The Iraq Pledge of Resistance, a national coalition of groups and individuals committed to ending the war in Iraq, has launched a National Call for Nonviolent Resistance against the war in Iraq. The umbrella group of military families, veterans, religious and peace activists are organizing nationally coordinated nonviolent resistance actions on and around the 2nd anniversary of the war in Iraq. Specifically, they are calling for peace, justice and anti-war organizations around the country to join in two related actions:

(1) A mass, nationally-coordinated disobedience of the federal law which forbids U.S. citizens from supporting a soldier’s right to conscience, and their refusal to fight in this immoral and unjust war; and,

(2)Nonviolent direct actions at recruiting stations, where they claim young people are lured into this war with deception and false promises. Organizers from the Iraq Pledge of Resistance are circulating an anti-recruitment poster published by the American Friends Service Committee which contains a list of grievances against military recruiters www.afsc.org/eyes/recruitment-promises.pdf

Pledge activists encourage interested groups to organize one or both of these on or near the second anniversary of the war’s start – March 19, 2005. Members of Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak out, War Resisters League and several other national peace groups hope to send a clear message to the public - and to the Bush Administration - that a new spirit and campaign of nonviolent resistance to this war is underway, and will continue until the war and occupation of Iraq ends. They encourage your organization join with them in these actions, and/or combine them with actions that you might already be planning.

This National Call for Nonviolent Resistance encompasses both legal actions and civil resistance/civil disobedience. They intend to serve notice to the U.S. government that they will be acting forcefully, nonviolently and – for some – risking arrest, legal jeopardy and their own freedom to underscore their determination to end this war. Organizers are sympathetic toward those who can not take such risks at this time, but they encourage everyone to participate in the campaign by supporting those who are.

In D.C., pledge activists are planning to converge at Lafayette Park at noon on Thursday, March 17, to launch their national campaign. From Lafayette, they will march to the Army Recruiting Center located at 1099 14th Street, in the Franklin Court Building (14th and L).

The national call for nonviolent resistance has been widely circulated and has been endorsed by a wide array of nationally known activists, including Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, Rev. Roy Bourgeois, SOA Watch, Leslie Cagan, Coordinator United for Peace and Justice, Noam Chomsky, David Cobb, Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, Tom Hayden, Kathy Kelly and Howard Zinn.

The following description of nonviolent actions is taken from the website of the Iraq Pledge of Resistance, www.iraqpledge.org/:

Description of Nonviolent Actions on the 2nd Anniversary of the War

1) Support for a soldier’s right to conscience, and their refusal to fight in an immoral war.

To in any way support or encourage a soldier to disobey orders is an illegal action, as specified in 18 United States Code, Sec. 1381 and Sec. 2387. We cannot allow any law to stand between us and our moral duty to support those within the military who resist this war. Therefore, we intend to support soldiers who are speaking out and otherwise resisting by organizing widespread, coordinated civil disobedience of this law. This act of resistance on our part is similar to the call for draft resistance and resistance within the military issued during the Vietnam War by Dr. Benjamin Spock, Rev. William Sloane Coffin and many others. (Please see below for the text of Sections 1381 and 2387.)

To support soldiers who are in any way refusing orders is illegal, whether done in a public square, at a Congressperson’s office, at the gates of a military base, or elsewhere. Thus this action can take many different forms in different communities. (We will be providing ideas for how you can implement this action on a separate, supporting document.) We are calling for this action to be done in a widespread and massive way to demonstrate to the government that its citizens will willingly break a law that abrogates our right of free speech and dissent, and which conceals the truth about this immoral war and its oppression of our soldiers – and that we will freely risk the consequences of doing so in the service of the higher moral principles at stake.

To our knowledge, no one has yet been prosecuted for violation of these laws. However, these laws have never been violated in the very prominent and nationally coordinated way that we intend. We strongly suspect that the numbers of people engaging in this action will prevent the federal government from attempting to prosecute everyone or even many of us, but we cannot and should not dismiss the possibility of aggressive, selective prosecution. (A separate legal memo will be forwarded, although we strongly recommend that you speak to your local attorneys as well.)

As we organize this act of nonviolent resistance to support the troops, we must be fully aware that soldiers are at far greater risk in resisting the war then we on the outside might be for supporting them in doing so. Therefore, it is our moral responsibility to share that risk to the extent that we can by openly and publicly violating these laws. While we understand that many among us have pacifist principles which compel us to resist all war, the focus of this action is not to compel members of the military to refuse their orders, nor to blame those who do not, but rather for us to collectively disobey an unjust law while simultaneously offering encouragement and support for soldiers who choose to refuse orders to fight in Iraq or who otherwise speak out.

True to the nonviolent principles of Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day, these actions will be undertaken in a spirit of love, with compassion and respect for all we encounter. The object of our resistance is not the soldiers, whom we support and honor, but rather an illegal and immoral war, and the current administration which has breached a sacred trust and abused its duty to defend the Constitution and this country by sending young Americans to kill and die in a war based on lies. (A sample text that you can read during your action will be forwarded shortly; examples of support literature which you can distribute to soldiers if you so choose can be found at the GI support organizations listed below.)

2) Organize nonviolent actions at recruiting stations where young people are lured into this war with deception and false promises.

There are numerous national organizations already hard at work on counter-recruitment and conscientious objector support, so we strongly recommend that you connect with them to see if there are people working on this in your area, and if so to coordinate your actions with them if possible. (Contact information for these organizations is below.)

We know from press reports that recruitment is down. Actions at recruiting stations will be a means to draw attention to the decline in recruitment and to the growing resistance to the war, as well as to help educate young people on the reality of this war and to encourage them not to enlist in violation of their own principles. There are examples of nonviolent resistance at recruiting stations – such as nonviolent blockades and occupations - that we encourage and would seek to multiply. There are also effective legal means to bring attention to what happens at recruitment stations and in our schools, and to publicly act to give young people alternatives to the military. Counter-recruitment actions and resisting the military’s access to public schools could attract many young people and others as new activists, who could help cut off the supply of new recruits and force the Bush Administration to look seriously at ending the occupation.

For examples of groups performing nonviolent direct action at recruiting stations:

War protesters target military recruiting
www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412170194dec17,1,479379.story

Families of "Bushville USA " take over military recruiting office in Philadelphia

www.notinourname.net/war/recruiting-office-30nov04.htm

For information on counter-recruitment efforts, and/or helping soldiers to exercise their right of conscience:

GI Rights Hotline

(information and counseling for people who have joined the military)
www.girights.org

NLG Military Law Task Force (GI rights counseling)

www.nlg.org/mltf/

Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities (counter-recruitment organizing, youth alternatives)

www.projectyano.org

War Resisters League (organizing, youth activism, pre-enlistment/draft counseling)

www.warresisters.org

Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft

www.comdsd.org/

National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)

www.youthandthemilitary.org/

American Friends Service Committee Youth and Militarism Program
(pre-enlistment/draft counseling, counter recruitment organizing)

www.afsc.org/youthmil/default.htm

Center on Conscience and War /NISBCO (pre-enlistment/draft counseling, lobbying on draft-related legislation)

www.nisbco.org