The Network of Spiritual Progressives A Project of the Tikkun Community

An important message! If you're like us here in the Tikkun/NSP (Network of Spiritual Progressives) office, you are very concerned about the possibility of a new war on Iran as well as about the upcoming funding vote for the continued occupation of Iraq. We're pleased to offer you this exclusive transcript of a strategy conference call we convened last week among leaders of the antiwar movement. Click HERE to read the transcript or go read it on the home page of www.spiritualprogressives.org. We had some of the most interesting thinkers in the anti-war movement involved?and you can get a good sense of where their thinking is at. Participants in that call include: Mark Johnson, President, Fellowship of Reconciliation Dan Nejfelt, Faith in Public Life Nichola Torbett, Network of Spiritual Progressives Dot Maver, Dept of Peace Medea Benjamin, Code Pink Leslie Cagan, UFPJ Rick Ufford-Chase, Christian Peace Witness for Iraq Michael Lerner, NSP/Tikkun Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) Tim Carpenter, Progressive Democrats of America Jean Stokan, Pax Christi There are a couple of things you can do immediately to help us challenge the war: Make the Moratorium Visible Many peace groups are asking people to take off from their normal activities the 3rd Friday of each month. TIKKUN and the Network of Spiritual Progressives urges you to add an element to that: At noon, wherever you are, stand up in quiet attention for five minutes to protest the war in a public and visible way. If you are driving, stop your car and stand next to it. If you are in your office, or at a store, or at a restaurant, or eating lunch, or exercising, or teaching, or attending classes, or walking through a park or a university campus or a nursing facility or a hospital or courtroom or on a subway or just by yourself, stand in quiet, mourn the deaths and the casualties of war, mourn the government of the U.S. that is so deeply committed to the war, mourn the failure of Congress to stop the war, and grieve for our planet whose resources are being wasted and destroyed through this war, mourn the hurtfulness of Iraqi factions who kill each other in horrible ways. And stand in solidarity with those who wish to replace the spirit of domination that shapes our foreign and domestic policies with a strategy of generosity. Five minutes, noon, the third Friday of every month till the war ends. Silent attention (but you can hold a sign saying what you are standing in silence for). Spread the word about this tactic--the anti-war movement as a whole doesn't yet know of it, but we at the NSP are spreading the idea. Take the Peace Pledge Click here (http://pdamerica.org/petition/pledge-for-peace.php) to sign a petition asking Congress to use the power of the purse to limit any addition funds appropriations to the protection and safe redeployment of all our troops out of Iraq. Seventy Congresspeople have already signed an open letter to this effect: http://pdamerica.org/articles/misc/-misc.php. Go to: (http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=&type=ML) to email Nancy Pelosi and your Congresspeople with the same message. Call Congress Join the nationwide effort to flood the offices of your members of Congress with calls demanding an end to the U.S. war in Iraq and no new war with Iran. Let's make it clear: Congress must stand up to the Bush war machine! Call your representative and both of your senators at , and ask to be connected to their offices. Tell them: I want you to act now to end the war and occupation of Iraq and to prevent a war with Iran. The Congress has the constitutional right and a moral responsibility to use the power of the purse to withdraw all U.S. soldiers and contractors from Iraq on a rapid and binding schedule.Congress must act to prevent a catastrophic war with Iran. On Aug. 28, President Bush announced that he has authorized U.S. forces in Iraq to confront Iran militarily -- please speak out against and oppose this policy! Find out who represents you in Congress: http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials . Change the Security Paradigm We came away from the strategy conference call more convinced than ever that we need a deeper strategy, that it will be impossible to both end this war and prevent future wars from within the current paradigm of domination and control. To help advance the Strategy of Generosity in Homeland Security, take one of these steps: Many blessings, Rabbi Michael Lerner National Chair, NSP Nichola Torbett Director of National Programs