OMNI NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT NEWSLETTER #1. By Dick Bennett for a Culture of
Peace. 2-28-12.
My blog: War
Department/Peace Department
Newsletters:
Index:
Peace, Justice, Ecology Birthdays
Here is the link to all OMNI
newsletters:
http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/ For a knowledge-based peace, justice, and
ecology movement and an informed citizenry as the foundation for change.
NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT
Dick Bennett
A central tenet of behavioral psychology
is that people are what they do. Publics
therefore can be conditioned to behave in certain ways by having them act in
those ways. We are nurtured by our family and church and
school to accept or reject the options we encounter. Gradually by repetition we become the
persons we are Indoctrination is so
successful a method of training that it works even in short periods if intense
enough.
The
most obvious example is military basic training, where recruits are transformed
in a short time from their family and religious values to warrior values,
including killing. Reinforcement by
group repetition of actions is fundamental to this psychology. Have the recruits march, sing, salute, shoot
together and soon they will be changed into warriors.
But that success would be more
difficult had it not been prepared for.
The nation prepares its youth for war in many ways. Year after year, the nation memorializes its
wars and warriors. The national anthem
is played and sung, the US
A
task of the peace movement is to jam the promotion of armed force without
ourselves possessing the mountains of Pentagon wealth.
One way is to focus on National and
International Days. Thanks largely to
the United Nations, our nation recognizes the many Days devoted to nonviolent
peace and justice—International Women’s Day, Nuclear Victims Day, World Water
Day, Political Prisoner Day. These Days are already celebrated by the peace
and justice movement, and their affirmation should be increased. But
many of the National Days—such as Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day—uncritically
celebrate the military as an institution and all of its soldiers. We
must try to reverse this practice. We
must redefine these martial days.
Step by step. We can change the rituals that reinforce the
patriotism of armed force or are complicit in violence. We can do that. In fact, it is already being done. Groups have called for a re-naming of
Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day and Memorial Day as a Day of Mourning. We
can re-name and re-envision all of the National Days that encourage nationalism,
violence, and wars. Here’s how it is
done:
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 Movement 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 back to 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)
It’s a two pronged structural approach to
peace and justice: promoting the Days of peace and justice; reconstituting
those that justify armed force.
The National Days Project is an activity of
the OMNI Center
for Peace, Justice, and Ecology located in Fayetteville , Arkansas
and the Blog, “It's the War Department,” http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/,
scroll down to the latest Index).
Other actions are under way and being
added. Of course, we celebrate all Days
that support people of our planet—World Refugees Day, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Days, International
Justice Day (ICC), International Day of Peace--, for which we make available
chronological and topical lists. And for
several of these Days we have arranged public actions. For example, our annual Hiroshima-Nagasaki
Remembrance began in the 1970s. For
International Day of Peace, in cooperation with the City we display national
flags around the city square. The
essential point is the persistent repetition.
And at very little financial cost.
But particularly important are the
Days re-envisioned and reversed. Here,
for example, Columbus Day is challenged by Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
Day activities on the campus of the University
of Arkansas
Engage in the revisioning with us. Join the National Days Project.
Dick Bennett, Founder
Home: 2582 Jimmie Ave.
jbennet@uark.edu; 479-442-4600
National interest in the
NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT
Dick was invited twice to Montgomery College Washington ,
D. C. to tell about the project. They
were already celebrating the UN International Day for Peace, and were keenly
interested in the idea of converting some of the national days from support for
wars to advocacy for peace.
Praise for the NATIONAL DAYS
PROJECT
“The reason I've contacted you is because
Barbara Harmony, one of my good friends, has sent me the OMNI newsletter that
has your article about ways of turning normally-celebrated American holidays
into holidays to celebrate PEACE. This
is a wonderful idea. Being an artist, my
suggestion, naturally enough, is to use art to promote your peace-holidays
theme. I actually have a brand new
painting that might work well for whatever Flag Day celebration people are
doing. It is titled "Green America
END NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT NEWSLETTER #1
Sent to Web Site
OMNI NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT NEWSLETTER #2, SEPTEMBER 26, 2012. By Dick Bennett for a Culture of
Peace. (#1 2-28-12).
My blog: War
Department/Peace Department
Newsletters:
Index:
Peace, Justice, Ecology Birthdays
See INMOtion
Here is the link to all OMNI
newsletters:
http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/ For a critical, knowledge-based peace,
justice, and ecology movement and an informed, independently thinking citizenry
as the foundation for change.
NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL DAYS,
WEEKS AND MONTHS
Nations are composed, sustained, and
controlled symbol and myth systems and sub-systems. US
The country’s national and international
days are one more conditioning mechanism for national unity. Naturally and properly the peace, justice,
and ecology movement endeavors to ensure the presence of its values in these,
and all, national structures. This is
concrete action to preserve or change national direction and choice.
*Items distinguished by an
asterisk are dubiously celebrated days, calling for analysis and perhaps even
alternative days.
(Items in parenthesis are
important days but not national days.)
The list is incomplete and should
be considered as a work in progress. Let
me know of additional National Days and Months.
RE-ENVISIONED, RENAMED DAYS,
Feb. 14 Standing on the Side
of Love Day (formerly Valentine’s Day) (from UUSC, turning VD into a Day for
social justice)
May, 2nd Sunday:
Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace (formerly Mother’s Day)
May 21, 2011: Peace Movement
Day (Armed Forces Day) (3rd
Sat. in May)
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: Unity Day: (Veterans Day)
November: Fourth
Thursday: National Day of Gratitude and
Atonement (Thanksgiving)
December 7: Pacific Colonial World War II Day (Pearl Harbor Day)
December 25: Love and Peacemaking Day (Christmas)
ALL DAYS CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Aug. 29: International Day
Against Nuclear Testing
February: Black History Month
February 2: UN World Wetlands
Day
Feb. 4: UN Torture Abolition Day
Feb. 14: Standing on the Side
of Love Day (Valentine’s Day)
March: Women’s History Month
March 1: Nuclear Victims Day,
Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day, Marshall
March 8: UN International
Women’s Day (see: Aug. 26)
Mid March; Sunshine Week
(coincides with Nat’l Freedom o f Information Day on March 16, birthday of
James Madison)
3rd Monday in
March (in Arkansas
March 19: US Invaded Iraq
Mar. 22: UN World Water Day
March 30: Global BDS Day and Palestinian Land
April: Asian Awareness Month
April 16-20: National End
Racial Profiling Week
April 17: Equal Pay Day (for women; see August 26)
April 17: Political Prisoner Day (Palestinian: Prisoner
Day)
April 18: Tax
Day protest corporate tax evasion
April 22: Earth Day, Springfest; UN International Mother
Earth Day
April 26: International Day
of Action for a Nuclear-Free Future (2011 25th Chernobyl
May 1: May Day, International Workers Day
Law Day
May every first Thursday:
National Day of Prayer (see: June 15)
May 3: World Press Freedom
Day
May, 2nd Sunday: Julia
Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace (Mother’s Day)
May 3? 5?: National Day of Reason
May 15: International Conscientious Objectors Day
May 21, 2011(3rd
Sat. in May): Peace Movement Day (Armed Forces Day)
May, last Monday: Day of Mourning for All Victims of Wars (Memorial Day)
June: Torture Awareness Month
June 2: Nuclear Abolition Day
June 4: UN International Day for Children Victims of
Aggression
June 8: UN World Oceans Day
June 14: Liberty
June 15: International Peace
Prayer Day
June, 3rd Sunday: Fathers Day for Peace (Father’s Day)
June 17: UN International Day to Combat
Desertification and Drought
June 19th:
Juneteenth
June 20: UN World Refugees Day
June 26: UN International Day
in Support of Torture Victims
Fourth of July: July 4, Independence
Day
July 17: UN International
Justice Day (ICC)
July 18: Mandela Day
August: Nuclear Free Future Month
(NuclearFreeFuture.org)
August 1: Ramadan Begins
Aug. 6 & 9: Hiroshima Nagasaki
August 10: Victims of Agent Orange Commemoration Day
(This is a Vietnam National
Day, but the US should mark
the Day too, for it reminds us of US
August 16: International Homeless Animals Day, Mexican
Independence Day
August 26: Women’s Equality
Day (women win vote, 19th Amendment Ratified), 19th Amendment
Day
August 28: Trail of Tears Day
(1838)
August 29: UN International
Day Against Nuclear Tests
September: Hunger Action Month
September, 1st
Monday: Labor Day
September 5, National Jury
Rights Day (FIJA.org)
September 11 (9-11): 9-11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Day (Patriot
Day)
September 12: International Interdependence Day
September 15, 17 (1821): Central America Independence Day
