OMNI
ARMISTICE
DAY/ WORLD UNITY DAY NEWSLETTER (Reclaiming “Veterans Day”)
NOVEMBER
11, 2020, 102nd Anniversary
WE, THE
PEOPLE BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE FOR THE PLANET.
Compiled by
Dick Bennett
www.omnicenter.org/donate/
What’s
at Stake: An addition to US
militarization: the replacement of a day of peace—Armistice Day—with a
celebration of warriors.
See
OMNI’s newsletters on US Armed Forces Day, US Military Industrial Complex
(MIC), US Culture of War, Arkansas MIC, many more.
Table of Contents OMNI Armistice Day Newsletter #14, November 11, 2020,
102nd ANNIVERSARY
Vonnegut
on Armistice Day
Veterans
for Peace
Reclaim Armistice Day
2018-19
World
Beyond War: Remembrance Day to Mourn the Dead
and Abolish War
Media
Abel Tomlinson
Janine Jackson
Newsletter
#13 Contents
TEXTS ARMISTICE DAY NEWSLETTER
Taking
Action Nov. 11 to #ReclaimArmisticeDay in the Time of COVID 2020
Veterans
For Peace via salsalabs.org
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1:07
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to me
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Armistice Day is right around the corner, and once
again, Veterans For Peace is taking the lead to #ReclaimArmisticeDay.
Veterans For Peace has been celebrating Armistice
Day almost since the organization's inception, with a few
chapters doing yearly events. Since 2008, with the passing of an
official Veterans For Peace
resolution, it has become a VFP national effort. Each
year, chapters across the country "Reclaim Armistice
Day" by pushing the celebration of peace into the
national conversation on Veterans Day.
This year, Armistice Day celebrations will look a
little different than in past years. Many of our chapters are hosting virtual actions
instead of gathering in person. If you’re not sure how to arrange
something like that, please email our membership
coordinator membership@veteransforpeace.org.
Veterans For Peace is calling on everyone to stand
up for peace this Armistice Day. More than ever, the world faces
a critical moment. Tensions are heightened around the world and
the U.S. is engaged militarily in multiple countries, without an
end in sight. Here at home we have seen the increasing
militarization of our police forces and brutal crackdowns on
dissent and people’s uprisings against state power. We must press
our government to end reckless military interventions that
endanger the entire world. We must build a culture of peace.
We have compiled a list of COVID-safe actions for
you to take this year. We are asking VFP members to do what they
can to keep the conversation going around peace and Armistice
Day. Please let us know what you have planned by filling out this form.
Let's #ReclaimArmisticeDay as
a day for peace.
11 Ways Take Action this
Armistice Day:
1. Fly the VFP
flag from your yard: The VFP flag comes in two sizes
and has grommets, which can be easily attached to any standard
pole. Order your VFP flag from
the VFP store by October 25th to ensure delivery in time for
November 11th.
2. Download
& hang the Armistice Day Sign from
your window (see image below): Hang the
sign from your front window, or anywhere else you feel it would
be most visible to others. Click the image below this list to download
and print!
3. Host a
virtual peace vigil with your local peace groups: Call
together your members and supporters by hosting a virtual action
on Zoom. If you choose to meet in person this year, please wear
masks and practice social distancing at your action. You can read
the proclamation at your vigil and ring 11 bells for peace, as we
do most years. Be sure to send us any photos of your action!
4. Ring 11
bells for peace: Make it a community effort! Reach out to local
churches, community centers, and schools to ring their bells at
11am. Here is a sample outreach
letter from Chapter 27.
5. Host a car
caravan for peace: Pick a route and drive by your capital building or
mayor's office: Call your members and supporters out together,
decorate your cars and bring your VFP flags to organize a
drive-by action celebrating Armistice Day as a day of peace.
6. Attend the
Stand Down Live - special Armistice Day edition! *More
info coming soon.
7. Send letters
to the editor: Write from the heart and tell them why you’re a
veteran for peace and why you celebrate Armistice Day.
8. Order a
bundle of Armistice Day materials: Send an
email to membership@veteransforpeace.org to
get a bundle sent out to you. Order by Oct 25th to ensure
delivery in time.
9. Share the
2020 Armistice Day video (stay tuned!): We will have
a special VFP video ready for distribution as Armistice Day
approaches.
10. Submit a
proclamation to your city council: Reach out to
your mayor, city council member, or county supervisor to
create city and county proclamations in support of
Armistice Day.
11. Share the
Liturgy of the Bells!: The Liturgy of the Bells is
a great opportunity to reach out to local houses of worship to
commemorate Armistice Day.
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11 Ways Take Action this Armistice Day:
1.
