"The USA and UK, out of fear, or worse, used the politics of revenge and the old ways of militarism, war, invasion and occupation of Iraq," says Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire. "Such actions bring forth counter violence, and have for the foreseeable future made the world a more dangerous place for us all. The occupation of Iraq should end, and an enquiry into those responsible in the UK and USA administrations, who illegally took the world to war, should begin."

The global call to action includes signers from over 30 countries and calls for resistance at U.S. and British embassies, military bases and corporations: "'business as usual' is the business of violence, death, and exploitation. It must be blocked and stopped by responsible citizens." The entire call can be read at www.globalcalliraq.org.

Also disturbing to those calling for civil resistance is the deception used to bring the world to war. "The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law,” accuses Nobel Literature Laureate Harold Pinter. “The invasion was an arbitrary military action inspired by a series of lies upon lies and gross manipulation of the media and therefore of the public. To define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all."

Those calling for resistance to the occupation span a broad range of backgrounds and geographies: from U.S. Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton to Colonel Juan Jaime Cesio in Argentina; from Ernesto Cardenal, a poet in Nicaragua, to Mairead Corrigan Maguire, an Irish Nobel laureate; from Cindy Sheehan to Herbert Docena, an anti-militarization campaigner in the Philippines. All are united in their rejection of the unprovoked and unjustified invasion and occupation of Iraq and in their call that people throughout the world respond.

"As the U.S. population has turned against this war, we look to the support of our allies, the majority of the world's population, as we transform our private discontent into public clamor," says Global Call Iraq spokesperson Joe Mulligan, S.J. "We invite people to organize wherever they are to help bring an end to this unjust occupation of a sovereign nation."

Additional days of global action are May 1 (International Day of the Worker), August 9 (anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki), September 11 (anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the U.S.) and December 10 (International Human Rights Day).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Global Call Iraq

Contact: Danny Malec, 860-591-4009

press@globalcalliraq.org