Lunchtime Get-together Saturday October 8

They are announcing the Nobel Peace Prize this Friday, October 7th, at 11 AM Norwegian time which I think is 5 AM Eastern time. Let us celebrate/discuss whoever they choose over a nice lunch Saturday, October 8th at noon. Apsara Restaurant, 418 Quequechan St, Fall River. There is also the "Make Wall Street Pay" movement and the "Jobs not Cuts" push that are generating quite a bit of excitement in other places, perhaps there is some enthusiasm for those here? Without asking you I don't know!

Wangari Maathai, dead at 71

Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dies at 71 By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN NAIROBI, Kenya — Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who began a movement to reforest her country by paying poor women a few shillings to plant trees and who went on to become the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, died here on Sunday. She was 71. The cause was cancer, said her organization, the Green Belt Movement. Kenyan news outlets said that she had been treated for ovarian cancer in the past year and that she had been in a hospital for at least a week before she died. Dr. Maathai, one of the most widely respected women on the continent, played many roles — environmentalist, feminist, politician, professor, rabble-rouser, human rights advocate and head of the Green Belt Movement, which she founded in 1977. Its mission was to plant trees across Kenya to fight erosion and to create firewood for fuel and jobs for women. Dr. Maathai was as comfortable in the gritty streets of Nairobi’s slums or the muddy hillsides of central Kenya as she was hobnobbing with heads of state. She won the Peace Prize in 2004 for what the Nobel committee called “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” It was a moment of immense pride in Kenya and across Africa. Her Green Belt Movement has planted more than 30 million trees in Africa and has helped nearly 900,000 women, according to the United Nations, while inspiring similar efforts in other African countries. “Wangari Maathai was a force of nature,” said Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations’ environmental program. He likened her to Africa’s ubiquitous acacia trees, “strong in character and able to survive sometimes the harshest of conditions.” Dr. Maathai toured the world, speaking out against environmental degradation and poverty, which she said early on were intimately connected. But she never lost focus on her native Kenya. She was a thorn in the side of Kenya’s previous president, Daniel arap Moi, whose government labeled the Green Belt Movement “subversive” during the 1980s. Mr. Moi was particularly scornful of her leading the charge against a government plan to build a huge skyscraper in one of central Nairobi’s only parks. The proposal was eventually scrapped, though not long afterward, during a protest, Dr. Maathai was beaten unconscious by the police. When Mr. Moi finally stepped down after 24 years in power, she served as a member of Parliament and as an assistant minister on environmental issues until falling out of favor with Kenya’s new leaders and losing her seat a few years later. In 2008, after being pushed out of government, she was hit with tear gas by the police during a protest against the excesses of Kenya’s entrenched political class. Home life was not easy, either. Her husband, Mwangi, divorced her, saying she was too strong-minded for a woman, by her account. When she lost her divorce case and criticized the judge, she was thrown in jail. “Wangari Maathai was known to speak truth to power,” said John Githongo, an anticorruption campaigner in Kenya who was forced into exile for years for his own outspoken views. “She blazed a trail in whatever she did, whether it was in the environment, politics, whatever.” Wangari Muta Maathai was born on April 1, 1940, in Nyeri, Kenya, in the foothills of Mount Kenya. A star student, she won a scholarship to study biology at Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kan., receiving a degree in 1964. She earned a master of science degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She went on to obtain a doctorate in veterinary anatomy at the University of Nairobi, becoming the first woman in East or Central Africa to hold such a degree, according to the Nobel Prize Web site. She also taught at the university as an associate professor and was chairwoman of its veterinary anatomy department in the 1970s. A day before she was scheduled to receive the Nobel, Dr. Maathai was forced to respond to a report in The East African Standard, a daily newspaper in Nairobi, that she had likened AIDS to a “biological weapon,” telling participants in an AIDS workshop in Nyeri that the disease was “a tool” to control Africans “designed by some evil-minded scientists.” She said her comments had been taken out of context. “It is therefore critical for me to state that I neither say nor believe that the virus was developed by white people or white powers in order to destroy the African people,” she said in a statement released by the Nobel committee. “Such views are wicked and destructive.” In presenting her with the Peace Prize, the Nobel committee hailed her for taking “a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women’s rights in particular” and for serving “as inspiration for many in the fight for democratic rights.” Dr. Maathai received many honorary degrees, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in 2006, as well as numerous awards, including the French Legion of Honor and Japan’s Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. She was the author of several books, including “Unbowed: A Memoir,” published in 2006. She is survived by three children, Waweru, Wanjira and Muta, and a granddaughter, according to the Green Belt Movement. Former Vice President Al Gore, a fellow Peace Prize recipient for his environmental work, said in a statement, “Wangari overcame incredible obstacles to devote her life to service — service to her children, to her constituents, to the women, and indeed all the people of Kenya — and to the world as a whole.” In her Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Dr. Maathai said the inspiration for her work came from growing up in rural Kenya. She reminisced about a stream running next to her home — a stream that has since dried up — and drinking fresh, clear water. “In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness,” she said, “to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.”

Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation, 1870

Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

Arise then...women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts!

Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:

"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,

Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,

For caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn

All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country,

Will be too tender of those of another country

To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with

Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe out dishonor,

Nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil

At the summons of war,

Let women now leave all that may be left of home

For a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means

Whereby the great human family can live in peace...

Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,

But of God -

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask

That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,

May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient

And the earliest period consistent with its objects

To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,

The amicable settlement of international questions

The great and general interests of peace.

Osama bin Laden

A poem written by a friend in England last night:

We cannot gloat: a time for grief,

another mother's son is dead,

and if that son has killed and maimed,

it is the better least is said;

but let us mourn for all the loss,

and stand in shadow of the cross.

We mourn for victims we have loved,

and for the orphans yet unborn;

for those for whom a searing pain

greets this and every rising dawn,

and then we bow our heads and pray

that peace might drench the world today.

And to that end we pledge our lives,

our words, our actions and our deeds,

as following the Prince of Peace,

we'll work for peace till peace succeeds,

in breaking every barrier down,

that love may be our goal and crown.

© Andrew Pratt 2/5/2011

Tune: ABINGDON

"do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice". Proverbs 24:17

8 years of war in Iraq

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/201132173052269144.html A look back at 8 years of war in Iraq Eight years after the US entered Iraq to topple Saddam and liberate the people, conditions are worse than ever. Medea Benjamin and Charles Davis Last Modified: 21 Mar 2011 11:57 March 19 marks the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, a nation that had no weapons of mass destruction and was not involved in the 9/11 attacks. It was sold to the American public as a war to defend our nation and free the Iraqi people. US deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz said our soldiers would be greeted as liberators and that Iraqi oil money would pay for the reconstruction. Vice president Dick Cheney said the military effort would take "weeks rather than months". And assistant defence secretary Ken Adelman predicted that "liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk". Eight years on, it's time to look back at that "cakewalk".4,400 US soldiers lost More than 4,400 Americans have died as a result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq – more than the 3,000 killed on 9/11. Over 32,000 US soldiers have been seriously wounded, many kept alive thanks to the miracle of modern medicine. But those numbers don't tell the half of it. Stanford University and Naval Postgraduate School researchers who examined the delayed onset of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) found that by 2023 the rate of PTSD among Iraq war veterans could rise to as high as 35 per cent. And for the second year in row, more soldiers committed suicide in 2010 than died in combat, a tragic but predictable human reaction to being asked to kill – and watching your friends be killed.Bankrupting the nation In 2008, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University's Linda Blimes put the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $3tn, or about 60 times what the Bush administration first said the invasion would cost. While a staggering figure, Stiglitz and Blimes now say that their estimate "was, if anything, too low". In an update published last fall in The Washington Post, they note that the war not only drove up the federal debt, but helped drive the skyrocketing oil prices that contributed to the crashing of the global economy. According to the National Priorities Project, the money the US government spent destroying Iraq could have provided annual salaries for 12.5 million teachers or paid the annual healthcare costs for 167 million Americans. When elected officials tell us our nation is bankrupt, we should tell them to bring our war dollars home.Hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis The people who have suffered the most from the Iraq "cakewalk" are Iraqi citizens. For an invasion sold as an act of liberation and of "profound morality" by propagandists like Jeffrey Goldberg, the US and its allies sure managed to kill a staggering number of those they were liberating. The organisation Iraq Body Count (IBC) has documented at least 99,900 violent civilian deaths as a direct result of the US-led invasion. But that's an extremely conservative estimate based largely on deaths reported in Western media, an approach bound to undercount the massive death toll from the invasion. Indeed, as WikiLeaks revealed last October, the US government covered up the violent killings of more than 15,000 Iraqi civilians – killings that weren't reported by any Western paper which amounted to roughly 20 per cent of IBC's official count at the time. Unfortunately, the number of dead Iraqis is likely a lot higher than IBC's count. A 2006 study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University published in the Lancet medical journal found that in just over three years there were 654,965 "excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war", with Iraq's death rate more than doubling due to gunfire – the leading cause of mortality – as well as lack of medicine and clean water. Then a 2008 analysis by British polling firm Opinion Research Business estimated "that over 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens have died as a result of the conflict which started in 2003".Power still out Thirteen years of bombings and sanctions crippled the infrastructure and basic services of what was once a wealthy country. Then came the 2003 invasion, which destroyed electrical plants, sewage systems, water treatment facilities, hospitals and more. Eight years later, the living conditions in Iraqi are worse than under Saddam Hussein, with the country plagued by a continued lack of electricity, clean water, medical care and security. Iraqis wonder why - after the most powerful country in the world invaded and spent billions on reconstruction - they are still living in the dark.Millions fled their homes According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, since 2003 "more than 4.7 million Iraqis have fled their homes, many in dire need of humanitarian care" – hardly an endorsement of life in the "liberated" nation. Many Iraqis fled to Iran, Jordan and Syria, while roughly 1.5 million fled to other parts of Iraq, the majority of whom "have found no solutions to their plight", according to the UN. In the aftermath, millions will never be able to return.Forced into prostitution Women in Iraq have been particularly hit by the invasion and occupation. The Iraqi government estimates there are up to 3 million widows in Iraq today. Meanwhile, violence against women – including honour killings, rape and kidnapping – has increased, forcing many to remain at home and limiting employment and educational opportunities, according to a new Freedom House report. "A deep feeling of injustice and powerlessness sometimes leads women to believe that the only escape is suicide," the report notes. Many Iraqi women who fled to neighbouring countries have found themselves unable to feed their children. Just to make ends meet, tens of thousands of them – including girls 13 