On Thursday, June 6, in gatherings across the U.S., people will commit themselves to resist in different ways the horrors that the U.S. government is inflicting on people around the world and here at home. The government claims to do it for our benefit. They claim to do it in our name. Join with us to say: War on the World - Not in Our Name! Detentions and Roundups - Not in Our Name! Police State Restrictions - Not in Our Name!
We refuse to allow President Bush to speak for all the people living in this country. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. We acknowledge that we in this country have a special responsibility to resist what our own government is doing, from military interventions to supplying arms used to shoot down and terrorize people from Palestine to the Philippines. Together as one we say "NOT IN OUR NAME."
On June 6 we will come together to take the Not in Our Name Pledge of Resistance (see below) and invite you to endorse and be part of this effort. We are people from different backgrounds, cultures, communities and political beliefs in common refusal to go along with the government's war without limits, with its roundups and detentions of immigrants, and with its attacks on civil liberties. The events will launch efforts to spread the Pledge throughout society, to strengthen and expand resistance in diverse ways.
We welcome and encourage your ideas, participation and endorsement as individuals and organizations. Send your endorsement to nycnotinourname@yahoo.com. We also invite you to publicize the event by posting this broadly. Please send financial contributions to NION c/o WILPF, 339 Lafayette St., NY, NY 10012. (Make out checks to Not in Our Name/IFCO. Contributions are tax deductible.)
In NYC we will gather at Washington Square Park at 5:30 p.m. Together we will hear the stories of those who have felt the effects of U.S. military actions abroad and immigrants who have been detained here. We will herald resistance in words and music. And we will, all together, take the Pledge of Resistance, declaring our determination to stop this course and sending a message to the peoples of the world that we stand with them. We will affirm that "another world is possible and we pledge to make it real."
Endorsers include: Philip Berrigan, Plowshares activist; Rev. Elizabeth A. Braddon, Park Slope United Methodist Church (Brooklyn); Brooklyn Parents for Peace; Brooklyn Heights Peace Action; Ethical Action Committee of the Brooklyn Ethical Culture Society; CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) - New York; Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director, Greater NY Labor-Religion Coalition*; Rev. Dr. James Fitzgerald, Minister for Mission and Social Justice, the Riverside Church*; Mary Lou Greenberg, Revolutionary Communist Party, NY Branch; Islamic Center of Long Island (Domestic Harmony Committee); Rev. Dr. Earl Kooperkamp, Pastor, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, West Harlem*; Rev. Peter Laarman, Senior Minister, Judson Memorial Church*; MADRE; New Yorkers Say No to War; Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (NISPOP); New York Fellowship of Reconciliation; Pax Christi Metro New York; Peace Action of New York State; Refuse & Resist!; SAKHI for South Asian Women; South Asians Against Police Brutality and Racism; Rev. Ian B. Straker, Member NY Annual Conference, The United Methodist Church*; Women in Islam; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, NY Metropolitan Branch; SALAAM (South Asians League of Artists in AMerica); Starhawk; Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory; Vieques Support Campaign. (* for identification only) To add your name, email nycnotinourname@hotmail.com or call 212-969-0592.
Here's information on Not In Our Name events for June 6th. Check at http://notinourname.net and http://www.refuseandresist.org for updates.
Cleveland, Ohio
5:00 PM - converge on Public Square with props and signs for drumming and mass taking of the Pledge. "We are encouraging people to put up globe flags on their homes June 6. We will be distributing paper globe flags that we can download from www.earthflag.net. We will also be making and distributing stickers with different stanzas of the Pledge of Resistance for people to wear, put up, etc." For more information: no_more_war_us@yahoo.com.
Gainesville, Florida
4:30 PM - gather at corner of University and 13th for Pledge-taking event. "Bring any signs, banners, flags you wish to proclaim your resistance to 'war with terrorism' and your alliance with those under attack." sponsored by Community Coalition Against War and Terrorism. For more information: http://www.civicmediacenter.org/ccawt/
Ghent, New York
People for Peltier (based in Ghent, Columbia County, New York State) will blitz the media blitz with the Not in Our Name Pledge of Resistance and the Call to take up the NION Project. In addition, they will fax the Pledge to their State legislators, U.S. Congressional Representatives and Senators, the Justice Department, Colin Powell and the White House. The Pledge and Call have been endorsed by Neil J. Smith, Chairman, and Joanne Lepore, Coordinator, People for Peltier. For more information: 518-672-6441.