Sept. 17: Constitution Day
Sept. 21: UN International
Day of Peace
Sept., Last week: Banned
Books Week
October: National Domestic
Violence Awareness Month, Vegetarian Awareness Month
October. First week: Keep Space
For Peace Week
Oct. 1: Vegetarian Day
Oct., 4th
Saturday: Make a Difference Day
Oct. 2nd Monday: Indigenous Peoples Day
(Columbus Day):
Oct. 11: National Coming Out
Day
Oct. 12: World Hunger Day
Oct. 13: World Sight Day
Oct. 16: World Food Day
Oct. 20: International Credit Union Day
Oct. 24: UN Day
Oct. 28: National Immigrant’s
Day/Statue of Liberty Birthday (1886)
Oct. 31: UNICEF Day
Nov. 9-16: International Week against the Israeli Wall
in the West Bank (see Nov. 29)
Nov. 11: Unity Day
(Veterans Day), People’s Charter for Nonviolence
November: Fourth Thursday: Day of Gratitude and Atonement (Thanksgiving)
Nov. 20: UN Universal Children’s
Day (Bill of Rights for Children)
November 25, Day after
Thanksgiving: Buy Nothing Day
Nov. 25: International Day
for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Nov. 29: (UN) International
Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
December 1: Nobel Peace Prize Awarded
December 1: UN World AIDS Day
December 7: Pacific Colonial WWII (Pearl
Harbor Day)
December 10: Human Rights Day
Dec. 15: Bill of Rights Day
Dec. 20, 2011: Hanukkah (changes
every year)
Dec. 25: Love and Peacemaking
Day (Christmas)
Dec. 26: Kwanzaa
NATIONAL DAYS, WEEKS, MONTH
PROPOSED
ALPHABETICAL ORDER
[Entries in bold
have been or will be given an alternative.
Items with asterisk under consideration for alternative day.]
Arbor Day (Arkansas
Armed Forces Day (Peace Movement Day) :
May 21
Asian Awareness Month: April
(Beginning of Sit-ins-Civil
Rights: Feb. 1, 1960)
Bill of Rights Day: Dec. 15
Black History Month: Feb.
Banned Books Week: Last week
in Sept.
Buy Nothing Day: Nov., 4th
Friday
Christmas (Love and Peacemaking Day): Dec. 25
Columbus Day (Indigenous People of the Americas
Constitution Day: Sept. 17
Domestic Violence Month: Oct.
Earth Day: April 22
*Father’s Day: June, 3rd
Sunday
Flag Day: May 26
*Fourth of July: July 4
Freedom of Information Day,
March 16 (birthday of James Madison) (see World Press Freedom Day)
(Gandhi’s Birthday: Oct. 2)
Genocide and Human Rights
Awareness Month: April (Florida
Holocaust Museum
Global Day Against Military
Spending: April 12
Hanukkah: Dec. or November.
2011: Dec. 20; 2012: Dec. 8; 2013: Nov.
27; 2014: Dec. 16
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration
Days: Aug. 6 and 9
Human Rights Day: Dec. 10
Indigenous People’s Day: Oct,
2nd Monday (alternative to Columbus Day)
UN International Day for the
Elimination of Violence Against Women: Nov. 25
UN International Day of
Peace: Sept. 21
UN International Justice
Day: July 17
International Peace Prayer
Day: June 15
UN International Day Against
Nuclear Testing: Aug. 29
UN International Women’s Day:
March 8
(these Internat. Days need
checking, and more probably exist)
Israeli Apartheid Week: March 7-20
Juneteenth: June 19
Kwanzaa: Dec. 26
Labor Day: Sept., First
Monday
Law Day: May 1
May Day: May 1
Mother’s Day, Julia Ward
Howe’s MD for Peace: May, 2nd Sunday
Mourning Day (last Monday of
May) (Memorial Day, formerly Armistice Day)
National Coming Out Day: Oct.
11
*National Day of Prayer: May,
1st Thursday (inter-faith)
National Freedom of
Information Day March 16th (see:
Sunshine Week)
National Immigrants Day;
Nuclear Victims Day: Mar. 1
Make a Difference Day:
October, 4th Sat.
*Patriot Day: 9-11 (see: Peaceful Tomorrows)
Peaceful Tomorrows Day: 9-11
(Patriot Day)
*Pearl Harbor Day:
Dec. 7 (Pacific Colonial WWII Day)
(Remembering Dresden
Space for Peace Week:
October, first week
Springfest: April
Standing on the Side of Love
Day: Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day)
Sunshine Week: March (see
Nat. Freedom of Info. Day 3-16 and World Press Freedom Day May 3)
Tax Day: April 18
*Thanksgiving: Nov: 4th
Thursday
Torture Awareness Month: June
United Nations Day: Oct. 24
UNICEF Day: Oct. 31
*(Valentine’s Day: Feb. 14)
see: Standing on the Side of Love Day
Vegetarian Day: Oct. 1
*VE Day
*VJ Day
*Veterans Day: November, 4th
week
Women’s History Month: March (see: Internat. Women’s Day)
(UN) World Environment Day,
June 5
(UN) World Food Day: Oct. 16
(UN) World Hunger Day: Oct.
