The Wheels of Justice Tour started again. Read about the tour below and then get involved! Also, visit the website for updates and new photos.

Nonviolent education and action against war and occupation in Iraq and Palestine for justice and universal human rights

Since July, 2003, the Wheels of Justice tour has brought its witness of war and occupation to more than twenty states. Traveling by Biodiesel-powered school bus, the WoJ has carried its message of peace more than 20,000 miles across the United States.

Having seen and lived with war, terror, and occupation in Iraq and Palestine, participants in the Wheels of Justice tour offer first-hand experience irrespective of partisan politics and media sound bites.

Our tour does many things, but its primary focus is education. Not everyone has the option to witness unfolding events thousands of miles away; not everyone has the means or time to find first-hand stories of life under occupation and war. We are a resource. Offering these perspectives to your campus, class, or school community is the way we can be most effective.

School Programming

We find younger students to be very curious about basic things—what Palestinians and Iraqis look like, what they think of Americans, etc. We often illustrate this by bringing in first-hand stories of visits with Iraqi and Palestinian students, artwork, artifacts and poetry from young people in the region. We draw similarities between needs and interests of children here and there, highlighting points of interest that close the distance between our two worlds.

For high school and college students, we frame our presentation thus: eyewitness to war and occupation tapered to the particular class and are happy to engage students at any level of studies (undergrad, graduate, etc).

At high schools, we often speak to assemblies, show slides/videos or powerpoint, and visit classrooms. An effective presentation lasts about 90 minutes: 30 minutes on Palestine, 30 minutes on Iraq, and 30 minutes for question-and-answer interaction with your students. This can be tailored to your schedule.

For classroom visits (college, university, or junior high-high school), we serve as a launch pad for student-led discussion and questions; typically we give brief testimony that provokes discussion and debate moderated by the professor (but often led by the students), especially to suit the course material (religious studies, political science, history, etc). We are a primary source; our witness may is a current events supplement and applicable reality to accompany the course material. Either going to the classroom or having classes visit us in a reserved room is the norm, but we are flexible.

We hope to be a valuable resource to your school, classroom, or campus and look forward to visiting you and your students. Please have a look at our programming background on the next page.

The Wheels of Justice Tour Platform

• We call for adherence to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• We oppose all violence against civilians; every human being has a right to live.
• Through education, outreach, nonviolent actions, and personal witness, we stand in opposition to the violence and injustice of war, terror, and occupation.
• We recognize that to find peace, the root injustices must be sought, seen, and directly addressed.
• We seek and practice nonviolent alternatives to the current violence and advocate solutions to the roots of war in Iraq, Palestine, and our own communities.

Education Perspective

In the spirit of nonviolence, members of the Wheels of Justice tour have sought to confront war, terror, and occupation in Iraq and Palestine with these methods of nonviolence:

• Compassionate listening
• Eyewitness
• Direct nonviolent intervention as a means of deterrence and conflict resolution

We do not have a political platform, as we could not possibly agree on one. Out platform is nonviolence and universal human rights. The most telling voices in a conflict situation are the voices of those who live within the conflict. The most telling effects are those on ordinary civilians. To this we bear witness, and on behalf of this we tell our stories.

Education Focus

• Self-determination for both Iraqis and Palestinians
• Commitment to Universal Human Rights and equality under the law
• Effects of war and occupation on civilians in Iraq and Palestine
• Effects of flawed U.S. foreign policy on U.S. taxpayers