Dear Friends of Women (and Men) Around the World If you would like your names to be added to supporters and social witnesses, please feel free to send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED], and [EMAIL PROTECTED] This letter is also posted at: http://www.geocities.com/weallwin_2000/declare.html For More Information send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] An Urgent Open Letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Mary Robinson US State and Federal Election Commissioners World Election Commissioners and our world linked by the Internet Re: The Declaration of Democracy, 2000 THE VALIDITY OF THE US ELECTION AND THE VALIDITY OF THE UNITED NATIONS The urgent qualification of emergency write-in candidates and protest referenda in the US election via this announcement Gender Balance in the Parliament and Legislatures of India, other nations Gender Balance in Peace Making in Current Regional/World Conflicts This document is available on the weallwin website at http://www.geocities.com/weallwin_2000/declare.html and also on soc.culture.Internet newsgroups of every nation Dear Mr. Annan and Ms. Robinson: As you know November 7th is the date of a Presidential election in the United States, and October 24 just passed was the anniversary of the United Nations. As you also know, the people of the United States and the citizenry of all the members governments of the United Nations are deeply concerned about the process of democracy in all governments, including the US and the UN. Of particular concern are two important at related issues: the representativeness of these institutions regarding women and men as equals, and the functioning of these institutions with inclusive democracy and without corruption of money to hold elections which express the will of the people. This issue is also deeply affecting the government of Indo-Peninsula, the governments of the Middle East, the nations of the Balkans, and other areas of the world desirous of real democracy and your immediate concern. On October 25, the day after the UN Millennial Anniversary and in honor of it, a special meeting was held to insist that the issue of women in highest executive office of all nations was not delayed for another several years, but addressed responsibly now, in time for the American election. Background In 1847, in Seneca Falls New York, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, strongly encouraged by Frederick Douglass, and leading a group of slavery abolitionists and women's suffragists, declared the human right of women to have equal voting rights already available to men. Stanton is considered a preeminent Mother of woman's human rights in the United States, her husband Henry Stanton was also a well known abolitionist and defender of human rights, and Douglass was the preeminent and visionary escaped slave who lead the abolition of slavery in the United States, and author of the famous abolitionist and woman's suffrage journal of advocacy, the North Star. These individuals, and their very important colleagues, opened a path for human rights that made gave a passage to freedom and benefitted millions of women, and equally, there husbands, fathers, brothers and children in the United States, and all the human family around the world. In July, 1998, while activists in the United States were commemmorating the events of Seneca Falls and the passage of the votes for women in the United States in Celebrations in Seneca Falls, the Parliament of India was interrupted for a full week by sit-ins held women activists in that nation, attempting to gain public law to achieve gender balance in that Parliament and all the State legislatures of India. Despite their simultaneous nostalgic celebrations in Seneca Falls, few American womens groups knew of the events in India, because the American television and newspaper media did not cover it. Only Americans with access to Internet news services knew of the events in India, and their calls to major media to cover the story and bring it to the attention of women and all the people of the United States went unheeded. The bills to achieve gender balance in the Indian Parliament were tabled indefinitely by the current Indian government, and most American women never were notified of this issue as something to consider an issue about the functioning of the US government and publicly licensed media regarding the responsitilibity to inform American women and the American electorate of issues directly relevant to their own status in the US government. In July, 1999, a small group of US women of the House of Representatives interrupted a Congressional hearing to demand that the US sign the UN document of CEDAW - the Comprehensive Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. The US Congresswomen were "politely" but forcibly ejected from the hearing, and CEDAW remains unsigned by the United States. Only 12% of the US Congress is female, and minorities and people who are less than upper class financially are also not proportionally represented there. Many nations but less populous nations of the world do have gender balance in government and more democratically respresentative legislatures. Many of these governments have been leaders in peacemaking both regionally and nationally such as several Scandinavian Countries. In other countries, such as Ireland and Northern Ireland peace processes were catalyzed by major women's involvement and activism alongside their men and children, but