Listen to Women for A CHANGE

Newsletter of WILPF Minnesota Metro Branch

This newsletter is being written while Lebanon is under siege by the Israeli military. The news is horrifying, with hundreds of civilian casualties and civilian infrastructure being destroyed in Lebanon, and civilian deaths also in Israel.

Destruction of the resources upon which a society depends for its life seems to be the way warfare is now conducted, viz. Bosnia, Serbia, Iraq, Gaza, and now Lebanon. It seems obvious to anyone who follows what has been and continues to be done to the Palestinian people by Israel that Hezbollah is now taking re-venge for the destruction of infrastructure, lives, and property in Gaza. The Lebanese government is helpless to stop this, and its stability is now in question. Both the U.S. and Israel are blaming Syria and Iran for supplying the weapons and encouragement to Hezbollah, and avoiding completely the basic issue of the stealing of Palestinian lands and use of over-whelming force against any Palestinian protests.

Are we on the brink of WWIII? Will our heirs wonder how we could have allowed this to happen?

The voices of the peace community, as exemplified by organizations like WILPF, Fellowship of Reconciliation,Vets for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, and Code Pink, are desperately needed. U.S. leadership is out of control, and it is using its partner Israel to further its goals in the Middle East. This is not the West against Islam. This is the power structure of the [Western] world against everyone.

WILPF has sister branches in both Palestine and Lebanon. Following are forwards from our Lebanese sisters. Please, find ways to let those in the government know that WE WANT DIPLOMACY AND JUSTICE, NOT VIOLENCE AND MORE INJUSTICE. Israel and the US cannot be allowed to act outside international law, which abjures war on civilians. Join our sisters in Code Pink in their Troops Home Fast (see page 5) (www.troopshomefast.org). Sign the Voter Pledge for Peace (see page 4) (www.voterforpeace.us). March in the streets. Protest as loudly as you can, wherever you can. WE MUST ACT! Please visit also the WAMM website to find local demonstrations and actions against continuing and new wars (www.worldwidewamm.org).

The Israeli army is once again on the rampage. In Gaza and now Lebanon, Israel continues to violate Internat- ional Law, destroying civilian lives and life-sustaining infrastructure with the full support of our U.S. government. As U.S. citizens we must join with the rest of the world in condemning these actions and tell our government to stop funding these crimes against humanity with our tax dollars.

Join a weekly vigil in solidarity with the people of Palestine--every Friday, 4:15 to 5:30 pm, intersection of Summit and Snelling Avenues in St. Paul.

Anyone looking for current information beyond the deliberate distortions and outright lies presented by the U.S. corporate media should check out the following websites:

http://imemc.org/ International Middle East Media Center http://electronicintifada.net/new.shtml The Electronic Intifada http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en Gush Shalom Israel

From Shirine El Jurdi The Lebanese people feel left out by the world that is turning a blind eye on the savagery of the Israeli state. Israel does not seem to be capable of approaching any problem outside the realm of the military power bestowed on it by the government of the United States of America and other western governments.

We are writing you this letter in the hope that this massacre is immediately stopped. It is the universal duty of each individual to defend the innocents and expose the truth. The numerous civilian victims of the Israeli operations are increasing by the hour. The viciousness of the attacks has attained terrifying levels where a child has been cut in three while another was half burned.

The Israeli war machine, in its blind savagery, is destroying not only our lives but the foundations that could help the civilians survive beyond their massacre. The Israeli Defense Forces are destroying in few hours what Lebanon has spent years and billions of dollars to rebuild.

Up until now more than 100 Lebanese civilians have been killed, hundreds wounded, bridges and infra-structure destroyed, refugees are leaving Beirut in droves and worst of all the enforced siege might lead to a human catastrophe in the next 48 hours. There must be an end to this violence and continuous violation of international laws and basic ethical behavior.

From Noura and Rayya Shaar

We are still suffering from the extreme attacks, all bridges that link the cities and villages are currently closed even communications throughout cell phones and commuting.

