OMNI ARMISTICE/VETERANS DAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2008 NEWSLETTER, WE, THE PEOPLE BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE, November 11, 2008, Compiled by Dick Bennett
HONORING THE TROOPS AND ENDING WARS
The reason why preventing wars is so important is not only to prevent slaughter and chaos, but a war once started is immensely difficult to stop. For once the war begins, zealous patriotic nationalism transforms everything. The military-industrial/financial-presidential-congressional-mainstream media-war complex locks in. An upbringing in love and the Golden Rule is turned upside down into hate and defeating "enemies." Children raised to be constructive members of communities are turned into "troops" trained to kill. Supporting sons and daughters to be kind and nurturing toward others is twisted into the slogan, "support the troops," that continues the wars.
HOW PEACEMAKERS MIGHT CELEBRATE "VETERANS DAY" 2008
Listen to Nick Masullo's song, "Support the Troops: Bring Them Home." This song should, and I believe will, become nationally known and revered. And sing it yourself.
Ratchet up your support for Congressman Dennis Kucinich's DEPARTMENT OF PEACE legislation.
Participate in an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace. There is currently a bill before the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 808). This landmark measure will augment our current problem-solving options, providing practical, nonviolent solutions to the problems of domestic and international conflict. Produce a reading, staged performance or any portion of "The Gift of Peace," a play written to educate people about the Department of Peace and Nonviolence.
Support all politicians who genuinely strive for peace.
Begin or increase your commitment to the US Peace Memorial Foundation. Become a Founding Member or increase your donation. All contributions are cumulative, so you will be recognized for your total contributions to date. www.uspeacememorial.org/Donors
REMEMBER THE END OF WWI--ARMISTICE DAY—AND RESOLVE TO RESIST FUTURE WARS
Armistice Day or Remembrance Day is celebrated around the world on November 11, the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. (Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.) The US day is now called Veterans Day, an annual holiday honoring all US military veterans. i
JOIN OMNI AND THE WORLD PEACE MOVEMENT IN PLANNING WAYS TO PREVENT WARS. Let's look ahead to ARMISTICE DAY/VETERANS DAY 2009.
VETERANS FOR PEACE Chapter 134, Tacoma,
Veterans Working Together for Peace & Justice Through Non-violence. ... Sat, 11/ 8/2008, Auburn Veterans Day Parade, 9:45 AM: Chapter 134 and other area
8: Veterans for Peace, Milwaukee Chapter 102, will sponsor a Veterans Day event at 10 a.m. in front of Milwaukee City Hall, 200 E. Wells, ...
2008 Veteran's Day Parade (VFP contingent)
Hartford's 2008 Veteran's Day Parade Veterans For Peace (VFP) Contingent. Sunday , November 2 - Hartford, CT. Peace Activists Are Welcome To March With VFP ...
1. ARLINGTON WEST SANTA MONICA, Calif.
In accordance with the Veterans For Peace Statement of Purpose, ... to be between $350 to $720 million per day with costs exceeding $12 billion per month. ...
2. Big Bend Gazette :: "Arlington Southwest" planned by Big Bend ...
Oct 1, 2007 ... The purpose of the Arlington Memorials is, according to the national Veterans for Peace organization, "to make the consequences of war real, ...
1. EXCLUDED VETS WILL MARCH IN 2008 VETERANS DAY PARADE | The ...
Members of the three veterans groups who were told they couldn't march in last year's 11th Annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade because they didn't "fit.
1. Political Affairs Magazine - Veterans Day: A Day for Peace or A ...
Not by the way veterans who stand for peace are treated in Veterans Day ceremonies! ... PA Radio #44: Victory in the 2008 Elections Begins Today ...
2. Meadville Tribune - Veterans Day speaker: We must 'take care of ...
Many marchers wore "Veterans for Peace" armbands, jackets or hats. ... Dwight Eisenhower who changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day in 1954, ...
Yoko Ono donates $10000 to veterans group peace scholarship fund ...
Oct 9, 2008 ... Browse by day posted:. Select a date, October 19, 2008, October 18, ... One of the missions of Veterans for Peace is to abolish war as an ...
ARLINGTON Miami on Veterans Day Weekend - Veterans for Peace ...
Join Veterans for Peace - South Florida Chapter 032. You'll get invited to our Meetups as ... 2008 Meetup Inc. Trademarks belong to their respective owners.
VAIW :: Veterans Against The Iraq War
Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan 2008 By Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans ... accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.
VETS SEEK TO DISPLAY REPLICA GRAVESTONES MADISON VETERANS FOR ...
Veterans Day by Madison Veterans for Peace, Clarence...walk bordering ... US Fed News Service, Including US State News; September 17, 2008 ; 193 words ...