Fly the
VFP flag from your yard: The VFP flag comes in two sizes and has
grommets, which can be easily attached to any standard
pole. Order your VFP
flag from the VFP store by October 25th to
ensure delivery in time for November 11th.
2.
Download
& hang the Armistice Day
Sign from your window (see image
below): Hang the sign
from your front window, or anywhere else you feel it would be
most visible to others. Click the image below this list to
download and print!
3.
Host a
virtual peace vigil with your local peace groups: Call together your members and supporters by
hosting a virtual action on Zoom. If you choose to meet in
person this year, please wear masks and practice social
distancing at your action. You can read the proclamation at
your vigil and ring 11 bells for peace, as we do most years.
Be sure to send us any photos of your action!
4.
Ring 11
bells for peace: Make it a
community effort! Reach out to local churches, community
centers, and schools to ring their bells at 11am. Here is
a sample outreach
letter from Chapter 27.
5.
Host a
car caravan for peace: Pick a route and drive by your capital
building or mayor's office: Call your members and supporters
out together, decorate your cars and bring your VFP flags to
organize a drive-by action celebrating Armistice Day as a day
of peace.
1.
Fly the VFP flag from your yard: The VFP flag comes in two sizes and
has grommets, which can be easily attached to any
standard pole. Order
your VFP flag from the VFP store by
October 25th to ensure delivery in time for November
11th.
2.
Download & hang the Armistice
Day Sign from your window (see image
below): Hang
the sign from your front window, or anywhere else you
feel it would be most visible to others. Click the
image below this list to download and print!
3.
Host a virtual peace vigil with your
local peace groups: Call together your members and
supporters by hosting a virtual action on Zoom. If
you choose to meet in person this year, please wear
masks and practice social distancing at your action.
You can read the proclamation at your vigil and ring
11 bells for peace, as we do most years. Be sure to
send us any photos of your action!
4.
Ring 11 bells for peace: Make it a community effort! Reach out
to local churches, community centers, and schools to
ring their bells at 11am. Here is a sample
outreach letter from Chapter 27.
5.
Host a car caravan for peace: Pick a route and drive by your capital
building or mayor's office: Call your members and
supporters out together, decorate your cars and bring
your VFP flags to organize a drive-by action
celebrating Armistice Day as a day of peace.
6.
Attend the Stand Down Live - special Armistice
Day edition! *More
info coming soon.
7.
Send letters to the editor: Write from the heart and tell them why
you’re a veteran for peace and why you celebrate
Armistice Day.
8.
Order a bundle of Armistice Day
materials: Send
an email to membership@veteransforpeace.org to
get a bundle sent out to you. Order by Oct 25th to
ensure delivery in time.
9.
Share the 2020 Armistice Day video
(stay tuned!): We will have a special VFP video ready
for distribution as Armistice Day approaches.
10.
Submit a proclamation to your city
council: Reach
out to your mayor, city council member, or
county supervisor to create city and
county proclamations in support of
Armistice Day.
11.
Share the Liturgy of the Bells!: The Liturgy
of the Bells is a great opportunity
to reach out to local houses of worship to
commemorate Armistice Day.
Click the image
below to download & print our Armistice Day
poster!
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6.
7.
Attend
the Stand Down Live - special Armistice Day edition! *More info coming soon.
8.
Send
letters to the editor: Write from the heart and tell them why you’re
a veteran for peace and why you celebrate Armistice Day.
9.
Order a
bundle of Armistice Day materials: Send an email to membership@veteransforpeace.org to
get a bundle sent out to you. Order by Oct 25th to ensure
delivery in time.
10.
Share
the 2020 Armistice Day video (stay tuned!): We will have a special VFP video ready for
distribution as Armistice Day approaches.
11.
Submit a
proclamation to your city council: Reach out to your mayor, city council
member, or county supervisor to create city and
county proclamations in support of Armistice Day.
12.
Share
the Liturgy of the Bells!: The Liturgy of the
Bells is a great opportunity to reach out to
local houses of worship to commemorate Armistice Day.
Click
the image below to download & print our Armistice Day
poster!
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Contact Us
Veterans For Peace
3407 S. Jefferson Ave, #219
St. Louis, Missouri 63118
(314) 725-6005
vfp@veteransforpeace.org
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Armistice Day 2018-2019 in
Washington, D.C. with VETERANS FOR PEACE
The weekend before Armistice Day,
Veterans For Peace was lucky enough to be invited to join Jane Fonda at Fire
Drill Fridays in Washington, D.C - actions to bring urgent attention to
important intersectional analysis around Climate Change. Friday, November 8th
focused on the intersection between War, Military and the Climate Crisis. About
a dozen VFP members from Minnesota, North Carolina, Philadelphia, and as
far away as California were joined local VFP members to march alongside
Jane Fonda, CodePink and more. Speakers at the event included VFP
Advisory Board Member Phyllis Bennis, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream
and Krystal Two Bulls of About Face. Check out the Livestream.
