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VFP
eNews | November 9, 2023
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TODAY! – NOV. 9 • 3pm PST | 5pm CST| 6pm EST
“Thank You for Your Service (for Peace)”
This program offers a different twist to Armistice Day
commemorations by recalling the tens of thousands of service members
who opposed war and militarism during the Vietnam War and the civilians
who helped them.
• David Cortright, Moderator, Vietnam
era GI activist, scholar, author of Soldiers in Revolt.
• J.J. Johnson, member of the Ft. Hood
Three who refused orders for Vietnam in 1966 in one of the earliest
acts of collective GI resistance to the war (a VFP member).
• Susan Schnall, former Navy nurse who
was court-martialed for helping to organize an antiwar march of
soldiers and civilians in San Francisco in 1968 (current VFP Board
President).
• John Kent, former Navy fighter pilot
who turned in his wings rather than fly combat missions in Vietnam and
helped to organize the Concerned Officers Movement.
• Kathy Gilberd, executive director of the
National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force, a specialist on GI
rights who was active in the antiwar movement and helped to provide
legal aid for GI organizing (VFP Advisor).
• Paul Lauter, former Chicago Region
Peace Education Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee and
executive director of the U.S. Servicemen’s Fund, which provided
support for GI coffeehouses, underground newspapers, and organizing
projects.
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SUNDAY, November 12 • 5pm PT | 6pm MT | 7pm CT | 8pm ET
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An invitation from
Kathy Kelly, Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal Organizer &
World BEYOND War Board President
Weapon makers
project obscene profits from U.S. funding for war. Last week, over 100
activists held a die-in blocking
the main entrance of Raytheon's office in Tucson, condemning Raytheon's
complicity in the genocide of Palestinians by supplying missiles, bombs
and weapons systems to Israel. Here is a
list of action-oriented outdoor protests being planned in cities around
the world.
Following the
senseless "industrialized slaughter" of World War I, antiwar
protesters vowed to never again tolerate merchants of death dragging
them into horrific wars. On Armistice Day we say "war no
more" as we call out those who would profit from killing.
Over 1,000 people have registered for
the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal. Please register if you
haven't already, and encourage others to register, via THIS LINK.
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NOVEMBER 11th is ARMISTICE DAY!
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On today's
Veterans For Peace podcast (hosted by The Hector Black chapter out of
Nashville), Minneapolis VFP member Dave Logsdon, coordinator of
the annual Veterans For Peace campaign to reclaim Armistice Day, talks
about the importance of honoring the original intent of the holiday,
which was to celebrate and work for peace.
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A
PLEDGE and a CHALLENGE to VFP Members & Supporters from VFP
National Director, Mike Ferner
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Our bodies are
needed at the front lines of this struggle to end the genocide in
Gaza...and we are starting to answer the call.
Scattered across
the country, our members are carrying signs and speaking out. Some have
raised the volume by getting arrested in Senate hearings, hometown
Congressional offices and corporate headquarters of the Merchants of
Death.
But we can and we
must do more.
More of us must
vote...and I don't mean at a polling place. We must cast our
whole vote by throwing our bodies on the gears of the war machine and
joining our comrades who have been arrested in civil resistance
actions.
My pledge, which I
hope each of you who are physically able to will match, is this: I
will vote with my whole body in a civil resistance action at
my Congress Member's office. For obvious reasons I can't say
where or when, but soon, and I will let you know.
Considering what's
at stake, it's very little. If you've done it before, as many of
us have, you know it's nothing at all compared to what people are
suffering under our bombs. If you've not yet, you won't find a
better time than now to begin.
Now is when we show what Veterans For
Peace members are made of.
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Mike Ferner, Director
Veterans For Peace
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"Can't
add my name into the fight when I'm gone
And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone
Can't be singing louder than the guns when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here." -- Phil Ochs
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VFP
RESPONDS to CRISIS in GAZA
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ABOVE: VFP members
at the rally held in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston.
On October 30, VFP member Ann Wright's op-ed was published on Common Dreams:"The
US Government Is Complicit in the Genocide Taking Place Inside the Gaza
Ghetto." (Ann, from Bentonville, is one of
country’s finest peace activists.)
Veterans For Peace
is compiling actions taken by our members in response to the ongoing
crisis.
Find photos, videos, audios, and links to additional content on THIS PAGE.
