Kitchen Table Activism

Background: Kitchen Table Activism (KTA) is a monthly project of the Rural Organizing Project. Often building on quarterly themes, short actions are described in each KTA. The theory is that basic steps and tasks can lead to powerful collective results as small groups of people gather to complete the same action throughout the state of Oregon.

ROP works to keep the basic tasks easily achievable so that groups with other projects or groups with limited immediate energy can still manage to complete the KTA each month.

Rural Organizing Project
PO Box 1350, Scappoose, OR 97056

(503) 543-8417 Fax: (503) 543-8419

office@rop.org

September 2006 Activity

CO$T of War: Coming to a Newspaper Near You!*

* This KTA is brought to you courtesy of ROP intern and youth organizer, Jess Campbell. She earned a spot on her small town City Council in Cottage Grove by maintaining a voice and, you guessed it, one way was by writing her fair share of local letters to the editor.

WHAT IS THE ACTIVITY? The ‘CO$T of WAR’ campaign demands accountability from our elected officials and awareness from our own communities for the tremendous human and monetary cost of the Iraq occupation. An easy and efficient method of raising community awareness surrounding the true Cost of War is to submit a Letter to the Editor to your local newspapers. And an additional way of keeping the pressure on is writing personal letters or postcards to our Congressional Representatives.

WHY THIS ACTIVITY? Our elected officials need to feel public pressure in order to be accountable for their votes – and they need to believe that there is public will to support them when they take actions that are controversial. Every politician/candidate subscribes to all their local papers. They hire clipping services who seek out key words – like their name (Wyden, Smith, etc.) and a topic (Cost of War, comprehensive immigration reform). This makes it important that we train ourselves to use similar messages as we make points. This month’s KTA provides sample postcard and letter language that models different ways to express a shared message. Borrow them, edit them, or invent your own; but let’s all come up with a local plan to get no less than five letters in the media that ask our congresspeople to communicate the actual cost of this war and occupation.

STEPS TO COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY:

1. Share this KTA with your group.

2. Identify local newspapers and their deadlines for letter submission.

3. Look over the sample letters (www.rop.org/CostofWar.htm). Seek out enough letter writers/submitters to guarantee 5 letters in your local paper between now and the election. Either write your own or modify the sample to fit your community and submit to your paper.

4. Print up the below postcards as samples. Ask friends, family, attendees to your group’s events to write their own and mail into your Senators and Congessperson.

5. Email your success stories to ROP!

CO$T of War Sample Postcards:

Dear Representative Wu, Walden, Hooley, DeFazio, or Blumenauer,

How much are we spending to occupy Iraq? This information should be available to every US taxpayer yet it is extremely difficult to find even partial information.

Part of your job as my representative is to let me know what is going on with my government. Polls show that the Iraq occupation is the prime concern of American voters. I urge you to use every means at your disposal to educate Oregonians about the actual Cost of War.

Regards,

Insert Name and Address

Dear Senator Smith,

How does the government find billions of dollars to occupy Iraq when program after program is being cut here at home?

It is important for all of us to know the true Cost of War, yet this information is nearly impossible to find. We are asked to approve of a policy without any idea of its cost. You would do a great service to your constituents if you provided an accounting of the Cost of War and communicated this via direct mail, press conferences, and town halls.

Regards,

Insert Name and Address

Dear Senator Wyden,

The Iraq occupation has been going on for over three years.

How much have we spent on this conflict? What domestic needs have been sacrificed to fund this war? Do you have an open-ended commitment to approve appropriations for this conflict?

The Iraq War has become the #1 issue of concern to Americans. I call on you to provide all your constituents with an accounting of the true Cost of War through town halls and direct-mail communication.

Regards,

Insert Name and Address

Previous KTAs are now located in the KTA Archive.