and under – have been forced into prostitution, particularly in Syria. "From what I've seen, 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the girls working this business in Damascus today are Iraqis," one refugee told The New York Times. "If they go back to Iraq they'll be slaughtered, and this is the only work available."Poisoning Iraqi society The US military dropped thousands of bombs across Iraq laced with depleted uranium, the radioactive waste produced from manufacturing nuclear fuel. Valued by the military for its density and ability to ignite upon impact, depleted uranium bombs continue to kill years after they've been dropped. In Fallujah, which was bombarded more than anywhere else in Iraq, British researchers uncovered a massive increase in infant mortality and rates of cancer, with the latter exceeding "those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki," according to The Independent. And it's not just Fallujah facing a cancer epidemic. Al Jazeera reports that in the central Iraq province of Babil, reported cancer cases rose from 500 in 2004 to 7,000 in 2008. And in Basra, the last 15 years have seen childhood leukemia rate more than double, according to a study published last year in the American Journal of Public Health.Trading one strongman for another Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. Yet his worst crimes, including the 1980 invasion of Iran, came when he was backed by the US government, which was well aware of his penchant for torture and extrajudicial killings – talents American officials were fine with as as he was slaughtering Iranians. Now, his US-backed successor, prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, is torturing and killing those who speak out against his rule. All he hasn't done is invade that other, not-yet-liberated member of the "Axis of Evil". Inspired by the mass actions that took down US-backed strongmen in Egypt and Tunisia, thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets to protest the al-Maliki government – only to be greeted with live ammunition. On February 27, more than 29 protesters, including a 14-year-old boy, were gunned down by the Maliki-run security forces in Iraq. Meanwhile, four journalists in Baghdad report that they, along with hundreds of protesters, were "blindfolded, handcuffed, beaten and threatened with execution" for being insufficiently pro-regime. The charges of abuse come after WikiLeaks revealed further evidence that Maliki has been using the power of the state – and Shia death squads – to torture and murder his political opponents. Life in the new Iraq isn't a whole lot different than life under Saddam. Given the protests sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, it seems invasions and foreign military occupations just aren't as effective as nonviolent protest at promoting reform.Recruitment ad for al-Qaeda When it wasn't completely sold as a humanitarian mission, the Bush administration cast the war on Iraq as a response to the 9/11 terror attacks, scaring the American public into submission with vials of faux-anthrax and concocted tales about Iraq's ties to al-Qaeda. Yet, as US intelligence agencies recognised after the invasion, "the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse", in the words of one American official. Indeed, there was no better recruitment ad for terrorists than the images the Bush administration and its allies providing foreign troops who were destroying Iraqi society. And there's no better way to create a committed enemy than to kill someone's family - or in the case of Abu Ghraib, to humiliate and torture – sometimes to death – an innocent loved one.Rewarding war criminals Once you get past all the rationalisations, the invasion of Iraq was just like any other war. It necessitated teaching young men and women to believe that it's morally acceptable to take kill. And a 2007 army investigation spurred by the massacre of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha said as much. "Statements made by the chain of command during interviews for this investigation, taken as a whole, suggest that Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as US lives, their deaths are just the cost of doing business, and that the Marines need to get 'the job done' no matter what it takes," wrote Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell in the report. People typically don't want to kill other human beings. They must be conditioned to dehumanise the enemy and believe that murdering is not just okay - but also just. Basic training involves destroying a person's ability to empathise with the "other" for the good of the nation (or rather, its rulers). But that ability doesn't just suddenly reemerge when the war is over. And unfortunately, that's evidenced by the alarming incidents of domestic violence committed by returning veterans. The invasion and occupation of Iraq continues to affect lives after veterans of the war rejoin civilian life as police officers and husbands, as foremen and fathers. The lesson that violence is an acceptable means to achieve one's ends is not one soon forgotten. But violence isn't just legitimised at base camp; it's legitimised by the Obama administration's failure to hold accountable those who took the country into an illegal war of aggression. Those war criminals – the likes of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice and Karl Rove – are all enjoying successful book tours and reaping hefty speaking fees, while the man who allegedly exposed war crimes, Bradley Manning, is behind bars being tortured. There's a lesson there – one that doesn't speak well for our system of government. And it suggests that our political establishment will continue to drag us into wars of choice in the future. After all, they won't be fighting or paying the consequences of combat. On this shameful anniversary, let's not forget that despite president Obama's promise to leave Iraq, the US still has 50,000 troops there, thousands of private mercenaries and dozens of military bases, with generals not-so-subtly hinting at a permanent presence. We should demand the president close those bases and bring the troops home. We should prosecute those responsible for sending them. And we should apologise to the Iraqi people for the misery the US government has wrought. The damage of war has been done. But the US must begin making amends to Iraq by leaving. Medea Benjamin is cofounder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace and Global Exchange. Charles Davis has covered Congress for NPR and Pacifica stations, and freelanced for the international news wire Inter Press Service. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. Source: Al Jazeera

United Nations International Day of Peace

International Day of Peace, the World's First Global Holiday", observed every year on
September 21st to coincide, approximately, with the opening of the UN General
Assembly for the fall, will be observed in Fall River with a stand-out for Peace from 4-5
by the Greater Fall River Committee for Peace and Justice at Gromada Plaza, corner of
Main and Pocasset. This year we will also have a global warming exhibit. Bring your
own banners or signs, or use ours.  We would especially like people to bring
international flags if they have them. 

