From: Amy Paige [mailto:paigedunker@alaska.net]
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 4:24 PM
Cc: Rob Mulford; Jon Lockert; Paul Prebys; Godduhn, Anna; Macchia, Tom; Bantz, David; George Figdor; Muller, Don; Cheryl Hilmes; Taylor Brelsford
Subject: Re: Can we work together?
Hello all,
Thanks to Rob for his steadfast determination to challenge Stevens, Murkowski and Young. I certainly appreciate his views about the nature of the struggle. I have continually brought up the Occupation Project to the few people who are coming to our weekly meetings. I sometimes think few people on the JPPJ list look at the internet or try to keep up to date about the war and the various efforts of peace activists around the country, and here in Alaska in Fairbanks and Anchorage.
Also it seems people here are just not able to take the step to civil disobedience or see the effectiveness of it - not any more effective than writing letters or signing petitions. And petitions do seem a lame approach. We have very few letters to the editor about the war or the corrupt administration. The idea of an initiative was that it would give people who are not able to bring themselves to demonstrate in the street an opportunity to express their opposition to the war. But an opinion poll might serve the same purpose - that is to show the delegation that a majority of Alaskans are opposed to the war and Bush's policies. Of course they could probably disregard it anyway.
How do we get more Alaskans engaged to even express opposition, let alone get more to show it publicly - either lawfully or otherwise?
How do we articulate an alternative vision of an America at peace in the world? I, like you, am in this for the long haul. I devote much of my time to the issue of truth in recruiting, and in trying to speak out about the militarism of our society. But I fear my voice is very small, and I don't do nearly enough.
It seems to me that many anti-war activists and peace activists are at a point of reflection and re-evaluation of strategies. I am afraid many Americans do not question the role of corporations in government and public life, or American exceptionalism. I suspect many see the need for oil as a legitimate reason to use our military force around the world. Few question the capitalist economic system. Altogether a pretty depressing state of affairs. I think we have a lot of word to do to educate the general public about all this.
Good luck to Rob for his court appearance. Of course I know it involves more than luck. I know he has done a lot of work developing his brief. It would be a great thing for him to prevail on the issue of the illegality of the war. Thanks also to Don Muller for joining Rob.
In solidarity,
Amy
Rob Mulford wrote:
In all due respect, where were all "those too liberal Juneauites" when we were trying to implement the Occupation Project?
We all took the effort to get Kathy Kelly up here to speak but how many of us took her message to heart? Petitions? The 2008 elections? If those Democrats who were elected because of "the peoples tiring of the war" have disappointed us by funding the war anyway, do you think that asking our republican delegation nicely again is of any value? The Truth is that the very powerful are making a 'killing" off this war and will have an even greater windfall when they force the Iraqis to accept their oil law. This is a struggle like many in the past that will not be resolved without some pain.
I am busy every day of the week all day working on this. Next week I'll spend 3 days in court trying to get a defense of necessity and bringing up the legality of the war. Unless we put our bodies in front of the war machine to block its movement I’m afraid it will just go on killing.
How many more do you think will die by time the initiative makes it to the 2008 ballot?
"The Problem is civil obedience"
On 6/1/07, Amy Paige <paigedunker@alaska.net> wrote:
Jon, Paul, Anna, Rob, Tom, David, George, Don, Cheryl, Taylor et al
Here in Juneau our peace group is struggling to come up with ideas of where to put our energies, and how to motivate more people to pressure our Alaska delegation and Congress to bring the troops home and find a new direction. We realize that our Alaska delegation can easily dismiss us as "those too liberal Juneauites". We would like to think that if we could combine our efforts with folks in Anchorage and Fairbanks we could be more effective both in reaching the Alaska delegation, and in reaching and convincing more Alaskans that they too need to be active and communicate with Congress. Is there one thing we can all do in a coordinated fashion? I really don't know how much energy people have for this during the summer, but some of us are reluctant to drop the ball over the summer.
Jon, you mentioned that Chancy Croft spoke with the Anchorage VFP chapter about the possibility of trying to get a statewide initiative on the 2008 ballot that would ask voters to weigh in on the issue of the war. Has that idea progressed at all? You mentioned needing to have the signatures collected by Jan 08 to get on the fall ballot. Also something about 30,000 signatures needed for a statewide ballot. That could be next to impossible in view of expense and distance and need to get signatures from all house districts.
Here in Juneau people at JPPJ are attempting to draft wording for a petition that we would circulate here in town, and possibly at the Haines State Fair. Could we agree on wording for such a petition that would work statewide? The idea of a petition rather than an initiative is that we would not have to gather so many signatures just to get it on the ballot, the costs would be far less and we could get it going pretty quickly. Even with such a petition, if it were to be a statewide effort would need some coordination.
We are aware that folks in Fairbanks and maybe elsewhere are moving forward with advancing the Department of Peace or other projects. The Department of Peace is very worthwhile and long-term. We will be having an entry in the Juneau July 4th parade with our paper cranes and strong message yet to be articulated.
I hope you have all heard that the Eyes Wide Open - Alaska exhibit will be in Alaska and available to local groups to sponsor. I am the statewide coordinator. In case you are not familiar with the national exhibit check out the website http://www.afsc.org/eyes/ I want to add boots for all Alaska-based soldier fatalities, as well as the Alaska resident soldiers. We will need to collect boots for those 80+ additional fatalities, plus shoes to represent the Iraqi civilian casualties. I hope we will have the full set of posters about the costs of war that accompanied the national exhibit and the Dreams and Nightmares exhibit on Life and Death in Iraq. For those of you who have not seen the national exhibit, I want to tell you how impressive and effective it is. Taylor Brelsford, David Bantz and I will be looking to schedule the exhibit around the state and find local sponsors.
Please forward this message to others you believe would be interested in the possibilities and the opportunities to connect Alaskan peace activists. I hope to hear from you soon. If we get consensus on the wording for a petition here in Juneau, I will send it along to see if there is interest in adopting it statewide.
Thanks for all your work. Wage Peace!
Amy
PS See new email address above - paigedunker@alaska.net
