Lift every voice

We will continue to send well-reasoned letters to our Senators and Representatives, gather in our town squares with our signs, write letters to our local papers, and connect with national marches and days of action. Yet it is clear that this war is being led by some force other than reason and logic. Lift Every Voice is a way to make a stand. It is a way for those who are convinced that this is a morally bankrupt war that will bring great harm to the citizens of both Iraq and the United States and peace to neither country to refuse to be marginalized, to join with millions of fellow citizens to say to the powers that be, "As long as you are preparing for and waging war, we are going to be on your phone and in your email box - every day."

The schedule below identifies the institution to contact each day of the work week. There is a basic message as well, but participants will each create their own message. Every day until the war ends, we will send a message to these institutions that expresses our feelings that week. Over time, Lift Every Voice participants may use the Internet to find additional people within these institutions who create and support plans for war and speak directly for them. As our numbers grow, we may find that phone numbers and emails are changed. On a daily basis, we may find lines busy and servers down. What is important now is our creativity, our dogged determination not to be ignored, our deep conviction that there are better ways for countries to settle their differences than through the industrialized slaughter of each others citizens, and our faith that our collective efforts for peace will be blessed.

The Armistice ending the first great World War was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. The generation who lived through that period remembers that time and date as the day a war ended. Lift Every Voice was initiated in an effort to prevent war. If war breaks out, it will continue until the war ends. Those who are able can initiate their daily call for peace by sending an email, a fax, or making a phone call to President Bush at 11:00 EST, and then contact the other institution for that day. Others participate when they can.

This effort is ignited as we pass Lift Every Voice to our friends. Lift Every Voice is an expression of a basic commitment: As long as our government is preparing for and waging war, we raise this daily call for peace.

May our collective efforts for peace be blessed.

Monday: Executive Branch.
"Wise leadership protects us without war." The White House phone number is 202-456-1414. You will be directed to the comment line. The fax is 202-456-2461 President Bush receives email at . Vice-President Cheney receives his email at Begin your daily call for peace every day by contacting the President at 11:00 EST. Copy the President on your anti-war correspondence. Major online newspapers have provisions to email articles: send articles you find disturbing to the two men who have the most power to stop the war.

Tuesday: The pentagon.
"No war in my name." Go to the Department of Defense at http://www.defenselink.mil/ Click on the "contact us" section. Find the "questions" tab, and send Secretary Rumsfeld a question. (e.g. "Why are we launching our own weapons of mass destruction against a civilian population in Iraq to solve a political dispute?)

(One time call) On January 24, 2003, CBS reported that the plans for the first two days of the Iraq war was based on a concept called "Shock and Awe." Harlan Ullman, one of the authors of the plan, says the massive bombardment of Baghdad with 800 cruise missiles is designed to produce "this simultaneous effect, rather like the nuclear weapons at Hiroshima…taking the city down…not in days or weeks but in minutes." Harlan will receive your comments about this plan at (202) 333-3004 (home), at (202) 887-0200 (work) or at

Wednesday:The State Department / Secretary Colin Powell:
"You are our nation's top diplomat. Pursue our national interests through diplomacy." Call the main switchboard at 202-647-4000 and ask to speak to someone about the war. Or call Secretary Powell's office at 202-647-5291. You can record a message, or "press 2" to talk to an aide. Or go to the State Department at state.gov and click on "Press and Public Affairs" then click on "Contact Public Affairs," then "Send a message to the Secretary of State."

Thursday: Our legislators.
"Exercise your power to keep us out of war." Call the capitol switchboard at 1-800-839-5276 and ask to be connected to your Senator or Representative. Get contact information for your senator at www.senate.gov and for your representative at www.house.gov Some say the most effective way to communicate with Washington today is through fax. Take your pick.

Friday: Public opinion. If you do not believe the New York Times (The paper of record) and the Washington Post, (Speaks to the nation's politicians every day) are providing adequate coverage of our movement, you send them an email - not a letter for publication: "I am one of millions of U.S. citizens who oppose this war. I want to read about this movement on your news pages. I want to read editorials from those who question this war in your opinion pages."

Arthur Sulzberger Jr. ,Chairman & Publisher of the New York Times:
Michael Abramowitz, National Editor at the Washington Post:
A January 21, 2003 Washington Post article quoted Matthew Dowd, who they said coordinates polling for the White House, as saying, "Public opinion will move to support the President when he explains his rationale for war." If your opinion has not moved, and you would like to let Matthew know that, call him at (202) 863-8500 (The Republican National Committee) or email Matthew at .