errorWar on the World

Detentions and Round-ups
Police State Restrictions

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. (Photo from "NOT IN OUR NAME" contingent at April 20, 2002 demonstration in Washington DC.)

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.



To contact us, email notinrname@hotmail.com or leave a message at 212-969-8058 and we will return your call.



History of the Not in Our Name Project

The project was initiated at a meeting in New York City on March 23, 2002. A letter was circulated and SIGNED by dozens of initiators outlining the Not in Our Name proposal and inviting people to the March 23 organizing meeting (see below). At the meeting, the Not in Our Name proposal was adopted, and beginning plans were made to launch it, including the selection of a national Ad-Hoc Coordinating Group. The Ad-Hoc Coordinating Group (still in formation) invites organizations, networks, coalitions and individuals to ENDORSE THE CALL, take up the PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE, and help make it a force in society to expand and broaden resistance across the country. (Photo from "NOT IN OUR NAME" contingent at April 20, 2002 demonstration in Washington DC.)



March 7, 2002

Dear Friends:

We face an unprecedented situation.

The U.S. has commenced a series of wars, beginning with Afghanistan where they killed thousands of innocent civilians, and they now openly threaten unilateral war on Iraq, Iran, North Korea or any place else on the planet they decide. The government has targeted Arab and Muslim immigrants, rounding up over 1,000 and still holding hundreds in indefinite detention, refusing even to release their names. They have gutted longstanding civil liberties and unleashed police spying. The executive branch of government has seized vast new powers, unchecked by either the legislature or the judiciary. They have attempted to intimidate all dissenting voices, and tried to make critical thought itself suspect.

At the same time, we know there’s something else in the air — a lot of anguish, a lot of questioning, and some beginning good resistance. We need to build on this, but we all know it is not yet enough. If we’re going to be able to STOP what’s happening and have a chance at another future, we need a movement of resistance that dares to alter the course of history.

We need a resistance movement powerful enough to send a message to the people of the world that we stand with them against this unjust, unlimited war — that "we the people" are NOT part of the Bush "us" but are part of the world’s "us."

The signers of this letter have been talking about what can be done. We’d like to expand this discussion and get together with many more of the folks who’ve been resisting, hear your ideas, share ours, and then get down on an approach and plan the next steps. Our basic vision consists of a Statement of Conscience issued by public figures; a day of protest to launch a new commitment and take a common Pledge of Resistance; and a unifying Symbol of the globe. We want to discuss all this at a meeting in NYC on Saturday, March 23.

How about this for a beginning: A day when an amazing breadth of people come together in a few key cities, including NYC, under the theme "Not In Our Name." The Day would make a powerful statement in diverse ways, including in the streets, that we all will, from that day forward, raise our voices and act to stop the war/repression machine and that we will not let the U.S. government pit the people of this country against the people of the world. This commitment would be concentrated in a Pledge of Resistance that would be recited aloud. The day would not be a traditional rally or march, but a creative mass form through which our determination to resist will be expressed and projected into the international media. It should involve the exuberance of the youth with the creativity of the artists and the collective voice of the many public figures of conscience. The heart and soul of the day would project a new level of resistance. We want to strive to hold this day before spring turns to summer and the new horrors now being threatened are launched.
We would hope the Day would inspire:


School administrators to pledge not to turn over the names of Arab and Muslim students.
Reservists to pledge not to be part of occupying other countries or raining bombs on civilians.
Community residents to pledge to defend their neighbors who wear turbans or head coverings or "look different" or express unpopular views.
Acts of solidarity with the immigrants unjustly detained.
Support for the writers, artists, activists and everyone who comes under attack for breaking ranks and daring to dissent.


We are aware of many plans for protest and resistance, and we welcome and support them all. The "Not in Our Name" Statement, day and Pledge should not be the property of any one group or coalition; it should serve to strengthen all of them. We know protests have been called for Washington D.C. on April 20th. The "Not In Our Name" effort should help build these. We would like to see a lot more unity overall, and we hope that this whole project will help build it.

There are already three broad, key things the movement has raised that provide the basis for even greater unity: stop the war on the people of the world; stop the disappearances and vicious attacks on Arab, Muslim and South Asian people in the U.S.; and stop the destruction of civil, legal and political rights, including the very right to dissent, here in the U.S. We need to popularize the stand and the words of the relatives of those killed September 11 who refused to let Bush use their grief to justify the war and, instead, declared "not in our name."