Each and every bombing is killing and injuring lots of children and innocent people. All high schools at Mount-Lebanon are currently jammed with families that escaped from South-Beyrouth and South Lebanon. We are helping families to find shelters, food, and cloth. Please, try your best as a (WILPF) to raise your voice to all nations to request for "No Violence, and the immediate stop of the Attack."

From Roula Zoubaine

... Indeed the situation is very dangerous in Lebanon, this beautiful country which has always seeked to live in peace and which today faces a total and open bloody war where the victims are mainly civilians among which many, many innocent children. Israel is destroying our infrastructure, the airport, bridges, roads, electricity & water facilities, all of which the Lebanese people have worked very hard to rebuild after 17 years of civil war and almost 30 years of Syrian presence and interfer-ence in our internal affairs. Now , ALL OF A SUDDEN WE ARE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM again only because Israel has decided to punish us for claiming our rights. We keep the faith intact. I hear bombardment. I have to go. Will write you tomorrow hopefully. In peace.

U.N. TO PROBE U.S. HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
From Tamara James, Acting Executive Director, WILPF

GENEVA, JULY 5, 2006---Today, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) joined 142 U.S.-based nonprofits and organizations and 32 individuals to release the most comprehensive review of human rights violations in the US ever com-piled. The 465-page "shadow report" was assembled for the UNšs Human Rights Committee as part of its review of U.S. human rights abuses later this month.

The U.N. review occurs every four years for countries that have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR is one of two treaties that together are equivalent to an international "Bill of Rights." The U.S. signed and ratified the treaty in 1992, but the U.S. review -- its second -- is more than seven years late.

Last year the U.N. warned that it would commence reviewing the U.S. without the official report if it were delayed any longer. The State Department submitted its official report on October 21, 2005.

Drawing attention to ICCPR's prohibition of propaganda for war, Gillian Gilhool, a lawyer with WILPF's Human Rights Committee, noted that "the violations the Committee is examining in this review, including violations of the right to life, to be free from torture and to due process committed by the United States in rela-tion to the war in Iraq and life- and health-threatening cutbacks in social programs in the United States, also violations, have their roots in the propaganda campaign of the Bush administration which produced this illegal war."

The "shadow report" is a rebuttal to the official U.S. report. Among the issues it documents are:

*Propaganda for War: In clear violation of Article 20 of the ICCPR, the Bush administration used a cam-paign of ... sometimes clearly false propaganda to mobilize domestic and inter-national support for the illegal invasion of Iraq. Its actions subverted the democratic imperative that public discourse relating to resolving of international conflicts be based on information and knowledge free from distortion by governmental propaganda;

*Immigration: The physical abuse and intimidation many immigrants face when they are detained at the border and at airports, the failure of U.S. immigration law to protect immigrant families and respect their right to due process, and discrimination against migrant workers

*Hurricane Katrina: The discriminatory nature of evacuation plans for New Orleans, the failure to protect against unnecessary loss of life, the discriminatory policies in the hurricane's aftermath resulting in viola-tions of the right to vote, ignoring residents' "right of return" and right to participate in the rebuilding process, and continued denials of access to basic neces-sities.

WILPF, whose work for human rights in the U.S. is informed by the human rights advocacy of its sections in 35 other countries, believes that a strong and demo-cratic U.N. is integral to ending war and preventing armed conflict. U.S. "exceptionalism," its disregard for the core elements of the U.N. Charter and the ICCPR, jeopardizes the well being not just of those living within the U.S. but of everyone living on earth.

On July 10, members of the coalition will present findings from the report to the committee in Geneva. Susi Snyder, Secretary General at WILPF's head-quarters in Geneva, will follow the work of the committee in reviewing U.S. human rights performance, along with additional WILPF staff. Representatives of the State Department and other federal agencies are ex-pected to answer questions from the committee on July 17-18.

... The U.N. Human Rights Committee is expected to release its findings on July 28, 2006.