On Armistice Day Ron Carvers’ Waging Peace in
Vietnam exhibit (which was featured at the VFP Convention in
Spokane) opened its run in D.C. at George Washington University. The opening
was followed by a week-long series of events that included commemorating
the 50th anniversary of the Mobilization Demonstration against the Vietnam War,
the largest antiwar protest in American history, a book launch, a peace poetry
open mic, three movies, the reenactment of Cortright v Resor and a full day
symposium with the morning focused on convincing historians to include the GI
Movement when teaching and writing about the war.
Listen to the audio documentary: Soldiers for
Peace - featuring VFP members Susan Schnall, Paul Cox, VFP
poet laureate Jan Barry, and more
On the
101st Anniversary of Armistice Day, VFP Chapters and Members across the U.S.
and abroad once again took the lead to Reclaim Armistice Day as a "day
dedicated to the cause of world peace," as it was celebrated at the end of
World War I when the world came together to recognize the need for lasting
peace. On our website you
will find our featured stories, reports from local chapter actions, and links
to articles, podcasts, radio shows, videos and more from Veterans For Peace
members and chapters reclaiming Armistice Day across the globe!
You can view the full Armistice Day 2019 photo album here
for additional pictures from actions across the world!
World BEYOND War Big
Plans: Remembrance / Armistice Day 10-23-2020
Inbox
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9:15
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November 11, 2020,
is Armistice Day 103 — which is 102 years since World War I was ended
at a scheduled moment (11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month in
1918 — killing an extra 11,000 people after the decision to end the
war had been reached early in the morning).
In many parts of
the world this day is called Remembrance Day and
should be a day of mourning the dead and working to abolish war so as
not to create any more war dead. But the day is being militarized,
and a strange alchemy cooked up by the weapons companies is using the
day to tell people that unless they support killing more men, women,
and children in war they will dishonor those already killed.
For decades in the
United States, as elsewhere, this day was called Armistice
Day, and was identified as a holiday of peace, including by the
U.S. government. It was a day of sad remembrance and joyful ending of
war, and of a commitment to preventing war in the future. The
holiday’s name was changed in the United States after the U.S. war on
Korea to “Veterans Day,” a largely pro-war holiday on which some U.S.
cities forbid Veterans For Peace groups from marching in their
parades, because the day has become understood as a day to praise war
— in contrast to how it began.
The story from the
first Armistice Day of the last soldier killed in the last major war
in which most of the people killed were soldiers highlights the
stupidity of war. Henry Nicholas John Gunther had been born in Baltimore,
Maryland, to parents who had immigrated from Germany. In September
1917 he had been drafted to help kill Germans. When he had written
home from Europe to describe how horrible the war was and to
encourage others to avoid being drafted, he had been demoted (and his
letter censored). After that, he had told his buddies that he would
prove himself. As the deadline of 11:00 a.m. approached on that final
day in November, Henry got up, against orders, and bravely charged
with his bayonet toward two German machine guns. The Germans were
aware of the Armistice and tried to wave him off. He kept approaching
and shooting. When he got close, a short burst of machine gun fire
ended his life at 10:59 a.m. Henry was given his rank back, but not
his life.
Let’s create
events around the world:
Find and add events
for Armistice Day 2020 to list here.
Use these resources for
events from World BEYOND War.
Use these resources for
Armistice Day events from Veterans For Peace.
Events Planned:
David Swanson
speaking by Zoom 11/10 to Veterans For Peace Southeast U.S. regional
meeting.
David Swanson
speaking by Zoom 11/10 to State University of New York, U.S.
David Swanson speaking
by Zoom 11/11 to Armistice Day Event in Milwaukee, Wisc., U.S.
Webinar 11/11 on The
remarkable story of a young Catholic husband & father from Denver
who was placed in military prison for refusing to be drafted into WWI
A Few Ideas:
Plan an online
event with World BEYOND War
Speakers.
Plan a bell
ringing. (See resources from
Veterans For Peace.)
Get and wear white poppies and blue scarves and World BEYOND War gear.
Share graphics and videos.
Use hashtags
#ArmisticeDay #NoWar #WorldBeyondWar #ReclaimArmisticeDay
Use sign-up sheets or
link people to the Peace Pledge.
