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AFTER SEPTEMBER 11, we experienced an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy in our host countries, only to see it squandered by the Bush government’s aggressive unilateralism and disregard for world opinion. In cities such as Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Prague, Munich and Beirut, we acknowledged our special role as U.S. citizens by forming ad hoc groups to protest Bush’s plans for Iraq. Our actions served to remind our host countries that Americans do not stand united behind the policies of the present U.S. government. From July 4-6th these groups and other Americans abroad and from the States will meet in Berlin to discuss strategies for opposing these destructive policies and mending the international ties which they have put under such strain. The weekend event will begin on the evening of July 4 with "Do You Like American Music - But Not the Politics?" - a concert and variety show at the Passionskirche in Kreuzberg, featuring Berlin-based American artists, to benefit children in Iraq through IPPNW (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War). The gala will feature the presentation of a coalition statement inspired by the Declaration of Independence, and will tie into a demonstration in Philadelphia to protest Bush’s visit to the Liberty Bell. On July 5, delegates will meet to discuss strategies and present initiatives for future action and to sign the Declaration. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. the event will be opened to the public in a symposium featuring prominent speakers on issues related to the Iraq War, American policy, and the peace movement. On July 6, delegates will meet again to vote on the initiatives. At 1 p.m. a press event will be held to present the congress initiatives and the signed Declaration, with phone or video tie-ins to simultaneous events in sister cities. Groups and individuals are equally welcome! We encourage Americans to contact us for more information - whether or not you can attend the 1st AVA Congress. (English)
The 1st AVA Congress is hosted by
Running concurrently to the 1st AVA Congress will be a 7-day FILM FESTIVAL America – Heaven or Hell? July 3-9, 2003 Eiszeit-Kino Zeughofstrasse 20, Berlin-Kreuzberg U-Bahn Görlitzer Bahnhof AMERICA – HEAVEN OR HELL? offers many critical and revealing works never before seen in Germany; most of which have been ignored by mainstream television in the United States. The highlights during the two days of the conference will include speaking engagements at the Eiszeit theater for AVA congress guests Phyllis Bennis, Nafeez Ahmed and Prof. Albrecht Schrott - who will present his findings on the effects of depleted uranium at a German-language symposium in the Eiszeit on the evening of Sunday, July 6th. ![]() |
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Sat-Sun, July 5-6, 2003 Congress fee: 25 euros
(includes 3 meals)
Schedule (subject to change) 10 to 11:30 a.m. Brunch - discussion groups 11:30 a.m.
Noon to 3 p.m.
3 p.m.
4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Admission to public: 5€
4 p.m.-5 p.m. Podium discussion American Voices Abroad: American Dissent and International Protest AVA delegates will discuss the European-American protest experience with Berlin peace activist Halina Bendkowski (peace movement, co-founder of Scheherezade and Pope to Baghdad). 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Panel discussion with guest speakers: 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Song and Silence 8:30 p.m.
10 p.m. to ??
10 a.m. Brunch PLENUM Opening talk with Dennis A. Mazurek (lobbyist for the proposed United States Department of Peace). Voting on initiatives - final resolutions. 1 p.m.
AVA EUROPEAN ACTION DAY
3 p.m.
FROM 6 p.m.
Admission: 6€
6 p.m. deutschsprachige Symposium & Diaschau NACH IRAQ - WOHIN? Mit Prof. Albrecht Schott, "Human Shields," Nafeez Ahmed u.a. 8 p.m.
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LATEST NEWS / PRESS Updated June 24. Final schedule, the initiatives and additional press releases will be published on June 30. For press accreditations (English), AVA Congress registration and accommodations, please contact Isabel Cole, Tel. +49-30 484.76.454 conference@americansineurope.org PRESSEMITTEILUNG AUF DEUTSCH Ariane Hildebrandt, Pressereferentin Tel. 030-28.38.80.18 FUNK: 0171-535.2000 hildebrandt@journalistenbuero-berlin.de AVA DELEGATES: To submit site content and/or proposals for the Congress, schedule or declaration, contact Nicholas Levis, Tel. +49.30 399.4677 trahila@snafu.de |
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1st AVA Congress
Public Symposium On American Policy and Its Consequences Finding New Forms of Political Responsibility July 5, 4-7 p.m.
