100,000 Rings

November 25, 2005

100,000 Rings: In Remembrance of the Iraqi Civilian and Military Dead

Two women were arrested on Friday 25th November while holding a bell-ringing ceremony outside Parliament as part of an international peace event to mark the anniversary of the release of the Lancet study on 29th October 2004 which estimated 100,000 people had died since the beginning of the war in Iraq.

One of the women, Giulia, stated: “I am here today to remember the terrible loss of life that has occurred throughout the illegal war and occupation of Iraq, to commemorate the slaughter that took place in Fallujah a year ago and in solidarity with all the courageous people who have been arrested since the introduction of the new laws preventing demonstrations in the vicinity of the Houses of Parliament.”

October 26, 2005

Today, in cities and towns throughout the U.S. and beyond, activists will gather to grieve and protest the carnage wrought by the unlawful and immoral war in Iraq. Thousands will gather to commemorate the 2,000 lives of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and call upon U.S. people to stop funding the war. Others will focus chiefly upon the well over 100,000 Iraqi lives lost, and, in a campaign launched some months ago, will ring bells 100,000 times –1,000 chimes each in 100 different locations - as names of Iraqi civilians killed since the start of Shock and Awe are read aloud.

December 17, 2005

by Milan Rai Justice Not Vengeance

Yesterday morning we rang out the names of the dead on the barriers in front of Downing Street.

The police around us, the Prime Minister’s office in front of us, a friend of ours being harassed and searched across the road for filming us, under the threat of arrest, we read out the names of Iraqi civilians and of British soldiers.

Somehow, reading each name felt more painful than it had in Brighton or in Northwood. Somehow, the ceremony of remembrance had become more moving in these strange circumstances.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 26, 2005

Contacts: Kathy Kelly or Joel Gulledge
773-878-3815 or 773-619-2418 (cell)

CHICAGO - On Thursday and Friday, October 27 and 28, 2005, at Dearborn and Adams, from 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Chicago activists will join with groups across the U.S. and the UK to toll bells in remembrance of the more than 100,000 Iraqis who have died as a consequence of the U.S. led invasion and occupation of Iraq. In 100 locations listed at www.iraqmortality.org, participants in the “100,000 Rings” campaign will ring a bell once a minute, for 1,000 minutes, to express grief and condolence for every life lost as a result of the U.S. bombing, invasion and occupation of Iraq.

October 2005

In an exclusive for IraqMortality.org, Milan Rai, Author of War Plan Iraq, Regime Unchanged, and Chomsky’s Politics gives indepth analysis of the three major mortality studies conducted in Iraq; Iraq Body Count, The Lancet, and The UNDP Report. This document is presented to help activists more fully understand the differences and similarities between these studies.

For five days, begining on October 24th, almost 100 grassroots groups and individual activists in the US, UK, and Switzerland will toll a bell in their communities for Iraqis who have lost their lives in this war and for the families and loved ones they have left behind. This tolling of bells will also usher in the one year anniversary of the publishing of The Lancet Study on October 29th which estimates 100,000 Iraqi deaths due to the war and occupation.

Read the Iraq Mortality document

Voices for Creative Nonviolence and Justice Not Vengeance call for bell ringing ceremonies to grieve and protest the deaths of Iraqis in the US/UK war and occupation.

October 24th – 28th