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Anti War Activists and Intellectuals Send Open Letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, July 7, 2008

CONTACT: Campaign for Peace and Democracy
Joanne Landy, Co-Director, (212) 666-4001, cell (646) 207-5203

“We Protest against the US Radar in the Czech Republic”

NEW YORK - July 7 - The New York-based Campaign for Peace and Democracy sent an open letter today to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice protesting the proposed U.S. radar military base in the Czech Republic. Ms. Rice is scheduled to arrive in Prague this week to sign a treaty providing for the base, though the treaty will not be finalized until the Czech parliament ratifies it. More than two thirds of the Czech population opposes the radar, and the parliament is evenly divided on the issue.

For more details, see the text of the open letter below. It was signed by 85 individuals, including Norman Birnbaum, Noam Chomsky, Ariel Dorfman, Bruce Gagnon, Thomas Harrison, Joanne Landy, Jesse Lemisch, Scott McLemee, Jennifer Scarlott, Stephen Shalom, Mary Beth Sullivan, Meredith Tax, Cornel West, and Howard Zinn. The full list of signatories is at the end of the letter.

OPEN LETTER TO CONDOLEEZZA RICE ON THE OCCASION OF HER JULY TRIP TO PRAGUE: PROTEST AGAINST U.S. RADAR IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

To Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,

On July 8, you are scheduled to go to Prague to sign a treaty establishing a U.S. military radar base in the Czech Republic. We want you, the Czech people and people around the world to know that we condemn this treaty as a grave threat to world peace that heightens international tensions and increases the danger of nuclear weapons being used.

The proposed radar base is part of an increasingly aggressive policy toward Russia; we strongly oppose this new Cold War. Furthermore, the base has been consistently rejected by a large majority of the Czech people. We call on the Czech government to respect the will of its people and to withdraw its support for the treaty.

Your administration claims that the radar base, along with related interceptor missiles to be placed in Poland, is meant to intercept missiles from “rogue states,” principally Iran. It is clear, however, that the system has more to do with Washington’s growing rivalry with Moscow. In fact, it is the first part of a more advanced “Star Wars” missile defense aimed at blunting Russia’s nuclear force and allowing the United States to attack Russia and other countries without fear of retaliation.

The Czech radar’s job will be to tie into other U.S. war-fighting satellites, thus giving the U.S. seamless coverage of that region of the world. As the U.S. fills in deployments of Missile Defense interceptors and other similar technologies it then develops the ability to launch a first-strike attack against Russia, all coordinated from space. This first-strike is augmented by the ability, thanks to the Czech radar and nearby interceptor systems, to pick off any retaliatory strike by Russia.

Predictably, in a further and unacceptable — act of Cold War escalation, Moscow has threatened to direct missiles toward Europe if the United States proceeds with the system, thus putting the people of Poland and the Czech Republic, along with millions of others, on the front line in future conflicts between Russia and the U.S. Russia has also said it will suspend participation in a separate treaty limiting the deployment of conventional forces in Europe.

As for Iran, there is no credible evidence that a nuclear threat exists today. And the administration’s bellicose stance, far from guarding against such a threat in the future, only enhances the likelihood that Teheran will eventually try to acquire nuclear weapons. We believe that the U.S. can best prevent nuclear proliferation to Iran and other countries by making major reductions in its own nuclear and conventional forces and by renouncing imperial interventionism — not by expanding the nuclear threat with “Star Wars” and other aggressive programs. This would create a political climate that would powerfully discourage new countries from developing their own nuclear weapons. The U.S. could make an immediate and vital contribution to world peace by getting out of Iraq now.

We are encouraged by polls that show 70 percent of the Czech population opposing the base and we are inspired by the emergence of active resistance — recently strengthened by the three-week hunger strike of two Czech peace activists, Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar. Tamas and Bednar were followed by a chain hunger strike in the Czech Republic and many other countries. On June 22 thousands of people around the world renounced food for one day. Awareness is also growing within the European Parliament that the treaty, which was initiated bilaterally between the U.S. and the Czech Republic, in fact affects all of Europe.

