United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1400 local and national groups throughout the United States who have joined together to protest the immoral and disastrous Iraq War and oppose our government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building.
We welcome the participation of any and all national, regional and local groups who share our goals and wish to work with others.
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Since our founding in October 2002, UFPJ has spurred hundreds of protests and rallies around the country, and organized the two largest demonstrations against the Iraq war.
History and Accomplishments
UFPJ began as a national campaign to bring together a broad range of organizations throughout the United States to help coordinate work against a U.S. war on Iraq. At an initial meeting in Washington, DC on October 25, 2002, more than 70 peace and justice organizations agreed to form United for Peace and Justice and coordinate efforts to oppose the war on Iraq.
• As part of a February 15, 2003, global day of protest, "The World Says No to War," UFPJ helped coordinate and publicize more than 790 demonstrations worldwide, and organized a rally at the United Nations headquarters in New York City that drew more than 500,000 participants.
• Two days after the bombing of Iraq began, on March 22, 2003, UFPJ mobilized more than 300,000 people for a protest march down Broadway in New York City.
• A May 2003 teach-in organized by UFPJ about war and empire drew a standing-room-only crowd of 2,000 to Washington, DC, to hear Arundhati Roy, Howard Zinn, Edward Said and other prominent speakers.
• In June 2003, representatives of more than 325 local and national peace and justice groups from across the U.S. gathered again in Chicago for UFPJ's first Strategy and Planning Conference. The conference was aimed to help coordinate actions to stop the Bush administration's program of permanent war, as well as solidify UFPJ's organizational structure. Some of what emerged from the conference:
Unity Statement [>>]
Organizational Structure [>>]
Strategic Framework [>>]
Action Priorities [>>]
Steering Committee [>>]
Financial Report [>>]
• On September 13, 2003, in an unprecedented coming together of the anti-war and anti-corporate globalization movements, UFPJ helped coordinate more than 60 solidarity demonstrations in the United States during the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, Mexico.
• On October 25, 2003, UFPJ co-sponsored a major march and rally in Washington, D.C. against the occupation of Iraq.
• On November 9, 2003, UFPJ coordinated a national day of action against Israel's separation wall, with events in 11 cities around the United States.
• Continuing our work to link the fight against war and empire with the fight for global economic justice, UFPJ played a major role in the November 18-20, 2003, mobilization against the Free Trade Area of the Americas in Miami, Florida.
• In December 2003, UFPJ adopted a comprehensive strategic action plan for 2004.
• UFPJ initiated the call to action for a global day of protest on March 20, 2004, the one-year anniversary of the Iraq War. More than 2 million people worldwide took to the streets that day, holding over 575 protests in more than 60 countries.
• On May 17, 2004, UFPJ’s national Steering Committee adopted the UFPJ Position on Ending the War on Iraq.
• On August 29, 2004, UFPJ organized a massive “Say No to the Bush Agenda” protest march outside the Republican National Convention in New York City, drawing more than 500,000 people.
• UFPJ's second National Assembly was held in St. Louis, MO, on February 19-21, 2005, where an amended Organizational Structure and Strategic Framework were adopted, and a new Steering Committee was elected.
• For the two-year anniversary of the Iraq War, from March 18-20, 2005, UFPJ put out a call for local peace actions around the country. There were protests in at least 765 communities, large and small, from coast to coast.
• UFPJ organized a major three-day antiwar mobilization in Washington, DC, from September 24 to 26, 2005. Highlights included a 300,000-person march past the White House; a massive two-day peace and justice festival featuring 17 themed tents; an interfaith service organized by Clergy and Laity Concerned About Iraq; the largest pro-peace lobbying day in decades on Capitol Hill, with more than 800 participants meeting with over 300 members of Congress and/or their staffs; and a major civil resistance action at the White House in which more than 370 people were arrested.
• For the third anniversary of the Iraq War, UFPJ member groups and alliesorganized more than 600 events,
ranging from vigils to marches to teach-ins, from March
15-22, 2006,
across all 50 states and in several countries around the world.
• On April 29, 2006,
an unprecedented range of organizations
from varied constituencies and working on a wide range of priorities came
together to organize a mobilization of at least 350,000 people.
