This is a statement from the Syria Solidarity Movement, of which I am a co-founder and on the Steering Committee:
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“On December 5, 2015, the Arab Women’s Progressive League (AWPL) will host its most important conference at the most critical time ever for Syria. With the threat of US-Russian direct confrontation at its highest since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, the women hope to create a new channel of communication among adversaries and to create a new possibility of reconciliation.
The Syria Solidarity Movement is cooperating with the AWPL to bring former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney to the conference, as well as Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett, who was one of the few outsiders reporting from Gaza during the Israeli bombardments of 2008-2009 and 2012 and whose reports from Syria have been on RT and Press TV. In addition to McKinney and Bartlett, we are inviting political expertise from around the world, including political analysts Ajamu Baraka, Glen Ford and Debbie Mennon from the US, Denis Rancourt and Michael Keeler from Canada, Issa Chaer, Nahida Izzat, Makram Khoury-Machool, Sami Ramadani, Finian Cunningham and Sabah Jawad from the UK, Fr. Dave Smith and journalist Susan Dirgham from Australia, Feroze Mithiborwala and Roohulla Rezvi from India, Angela Lano and Marinella Corregia from Italy, Susana Khalil from Venezuela, Nicola Hadwa from Chile, Amal Wahdan from Palestine and others. As you can see, the conference is sponsored by women, but they are inviting expertise without regard to gender and from a wide range of nations and cultures.
We need your help to make this happen. Congresswoman McKinney and others will meet with top officials in Syria and with representatives of Russia and Iran for the purpose of establishing a “back channel” between them and the US and other western governments.
But only if we can pay the airfare of Congresswoman McKinney’s and the other dignitaries. We need to raise $20,000 to make this initiative a success. Fortunately, much of this has already been conditionally pledged.
YOUR DONATION WILL BE TRIPLED! That’s right. Some of the sponsors of the conference are willing to provide part of the airfare for attendees. But it is very expensive to travel from California, South America and Australia to Syria. They expect us to pay our share. Nevertheless, they are ready to pay two-thirds of the cost if we can come up with the rest.
Please, please help with this vital and unique initiative to restore Syria’s full sovereignty, territory and population. Make it possible for the 50% of Syria that has been made homeless to return to their homes with the assurance of peace.
DONATE GENEROUSLY with your bank card, by PayPal or by check at
http://www.syriasolidaritymovement.org/donate-2/
All donations are US tax exempt.
THANK YOU!
The Syria Solidarity Movement
PLEASE NOTE: A group in the UK is illegally using our name and also recommending illegal actions against Syria. We are pursuing legal remedy to compel them to stop using our name, but the process is slow. Please be aware of this problem.”
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Please see my writings and posts on/from Syria here and my interviews on Syria here.
My last article on Syria: “Deconstructing the NATO Narrative on Syria“Filed under: Syria