We envision a "Not in Our Name" Statement of Conscience to be issued by well-known artists, intellectuals, activists and people in public life, lending their moral authority and their unified voice to the resistance movement. This statement could be publicized widely and could become the spirit call that assists this movement to rise to the challenges before us.

We envision a Pledge to Resist to be taken publicly for the first time on the day of protest. We think ordinary people across the country could continue to take it up well after the day, reciting it in schools, union meetings and community gatherings. City councils, student governments, religious congregations and professional organizations could adopt it. The Pledge could be a kind of bridge between what people think and what they do, and would help strengthen people’s resolve to do the right thing. It could also help mobilize broad numbers of people to act at critical moments in the coming period.

We also need a powerful image with a clear message — and we want to propose that the globe be adopted for the symbol of this movement as an expression of internationalist solidarity. A number of anti-globalization groups use this image on flags and signs already, and it needs to be seen everywhere people are in opposition.

Those who see the urgency of the times and agree with the thrust of this proposal are invited to the meeting. We will need to discuss what kinds of future meetings and mechanisms are needed — including ways to raise funds — to project the Statement and Pledge and symbol of the globe into the media so that millions in this country and worldwide will hear about them. A website, an organizing center/office for an ad-hoc grouping to work out of, on-the-ground organizers — all will be needed.

The signers of this letter have different views on a number of important questions. But we agree that we must come together now to determine how we can best build the kind of movement that can extend a hand to the people of the world and stop the horrors being unleashed by our own government.

It’s no exaggeration to say we’re living in historic times — and what we do at this moment will affect the lives of people in this country and around the world for generations.
We hope we can count on your creativity, your passion, your commitment.

Signed (partial list - affiliations listed for identification only):

Anti-War Coalition, UC Santa Barbara
Richard Aoki, social activist
Araby, Cincinnati Refuse & Resist!
Masad Arbid, Arab-Palestinian physician, USA; Editorial Board — Kana’an Quarterly
Ashton Applewhite, writer
ASIAN! (Asians for Ideas in Action Now!)
Adrian Bankhead, student activist
BAYAN International - USA
William Blum, author, Killing Hope, Rogue State
Lela Brown, student activist
Rev. Richard Meri Ka Ra Byrd, KRST Unity Center, Los Angeles; Oct. 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression & the Criminalization of a Generation
Father Robert W. Castle, Episcopal Priest
Roger Dittman, Prof. Of Physics Emeritus, CA State University; UN Rep. Of the World Federation of Scientific Workers
Carol Downer, Board of Directors, Chico (CA) Feminist Women’s Health Center
Brian Drolet, producer/editor
Earth Neighborhood Productions and TriCity Peace Action Network-Fremont, Union City, Hayward, CA
Becka Economopoulos
Riva Enteen, National Lawyers Guild, San Francisco
Nina Felshin, curator/writer
Paul S. Flores, author and performer
Diane Fujino, professor Asian-American Studies UC Santa Barbara; ASIAN!
Paul George, Director, Peninsula Peace & Justice Center, Palo Alto, CA
David Graeber
Mary Lou Greenberg, Revolutionary Communist Party, NY Branch
Matef Harmachis, All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party
International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS-USA)
Inang Bayan (Motherland) Movement (Filipino community)
Kabataang maka-Bayan, Pro-People Youth (L.A.)
Kent State Anti-War Committee
Yuri Kochiyama, activist
Sonali Kolhatkar, Vice President, Afghan Women’s Mission
The Rev. Earl Kooperkamp, Pastor, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, NYC
Rev. Peter Laarman, Senior Minister, Judson Memorial Church, NYC
Jim Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles
Ray Laforest, Organizer DC 1707, AFSCME and Haitian community activist, NYC
Karen Lane, Pres., UCLA Undergraduate Students Assn
Barbara Lubin, Middle East Children’s Alliance
Daniel Magpali, activist, ASIAN!, Red Phoenix
Miguel Maldonado, Immigrant Workers’ Assn, NYC
Eric Mar, SF Board of Education
John Martinez, Aztlan Media Collective, East L.A.
Anuradha Mittal, Co-Director Institute for Food & Development Policy/Food First, Oakland, CA
Richard Montoya, Culture Clash
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan (MEChA), Pasadena City College, CA
Jettie Mwenge, Freedom B4Peace
Dyan Neary, NYC Indy Media
Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (NISPOP)
Mo Nishida, revolutionary activist
Efia Nwangaza, African-American Institute for Policy Studies, Greenville, SC
National Oct. 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression & the Criminalization of a Generation
Raul Pacheco, Ozomatli
Jose Palafox, Ethnic Studies Dept., UC Berkeley
Andrea Prichett, Co-founder Berkeley CopWatch
Rakaa Iriscience, hip hop artist, Dilated Peoples
Red Phoenix
Rev. Dr. George F. Regas, Rector Emeritus, All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA
Emily Reilly, Students for Fair Trade, Seattle
La Resistencia, Los Angeles
Mike Rhodes, Editor, Community Alliance magazine, Fresno, CA
Matthew Rinaldi, San Francisco Bay Chapter, National Lawyers Guild
Robert Rockwell, National Secretary, Refuse & Resist!
Prof. Rodolfo Rosales, University of TX at San Antonio
Adel Samara, Editor, Kana’an Review, Ramallah, Palestine
Edith Sargon, UC Santa Barbara Student Commission on Racial Equality
Evanne Scott
Lori Silverman, Peace Action Collective (Antioch College)
Miles Solay, Refuse & Resist!
Bianca Sopoi-Bellchap, student activist
South Asians Against Police Brutality and Racism
Bob Stein, publisher
Stop the War Brigade & Vietnam Veterans Against the War-Anti-Imperialist (Germany)
Students for Justice in Palestine, UC Berkeley chapter
Students United for Peace, Occidental College, L.A.
Joe Urgo, Vietnam Veterans Against the War-AI
Kinan Valdez
Vieques Support Campaign
Rev. George W. Webber, Prof. of Urban Ministry and President Emeritus, NY Theological Seminary
Saul Williams, spoken word artist

