ACTIVIST CAMPAIGNS

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*US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation Action Alert
Weapons Watch: Hold Israel Accountable to the US Arms Export Control Act

Weapons Watch is an ongoing program of the US Campaign to hold Israel accountable for the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians with weapons provided by the United States.

The US Arms Export Control Act (Public Law 90-829) limits the use of U.S. weapons given or sold to a foreign country to "internal security" and "legitimate self-defense" and prevents their use against civilians. In 2005, U.S. taxpayers are providing Israel with $2.2 billion worth of arms. Israel often uses U.S. weapons in an external, offensive manner to prosecute its illegal 37 year-old military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Using U.S. weapons to enforce a foreign military occupation can never be justified as "internal security”"

When the US Campaign is able to document that the killing of Palestinian civilians by Israel was committed with U.S. weapons, it issues an action alert with specific information on the incident and mobilizes a nation-wide network of volunteers to collect petition signatures to Congress and the President calling for an investigation into Israeli violations of the US Arms Export Control Act and a halt in arms transfers to Israel until it complies with human rights standards and international law.

The US Campaign is seeking 100,000 petition signatures in 2005 to create a powerful nation-wide political movement to challenge ongoing arms transfers to Israel while it violates human rights and domestic laws with these weapons. Collecting petition signatures will also help your local organizations grow and become stronger.

Sign the petition today by visiting: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/petition.php?pid=7

Sign up to become a Weapons Watch Volunteer” today and distribute action alerts and collect petition signatures by visiting: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/modinput.php?modin=79

Download a PDF version of the petition to collect signatures by visiting: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/wwpetition1-14-05.pdf

*ETAN Action Alert
Urge Congress to Continue & Expand Restrictions on U.S.-Indonesia Military Assistance

On February 26, the Bush administration announced that Indonesia can fully participate in the prestigious IMET military training program for the first time since 1992! Yet the Indonesian military continues to aggressively violate human rights and enjoy impunity for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor and elsewhere. Congress must oppose Secretary of State’s decision.

What You Can Do: Contact your Representative and 2 Senators.

Tell them:
* The release of full IMET for Indonesia is a setback for human rights, justice and democratic reform.
* Congress must vigorously protest the State Department’s decision to release IMET funds, reinstate the restriction of IMET for Indonesia, and put in place broad restrictions on all military assistance to Indonesia in the 2006 legislative process.

Phone calls and faxes are generally more effective than emails. The congressional switchboard number is 202-224-3121 (ask for the office of your Senators or Representative), or check http://www.congress.org on the internet for direct phone line, fax or e-mail contact information. Every call makes a difference, so please contact your members of Congress today!

Thanks for your support. Please let us know the results of your efforts. Send updates to etan@etan.org.

For more information, see U.S.-Indonesia Military Assistance page or contact ETAN, 718-596-7668; fax: 718-222-4097.

*President's Budget & the Iraq War: National Priorities Project

Proposed Budget: We now have available our 2-page state publications showing the impact of the President's budget on each state along with other general budget information. Go to www.nationalpriorities.org/budgetpublication to find your state.

We have also updated our "trade-offs" section to include the proposed increase in Pentagon spending and two specific military spending programs (ballistic missile defense and nuclear weapons). You can find out what these proposed spending levels could buy your state in local services at http://nationalpriorities.org/tradeoff.

Iraq War: The Bush Administration has requested an additional $82 billion in supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other spending. An estimated $61 billion of the total is for the Iraq War. To get the taxpayer cost to your state and city, a breakdown of how the $82 billion would be spent and other information about the supplemental, go to: www.nationalpriorities.org/warstatecost.

To view the complete list of cities and counties for which the cost of war is provided, go to: www.nationalpriorities.org/warcitycost.

NPP Database: With the NPP Database, http://database.nationalpriorities.org, you can view an enormous range of data and statistics at county, state and national levels going back to 1983. Many different issue areas are covered: income and poverty, housing, hunger, health, energy, military, education, labor and basic demographic information. You can create graphs, adjust for inflation, and make printer-friendly reports. You can also save your searches and come back to view them at a later date.

Have the tools for your activism from the National Priorities Project: www.nationalpriorities.org

*American Friends Service Committee: Save Our Services
Urge Your Senator to Vote No to Harmful Budget Cuts

AFSC's new Save Our Services (SOS!) campaign aims to prevent U.S. budget cuts that would hurt tens of millions of families. As part of the campaign, supporters throughout the country have so far distributed 10,000 SOS! postcards to U.S. senators, urging them to "...not cut federal programs and services that help people maintain a decent quality of life."