12
(UN) World Press Freedom Day:
May 3 (see Freedom of Information Day,
March 16)
(UN) World Vegetarian Week
May 18-24
(UN) World Water Day: March
22
Other Special Days (virtually
endless of course)
Robert Kennedy assassinated
June 5, 1968
NATIONAL DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS
ALPHABETICAL ORDER: ANNOTATED
The Pentagon, with its $600 billion,
hundreds of billions more for wars, and tens of billions for nuclear weapons,
relentlessly drives its agenda of militarism and empire. Against it, the peace movement is like the
Chinese dissident confronting the tank in Tiananmen Square
(1989). We have that power. But we can be better. We can be more consistently persistent in reinforcing
the institutions for peace and justice and rejecting the structures of the
warfare state. One way is to
consistently strengthen those national and international Days, Weeks, and Months
that affirm life through nonviolence, and to refuse those that support killing,
oppression, and exploitation.
Fortunately, greatly thanks to the United
Nations, many DAYS celebrate and sustain life.
Scan down this list to see this good news quickly. These DAYS shore up people’s nonviolent opposition
to the corporate-military-congressional-executive-imperial complex. In contrast, some days serve militarism and
empire. Our task here is to mobilize a
campaign of counter-values until the hold of the warfare/security obsession
becomes negligible. Our ultimate goal
is to eliminate violent values by replacing their social structures each with a
new name and set of values. Thus, Columbus Day becomes Indigenous
People’s Day, Mother’s Day becomes Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace, Veteran’s
Day becomes Unity Day, and Patriot’s Day becomes Peaceful Tomorrows, each
accompanied by historical analysis of the old and a rationale for the new. These Days are printed in bold. Several other days, indicated by an asterisk,
are old days now called into question.
The NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT welcomes your
suggestions and comment, and we seek a new coordinator. (Latest
revision 4-12-11.) Dick
Asian Awareness Month: April
A time to become informed
about US alliances with autocracies and with democracies.
Bill of Rights Day: Dec. 15
Celebration of the liberties
which are asserted there and are frequently under attack.
Black History Month: Feb.
Includes birthdays of Abraham
Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
Celebrates the gains in civil rights of blacks and reaffirmation of the
struggle.
Banned Books Week: Last week
in Sept.
Freedom to Read as essential
to an informed citizenry as a cornerstone of a democracy.
Buy Nothing Day: Nov., 4th
Friday
Protest against the
commodification of everything by US
Christmas: Dec. 25
Time to reflect upon the
meaning of Jesus as peacemaker.
Constitution Day: Sept. 17
A day to learn about the
Constitution, its Bill of Rights, its government by laws, including treaties.
(Demonstrate for Peace: March
19, invasion of Iraq 2003. This day of
infamy remembered.)
Domestic Violence Month: Oct.
National self-examination of
its violence in its homes and its foreign wars.
Earth Day: April 22
Earth Day was founded
by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 to celebrate the land and all species.
Father’s Day: June, 3rd
Sunday
True masculinity is explored,
the importance of caring fathers and of a society that supports families.
*Flag Day: May 26
A day to study the true
meaning of nationalism and patriotism.
*Fourth of July: July 4
What should the 4th
of July signify? What does it lead
to? What should be our national
song? A pledge of allegiance of a
peaceful nation?
Freedom of Information Day,
March 16 (birthday of James Madison)
(Gandhi’s Birthday: Oct. 2: Special day to focus on nonviolent
resistance. All birthdays of great peace
and justice heroes are part of our National Days. See HEROES on our web site.)
Global Day Against Military
Spending: April 12
With the Pentagon budget $600
billion, not including the wars and nuclear weapons development, this day
reminds us to demand conversion from the wars and the militarized economy to an
economy for human needs.
World Sight Day: Oct. 13
Over 35 million people are
affected by river blindness, the world's second leading infectious cause of
blindness, throughout the developing world. On World Sight Day this Thursday,
October 13, support Sightsavers -- an international organization working with
partners in developing countries to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote
equality of opportunity for disabled people. Just last year they supported the
training of over 20,000 community volunteers to distribute the medication that
protects people from river blindness and successfully treated over 23 million
people.
Hanukkah: Dec. or November.
2011: Dec. 20; 2012: Dec. 8; 2013: Nov.