News from Mary Day Kent
WILPF U.S. Section Executive Director
May 12, 2006

The International Executive Committee of WILPF is scheduled for Sept.7-13 in London. Plans for the 2007 International Congress in Bolivia will be reported and finalized. Tentative dates are late June in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The International Women's Peace Conference for Havana, Cuba, is still set for November 22-26th. International WILPF asks those who have a serious interest in going to please fill in the "pre-regis-tration" form posted on the IWPC web site (www.peacewomen-voices.org). This has no immediate financial commitment but would give the organizers a better sense of likely attendance.

A FOIA update: The Board decision in April to join with the ACLU-organized project for the Philadel-phia area has been progressing. In addition to the national office, the Philadelphia and Delaware County WILPF branches are joining this filing. Individuals filing along with WILPF include all current staff, our two board members from Philadelphia , several past staff and branch leaders, and our sponsor Sonia Sanchez, also a Philadelphia resident. The public filing for Philadel-phia will be done on June 14 with a press conference at the Constitution Center (independence mall) and a march to the Federal Building nearby where the FBI office is located, along with the office for Senator Specter of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

CORPORATIONS V. DEMOCRACY COMMITTEE

We are making some exciting plans for the fall.

First, we have begun work on a brochure outlining the basics of corporate personhood, rights- based organizing, and the work of our committee. We plan to use the brochure as an outreach tool--to members of our branch, hoping they will want to become involved in our committee or in promoting our committee's work to other groups they are involved with, and to other nonprofit organizations that may or may not be working directly on the issue of corporate power. We see many groups as potential allies in this struggle.

The first step towards building alliances will be letting others know about our work. We will create a small speaker's bureau and be ready to respond to speaking requests that come in as the brochures go out. Later in the fall we hope to convene a "popular education" day on issues related to corporate power and reclaiming democracy, inviting members of local organizations who are working on issues of corporate power either directly or tangentially to a strategy session where we can share our successes and failures to date, learn from each other's experience, and build a network to coordinate our future efforts.

Finally, we are in preliminary discussions to bring David Cobb to the Twin Cities to speak and teach about Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County and their experience building a grassroots movement to pass Measure T, a referendum declaring among other things that human beings, not corporations, possess constitutional rights.

The next meeting of this committee will be Tuesday, July 25th at 7 pm. Please contact Karen Redleaf for additional information: vegan14ever @riseup.net or (651)283-3495.

Not In Our Name: Vietnam, Iraq and the Voters' Pledge
By Daniel Ellsberg

According to recent opinion polls, most Iraqis don't believe that we're making things better or safer in their country. What does that say about the legitimacy of prolonged occupation, much less permanent American bases in Iraq? What does it mean for continued American armored patrols such as the one last November in Haditha, which, we now learn, led to the deaths of a Marine and 24 unarmed civilians?

Questions very much like these nagged at my conscience at the height of the Vietnam War, and led, eventually, to the publication of the first of the Pentagon Papers in June of 1971, 35 years ago.

As a former Marine Commander and defense analyst in 1970, I had exclusive access to highly classified defense documents for research purposes. They came to be known as the Pentagon Papers and constituted a 47-volume, top-secret Defense Department history of American involvement in Vietnam titled, "U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68." The Pentagon Papers made it very clear that I, like the rest of the American public, had been misled about the origins and purposes of the war I had participated in -- just as are the 85% of the troops in Iraq today who still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 and that he was allied with Al Qaeda.

That period had several similarities to this one. Congress was debating the withdrawal of U.S. armed forces from Indochina while President Nixon was making secret plans to expand, rather than exit from, the ongoing war in Southeast Asia -- including a major air offensive against North Vietnam, possibly using nuclear weapons. Today, the Bush administration's threats to wage war against Iran are explicit, with officials reiterating regularly that the nuclear "option" is "on the table." Americans saw the color photographs of the My Lai massacre; now we are seeing photographs eerily similar to those from Haditha: women, children, old men and babies, all shot at short range.

What was it that prompted me to begin copying 7,000 pages of highly classified documents -- an act that I fully expected would send me to prison for life? I came to the conclusion that the system I had been part of, given my unquestioning loyalty to for 15 years, as a Marine, a Pentagon official and a State Department officer in Vietnam, was a system that lies reflexively, at every level, from sergeant to commander in chief, about murder. And I had the evidence to prove it.

