ARMISTICE DAY/UNITY DAY (VETERANS DAY)
OMNI WORLD
UNITY DAY/ARMISTICE DAY (Veterans
Day) NEWSLETTER #6, NOVEMBER 11, 2013, WE, THE PEOPLE BUILDING A CULTURE OF
PEACE, Compiled by Dick
Bennett
11-11-11 RING
THE BELLS
Armistices,
the United Nations, and the Peace Movement
“I do not believe in the
possibility of such cooperation as we are engaged in without the deep
inspiration of faith in ideals which we all share. “’Ideals’ in itself is a general word. What I mean here are the ideals established
by our deepest faith and highest longings. . . .What is achieved on our long
road toward a better world is achieved in cooperation between all men of good
will truly dedicated as participants in a joint worldwide effort.” Quoted in Dag
Hammarskjold by Roger Lipsey, p. 325.
“We cannot afford to reckon
peace as merely the absence of war. We
have to make it a positive and overriding discipline of international
life.” Hammarskjold, Lipsey, p. 338.
OMNI
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DAYS
PROJECT
My blog: War
Department/Peace Department
My Newsletters:
Index:
Visit OMNI’s Library.
See: Armed Forces Day May 21,
Imperialism, Militarism, Pentagon, PTSD, Recruiting, Suicides, (each) War, Whistleblowing,
and more.
Last 3 lines of William O’Daly’s
“To the Forty-Third President of the United States of America .”
“It appears the one thing we
cherish
more than petroleum or our children
is the greased machinery of
destruction”
RING OUT THE BELLS AGAINST IT.
Nos. 2008 AND 2009 AT END.
Contents of #3 2010
Veterans Day
World Unity DAY
US Exceptionalism?
We Are All African
Contents of #4 November 11,
2011
World Unity Day
Veterans for Peace:
Armistice Day
IVAW Events
Cost of War Sign
IVAW’ Operation Recovery:
Occupy Veterans Day
John Cory: The Perverted
Normalcy of War USA
Contents of #5 November 11, 2012
Walk in Veterans Parade,
Eureka Springs
Dick:: Walking for Peace
Ring Bells for Armistice Day
for Peace
Sign the People’s Charter
for a Nonviolent World
Contents of #6 2013
Veterans for Peace Armistice
Day 2013: Ring the Bells!
Veterans for Peace, Iowa
Dick, Northwest Arkansas Times Militarism 2012
Cretin, AFSC, Barriers
Between People in an Interdependent World
OMNI’s International Days Project
Here is the link to all OMNI newsletters: http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/ For the foundation in knowledge necessary to a citizenry ready for
the struggle to change society.
LET ALL OF US
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The Northwest
Arkansas Times went all-out for all vets and all wars for Veterans Day 2012. On Nov. 4, 6, 8, and 10 it reported a total
of 8 separate events plus paid ads for the Nov. 11 parade. Especially were the public schools exploited
for patriotic war indoctrination.
On Nov. 4, a half-page article by reporter Amy
Buckley recounted a talk by Retired Marine Cpl. Aaron Mankin to the students at
Westside Elementary
School in Rogers . Corporal Mankin had suffered severe facial burns
from a roadside bomb in Iraq . (According to Buckley, Mankin said he “gave
his face for his country “Teachers
talked to students about Veterans Day all week, but when Mankin told children
he gave his face for his country, that made it all sink in, said Amy Putnam,
Westside principal.”) Among his other
pro-military, pro-war statements:
“’Veterans Day, in my heart, is a call to national service.’” (Oh no.
It’s a call to militarism and empire, illegal and unnecessary wars, which
is why Veterans for Peace has returned to its original name, Armistice Day, to
celebrate peacemaking and peacemakers, instead of warriors. But Mankin’s recruiting speech worked: “Children said they identified with Mankin’s
message of honoring veterans.” “Veterans
Day is the most important holiday, Ethan [Rafter, a fourth-grader) said.”)
And on the same
day the paper revealed “Community College Plans [for] Veterans Day,” with Ric
Clifford, “a Vietnam-era veteran and a member of the college’s board, as the
guest speaker.” His several Air Force
service awards were given—Longevity, Good Conduct, and Commendation. Clifford was an AF chapel management
technician.
On the 6th,
the newspaper told about the Veterans Library Project at NWACC, in which
veterans described their experiences to students, audio recorded. Mary Moore was the teacher of the sponsoring
class.