By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. During the discussion of the U.N. Resolution that established the International Day of Peace, it was suggested that:

"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples…This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace."

Since its inception, Peace Day has marked our personal and planetary progress toward peace. It has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Events range in scale from private gatherings to public concerts and forums where hundreds of thousands of people participate.

Anyone, anywhere can celebrate Peace Day. It can be as simple as lighting a candle at noon, or just sitting in silent meditation. Or it can involve getting your co-workers, organization, community or government engaged in a large event. The impact if millions of people in all parts of the world, coming together for one day of peace, is immense.

International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire – personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind.

For further information call Judith Conrad at (508)674-6128 or e-mail her at Judithconrad@mindspring.com.

Stunning photos of Afghanistan

http://avalon.unomaha.edu/afghan/

Wonderful photographer named Luke Powell. He says "It is important for those living in the industrial world to develop an appreciation for cultures that are sustainable, to learn to see beauty and survival in a world where people walk, live in daily contact with animals, raise their own food, pray, and live in families. Such people have as much to teach us as we have to teach them."

1,000 American dead in Afghanistan -- should we commemorate?

Death toll in Afghan war nears 1,000 By Craig Whitlock, Greg Jaffe and Julie Tate Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, February 24, 2010 More than eight years after the Taliban was toppled from power, the number of U.S. military fatalities in the war in Afghanistan is nearing 1,000, a grim milestone in a resurgent conflict that is claiming the lives of an increasing number of troops who had survived previous combat tours in Iraq. As of Tuesday, 996 U.S. military personnel had died while serving in Operation Enduring Freedom. The roll call of the fallen began on Oct. 10, 2001, when Air Force Master Sgt. Evander E. Andrews was killed in a forklift accident in Qatar while building an airstrip in preparation for the invasion of Afghanistan. The latest confirmed addition came Sunday, when Army Pfc. J.R. Salvacion, 27, of Ewa Beach, Hawaii, died of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit near Kandahar. The number of dead is small in comparison with U.S. casualties in Iraq, where 4,366 uniformed personnel have died since 2003. But as operations intensify in Afghanistan, the war is killing more and more service members who came home safely after serving in Iraq, only to return to the battlefield in another theater. Since Dec. 1, at least 30 percent of the American military personnel who have died in Afghanistan have been veterans of the Iraq war, according to a Washington Post analysis. Among them: Marine Staff Sgt. Chris Eckard, 30, who was killed Saturday in Helmand province, the site of a major NATO offensive targeting Taliban-held territory. Eckard, an explosives specialist from Hickory, N.C., had disarmed hundreds of makeshift bombs during four tours in Iraq. It was his first assignment to Afghanistan. He leaves behind a wife and two sons, ages 4 and 18 months. "Chris loved the Marines. He was all about the Marines," said his sister-in-law, Chastity Eckard. "This was going to be his last tour." The impending milestone of 1,000 deaths hasn't drawn much notice in the United States or in Afghanistan, despite the Obama administration's focus on the war and the launch this month of the largest U.S.-NATO military operation in the country since 2001. When the United States crossed the threshold of 1,000 deaths in the Iraq war in September 2004, there was widespread concern in Washington that public support for the conflict would collapse. To some, the relatively quiet approach of the new benchmark is a sign that the country has grown more sober-minded in the way it perceives the war. "We've learned that the public doesn't react reflexively to the tote board of [war deaths]," said Peter Feaver, who served in George W. Bush's administration and teaches political science at Duke University. Others see a fundamental change in American foreign policy after almost nine years of combat. "The American people and the governing class have accepted that war has become a permanent condition," said retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich, a history professor at Boston University whose son was killed in Iraq in 2007. "Protracted war has become a widely accepted part of our politics." Even before his son's death, Bacevich spoke out forcefully against the wars.

More than 600 troops from NATO allies and other countries have died in Afghanistan since 2001. Thousands of Afghan civilians, soldiers and police officers have also died in the war, although the precise number is unknown.

Back to the front, again For many Americans, what is most striking is that so many Marines and soldiers have died during their second or third combat tours. Of the 73 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan since Dec. 1, at least 23 had previously served in Iraq, according to The Post's analysis. "It affirms what we already knew, which is that the burden of this very long war is being borne by a small percentage of the population," Bacevich said.

