Mesopotamia. The land between rivers. And those rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates. The country where there were beautiful gardens, certainly at Nineveh and probably at Babylon too. The city by whose waters the Israelites wept for their lost home and hung their harps upon the willow and inspired the psalmist.
And now it is under attack by air, land and sea. I make no apologies for a political editorial at this time. Over 550 children's writers and illustrators and publishers signed a letter to the Guardian, organised by Michael Rosen, opposing the use of our money as taxpayers to rain bombs on the children of Iraq and asking that the funds be used instead for better schools and services for children here.
As daily users of the written word and visual image, we may feel oddly powerless to oppose the manipulation of these forms of communication by governments and the media. You will all have your personally loathed terms ® surely the worst euphemism ever must be "friendly fire"? (It hurts so much less to be blown up by an ally and you end up dead in a much more cuddly way?).
You may be wondering what you can do beyond the usual petition signing and banner-waving. Here is the Armadillo checklist for what writers and illustrators specifically can do in the midst of what they perceive as an unjust war, if they do:
Do you have a website?
If so, post a message on it outlining your opposition to the war. You have a public voice and this is one occasion where it clearly makes sense to use it.
Do you belong to a professional body?
If so, lobby it to poll its members for a response to the war and to send the results to Tony Blair.
Do you visit schools?
This is a tricky one. You may not want to do this but consider asking the headteacher if you can say something in the course of your session. You can hedge it around with all sorts of caveats but children are asking about this war; they see it on their TVs every night and they see that kids of their age are dying or losing their parents in Iraq and that we and our allies are the ones doing the bombing and shooting. They have a right to know the opinions of people they look up to.
Use any appearances, signings, tours, broadcasts, prizegiving ceremonies quite shamelessly to take advantage of having a platform on which to oppose what is going on, as that cradle becomes the grave of civilisation. What's the worst that can happen? You might get booed like Michael Moore at the Oscars and the Blairs might not invite you to their next soirşe at number ten.
Offer to contribute to the anthology of poetry and prose that Mary Hoffman and Rhiannon Lassiter are proposing to publishers at the Bologna Book Fair. We want offers from artists too, for black and white drawings. All royalties will go to an agency offering relief and care to child victims of the war in Iraq, probably UNICEF.
[The anthology has now been completed and will be published on June 12th, all profits and royalties going to UNICEF's Emergency Appeal for the Children of Iraq. Click here to buy Lines in the Sand from Amazon UK. Thank you to all contributors and everyone who helped spread the word. - Ed.]
Finally, if you are favour of this action in the Gulf, please write to Armadillo explaining why and we will print your letters unaltered in the spirit of free speech and democracy.