remain still fragile and vulnerable, handled by government representatives who are predominantly male and not gender balanced. In other parts of the world, such as Africa, vast numbers of people are healing the wounds of violence and starvation inflicted by male warlords and unrepresentative governments, but many women and men are working together to bring modern gender balance to societies that recently genitally mutilated females. The governments of Asia are also reconciling their desire for peace and cooperation with each other with the need to safeguard women. The Beijing Conference in China drew activists from all over the region and world. The Declaration of Democracy 2000 On October 25, 2000 one day after the UN anniversary, three simple citizens of the United States of America met in Mary-land in the United States, and declared the human right of the people of their nation and all nations in the world to have: 1). equal representation of women and men in all executive offices and legislatures/institutions, and 2). elections untainted by the influence of preselection of as the result of money, including both selection of elected officials, and national referenda, and including the right of emergency write-in to express the will of the people in resisting a tainted election. (Using very simple, portable and available computer technology, write-ins are easy to read on any ballot of any nation around the world.) They are calling their declaration the Declaration of Democracy. All three people are also members of the weallwin campaign to bring meaningful democracy to the US election process, starting with the November 7th US election. These citizens are: Andrew Miller, an advocate for universal humanity and democratic use of computers and technology, whose software co-authored with his wife, RELATIVITY(tm) was inspired by the multidimensional relational insights of Albert Einstein and now benefits human families and communities in hospitals. clinics, courts and pastoral settings of all denominations in 23 nations, Rachelle OneFamily Miller, Ph.D., co-author of RELATIVITY(tm) and a doctorate in psychology running as a write-in for the office of the US Presidency to bring the first woman to that post in the nations 225 year history, and Anthony Michael Cohen, a descendant of both slaves and free blacks, and the director of the Underground Railroad Association, who has personally walked the route of the Underground Railroad in the United States, and the only man afforded the honor by the US Park Service of being allowed to sleep in the Seneca Falls meeting house where Douglass and Stanton and their colleagues and friends met to produce the Declaration of Human Sentiments in 1847. After their drafting this declaration, the Millers and Mr. Cohen sought and obtained endorsement for their Universal Declaration from men and women of democracy, many of whom are members of the weallwin campaign, as well as other important democratic organizations of change in the US. A list of signers and social conscience witnesses is below, and the Declaration is now circulating the Interent with the request that additional signers send their endorsement via email to you. Today, not only the US government, but many governments and the UN itself is on trial before the inhabitants, the human family, of our now computer and Internet linked planet. In the US history, the Declaration of Human Sentiments catalyzed the amendment and redemption of immoral and inhumane aspects of the US Constitution that denied full citizenship to over half of US citizens - the 51-53% of the US population that is female, and the Declaration of Sentiments signers and their descendants simultaneously sought to overturn the Constitutional clauses and the infamous Dred Scott decision that denied full and meaningful citizenship and voting rights to slaves, and in many cases, black freemen, and later, poor peole unable to pay "poll taxes" as well. In an era unlinked by computer and the Internet, the delays in making these changes caused: the bloody US Civil War, a nearly 150 year delay and struggle involving millions of people and millions of dollars to grant women voting rights should have been theirs inalienably and which were requested in 1776 by Abigail Adams and other women but denied by a male dominated exclusive group, and millions of people. millions of days and long hours and millions of dollars resulting in the Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1974, and a history of non-inclusive and therefore often flawed decision-making and diplomacy for 200 years that did not included the insights of women, people of color, and people not overadvantaged and/or corrupted by money. Thus, in the days prior to the Internet, it took hundreds of years and millions of human lives to bring basic freedoms to millions of people in the United States, and the process is still incomplete. Similar delays and struggles occurred, and are still occurring, in many nations around the world, Yet, neither major party allowed a woman on its ticket for the US Millennial election. We believe this is prima facie evidence that the current US election is gender discriminatory, and an abridgement of human rights. We are asking emergency relief from our own election commissions, and all international human rights agencies, including not not limited to the United Nations. In our own historic and Millennial time, neither the US nor the UN can any longer afford (or need) the "luxury" of time and human effort