Both the Obama and Bush administrations have wrestled with how to highlight the sacrifices of the troops and, to the extent possible, share the burden with the rest of the country. During the debate last year over the Afghanistan strategy, President Obama made high-profile visits to Arlington National Cemetery and Dover Air Force Base to witness the return of fallen U.S. troops. Lawmakers, meanwhile, have repeatedly boosted pay and benefits for service members, sometimes to the consternation of the Pentagon, which has become concerned that the surging personnel costs are squeezing out money for new weapons. But the White House, Congress and the military seem broadly comfortable with the notion that a relatively small number of professional soldiers and Marines should be expected to fight multiple tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. "There are enormous and disturbing moral implications in the tacit agreement we have made to have such a small percentage of our population bear so great a burden," Bacevich said. "But there is no recognition of it or desire to raise questions about it." For families, questions White House officials said they do not want to draw special attention to what they described as an arbitrary figure. "We mourn the loss of each and every serviceman and woman," said National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer. "The nation is indebted to them and their families for making the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country." But as the casualty count rises, so does the number of grieving relatives who can't help question why their sons and daughters, or their spouses or parents, had to keep returning to the battlefield, tempting fate again and again. Adam K. Ginett, a 29-year-old Air Force tech sergeant from eastern North Carolina, told his family that he felt compelled by a sense of public service to serve two tours in Iraq, followed by two more in Afghanistan. An explosives and ordinance disposal specialist, he had extensive experience in the highly risky job of defusing makeshift bombs, the insurgents' weapon of choice in both war zones. When Ginett was a teenager, "I told him he'd be safer going into the Air Force, that at least he'd get a clean bed to sleep in every night," said his grandfather James Haslam, 80, a former Marine. "But he chose perhaps the most dangerous job in the military." When he was last home in July, visiting his parents in tiny Coats, N.C., Ginett was gently challenged by his mother, who wanted to know: Why do you keep volunteering to go back to the war? "It just seemed like he was always going," said his mother, Christina Kazakavage. "He said: 'Mom, it's just my turn. I gotta go.' " As he departed for the airport to return to Afghanistan, he left behind a book for his mother. Titled "Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives," it tells the story of a Marine major assigned to knock on the doors of military spouses and parents and deliver the tragic news that their loved ones had sacrificed their lives for their country. "After I read that book, I looked at my husband and said, 'He's not going to come home.' After reading that book, I just knew," Kazakavage said. "I think it was just Adam's way of preparing me." Staff writer Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.

Martin Luther King PEACEMEAL

We're celebrating Martin Luther King (Day) Eve with a PEACEMEAL (POT LUCK DINNER FOR ALL WHO WISH TO ATTEND) at 5PM this coming Sunday, January 17th, at Blessed Trinity National Catholic Church, 1340 Plymouth Ave, Fall River, MA. I hope to see you all there! Come 4:30 to help with set-up. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear... That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind... The time is always right to do the right thing... Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent."

Nobel Peace Prize -- Party/Hecklefest December 10

Thursday December 10th our President receives the Nobel Peace Prize. The ceremony, including President Obama's lecture on how much he believes in peace, will take place at 7 AM Eastern Standard Time, We have arranged to have it recorded from live streaming, and will show it at 7 PM in BCC room D-105 (same room as the Afghanistan program last month). For those who wish to celebrate there will be punch and cookies. For those anticipating dismay at the president's forthcoming announcement on sending more troops to Afghanistan, there will be an opportunity to heckle the Nobel Speech in a gathering of more-or-less like-minded people. official press release from Oslo: The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate takes center stage in Oslo on 10 December when he receives the Nobel Prize Medal, Nobel Prize Diploma and document confirming the Nobel Prize amount from the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the presence of King Harald V of Norway. An important part is the presentation of the Nobel Lecture during the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony. In Oslo the Nobel Peace Prize is presented by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the presence of Their Majesties the King and Queen of Norway, the Government, Storting representatives and an invited audience. Several hundred seats are reserved for persons with special reasons for wishing to attend the ceremony. Later the same day, the Norwegian Nobel Committee hosts a banquet in honour of the Laureate, with specially invited guests. Inside Oslo City Hall.

Palestinian Water Justice -- talk tomorrow

Susan Koppelman will be speaking about the work she has been doing in Palestine for the past 3 years at Bristol Community College in Fall River this Wednesday evening 10/14 at 7 pm.    From Elsbree St go to Parking lot 5,4 or 3. Lecture will be in the Business Technolgy Building (K)-third building on the street. Go to second floor, Rm. 201. Class begins at 7:00 pm. If we are able to get a larger room for the presentation, we will post signs on the doors with the new location.   Description follows: Palestinian Water Justice Film Screening and Talk with Susan Koppelman Palestinians are facing a water crisis due to Israeli policies. What are the UN and international NGOs doing to uphold Palestinians’ human right to water? What can we do?  Why is the boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel a good non-violent strategy to force Israel to respect Palestinians’ human rights and follow international law? Susan Koppelman is an active member of LifeSource, a Palestinian-led collective organizing to build a popular movement for Palestinian water justice. She is based in Ramallah where she has been living for more than 3 years and she is joining us as part of an annual tour organizing for Palestinian water justice in North America. Gaza is Floating, a new short film from LifeSource about how the Israeli siege is leading to a sanitation disaster in Gaza, causing environmental catastrophe and human tragedy. For more information on Palestinian water justice and the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel please visit www.lifesource.ps --  Susan Koppelman LifeSource project organizer www.lifesource.ps +972 (0) 598318346 +972 (0) 525493215 LIFESOURCE is a Palestinian-led collective of people who recognize it is crucial to address the current and unfolding regional water crisis immediately – on the humanitarian level, the environmental level, and the political level. We are launching a campaign of popular research, popular education and popular action, with the goal of motivating communities to engage in their own analysis of information and direct their own courses of learning and action.   --  check out my web sites: http://www.tallitotbymichelesaunderskoppelman.com http://www.michelesaunderskoppelman.com

