Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 15:22:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joe Ferguson <•••@••.•••>
To: •••@••.•••
Subject: Stop the genocide -- National Strike on Election Day
[Mailed to friends, activist networks and Church contacts]
Dear Friends and Fellow Persons of Conscience,
I pray the people of the U.S. will stage a massive strike to
show the government we do not want to commit genocide against
the people of Afghanistan.
That's what our military is in the process of doing right now,
but there may still be time to stop it.
You wouldn't have seen the truth about this on TV but it's in
the newspapers. If we do nothing, we won't be able to say we
didn't know about it.
San Jose Mercury News, Wednesday, 10/24/01, small item at the
bottom of page one, headline and second header say:
"U.S. aims to freeze out Taliban this winter
HITTING FOOD, FUEL DEPOTS SETS THE STAGE, OFFICIALS SAY"
The article takes up half the back page too, but never mentions
the millions of civilians who occupy the same cities and villages
as the "Taliban" who occupy some 70% of the country.
To learn more about what's in store for these mothers, fathers
and children, one needs to turn to the (London) Observer, last
Sunday's issue (10/21/01) page 2, bottom right.
The headline is "UN set to appeal for halt in the bombing"
The article begins:
"The United Nations is set to issue an unprecedented appeal to the
United States and its coalition allies to halt the war on
Afghanistan and allow time for a huge relief operation.
"UN sources in Pakistan said growing concern over the deteriorating
humanitarian situation in the country -- in part, they say, caused
by the relentless bombing campaign -- has forced them to take the
radical step. Aid officials estimate that up to 7.5 million
Afghans might be threatened with starvation."
...
Seven and a half million people could starve because of what our
government (who we fund with our taxes) is doing;
if we don't stop it.
And if we DON'T stop it, and these millions of people do starve
and freeze this winter, does anybody think this is going to end
terrorism? Won't it create a brand new wave of outrage against
the U.S.?
Let's inform everybody about this. Let's take a day off from
work and from shopping on Election Day, November 6, and perhaps
each of us could go downtown and tell at least one official:
"I want the military to stop the bombing of Afghanistan because
it is going to cause the deaths of millions of innocent people
this winter and I'm against that."
Friends, please forward this message!
Other people of conscience receiving this, please do the same!
Activist networks receiving this, I know you've been organizing
vigils and demonstrations and you've been doing a great job
informing people like me.
This is intended to appeal to an extremely broad segment of the
U.S. population including the business and religious sectors.
It is intended to get the attention of the government in no
uncertain terms.
Please adopt this idea and spread the word, OK?
Everybody, please don't listen to the spin doctors as they
explain why the millions of deaths can't be avoided. These
explanations won't change the reality.
This is an emergency!
We do not have until Thanksgiving to do this. By then, the damage
will be done and winter will be upon Afghanistan. Election day is
less than two weeks away, but we don't need special arrangements,
we just need everybody to be made aware of the emergency and aware
of the day of the strike.
If a national or international day of strike has already been
called, I missed the announcement. Please let me know when it is
scheduled. I promise to notify the same list of addressees I'm
using now, to immediately pass that along. Let's coordinate this
for maximum impact!
I know there is the network to make this work because I've seen
email from all walks of life -- from the Church of Christ, to
Marxists, to business persons to Flower Children -- getting their
message out on the internet. And everybody in the country knows
somebody who has a computer.
I'm going to send this as far and wide as I can and I hope you'll
consider doing the same. This is intended to be an uncomplicated
thing that a huge majority of Americans could get behind and do
together.
This is NON-PARTISAN! (It could as easily be Clinton in the Chief
Commander seat as anyone and the same thing would be going on.)
This is appropriate for people whether you fly the American flag
or not: One of the greatest things about this country is that
it's supposed to be GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE and all we're doing
is saying to our fallible, human leaders
"STOP! YOU'RE MAKING A TERRIBLE MISTAKE! WE DON'T SUPPORT THIS!"
It's not unpatriotic to try to save your leaders from doing
something terrible.
I'm going to notify my boss I'm taking Nov. 6th off. (In fact
he's on the addressee list.)
I know I am naive. There are at least a million reasons this
won't happen, but it seems there might be as many as seven and a
half million reasons it should.
Your friend, fellow citizen and fellow human,
Joseph C. Ferguson
Working person and father
************************************************************
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 09:54:15 -0700
From: "Media Watch" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: Investing in Public Health/Cursor.org
Please consider adding your name or organization in support of the
statement below.
Bio-terrorism seems to be hitting close to home. The natural
response is concern for our families and friends. But we don't have
to submit to fear - there's something powerful we can do.
A strong public health response can make the difference between a
worldwide epidemic and a frightening but quickly contained outbreak of
disease. Yet a broad decline in America's investment in public health
has left us vulnerable to large-scale health threats, whether they
arise naturally or from bio-terrorism.
Please join me in a simple call for increased investment in public
health, at:
http://www.moveon.org/beprepared/
"Our lack of preparation is a real emergency," said former Senator
Sam Nunn in testimony to Congress six days before Sept. 11th.
"In the event of a biological weapons attack, millions of lives will
depend on how quickly doctors diagnose the illness, communicate their
findings, and bring forth a fast and effective response at the local
and federal level. This means, clearly, that public health and medical
professionals must be part of the national security team," Nunn added.
An increased public health investment could help, in these ways:
- Improved linkages between intelligence agencies and public health
professionals could speed up detection and shorten response time.
- Many public health systems currently go off duty on weekends; also
only 25 states now have Epidemic Intelligence Service Officers.
Expanded investment could enable 24-7 service in every state.
- Our doctors need training to identify the early signs of communicable
diseases that have been extremely rare in recent years.
- More inspectors are needed to protect the safety of our food.
- Hospital bed capacity and vaccine inventories should be expanded.
I hope you'll join us10/26/01 in calling for these sensible improvements
today.
Just click here:
http://www.moveon.org/beprepared/
NEWS RELEASE
October 25, 2001
•••@••.•••
CURSOR Launches the Internet's Most Complete Al-JAZEERA Resource
http://www.cursor.org/aljazeera.htm
On October 5th, as the U.S. launched airstrikes on Afghanistan, tiny
Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite news channel burst onto the American
consciousness, offering the only live feeds of the war's beginning, along
with Osama bin Laden's videotaped response to the U.S.
Since then, Al-Jazeera has played a central and controversial role in the
conflict, as the only media outlet regularly reporting and transmitting
footage from inside Afghanistan.
Now, Cursor covers Al-Jazeera, with regularly updated links to the latest
reporting and commentary on this war's most important media outlet,
including a link to the station's own Web site, translated into English.
"Cursor's Al-Jazeera Link" includes the following special sections,
featuring comprehensive coverage of Al-Jazeera from newspapers, magazines
and Web sites in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East:
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