The papers showed very clearly how we had become engaged in a reckless war of choice in someone else's country -- a country that had not attacked us -- for our own domestic and external purposes. It became clear to me that the justifications that had been given for our involvement were false. And if the war itself was unjust, then all the victims of our firepower were being killed without justification.

That's murder.

Today, there must be, at the very least, hundreds of civilian and military officials in the Pentagon, CIA, State

Department, National Security Agency and White House who have in their safes and computers comparable documentation of intense internal debates -- so far carefully concealed from Congress and the public -- about prospective or actual war crimes, reckless policies and domestic crimes: the Pentagon Papers of Iraq, Iran or the ongoing war on U.S. liberties. Some of those officials, I hope, will choose to accept the personal risks of revealing the truth -- earlier than I did -- before more lives are lost or a new war is launched.

Haditha holds a mirror up not just to American troops in the field, but to our whole society. Not just to the liars in government but to those who believe them too easily. And to all of us in the public, in the administration, in Congress and the media who dissent so far ineffectively or who stand by as murder is being done and do nothing to stop it or expose it.

Americans must summon the civil courage to face what is being done in their name and to refuse to be accomplices. The Voters' Pledge is one way to do this. The Voters' Pledge is a project comprising many of the major organizations in the antiwar movement--United for Peace and Justice, Peace Action, Gold Star Families for Peace, Code Pink, and Democracy Rising--as well as groups with broader agendas like the National Organization for Women, Progressive Democrats of America, AfterDowningStreet.com, and magazines including the American Conservative and The Nation. The goal of this coalition is to build a base of antiwar voters that cannot be ignored by anyone running for office in the United States. We want millions of voters to sign the pledge and say no to pro-war candidates.

You can help right now by visiting www.VotersForPeace.US (or www.democracyinaction.org) and immediately signing the Voters' Pledge.

VotersForPeace
6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 240
Takoma Park, MD 20912
(301) 270-2355

Troops Home Fast
From CodePink
July 7, 2006

When we first decided to launch a fast to bring the troops home, we thought perhaps a handful of people would join. To our amazement, over 3,000 people have joined in the fast, coming from all states and 20 countries! If you haven't joined us yet, please sign on for at least one day of a solidarity fast. Or better yet, come join us in Washington DC anytime between now and August 15, when we will move the fast to Camp Casey outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

We kicked off the fast in Washington DC with a week full of somber and exhilarating events. On July 3 we had our last meal together -- a delicious dinner for 200 cooked with love by Food Not Bombs and served on a huge pink tablecloth in front of the White House. We prayed together, sang together, broke bread together, and expressed our commitment to fast as a way to deepen our own resolve and wake up the nation to the need to Bring the Troops Home.

But the next day, July 4th, when we tried to march in the Independence Day Parade, we were denied entry and two of our fasters, 25-year-old Iraq veteran Geoff Millard and 71-year-old CODEPINKer Chloe Jon-Paul, were arrested. Several hours later they emerged from the police station, tired and hungry but proud that they had stood up for free speech on Independence Day.

Elsewhere around the country, 35 groups began local fasts. At the train station near Hillary Clinton's home in Chappaqua, 100 fasters showed up to ask the Senator to stop supporting the occupation. Over 100 people joined in action in Chicago and in San Francisco, CODEPINK and supporters camped outside of Senator Diane Feinstein's house and will be fasting in front of her office for a week. We received messages from fasts in Rome, Germany, Pakistan and Egypt.

The fasters in Washington have been busy-feeding ice cream to the homeless, greeting Canadian Prime Minister as he arrived to meet with George Bush, having a private meeting with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar, hosting a Troops Home Fast birthday party for George Bush's 60th birthday, and attending a concert by Bonnie Raitt -- who did a shout out thanking CODEPINK and Cindy Sheehan for their dedication for peace and adding her name to growing list of fasters.

