View source for Not in Our Name

{{Short description|American anti-war group (2002–2008)}}
{{for multi|the Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra album|Not in Our Name (album)|the Impeach Tony Blair CD|Not In Our Name CD (album)}}
{{redirect|NION|the letter of the Ogham alphabet|Nion}}

'''Not in Our Name''' ('''NION''') was a United States organization founded on March 23, 2002 to protest the U.S. government's course in the wake of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]]; it disbanded on March 31, 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://notinourname.net/|title=Not in Our Name - National Anti-War Effort (2002-2007)|website=Not in Our Name}}</ref>

==Two key documents==
Early in their existence, NION produced two documents&mdash;the "Pledge of Resistance"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.notinourname.net/pledge_about.html |title=Pledge of Resistance |access-date=2004-08-12 |archive-date=2008-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080313104210/http://www.notinourname.net/pledge_about.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the "Statement of Conscience"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.notinourname.net/statement_conscience.html |title=A Statement of Conscience |access-date=2004-08-12 |archive-date=2008-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311200106/http://www.notinourname.net/statement_conscience.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>&mdash;that NION members believe provide focus and expression to the U.S. anti-war movement.

==="Pledge of Resistance"===
The Pledge is written by [[Starhawk]] and [[Saul Williams]], in the style of [[free verse]], beginning:
<blockquote>
We believe that as people living <br />
in the United States it is our <br />
responsibility to resist the injustices <br />
done by our government, <br />
in our names <br />
<br />
Not in our name <br />
will you wage endless war <br />
</blockquote>
and concluding
<blockquote>
Another world is possible <br />
and we pledge to make it real.
</blockquote>

The pledge opposes what it characterizes as "endless [[war]]", "[[Blood transfusion|transfusions]] of [[blood]] for [[Petroleum|oil]]", invasions of foreign countries, bombing [[civilian]]s, and killing children. It goes on, "Not in our name / will you erode the very freedoms / you have claimed to fight for." It implicitly accuses the [[George W. Bush|Bush administration]] of deeming "whole [[nation|peoples]] or [[country|countries]]" as "[[evil]]" and pledges, among other things, "...alliance with those/ who have come under attack /
for voicing opposition to the war / or for their religion or ethnicity."

The ''[[Not in My Name]]'' EP was released in May 2003 by Saul Williams with assistance from  [[DJ Spooky]], DJ Goo and [[Coldcut]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/not-in-my-name-mw0000031222|title=Saul Williams - Not in My Name|date=May 20, 2003|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|accessdate=7 January 2013}}</ref>

==="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."

===Signatories===

NION's web site lists a broad array of signatories to the pledge, listing only those who signed before July 17, 2002. Among those are:
{|
|
*[[James Abourezk]], former U.S. Senator
*Dr. [[Patch Adams]]
*[[Robert Altman]], film director
*[[Laurie Anderson]], performance artist
*[[John Perry Barlow]], co-founder, [[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]
*[[Medea Benjamin]]
*[[Noam Chomsky]]
*[[Deepak Chopra]]
*[[Ramsey Clark]], former U.S. Attorney General and founder of [[Act Now to Stop War and End Racism|ANSWER]]
*[[John Cusack]], actor
*[[Angela Davis]]
*[[Ossie Davis]]
*[[Zack de la Rocha]], of [[Rage Against the Machine]]
*[[Ruby Dee]]
*[[Mos Def]]
*[[Ani DiFranco]]
*[[Diane di Prima]]
*[[Bernardine Dohrn]]
*[[Michael Eric Dyson]]
*[[Steve Earle]]
*[[Barbara Ehrenreich]]
*[[Daniel Ellsberg]]
*[[Brian Eno]]
*[[Eve Ensler]]
*[[Lawrence Ferlinghetti]]
*Fifty-three [[Maryknoll]] priests and brothers
*[[Jane Fonda]]
*[[Michael Franti]], of [[Michael Franti|Spearhead]]
*[[Terry Gilliam]]
*[[Tom Hayden]]
*Rev. [[Jesse Jackson]]
*[[Mumia Abu-Jamal]]
*[[Fredric Jameson]]
*[[Jim Jarmusch]]
*[[Chalmers Johnson]], author of ''Blowback''
*[[Casey Kasem]]
*[[Barbara Kingsolver]]
*[[Yuri Kochiyama]]
*[[Tony Kushner]]
*[[Spike Lee]]
|
*Rabbi [[Michael Lerner (rabbi)|Michael Lerner]], editor, [[Tikkun (magazine)|''Tikkun'']]
*[[Phil Lesh]], of the [[Grateful Dead]]
*[[Jim McDermott]], U.S. representative
*[[Cynthia McKinney]], U.S. representative
*[[David McReynolds]]
*[[W. S. Merwin]]
*[[Toni Morrison]]
*[[Walter Mosley]]
*[[Odetta]]
*[[Claes Oldenburg]]
*[[Ozomatli]]
*[[Grace Paley]]
*[[Michael Parenti]]
*[[Harold Prince]]
*[[Bonnie Raitt]]
*[[Adrienne Rich]]
*[[Edward Said]]
*[[Lucy Sante]]
*[[Susan Sarandon]]
*[[John Sayles]]
*[[Pete Seeger]]
*[[Toshi Seeger]]
*[[Frank Serpico]]
*[[Richard Serra]]
*Rev. [[Al Sharpton]]
*[[Wallace Shawn]]
*[[Martin Sheen]]
*[[Russell Simmons]]
*[[Art Spiegelman]]
*[[Gloria Steinem]]
*[[Oliver Stone]]
*[[Rose Styron]]
*[[William Styron]]
*[[Studs Terkel]]
*[[Gore Vidal]]
*[[Kurt Vonnegut]]
*[[Alice Walker]]
*[[Wavy Gravy]]
*[[Cornel West]]
*[[Howard Zinn]]
|}