Nafeez
Mosaddeq Ahmed, Brighton, England, political analyst and human rights
activist, Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Research &
Development (IPRD), specializes in human rights in relation to Muslim affairs,
author of The War On Freedom. How and Why America Was Attacked, September
11, 2001. At the 1st AVA Congress he will be presenting his 9/11 research
findings. nafeez.mediamonitors.net
Prof. Dr. Albrecht Schott, biochemist, worked at the Free University Berlin and now heads the WoDUC (World Depleted Uranium Center) in Berlin. He conducted the first study linking genetic damage in Gulf War I veterans to the use of depleted uranium munitions. At the 1st AVA Congress he will speak about the results of his research. www.woduc.de William Street, Geneva, directs
the Global Wood and Forestry Program at the International Federation of
Builders and Wood Workers, a global union federation of 10 million workers.
He is the international representative for the International Association
of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, in Portland, Oregon, AFL-CIO; CLC
Director of Research at the International Woodworkers of America-US, Portland,
Oregon, AFL-CIO. Delegate, World Social Forum, Porto Allegre, Brazil. Anti-war
and civil rights advocate since 1968. Community development and military
conversion proponent since 1978. He will be speaking on labor and war.
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Despite claims that the war in Iraq is over, war has become a key instrument of U.S. policy. The Bush government threatens to unleash preventive attacks against a long list of designated enemies, even claiming the right of nuclear first strike against non-nuclear powers. This plays into the hands of political extremists and sows instability by encouraging states to pursue nuclear arms and asymmetrical forms of warfare. At home, the constant threat of war feeds a broad national anxiety and serves to suppress dissent, endangering the basis of democratic society. As the domestic complement to its foreign aggressions, the Bush government is creating a rule of fear, lies and repression in the United States itself. Proclaiming an open-ended emergency, the Bush government recognizes no checks or balances to its authority, whether from national institutions or bodies of international law, such as the United Nations. Arrogantly, it attempts to dictate the policies of other nations despite its doubtful legitimacy at home; having lost the popular vote in the 2000 election and having been appointed to office on the strength of a questionable court decision. In light of these and other grievances, we seek to align with all those, in our host countries and at home, who resist this government's aggressive politics by peaceful and democratic means. In the spirit of 1776, and as an affirmation of our duty, as loyal U.S. citizens, to uphold our Constitution and Republic, we support those who struggle to emancipate themselves from the Bush government's global machinations and its claim to unlimited power. In Amsterdam, Beirut, Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, Prague and other cities across Europe, we assumed our special responsibility as U.S. citizens by forming ad hoc groups to protest the Iraq war. On the Fourth of July 2003, we shall gather at a congress in Berlin to unite in a new coalition as AMERICAN VOICES ABROAD, dedicated to the following values and goals: 1) Peace and international law: Abolishing the Bush administration's doctrine of preventive war, which makes war the primary tool of international diplomacy; employing peaceful, legal and democratic means in international relations; redistribution of resources from military to civilian priorities. 2) Justice: Repealing the USA PATRIOT Act of October 2001 and returning to the standards of habeas corpus and probable cause as the basis for U.S. law; rolling back the Bush government's broad-based attack on the Constitution and human rights; ending the national siege mentality. 3) Transparency: Lifting the secrecy and restrictive information policy of the Bush government; promoting maximum disclosure and open government for informed public debate, the heart of a healthy democracy. These demands are not conservative or liberal, Republican or Democratic; they are essential conditions for an open society with democratic rule and protection for the inalienable rights of all human beings -- the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The present U.S. administration under George W. Bush has become destructive of fundamental human rights at home and around the world. Our country risks becoming the kind of empire that the founding fathers sought independence from when they signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on the Fourth of July, 1776. This is the time, for We the People of the United States
and for We the People of the World, to reassert our inalienable rights,
to reject the politics of empire, and to realize the democracy and constitutionalism
of the American ideal.