To contact us, email notinrname@hotmail.com or leave a message at 212-969-8058 and we will return your call.




included

add your comments




Curious...
by Some Guy 8:29pm Sun May 12 '02


...there seem to be a LOT of RCP members and heads of RCP front groups. Is this an RCP effort? Not that I am against RCP, but after the way that the ISO raised a stink at the campus conferences, I'm cautious about these coalition efforts.

add your comments




well
by spidy 6:55am Mon May 13 '02
address: / phone: / yoil@hotmail.com

hmm good point there are, but i looked over the list again and david graeber is with ny acc and then theres some people with indymedia. so im not sure but i think we can agree an rcp event would be different than an iso event. i think the iso just held indoor conferences at colleges, this seems like it s different but cant tell till i go

/

add your comments




Everyone needs to take up the NOT IN OUR NAME
by vvawai 11:54am Mon May 13 '02
vvawai@oz.net

From: Vietnam Veterans Against The War Anti Imperialist

This is a great project that we are gladly taking up. It doesn't belog to any group and it is very broad in its aim to unite people.

We encourage you to take it up and make it into your own thing. We are.

add your comments




Still...
by Someone Again 8:34pm Tue May 14 '02


The RCP is known for not working well with others, i.e. their infamous vanguardism and adventurism. I'm not so much asking if the RCP is in these groups, but is the RCP controlling all the organizing on this? Because all I can see uniting this group nationally are RCP-run groups (October 22, Refuse and Resist, and the RCP itself).

All in all the RCP can be forgiven for its faults, and I think their fronts have done good work for their respective causes, but I'd have serious objections to working in the sole interest of a group that supported Sendero Illuminoso and now supports the Nepalese Maoists.

add your comments




still 2
by spidy 3:23am Wed May 15 '02
address: / phone: / /

well theres alot o f local groups but other national like all african revolutionary party and bayan phillipino. i see where your coming from with vanguardist although i dont agree with as far as adventurist i dont think so at all. if anything some one from cpusa would claim rcp is adventurist if people want to start thrwing that term arouind it can be appliedt o may black bloc tactics howe ver we should unite with the heroics of the black bloc.
**********************************************************8
as far as the pcperu and nepal maoists i am in full support of people liberating the masses as well as the masses liberating themselves from the backwardness of feudal society. i have been following the nes coming from nepal and have found many blatant lies. post again id like to see where your coming from
********************************************************8
sorry to take away from not in our name post but unfortuantely it has already been steered another way

/

add your comments

I don't believe that the organization "Refuse & Resist" is a front group controlled by the Maoists of the "Revolutionary Communist Party" (RCP).