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On September 28, 2023, VFP member James Yee was one of
those who testified at a special hearing on closing the detention camp
at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.
Chaired by Members of the European Parliament Clare Daly
and Mick Wallace, the event is taped and is available for online
viewing. [James Yee appears at minute 25:50 to 38:00.] Former prisoners
of the camp are joined by a prominent human rights activists advocating
for the closure of the detention camp and for the EU and its Member
States to assist in finding viable solutions for the relocation of the
remaining prisoners to third countries, and the guarantee of decent
living conditions for former prisoners wrongfully detained by the US
administration for years and then resettled.
Captain James Yee is a West Point graduate who
later studied Isam in Damascus, Syria. He served as a U.S. Army
chaplain and was assigned to Guantanamo Bay in late 2002 to minister to
the prisoners suspected of terrorism. Chaplain Yee reported the
prisoners' abusive conditions to his superiors and recommended ways to
both improve their conditions and maintain security. His superiors
tried to implement his recommendations, which ran afoul of others in
the intelligence section. Yee was then arrested, falsely accused and
subjected to abusive conditions himself while held in solitary
confinement. His family, legal defense team and political support
movement finally got him released with all charges dropped. He left the
U.S. Army with an Honorable Discharge, and has since written a book
about his experience, For God and Country,
Faith and Patriotism Under Fire.
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A
Musical Request from One of Our Readers
Bob
Dylan's superb anti-war classic, "Masters of War"
[listen | read the lyrics]
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THURSDAY,
NOVEMBER 9
3 PM Pacific | 4 PM Mountain | 5 PM Central | 6 PM Eastern
"Thank
You for Your Service (for Peace"
Panel
Event hosted by the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee
SEE description at
the top of this email or CLICK HERE for
info.
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SATURDAY,
NOVEMBER 11
Armistice
Day
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SUNDAY,
NOVEMBER 12 • 8 PM Eastern Time
Merchants
of Death War Crimes Tribunal
Livestreamed
Opening Session
The Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal will hold
accountable — through testimony of witnesses — U.S. weapons
manufacturers who knowingly produce and sell products which attack and
kill not only combatants but non-combatants as well. These manufacturers
may have committed Crimes Against Humanity as well as violated U.S.
Federal criminal laws. The Tribunal will hear the evidence and render a
verdict. INFO & REGISTRATION
HERE
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WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 15 • 4 PM Pacific Time
The
Madness of Militarism
In this Second Annual Ellsberg Lecture
presented by the Ellsberg Institute for Peace and Democracy,
journalist, author, and antiwar organizer Norman Solomon will discuss
what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness of militarism,” with a
focus on present-day U.S. militarism, its consequences, and
possibilities for overcoming its pervasive effects. REGISTER HERE.
Find previous EIPD programs and related links HERE.
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SATURDAY,
NOVEMBER 18
Special
Events with Le Ly Hayslip & Global Village Foundation
Le Ly Hayslip and Global Village Foundation are hosting
two special events in Southern California on Saturday, November 18: A
film screening of Oliver Stone's Heaven & Earth (the
1993 film based on Le Ly’s memoirs) followed by lunch and an author
panel, and a Global Peace & Legacy Awards Gala Dinner
in the evening. MORE INFO HERE.
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THURS–SAT,
NOVEMBER 23–25
World
BEYOND War Regional Peace Conference
Imagine Africa Beyond War
The objective of this regional conference is to
strengthen the collaboration amongst WBW Chapters and allies in Africa
and worldwide and envisage World BEYOND War’s blueprint for an
alternative security system as the approach to imagine Africa beyond
war. INFO & REGISTRATION
HERE
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WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 29 • 8 PM Eastern Time
Films
of the GI Antiwar Resistance
Hosted
by the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee
CLICK HERE for
info.
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LOOKING
FORWARD
July
15–August 19, 2024
Poor People's Army March
Also known as the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights
Campaign, the mission of the nonviolent Poor People’s Army is to keep
people alive and to build a cooperative economy and society. Endorsed
by Veterans For Peace, the two-week Poor People's Army March will go
from Mikwaukee – site of the Republican National Convention (July 15) –
to Chicago – site of the Democratic National Convention (August
19). The march will deliver the same message to both conventions: "We
reject corporate greed and demand an end to poverty."
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VFP
3407 S. Jefferson Ave, #219
St Louis, MO 63118
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