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Not in Our Name

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Anti-war and peace movement
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Not in Our Name (NION) is a United States organization founded on March 23, 2002, in order to resist the U.S. government's course in the wake of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, largely by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).

Two key documents

Early in their existence, NION produced two documents—the "Pledge of Resistance" and the "Statement of Conscience" —that are widely credited with providing focus and expression to the U.S. anti-war movement.

"Pledge of Resistance"

The Pledge is written by Starhawk and Saul Williams, in the style of free verse, beginning:

We believe that as people living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices
done by our government,
in our names

Not in our name
will you wage endless war

and concluding

Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real.

The pledge opposes what it characterizes as "endless war", "transfusions of blood for oil", invasions of foreign countries, bombing civilians, and killing children. It goes on, "Not in our name / will you erode the very freedoms / you have claimed to fight for." It implicitly accuses the Bush administration of deeming "whole peoples or countries" as "evil" and pledges, among other things, "...alliance with those/ who have come under attack / for voicing opposition to the war / or for their religion or ethnicity."

"Statement of Conscience"

NION's "Statement of Conscience", drafted in spring 2002, first lists a series of criticisms of the Bush Administration and (secondarily) the U. S. Congress and calls on the people of the U.S. "...to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since September 11, 2001, and which pose grave dangers to the people of the world."

Among the specific principles advocated in the statement are the right of self-determination for peoples and nations and the importance of due process and dissent. The statement expresses "shock" at "the horrific events of September 11, 2001" but, evoking "similar scenes in Baghdad, Panama City, and, a generation ago, Vietnam", describes Iraq as "a country which has no connection to the horror of September 11", and deplores the administration's "spirit of revenge" and the "simplistic script of 'good vs. evil': "In our name, the Bush administration, with near unanimity from Congress, not only attacked Afghanistan but arrogated to itself and its allies the right to rain down military force anywhere and anytime."

Referring to the U.S. government's treatment of immigrants in the wake of September 11, the statement accuses the U.S. government of creating "two classes of people: those to whom the basic rights of the U.S. legal system are at least promised, and those who now seem to have no rights at all," and evokes "the infamous concentration camps for Japanese-Americans in World War II."

Protesting "a pall of repression" and referring specifically to the USA PATRIOT Act as emblematic of that repression, it accuses the executive branch of usurping "the roles and functions of the other branches of government," and continues, "We must take the highest officers of the land seriously when they talk of a war that will last a generation and when they speak of a new domestic order. We are confronting a new openly imperial policy towards the world and a domestic policy that manufactures and manipulates fear to curtail rights."

NION urges a movement of resistance: "President Bush has declared: 'you’re either with us or against us.' Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak for all the American people... We refuse to be party to these wars and we repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare..." It indicates as inspiration "...Israeli reservists who, at great personal risk, declare 'there IS a limit' and refuse to serve in the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza", the abolitionists, and "those who defied the Vietnam war" and concludes, "we will resist the machinery of war and repression and rally others to do everything possible to stop it."

The Statement of Conscience has been cited as instrumental to the initiation of the Bush Crimes Commission tribunal, an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity perpetrated by the George W. Bush Administration.

Signatories

NION's web site lists a broad array of signatories to the pledge, listing only those who signed before July 17 2002. Among those are:

2005 Statement of Conscience

NION issued an updated Statement of Conscience in January 2005, expressing dissent on the occasion of the re-inauguration of George W. Bush as president of the United States.

Slogans

The group uses the following phrases in its rhetoric:

  • Not by our will
  • Not in our name
  • Not by our hearts
  • I Say NO to the Bush Agenda
  • No War On the World
  • No Police State Restrictions
  • No Round-ups and Detentions

Role in the anti-war movement

In certain ways, the founding of NION parallels that of ANSWER. ANSWER is an anti-war coalition that was founded on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, largely by members of the Workers World Party (WWP). (Four years later, however, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, an offshoot of WWP, has replaced WWP's influence in ANSWER). NION was founded six months later, largely by members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), which continues to be prominent among its leadership.

NION has a broad set of endorsers and is generally regarded as a cooperative participant in the broader anti-war movement. Typical among expressions of this sentiment is an October 2002 article by Michael Albert and Stephen R. Shalom in Z magazine. After excoriating the RCP for holding various positions that Albert and Shalom find abhorrent, they then write, "Despite these views, however, RCP does not push its specific positions on NION to the degree that IAC does on ANSWER. For example, while the ANSWER website offers such things as… IAC backgrounder on Afghanistan…, the NION website and its public positions have no connection to the sometimes bizarre views of the RCP." This is reflected in the wide range of signatories to their "Statement of Conscience".

Also, NION is itself now a member of a broader coalition United for Peace and Justice, founded in October 2002 (a year after ANSWER) by individuals and groups seeking to curb ANSWER's influence in the antiwar movement.

An example of NION's willingness to cooperate came when they postponed their national moratorium against the war to coincide with the March 5 2003 "Books Not Bombs" student strike called by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition.

Antecedents of the name

Prior to the founding of Not in Our Name, other anti-war groups had used the name, including a group of families who were victims of the 9-11 World Trade Center attack, and Jewish youth protesting Israel's militarism in the Palestinian Territories. "Not in Our Name" is also a slogan used by the UK Stop the War Coalition.

External link

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