8th anniversary of our War in Afghanistan

When the United States began its bombing campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan on the night of October 7, 2001, there was no active organized peace movement in Fall River, and there was not a lot of vocal opposition. The Taliban was closely intertwined with Al Quaida, and Al Quaida had attacked us three weeks earlier, on September 11th. Ostensibly we were going after Osama bin Laden, who was indeed our enemy. Moreover the Taliban was a very repressive, intolerant and brutal group; overthrowing them seemed all in all a good idea. They banned women from leaving their homes, even for work or education, they banned most entertainment and sports, they punished theft by amputating hands, they stoned adulterers to death, they lashed people caught with liquor. They massacred ethnic and religious minorities. They flooded the western marketplace with opium. Removing them from power seemed a rather good idea. However, it was a country that had just been through 30 years of war, both civil and from outside in the form of the Soviet invasion. It did not have structures in place for running a country. A vast proportion of the educated classes had fled abroad during the 10 years of Soviet war and the five or six years under the Taliban. And after rapidly overthrowing the Taliban (while in fact failing at our main objective, which was to defeat Al Quaida and capture bin Laden, who had slipped over the border and regrouped in Pakistan), we lost interest, or rather shifted our interest, and our immense expenditure of capital, to Iraq. After World War II international forces placed 89 soldiers per a thousand inhabitants in Germany to secure the peace; in Bosnia in 1996 17.5 soldiers per thousand inhabitants were brought in. But in 2002 US and other international forces placed fewer than 2 soldiers per thousand Afghans. There was no international police force. Money for rebuilding a country we had just saturation bombed was promised but was not delivered. There was no assistance for alternative crops in the former poppy fields. And an insurgency developed which overwhelmed both the weak government and the small American presence. Beginning in December of 2002, the peace movement in Fall River reconstituted itself in opposition to the Iraq War. That war seemed unjustified and vastly expensive, both in lives and in resources, which could so much better have been spent on education or on health care, or on the many other domestic needs we had. Or on giving the Afghans a decent chance to build themselves back into a functioning nation. Every event we had we made a poster of THE NUMBERS, giving the numbers of Americans killed and wounded in Iraq (4667 killed, 31,494 wounded), the likely numbers of Iraqis who died in the conflict (around a hundred thousand confirmed to date), the cost of the War to this country ($917 billion to date) and the amount of that which could otherwise have been spent in Fall River ($215 million). But we lost sight of the other war, in which 869 soldiers have been killed so far, 4,000 wounded. The UN says 1,160 civilians were killed last year, 1078 by insurgents, 828 by US and NATO troops. The numbers will be higher this year. There are 3.5 million refugees. And over the last eight years we have barely noticed them The country is at a crossroads now, where the military is urging 40,000 new troops be sent to Afghanistan. These are our people. They take a vow to do their best, giving their lives if necessary, to whatever quagmire we send them to. We need to be more careful in committing them. We need to examine our goals, and understand how achievable our strategies are first. We need to understand the place we are sending them to. We put a "Join the Greater Fall River Committee for Peace and Justice" flyer together a few years ago, and added some quotations from famous people. Here are three of them that seem relevant: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter Martin Luther King Jr. I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. Mohandas K. Gandhi I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Secretary Ban Ki-Moon's Statement on International Day of Peace

U N I T E D N A T I O N S SECRETARY-GENERAL Ban Ki-Moon MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE 21 September 2009 The International Day of Peace is a global call for ceasefire and non-violence. It is a time to reflect on the horror and cost of war, and on our duty to resolve disputes peacefully. Most of the victims of conflict are powerless. Innocent civilians. Fathers, mothers, children. Without peace they have little hope of improving their lives. Little hope of escaping poverty. Often, those who work on behalf the powerless are also targets. Journalists, medical professionals, humanitarian workers, United Nations staff and peacekeepers have all found themselves under attack. Combatants, warlords, arms suppliers and their sponsors continue to display a cruel disrespect for life. On this International Day of Peace, I remind all of them that there is another way. A better way. The path of peace. Even where States are torn by internal strife, history shows that peace can prevail if there is sufficient will. There are many examples where the advocates of peace have successfully subdued the voices of hate. I also draw hope from the renewed engagement of the international community on the issue of nuclear disarmament.

That is why I have launched the WMD-We Must Disarm! Campaign. As long as such weapons exist, no-one is safe. On this International Day of Peace, I have a simple message for all: We Must Disarm! We must have peace.

I appeal to people throughout the world to join in this effort. Support the United Nations, and do your part for peace.

International Day of Peace Stand Out Monday

Greater Fall River Committee for Peace and Justice to hold Standout at Government Center Monday, September 21st 2009, 4-5 PM United Nations International Day of Peace International Day of Peace, the “World’s First Global Holiday”, observed every year on September 21st to coincide, approximately, with the opening of the UN General Assembly for the fall, will be observed in Fall River with a stand-out for Peace from 4-5 by the Greater Fall River Committee for Peace and Justice at the newly renovated Government Center Plaza, corner of Main and Pocasset. This year the opening of the general assembly is especially interesting, because President Obama will be addressing the gathering. The US has taken the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month and Obama has called for a high-level summit meeting on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Presidents Muammar Gadhafi of Libya and Mahmoud Achmedinejad of Iran will also address the gathering, and an important debate on global climate change is scheduled for September 22nd, hopefully leading to a deal to be signed in Copenhagen in December.   The theme of the International Day of Peace this year, as announced by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, is “WMD – We Must Disarm!” He made a video with Michael Douglas, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht6glqMkwps&feature=channel_page Mr. Douglas has been named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Everyone is welcome, bring your own signs and banners or hold ours. For further information call Judith Conrad at (508)674-6128 or e-mail her at Judithconrad@mindspring.com.