Kickapoo Region, SW Wisconsin
5:00 - gathering at Eckhardt (the courthouse) Park, Viroqua for a picnic and program with music, puppetry, theatre, dance and an open microphone, beginning and concluding with a community sing-along that will lead into the Pledge ceremony and candlelight vigil at 9:00 PM. "Musicians and others who want to continue playing, singing and dancing after the ceremony are encouraged to do so. Those who can't make it at all that evening can consider taking part in a Pledge ceremony later in the summer. This movement has only just begun and it's never too late to join." For more information: 608-624-3800.
Los Angeles, California
5:00 PM - gather at Pershing Square (5th and Hill Street) in Downtown Los Angeles for pre-mass Pledge taking activities, including cultural performances, music, spoken word and guerilla theater. "We are calling for people to bring their own displays, artwork and statements to create a Not in Our Name Memorial to the victims of the U.S. war against the world's people and a tribute to acts of resistance to the U.S. war and repression. Then special guests will start things off by each making a short statement about why they are taking the Pledge and reading a stanza from it. The event will culminate with a mass taking of the Pledge of Resistance at 8 p.m. in Pershing Square. " For more information: (310) 236-0732 or lanotinourname@hotmail.com
New Haven, Connecticut
3:30 PM - gather corner of Elm and York Streets (Yale Campus). Sponsored by the CT Peace Coalition. Contact 1-800-770-9067 or nionnewhaven@aol.com.
New York City, New York
5:30 PM - Washington Square Park, South side 3 blocks east of 6th Avenue and West 4th Street Subways A, C, E, F trains stop at "West 4th Street" stop Gather for music, poetry and stories of repression and resistance, including South Asian detainees and those who will speak first-hand about the effects of the U.S. Government's war on the world. Clergy from different faiths, activists and others will say why they are taking the Pledge. The event will culminate in a mass taking of the Not in Our Name Pledge. Endorsers include: Philip Berrigan, Ploughshares activist; Rev. Elizabeth A. Braddon, Park Slope United Methodist Church (Brooklyn); Brooklyn Parents for Peace; Brooklyn Heights Peace Action; Ethical Action Committee of the Brooklyn Ethical Culture Society; Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director, Greater NY Labor-Religion Coalition*; Mary Lou Greenberg, Revolutionary Communist Party, NY Branch; Rev. Dr. Earl Kooperkamp, Pastor, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, West Harlem*; Rev. Peter Laarman, Senior Minister, Judson Memorial Church*; MADRE; New Yorkers Say No to War; Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (NISPOP); New York Fellowship of Reconciliation; Peace Action of New York State; Refuse & Resist!; South Asians Against Police Brutality and Racism; Rev. Ian B. Straker, Member NY Annual Conference, The United Methodist Church*; Women in Islam; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, NY Metropolitan Branch; SALAAM (South Asians League of Artists in America); Starhawk; Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory; Vieques Support Campaign. (*for identification only) For more information: 212-969-8058 or nycnotinourname@hotmail.com
San Francisco Bay Area, California
6:00 PM - gather at Martin Luther King Park (Center and MLK Blvd), Berkeley for a candle light vigil/march through Berkeley. Pledge taking and public speak-out at 8:30 p.m. "We are also asking different people from the movement to make statements as to why they are taking the Pledge of Resistance. " Endorsers include: Anakbayan - Bay Area; Berkeley Stop the War Coalition; East Bay Coalition Against the War; Ella Baker Center; Filipino Workers' Association - SF; Global Exchange; International Socialist Organization; Yuri Kochiyama; Loco Bloco; Barbara Lubin, Middle East Children's Alliance; First Quarter Storm Movement - No. CA; Marin Peace & Justice Coalition; MEChA UC Berkeley; Philippine Information Network Services; Refuse & Resist!; Revolution Books; Wilson Riles Jr.; Sonoma Peace Action; San Francisco Town Hall Committee Against War and Hate; SALAAM (South Asian League of Artists in AMerica) For more information: bayareapledge@yahoo.com
Seattle, Washington
4:30 PM - join demonstration at INS Building in support of the Hamoui family, a Syrian family that has been held at the Seattle INS detention center since mid-February. (People have been protesting their detainment every Thursday from 4-5:30 p.m.) Following this, people will head downtown to Broadway for a convergence at 7:00 p.m., preceded by street theater and a show of support for another Seattle detainee, Bulent Entur, from Turkey, outside his shop on Broadway. A rally and pledge ceremony will be held. For more information: seattle_notinourname@hotmail.com.
Boston, Massachusetts (Tuesday, June 4)
5:30 PM - gather in Copley Square for vigil and Pledge-taking. Sponsored by United for Justice with Peace coalition.
Please send endorsements and information about other Not in Our Name events to notinrname@hotmail.com
[posted 5/30/02]
Acts of Resistance | The New Normalcy | R&R Main
Page
Join Refuse
& Resist!
305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165
Phone: 212-713-5657
email: info@refuseandresist.org