The following is an archived copy of a message sent to the CASI Analysis List run by Cambridge Solidarity with Iraq.
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[ This message has been sent to you via the CASI-analysis mailing list ] [ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] Dear all, here's an extraordinary initiative: a candle light vigil in front of the BBC, Thursday December 2nd, a protest against the "coverage" by most of the mainstream media of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and particularly their silence about the killing of civilians by the US lead forces. They are looking for endorsments of the international anti-war movement. Please mail your message with the support of your organisation to info@thecatsdream.com. And spread this message widely. It's urgent. Gabriele Zamparini, the writer of this message, is the co-director of the brilliant documentary film "XXI Century" (http://thecatsdream.com/productions/xxi/index.php), that was partly screened at the BRussells Tribunal in april this year. It is a hopeful evolution that artists and intellectuals are becoming political activists against this brutal occupation. In solidarity. Dirk Adriaensens. ----- Original Message ----- From: "The Cat's Dream" <info@thecatsdream.com> To: <sos.irak@skynet.be> Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2004 2:14 PM Subject: VIGIL Dear friends, we are organizing a peaceful candle light vigil in front of the BBC. Please, read below the statement "A Call for Light" http://www.acallforlight.org We want to protest the 'coverage' by most of the mainstream media of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and particularly their silence about the killing of civilians by the US lead forces. Since the BBC is one of the major media networks in the world, we are looking for endorsements from people, groups and organizations in the anti war movement all over the world. We would be honored if you could help us and endorse this vigil. We would also be very grateful if you could help us in passing the word out about this vigil. In solidarity, Gabriele Zamparini ************* A Call for Light. Vigil outside the BBC, Bush House, Aldwych, London. Thursday, 2nd December between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. The first barrage of modern warfare is not heard on the battlefield. Instead, it thunders forth from our TV screens and leaves trails of fiery words across the printed page. It is often said that Othe first casualty of war is truthı, but we rarely reflect on the bloody reality of these words. During war, more than at any other time, language is twisted, stretched, and degraded. 'Precision airstrikes', 'collateral damage', and 'friendly fire': all phrases thrown over a tragedy like a blanket over a corpse; to blur uncomfortably sharp edges and make tolerable the ugly truth beneath. The corpses are piling high in Iraq. A conservative estimate calculates 100,000 since our invasion; most killed by 'coalition' forces and most of them women and children (Iraq Mortality Survey, The Lancet, 29 October 2004). Our media continues to bury their bodies. Who will speak for dead Iraqis when our media will not? Denied their voice, our dead brothers and sisters are 'unpeople': like our own fallen soldiers, just more lives lost to the fires of a 'war' that the UN Secretary-General condemns as 'illegal'. Almost as lost are the voices who oppose this bloody crime: 57%, according to a recent survey in the UK. As George Orwell once wrote: 'Freedom of the Press, if it means anything at all, means the freedom to criticize and oppose.' A healthy democracy needs a free and investigative media, willing to view our own government with the same scepticism it accords official enemies. Objective reporting requires balance; not only between warring factions, but also between the powerful and the powerless. Our media must be held to this standard, so that no body is hidden and no voice unheard. Join with us, if you can, and help us shine a light on Iraq, on this 'war', and on ourselves. All are welcome * Please bring your family and friends. * Please stand in silence, to mark the silence of the unreported and of the dead. * Please come with candles, to light the truth and your own placards, to commemorate the dead in Iraq. * Please come as an individual, leaving symbols of party or organisation affiliations at home. ********* -- The Catıs Dream P.O. Box 43471 London, SE11 5XZ United Kingdom Tel. & Fax. + 44 (0) 20 7820 8534 http://thecatsdream.com info@thecatsdream.com _______________________________________ Sent via the CASI-analysis mailing list To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-analysis All postings are archived on CASI's website at http://www.casi.org.uk