A Pacifist Veteran Looks at Veterans Day | War Resisters League
Around the country, at least 20 Veterans for Peace chapters are leading lead their communities in Armistice/Veterans Day commemorations. ...
Vietnam Veterans Against the War
It all started in 1967, with six Vietnam veterans marching together in a peace demonstration. Now, forty-one years later, VVAW is still going strong-- ...
www.vvaw.org/ - 9k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Vietnam Veterans Against the War: History of the U.S. War in Vietnam
About the authors: Barry Romo and Peter Zastrow are members of the Chicago chapter of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Joe Miller is a member of the ...
www.vvaw.org/about/warhistory.php - 22k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Vietnam Veterans Against the War
We create political support for opposition to US intervention around the world and at home. We also distribute materials, expose the US war moves, ...
www.vvawai.org/ - 35k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Vietnam Veterans Against the War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Veterans_Against_the_War - 86k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW)
Viet Nam Veterans Against the War was founded in 1967 and, at the height of its effectiveness in the late 1960s, claimed over 40000 members. ...
www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Primary/Winter_Soldier/VVAW_entry.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
vvaw.htm
Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc. (VVAW, Inc.) is a national veterans organization that was founded in New York City in 1967 after six Vietnam vets ...
grunt.space.swri.edu/vvaw.htm - 4k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War - Google Books Result
by Andrew Hunt - 2001 - History - 296 pages
" --Maurice Isserman, Hamilton College"For all kinds of veterans of the Sixties era, this book offers powerful testimony on the meaning of patriotism...
books.google.com/books?isbn=0814736351...
VAIW :: Veterans Against The Iraq War
Articles, forum, news and events, and resources for veterans opposed to the war.
www.vaiw.org/ - 58k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this
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A Eugene Soldier Fights Killing
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Frawley Blows Whistle On ...
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VAIW :: Veterans Against The Iraq War
Veterans Against The Iraq War. ... Contribute to VAIW .... VAIW: Veterans Against The Iraq War Copyright © 2002 - 2008 VAIW.ORG URL of this page: www.vaiw .org.
Vaiw.org - AboutUs Wiki Page
From AboutUs: See what information we have on Vaiw.org and share your knowledge.
Gold Star Families For Peace
An organization of families who lost loved ones fighting in Iraq, who seek to have a speedy withdrawal of US military troops and have President Bush explain Gold Star Famillies For Peace : Search
By Section, 2006 Election Scorecard, Act for Change, Actions, Appeal for Redress , Camp Casey August 16th-Sept 2nd 2006, Camp Casey Peace Institute ...
Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism - Google Books Result by Cindy Sheehan - 2006 - Biography & Autobiography - 242 pages
"Writing this book is the second most difficult thing I have ever done, next to burying Casey.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Peaceful Tomorrows : Index
- Sep 5
Peaceful Tomorrows is an advocacy organization founded by family members of September Eleventh victims. Its mission is to seek effective nonviolent ...
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1. Peaceful Tomorrows : About Us
Peaceful Tomorrows is an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn our grief into action for peace. ...
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2. September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows - Wikipedia ...
September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, also known as 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows or simply Peaceful Tomorrows, is an anti-war ...Democracy Now! | September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows ...
Nearly seven years ago, a group of family members of those killed on Sept. 11 united to advocate for a nonviolent response to the attacks on the World Trade ...
Amazon.com: September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows ...
Amazon.com: September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows: Turning Tragedy into Hope for a Better World: David Potorti: Books.
Peaceful Tomorrows : Resources
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows is honored to share with our friends and allies the work of LaOnf - an extraordinary network of Iraqi peace ...
Peaceful Tomorrows | FORpeace
Aug 27, 2008 ... Over the past couple months, FOR has partnered with Peaceful Tomorrows (an organization that FOR fiscally sponsored, when it began in late
USATODAY.com - Bush accused of exploiting 9/11
"Our message to all politicians is, 'Keep your hands off Ground Zero,' " said David Potorti, of Cary, N.C., a member of Peaceful Tomorrows, ...
RABBI WASKOW, THE SHALOM CENTER
"A Prophetic Voice in Jewish, Multireligious, and American Life
Making Armistice Day/ Veterans Day Real"
Ninety years ago today, at 11 o'clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, World War I ended. It was supposed to be the "war to end all wars" - but see how we have worse than wasted those 90 years! For many years in the United States, November 11 was Armistice Day. Now it is Veterans Day, when we honor those who at the call of an American government, no matter how misguided the call, risked their lives and limbs and minds and even souls.
But we can truly honor them only when we stop creating new dead and maimed, new veterans -- when there are no more rockets' red glare, bombs bursting in air.