if they are to be seen as valid governments by millions of inhabititants of this planet, and indeed, to even expect to function to meet the tasks before them. In the Internet linked planet we now share, it is not the citizens of the world who must rise to the occasion of their mission, especially the grossly underrepresented women, it is their governments and institutions. In a world where computer technology is used to scan envelopes to speed the mail, and organizations like Project Vote-Smart, Public Hearing and others can easily list serious candidates so that millions of people can see and learn about them, and serious candidates can seriously promote their own websites in Internet forums that reach citizens throughout the nation and world, there is no excuse for elections which do not allow inhabitants the right of authentic and non-preselected write-in, especially emergency write-in to combat tyranny, as part of their rights of freedom of speech. There is no excuse for governments and institutions run by mostly men and no women for hundreds of years, and there is no excuse for the selection of executives and representatives based on the influence of money. Technology is giving us democracy in the blink of a mouse click; we cannot and will no longer support national and international institutions that deny meaningful and inclusive democracy to all the citizens of any nation the world. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights is now visible via the Internet to millions of people everyday. If the UN is not to suffer the fate of the League of Nations and fall to the weight of its own males-of-privilege-infighting and democratic limitations, unable to make peace and increase human well-being, then you, Ms. Robinson, and you Mr. Annan, and all your colleagues at the UN must act to fulfill the Declaration of Democracy. You must do so now. You must inform members nations like the US, and indeed all nations, that their elections must bring women into representation in office; not tomorrow, but now; must be fair, and must be untainted by money. You must inform the American Supreme Court that the Buckley v Villejo decision which empowers money over people, like the Dred Scott decision which upheld the validity of slavery, is unacceptable to the human rights of the people of the world, and is dangerously dividing not only the US, but dividing the world into two groups, the people of democracy and the people, especially, the overrepresented and dominating men, of money, and sets the stage for regional conflict and war on an unprecedented scale if gender injustice continues to keep the insights of women excluded from the leadership of nations. A world so divided will not be able to make peace or keep it. The Stanton Family and Mr. Douglass gave American history the path to preventive peace and unity once before, but a nation chose a dreaded path instead, before beginning steps do the right thing. Now, in the Millennial Year 2000, this Declaration of Democracy is giving you the preventive path to peace now. Your member nations must have governments where women and men are equally represented via fully free elections untainted by money and where the citizenry can write-in choices if the election process has failed to offer them the democratic, and so often lacking, gender balanced choice they deserve. Women have been shown by modern research to have certain advantages in making peace and resolving conflict. Institutions and governments that fail to bring women into office by fair democratic elections in roughly equal number to men have outlived their usefulness for this planet. The UN is currently engaged in Peace Missions in the Middle East, and will likely continue to be needed in the Balkans, and to assure peace and stability for Pakistan and India. We must point out that the origins of the religion-linked conflict of the Middle East, the Balkans, and other parts of the world are often associated with the historical second class status of women. For example, consider the political status of two mothers - Hagar and Sarah, competing with each other to bring their children the favor of a father/head of government, Abraham, himself caught within the the limitations of patriarchy. Nations that empower fathers but not mothers cannot make peace in the Millennial year or future. This is the message of this Declaration of Democracy, 2000 brought forth out of Mary-land. The modern everywoman and everyman Marys, Michaels and Adams of our world realize they are and must be active, direct and EQUAL participants in the events of the world if this world is to survive and prosper. We believe the if Mr. Annan is to bring peace to any region, he must be accompanied by Ms. Robinson at all talks, and both Mr. Annan and Mrs. Robinson must address the failures of democracy and improve the representation of women in all governments of any region. Leaders of both sexes must be equally present in all peacetalks, in any area of conflict in our world, or they will not work. The problem of the current news is not nationalism or national destiny - it is patriarchy. Indeed, it is the underlying problem of globalization, and thus, your immediate concern at the UN. It is your responsibility to address that problem, now, wherever it exists, in any nation in the world. The Middle East is your first crisis in rising to the occasion; if you are not successful - it may be your and the UN's last. That is why we are sure you will succeed, in the manner we