The Washington Peace Letter is published monthly for the social justice community of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It's purpose is to support local, national and international struggles against oppression. It seeks to present a radical analysis of current events, covering information not readily available in the corporate media.

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The People's Campaign for Nonviolence is forty-days of action for peace and justice that will take place in Washington, D.C. from July 1 to August 9. The Campaign is expected to attract thousands of activists to call for an end to militarization and social, economic, and racial injustice. The People's Campaign was conceived by the Fellowship of Reconciliation as a way to celebrate the 1998 United Nations proclamation that the years 2001-2010 be an 'International Decade of a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World.'

In 1998, Nobel Peace Prize Laureates launched an appeal to every UN member country. The appeal requested that the UN proclaim a decade for the promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence. The UN General Assembly unanimously approved the resolution. The People's Campaign for Nonviolence is one way to make sure that this appeal is not ignored.

It will also be a chance to question and define the history and future of nonviolent struggle. What can we learn from past success and failure? What will be the role on nonviolence in the growing mass resistance to globalization and corporate power? These will be some of the of the topics debated during the open dialogue that kicks-off the Campaign on July 1, 7-10 p.m. at Howard University Chapel. Leading the discussion will be Daniel Berrigan, Helen Caldicott, John Dear, Marian Wright Edelman, Arun Gandhi, James Lawson, and Jonathan Schell. This event is free and open to all and will be followed by a reception (with free ice cream!).

The opening weekend will move from discussion to preparation for action with a hands-on nonviolence training led by James Lawson on July 2, 2 p.m. in Douglass Hall at Howard University. The training will include an action prep for the first direct action of the campaign which will take place on July 3 at 9 am at the White House.

Throughout July and into August, groups and individuals will maintain the call for peace and justice everyday by publicly presenting demands, such as the elimination of nuclear weapons and abolition of the death penalty. The Campaign will also feature calls for nonviolence from many religious perspectives including Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim peace organizations.

Plans for the 40 days include vigils, nonviolence trainings, teach-ins, interfaith dialogues, marches, protests and civil disobedience that will educate about the destructive effects of militarization and institutionalized violence and the need to work towards building a culture of peace. The role of the arts in peacemaking will be emphasized with a play staged on July 4 at the Washington Monument, music and street theatre. Several groups will also be participating in the 'Listening to the People Project,' a program that aims to facilitate dialogue between national activist organizations and D.C.-based activists and communities.

Three days of action at the end of the Campaign will mark the 55th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan, and the 10th anniversary of the economic sanctions on Iraq. A teach-in will be held on August 5 and will include survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and activist actor Martin Sheen. On August 6, People from around the nation will march to end the sanctions on Iraq from the Lincoln Memorial to a rally at Lafayette Park and on August 7, there will be mass nonviolent direct action to demand an end to the sanctions.

Everyone is invited to take part in and help plan these historic events. The next meeting of the D.C.-area planning committee will be on June 8 at 7:30 p.m. at La Casa, 3166 Mt. Pleasant Street NW in Mt. Pleasant. Volunteers are needed in these working groups: outreach, housing, nonviolence trainers, direct action planning and more. Help is also needed at the People's Campaign office. Contact us at (202) 244-0951 or wdcfor@excite.com. For more info and the full 40-day schedule see www.forusa.org.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explained, the purpose of protest is to create "such creative tension that a community is forced to confront the issue" and to "dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored." The People's Campaign will succeed if all of us are able to confront our culture of violence and make sure our demands for a nonviolent world are heard.

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