New Press Release

[Christian Bartolf <mkgandhi at snafu.de>]

PRESS RELEASE: 6 March 2006 (Stephan Smith)

The US American singer, songwriter and activist Stephan Smith from New 
York (USA) signed the "Manifesto against conscription and the military 
system" on 5 March 2006. His anti-war song "The Bell" became famous, 
because he sang his protest song at a prophetic anti-war manifestation 
on 20 April 2002 in the US capital Washington and later recorded it 
together with folk legend Pete Seeger. Howard Zinn wrote about "The 
Bell": "Stephan Smith's song THE BELL concentrates a world of meaning 
into its few lines. At the center of it is a child, which is perfectly 
fitting, because it is the children who are always the most 
heartbreaking victims of war, and who will be the victims of America's 
next war. The wisdom of the child stands in contrast to the platitudes 
uttered by the warmaker, "the man at his desk". The child sees through 
the false claim that to go to war means to love your country. The child 
sees through the Orwellian deceptions, in which lies are presented as 
truth. It is the child who challenges the call to war. And it is the 
child in the end who shows no fear, and it is the warmaker who must be 
afraid, because the courage of the child has a greater power than guns 
and bombs." Stephan Smith wrote in his message: "May the world realize 
in our time at last what we all instinctively know: that a sustainable 
peace will only be achieved when we fulfill our primary obligation, and 
humanity's incessant aspiration: to live equally together." You find 
Stephan Smith's website under: http://www.stephansmith.com

Please have a look at the "Manifesto against conscription and the 
military system"
(with the updated complete list of signatories):
http://home.snafu.de/mkgandhi/manifest.htm
Please have a look at the Gandhi Information Center's websites:
http://home.snafu.de/mkgandhi
email: mkgandhi at snafu.de
http://www.themanifesto.info
email: sign at themanifesto.info

sgd. Christian Bartolf (Chair)
Gandhi Information Center
P.O. Box (Postfach) 210109
10501 Berlin (Germany)

see: http://home.snafu.de/mkgandhi/press1.htm