Newspaper ads help mobilize peace effort

Yumi Kikuchi, Global Peace Campaign, The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo

We placed a full-page ad in The New York Times on Oct. 9, 2001, opposing the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan and calling for a peaceful resolution instead of retaliation. The ad carried a letter addressed to U.S. President George W. Bush written by former Marine Corps Sgt. Greg Nees two days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It bore the message that killing innocent lives is also an act of terrorism and by doing so "the U.S. would be lowering itself to the level of those who attacked the World Trade Center."

Veterans for Peace (VFP), a U.S. association of retired military personnel, sponsored the ad with funds raised by the Global Peace Campaign.

I first learned of the terrorist attacks by an e-mail from an American friend. When I switched on the television, it was repeatedly running images of the terrorist-flown passenger planes crashing into the World Trade Center towers.

President Bush immediately made an announcement calling the attacks an act of war. Shocked, I sent e-mails to my friends at home and abroad asking whether there was anything we could do to avoid war. One of them sent me Nees' letter.

I immediately contacted Nees and with his permission, I suggested to my friends in the U.S. and Britain to run it as an opinion ad on influential U.S. newspapers. This is how the Global Peace Campaign took off on the Internet.

The cost of running the ad on the Times was US$140,000. I found it rather expensive for a newspaper of a circulation of 1.2 million but thought it was the best medium to appeal to the U.S. government. As soon as I told how much it would cost to run the ad to my American and European friends, they said it was "impossible." But I told them we should give it a try anyway and asked for their support.

In only two weeks after we started asking for donations on the Internet, we were able to raise about 15 million yen in Japan alone. In the end, slightly less than 3,000 people from 16 countries contributed a total of 27 million yen. We negotiated with The New York Times, which gave us a discount and let us run the ad for $110,000.

With the extra money, we placed an ad in the Los Angeles Times calling attention to the plight of Afghanistan, whose food aid had been cut off. We also ran opinion ads in an Italian newspaper and a Persian-language magazine and newspaper.

At the time, the U.S. media gave the impression that the U.S. as a whole was supporting retaliation. However, once the ad appeared, it had major repercussions. We received many phone calls and e-mails from people who said they found the message encouraging and supported it. They just could not find the voice to speak out that they were opposed to retaliation.

That is why placing ads in major newspapers is significant. It is a means to get across the message to the U.S. government that not all people support retaliation. It also encourages the many Americans who remain silent and supports the Veterans for Peace, which sponsored the ad. We may not be able to stop the war but we can give a voice to people who seek a peaceful resolution and strengthen the U.S. peace movement.

Through this campaign, I keenly felt the role of newspapers. Newspapers can do more than unilaterally receive information and pass it on to readers. U.S. Congress authorized the use of force against Iraq. Is there no way to stop war? We decided to place an antiwar opinion ad on The Washington Post this time.