Friday, January 18, 2008

It's Not Just About Iraq

I've heard recently that some people are wary of this project because it sounds to them too political - presumably because March, the chosen month, marks the 5th anniversary of the start of the current Iraq war.

The violence is Iraq is indeed appalling. But Iraq is not solely the point.

Every day, there are instances of unnecessary violence all over the world. Here are some thoughts to consider:
  • San Francisco had at least 6 homicides in the first two weeks of 2008. read the story
  • 22 people have been killed in just three days of rioting in Kenya in election-related protests, including local dwellers who were doing their daily tasks when gunfire erupted around them. read the story
  • CNN reports: "Insurgency-related violence in the first three days of 2008 has left at least 42 people dead in Afghanistan" read the story
  • Medecins Sans Frontiers states: "In Colombia, violence is the major public health hazard and the leading cause of death."read the story
  • Thursday's suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan, is the 20th suicide attack in Pakistan in the last three months. CNN reports: "The bombings have killed close to 400 people and wounded nearly 1,000 others in the last three months." read the story
  • Last Sunday's New York Times ran an article titled "Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles." The article says, "The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction." read the story
  • On New Year's Eve in Thailand, five bombs injured at least 27 people. read the story
  • 16 Palestinians and one foreigner working at an Israeli Kibbutz were killed in separate incidents on Tuesday. The International Herald Tribune wrote: "The escalation in violence came a day after Israeli negotiators and Palestinian counterparts representing the West Bank leadership started peace talks." read the story
I could continue this list all night. The point is, people are being hurt by violence every day, all over the world. Raising a voice - literally - for peace this March is not about any particular agenda in (or out of) Iraq, but about making a musical statement about all of the acts listed above, and those of their ilk which are not on the list. It is about using our voices and our music to say that statistics and accounts such as these are not acceptable.

Speaking out cannot undo past acts of violence. It can however, potentially, deter someone else from committing some future violent act.

We all need to speak out, in our own individual way. With Song of Peace, I am inviting anyone who makes music to "speak out" through music and words of peace, during a specific time frame. I believe that there is much power in so many voices joined together in one idea.

And that idea is so much bigger than the current American debate over our role in Iraq.

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