Two years ago, at the initiative of The Shalom Center, 85 rabbis and four cantors from all the branches of the Jewish religious tree signed A JEWISH CALL TO HEAL GOD'S WORLD BY WEAVING WORLD COMMUNITY......
Shalom, salaam, peace --- Arthur
A JEWISH CALL TO HEAL GOD'S WORLD
BY WEAVING WORLD COMMUNITY
The human race -- adam -- and the planet in which we live -- adamah -- are in the midst of a world-wide earthquake: political, economic, technological, military, religious, ecological.
One possible response is to try to control this earthquake through top-down, unaccountable power. Another is to try to reverse the history of the last several centuries and return to a remembered version of the pre-Modern world. A third is to reweave the web of life-forms and cultures into a richer planetary community in which power and decision-making begins at the grass-roots. Jewish tradition and our history warn us against an approach to controlling the world that depends upon top-down, unaccountable, arrogant power: the approach of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Rome, the Inquisition, the Tsar.
Our tradition and our history also warn us against trying to restore the past, as we recall the Name God spoke to Moses at the crisis of the Burning Bush: "Ehyeh asher ehyeh, I Will Be Who I Will Be."
Jewish tradition and Jewish history teach us to seek the third alternative: to weave world community across boundaries of religion and nationality -- for the sake of the human race, which suffers deeply from war, and for the sake of healing our endangered planet and its wounded web of life.
Yet the present policies of the US government have done much to sever the threads of world community and to begin creating a pyramidal structure of top-down, unaccountable military and corporate power to control the world.
And in several religious communities, violence by national governments and terrorist groups has attempted to turn the calendar back to an imaginary earlier, world in which women, other communities, and the earth itself stayed in their "places" -- subordinate.
So we covenant with each other to draw from Jewish wisdom how to walk the path of healing into a just and compassionate future, to seek peace, justice, the healing of the earth, and a planetary community made up of richly diverse cultures. We call for specific changes that are rooted in this vision, and intend to keep growing and working together as the transformation of our world unfolds.
1. We call for an immediate decision by Congress to set a time-table to bring safely home all US troops, contractors, and mercenaries from Iraq, by a date certain not later than Rosh Hashanah 5768 -- September 2007 -- and to support the creation of a UN peacekeeping body that can swiftly midwife the achievement of self-determination by the Iraqi people
2. We call on the US government to insist on the convening of an Emergency International Conference on Peace in the Middle East, committed to achieve a full peace settlement among Israel, Palestine, all Arab states, and Iran, including mutual recognition of legitimate national rights of all the parties -- and in the pursuit of these goals, to carry on direct discussions with all the governments concerned.
3. We are profoundly concerned by the damage that human ignorance and arrogance are inflicting on God's creation of the web of life on earth. We especially call on the US government and on state and local governments, religious communities, businesses, labor unions, and universities to take all possible steps to avert the climate crisis of global scorching. We call on us all to maximize the use of sustainable, non-nuclear, non-polluting, non-CO2-producing sources of energy; to radically diminish the use of fossil fuels; and to provide public review and accountability for the present top-down, unaccountable power of Big Oil and Big Coal.
4. We call on the US government to ratify and carry out a series of existing and pending treaties to strengthen the fabric of world community. These include treaties to ban land mines, forbid the recruitment of children as soldiers, empower the International Criminal Court and accept its jurisdiction, define international terrorism as a war crime subject to ICC jurisdiction, and roll back carbon-dioxide emissions; to reaffirm, fully enforce, and open US courts to hear cases under the Geneva Conventions and other treaties against torture; and to modify "free trade" treaties and laws so as to protect workers, consumers, and the earth.
5. We call on the US government to commit 5% of the American Gross Domestic Product for each of the next twenty years to eliminating global poverty, homelessness, inadequate education, and inadequate health care; to assisting women and families throughout the world to make reproductive choices; and to encouraging grass-roots empowerment of people, throughout the world.
6. We call on the US government to make sure that all religious communities, majority and minority, are accorded the same legal and cultural freedom and respect. In response to specific contemporary dangers, we are especially concerned that Muslims and Muslim institutions be accorded legal freedom and cultural respect for their persons, their exercise of religious freedom, and their communal spaces and practices, as we have long asserted must be accorded Jews, Christians, and others.
7. We commit ourselves to speak out in public -- in the name of Torah and the values of the Jewish people -- against unethical and immoral actions by any government or politico-military group. We are especially concerned by acts that go beyond using violence in absolutely unavoidable self-defense,. We believe this standard must be used to measure the US government's occupation of Iraq and its willingness to use torture; the use of terror attacks against civilians by various Palestinian, Iraqi, Lebanese, and other groups; and the Israeli government's attacks on civilians and their vital infrastructure in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as aspects of the 39-year Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and people that may go far beyond self-defense.
