http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0226-03.htmFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2008
10:40 AM
CONTACT: Fifteen Hundred Feminists for Peace Endorse Barack Obama
Frances Anderson, Media Liason
Cell phone: 917-609-6050
email: feministsforpeaceandobama@gmail.com
Fifteen Hundred Feminists for Peace Endorse Barack Obama
NATIONWIDE - February 26 - Feminists across the country have signed onto a statement endorsing Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President. In rejecting the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, they cite her "seven year record" as a US Senator in which she not only authorized the Presidential use of force against Iraq, but until quite recently opposed all legislative efforts to bring the war and occupation to an end.
Under ordinary circumstances "electing a woman President would be a cause for celebration." However, issues of war and peace are also part of a feminist agenda. The country urgently needs "a Presidential candidate who understands that 'pre-emptive' attacks on other countries and the reliance on military force have diminished…our national security…We do not believe Senator Clinton is that candidate."
The statement, "Feminists for Peace and Barack Obama," was initially written and signed by a group of 100 New York feminists in the lead-up to the New York state primary. Since then, feminists in other states have taken up the cause, circulating the petition nationwide. The list now comprises over 1,500 signers from around the country representing diverse backgrounds and professions, ranging in age from college students to the retired.
Says Anne Robinson, cardiac nurse from Austin, Texas, "I have always considered myself a feminist, even when that was not a popular thing to admit in the south. I would love nothing more than to see a woman become president of our country. I am also completely unapologetic for supporting Senator Obama. My first and foremost reason is his position and record on the war. I will not support a candidate was refuses to accept responsibility for supporting this horrible preemptive war with Iraq and who supported a resolution posturing for conflict in Iran."
As explained by Professor Eileen Boris, Director of the Center for Research on Women and Social Justice at the University of California, Santa Barbara, "Voting for Bush's war showed Senator Clinton more concerned with future political viability than with the impact of war on the world's women, men, families and the environment. That's not my idea of global feminism."
Adele Welty, a social worker whose firefighter son died in the World Trade Center, deplored Clinton's unfriendly attitude towards antiwar constituents. Noting the Senator's unwillingness to meet with peace groups, Welty described her personal experience of Clinton's "dismissive" staff when she and others traveled to Washington DC. to express their views. "I would love to be able to vote for a woman, but it would have to be a woman who is able to maintain her integrity."
"Feminists for Peace and Obama" is being supported by a remarkable array of distinguished women, including writers Katha Pollitt, Barbara Ehrenreich, Mary Gordon, and Arlie Hochschild, poet Margaret Randall, academicians Evelyn Fox Keller, Ruth Hubbard, Adele Simmons and activists Francis Kissling and Ellen Bravo.
While the electoral contest continues the group will continue to gather signatures and to seek opportunities to communicate its views. "Many people around the country do not realize that until the primaries, Hillary Clinton has been a supporter of the Iraq War," said Frances Anderson, a spokesperson for the group.
For full text of statement and list of signatories, go to
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/NYfeministsforpeace/
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