Two items
appeared on the 8th—a half-page by reporter Dave Perozek about a
WWII vet, Retired Sgt. Eugene Keister, the annual parade (moved from
Fayetteville to Springdale), and “a patriotic concert…at the nearby First
United Methodist Church”). We are told
that Keister “wears a USA
cap and flies an American flag from the back of his pickup,” and that for 30
years “every few weeks” at a Harp’s store he had solicited donations for the
VFW National Home for Children. (We can
appreciate his devotion, while at the same time remembering that because of US
invasions and interventions (Guatemala ,
Dominican Republic , Nicaragua , etc., over 40 since 1945) we now have
millions of veterans in the US, only a small percentage of whom oppose the
permanent war.)
On the same day
another article anticipated the visit to Bentonville Nov. 10 by Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz, at “an event hosted by Walmart” on the Bentonville Square , accompanied by Rep.
Steve Womack, R-Rogers. And by the way,
the article continues, Bella Vista’s American Legion and VFW will hold a
ceremony at the Veterans Wall of Honor (honoring all vets and all wars). The speaker there will be Mary Erdman,
commander of the American Legion Department of Arkansas.
But the editors of the newspaper felt
they had not done enough to reinforce the military way to masculinity (for
women as well as men), so on Nov. 10, the paper published two more effusions in
support of our militarized USA: a story
with two photos of the University of Arkansas Air force Reserve Officers’
Training Corps (women and men) presenting a flag ceremony at the Veterans
Health Care System of the Ozarks. The
presentation included the Fayetteville High School Band and speech by Air Force
Col. Jeffery Vinger. The second photo
showed retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. E. S. Lawbaugh saluting the flag.
And then the Northwest Arkansas Times climaxed its pre-Veterans
Day military drumming by showing how successful were all the veteran
celebrations via six letters from children, entitled “Students Offer Thanks to
US Veterans.” Here’s the Editor’s introduction: “Students at Springdale ’s Southwest Junior High recently
wrote letters to veterans and active-duty military personnel as part of their
school work and will have an assembly Monday to recognize veterans. Below is a sampling of letters from
students.” Here is a sample of the
effects of the ignorance and fear engendered by the “patriotic” blitz that has
produced ongoing, indefensible US wars: “Today I don’t have to fight for my life
because you are fighting for me.”
And a color ad for
several days invited people to attend the Veterans Day Parade and the NWACC war
exhibits in Springdale
on Sunday Nov. 11. The displays were
presented by the National Society of Leadership and Success, NWACC Chapter,
“with memorabilia provided by local military and history organizations” The parade was to include local military
units and vehicles, Veteran organizations, ROTC and CAP, civic groups, marching
bands, and “the unique sound of the Ozark Highlander Pipe Band,” followed by
the “Patriotic Concert” at the First United Methodist Church. “Proud sponsors” of these events were Xerox, Signature
Bank, Moore ’s
Funeral Home, Nelson-Berna Funeral Home, and NWA Media.
Naturally the
newspaper continued its advocacy on Veterans Day itself with an article and its
editorial. The report recounted Sen.
McCain address to “a crowd of hundreds” on the Bentonville Square , where Sam Walton’s
first store remains as a museum. McCain expressed his gratitude to all
active duty personnel and veterans that served in the military,” with
particular thanks to the veterans of WWII, the “greatest generation.” One veteran of that war appreciated McCain
for remembering “the people who have sacrificed so much to defend the country.” McCain praised the “military men and women
[who] have sacrificed a great deal in Iraq
and Afghanistan Sandy
And at last the newspaper itself spoke
directly on November 11 in its editorial entitled: “Nation Pays Respect To All
Veterans.” (But of course the editor
did not mean “all.” He did not include
the COs , the refusers, the AWOL to avoid
killing. Nor did he mean the rapists,
torturers, and murderers among the troops, such as Sgt. Bales, full evidence of
which will appear gradually, as following the Vietnam War, until the nation
knew My Lai was the tip of the iceberg, that few remember or acknowledge that
now.) The editor opens his argument with
praise for a Sunday observance, which “will impress upon us the reverence owed
to the men and women who committed themselves to service to the nation through
the years.” (But he does not really mean
that. If a policeman obeyed orders to attack an innocent person, we would give
him no reverence. Likewise, we owe no
reverence to the troops who illegally invaded the Dominican Republic, Grenada,
Panama, Afghanistan, or Iraq, in which innocent men, women, and children were
killed by our troops, though we can be sympathetic to those troops, because
military basic training is designed to reverse moral values to make killing
acceptable, and depending upon the degree to which they were deceived by the
Pentagon, or were influenced to enlist by poverty or their parental military
tradition.)
