Editing Not in Our Name (section)

==="Statement of Conscience"===
[[Image:We the People Say No to the Bush Agenda by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|These flags became an international symbol of solidarity with this statement]]NION's "Statement of Conscience", drafted in spring 2002, first lists a series of criticisms of the Bush Administration and (secondarily) the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] and calls on the people of the U.S. "...to resist the policies and overall political direction that have emerged since September 11, 2001, and which pose grave dangers to the people of the world."

Among the specific principles advocated in the statement are the right of [[self-determination]] for peoples and nations and the importance of [[due process]] and dissent. The statement expresses "shock" at "the horrific events of September 11, 2001" but, evoking "similar scenes in [[Baghdad]], [[Panama City]], and, a generation ago, [[Vietnam]]", describes [[Iraq]] as "a country which has no connection to the horror of September 11", and deplores the administration's "spirit of revenge" and the "simplistic script of 'good vs. evil': "In our name, the Bush administration, with near unanimity from Congress, not only attacked [[Afghanistan]] but arrogated to itself and its allies the right to rain down military force anywhere and anytime."

Referring to the U.S. government's treatment of immigrants in the wake of September 11, the statement accuses the U.S. government of creating "two classes of people: those to whom the basic rights of the U.S. legal system are at least promised, and those who now seem to have no rights at all", and evokes "the infamous [[Internment of Japanese Americans|concentration camps for Japanese-Americans in World War II]]".

Protesting "a pall of repression" and referring specifically to the [[USA PATRIOT Act]] as emblematic of that repression, it accuses the [[United States executive branch|executive branch]] of usurping "the roles and functions of the other branches of government," and continues, "We must take the highest officers of the land seriously when they talk of a war that will last a generation and when they speak of a new domestic order. We are confronting a new openly imperial policy towards the world and a domestic policy that manufactures and manipulates fear to curtail rights."

NION urges a movement of resistance: "President Bush has declared: 'you're either with us or against us.' Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak for all the American people ... We refuse to be party to these wars and we repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare ..." It indicates as inspiration "...[[Israel]]i reservists who, at great personal risk, declare 'there IS a limit' and [[Refusal to serve in the Israeli military|refuse to serve]] in the occupation of the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]]", the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]], and "those who defied the [[Vietnam War|Vietnam war]]" and concludes, "we will resist the machinery of war and repression and rally others to do everything possible to stop it."