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PLEASE SIGN ON!!!

A group of activists has drafted the following statement against backlash,
repression and violence coming out of yesterday's nightmare. Please
consider signing on.

The statement and list of endorsers will be e-mailed and posted around,
and we hope to get it into some mainstream media, do some fax zaps of
policy-makers, etc. Right now we're just waiting to see if people/groups
are willing to sign on.

September 12, 2001

New York City - As communities engaged in the struggle for justice, we
are shocked and distressed at yesterday's horrific attack on workers and
visitors at the World Trade Center, and at the multiple violent
hijackings which preceded it. We condemn this violence against random individuals
and the obvious intention to kill and destroy lives.

Many of us have lost or nearly lost people we love, and without
exception we are horrified at the pain, fear and death inflicted on millions of
people, in New York and elsewhere, by these acts. Along with the rest of the
city, we will long be grappling with and recovering from this event. We are
concerned for everyone who has lost a friend or family member, for the
missing, for the emergency workers and volunteers participating in
rescue efforts, and also for the thousands of people whose mode of employment
was destroyed in the wreckage. We will be seeking meaningful ways to assist
in the aftermath.

Regardless of who orchestrated this violence, we are deeply concerned
about the social and political aftermath of this event.

We call on the people and the government of the United States to resist
the temptation now to label as "terrorists" all Arab groups who object to
American policy. American oil and geopolitical interests have visited
war on the Middle East region, and American support for Israeli presence in the

Occupied Territories has visited over 50 years of violence and
repression specifically on the Palestinian people. We must reconsider these
policies - not because we fear extremist violence, but because these policies are
antidemocratic and unjust.

We are concerned that the many governments worldwide will seize on this
opportunity to heighten violence and repression against Arabs and
Muslims. We call on the international community to object to any such form of
collective punishment.

As in the turmoil of the Gulf War, we fear an upsurge of anti-Arab
racism, and we have already seen the signs in the media and in conversations on
the street. But a crisis calls for strict adherence to the principles of
democracy, and we condemn the "guilt by racial association" imposed on
Arabs in the Middle East and around the world. Let each individual be judged
on the basis of their actions and words - we reject harassment, looting of
businesses or other forms of witch-hunting against Arabs in our
communities.

We reject any attempts now to curtail freedom of movement, access to
resources, the right to organize or other civil liberties.

Similarly, we reject any attempts to silence community activists who
challenge anti-Arab racism or other injustices. Instead, we call
urgently on the U.S. government to increase the level of open dialogue about
American involvement and policy in the Middle East.

Most importantly, we call on individual human beings worldwide to act
thoughtfully in these coming days; to carefully evaluate their sources
of information for bias, and to behave and speak in a way that creates a
world in which we would want to live.

At this moment of crisis, we stand together with our sisters and
brothers of all races, cultures, religions and nationalities to call not for war,
but for justice.

***
Endorsed by: Days of Awe Action Group; Jews Against the Occupation; Jews
for Peace Through Justice; Andrea Sears, News Editor, WBAI Radio & Co-Chair,
Metropolitan Gender Network; Jamie Hunter, Co-Chair, Metropolitan Gender
Network; Deborah A. Richards, Cambridge, Mass. ... list in formation.
To endorse, please e-mail workhoney@hotmail.com or call (718) 742-0517.