The Czech people have a long and heroic record of resistance to superpower domination: Prague Spring, Charter 77, the Velvet Revolution. The new Czech peace movement represents a revival of that tradition. We stand in solidarity with our Czech sisters and brothers. Like them, we choose life. Linking arms across borders, we will do everything we can to defeat the radar base treaty because it promises only danger and death. (see postscript below)

Signed,

(Affiliations for identification only)

  1. Joanne Landy, Co-Director, Campaign for Peace and Democracy
  2. Thomas Harrison, Co-Director, Campaign for Peace and Democracy
  3. Jennifer Scarlott, Co-Director, Campaign for Peace and Democracy
  4. Peggy Albert
  5. Patricia Beetle, Upper Hudson Peace Action
  6. Norman Birnbaum, University Professor Emeritus, Georgetown U Law Center; Chairman, Scholarly Advisory Board, International Institute of Peace
  7. Eileen Boris, Hull Professor and Chair, Department of Feminist Studies, UC Santa Barbara
  8. Laura Boylan, M.D., Neurologist
  9. Jeremy Brecher
  10. Richard J. Brown, M.D.
  11. Horace G. Campbell, Syracuse University
  12. Noam Chomsky, MIT
  13. Dennis Clagett
  14. Mike Connelly, Peace Action New York
  15. Clare Coss
  16. Margaret W. Crane, Campaign for Peace and Democracy
  17. Gail Daneker
  18. Marie Dennis, Co-President, Pax Christi International
  19. Ariel Dorfman, writer
  20. Carolyn Eisenberg, Hofstra University
  21. Stuart Elliott, Webmaster Kansas Workbeat, Wichita/Hutchinson Labor Federation (also E-board member)
  22. Gertrude Ezorsky
  23. Richard Falk, Milbank Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University
  24. Cathey E. Falvo, MD, MPH, President, Physicians for Social Responsibility/NYC
  25. Samuel Farber, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Brooklyn College, CUNY
  26. John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus
  27. Barry Finger
  28. David Friedman
  29. Robert Paul Gabrielsky
  30. Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
  31. Jack Gerson, Oakland Education Association
  32. Anne Gibbons, CODEPINK NYC
  33. Mina Hamilton, Writer
  34. Valerie Heinonen, o.s.u. Ursulines of Tildonk for Justice and Peace
  35. Michael Hirsch, Democratic Socialists of America
  36. Amy Holmes, International No Bases Coalition
  37. Polly Howells
  38. Carol Husten, Peace Action NYS & Granny Peace Brigade
  39. Sally Jones, Peace Action New York State, Chair
  40. Jesse Lemisch, Professor Emeritus, John Jay College, CUNY
  41. Sue Leonard
  42. Gerald R. Lotierzo, Peace Action of Central New York
  43. Martha Livingston, SUNY College at Old Westbury
  44. Ravi Malhotra, Sponsor, New Politics
  45. Betty Mandell, Co-Editor, New Politics
  46. Marvin Mandell, Co-Editor, New Politics
  47. Arnold H. Matlin, MD
  48. Vicki McFadyen, Peace Action Bay Ridge
  49. Scott McLemee, writer
  50. David McReynolds
  51. Ali Moazzami, PhD Student, Iranian Institute of Philosophy
  52. Tracy Mott, Associate Professor, Economics, University of Denver
  53. Nicole Myers, Director, Center of Cultures, NY
  54. Christopher J. Oleskey, MD, Yale Child Study Center
  55. David Ost
  56. Rosemarie Pace, Pax Christi Metro New York
  57. Mike Parker, Labor Notes Policy Committee
  58. Christopher Phelps, Department of History, Ohio State University, Mansfield
  59. Charlotte Phillips, M.D., Chairperson, Brooklyn For Peace
  60. Teresa Puig
  61. Dennis Redmond, The Community for Human Development, NY
  62. Len Rodberg, Queens College/CUNY
  63. Gordon Rogoff, Professor, Yale School of Drama
  64. John Rooney
  65. Bruce Rosen
  66. Matthew Rothschild, Editor, The Progressive
  67. Jason Schulman, City University of New York
  68. Wolfgang Schlupp-Hauck, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Chair of the Friedenswerkstatt Mutlangen e.V
  69. Tiffany Schwabacher, Peace Action Staten Island
  70. Stephen R. Shalom, William Paterson University
  71. Cheryl Stevenson
  72. Mary Beth Sullivan, Outreach Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
  73. David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org
  74. Meredith Tax, President, Women’s WORLD
  75. John Tirman, MIT
  76. Bernard Tuchman
  77. Judith P. Ward
  78. Naomi Weisstein, Professor Emerita, Psychology/Neuroscience, SUNY-Buffalo
  79. Chris Wells, Spokesperson for New Humanism in North America
  80. Cheryl Wertz, Peace Action New York State
  81. Cornel West, Princeton University
  82. Lawrence S. Wittner, State University of New York/Albany
  83. Kent Worcester, Marymount Manhattan College
  84. Razeen Zaman, Intern, Campaign for Peace and Democracy
  85. Howard Zinn

THE CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE AND DEMOCRACY advocates a new, progressive and non-militaristic U.S. foreign policy — one that encourages democratization, justice and social change. Founded in 1982, the Campaign opposed the Cold War by promoting “detente from below.” It engaged Western peace activists in the defense of the rights of democratic dissidents in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and enlisted East-bloc human rights activists against anti-democratic U.S. policies in countries like Nicaragua and Chile.