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To the Editor,
“peacemaker – n.: one who settles an argument or stops a fight. ‘The Peacemakers’ are a growing group of citizens organized at First Congregational Church in Norwalk, committed to “stopping the fight” that our President seems intent on picking with Iraq. While Bush and Congress back legislation to “stop bullying in our schools”, we see our country engage in bullying on the international playground, and the stakes are far greater than a thousand ‘Columbines’. We challenge you, the media, to cover the grassroots efforts like those of “The Peacemakers” to stop the fight. We firmly believe that here in the 21st century, we can and must find other solutions besides war. We have more technology, more creativity and capabilities for communication than ever before, to work outside of the primitive and ineffective paradigm of military aggression to deal with tyrants. None of the countries we have bombed in the past century have ever directly resulted in a free and democratic government being established. In fact, leaving Germany in ruins after WWI set the stage for the rise of Hitler, and further devastation of Iraq may spawn dozens more irate Saddams. What we have learned from WWI, was to build back up our vanquished enemies, and thus post WWII’s Marshall Plan was successful in creating the Allies we have now, Germany and Japan. Perhaps we could spend the post-war billions now without the war, pumping back to life the economy starved by sanctions, building up the countries’ infrastructure, and creating new allies instead of enemies. When people are poor and desperate, it becomes easy to hate. We must turn this country’s resources to leading the world in something besides bullying and using up the greatest percentage of natural resources and wealth. We must lead in peacemaking, raising the global community’s standard of living, preserving our planet for our children, learning about our common needs and surviving our differences, if not embracing them. We don’t know if Iraq has nuclear weapons or not, but we DO know that WE do. Yet we are not recommending that our enemies invade us. We do not feel there is nearly enough compelling evidence presented by Bush and his cronies to go to war. We do not wish for him to manufacture “evidence” either. War is being pitched as a quick solution. It is a bad answer, far from likely to be quick, and the cost ridiculous, guaranteed to leave a host of other long-term problems in its wake. We are inviting all to join us to engage in dialogue, to participate in the Great Peace Demonstration this Sat., Feb. 15th in NYC, and in a candlelight vigil next Wed. evening, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m. at First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk. We will follow with a meeting planning our next events and grassroots resistance to the war. We are not silent, we are not passive, few or wimpy. We are The Peacemakers, we will be heard, and we will make a difference.
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