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Pressemitteilung auf deutsch
Einladung zum Ersten Kongress der
Nach dem 11. September 2001 haben wir als Amerikaner in
unseren Gastgeberländern beispielloses Mitgefühl und bewegende
Anteilnahme erlebt. Dies wurde jedoch durch Bush's aggressives einseitiges
Vorgehen unter Mißachtung der internationalen öffentlichen Meinung
mit Füßen getreten. Daraufhin entschlossen wir uns spontan in
Städten wie Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Prag und Beirut Gruppen
zu bilden, um gegen Bush's Irak-Pläne zu protestieren. Wir wollten
gegenüber unseren Gastgeberländern zum Ausdruck bringen, daß
nicht alle Amerikaner hinter der Politik der aktuellen amerikanischen Regierung
stehen.
Die teilnehmenden Gruppen werden gemeinsame Strategien entwickeln, um Bush's destruktiver Politik entgegenzuwirken und die internationalen Beziehungen wieder zu entspannen. Auftakt des Wochenendes ist am 4. Juli die große Benefiz-Gala, bei der in Berlin lebende amerikanische Künstler auftreten. Das Geld wird den "Ärzten gegen Atomkrieg" (IPPNW) gespendet und kommt irakischen Kindern zugute. Die Gala beginnt mit der Präsentation einer gemeinsamen öffentlichen Erklärung der "American VOICES Abroad" inspiriert durch die Unabhängigkeitserklärung der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika am 4. Juli 1776 in Philadephia. Parrallel dazu findet in Philadelphia eine Demonstration gegen den Bush Besuch der Liberty Bell in der Independence Hall statt. Am 5. Juli treffen die Delegierten von "American VOICES Abroad" zusammen, um Strategien und Initiativen für künftige Vorhaben zu diskutieren und die Erklärung zu unterschreiben. Von 16 bis 19 Uhr ist die Veranstaltung öffentlich. Während des folgenden Symposiums nehmen prominente internationale Sprecher Stellung zum Krieg im Irak, zu amerikanischer Politik und zur Friedensbewegung. Am 6. Juli treffen die Delegierten erneut zusammen, um über die Initiativen abzustimmen. Um 13 Uhr findet eine Pressekonferenz statt: Vorstellung der neugewählten Initiativen durch den Kongress und der unterzeichneten gemeinsamen öffentlichen Erklärung sowie Telefon- und Videoübertragungen von simultan statfindenden Events in den Partnerstädten. Ob Gruppen oder Einzelpersonen, alle im Ausland lebenden AmerikanerInnen können teilnehmen und sind herzlich eingeladen, sich mit uns in Verbindung zu setzen. Auch wenn Sie diesmal nicht teilnehmen können, kontaktieren Sie uns für mehr Information, zum gemeinsamen Ideenaustausch und um in unseren e-mail-Verteiler aufgenommen zu werden für zukünftige Aktivitäten. Unsere Webseite: www.americansineurope.org KONTAKT:
PRESSE:
American Voices Abroad – Berlin präsentiert das alternative „Fourth of July Weekend„! *Donnerstag, 3. Juli 2003, 20 Uhr
*Freitag, 4. Juli 2003 – Independence-Day-Konzert, 20 Uhr
*Samstag, 5. Juli, 10 Uhr
*Samstag, 5. Juli, 16 Uhr
*5. Juli, 20.30 Uhr
*5. Juli, 22 Uhr bis open end
*Sonntag, 6. Juli 2003, 10 Uhr
*6. Juli, 13 Uhr bis 13.30 Uhr
*6. Juli, 13.30 Uhr bis 15 Uhr
*6. Juli, 18 Uhr
Prof. Dr. Albrecht Schott,
Biochemiker, lehrte an der Freien Universität und leitet jetzt das
WoDUC (World Depleted Uranium Centre) in Berlin. Er erstellte die erste
weltweite Studie, die eine Verbindung zwischen genetischen Schäden
bei Veteranen des ersten Golfkriegs und der Verwendung abgereicherter Uranmunition
(DU-munition) nachweist. Auf dem ersten AVA-Kongress wird er über
die Ergebnisse seiner Forschungen sprechen. www.woduc.de
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