July 4 is coming and we are still fighting for independence: our independence from wars. As founding father James Madison said, “It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war.” Today, in this age of weapons that can destroy the entire world thousands of times over and an erratic president surrounded by warhawks, this is ever more urgent.
Nowhere is peace more overdue than the Korean peninsula and that's why we applaud Trump’s meeting with Kim Jung Un and his walk into North Korea. Trump made history when he became the first sitting US president to enter North Korea. But will the hawks in his administration sabotage talks? Following Trump’s walk into North Korean territory, John Bolton responded with anger to reports that the US might try to negotiate a nuclear freeze with North Korea. What about the critics in Congress — both Republicans and Democrats? What about the weapons lobby? We must counter the forces against peace and one way to do that is to push Congress to call for an end to the Korean war.
Contact your representatives and ask them to support of H.Res.152 — introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna — calling for a formal end of the Korean War. If passed, this legislation could bring stable and lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula for the first time in nearly 70 years.
Our dear friend Christine Ahn of Women Cross the DMZ wrote after Trump’s last visit: “It's time to acknowledge that the root cause of the nuclear crisis is the continuing state of war between the United States and North Korea. The Korean War is not over: we have yet to replace the 1953 ceasefire with a formal peace agreement.” We agree and we want the Trump administration to continue pursuing peace, even to the dismay of Bolton and the rest of Trump’s hawks.
The current campaign of maximum pressure — the same tactic being used against Iran and Venezuela — has created a massive humanitarian crisis in North Korea. The World Food Program and the FAO just came out with a major report: 10 million North Koreans are food-insecure. Forty percent of the population are in dire need of food aid but sanctions are preventing humanitarian aid operations and preventing medicine from getting in. Harming people is not the way to build peace! Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to support H.Res.152 to end the Korean War.
Towards independence from war,
Ann, Ariel, Carley, Clara, Jodie, Lily, Maya, Mark, Medea, Megan, Nancy, Paki, Ryan, Sarah, Teri, Tighe, Umama, Ursula, and Zena
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