w climate and militarism/wars, here is a 3-page fact 
sheet:
http://www.climatesos.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Military_Climate_factsheet-Nov23_2010.pdf


The US alone spends over $1 trillion a year on military and wars, while the 
planet burns and social services vanish across continents.

Maggie Zhou
Climate SOS

Begin forwarded message:

From: USLAW <info at uslaboragainstwar.org>
>
>Date: April 7, 2011 5:00:44 AM EDT
>
>To: chris_gauvreau at comcast.net
>
>Subject: Act with Iraqis Standing Up to the US Military Presence in Their 
>Country
>
>Reply-To: info at uslaboragainstwar.org
>
>
>
>
>Not subscribed to this newsletter? Subscribe now! Unsubscribe information at 
>bottom.  
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>Act with Iraqis Standing Up
>to the US Military Presence
>in Their Country
>Since February 25th Iraqis – fueled by the air of audacity sweeping the Arab 
>world – have been organizing weekly Friday protests against government 
>corruption and sectarianism, a shocking lack of public services, and for the 
>release of Iraq’s thousands of arbitrarily imprisoned. This coming April 9th 
>though, 8 Iraqi civil-society organizations are taking this a step further, and 
>have planned to stage open-ended sit-ins in front of US military bases all over 
>the country until ‘the occupier and its agents’ leave. They have called the 9th 
>‘The Day of Salvation.’ (Full report here.)
>Among the organizers are Uday and Muntazer al-Zaidi (acclaimed journalist 
>shoe-thrower) who head up an organization called ‘The Popular Movement to Save 
>Iraq.’ They have been harassed, detained and abused over this past month of 
>protests (the largest of which was in 17 cities where 16 people were killed and 
>130 wounded by Iraqi security forces. More info here.)
>Defying Iraq’s police state, their communiqué announces: “the launch of a 
>long-term sit-in in all Iraqi provinces to mark the eighth anniversary of the 
>brutal American occupation of our precious Iraq on Saturday, 4/9/2011 [. . .] 
>This sit-in will not last hours or days, but will continue night and day until 
>the protesters demands are met [ . . . ] For our sit-ins we will set up tents in 
>front of US military bases, which are located in every Iraqi province. We ask 
>all patriotic individuals and forces that oppose the occupation to participate 
>in this demonstration.” (Full text here.)
>The ‘Status of Forces Agreement’ (SOFA), signed by former president Bush and the 
>Iraqi government in late 2008, pushed for making 54 major US bases in Iraq 
>permanent, while also announcing a full US 'combat forces' withdrawal by the end 
>of 2011. As recently as January 31st of this year, John Kerry, chairman of the 
>Committee on Foreign Relations, has opened the possibility of pressuring the 
>Iraqi government to sign a new security agreement delaying US pullout (costing 
>$25-30 billion over the next 5 years), while Vice-President Joe Biden has also 
>recently implied that US troops may need to stay on to ‘help train Iraqis.’
>Stand with Iraqis partaking in civil disobedience all over their country! Call 
>President Obama and demand that he listen to Iraqi civil society: no to a new 
>agreement, and no to any permanent US military presence in Iraq! The US must be 
>held to the current timeline for withdrawal. Iraqis are putting their lives on 
>the line to liberate their country.
>What You Can Do
>1) On April 9th - a national and global day of action - Call President Barrack 
>Obama, who will have the final say on the SOFA, at the White House 
>at 202-456-1111 on behalf of Iraqis and say no to prolonged US military presence 
>in Iraq and no to violent crackdowns on Iraqi protests.
>2) At rallies in the US on April 9th and 10th distribute this educational comic 
>[accessible here] and let people know what is happening to Iraqis and how they 
>are  organizing to fight back. In NYC, extra copies of the leaflet will be 
>available at the WRL meet-up location at the Gandhi statue in Union Square at 
>15th St. and Union Square West.
>3) Visit the Iraqi facebook page: "Support Iraqi Protesters in the Great Iraqi 
>Revolution" athttp://www.facebook.com/#!/Great.Iraqi.Revolution for updates and 
>to write messages of support!
>
>--  Ali Issa Field Organizer War Resisters League  339 Lafayette Street  New 
>York, NY 10012  phone: 212.228.0450 x13 fax:  212.228.6193  
>
>Ali at warresisters.orgwww.warresisters.org
>
>  
>
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