Voices for Creative Nonviolence is an endorsing organization of the October 27th mobilization to end the Iraq war. VCNV has been an endorser of the mobilization since it was first conceived at the national assembly of United for Peace & Justice in June of this year.

I'm providing this clarification at this time since one of the postings in this thread asserted that Voices had merely indicated "support" rather than indicated being a "co-sponsor" of the October 27th mobilization on the website of the Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice. Any misunderstanding of the status of Voices as an endorsing organization of October 27th was due to our mistaken belief that an indication of "support" on the ICPJ website was to be taken as an organization being an endorsing organization.

As a personal note, and not reflecting an official VCNV position, I feel compelled to say that building coalitions is some of the most difficult, arduous and personally draining work that there is in the struggle for social justice. A tip of my hat to all those on the October 27th organizing committee who are doing the tough work of building this coalition. Now is definitely not the time for the antiwar movement to fracture yet again. Now is the time to intensify our work to utilize all nonviolent means at our disposal to bring about an end to the Iraq - Afghanistan war. I hope all will continue to communicate DIRECTLY with the October 27th organizing committee about concerns that may arise. I also hope that all will do everything possible to turn out the largest number of people for the October 27th mobilization.

In Solidarity,

Jeff Leys
Co-Coordinator
Voices for Creative Nonviolence