8. We covenant with each other, with the Jewish community, and with the Holy One of Blessing to work together beyond this public statement to make its vision real.
9. And we commit ourselves to work with Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, and those of other religious, spiritual, and ethical communities not only for "interfaith dialogue" but for multireligious action to heal God's world and for multireligious affirmation of the Unity that calls us all together.
Rabbi Katy Z. Allen, et al.
HEADLINES
Iraq War Veteran Joins Ranks of War Resisters
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/11-1
Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans Join the Homeless
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/11-3
BOOKS ABOUT US WARS AND VETERANS(a minute sample of the thousands of the books available to all who choose to know).
ILLUSIONS AND DECEITS
Paul Buchheit, ed. American Wars: Illusions and Realities. Clarity, 2008. I strongly recommend this book; it is sure to change Veterans Day for the better. Americans Value Honor. We Fight for the Right Reasons: Illusion 1: We fight for peace and democracy. Illusion 2: We fight to defend our personal freedoms. Americans Value Truthfulness. We Can Believe Our Decision-Makers. Illusion 3: Our Government Tells Us the Truth About Our Wars. Illusion 4: We Stay in Iraq to Prevent Further Bloodshed Among Iraqis. Illusion 5: The Mainstream Media Gives Us Balanced Reporting. Etc. for 19 Illusions. For related books see Buchheit's Endnotes.
THE WARS: HISTORY OF US INTERVENTIONS AND INVASIONS
Robert Kagan. Dangerous Nation: America's Place in the World from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century. Knopf, 2006.
William Blum. Rogue State; Killing Hope. Each US intervention and invasion described.
Stephen Kinzer. Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. Holt, 2006.
Andrew Bacevich. The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War. Oxford UP, 2005.
THE PENTAGON
James Carroll, House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Joseph Gerson, Empire and the Bomb: How the US Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World. Pluto, 2007.
WORLD WAR II
Edward Wood, Jr. Worshipping the Myths of World War II: Reflections on America's Dedication to War. Potomac, 2006.
VIETNAM WAR
Daniel Hallock. Hell, Healing, and Resistance: Veterans Speak. Plough, ?
Saunders, Nancy. Combat by Trial: An Odyssey with 20th Century Winter Soldiers. iUniverse, 2008. "…the compelling personal story of a Vietnam War protester and her fellow activists. It is also a grim reminder of how intimidating the government can be when citizens dare to assert themselves in a righteous but radical cause."
IRAQ/AFGHAN WARS
Stiglitz and Bilmes. The Three Trillion Dollar War. Norton, 2008.
Wright and Dixon, eds. Dissent, Voices of Conscience: Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq. Koa, 2008.
Patrick Cockburn. The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq. Verso, 2006.
REJECTING WARS
The History
Murray Polner and Thomas Woods, Jr., eds. We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Antiwar Writing from 1812 to Now. Basic, 2008.
20th Century
Walter Wink, ed. Peace Is the Way. Orbis, 2000.
Barry Miles. Peace: 50 Years of Protest. Readers Digest, 2008.
Ken Kolsbun. Peace: The Biography of a Symbol. National Geographic, 2008.
Stephen Halpert and Tom Murray, eds. Witness of the Berrigans. Doubleday, 1972.
Howard Zinn. You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train. Beacon, 1994. Part Two: War: "A Veteran Against War," etc. The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy. Seven Stories, 1997. Section III, War: "Just and Unjust War," etc.
David Krieger and Carah Ong, eds. Hold Hope, Wage Peace. Capra, 2005.
Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, eds. Stop the Next War Now. Inner Ocean, 2005.
Michael Nagler, "Connecting the Dots—Nonviolently"; Stephen Zunes, "People Power and Regime Change: How Nonviolence Spreads Democracy": both in Consistently Opposing Killing, ed. Rachel Macnair and Stephen Zunes (Praeger, 2008).
A Force More Powerful: a book, PBS series, a game, www.aforcemorepowerful.org
International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, www.nonviolentconflict.org
OMNI SEEKS A WORLD FREE OF WAR AND THE THREAT OF WAR, A SOCIETY WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY PERSON'S POTENTIAL MAY BE FULFILLED, AN EARTH RESTORED. GRASSROOTS NONVIOLENCE, WORLD PEACE, HUMAN RIGHTS, SOCIAL and ECONOMIC JUSTICE, ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP PROTECTING SPECIES AND THE EARTH. These are OMNI's ideals. Read our brochure and our newsletters, attend our Steering Committee, become an active member of one or more of our committees, participate in our activities to see how these broad goals are realized in action. There is nothing vague about Building a Culture of Peace.
End of first OMNI Newsletter on Armistice/Veterans Day, 11-11-08.
--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
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