Learn More About
Armistice Day:
Armistice Day 100 in
Santa Cruz Film
Celebrate Armistice Day,
Not Veterans Day
Tell the Truth: Veterans
Day Is A National Day of Lying
An Armistice Day Newspaper
from Veterans For Peace
We Need a New Armistice
Day
Veterans Group: Reclaim
Armistice Day As Day Of Peace
A Hundred Years After the
Armistice
New Film Takes Stand
Against Militarism
Wait Just a Minute
On Armistice Day, Let’s
Celebrate Peace
Armistice Day 99 Years On
and the Need for a Peace to End All Wars
Reclaim Armistice Day and
Honor the Real Heroes
An Armistice Day Poem
Audio: David Rovics on
Armistice Day
Armistice Day First
Audio: Talk Nation Radio:
Stephen McKeown on Armistice Day
World BEYOND War is a global network of volunteers,
activists, and allied organizations advocating for the abolition of
the very institution of war. Our success is driven by a
people-powered movement – support our work for a culture of
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Comment
2019 on NADG Reporting Armistice Day by Abel Tomlinson.
NWA
Letters to the Editor 11-27-19
Newspaper
should cover peace efforts thoroughly.
For
the sake of balance and peace, I offer a counterpoint to the Democrat-Gazette's Veterans
Day extravaganza. Remarkably, the newspaper went overboard with a full page ad,
and over two more full pages of editorials, cartoons, images and stories.
Please
recall that Nov. 11 was originally Armistice Day, an internationally recognized
day for peace, a solemn remembrance of the horrors of world war. Many nations
still celebrate it, but the U.S. government replaced it in 1954.
Many
veterans, past and present, have denounced this change. In fact, the wonderful
organization Veterans for Peace is engaged in a #ReclaimArmisticeDay campaign.
In
1973, author and World War II veteran Kurt Vonnegut wrote:
"(Once
upon a time,) all the people (who fought in World War I) were silent during the
eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh
day of the eleventh month. It was during that minute ... that millions upon
millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. (Old) men who were on
battlefields ... told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the
Voice of God ... when God spoke clearly to mankind.
Armistice
Day has become Veterans Day. Armistice
Day was sacred. Veterans Day is not. So
I will throw Veterans Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don't
want to throw away any sacred things."
Rory
Fanning, a more recent veteran of the so-called global war on terror, wrote,
"Armistice Day was sacred because it was intended to evoke memories of
fear, pain, suffering, military incompetence, greed and destruction on the
grandest scale for those who had participated in war ... Armistice Day was a
hallowed anniversary because it was supposed to protect future life from future
wars.
"Veterans
Day, instead, celebrates 'heroes' and encourages others to dream of playing the
hero themselves ... But becoming a 'hero' means going off to kill and be killed
in ... one of our government's current, unending wars ... for reasons that have
very little to do with democracy or freedom. (The) day is more of a slap in the
face than a pat on the back to those who served, despite the endless thank
yous, parades, (etc.)."
I
applaud the Democrat-Gazette should they publish this, in the
interest of First Amendment freedoms, which our veterans are told they fight
for. Ironically, we should thank Trump's intermittent dark honesty in admitting
troops are fighting for oil in Syria. Bush and Obama were not half that honest.
If
we are sincere about honoring veterans, we must work harder at understanding
causes of wars, and harder at preventing them. What could be more disrespectful
to veterans than sending more youth to kill and die in another preventable war?
I
helped organize events for peace locally, including three months of weekly
"Stop Iran war" protests this summer, and rarely the Democrat-Gazette covers
them. KNWA and 40/29 cover them often, in more depth. I encourage the Democrat-Gazette to
offer more balanced war and peace coverage, or explain why not?
Abel
Tomlinson
Fayetteville
11/27/2019 NWA Letters to the Editor
Janine
Jackson takes a quick look at coverage of Veterans Day 2019, including the
origin and peacemaking purpose of Armistice Day.
MP3 Link FAIRNESS
& ACCURACY IN REPORTING
Table of Contents: OMNI Armistice Day Newsletter #13, November 11, 2019, 101st ANNIVERSARY
https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2019/11/omni-armistice-day-newsletter-november.html
NADG Reporting the End of
WWI Leading Not to Peace but as Veteran’s Day preparing for the next war, from
Nov. 8 to Nov. 12.
Let’s
Celebrate Peace Not War
Veterans
for Peace
World
Beyond War, David Swanson
The
Humanist
Calendar of Peace
Activities
Two Books offering an
alternative history:
Docherty and MacGregor, Hidden History:
the Secret Origins of the First World War.
Jack Beatty, The Lost History of 1914.
Other US Wars.
Kurt Vonnegut on
Armistice Day.
Buy an Armistice Day
shirt.
Read OMNI’s newsletters
on WWI and other US Wars.
END OMNI
ARMISTICE DAY NEWSLETTER #14
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