==2005 Statement of Conscience==
NION issued an updated Statement of Conscience in January 2005, expressing dissent on the occasion of the re-inauguration of [[George W. Bush]] as [[president of the United States]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.notinourname.net/soc-jan05.htm |title=New Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience |access-date=2005-07-27 |archive-date=2008-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311181316/http://www.notinourname.net/soc-jan05.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Slogans==
The group uses the following phrases in its [[rhetoric]]:
* ''Not by our will''
* ''Not in our name''
* ''Not by our hearts''
* I Say NO to the Bush Agenda
* No War On the World
* No Police State Restrictions
* No Round-ups and Detentions

==Controversies==

===Role in the anti-war movement===
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2009}}
A partial parallel for the founding of '''Not in Our Name''' (NION) is the founding of the anti-war coalition [[ANSWER]]. ANSWER was founded on 14 September 2001, on the eve of the [[United States invasion of Afghanistan|U.S. invasion of Afghanistan]], largely by members of the [[Workers World Party]] (WWP). NION was founded on 23 March 2002, largely by members of the [[Revolutionary Communist Party (USA)|Revolutionary Communist Party]] (RCP), which continues to be prominent among its leadership. (In 2005, four years after its founding, the [[Party for Socialism and Liberation]], an offshoot of WWP, became a more prominent influence than the WWP in the leadership of ANSWER.)

Nonetheless, in contrast to ANSWER, NION has a broad set of endorsers and is generally regarded as a cooperative participant in the broader [[anti-war movement]]. An October 2002 article by [[Michael Albert]] and [[Stephen R. Shalom]] in [[Z Magazine|''Z'']] magazine is typical among expressions by anti-war critics of the RCP that, despite its origins, NION is a cooperative participant in the movement. After excoriating the RCP for holding various positions that Albert and Shalom find abhorrent, they then write, "Despite these views, however, RCP does not push its specific positions on NION to the degree that [[International Action Center|IAC]] does on ANSWER. For example, while the ANSWER website offers such things as ... [an] IAC backgrounder on Afghanistan ..., the NION website and its public positions have no connection to the sometimes bizarre views of the RCP."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=2527 |title=ZNet &#124;Anti War &#124; Ten Q&A; on Antiwar Organizing |accessdate=2008-02-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080311064711/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=2527 |archivedate=2008-03-11 }}</ref> This is reflected in the wide range of signatories to their [[#"Statement of Conscience"|"Statement of Conscience"]].

Also, NION is itself now a member of a broader coalition [[United for Peace and Justice]], founded in October 2002 (a year after ANSWER) by individuals and groups seeking to curb ANSWER's influence in the [[anti-war movement]].

An example of NION's willingness to cooperate came when they postponed their national moratorium against the war to coincide with the March 5, 2003 "Books Not Bombs" student strike called by the [[National Youth and Student Peace Coalition]].