27; 2014: Dec. 16. How might this day
best be celebrated for peace?
Hiroshima-Nagasaki
Commemoration Days: Aug. 6 and 9, 1945
To remember the victims of
the bombs, and the consequences of the nuclear arms race that began that
week.
Human Rights Day: Dec. 10
Celebration of the UN
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
*Indigenous People’s Day: Oct, 2nd Monday
An alternative to the hemispheric
genocide that began with Columbus
(UN) International
Conscientious Objector’s Day: May 15
(UN) International Day for
the Elimination of Violence Against Women: Nov. 25. A day to reaffirm our struggle to defend
women against their abusers and the social structures that permit them.
(UN) International Day of
Innocent Children Victims of Aggression: June 4
The purpose of the day is to acknowledge the pain
suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical,
mental and emotional abuse. This day affirms the UN's commitment to protect the
rights of children.
(UN) International Justice Day: July 17
To educate populations and governments about the
International Criminal Court.
(UN)International Day of
Peace: Sept. 21
A UN sponsored celebration of
a world without wars.
(UN) International Peace
Prayer Day: June 15
For the religious, a day to
focus spirituality to strengthen peace.
(UN) International Day
Against Nuclear Testing: Aug. 29
The goal is the elimination
of nuclear weapons, but in the meantime we must restrain their development.
(UN)International Day of the
Disappeared: August 30
(UN)International Day of
Interdependence: September 12
(UN)International Justice
Day: July 17
(UN)International Migrants Day: December 18
(UN)International Women’s
Day: March 8
Celebration of equity for
women, the foundation of the feminist movement..
Israeli Apartheid Week: March 7-20
Commitment to a separate
Palestinian West Bank/Gaza
Juneteenth: June 19
Celebrating the end of the
Civil War and legal slavery.
Kwanzaa: Dec. 26
Harvest festival Dec. 26-Jan.
1 celebrated by some African-Americans.
Labor Day: Sept., First
Monday
Labor unions now represent
less than 10% of working people in US, leaving each worker to fend for
herself/himself. Join a union!
Law Day: May 1
To celebrate the US
Make a Difference Day:
October, 4th Sat.
This Day has focused on
local, small good deeds. It needs more
emphasis upon the significant matters—corporate crime, militarization,
onrushing climate change. Make a
difference on national problems.
MI suffered from over 60
hydrogen bomb tests.
May Day: May 1
International workers’ day.
*Memorial Day: Last Monday in
May
Decoration Day to remember relatives and loved
ones dead, a beneficial practice surely.
It has also become a Day especially to remember members of the armed forces killed
in war, not beneficial if it overlooks the injustice of most US
Military Toxics Week (see
Human Costs….)
Julia
Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace: May, 2nd Sunday
A return to the purpose of
the original Mother’s Day.
National Coming Out Day: Oct.
11
The GLBTQ Movement for
equity, like the Civil Rights and Women’s Rights movements, is one of the great
achievements of our democracy.
*National Day of Inter-Faith Prayer:
May, 1st Thursday
Originally a Christian event,
the day is becoming more inclusive, recognizing the many faiths that constitute
the USA
National Freedom of
Information Day March. 16th (see:
Sunshine Week)
The Freedom of Information
Act (and acts in individual states) is
another major achievement by and for our democracy, for secrecy is anathema to
government by the people.
National Immigrants Day,
October 28
A nation of immigrants commemorates all immigrants who have made
significant contributions to our country
Human Costs of Military
Toxics WEEK 6/15-6/23
Nuclear Victims Day
This Day, to draw attention
to nuclear weapons and energy, is not firmly established. Perhaps the first test date would be
appropriate. See google.
*Peaceful Tomorrows: 9-11
Naming 9-11 Patriot Day is unacceptable,
since it 9-11 resulted in significantly diminished domestic liberties and the
illegal invasion of several countries. We
have replaced it with “Peaceful Tomorrows,” in honor of September Eleventh
Families for a Peaceful
Tomorrows, a
compassionate advocacy organization founded by family members of men and women killed by the destruction of
the NYC towers
*Pearl
Harbor Day: Dec. 7
Considerable scholarship
explains WWII in the Pacific as a colonial, racist war with divided guilt. Let the peace and justice movement remember
it thusly.
Space for Peace Week:
October, first week
A week of resistance against US
Sunshine Week: March 13-19
A week to celebrate the
citizens’ Need to Know, Freedom of
Information, Freedom of Information Act.
See Nat. Freedom of Info. Day 3-16 and World Press Freedom Day May 3.
