For Sunday's Memorial, Thanks
March 20, 2005

Many thanks to the hundreds (the estimate was about 400 despite the number contained in the generally good coverage of the Phila.
Inquirer), that is, each and every person who despite rain participated in yesterday's Anti-War Memorial Walk, Rally, and
Ceremony.
    All the speakers spoke powerfully to the need to resist the continuing war of occupation in Iraq and the institution of U.S.
militarism and empire building behind the war. Many thanks to all the groups that participated - we will continue to walk and wage
peace together -; to all the peacekeeper/guiders that kept it together and going, for the sign and banner makers that keep the message
before the public and the cameras, and for the  organization, imagination and hard work that keeps our movement for peace
going.
    Below you will see the Declaration of Defiance & Nonviolence that was made near the conclusion of the rally and ceremony. The
Declaration of Defiance & Nonviolence was articulated as part of the National Call for Nonviolent Resistance launched during the  
weekend's nationwide observances of the 2nd Anniversary of the Iraq War.

18 USC (United States Code) Section 2387

Activities affecting armed forces generally (a) Whoever, with intent to interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morale, or discipline
of the military or naval forces of the United States:

(1) advises, counsels, urges, or in any manner causes or attempts to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any
member of the military or naval forces of the United States; or (2) distributes or attempts to distribute any written or printed matter
which advises, counsels, or urges insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty by any member of the military or naval
forces of the United States -

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States
or any department or agency thereof, for the five years next following his conviction.

Two Statements from Soldier Resisters
 
Let us, collectively, free our minds, soften our hearts, comfort the wounded, put down our weapons, and reassert ourselves as human
beings by putting an end to war. -- Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia, Court-martialed and sentenced to one year in military stockade
 
I always felt there was no higher honor than to serve my country and defend the values that established this country….I have come to the
conclusion that there are no valid arguments for the destructive force of war....I cannot tell anyone else how to live his or her life, but
I have determined how I want to live mine - by not participating in war any longer, as I feel that it is stupid and against everything that
is good about our world. -- Sergeant Kevin Benderman, Facing courts martial for refusing 2nd deployment to Iraq
 
Declaration of Defiance & Nonviolence of the National Call for Nonviolent Resistance

The President, Congress, and military command of the United States  have breached a sacred trust with our soldiers as they have
abused  their oath to defend the Constitution by taking the country to a war based on lies. The U..S. war of occupation in Iraq has claimed
the lives of more than 100,000 Iraqis and more than 1500 U.S. military personnel.

Soldiers have no less the  right of conscience than any other human being. In the spirit of love and justice, we can not allow our right to
support and encourage soldiers acting on conscience to be stripped away by any nation or law.

Inspired by a growing number of soldiers who are refusing orders to Iraq, or otherwise speaking out, we encourage support (material,
emotional, and spiritual)  for all those within the military who refuse to participate in this war. In so doing,  we  knowingly defy the law ­
18 USC Section 2387 ­ that abrogates our right of free speech and dissent, the law which throws a cloak over the immorality and
illegality of this war. We therefore advise, counsel and urge soldiers to refuse orders to Iraq if in good conscience they decide to do so
and urge others to do likewise. Our defiance of this unjust law is undertaken in a spirit of love, with compassion and respect for all we
encounter, especially our soldiers.

We obey a higher law, knowing that Iraq is an illegal war and our country has committed war crimes there. As noted at the War
Crimes Trials in Nuremburg, "individuals have international duties which transcend national obligations of obedience imposed by the
individual state."
 
We fully recognize that soldiers are at a far greater risk, than we outside the military are, for undertaking nonviolent resistance to the
war in Iraq. It is therefore our moral responsibility that we share that risk to the extent we can.

The National Call for Nonviolent Resistance urges deliberate acts of nonviolent resistance to this war. Whether at  the offices of our
Senators and Congresspeople, the centers of military recruitment, through the non-payment war taxes, or at the production points for
the weapons of war at such war profiteers as Lockheed Martin, our cry for resistance goes out.

May our commitment to ending this war and to peace be animated by life-affirming resistance to the war.
www.iraqpledge.com