Pax Christi joins “Women Say No To War Campaign”

Salt shakers
February 2006

Pax Christi joins “Women Say No To War Campaign”
Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement, has signed on in support of the “Women Say No To War Campaign,” an initiative from CODEPINK to mobilize women around the globe to call for an end to the occupation and violence in Iraq. The campaign was launched on in January at www.womensaynotowar.org.

The campaign hopes to obtain more than 100,000 signatures by International Women’s Day on March 8, 2006, when U.S. and Iraqi women will deliver these signatures to leaders in Washington, D.C., and women around the world will deliver them to U.S. embassies.

According to the campaign, “We, the women of the United States, Iraq, and women worldwide, have had enough of the senseless war in Iraq and the cruel attacks on civilians around the world. We’ve buried too many of our loved ones. We’ve seen too many lives crippled forever by physical and mental wounds. We’ve watched in horror as our precious resources are poured into war while our families’ basic needs of food, shelter, education and healthcare go unmet. We’ve had enough of living in constant fear of violence and seeing the growing cancer of hatred and intolerance seep into our homes and communities.”

Pax Christi USA Policy Director Jean Stokan said the “Women Say No To War” campaign offers an important opportunity for U.S. leaders to hear the voice and perspective of women, who are calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq and an alternative to the U.S. military occupation. “Together, we lend our enthusiastic support to this mass movement of women calling for an end to the unjust war in Iraq, and articulating a global vision rooted in inclusive security for all, especially those made most vulnerable by the U.S. war in Iraq,” said Stokan.

The campaign says that it is time to shift from a military model in Iraq to a conflict-resolution model that includes the following elements:

• The withdrawal of all foreign troops and foreign fighters from Iraq;

• Negotiations to reincorporate disenfranchised Iraqis into all aspects of Iraqi society;

• The full representation of women in the peacemaking process and a commitment to women’s full equality in the post-war Iraq;

• A commitment to discard plans for any foreign bases in Iraq;

• Iraqi control of its oil and other resources;

• The nullification of privatization and deregulation laws imposed under occupation, allowing Iraqis to shape the trajectory of the post-war economy;

• A massive reconstruction effort that prioritizes Iraqi contractors, and draws upon financial resources of the countries responsible for the invasion and occupation of Iraq;

• Consideration of a temporary international peacekeeping force that is truly multilateral and is not composed of any troops from countries that participated in the occupation.

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