Peace Action - do you know about this group?

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PEACE ACTION

Do you know about Peace Action?
"We give ordinary people
the tools to change the world."


Peace Action's latest newsletter:

When your government is a warmonger, the people must build peace.

First we had wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and belligerent talk to China Syria, Cuba, North Korea and Iran. Now we have Bush's appointment of radical right wing unilateralist and anti-diplomat John Bolton to be the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.--the world's forum for multilateralism. That pretty much says all you need to know about peace iniatives under the Bush junta's second term.

A new project called Peace Between Peoples is taking action in the form of citizen-to-citizen diplomacy. Our organization, going back to the days of our predecessors, SANE and the Nuclear Freeze, has sent delegations around the world with the intent of making contact with people in countries with whom our government was in conflict.

We know that, unencumbered by narrow political agendas and government baggage, person-to-person diplomacy helps breakdown stereotypes, demonstrate our shared humanity, build bridges between societies and grow support for peaceful resolution of conflicts. Examples of our efforts include the delivery to Mikhail Gorbachev of one million signatures calling for an end to the nuclear arms race in the 1980's, sending delegations to Chiapas in the 1990's and being part of missions to Iraq last year.

On April 20-29, Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of New Jersey Peace Action, and Anne Miller, Director of New Hampshire Peace Action will join a women's peace delegation to Iran led by our colleagues at Code Pink.

When I asked her about why she thought it was important to go to Iran, Anne said: "It is essential that we make every effort to understand and appreciate the absolute humanity and worth of all human beings--especially those people that our current Administration is threatening to attack. I also look forward to sharing my experiences with others upon my return."

And from Madelyn: "I see this delegation, person-to-person, woman-to-woman, as a gesture of good faith from the people of the United States to the people of Iran. Perhaps, in its small way, it will be part of a powerful movement for pre-emptive peace."

Both Madelyn and Anne will be writing, doing public speaking and media interviews upon their return, to help maximize the impact of their participation in the delegation.

We are currently working with an Iranian-American peace activist and are recruiting a delegation of peace activists, academics, and faith leaders to travel to Iran in June.

As the Bush Administration demonizes and threatens Iran, Syria and other countries, we are expanding our citizen-to-citizen efforts in order to build international understanding. I need your help to expand this project. To support Peace Between Peoples and find out more, click here.

In peace,

Kevin Martin
Executive Director

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