Simultaneous Calls are Now Needed:
Fax’s, Emails, Letters From Across Our Nation
At this critical time in our nation’s history, righteous action is the antidote to despair. Please participate in a powerful citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace, sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, cultivating an array of peace-building policies and procedures. On April 8th, this historic legislation will be introduced for a second time; whether or not it becomes law is dependent on whether we, the people of the United States, take the time to make phone calls, lobby our Congress people, and in other ways create the political will to make it happen.
Please join us, either in Washington D.C. for the bill’s introduction and our initial lobbying campaign, or in your local area, as we blanket every Congressional district with a strong message of support for a Department of Peace.
Let us stand as passionately for peace, as some now stand so passionately for war.
What it is:
The Department of Peace focuses on individual and group responsibilities for establishing nonviolence as an organizing principle in society. The Department would focus on nonmilitary peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence and promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights. Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing policies, which address issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, mistreatment of the elderly, and other issues of cultural violence. Internationally, the Department would gather research, analyze foreign policy and make recommendations to the President on how to address the root causes of war and intervene before as or before they begin, while improving national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
I. COME TO THE GLOBAL RENAISSANCE ALLIANCE CONFERENCE IN
WASHINGTON D.C. ON APRIL 6-8. During our conference we will hold seminars on Non-Violent Principles and Civics/Lobbying Training, led by Marianne Williamson and Lynn McMullen along with a presentation by
Congressman Kucinich on the Department of Peace legislation. In addition, we will travel together to the Capitol to lobby our representatives. It is particularly important that as many people as possible come to this event in order to lobby our Congress people on April 8 when the bill is “dropped.” There is no political act more powerful than actually meeting with your Congressperson. Set a meeting with you Member of Congress for April 8th. You can visit http://www.renaissancealliance.org to learn more about how to set a meeting with your representative and to register for the conference. Web link here!
II. If you cannot come to Washington SET UP A MEETING IN YOUR HOME DISTRICT WITH YOUR CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE on April 8th. Recruit as many people as you can to attend this meeting with you. Doing this, we will blanket the nation with meetings in support of the bill, both in DC and beyond. Our goal is a meeting with every single member of Congress or members of their staff so we need people from every Congressional district in the country to come forward and help.
III. GET AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO CALL, FAX AND EMAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE on April 8th. Your job between now and April 8 is to make sure that everyone has the name and phone and fax number of their
Congress person (easy to find…visit www.Congress.org and to call them on April 7 to remind them to make the call. It is a good idea for you to keep a list of the people who have agreed to call and the needed numbers in case they misplace the contact information.
IV. PRINT FLYERS (on the GRA website at www.renaissancealliance.orgHand them out at Peace marches and post them in coffee houses, universities, churches, bus station, staff break room, everywhere you can think of!
As soon as Congressman Kucinich “drops” the bill, we will post its number on our website. Between now and April 8, e-mail as many people as you can, giving them the information about the Department of Peace lobbying effort. Ask them to help us!
Most importantly, FOLLOW UP. It is not enough to merely let people know that the legislation is being introduced; our job is to lobby for it, so that it passes. Congress is a reactive body, but if our Congress people do not hear from us directly, then there is nothing for them to react to.
Please send us an email to peace@renaissancealliance.org and let us know you will be a DOP Activist Leader. This means you will adopt your Member of Congress and stay with this process for the duration of this legislative session. You will be contacted within a week, to follow up. We will give you a new action each month to forward the bill. On the GRA website you will also find many additional ways in which you can participate in your community on an ongoing basis– to help educate, speak up, and lobby for this important legislation.
There is much to do, to change the direction of our country. Each of us can make a difference. The time to do it is now. For more information on this campaign, or for general or registration information on our peace gathering in Washington, visit
our website at www.renaissancealliance.org email us at peace@renaissancealliance.org or call us at (586) 754-8105. Please help us spread the word! You can share this information with everyone you know. If you are a part of an activist network, please consider sharing this information. To sign-up to receive email updates on the campaign, send a blank email to:
join-gra-enews@lists.renaissanceunity.org
Global Renaissance Alliance
P.O. Box 3259
Center Line MI 48015
Phone: (586) 754-8105 Fax:(586) 754-8106 www.renaissancealliance.org READ THE BILL:
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PEACE LEGISLATION
- Hold peace as an organizing principle in our society;
- Endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights;
- Strengthen non-military means of peacemaking;
- Work to create peace, prevent violence, divert from armed conflict, use field-tested programs, and develop new structures in non-violent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict;
- Address matters both domestic and international in scope;
- Submit to the President recommendations for reductions in weapons of mass destruction, and make annual reports to the President on the sale of arms from the United States to other nations, with analysis of the impact of such sales on the defense of the United States and how such sales affect peace;
- Encourage the development of initiatives from local communities, religious groups, and nongovernmental organizations;
- Facilitate the development of peace summits at which parties to a conflict may gather under carefully prepared conditions to promote non-violent communication and mutually beneficial solutions;
- Develop new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school violence, guns, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, and police-community relations disputes.
- Sponsor country and regional conflict prevention and dispute resolution initiatives, create special task forces, and draw on local, regional, and national expertise to develop plans and programs for addressing the root sources of conflict in troubled areas;
- Provide for the training of all United States personnel who administer post conflict reconstruction and demobilization in war-torn societies;
- Sponsor country and regional conflict prevention and dispute resolution initiatives, create special task forces, and draw on local, regional, and national expertise to develop plans and programs for addressing the root sources of conflict in troubled areas.
War with Iraq & threat of terrorist attacks at home creates stress. Prolonged, stress chips away at one’s mental, emotional and physical health. Stress makes it increasingly hard to cope with everyday tasks.