Arms Against War -- Visibly United

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It began with this open letter, from a longtime supporter of the Unified Settlement:


Dear Friends,

I am so worried and angry about the way our world is being treated by our governments. They spy, they invade countries illegally, they are involved in torture and at no point are they doing what they were elected to do - look after the interests of the people of their countries. I can think of no decision in the past few years that was made for my good by my government. I know too that many,many people feel the same. But what is worse, we feel unable to do anything about it.

Personally, I have attended marches, been to a major International Peace Conference, written countless letters to politicians and media and signed a ridiculous number of petitions - and nothing happened. My voice is not heard. My anger with the government grew even more when I recently searched Google for anti-war/peace groups and well over 3 million appeared. All these groups have concerns about the legality of the war in Iraq and concern about impending wars in Syria and Iran . The issues move faster than the protesters can keep up with and again, no-one is listening anyway (except the 'intelligence' agencies who are spying on their own citizens).

I wondered how many it would take - how many anti-war/peace groups increase the volume and visibility enough so that governments can realise we are more against the war, than for. How can we make them see that the people who elected them disagree with the decisions they are making and the actions they are taking in their citizens' names? I don't want my tax each week to kill an innocent civilian, mis-informed soldier or anyone else - I am responsible for this war waged by my government - in my name. I wish I wasn't.

So, to finally reach the point of this letter. How do you feel about the war in Iraq ? Would you like to have an end to it? Do you oppose your tax paying for it? Do you object to the death of our young soldiers? Do you object to the reasons for war? If you do want an end to the war in Iraq for any reason then please, please do me just one favour - one concerned human being for another - wear a strip of white fabric around your arm.

I realise it sounds small, insignificant and futile - but, I truly believe, that a show of opposition is essential in order to get media and government to be in a position where they can no longer ignore the many, many people who oppose this one point in unison. I realise there are so many issues that need to be tackled, but believe that tackling just one, gives us a united start. The reason a white armband of any fabric was chosen is important. I know that not all people the world over, who oppose the war in Iraq, can afford to attend demonstrations or spare the time, many people do not want to affiliate themselves with specific anti-war/peace groups as they may not agree the rest of the agenda, many people cannot spare the time to write letters, make calls and bother their (largely ignorant) governments who rarely, if ever respond - so a simple white piece of fabric is available to everybody, all the time, without purchase, without an agenda.

If you choose to wear the white armband you are saying just one thing "I WANT AN END TO THE WAR IN IRAQ". You are not agreeing to any agenda, movement or politics – you are acting as an individual saying just one thing "I WANT AN END TO THE WAR IN IRAQ". This form of voicing your opinion is a way to make this statement at all times, peacefully, until we are noticed. I know the instant response in your heart will be "what is the point?"….but please ignore that and just make this one move, take this one step in the direction you want the world to improve. No war in Iraq would be a start – and a start is exactly what we need, at this moment, to begin. This is a highly visible way to show the governments that their people object in large numbers, to the actions they are taking. Please, please join me – if only to make one person happy J

Thank you so much for reading and thank you so much for your support, each of us is a vital part of humanity with a right to have our say.

Namaste

ONE DAY......... www.armsagainstwar.info VISIBLY UNITED

PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE

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Now, as you can see, this movement has a web presence -- and yes, more and more are visiting the site every day. Here are some of the sites that help by providing a link to Arms Against War:

http://rationalreview.com/land#action

http://www.rationalreview.com/content/6924

http://www.coary.com/

http://www.counterpunch.org/ (website of the day January 23rd 2006)

http://www.envirosagainstwar.org/know/read.php?&itemid=3659

http://news.antville.org/stories/1311211/

http://abutamam.blogspot.com/2006/01/women-under-occupations-rules-of.html

http://www.ugandannetwork.com/let1.htm

http://sandiego.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/113176.shtml

http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/jrudy585/Index.html

https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/332228.html

http://www.Protest.Net/imcuk/calendrome.cgi?eo=1&eid=538187&auth=K1FJGU02BO
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0601/S00198.htm

http://newswire.indymedia.org/en/2006/01/832025.shtml

http://www.isil.org/fnd/

http://uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?list=type&type=24
Now add: Nation of Earth http://unifiedsettlement.blogspot.com/


This is, as I have told the author of the open letter (and main force behind the effort), exactly what the Unified Settlement is about.

Once again, it is not important whether anyone recognizes the name, Unified Settlement, or has a clue that it was founded nearly 2 years ago. It is not important for anyone to know who I am. I founded this nation in hopes to help bring us more gently and more quickly into our bright future. If ALL the Unified Settlement has done so far is to be part of the inspiration behind Arms Against War, then it has helped to make a difference.

All along, I've wondered what it would take to begin to get the people united. The answer turns out to be very simple. Find something that at least half of us feel strongly about, create a simple expression for that sentiment, and set it loose.


It is a beginning.


Phil Smith
January 30th, 2006


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