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Glenn from Voices here with the notes for Voices monthly letter-writing group (or anyone else who's interested!). If you have any suggestions, ideas or replies please do send them on to me at this email address or at 29 John St, Enfield, Middx EN1 1LG. More details about the group on the Voices website (www.welcome.to/voicesuk ). There seem to have been very few replies lately that go beyond what the Foreign Office has been saying for some time. (Thanks to all those who have sent in replies and examples of letters they've had in local press etc.) Those on the CASI list who have been taking part will be familiar with material available on the CASI site with which to respond to FCO replies. (I don't want this to sound too much like a blatant plug, but) some good tips for responding to this propaganda are contained in the Voices briefing "Playing Politics with Suffering: Robin Cook, Sanctions and the Big Lie" to be found on the robincook.net website at: http://www.robincook.net/9lies.htm . As this month's notes are about writing to the press, I have also sent the Voices how-to guide to writing letters to the press to the list. This month's notes, prepared by Mil, are below. Thanks for all your continued efforts. Best of luck, Glenn. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAY LETTER NOTES. This month we are asking you to write to as many local papers as you can to raise the profile of the sanctions issue, and to alert people to the National Petition. Please use as many or as few of the quotes listed as you think appropriate. Newspapers tend to prefer typed letters, with double spacing between lines, and a contact phone number to check with you (that you exist!). Please adapt the following text in your own words: TEXT STARTS Now that the general election race has begun, the people of XXX [local area/town] are wondering who out of the candidates deserves our votes. May I suggest that the winning candidate should be someone who is committed to children's rights, even the rights of children in far away countries like Iraq. John Simpson, the BBC reporter, said last year, ‘If people could hear and see what is being done in their names in Iraq, they would be outraged. But they don’t, so it continues.' The economic sanctions against Iraq, which have killed over 200,000 children according to one independent estimate, have been described by Anglican Bishops as 'ethically untenable' and 'utterly opposed to the mind of Christ.’ The Pope has spoken out against the sanctions, and the Catholic aid agency CAFOD has condemned them as humanly catastrophic, morally indefensible and politically ineffective'. Denis Halliday, the former UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, who resigned in protest against the sanctions, said, 'We are in the process of destroying an entire society.' The Economist magazine has pointed out that, 'If, year in, year out, the UN were systematically killing Iraqi children by air strikes, western governments would declare it intolerable, no matter how noble the intention': ‘They should find their existing policy just as unacceptable. According to the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, ‘Kuwait has no objection to the launching of a call to lift the economic sanctions from Iraq.’ There is a growing international consensus that the economic sanctions must end. Our MP and our government should join that international consensus. I challenge all prospective parliamentary candidates in XXX to sign the National Petition Against Economic Sanctions On Iraq (www.notinournames.org.uk) to show they really do care about children's rights. Yours sincerely TEXT ENDS -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk Full details of CASI's various lists can be found on the CASI website: http://www.casi.org.uk