In an innovative twist, AFSC's Oakland, California, office is distributing postcards addressed to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) through the homeless people who sell StreetSpirit, a newspaper about homeless issues.

Order your free SOS! postcards today:
http://ga3.org/ct/l7A8SdY13mxL/postcards

Also read "A Budget Bereft of Compassion," a recent editorial by AFSC General Secretary Mary Ellen McNish that ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
http://ga3.org/ct/0dA8SdY13mxM/budget

*Smokefree DC
Urge the DC Council to Support Smokefree Workplace Legislation:
Sign the petition at http://www.smokefree.net/dc/

ALL workers (including office, restaurant, bar, bingo, bowling, casino, tavern, pub, and nightclub workers) deserve a safe, healthy, smokefree work environment. Laws should treat the health of all workers EQUALLY. No one should have to breathe tobacco smoke pollution to hold a job, because it causes cancer, heart disease, and respiratory disease.

The nation's capital could be next major smokefree city joining NYC, LA, and Boston.

For more information, visit http://www.smokefreedc.org

Independent Progressive Politics Network
P.O. Box 1041 / Bloomfield, NJ 07003 973-338-5398; 973-338-2210 (fax); indpol@igc.org

Puts out quarterly publication, Independent Politics News; initiated Democracy 2004 effort ( indpol@igc.org ); recently launched 2004 Racism Watch campaign. 2004 Racism Watch will research and publicize the statements and actions of candidates at various levels It will work with the press to encourage greater sensitivity to and publicity about the electoral process and racism. It will be involved in efforts to defend the right to vote for people of color in areas where this right is likely to be threatened. 2004 Racism Watch will work to get as many progressive groups and individuals as possible organized to respond to racist statements and actions.

See: www.racismwatch.org or www.ippn.org for more information.

What would you do...
if George W. Bush came to your door, cup in hand, and asked for a contribution to pay for war and occupation in Iraq? You can speak with more than words - join Hang Up On War!, a national campaign of anti-war phone tax resistance. Refuse to cooperate with the policies of "pre-emptive war," and stand up for human rights and peace by telling the Bush Administration "not with my money!"
Visit http://www.hanguponwar.org for more information

Mayors for Peace
Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference organizing underway (Emergency campaign to ban Nuclear Weapons). The goal is to gather a strong delegation of mayors and NGOs representing cities and citizens throughout the world to participate in the NPT Review Conference that will take place in New York in 2005, the 60th year after the atomic bombing. In New York, we will lobby national delegates to start negotiations at the United Nations for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons by the year 2020.

Contact: Hiro Sakata, Division Director, Mayors for Peace, 1-2 Nakajima-cho, naka-ku, Hiroshima, 730-0811 Japan; tel: (81)-82-241-2352 or (81)-82-242-7821; fax: (81)-82-242-7452; e-mail: mayorcon@pcf.city.Hiroshima.jp website: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors

Sursum Corda
We have had calls from friends who want to respond to the needs of the children in Sursum Corda neighborhood near Saint Aloysius church. They have had to cope with a series of murders, including a teenager. Perhaps you would want to take the following opportunity. Little Friends For Peace, MJ and Jerry Park, will be offering extra evening and weekend programing in their Peace Room at Perry School (New York and New Jersey Avenues) inviting the Peace Kids from Sursum Corda neighborhood to a safe place to experience peace, play peaceful games, make peaceful expressions and to learn how to solve problems peacefully and to restore hope and feelings of self-worth and joy. We invite folks to join us. Be a counselor, mentor, helper, presenter of talents. Help provide some food either by making or purchasing it or by giving a monetary donation so we can get some food. Help with supplies: books, games, craft items.

Interested? Contact MJ & Jerry at jpark@capaccess.org or call 301-927-5474.

What's in an IRA?
Would you lend money to someone to spy on you, poison your environment and kill innocent people on your behalf without your consent? You may be unwittingly lending to the US Government to do just that. Take a good look at your IRA's, 401(k)'s and investment accounts. Do you hold US treasury bonds, US treasury notes, TIPS (treasury inflation-protected securities), T-bills, a federal money market account? If so, you are lending your hard-earned cash to the Feds and at a measley rate of interest so that they can wreak havoc around the world. That's right! The federal government doesn't have nearly enough tax dollars to keep occupying Iraq. They're borrowing money at the rate of $2 billion a day. If you don't lend it by buying US treasuries, they can't borrow it, and they desperately need to borrow. Where do you think that $87 billion came from? Alexander Haig once said, "Let them march all they want, just as long as they pay their taxes." The new quote of note just might become: "Let them march all they want just as long as they invest in US bonds."