UFPJ, RainbowPUSH Coalition, National Organization for Women, Friends of the
Earth, US Labor Against the War, Climate Crisis Coalition, People's Hurricane
Relief Fund, National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, and Veterans For Peace
united to call for the end of war in Iraq, to say no to any attack on Iran, and
to support the rights and dignity of all people, including immigrants and
women, recognizing that until this war ends, we cannot succeed at reclaiming
our democracy or dealing with the other pressing issues of today.
• In
June-August 2006, UFPJ
condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, and all violence against
civilians, and called upon its member groups and supporters to demand an
immediate ceasefire. UFPJ also organized the delivery of an open letter to US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton,
signed by more than 300 organizations and individuals.
• From September
21-28, 2006, people in over 150 cities and towns across the country organized and participated in a wide range of actions
as part of the Declaration of Peace campaign. This campaign initiated greater use of nonviolent
civil resistance and civil disobedience around the nation.
• As the
2006 midterm elections approached, UFPJ became involved in the Voters for Peace campaign,
encouraging individuals to pledge that they “will not vote for or support any candidate for
Congress or president who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and
preventing any future war of aggression, a public position in his or her
campaign." More than 100,000 people signed the pledge prior to the election.
• In early January 2007, UFPJ joined with the American
Friends Service Committee, which sits on UFPJ's National Steering Committee, to commemorate the death of the 3,000th American
soldier in Iraq. Under the slogan, "Not One More Death, Not One
More Dollar," more than 200 events took place across the country
protesting the escalation of the Iraq War.
• From January
27-29, 2007,
UFPJ organized a massive mobilization in DC to remind Congress that midterm
election voters had delivered an unmistakable mandate for peace. The actions
began with a 500,000 person March
on Washington on January 27, followed by a congressional lobby day in
which 1,000 people met with their members of Congress and/or their staff.
• To mark
the fourth anniversary of
the Iraq War in March 2007, UFPJ member groups and allies organized
over 1,000 events across the US, including many actions of
nonviolent civil disobedience, as part of the Occupation Project, and more than
100 vigils in Maine.
• In order
to bridge the divide between the peace and climate justice movements, and bring attention to the critical links
between the war and the environment, UFPJ and its member groups participated in
the Step It Up 2007
campaign, which called upon Congress to cut carbon emissions by 80% by
2050 through 1400 actions around the country.
• UFPJ
joined with the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a member
organization of UFPJ, in co-sponsoring a
historic two-day mobilization in Washington, DC, on June 10-11 to protest
the 40th anniversary of Israel’s illegal military occupation of the Palestinian
West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
• From June 22-24, over 300 people
from 35 states, representing close to 200 member groups of United for Peace and
Justice, gathered outside Chicago for the 3rd
National Assembly of UFPJ. Those who came to the Assembly understood the urgency of
our common work, as well as the need to tackle the challenges and opportunities
of the moment. By the end of the weekend there was agreement on a plan of work
for the coming period, as well as a newly elected national steering committee
for UFPJ:
• Immediately following the National
Assembly, UFPJ also participated in the first ever US Social Forum in
Atlanta, June 27-July 1. Members of UFPJ’s steering committee and staff led eight
workshops, while the coalition also had a representative speak on a major
plenary, sponsored one of the main cultural events and played a positive role
in the three-day Peace Caucus.
• UFPJ’s
Nuclear Disarmament Working Group, in conjunction with the Bite the Bullet: War
Profiteering Education Network, issued a call for actions to
mark the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, on August 6 and 9, and to bring attention to the escalating
threat to the world posed by U.S. nuclear hypocrisy, and to confront the corporations
that are perpetuating and profiting from a worldwide nuclear crisis and the
wars in the Middle East.
• On October 27, 2007,
more than 100,000 people from all walks
of life and in every part of the country participated in 11 regional demonstrations, and scores of solidarity actions,
against the war in Iraq, initiated by United for Peace and Justice.
• In March 2008, more than
1,000 actions in all 50 states marked 5 years of war and 5 years of protest. In Washington DC, more than 1,000 people -- students, grannies, veterans, and more --
engaged in over a dozen bold, creative, inspiring actions in downtown DC that
disrupted business as usual. All of this was preceded by 3 days of powerful testimony
given by brave veterans of the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan during the Winter Soldier
hearings organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War. Less than a week later, dozens of vigils
mourned the death of the 4,000th US soldier in Iraq on March 23.
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