The editorial continues by quoting the head
of the VA, Eric Shinseki, General Ret., that soldiers (22 million living today
because of permanent war!) “have been the bedrock of our sovereignty as a
nation, our values as a people, our security as a democracy, and our offer of
hope to those in other lands.” Perhaps
he thought he could get away with these prevarications because it was Veterans
Day and patriotic fervor would prevent ordinary critical thinking from
functioning. The millions in military
service have not been the foundation of US sovereignty, the Constitution has;
not provided the underpinning of our values, our Constitution and religions and
education have; not the bedrock of hope in life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness, the Declaration of Independence, the Statue of Liberty with Emma
Lazarus’s poem have.
The essay gets no
better. “…the American military isn’t
there because the nation likes a fight” (Name a necessary and legal invasion or
intervention: Iran coup 1953?
bombing neutral Cambodia
1969-70 and overthrowing its ruler 1970? bombing Laos 1965-73? Cuba 1959 to
present: bombings, full-scale military invasion, sanctions, embargos,
assassinations? Is the editor ignorant,
covering up, or thinks his readers stupid?)
“Our military exists, and must remain strong, so that we can remain a
deterrent against threats. . . “ (What
threats? What countries have threatened
the U.S. Compete with us yes. Differ with us ideologically yes. But threaten the US ,
threaten the people of the US ,
requiring the tax payers to pay for armed forces costing more than the next ten
nations’ military? No. But threat/fear-mongering defuses public
dissent)
And here is the
outrageous cant: “. . .while keeping the ever-present hope that international
dialogue can sustain peace.” (The U.S. has
invaded or intervened in over 40 countries since 1945. Not armed force as the last resort, but
diplomacy.)
And then the
frayed Axis Powers ploy: Just as we needed overwhelming military strength to
defeat Hitler, Mussolini, and Hideki, we need overwhelming tanks and bombs and
planes against “organizations and some nations [not named] who wouldn’t mind if
the United States of America became weak and ineffective.”
But the editor is
exhausted with this chicanery, and ends by repeating himself, calling upon us
to respect all those who served and serve in the military, and with this
desperate question, hoping his readers have by now quit thinking utterly: “Where would our nation be without the Americans willing to be our warriors?” (For one thing, we would be guiltless of
killing millions of innocent people.)
The paper was not done of course.
Nov. 11 events were reported on Nov. 12. “Generations Bond at Veterans Event” by
Kayla Paine, Page One with large photo, recounted the Day’s events. The officers of the Northwest Arkansas
Veteran’s Day Association Inc. were introduced—vice president Krystal Osbon and
president Lt. Col. (ret.) Steve Gray, military liason to Senator Boozman, R-Ark.
Rained out, the parade became meet and
greet indoors. “A young, clean-shaven
man wearing his uniform, complete with shined shoes, met a much older veteran.
. . .The young soldier lowered to one knee and shook the veteran’s hand. .
.” Another young soldier said
“sometimes my generation doesn’t understand how much they really do depend on
their troops for all of the freedoms they have. . . .” (Of course, he gave no example, and the
reporter did not ask. At no time does
anyone ask about those freedoms, about the decreasing capacity of our
corporate-military society for personal and social advancement and fulfillment,
about how freedoms in the service of greed, aggression, and fear have led to
breakdown of community, destruction of environment, and economic inequality.) The Ozark Highlander Pipe Band played “God
Bless America ”
Gray repeated the Day’s purpose, to
“recognize the immense acts of service.”
And more photos
on Nov. 12: “Concert for Veterans” (2
photos); and on Nov. 13 two photos under the title of “Service Honored,”
showing UA’s R.O.T.C. color guard honoring five UA alumni Medal of Honor
recipients, all service members, and the victims of the 9-11 “terrorist
attacks.”
