A statement of  commitment and sign up forms to add your name...deriving from an article by over 75 authors, including Noam Chomsky and Arundhati Roy. Date Initiated: March 27, 2003  

http://www.zmag.org/wspj/index.cfm 

I stand for peace and justice.  

I stand for democracy and autonomy. I don’t think the U.S. or any other country should ignore the popular will and violate and weaken international law, seeking to bully and bribe votes in the Security Council.  

I stand for internationalism. I oppose any nation spreading an ever expanding network of military bases around the world and producing an arsenal unparalleled in the world.  

I stand for equity. I don’t think the U.S. or any other country should seek empire. I don’t think the U.S. ought to control Middle Eastern oil on behalf of U.S. corporations and as a wedge to gain political control over other countries.  

I stand for freedom. I oppose brutal regimes in Iraq and elsewhere but I also oppose the new doctrine of "preventive war," which guarantees permanent and very dangerous conflict, and is the reason why the U.S. is now regarded as the major threat to peace in much of the world. I stand for a democratic foreign policy that supports popular opposition to imperialism, dictatorship, and political fundamentalism in all its forms.  

I stand for solidarity. I stand for and with all the poor and the excluded. Despite massive disinformation millions oppose unjust, illegal, immoral war, and I want to add my voice to theirs. I stand with moral leaders all over the world, with world labor, and with the huge majority of the populations of countries throughout the world.  

I stand for diversity. I stand for an end to racism directed against immigrants and people of color. I stand for an end to repression at home and abroad.  

I stand for peace. I stand against this war and against the conditions, mentalities, and institutions that breed and nurture war and injustice.  

I stand for sustainability. I stand against the destruction of forests, soil, water, environmental resources, and biodiversity on which all life depends.  

I stand for justice. I stand against economic, political, and cultural institutions that promote a rat race mentality, huge economic and power inequalities, corporate domination even unto sweatshop and slave labor, racism, and gender and sexual hierarchies.  

I stand for a policy that redirects the money used for war and military spending to provide healthcare, education, housing, and jobs.  

I stand for a world whose political, economic, and social institutions foster solidarity, promote equity, maximize participation, celebrate diversity, and encourage full democracy.  

I stand for peace and justice and, more, I pledge to work for peace and justice.

The following is an amalgam of key pointers that some writers have identified as future priorities for those who have been involved in anti-war campaigning over recent months. The sources are given at the end, although some of been reworded in the interests of brevity. It’s a demanding list. Which one or two things can we each decide to do something about? 

• Don’t allow ourselves to become accustomed to war as a natural instrument of policy
• Oppose the doctrine of pre-emption.
• Continue to protest – speak out, use the media – be the media.
• Focus on the real consequences and costs of the war.
• Avoid "economistic" arguments – we are against the war because it is immoral and unjust. We also believe that it is an insane use of resources -- but that's because the war is wrong.
• Scrutinise the companies involved in ‘post war’ reconstruction and any political links they might have. If it has not been about oil, we need to see proof.
• Articulate clear and thought-out alternatives to the approach of the US and UK governments. Urge a radical re-thinking of foreign, defence and economic policies.
• Insist on wide involvement in the process of reconstruction in Iraq – support the involvement of NGO’s and insist that governments and the UN are as assiduous in their efforts here as the US and UK have been to move to war.
• Pray
• Keep your concerns in the public eye in your community.
• Build neighbourhood based groups.
• Reclaim patriotism.
• Strengthen links between Muslims and non-Muslims. 
• Listen. (Don't just talk.) Listening helps create a miniature public space that is not so constrained by the filters of the mainstream media. It gives people a chance to hear themselves think.

• Deal with the tension. We may feel overwhelmed at times, and filled with despair. But we should keep perspective. What we are going through doesn't compare to the tension of having a cruise missile pointed at our homes. The tension we have to deal with is manageable.

• Pay attention to the real causes of terrorism and demand that our governments do likewise.
• From an anti-war movement, become a global movement for justice. Work for third world justice.
• Commit yourselves to principles of international co-operation and to the international institutions as instruments for peace.
• Continue to hold our elected representatives to account for the war – what part did they play in supporting or opposing it? Use opportunities to vote accordingly.
• Embark with energy on the task of peace-making.

• Five Guidelines for Our Organizing, Cynthia Peters, http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=3356 
• How the peace movement blew it, By Mark LeVine http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0403/p11s01-coop.html 
• For Those Who Oppose War, What Now? 

By Peter J. Gomes http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/printer_032503F.shtml Boston Globe | Opinion Sunday 23 March 2003 
10 Things You Can Do to Prevent War Geov Parrish, http://www.alternet.org 

From an article by Desmond Tutu and Ian Urbina   April 07, 2003 http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=1&ItemID=3400 

In today's moment of deep anguish over the war, it is important to recognize the reasons for hope and pride, both in the United States and across the globe. 

Never in history has there been such an outpouring of resistance from average people all around the world before a war had even begun. Millions took a stand. This doctrine of moral and popular preemption must be sustained. 

Countless nations, many of them quite impoverished, listened to the majority voices of their own citizens opposing the war. These governments opted not to take the huge sums offered to support the military effort, but instead chose to heed the sentiments of their citizens. In these contexts, this was a considerable step forward for democracy. 

A first step to personal healing is to acknowledge the depth of the devastation that many of us feel. We should not pretend it does not exist. 

But, we must also look forward. The energies mobilized recently must not dissipate. They should be channeled and broadened. 

This is the beginning, not the end, of heightened vigilance. With war, domestic civil liberties face their greatest threat. We must not squelch the right to protest under the pressures of patriotism. 

World attention has in the past months fixated on the desire for a diplomatic and United Nations solution. If we want lasting peace and security in the Middle East, if we want international law to hold any meaning, we must begin to require that UN resolutions are applied uniformly across all countries. We must begin to focus our energies in that direction.

The following is part of one poem in a series of ‘poems for a better world’ on the them of ‘Decide to…’ by Robert Muller   http://robertmuller.org/p01.html#decide  

Decide to network / Use every letter you write / Every conversation you have/ Every meeting you attend 
To express your fundamental beliefs and dreams / Affirm to others the vision of the world you want 
Network through thought / Network through action / Network through love / Network through the spirit 
You are a free, immensely powerful source / of life and goodness / Affirm it / Spread it / Radiate it 
Think day and night about it /  
….. 
Pray for the leaders of nations / who hold the peace of the world / in their hands 
Pray God to let our planet at long last / become the Planet of Peace / And sing in unison with all humanity  

"Let there be peace on earth / and let it begin with me."