[amc] Fw: WE HAVE THREE DAYS TO STOP THE WAR
- From: "Ray Gingerich" <RGingerich@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Austin Mennonite Church" <amc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,"Austin Center for Peace & Justice" <acpj@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 11:26:27 -0600
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Stoner, Akron, PA" <John.Stoner.guest.40096@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <menno.org.peace.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 11:17 AM
Subject: WE HAVE THREE DAYS TO STOP THE WAR
> A way to take significant action. Forward to others. This is also on the
> web at http://www.ecapc.org/newspage_detail.asp?control=570
> John Stoner
>
>
> WE HAVE THREE DAYS TO STOP THE WAR
> With Written Truth, A Flashlight, and a Sign
>
>
> I believe we have 3 days, March 5, 6 and 7, Wednesday, Thursday,
Friday,
> to stop Bush's war obsession. Then comes the weekend, when we are at
home,
> can't shut down the county, and Bush goes to war.
>
> No, I am not clairvoyant and I claim no special prophetic powers. I
> claim only the ordinary prophetic powers, which you and all your friends
> possess as well. I am just looking at what is happening and drawing the
> logical and moral conclusions. But this is what Bush and his stable of
> talking warheads are not doing. They are not exercising normal powers of
> understanding or insight. We must help them.
>
> First, the good news. There are alternatives to war. There are
always
> alternatives to war, even if we cannot see what they are at the moment.
It
> is stupid, immoral and perverse to say that there are no alternatives to
war
> just because at the moment we don't know altogether what they are. It is
> stupid, immoral and perverse to drive the world into the calamitous and
> ruinous jaws of war, choosing to reign death and destruction without
> historical precedent in speed and intensity, on a city and a country
without
> a defense.
>
> Next, the bad news. The bad news is that if Bush starts this war, he
> will not decide when the war ends. He will be incapable of deciding when
> the war ends, because it will unleash such a storm of rage and destruction
> that all of the horrors which the world has seen so far in history will
look
> small by comparison. The terror and the rage and the revenge which Bush
> will unleash in the world by starting a war will be in the hands of people
> over whom George Bush, John Ashcroft, Tom Ridge, Condelezza Rice, Richard
> Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Carl Rove, Jerry
Falwell,
> James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Charles Stanley, Billy and Franklin Graham
and
> Donald Rumsfeld have no control whatsoever. Other people and forces will
> decide when this war ends, and it will not be nice.
>
> This prophetic scenario may be mistaken. If we accept it and take
> decisive action, we may prevail and gain everything. If we act now and it
> turns out to be mistaken, in the aspect of timing, we lose nothing. On
the
> other hand, if we presume that there is always more time, or that we will
> take our radical action after Bush starts the war, and the scenario is
> correct, we lose everything.
>
> Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are the days to press the choice into
the
> consciousness of the public, and to shut down the government and economy
as
> necessary.
>
> Decisive action would be to take our bodies and our voices into every
> public place in the next three days, presenting the good news and the bad
> news. It is our bodies and our voices, the public, the voters, the
> grassroots, which will make the difference. We will put democracy to
work.
>
> The action which will stop the war must be one in which everyone who
has
> a mind, a will and a conscience can participate. We cannot leave it in
the
> hands of religious leaders like the Pope or bishops or clerics. There are
> calls for them to take dramatic action. Fine. But they might not act.
If
> they willed to stop war they could have done it already.
>
> We, you and I, must leave our familiar places of work and activity and
> go to hometown congressional and senate offices, federal buildings,
> municipal offices, post offices, corporate offices and wherever decisions
> which affect the public are made, and occupy those places with the truth
> about this war. The truth is that there are alternatives, and that the
war,
> once started, will be a genie out of the bottle, a humpty dumpty fallen
off
> the wall which all the kings horses and all the kings men will not be able
> to put together again.
>
> We should prepare ourselves simply, but adequately. Take along a
> newspaper clipping which has impressed you, copies of articles, and your
> holy book, Bible, Koran, or whatever. If you feel you might not express
> yourself adequately, read the words of someone who has expressed
themselves
> well. The person to whom you speak has never heard, or thought about,
those
> words. Both you and the person to whom you speak need to hear those
words.
>
> Second, you might want to carry a small flashlight, to look around the
> office a little bit for shards of truth. Where is it hiding? Can we find
> some truth here with the help of a light?
>
> Third, make two small signs, 4x6 card or cardboard, which say NO WAR
IN
> IRAQ, and pin them to your front and back. This will make your message
> clear even if you never open your mouth. Cameras can pick it up, and even
> without a flashlight people will be able to read it.
>
> Then, how long you stay is up to you. You can make your point and
> leave. Make room for someone else behind you with the same message. You
go
> on to another spot--the post office, the federal building, city hall, the
> newspaper office, a corporate office, a church office, a synagogue or
> temple.
>
> Or you may stay longer. Take some risk. Stay until you are warned or
> threatened. Be polite but firm. Continue to ask to speak to your
> congressperson on the phone, or to hear the answer to your question which
> the aide can get from the congressperson by using the phone.
>
> So it is a read-in, with a flashlight and a small sign.
>
> John K. Stoner www.ecapc.org 3/5/03
-------
Austin Mennonite Church, (512) 926-3121 www.mennochurch.org
To unsubscribe: use subject "unsubscribe" sent to amc-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Other related posts:
- » [amc] Fw: WE HAVE THREE DAYS TO STOP THE WAR
