The Winter of Our Discontent: February 15 to March 20, 2006

End the War Against Iraq.
Act for Justice for Iraqis.
February 15 to March 19, 2006

Download The Winter of Our Discontent: Who are we, and why are we here? (PDF)

2000 U.S. soldiers lay dead in Iraq.

Tens of thousands of Iraqis lay dead as a consequence of the occupation.

300,000 Iraqi children under 5 years of age suffer from acute malnutrition.

Hundreds of billions are spent to wage war.

Hundreds of billions are stolen from waging life in the U.S. and Iraq. Our country chooses to fund war-making while failing to adequately fund the Common Good—schools, health care, housing, water, living wages, and jobs-whether in the U.S. or in Iraq.

On February 15, 2003, millions of global citizens took to the streets, trying to prevent the U.S.-U.K. invasion of Iraq. It was the largest prewar antiwar mobilization ever seen in history. It was the birth of a new global superpower-a popular movement committed to peace and justice.

On March 19, 2003, the U.S.-U.K. invasion of Iraq officially began.

Let This Now Be the Winter of Our Discontent

We call upon people to travel to Washington, D.C. between February 15 and March 19, 2006 to press for an end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq and an end to all forms of economic and military warfare against Iraq.

We call for the following actions to take place in Washington, D.C., along with local actions around the country, during the Winter of Our Discontent:

1. Lobbying Congress to end all forms of economic and military warfare against Iraq as well as to make full payment of war reparations for the damage our country inflicted upon Iraqis over these past 15 years of economic and military warfare.
2. Fasts and vigils, including a 33-day fast and fasts of shorter duration.
3. Civil disobedience / nonviolent resistance at those places which represent and at which decisions are made concerning economic and military warfare against Iraq. These include the Pentagon, the Blight House (a.k.a. the White House), theU.S. Capitol, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In local communities around the U.S., actions should occur at Congressional offices, federal buildings, Military Entrance Processing Stations and recruiting stations, weapons contractors and at companies profitting at the expense of the Iraqi people.

Demands of the Winter of Our Discontent

1. An end to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq, with immediate withdrawal of all U.S.-U.K. military forces.
2. Payment of war reparations by the U.S. to Iraq for the damage inflicted by the past 15 years of economic and military warfare against Iraq.
3. The unconditional cancellation of the remaining $33 billion in war reparations charges which the United Nations imposed on Iraq following the Saddam Hussein regime’s 1990-91 invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Note that nearly all individual claims have been paid and the remaining claims would be mostly paid to other governments and state-owned enterprises.
4. The unconditional cancellation of the odious debt incurred by the regime of Saddam Hussein.
5. No internationally forced privatization of Iraq’s state-owned enterprises, especially its oil resources and oil wealth.
6. Respect for basic human rights and workers’ rights as per international law.

What You Can Do

1. Endorse the Winter of Our Discontent. If you endorse as an individual, please advise us if there is an organization title or affiliation which you would like us to use for identification purposes only.
2. Secure the endorsement of organizations with which you are affiliated.
3. Commit to traveling to Washington, D.C. during the Winter of Our Discontent. Please advise us which actions you will participate in (lobbying, fasts / vigils, civil disobedience / nonviolent resistance) and the dates you will be able to participate in D.C.
4. Organize your organization, friends, and colleagues to travel to D.C. to participate in the Winter of Our Discontent. Please let us know who will be traveling to D.C. so we can coordinate with you (or who the key contact person will be).
5. If you are not able to travel to D.C. during the Winter of Our Discontent, please consider organizing actions in your local area during this time period. Please advise us what forms of action you’ll organize, dates of the action(s) and location of the action(s), as well as who the contact person will be.
6. Distribute this call to action far and wide.

For more information
Jeff Leys
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
1249 W Argyle St #2
Chicago, IL 60640
Email: jeffleys@vitw.org
Phone: 773-878-3815