Peace Not Poverty

The movement toward peace and withdrawal from Iraq seems to be surging. Polls show that most Americans believe the war was not worth fighting, that the administration does not have a clear plan for withdrawal, that the U.S. is bogged down in Iraq, that the war has made our position in the world weaker rather than stronger, and that going to war in Iraq was a mistake.

Today Randy and I participated in the first day of a 4-day online write-in on the Iraq war at Peace Not Poverty. It is using a new technology called Synanim which "enables even a million people to synthesize consensus and identify leaders." Sponsored by many political and social activist groups and faith organizations, the mission of Peace Not Poverty is:

We will return America to its true moral mission and restore its historic commitment to the common good. We must do more for those among us who suffer from poverty, hunger, inadequate health care, and educational disparity.

The progressive movement is now at a turning point. Dozens of progressive religious leaders and organizations are rising as one to speak out against war and greed, and to build what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the Beloved Community. The Beloved Community promotes non-violence, social justice, fair and equal treatment under the law, care for the environment, and freedom.

The write-in today focused on creating a consensus statement of what the U.S. government and Americans need to do to be able to withdraw our military forces from Iraq. The question wasn't "if" but "how."

The version that Randy and I worked on jointly was chosen as the consensus document for our group in this round. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, but for now we are what they call "consensus leaders."

Here's what we wrote. Let us know what you think and we'll include your ideas in the next round if we can... and if we like them :)

We need a clearly defined, timely date of exit.

So that we do not perpetuate a continuing military manipulation of the people, we need to cease arming both the governments and the insurgencies in the region.

So that we do not perpetuate an unwanted continuing economic presence, whatever funds have been appropriated by our Congress for reconstruction need to be channeled through the Iraqi people for use as they see fit.

We need to accept that our leaving will not signal failure to meet any possible real or imagined objectives. We also need to accept that the responsibility for Iraq's future belongs to the Iraqi people, not to us.

We need to empower and involve the United Nations in the process. Our renewed full and accepting participation in the community of all nations, not just those who agree with us, will be a sign of our intentions for peaceful solutions to future problems.

We need to apologize to the people of Iraq and to all other nations for what we have done. Our nation should be called to a time of atonement and processing of what our government has done in our name, equal in stature to the times of memorialization and celebration we bestow upon ourselves.

We need our Congress to recover its powers of decision-making, courageously restraining the Executive Branch's assumption and manipulation of power.

We need offer our friendship and support to the Iraqi people--not only in our national interest, but in the interest of the global community.

Posted by Elissa Bishop-Becker at March 30, 2005 6:14 PM | TrackBack