We've seen coverage of the fast in The Washington Post, FOX News, CNN, Reuters, The Village Voice, AP, and People Magazine online. Several fasters were on TV -- Cindy Sheehan was on Hard Ball and Colonel Ann Wright was on Hannity and Colmes; Diane Wilson and Medea Benjamin had op-eds in major newspapers and two of the long-term fasters were interviewed on Democracy Now.

The reasons each person is fasting vary, from family members grieving the loss of a loved one in Iraq, to soldiers losing their health and sanity to a war they don't believe in, to outraged citizens determined to stop our country from continuing this bloody, illegal and immoral occupation.

As the long-term fasters continue to hold vigil outside the White House from 10am to 7pm each day, we ask you to join us, to step in a little deeper, to give a little more. You can fast at home, join us in Washington DC as a faster or supporter, send us messages of encouragement or sign the Voters Peace Pledge and get 100 other people to sign on so we can form a strong peace bloc of voters before the November elections. Whatever you do, we are fed by your support.

Hungry but energized,
Allison, Dana, Erin, Farida, Gael, Jodie, Katie, Medea, Meredith, Nancy, Rae, Samantha and Tiffany
www.troopshomefast.org

BLACK ROBBERS - A True Story
From Sha'an Mouliert, Chair, National Committee Beloved Community

On a recent weekend in Atlantic City, a woman won a bucketful of quarters at a slot machine. She took a break for dinner with her husband. But first she wanted to stash the quarters in her room. "I'll be right back and we'll go to eat," she told her husband. As she was about to walk into the elevator she noticed two men already aboard. Both were black. One of them was tall....an intimidating figure. The woman froze. Her first thought was: These two are going to rob me.

Her next thought was: Don't be a bigot, they look like perfectly nice gentlemen. But racial stereotypes are powerful, and fear immobilized her.

She stood and stared at the two men. She felt anx-ious, flustered, and ashamed. She hoped they didn't read her mind but Gosh, they had to know what she was thinking!!! Her hesitation about joining them in the elevator was all too obvious now. Her face was flushed. She couldn't just stand there, so with a mighty effort she stepped forward and and was on the elevator.

Avoiding eye contact, she turned around stiffly and faced the elevator doors as they closed. A second passed, and another, and then another. Her fear increased! The elevator didn't move. Panic consumed her. My God, she thought, I'm trapped and about to be robbed! Her heart plummeted. Perspiration poured from every pore.

Then one of the men said, "Hit the floor." Instinct told her to do what they told her. The bucket of quar-ters flew upwards as she threw out her arms and collap-sed on the elevator floor.

Take my money and spare me, she prayed. More seconds passed. She heard one of the men say politely, "Ma'am, if you'll just tell us what floor you're going to, we'll push the button." The one who said it had a little trouble getting the words out. He was trying mightily to hold in a belly laugh. The woman lifted her head and looked up at the two men.

They reached down to help her up.

Confused, she struggled to her feet. "When I told my friend here to hit the floor," said the average sized one, "I meant that he should hit the elevator button for our floor. I didn't mean for you to hit the floor, ma'am." He spoke genially. He bit his lip. It was obvious he was having a hard time not laughing.

The woman thought: My God, what a spectacle I've made of myself. She was too humiliated to speak. She wanted to blurt out an apology, but words failed her. How do you apologize to two perfectly respectable gentlemen for behaving as though they were going to rob you? She didn't know what to say.

The three of them gathered up the strewn quarters and refilled her bucket.

When the elevator arrived at her floor they insisted on walking her to her room. She seemed a little un-steady on her feet, and they were afraid she might not make it down the corridor. At her door they bid her a good evening. As she slipped into her room she could hear them roaring with laughter as they walked back to the elevator.

The woman brushed herself off, pulled herself together and went downstairs for dinner with her husband. The next morning flowers were delivered to her room - a dozen roses. Attached to EACH rose was a crisp one hundred dollar bill. The card said: "Thanks for the best laugh we've had in years." It was signed:

Eddie Murphy , Michael Jordan