8-06-07, 9:12 am

Twenty-four people met in Chicago's City Hall August 2 to initiate a call for a three-month-long campaign to stop the war in Iraq, culminating with a Midwest regional mobilization in Chicago Oct 27.

Organized with the help of Alderman Rick Munoz (22nd) and Alderman Joe Moore (49th), the meeting of activists was comprised of key leaders from Chicago labor, community, religious, peace, and student organizations. Plans were put into motion for activities designed to give voice and visibility to the still silent anti-war majority present in each of these communities and sectors.

'I'm sick at heart when I see the slaughter on the news every morning,' Said Carl Davidson, who opened the session. 'We have to stop this, and I think we can. We know there's gridlock in Congress, at the top. But we have our own gridlock at the grassroots, too. We have an antiwar majority in the country, made up of millions of ordinary people from all walks of life, but it has yet to find its full voice and take action. I think we're ready now. We have a window of opportunity. If we can organize well, and in new ways, the power of the people will be heard.'

Davidson is co-chair of Chicagoans Against War & Injustice (CAWI), as well as a national steering committee member of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ).

Alderman Moore reported on his recent efforts in Washington, DC, representing Chicago at a 'Cities for Peace' event with elected officials from 300 other cities that have taken a stand against the war. 'The cost of the war is coming unbearable, not only in lives, but in nearly half a trillion dollars of lost financial resources that could have gone to meeting human needs, rather than an unjust war. In Chicago alone, this translates as a $90 million revenue loss for each of the 50 Wards in our city. Imagine what we could have done with that to help our communities.'

Alderman Munoz pledged to do whatever in takes to help bring the war's end. 'It's destroying all our hopes for a better future. We will do whatever we can in our neighborhoods to bring people out and make their voices heard.'

What unfolds in Chicago over the next three months will be part of the national campaign adopted by UFPJ, as a coalition of nearly 1400 local groups and coalitions across the country. The campaign will stress the importance of local base-building, organizing and local actions, in a series of waves, featuring occupation of Congressional offices, protests against corporations profiting from the war, protests linking the war with damage to the cities, to the livelihood of working people, and to the environment.

On the third Friday of every month, starting in September, a nationwide 'Iraq Moratorium' will feature a myriad of activities, from wearing armbands, to church meetings, to contacting a politician or walking a picket line. October 2, the 5th anniversary of one of Chicago's early protests to prevent the war, will feature a special event to bring pressure to bear on Congress and the campaigns, and to open the way for huge culminating event, the region-wide outpouring in the city on Oct 27, drawing caravans of buses and 'peace trains' from every urban center in ten nearby Midwest states.

Parallel events will take place in seven other major cities across the country on the same day.

The City Hall meeting discussed at some length how the 800,000 people in the area who voted for 'Out Now' in the last election might be reached. 'Special emphasis had to be made on the costs of the war we see in various communities-health clinic shutdowns, schools with budget shortfalls, violence among young people with little hope in a future,' said Ra Chaka, of the African American Alliance for Peace and Justice.

Other participants in the meeting detailed many more 'points of pain' attributable to the diversion of resources to fund the war instead of human needs, from crumbling infrastructure to lack of good jobs. 'This is critical to our success, making these links,' said Tim Yeager, a UAW official and also active in the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.

'George Bush and his war managed to basically destroy two cities, Baghdad and New Orleans, said Marilyn Katz, CAWI Co-Chair, 'and still wreaks untold damage on hundred of others.'

Participants also agreed that the Fall campaign and its culmination on Oct 27 should focus on a few, unifying demands and slogans, with a central theme of 'Stop the War Now, Bring All Our Troops Home! This core demand will be connected to 'Fund Human Needs, Not the War!' 'Stop the Violence at Home and Abroad, No Wider Wars! And 'Defend Immigrant Rights, Defend Civil Liberties!'

The campaign will be a nonpartisan effort. Without endorsing any candidates or parties, the organizers want to draw in all political forces opposing the war, especially at the grassroots, and people from all communities, all political and religious persuasions and all walks of life.

'We want to remove all obstacles,' explained Davidson, 'and place no unnecessary hurdles, to winning the widest unity among the antiwar majority. We want to encourage those people who oppose this war, but have yet to find a way to do something to stop it, that they are not alone and the time is now.'

The meeting closed with plans for a series of further planning and outreach sessions. It was agreed that representation to the campaign will be by organization, and the initiators will work to draw in several hundreds of groups and local coalitions over the next months.

Organizations in agreement with this basic approach and interested in sending a representative to the next meeting should contact Carl Davidson via email at

List of those attending the meeting:

*Organizations for Identification

Bill Barclay Oak Park Coalition for Truth and Justice Linda Beckstrom Peace Pledge Chicago, Puerto Rican Cultural Center Ra Chaka African American Alliance for Peace and Justice, Prison Relief Foundation, Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice (Coordinating Committee) Carl Davidson United for Peace & Justice (Steering Committee), Chicagoans Against War & Injustice (Co- Chair) Lucia Flores 22nd Ward Organization, Development Director Libby Frank Logan Square Neighbors for Justice & Peace Marilyn Katz Chicagoans Against War & Injustice (Co- Chair) Nick Kreitman Students for a Democratic Society (Elmhurst College, Chicago Organizer) Josh Levin Iraq Summer Campaign (IL Field Coordinator) Elena Marcheschi UNITE-HERE (Chicago & Midwest Regional Joint Board, Director of Strategic Affairs) Michael McConnell American Friends Service Committee (Regional Director) Joanna Misnik SEIU Local 73 (Communications Director) Joe Moore Alderman 49th Ward, Cities for Peace Rick Munoz Alderman, 22nd Ward, Living Wage Campaign Salim Muwakkil In These Times (Senior Editor), Chicago Public Square (Board Member) Jerry Rankins IBEW Local 21 (Business Agent) Carl Rosen Unite Electrical Workers (Western Region President) Mel Rothenberg Hyde Park for Peace & Justice, Coalition for New Priorities Claire Serdiuk Citizen Action - Illinois Tony Shafton Northwest Indiana Coalition Against the War in Iraq James Thindwa Jobs with Justice (Executive Director) Betsy Vandercook 49th Ward Organization (Chief of Staff) Tim Yeager Episcopal Peace Fellowship, UAW Local 2320 (Treasurer) Mary Zerkel American Friends Service Committee (Program Director)

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