Harpists for Peace

 Sunday July 19th at 2 -- we will be celebrating it in Fall River, probably at Bicentennial Park

http://www.harpistsforpeace.com/   'Harpists for Peace' had its beginnings as a Facebook Group for all   harpists, harpers, and harp lovers who care about world peace.   It was a natural development to plan a very exciting annual event: a   special day when harp players all over the world would play for one   hour, near important public buildings, town squares or places of   political significance in their own cities or towns, to promote   world peace and help others reflect on the value of peace as our goal.   The 'Peace Hour' will take place for the very first time this year,   on Sunday July 19 2009, at 2pm (local time) and harp players of all   ages, cultures and traditions, whether amateur or professional, are   encouraged to take part. The event will be coverered by CNN, and   local politicians will be invited to come and 'pluck a harp for   peace' in Washington, where harpists will be playing by the   White House.

Connie Emery -- Memorial Service Sunday the 31st

Connie Emery died Tuesday. Longtime Fall River Peace activist. Herald News obit:

Constance Emery

Constance Mae Stevens Emery, 86, longtime Somerset community activist, died peacefully Tuesday, May 19, 2009. She was the wife of the late Rev H Merrill Emery and daughter of the late Ora F Wilkins and Harold C Stevens. She was the beloved sister of Eleanor E Owen of Oberlin Ohio. Along with her sister, survivors include her children David B Emery of Somerset, Elizabeth C Tidwell of Westport, and Jonathan Emery of Livermore California, and seven nieces and nephews. Connie was the very proud grandmother of Owen Ivey, Casey Rose, and Matthew David Tidwell of Westport. Born and raised in Salem Mass, she lived in Somerset since 1956. As had Eleanor, she graduated with top honors from Salem High School where she was active in many student groups and dramatic productions. After studying nursing, she attended graduate programs at Andover Newton Theological School, where she met her late husband Merrill. Soon afterward she joined in his calling to serve the UCC Congregational Christian Church of Somerset, where she was active for over 50 years. Serving as Church secretary for most of that time, Connie was also a driving force behind the Church’s progressive religious education programs for many years. With the Church as foundation, she became one of the area’s leading social justice champions creating the LIFE program at the Church and organizing numerous area interfaith programs and exchanges throughout the 60s and 70s. Her community activism also extended into local and national political causes. Ms Emery was a fearless advocate and member of local chapters of the National Organization of Women and Nuclear Disarmament groups. Her dedication to the community included serving as a tireless citizen watchdog attending Somerset Board of Selectmen meetings faithfully each week through countless political issues and leadership changes. Constance will also be remembered as the founder of United Families Inc., a non-profit organization serving mentally ill adults in the Fall River area. Her three decades of dedication to the UFI cause helped protect and advance the rights, dignity, and quality of life for innumerable Somerset area clients and families. During her later years she was able to aid UFI and several other social justice missions by creating and operating the UFI Gift Shop at Pottersville Place. A pioneer in the Fair Trade movement, the Gift Shop worked with SERRV organization to offer handcrafted items made by impoverished overseas artisans as well as items promoting other globally responsible charities such as Heifer International and UNICEF. In addition to her abiding sense of social justice, friends and family will always fondly remember Connie’s joy when bird watching and her love and mastery of the written word. She was a published poet and spent countless hours composing letters, articles, and newsletters. One of her favorite pastimes in recent years was challenging her grandchildren to best her in word games. The gift of her intelligence, wit, and passion lives on in them, and especially in her son, David. All are invited to attend a memorial service and collation to be held at 2PM on Sunday May 31, 2009 at the Congregational Christian Church, 1411 County Street, Somerset. Connie requested that in lieu of flowers friends and family do an act of justice in her honor. Memorial donations may be made to the Emery Scholarship Fund at the Church, Hiefer International, SERRV, or UNICEF. All arrangememnts have been entrusted to the care of the HATHAWAY HOME for FUNERALS 1813 Robeson St., Fall River. www.hathawayfunerals.com.

Dave Ehrens in Israel/Palestine with Interfaith Peace Builders

Read about it online:

http://www.interfaithpeacebuilders.org/del30/

And Dave is doing his own blog

http://ehrens.wordpress.com.  

Voices of the Peace-Builders: From Roots to Reconciliation Interfaith Peace-Builders and the National Peace Foundation Delegation Arrives in Israel/Palestine Delegation 30 Announcement Report One: Jerusalem, Dheisheh, Bethlehem May 26, 2009 Interfaith Peace-Builders (IFPB) and the National Peace Foundation (NPF) are pleased to announce that our 16 member delegation to Israel/Palestine entered Israel at the Ben-Gurion airport Tuesday afternoon. After a flight delay, the delegation is now safely in Jerusalem. The purpose of this delegation, the 30th to make the trip since 2001, is to educate North American citizens about the region and deepen their understanding of its conflicts. This is the second delegation that IFPB and NPF have co-sponsored since 2008. The delegation focuses on the voices of Palestinian and Israeli peace-builders and nonviolent activists. Both Palestinian and Israeli voices promoting peace and reconciliation are marginalized in an international discourse that far too often paints Israelis and Palestinians as either violent militants or helpless victims. The reality is that many people in Israel/Palestine work on a daily basis to bring about a peaceful and nonviolent end to the occupation and resolution of the conflict. This delegation will meet a variety of these individuals and organizations. Following the quiet expiration of the Bush Administration’s 2008 deadline for a peace agreement, and last week's meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the situation on the ground continues to worsen. Participants on this delegation have the unique opportunity to hear directly from Palestinians and Israelis regarding their hopes for peace and the role of the US government in promoting a resolution to the conflict.