Tax Day: April 18
*Thanksgiving: Nov: 4th
Thursday
The peace, justice, and
ecology movement can lift this Day from its traditional family, local dimension
to include world families.
United Nations Day: Oct. 24
Celebrating humankind’s
greatest imaginative leap for peace and justice, for global caring, and for stopping
wars..
UNICEF Day: Oct. 31
One of many UN activities,
UNICEF for the children of the world.
*Unity Day: November, 4th week
Originally Armistice Day
marking the end of WWI, now as Veterans Day wrongly commemorating all veterans
and therefore all wars. The better name
is Unity Day, for which there is growing sentiment.
Valentines Day: Feb. 14
This Day to celebrate
affection has been largely commodified.
The pj movement can and should rescue it with meaningful goals.
Vegetarian Day: Oct. 1 (see May 18)
Opposing killing is the rock
bottom of the peace and justice movement.
But in addition to this ethical foundation for Veg DAY, we can add
health and climate change.
*VE Day, Victory in Europe Day: August
15, 1945.
For many of us in the pj movement
this is the only legal war the US
*VJ Day, Victory Over Japan
Day (see Pearl
Harbor Day, Dec. 7)
Women’s History Month:
March (see: Internat. Women’s Day)
The long struggle for equity
and rights for women is celebrated.
(UN) World Aids Day: December 1
(UN) World Food Day: Oct. 16
The need for global,
cooperative, sustainable agriculture is signaled today.
(UN) World Hunger Day: Oct.
12
(UN) World Population
Day: July 11
(UN) World Poverty Day (see:
International Day for the Eradication of)
(UN) World Press Freedom Day:
May 3 (see Sunshine Week, March 13)
The Freedom of Information
Act and the numerous reporters who have been killed gathering information for
their readers give this Day its special importance.
World Vegetarian Week May
18-24 (see Oct. 1)
(UN)World Water Day: March 22
A Day to remember the urgent
need for available, safe water throughout the world, and to prevent wars over
water. See World Food Day, Oct. 16.
Collate the following list
into the preceding
BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE
BY AFFIRMING NATIONAL DAYS OF PEACE AND TRANSFORMING NATIONAL DAYS FOR WAR INTO
DAYS OF PEACE
Compiled by Dick Bennett 6-8-08
FLAG DAY and FATHER’S DAY are
coming soon. What kind of alternative
might OMNI offer and that can be accomplished by then? Or start planning for 2009.
|
|
THE WEB OF A CULTURE OF PEACE UN Culture of Peace Website http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/ Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors: Culture of War to Culture of Peace http://www.afngeelong06.org/papers/mckeague-peace.pdf There is a UN initiative called the International Culture of Peace Decade (2000-2010) which is attempting to define the Culture of War and the Culture of Peace and move away from a war culture to a peace culture. The second site shows the contrast very clearly. Idealistic, you might say. But think about this: the |
|
|
|
But we cannot make this change so long as
we celebrate the myths represented by the US
George Orwell
wrote in 1984: "Everything faded into mist. The
past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth”—that wars
are inevitable, that our species is inherently violent. Much
of OMNI’s work in building a Culture of Peace involves the struggle to
reinforce peaceful values despite the power of innumerable nationalistic
myths. In behavioral psychology, we are
what we do. Most of the public mindlessly
accepts the messages of special Days (Daze?) and holidays that promote military
power, because militarism is not only inevitable but necessary, for our
security, even though it is we who have attacked other nations, and since the
War of 1812 have been attacked by another nation only one more time at Pearl Harbor 1941.
Here is a list of two kinds of Days. Most of them affirm peace (Martin Luther
King’s birthday). Others project the US
When people ask, What can I do, what can one person do, to change the world
from war to peace? Here is one answer: Reinforce
a peaceful day or Change a warfare Day!
When scoffers ask, what difference can
we make here? We can answer: we are
offering a model to the world, and sometimes models grab the world’s
imagination.
And we are experimenting. The subtitle of Gandhi’s autobio. Is My
Life of Experiments. Few peace
organizations adhere to a comprehensive program like ours, based on the
assumption that the US
SEE DOC on OMNI
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
The following
list is far from being complete. Please
help complete it.
JANUARY
BirthDAY
Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., January 19. We had an essay contest, and are now open to
alternatives. Please join the
committee, and consider being the coordinator.
FEBRUARY
Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14
President’s Day, Feb. 15
MARCH
International
Women’s DAY, March 8: We have focused on
celebrating peace, justice, ecology women heroes, locally, nationally,
internationally. Coordinator needed.
APRIL
Martin Luther King, Jr., Assassinated, April 4,
1968. 2009?
