PROPOSAL : GA RESOLUTION ON PEACE AND AMNESTY

Since I recently posted the Napa County Greens resolution on Amnesty for military personnel who view fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq as illegal and/or immoral, I not that there is already a new proposal which the sponsors are asking be added to the agenda on the floor of the upcoming General Assembly. I would guess that this proposal will have strong backing, especially given the ongoing Green Party opposition to the War in Iraq, otherwise known as Bush's Folly.

---

PROPOSAL : GA RESOLUTION ON PEACE AND AMNESTY

PRESENTERS

Laura Wells, (510)-986-0879, lwlaura@yahoo.com
Tim Smith, (707)-202-4507, rioryon@aol.com
Lowell Downey, (707)-257-1166, napagreens@aol.com



SUBJECT
A - Initiating a Peace Process in the Middle East
B - Amnesty for All Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The ongoing civil war in Iraq threatens to engulf the entire Middle East Region in a murderous conflagration, destructive of human life and of the surrounding natural environment...
Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of combatants and innocent bystanders have already lost their lives, or have been maimed, injured and traumatized, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Isreal, etc etc...
And general strife seriously threatens in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and throughout the whole region...
In fact, the whole world is threatened by the potential of a nuclear escalation of this conflict...
While there are groups seeking PEACE in this region, and among the combatant nations, those peace groups receive little recognition, support, or encouragement from the US Government...
While there are US Soldiers who refuse to fight in this conflict, they are hounded, persecuted and often forced to flee their homeland...


PROPOSAL

THE PEACE PROCESS

The California Green Party calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The California Green Party calls for the immediate withdrawal of ALL foreign combatants from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The California Green Party calls for the immediate commencement of a Middle East PEACE Process, encouraging ALL effected parties to enter into formal dialogue, with the ultimate goal of establishing a Just and lasting Peace, for all concerned.
The California Green Party calls for the Middle East PEACE Process to begin under the auspices of the United Nations and that it prominently include ALL Middle East Groups whose stated mission and goal is a Just and lasting Peace for all.

AMNESTY

The Green Party of California calls for immediate Amnesty for all soldiers that have refused to fight in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. We demand that Congress address this important issue. This is not just a military issue. This is a human rights issue that involves us all.

Amnesty is the right thing do. Our elected leaders have ignored the facts and supported this war for years while our soldiers and Iraqi civilians have been and continue to be crippled and slaughtered. Our elected representatives bear responsibility for this war and it is up to them to begin the important step toward national healing by showing compassion to our soldiers and their families. One essential step is in giving amnesty to our soldiers that have refused to fight in this war.

Our soldiers have returned home maimed and psychologically scarred for life. The mistreatment by our government is criminal. One out of every three homeless is a veteran. Veterans and their families are harassed and financially crippled. Veteran families are victims at home while their husbands and wives and children are dying and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our leading military hospital has been disgraced for its treatment of soldiers.

Amnesty is about compassion. Amnesty is about healing a great wrong. Would we condemn soldiers if they refused to follow the orders to commit the horrific My Lai Massacre in Vietnam? Would we not offer them compassion and amnesty if they chose to flee the military order? Would we condemn Nazi soldiers for refusing to follow orders to commit atrocities in labor camps? Would we not offer them compassion and amnesty?

Quoting St. Augustine, Martin Luther King Jr. said, "An unjust law is no law at all." Are our soldiers who refuse to follow an unjust law and an unjust order guilty of a crime that will forever be on their records? Is it right that they and their families bear the shame of a dishonorable discharge, prison and humiliation? We cannot turn our heads on these brave Americans who have been ostracized and turned into criminals for standing up against deceitful political leaders.

There can be no conditions for amnesty. Our country needs to find a way back from the horror that this war has inflicted here at home. We have another generation of children who have grown up with this violence. We have another war generation to support. In ten years, we may look back and say that giving amnesty to our soldiers who refused to fight in the Iraq and Afghanistan War was the catalyst for healing. Amnesty is a way to restore faith in our democracy and our humanity.

In an address Martin Luther King, Jr. once spoke, 'the first question which the priest and the Levite asked was "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But the good Samaritan reversed the question, "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" We also ask, "What will happen to the children of our soldiers and our children if we do not grant amnesty and show compassion?"

TIMELINE

The GPCA-CC shall agendize this Proposal at the beginning of the General Assembly(GA), Saturday, May 26th.
If the GA delegates chose to pass this Proposal, the GPCA Media Committee and other GP Media officials (such as Beth Moore Haines, Cres Vellucci, Erika MacDonald, etc) shall be charged with calling a press conference, and issue press releases in concert with the GA's closing ceremonies, when the GPCA shall publicize its Resolution on PEACE and AMNESTY.


RESOURCES

The Necessary Media Contacts and Announcements