suggest. >From Pat Schroeder to Elizabeth Dole and many talented women leaders from every field of expertise so daunted by money-requirements that they avoided politics, many American women were denied a process of candidacy because of the influence of money, and most male corporate money, on the election process of the United States. Sexism also affected the candidate selection of virtually every party, and the women of the weallwin campgaign can provide specific examples, as needed. Rachelle OneFamily Miller, Ph.D., Paula Elizabeth Bennett, Alexandra Lorraine and the write-in women Presidential candidates of the weallwin campaign are the first women in US history to bring their struggle to bring women to the Presidency before the world via the Internet. Their runningmates, the men of the weallwin campaign, including Mr. Erickson, Mr. Chimento, Pearlman, Mr. Cohen and others listed on a the growing list of women and men at the weallwin website, are also bringing the tainting of the US election by partyism and moneyism to the attention of the world. We know that similar corruptions are affecting the elections of many nations, and the need for immediate gender balance in government leadership is daily becoming more urgent. We ask, and we insist that you personally live up to the ideals of the UN and the ideals of democracy and fulfill this petition to require the above described Declaration of Democracy be a prerequisite for any member nation of the UN, and to personally intervene with the US Federal and State Election Commissions to insure that all votes, including write-in votes and write-in referenda, are counted by all election commissions. We demand that write-ins of any candidates listed in any state/or on the Internet on a serious website seriously brought to the attention of the American people via the Internet, be counted in this otherwise immoral and invalid election so badly tainted by moneyism, if this election is to be deemed by the citizens of this nation to have moral validity, a prereqisite of law and any functional valididty. These candidates are the moral and ethical best America has to offer in the current election. Votes for them anywhere in the US deserve to be counted, and so does the write-in referenda phrase "MONEY WAS NEVER SPEECH". Accepting these write-ins for this badly tainted, male money dominated election is the best and perhaps only way to redeem it, and insure that future elections in the US are not tainted by genderism, racial exclusion, and moneyism. A UN anniversary that celebrates a membership roster of mostly men heads of governments is demonstration of an organization not yet ready to function in a fresh new world, a new Millennium. The first step in obtaining functionality is to enforce the gender balance and inclusive democratic processes of election. Some member nations already have these processes in place. It is your official mission of leadership to hold an emergency session of the UN to assure these processes are immediately put in place in every nation, and to assist the emergence of men and women safe but sure passage from the era of patriarchy to the era of democratic partnership. We wish you well in successful leadership, and we are sure this letter and our Declaration of Democracy will assist you in that task. Sincerely, Rachelle OneFamily Miller Ph.D. Woman Candidate for President in the Millennial Year Hjalmer Wayne Erickson, Write-In Candidate for Partner Presidency with Dr. Miller Anthony Michael Cohen, Director of the Menare Foundation to honor the Underground Railroad and human liberation and Write-In Presidential Candidate Andrew Miller, WeAllWin Technology and Human Rights Consultant and Empowered Citizen-Leader of Internet Democracy Barbara Erickson, Mother and Advocate of Gender Balance in Government to Protect the World's Children, and Erickson Children and Families Daniel Joseph Pearlman and Alexandra Lorraine Candidates for Presidency/Vice-Presidency in Equal Partnership Carmen Chimento, Write-In Candidate for President and his wife and family Paula Elizabeth Bennett, Write-in Candidate for President Joe Shriner, Write-In Candidate for President and Liz Shriner, his wife Quentin Colgan, Write-In Candidate for President Carlet Ward, Write-In Candidate for President Jeffrey Peters, Write-In Candidate for President and his wife CiCi Peters, potential additional write-in candidate for US President For More Information, Supportive Remarks and Additional Perspective, We Suggest You Contact: Giving Social Witnesses/Spiritual Supporters of the WeAllWin Campaign and Potential Candidates on Gender Balanced Tickets by Election Day Robert Morris Mustard, We The People and descendant of a contemporary of John and **Abigail** Adams, working on "remembering the ladies" Dr. Heather Ann Harder. Former Candidate for President and advocate for enlightened gender balanced government, Democratic Party Paul Demain and Unity journalist for affirmative action and Campaign Manager for Winona Laduke, Green Party Dr. Lenora Fulani, Third Party Catalyst and Human Rights Advocate Marianne Williamson, Authoress and Spiritual Advocate for Democracy, and Matthew Albracht Communications Officer for The Global Rennaissance Alliance Louis Worth Jones, ACLU Expert on Freedom of Speech and essayist on Mary Wallstonecraft Rev. Victor Carpenter Jr., human rights advocate in South Africa and the United States others to be added __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one Place. http://shopping.yahoo.com/