If you look closely at the list of signatories, you'll see that Jim Lafferty, the Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild (Los Angeles branch) signed on. Lafferty is NOT a puppet of the RCP... he's no ones puppet. If anything he's an independent radical, and while the National Lawyers Guild has taken bold stands on issues, it would NEVER allow itself to be used by a group like the RCP.

It's also unfair to point the finger at the RCP, because there are many vanguardist groups that preach the "correct line." While such groups DO possess viewpoints worth examing, and DO have valuable insights on issues... as soon as they say "We're leading the revolution, follow us"... I'm inclined to walk in the opposite direction.

Someone in this thread seemed to defend the RCP when it came to Peru's "Shining Path" and now Nepal... saying they "were for people liberating themselves." Yes to that, but don't be fooled by the role Maoists have played in Peru and Nepal. They defined themselves as the "leaders" of the proletarian revolutionary war... and so, anyone who disagreed with them was the "class enemy." Sendero in Peru and now the Maoists in Nepal rule through brute force and terror. This is NOT a defense of the corrupt "royal family" in Nepal. I have no intention of living MY life by the words found in Mao's "Little Red Book" and I don't think Maoism is a "science" that can be used as a guidepost for social change in other parts of the world.

But hey... I'm not an Anarchist either! And I find as much vanguardism in Anarchist circles as I do anywhere else. What REALLY matters is what the people think. Groups can influence and show the way... but the people must lead.

DEMOCRACY is the one truly revolutionary force. Not the lame, stilted, and controlled "democracy" dished out by the corporate powers... but real PEOPLE'S DEMOCRACY. We should all be working for true democracy in form, theory, and practice.

Sorry to interrupt your debate, but does anyone want to talk about the content of the "Not in our Name" pledge and the importance of taking on this "rolling war" bullshit?

Again, I'd like to clarify; I don't find the RCP inherently bad, but coalition efforts are places that have to have a healthy middle ground, and RCP at times (not every time) has a problem with attempting to drag folks on the basis of being the vanguard party.

On the Refuse and Resist tip - the RCP does not run EVERY Refuse and Resist chapter; that would be unwieldly. But their program and the fights they pick are dictated by the RCP, or at least carry their strain of their Maoism, and I've seen an overlap between R&R and RCP Youth Brigade. That's nothing to be afraid of - front groups are necessary where blatantly revolutionary groups are frequently outlawed and/or shunned.

What bothers me are front groups that do not acknowledge that their reason for being and/or their work is dictated by their line, i.e. the ISO's frequent attempts to hide their Trotskyism behind campaigns for Ralph Nader, affirmative action, or labor solidarity while claiming such campaigns were always in the ISO's program. Bullshit, the ISO didn't support Nader until late 2000 - I know this because I tried to convince them to endorse in Summer 2000, and they gave me a line about Nader's petit bourgeoisness, etc; two months later, I go to a meeting of my campuses Greens, only o find that there's a dozen ISO cadre members who were running the darn thing.

There, the ISO is being sectarian while claiming to be ecumenical. That's just plain wrong. I'd hope that this group does not devolve into what I suspect - a vibrant group of that gets siezed at some key meeting.

I agree with the person who said lets look at the content of what the Not In Our Name statement is. It looks like something I can work with.

I am so bothered by people who claim to be worried about vanguards taking things over. They sound just like the government.

If we are going to stop this war we need the help and aid of millions. And if you sideline doubting thomas's are worried about taking it over - why not start your own Not In Our Name Group. I'm sure that communists, socialsitss and the like would't elminate working with you.

i agree with the last post this thread does not have to be a are you for rcp/ peoples war debate, there have been many in the past on indymedia and find it quite boring now. if there is a debate it should be how we can fight back against this this facist juggernaut and how " not in our name" can be part of this. lets discuss how we can improve whats already going on with not in our name without petty juvenile label slinging

The response I've gotten by the folks here is to "just read the pledge," and not to question who's involved in it or else I'll be called a "red-baiter" (nevermind that I consider myself a communist, find Mao to be helpful as a theorist, etc.)

I just find it ironic that this coalition is being set up to say that we're not going to sign on the dotted line to a U.S. imperialist war, but when I ask whether that means I sign onto "people's" wars in Nepal and Peru I'm told to shut up.

All I'd like to know is if the RCP is a coalition *member* or the coalition *sponsor*. Because there's a difference there.