Bill Moyers Journal: Torturing Democracy

Kevin Costa recommends we watch this this PBS show

May 29, 2009

"If the Americans are doing it, and they're not accountable, then who's going to come to your rescue?" -Moazzam Begg, Detainee #558 in Guantanamo Bay. Moazzam Begg's statement, made after years of detention without charge, echoes the sentiments of many Americans and much of the world who have traditionally viewed the United States as a pillar of the rule of law.  The documentary TORTURING DEMOCRACY tells the story of how the United States government circumvented tradition and law to adopt torture as official policy. The film, produced by award-winning filmmaker Sherry Jones, draws on interviews, archival footage, and recently declassified documents to piece together the development and dissemination of torture tactics from Bagram in Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib -- and the document trail leads right to the top of the chain of command.  PLEASE NOTE: Due to rights restrictions we will not be able to stream TORTURING DEMOCRACY online. 

You can watch the entire film at the TORTURING DEMOCRACY Web site. 

http://www.torturingdemocracy.org/

or read the transcript here

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05292009/transcript1.html

Also on the TORTURING DEMOCRACY Web site, explore a timeline of events, read related articles, and delve into the archive of official documents.

Summer vacation idea

Wow, this is scenic, and you'd meet interesting people!

Info Here

http://footprintsforpeace.tripod.com/

TRINITY TO TRIDENT INTERFAITH PEACE WALK

FOR NUCLEAR FREE FUTURE& RESPECT THE MOTHER EARTH JUL. 6 MON. – AUG. 10 MON. 2009 EACH STEP WILL BE A PRAYER TOWARDS WORLD PEACE, A NUCLEAR FREE FUTURE NA TRINITY TO TRIDENT INTERFAITH PEACE WALK is an opportunity for all people to come together in a non-violent, spiritually motivated action to reclaim the future. MU Especially we expect the progress of the Nonproliferation Treaty conference on 2010 at UN. Now, we have a president who have a will to prepare considering the abolition of MYO nuclear weapons. The time is come that public opinion of nuclear free future must go up! So, we will walk and pray at Trinity, the first testing site of Nuclear bomb & Los HO Alamos, NM. Livermore, the H bomb lab. in CA. Hanford & Bangor Subase, WA. for Hiroshima & Nagasaki Day. Above all, How America the West (the mother earth) was REN desecrated last 500 years that Native American refered. Peace walkers will average about 17 miles per day along the way. The Walk is open to all GE who sincerely believe in extinguish the violent fire of nuclear annihilation: Peace & Joy

Coverage of Earth Day Vigil

Herald News gave us both a write-up and youtube video. 

http://www.heraldnews.com/archive/x360591438/Mother-Nature-no-match-for-Mother-Earth

Mother Nature no match for Mother Earth Crowds in Somerset brave the rain for Earth Day rally  By Derek Vital Herald News Staff Reporter Posted Apr 22, 2009 @ 06:56 PM Somerset —  Young and old alike dodged the raindrops for an Earth Day vigil at Slade’s Ferry Park on Wednesday. The event was co-sponsored by the Greater Fall River Committee for Peace and Justice and the Somerset chapter of the Massachusetts Clean Air Coalition. Around 20 people were in attendance for the event, which focused on the need for renewable fuels. Event organizer Reverend James Hornsby saw Earth Day as a natural tie-in to the rally.  “The purpose of this rally is two-fold,” he said. “We are hoping to inform people of the ongoing campaign looking for alternate sources of energy to coal. Also, we would like to make people aware that there is a connection between peace, justice and a planet that is getting hotter and hotter.” Among those in attendance was attorney Shanna Cleveland of the Conservation Law Foundation, who announced CLF’s intent to sue NRG Energy Inc., owner of the Somerset Power coal-fired energy plant. NRG received notice on Wednesday and has 60 days to respond or a suit will be filed in federal district court. The suit is calling for NRG to improve its standards or shut down by 2010.  “There is compelling evidence that the numbers submitted as part of their permit application are not correct,” Cleveland said. “If they had used the appropriate numbers for their modeling then it would have shown a significant increase of carbon monoxide emissions from the plant. That is a direct contributor to ozone pollution.” Most of the people in attendance at the rally held some sort of sign opposing the coal plant. Hornsby held a sign that read “Coal is a Killer” and others included “Coal is not Green” and “If not coal then what? There is a better way.” Fall River City Councilor Steven A. Camara joined the group sporting an American flag. Camara, who said he tries to attend as many Earth Day celebrations as possible, stressed the importance of making a difference in the community. “We need to take seriously the responsibility of being good stewards of the planet,” Camara said. “We should be thinking globally and acting locally.” E-mail Derek Vital at dvital@heraldnews.com.

And the video HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTlDUgEGBZk

I can't say they picked out best moment.....