Kia ora,

with the possibility of some kind of major attack on the people of Iraq in the near future, we're once again putting together the list of emergency response vigil details for towns and cities around the country. This is something we have been doing for the past four years whenever it is likely there will be a major attack by the US and its allies (often including the NZ government) with very little notice of the day their attack might begin.

So far as we know, at this time arrangements are in place only for Wellington and Christchurch (see below). If you are a contact for previous emergency response vigil details, can you consult with your local peace people and let us know if you are planning to set them in place for any major military action against the people of Iraq?

If your town or city has not previously had such an arrangement, perhaps you could organise one now! Basically it is a time and place for people to meet on the day (or sometimes the day after) the bombing starts. The advantage of having this is that people in your area know where to go to mourn or protest straight away without having to phone or email around and set something up at the last minute. The people who come on the first day frequently then decide on the spot when the next vigil, planning or public meeting will be, and things develop from there.

Once you have decided what your emergency response vigil details are, then it's useful if you can publicise them in your local community - through local papers, notices, postering and so on. From now on we will be sending out regular updates of the emergency response vigil details to the PMA and other national e-lists as new cities and towns are added. Having these details means that when you have your local vigil, you can say in your press release or media interviews that at the same time / day there are people also protesting against the bombing in x number of places around the country.

When you have agreed your local details, please let us know the time, place, at least one contact person and the group/s involved in organising the emergency response vigil.

* Wellington

Wellington emergency response vigil details: if the US government and its allies start bombing people in Iraq or elsewhere, there will be a vigil at 5-00pm at the Cenotaph on the day we hear of the attack (and a march to the US embassy if sufficient numbers of people come to the vigil). For more info contact Peace Movement Aotearoa pma@xtra.co.nz

* Christchurch

Christchurch emergency response vigil details: if the war goes beyond Afghanistan, there will be a vigil at 5-30pm in Cathedral Square on the day on which we are first aware of this (ie, if the news breaks here in NZ after 5pm our time then we will be holding the vigil the next day). For more info contact Peace Action Network peaceactionaotearoa@yahoo.co.nz

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Peace Movement Aotearoa
the national networking peace organisation
PO Box 9314, Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand
Tel +64 4 382 8129, fax 382 8173 email pma@xtra.co.nz
PMA website - http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/
Internet Peace Gateway - http://www.peace.org.nz
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