Earth DAY, April:
for three years we had out of town distinguished speakers. Then we merged with SpringFest: Donna and Kelly, Jamie and others organized
displays and music at WAC’s Rose Garden.
Earth DAY at World
Peace Wetland Prairie: A new OMNI
tradition for Earth DAY is the celebration at WPWP on the Saturday preceding
SpringFest.
Fayetteville’s
Annual SpringFest, April.
MAY
May 1, May DAY, the international workers holiday. (Woody
Guthrie and Pete Seeger, among many others, were Wobblies, members of the
International Workers of the World, IWW. An opportunity for great music.) Our neglect of this DAY should end.
May 1, Law DAY
National DAY of Prayer, first Thursday. Our alternative should be DAY of Prayer by
people of all faiths? Will you
coordinate it?
Mother’s DAY for
Peace, 2nd Sunday of May: 2008 marked the 4th anniversary
of our Julia Ward Howe Mother’s Day for Peace Celebration, usually a luncheon,
but we are open to different event.
May 10,International Migratory Bird Day.
May 15, International Conscientious Objectors’ DAY
Arbor Day
World Vegetarian WEEK: Dan Dean agreed to coord. a
monthly Veg Potluck in 2009 and by Feb. 2010 we are well-established. Vegetarianism is at the heart of resistance
to both wars and warming.
Memorial DAY, last Monday in May, formerly Decoration
Day, a US
JUNE
June 4,Wednesday, UN International DAY of Innocent
Children, Victims of Aggression June 5, Thursday, Anniversary of the
assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968
June 5, Thursday, UN World Environment DAY
June 14, Flag DAY.
Traditionally a day of patriotic drumming. We can offer an alternative for world peace.
June 15, Father’s DAY.
Like we are doing with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day regarding the role
of women in the world, we could help redefine masculinity on this day for peace
and justice.
International Peace Prayer DAY, June 15.
Protest the Human Costs of Military Toxics WEEK, June
15-23.
Juneteenth, June 19.
A day to celebrate not only freedom from slavery for U.S.
African-Americans, but for all people.
Gay Pride WEEK.
JULY
July 4, Independence
AUGUST
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, Remembrance of Victims/Celebration of Peace Heroes, August 6-9: our
oldest activity, begun in the 1970s by our predecessor Peace Organizing
Committee.
SEPTEMBER
Labor DAY, Sept. 1, for jobs, fair wages, health
benefits, right to organize.
9/11 DAY, Alternative needed against retaliation and
revenge and for reconciliation.
Interdependent DAY, September 12 (www.civworld.org)
International DAY
of Peace, Celebration of Peacemakers, September 21: 2008 marked our 4th anniversary:
during those years we have emphasized the international outlook of OMNI by
flying flags from diverse countries around the Fayetteville Square
Banned
Books/Freedom to Read WEEK, Sept. : OMNI has initiated activities and
participated in others for a decade or more as of 2008. Coordinator needed.
Keep Space for
Peace WEEK, Sept. 25- Oct. 2: For perhaps half a decade as of 2008 OMNI has
sponsored a variety of programs, including bringing Bruce Gagnon here to speak.
OCTOBER
October, Domestic Violence Awareness MONTH
Gandhi’s BirthDAY, Oct. 2, International DAY of
Nonviolence
Universal Children’s DAY, Oct. 4
Fayetteville’s
Annual AutumnFest, October (Oct. 9-10, 2004): OMNI has had a table on the Fayetteville Square
Indigenous
People’s DAY (Columbus Day), 2nd Monday in October: As of 2010 OMNI will have sponsored this
event for six years in conjunction with UofA’s Native American Symposium
Committee.
World Hunger Day, Oct. 12.
World Food DAY, Oct. 16
United Nations
DAY, October 24 (UN Charter became binding treaty): OMNI has celebrated this day for five years as
of 2008 by sponsoring notable speakers, including the president of the Central
Ark. Chapter of UN/USA.
Make a Difference DAY, October 25
NOVEMBER
November, American Indian Heritage MONTH
Veterans’ DAY, Nov. 11
International DAY for Tolerance, Nov. 16
International DAY to End Violence Against Women, Nov. 25
Buy Nothing DAY, Nov. 26
International DAY of Solidarity with the Palestinian
People, Nov. 29
DECEMBER
Human Rights DAY,
Dec. 10: Ever since OMNI’s beginning we
have celebrated this DAY, with events of various kinds, including music/readings at the local bookstore.