(In addition, the
NW Arkansas edition of the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette also reported Veterans Day events and the brainwashing of
children for war; for example, “Veterans Day Assembly Planned” (11-6-12)
describing a Veterans Day assembly at Central Junior High School in Springdale,
a major school event featuring members of the school’s band, choir, dance team,
cheer squad, student council, and National Junior Honor Society. Nov. 11:
three annotated photos by Samantha Baker of “Veterans Day Celebration”
and glance down-state at the Methodist
College New York City . Article on Pres. Obama commending veterans
and their families, and photo captioned “Honor Our Nation’s Veterans about the
Pres. presenting a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknows at Arlington National
Cemetery Huntington , Ind. Northwest Arkansas Times, God and Country. Solidarity. Hardly a whisper of imperialism
and militarism heard. No questions
asked. And in
addition—endlessly—commercial television assured its viewers of its patriotism
by similarly iterated testimonies, and even PBS with its “National Salute to
Veterans” of six programs and saluting soldier on its November cover, at least
in Arkansas.)
From November 1
to 11 almost every day this newspaper explicitly celebrated US warriors and
war. I presented the reports circumstantially, citing names and activities, to
show how pervasive is militarism here.
And the journalists? Not one of
the dozen or so journalists mobilized to present jingoism to the public asked a
critical question. I assume the editor
backed by the owner Warren Stephens commanded such coverage, so what could they
do?
From Walmart and
a former presidential candidate to a retired WWII Sgt. and terribly burned
Iraqi War veteran to a college and public school teachers, and especially from
our local newspaper, when it comes to the US National Security Warfare State little
qualifies this newspaper’s hyperpatiotic
fervor and cant, while alternative and dissenting viewpoints are suppressed and
our children are pressured from all angles to revere militarism, a word of
course never mentioned by these deceitful indoctrinators.
By itself such obsession
with one military propaganda day would not be so alarming. But the newspaper also drums flag and war
patriotism for Armed Forces Day, Pearl Harbor Day, Memorial Day, Patriot Day,
Flag Day, and Columbus Day. (We can perhaps anticipate World Conquest Day
brewing, but fortunately Torture Day will probably not be proposed, though that
does not mean our leaders will cease the practice.)
And don’t forget
the newspaper’s past egregious militarism. On Sunday, November 8, 2009, one of the owners
of the Northwest Arkansas Times,
Warren Stephens, introduced the first in “a 54-part series that tells the
stories of heroism and bravery by the men and women in the United States Armed
Forces.” He declared himself “privileged
and humbled” by these stories of citizen and professional soldiers who “have
left the safety of home and family…to serve their country with distinction” in Iraq and Afghanistan . He wishes to “thank them,” and he pledges
“to continue to detail American sacrifice and bravery until the last soldier
comes home. Truly, they are the heroes
among us.” Beginning
on January 18, 2010, Stephens Media commenced 12 additional “Salutes to
American Valor.” (My response: “We Are Winning: Two Wars, Two Colonels, and a General,” Fayetteville
Free Weekly (January 28, 2010).)
This 2012 pre-Veterans Day week reveals
pro-military propaganda iterated throughout our community and shows how successfully it is integrated into our
schools.
How might we respond?
You know the answer. First, since glorification
of soldiers and pro-war cant are essential to solidarity for conquest, these
tools of empire in our media deserve close examination regarding our invasion
and occupation of Afghanistan
and Iraq (and Pakistan and Yemen ,
and Iran
threatened). Second, we must
protest. Our schools should not be recruiting
grounds for warriors and wars. Speak to
school superintendents and principals. Contact your Parent-Teacher Association. From the President to local media officials,
we must call for an end to Pentagon propaganda and its countless agents, which
is expanding as I write these words.
Recommended Reading
Fortunately, dissent, alternative views and practices, are
numerous in books, articles, films, and online.
Here are a few books.
You may not know that the Fulbright College
William Blum, Killing Hope,Rogue State
William Blum, Killing Hope,
Contact Dick Bennett for a bibliography giving comprehensive
circumstantial support for everything I have claimed, which the editor did not
offer, dared not offer.
Toward Peace and Justice, October 2013
[Interdependent World. AFSC 2013.]
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James,
[MEXICO/US
BORDER.] An 18-foot fence, built of metal and corrugated steel plates, runs
inland for miles from the Pacific Ocean ,
bisecting a sloping mountainside in the desert. It marks the arbitrary line
that divides what once were interconnected communities, an imposed boundary
between “us” on the American side and “them”—everyone to the south.
