[Fwd: FW: Act with rice - and could you forward a.s.a.p.?]

[Ed Iglehart]

Simply one of the best ideas I've seen.  Apologies for cross-posting
Salaamu Alaykum
ed

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FW: Act with rice - and could you forward a.s.a.p.?
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 12:10:23 -0000
From: "Sue Peppe" <sjep at onetel.net.uk>


The RICE solution - action urged!

There is a grassroots campaign underway to stand for peace with Iraq in a
simple, but potentially powerful way: Place 1/2 cup uncooked rice in a small
plastic bag (a snack-size bag or sandwich bag work fine).Squeeze out excess
air and seal the bag. Wrap it in a piece of paper on which you have written:
"If your enemies are hungry, feed them. Romans 12:20. Please send this rice
to the people of Iraq; do not attack them."

Place the paper and bag of rice in a small jiffy bag, close well with tape
and address to: PM Tony Blair -10 Downing Street, London SW 1 Attach =A31.06
in postage. (Three pstamps equal =A3 ) Drop this in the mail TODAY. It is
important to act NOW so that PM Tony Blair gets the letters ASAP Each one of
these packets is effective, and hundreds of thousands of such rice
deliveries to 10 Downing Street will make hopefully make an enormous stand.
We can do this if you each forward this message to your friends and family.

There is a positive history of this protest! In the 1950s, Fellowship of
Reconciliation began a similar protest, which is credited with influencing
President Eisenhower against attacking China. Read on: "In the mid-1950s,
the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation, learning of famine in the Chinese
mainland, launched a 'Feed Thine Enemy' campaign. Members and friends mailed
thousands of little bags of rice to the White House with a tag quoting the
Bible, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him." As far as anyone knew for more
than ten years, the campaign was an abject failure. The President did not
acknowledge receipt of the bags publicly; certainly, no rice was ever sent
to China.
"What nonviolent activists only learned a decade later was that the campaign
played a significant, perhaps even determining role in preventing nuclear
war. Twice while the campaign was pending, President Eisenhower met with the
Joint Chiefs of Staff to consider U.S. options in the conflict with China
over two islands, Quemoy and Matsu. The generals twice recommended the use
of nuclear weapons. President Eisenhower each time turned to his aide and
asked how many little bags of rice had come in. When told they numbered in
the tens of thousands, Eisenhower told the generals that as long as so many
Americans were expressing active interest in having the U.S. feed the
Chinese, he certainly wasn't going to consider using nuclear weapons against
them."

From: People Power: Applying Nonviolence Theory by David H.Albert, p.43,New
Society