===Donation from Larry Flynt===
{{Unbalanced|date=July 2009}}
In 2004, Robert Corsini, an organizer for Not in Our Name publicized [[Hardcore pornography|Hardcore pornographer]] [[Larry Flynt]]'s support for one of their campaigns. [[Aura Bogado]], a [[feminist]] radio producer and news anchor for KPFK, objected privately in e-mail and asked to be removed from the organization's mailing list. Corsini forwarded his response to Bogado (including a copy of the original private e-mail) to NION national organizers, her employers at [[KPFK]], and to Bruce David at Larry Flynt Publishing. Bogado replied to Corisini in detail on NION's public e-mail list, and participated in a sharp debate over the e-mail list that followed. After ''Hustler'' published a series of articles and sexual caricatures attacking Bogado, she made her criticism public in [http://www.hustlingtheleft.com/bogado1.html "Hustling the Left"], published on [[ZNet]] in June 2005. Bogado charged that Leftist leaders were tacitly supporting [[racism]] and [[misogyny]] by aligning themselves with Flynt, and specifically criticized [[Greg Palast]], [[Amy Goodman]], [[Susie Bright]], and [[Amy Alkon]]. The discussion of her article inspired similar criticism of Leftist leaders cooperating with Flynt by feminists such as [[Nikki Craft]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hustlingtheleft.com/|title=Hustling The Left|website=www.hustlingtheleft.com}}</ref> and pro-feminist Leftists such as [[Stan Goff]] (<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://stangoff.com/?p=163#comment-1760 |title=Feral Scholar » HUSTLING THE LEFT WEBSITE OPENING |access-date=2007-11-24 |archive-date=2007-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814051249/http://stangoff.com/?p=163#comment-1760 |url-status=dead }}</ref>). Shortly after the publication of her article, the Not in Our Name Steering Committee issued a [http://www.notinourname.net/archive/apology-16jun05.htm public apology to Bogado] and objected to the treatment of Bogado in ''Hustler''.

==Antecedents of the name==
Prior to the founding of Not in Our Name, other anti-war groups had used the name, including a group of families who were victims of the [[September 11, 2001 attacks|9-11 World Trade Center attack]], and Jewish youth protesting Israel's policies in the [[Palestinian territories]]. "Not in Our Name" is also a slogan used by the UK [[Stop the War Coalition]]. "Not in Our Name" has also been a petition drive to be signed by Muslims by [[Council on American-Islamic Relations|CAIR]], in which they say it is "not in the name of Muslims" that terrorist leaders such as Osama bin Ladin and Hambali are making these claims.

==See also==
*[[List of anti-war organizations]]
*[[List of peace activists]]

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://notinourname.wordpress.com/ Not in Our Name UK - with special reference to NATO regime change operations against Syria]
* [http://notinourname.org.au Not in Our Name Australia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061223191701/http://notinourname.org.au/ |date=2006-12-23 }}

==="Hustling the Left" controversy===
* Aura Bogado, [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8012 "Hustling the Left"] ''[[ZNet]]'' June 5, 2005
* [[Susie Bright]], [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8043 "A Response to Aura Bogado"] ''[[ZNet]]'' June 9, 2005
* Aura Bogado, [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=91&ItemID=8074 "Reply to Susie Bright"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929134734/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=91&ItemID=8074 |date=2007-09-29 }} ''[[ZNet]]'' June 14, 2005
* [http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8099 "To Aura, An Overdue Apology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929115906/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=8099 |date=2007-09-29 }} Not In Our Name National Steering Committee, ''[[ZNet]]'' June 17, 2005
* [[Robert Corsini]] and [[Bruce David]], [http://www.larryflynt.com/notebook.php?id=99 "Caught in the Crossfire"] ''LarryFlynt.com Reporter's Notebook'' August 2005
* [[Bruce David]], [http://www.larryflynt.com/notebook.php?id=110 "Femi-Nazi Wars Episode Vi: Attack of the Z Ray"] ''LarryFlynt.com Reporter's Notebook''
* [[Nikki Craft]], [http://www.hustlingtheleft.com/ Hustling the Left website] (the website was established by Nikki Craft to highlight the issues raised by Bogado's article; it was not created by Aura Bogado herself).

{{anti-war}}

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[[Category:Anti–Iraq War groups]]
[[Category:Peace organizations based in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 2002]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 2008]]
[[Category:2002 establishments in the United States]]