That fence embodies an approach to immigration that relies on military-style enforcement, an approach that has created a human rights disaster along the U.S./Mexico border. Under the immigration policy reform proposals Congress is considering, the border now stands to become one of the most militarized borders in the world.
The American Friends Service Committee is hosting “Boots on the Border,” an hour-long discussion on border militarization, on Oct. 30. I hope you will tune in to learn more about these proposals for so-called “border security” that put at risk humane immigration reform, and our democracy itself.
Constructing barriers between people in the name of “security” ignores the reality of the global community—that our fates as individuals, nations, and the world are interdependent.
Using violence to enforce those arbitrary lines does more to threaten our security by further driving people apart. As with shows of military force at the border, drone strikes and threats of war in any part of the world create new enemies, making our country less safe, not safer.
The new issue of Quaker Action explores how, from Somalia to the West Bank, the U.S. could become a powerful force for healing a broken world, if we and other major powers choose to invest in shared well-being instead of national competition.
I hope that as you read the stories of young Somalis striving to make a living and repair ties between neighboring towns, you, too, will see how––when given the chance––youth can harness their creativity and energy to assert themselves, using the power of nonviolence to rebuild their communities that have lived so long in the shadow of violent conflict.
That fence embodies an approach to immigration that relies on military-style enforcement, an approach that has created a human rights disaster along the U.S./Mexico border. Under the immigration policy reform proposals Congress is considering, the border now stands to become one of the most militarized borders in the world.
The American Friends Service Committee is hosting “Boots on the Border,” an hour-long discussion on border militarization, on Oct. 30. I hope you will tune in to learn more about these proposals for so-called “border security” that put at risk humane immigration reform, and our democracy itself.
Constructing barriers between people in the name of “security” ignores the reality of the global community—that our fates as individuals, nations, and the world are interdependent.
Using violence to enforce those arbitrary lines does more to threaten our security by further driving people apart. As with shows of military force at the border, drone strikes and threats of war in any part of the world create new enemies, making our country less safe, not safer.
The new issue of Quaker Action explores how, from Somalia to the West Bank, the U.S. could become a powerful force for healing a broken world, if we and other major powers choose to invest in shared well-being instead of national competition.
I hope that as you read the stories of young Somalis striving to make a living and repair ties between neighboring towns, you, too, will see how––when given the chance––youth can harness their creativity and energy to assert themselves, using the power of nonviolence to rebuild their communities that have lived so long in the shadow of violent conflict.
In Peace, Shan Cretin,
General Secretary
Contents 2008
Honoring the Troops
Armistice Day
Veterans for
Peace
Veterans Against
the Iraq
Gold Star
Families for Peace
September 11th
Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Rabbi Waskow, Temple
Bucheit’s American Wars and Other Books
Contents of #2 2009
OMNI in Veterans’ Day Parade
2009
Message from Veterans for
Peace
Greenwald Message on Afghanistan
Peace Action Message on Afghanistan
Support the Troops: Vets’
Health Care
Valor
Military Refusers
Zinn on Nationalism and War,
Will Phillips on the Pledge
Recent Books on US Empire
from OMNI Bibliographies
This newsletter continues
OMNI’s NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL DAYS PROJECT. Half of the Project affirms nonviolent DAYs,
such as Human Rights Day. The other half
offers alternatives to violent, imperial, or generally misdirected days, as
with the following:
Feb.
14: Standing on the Side of Love Day
(formerly Valentine’s Day)
May, 2nd Sunday:
Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace (Mother’s Day)
3rd Sat. in May:
Peace Forces Day (Armed Forces Day)
May, last Monday: Day of Mourning for Victims of Wars (Memorial
Day)
June 14: Liberty
June, 3rd
Sunday: Father’s Day for Peace (Father’s Day)
September 11 (9-11): Peaceful Tomorrows Day (Patriot Day)
Oct., 2nd Monday: Indigenous Peoples Day
(Columbus Day):
Nov. 11: World Unity Day (Veterans Day) (Or Armistice Day in 1918
when WWI ended).
November: Fourth
Thursday: National Day of Gratitude and
Atonement (Thanksgiving)
December 7: Pacific Colonial War Day (Pearl
Harbor Day)
December 25: Love and Peacemaking Day (Christmas)
In
Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]
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Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
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- See more at:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16131#sthash.qqqL6uhy.dpuf
END ARMISTICE/WORLD UNITY DAY
2013
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