Don't buy into immoral US bondage. Divest now. Don't know what's in those mutual funds? Find out at www.morningstar.com. Just type in the name or ticker of the fund, then click on portfolio after the fund screen comes up. A look at the top 25 holdings can be revealing.

Feeling a Draft?
The use of "Stop Loss" regulations in the war in Iraq has resulted in some reservists being forced to remain on duty past their contracted time of discharge, the equivalent of a draft. Rep. Charles Rangel and Senator Hollingsworth have co-sponsored legislation as well to set up "universal conscription" for young men and women, claiming it will "share the sacrifice" more fairly and cause the rich as well as the poor to serve in the military. It won't, but it will limit the rights of conscientious objectors and give the current administration an endless stream of warm bodies for their misguided "war against terrorism." One new listserv on the topic can be reached at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/counter-recruitment. This is a national network of counter-recruitment groups that held a national conference in Philadelphia that are forming a national network to oppose militarism.

• Center on Conscience and War at www.nisbco.org;
• Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors at www.objector.org;
• AFSC Youth and Militarism Program at www.afsc.org/youth/ &militarism;
• and the War Resisters League at www.wrl.org.
• Also check out www.youth4peace.org.

• Center on Conscience and War www.nisbco.org
• Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors www.objector.org
• War Resisters League www.wrl.org
• Youth for Peace www.youth4peace.org
• Friends Youth Outreach: http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/
• Committee Opposed to Militarism & The Draft: http://www.comdsd.org/
• NJ Youth Groups: http://nowarnj.org/resources.htm#CAMPUSES
• Bergen Action Network (NJ) Opposes Recruitment Bergen Action Network Lisbeth West has a website http://www.duckdaotsu.org/gisitemap.html she has maintained around GI issues and the draft. See also http://www.duckdaotsu.org/resist.html and her home : http://www.duckdaotsu.org
• Alaskan anti-draft pledge: www.draftresistance.org
• Counter Recruitment: http://www.youthandthemilitary.org
• or http://www.youthandthemilitary.org/orgs.htm
• GI Rights: http://girights.objector.org
• Quaker statement about draft: "How and Why The Draft Will Return": http://quakerhouse.org/draft-return.htm

Israeli Refuser Solidarity Network
Thirteen reservists from Israel's elite military commando unit stated Sunday in a letter to the prime minister that they would no longer serve in the occupied territories, joining other influential security officials who have recently criticized Israeli military tactics and treatment of the Palestinians. "We have long ago crossed the line between fighters fighting a just cause and oppressing another people," three officers and 10 soldiers of the army's most secretive unit, the Sayeret Matkal, said in the letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Read more at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee web page http://www.adc.org/

National Initiative for Democracy
What could Patch Adams, Julia Butterfly Hill, Noam Chomsky, "Granny D", Boulder's own Gil White and Lorna Dee Cervantes, Rabbi Michael Lerner, John Nichols, Hazel Henderson, Harvey Wasserman, Daniel Ellsberg, Howard Zinn, Randy Udall and Economist editor Brian Beedham all support? You know it's good: virtually all politicians, from Congressman Udall to President Bush, oppose it. It's the National Initiative for Democracy, largely authored by former US Senator Mike Gravel, which, with citizen ratification, will restore the First Principle of the USA: the people are sovereign. George Washington said it best: "The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government." Yet, We the People, having made and ratified the Constitution, have never amended (altered) it, or even made a federal law. The National Initiative will remedy that, allowing citizens to propose and vote for the laws and amendments we want at all levels of government. There are MANY improvements over the existing state initiative processes to make initiatives easier, more deliberative, less influenced by money and more informative to voters. In spite of how legislatures have heretofore hobbled government by the people, state initiatives were the start of many advances we take for granted, including abolition of poll taxes, aid to dependent children, campaign finance reforms, direct election of Senators, medical marijuana, minimum wages, the nuclear freeze, Sunshine laws, women's suffrage, workers compensation, etc.

Are you anti-war or pro-planet? You can vote to empower us all to do something about it and to resume the millennium-long road to real democracy that "our" representatives have blocked. Go to www.vote.org or contact me at (303) 440-6838 or evan@vote.org.