War Without End?

Not in Our Name

Revolutionary Worker #1151, May 19, 2002, posted at http://rwor.org

The following call was sent to the RW by the Not in Our Name Project:

We are people of conscience who cannot stand silent as our government wages war without limits of time and space. We cannot stand silent as immigrants are rounded up and detained. We cannot stand silent in the face of new police state restrictions threatening the very right to dissent.

We refuse to allow President Bush to speak for all the American people. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. Together as one, we say Not in Our Name.

We extend a hand to those around the world suffering from these policies. 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. We encourage everyone to take up the globe as a symbol of solidarity with people worldwide.

The Not in Our Name project draws strength and inspiration from the important anti-war and anti- repression efforts to date. At the same time we all know that much more is needed. The Not in Our Name project is being developed to strengthen and expand the existing movement of resistance--resistance that must take many forms.

Resistance of critical thought, resistance by speaking out, resistance through creating powerful art, and resistance through finding ways to halt the machinery of war and repression. Resistance by individuals and resistance through mass action. There already have been inspiring examples of resistance, and we would hope the Not in Our Name project would inspire more things like:

• Campuses erupting with debates and protests.

• People uniting together to defend Arab, Muslim and South Asian immigrants who come under attack, working to free those detained and supporting those who are targeted.

• Civilians supporting soldiers and reservists who resist illegal and unjust orders.Support for writers, artists, activists and everyone who comes under attack for breaking ranks and daring to dissent.

We will not "watch what we say." We will dare to do what is necessary. We encourage everyone to take up the Not in Our Name project and to help launch it on June 6. On that day, thousands of people in cities across the country will take a common Pledge of Resistance, declaring their determination to resist now in diverse ways and to stop this course. Following this launch, the pledge must be spread throughout society. We urge all people of conscience to take up the pledge and help make it a force in society against this war and repression. We also must be prepared to respond to major escalations. Throughout the summer, the Not in Our Name project and pledge will be taken out across the country, leading to a Day of Mass Resistance in the fall.

We must dare to change the course of history.

On Thursday, June 6, people across the country will commit themselves to resisting in diverse ways the horrors the U.S. government is inflicting on millions around the world and here at home supposedly for "our" benefit and in "our" name. On that day they will join together and take the Not in Our Name Pledge of Resistance.

Everyone is encouraged to organize and participate in events on June 6 that will bring together people from different backgrounds, cultures, communities, and political beliefs in a common refusal to go along with the government's war without limits, roundups and detentions of immigrants, and police state attacks on civil liberties.

June 6 events are being planned in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City and other locations.

For more information: www.notinourname.net email: notinourname@hotmail.com or leave a message at: 212-969-8058.

Not In Our Name: The Pledge to Resist

We believe that as people living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices
done by our government, in our names

Not in our name
will you wage endless war
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions of blood for oil

Not in our name
will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more children
letting history take its course
over the graves of the nameless

Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms
you have claimed to fight for

Not by our hands
will we supply weapons and funding
for the annihilation of families
on foreign soil

Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us

Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed
evil

Not by our will
and Not in our name

We pledge resistance
We pledge alliance with those
who have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war
or for their religion or ethnicity

We pledge to make common cause
with the people of the world
to bring about justice freedom and peace
Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real

This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
rwor.org
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