Bill of Rights
DAY, Dec. 15: OMNI has cooperated with the local chapter of the ACLU to
celebrate this DAY, sometimes at the
home of member for a talk and dinner.
Additional comment on
NATIONAL DAYS
Law Day is
another National Day. Potentially from a
justice organization like OMNI, it could be celebrated for example as National
Justice Day: laws should be just. We could work with the Law School
Another: 5/1 May Day
- International Workers holiday. In an
oligarchical country that has reduced unions to less than 10% of the working
people, this day deserves attention by all peace and justice orgs. We do have unions in Fayetteville
And another: National
Day of Prayer (1st Thu of May). This
day was established as a Christian event, but under pressure is recognizing our
diversity, I think we all should hope.
Since all of
these days are structures of contestation, for people disagree about their
meaning, how they are defined is crucial..
How they are defined conditions the populace one direction or
another. So the pje movement must
attempt to define them for pje. It's not
just talk, but actual structural change.
Nuts and
bolts: a National Days button on our
home page and keeping permanent records in our web site for reflection and
future guidance are important. We can
change days that promote undemocratic, unjust, unpeaceful behavior; and reinforce
those that promote peace, justice, and democracy.
Please give them your strong support. A general coordinator is needed to take my
place, and additional individuals to produce the annual notices.
Dick
NATIONAL DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS
II
DAYS THAT PROMOTE THE US WARFARE
STATE
OMNI’s Culture of Peace program (derived from the UN, and shared
with Peaceful Tomorrows, the AFSC and FCNL, and surely all peace
organizations) offers an alternative, and a plan. It is long-range, and it is multifarious, but
it is nonetheless clear, composed of critiques of the structures of
violence and of specific alternatives to the pervasive warfare state. In 2009 when you look around Fayetteville
And of course if we do nothing the
militarists and totalitarians will win.
So we are affirming DAYS that
support nonviolent peace, compassion, social and economic
justice, human rights, and the environment, and offering alternatives to
Days that do not (instead of the genocide of Columbus Day, we celebrate
Indigenous People’s Day). Join OMNI
and choose DAYS for peaceful tomorrows.
Dick Bennett
OMNI has Presented Critiques
of These Structures of the US Security State:
Flag Day
4th of July
Memorial Day
Mother’s Day (Julia Ward
Howe’s Mothers’ Day of Peace)
National Day of Prayer
Patriot Day (Peaceful
Tomorrows)
Thanksgiving
VE Day
VJ Day
Veterans Day
Examples:
Memorial Day
We have published two newsletters on Memorial Day, formerly
Decoration Day. Memorial Day occurs on
the last Monday in May to remember members of the armed forces killed in
war.
(Veterans Day, formerly,
Armistice Day: Nov. 11, a legal holiday in the US
CONTENTS OF #2
Veterans for Peace, Arlington
American Friends Service Committee
US Media and US Wars
War Resisters League Military Expenditures Pie Chart
Historians Against the Wars:
Afghanistan
Veterans for Peace 2009
OMNI Memorial Day Newsletter 2009
Patriot Day
Officially commemorates the 9-11 attacks on the Twin Towers
In 2009 we reported on the ACLU’s efforts to curtail the USA “Patriot” Act; presented an essay on the
9-11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which opposed the vengeful invasion of Afghanistan
Contents
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Schurz, Patriotism
Klein, Shock Doctrine
Johnson, Liquidate the Empire
Blum, Anti-Empire
Bill Williams, Peaceful Tomorrows
Nancy Goliff, Peaceful Tomorrows
Church-State
March 1, 2011 I sent the
following to Ryan Bancroft, Marc Quigley, and Ex Com.]
Ryan,
Law Day is another
National Day. Potentially from a justice
organization like OMNI, it could be celebrated for example as National Justice
Day: laws should be just. We could work with the Law School
Another: 5/1 May Day
- International Workers holiday. In an
oligarchical country that has reduced unions to less than 10% of the working
people, this day deserves attention by all peace and justice orgs. We do have unions in Fayetteville
And another: National
Day of Prayer (1st Thu of May). This
day was established as a Christian event, but under pressure is recognizing our
diversity, I think we all should hope.
All of these days are structures of contestation, for people in power
use them as modes of social control.
How they are defined conditions the populace one direction or
another. So the pje movement must
attempt to define them for pje. It's not
just talk, but actual structural change.
Does this help make clear why a National Days button and why
keeping permanent records for reflection and future guidance are
important? We can change days that
promote undemocratic, unjust, unpeaceful behavior; and reinforce those that
promote peace, justice, and democracy.
Please give them your strong support.
Thanks, Dick
No comments:
Post a Comment