Working for Peace on Earth and Peace with Earth since 1952
Working for Peace on Earth and Peace with Earth since 1952
Russia is occupying Europe's largest nuclear power plant, in southern Ukraine. In the words of Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency the situation there "is completely out of control" and "Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated.”
Russian President Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons to get his way in Ukraine
We say,
Watch Democracy Now 8/4/2022
"As a former mayor of Hiroshima, Japan, I call for President Vladimir Putin and the world leaders to immediately declare the disuse of nuclear weapons in this conflict!
I also call for Prime Minister Kishida, who is from Hiroshima, to take a stand and attend the United Nations Security Council meeting to convey the cry of the Hibakusha!"
This is no joke. The media are talking about the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons with only one-third the power of the Hiroshima bomb.
As of 3/16 some 91,000 people have signed. Click here to see whole petition.
Memorial Service
For Palestinian-American Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh
New Milford Green
Sat. May 21, 2022
Meet on sidewalk in front of Post Office
Just before 11:00 a.m.
We will have a solemn event on the Green
Holding Placards
With some remarks
Please wear black if you can
sponsor: Middle East Crisis Committee
New website Justice for Shireen
Protest the Kidnapping of the Alabbasi Family
and American Psychotherapist KamAlmaz
The Alabbasi family was taken by Assad forces 9 years ago [See below]. Dr. Majd KamAlmaz is an American psychotherapist taken at a checkpoint in Syria in 2017. all efforts to free them or even account for them have failed.
Hear
Naila Alabassi - a physician and sister of Rania Alabbasi.
Qutaiba Idlbi - Syria Fellow at the International Center for Transitional Justice
Maryam KamAlmaz - daughter of Texas Syrian-American psychiatrist (taken at a Syrian checkpoint in 2017)
Saturday, May 14, 2022
1 p.m.
Register for the event here:
https://tinyurl.com/PEPeventMay14
Facebook Event Invite your friends
Everyone you see in the picture on the right was kidnapped by Assad forces on March 9, 2013. The mother depicted, Rania Alabbasi, was a dentist and Syria's most famous chess champion. In addition to the 8 people shown here the secretary of Ms. Alabbasi was also taken.
Nothing has been heard about any of these 9 people since they were taken.
Click here to watch a 3/7/22 interview with Hassan Alabbasi, Rania's brother who is in Ottawa.
Ask your local media or Congress to raise this issue.
Write to producers@democracynow.org and ask DN! to cover the story.
Here's the link to register
Speakers:
Alex Kuzma - Chief Development Officer for the Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation and has been a spokesperson for the Ukrainian-American community in Connecticut. See his talk at the April 1 march by clicking here
Nidal Betare - a Palestinian refugee, was born and raised in Syria's Yarmouk camp and lived there until December 2011. He is now based in Washington, D.C., where he works as a senior programs manager at People Demand Change He’s written several important articles on the Syrian uprising and its cruel repression.
He wrote "The Assad Dynasty Was Hatched at My Grandfather’s Home. They Later Destroyed it"
New Lines Magazine and
The Palestinian political class has become a heavy burden on the people - The Washington Post
and his most important article "Yarmouk Refugee Camp and the Syrian Uprising" | Journal of Palestine Studies
Moderated by Stanley Heller, PEP Administrator
ample time for Q. and A.
link for archive of articles about Ukraine and Russia
link for archive of articles about Syria
from Joe Gerson of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security
Friends,
Following is the non-personal content of a note that I received from my friend Oleg Bodrov in St. Petersburg. I think you'll find it interesting, and most will find it inspiring. You will also note that Putin has put his nuclear weapons on a higher state of alert and the crisis has led Japan's prime minister to raise the possibility of inviting the U.S. to again base nuclear weapons in his country.
FYI: The petition against the War in Ukraine was signed by about 900.000 Russian citizens. "The Russian authorities have made it more difficult to further sign this document via the Internet from Russia. Thus, the increase in the number of signatures has become slower. But I think by tomorrow evening the number of signatories of the document will be 1 million.
I am very concerned that the fighting is taking place on the territory of Ukraine, where 15 nuclear reactors continue to operate. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant with unloaded nuclear fuel is not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. It is surrounded by Russian tanks. According to information from the Ukrainian nuclear city of Slavutich, shift personnel who must replace their colleagues at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant cannot travel by train to this nuclear power plant. That is, the regular operation of this NPP has been disrupted! This poses a great danger not only for Ukrainians, but also for Europe.
I think we need to make a special statement about this. And finally, it is possible that the Russian authorities will block communications with Russian citizens from other countries." Oleg Bodrov - Chairman of the Public Council of the South Coast of the Gulf of Finland, Interregional Environmental Movement of the Leningrad Region and St. Petersburg. Website: http://decommission.ru/english/
A number of groups have joined to condemn Governor Ned Lamont’s trip to Israel and are planning a protest on Thursday, Feb. 24 on the day he returns from that country. It will start at 1 p.m. outside the Old State House (5 Market St.) and continue in front of UConn’s Hartford branch on 10 Prospect Street.
Co-sponsoring groups are: Jewish Voice for Peace (New Haven), Middle East Crisis Committee, Tree of Life Education Fund, Poetic Release UConn, Middle Eastern Students Association UConn, African Student Association UConn, Black Muslim Association UConn, American Muslims for Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine CT, Students for Justice in Palestine UConn, Muslim Student Association UConn Storrs, Muslim Student Association UConn Hartford, Arab Student Association UConn, Promoting Enduring Peace, Doctors Without Borders UConn, Socialist Resurgence
Stanley Heller of the Middle East Crisis Committee said, “CT Governor Ned Lamont is in Israel making business deals. He evidently doesn't care one bit about the recent Amnesty International report finding Israel guilty of the international crime of apartheid. Apartheid has been considered an international crime for decades. Israel’s wretched and systematic mistreatment of Palestinians is well-known and because of that it should be beyond the pale for business dealings. Lamont says, ‘Israel is a perfect fit because they are the leading innovators in life sciences, and biotech and the defense industry’. We say their ‘innovations’ in defense and security are based on trying out weapons on Palestinians whether by bombing them or through draconian spying on all aspects of Palestinian life.”
Along with Governor Lamont on the trip is interim President of the University of Connecticut Dr. Radenka Maric. A number of student groups at UConn are opposed to her presence on the delegation. Speaking on behalf of the UConn Students for Justice in Palestine, its president Lena Maarouf said, "UConn claim to want an innovative ecosystem yet continues to prove that Palestinian rights are not on their agenda. We support the rally to tell UConn that we want no part in their newest venture into an apartheid state responsible for the murder of thousands of Palestinians. We will not be silenced. "
Speaking on behalf of the UConn Muslim Student Association Hartford Jenna Rabah said, "Days ago in the heart of our campus, Governor Lamont and our new interim President, Radenka Maric, proudly boasted about their trip to Israel this week to attract Israeli startups to come to Connecticut. They stood proudly to talk about a country that is ethnically cleansing our people as we speak. A state that’s detaining children without convictions, a state that’s mercilessly demolishing entire residential buildings, a state that robs Palestinians of the right to access clean water and healthcare. This brutalitarian regime even steals peoples' intrinsic rights to movement. We approve of this rally as a way to protest UConn’s contribution to ethnic cleansing and the annexation of Palestine."
Issues with Connecticut investments in Israel have surfaced before. Groups have been unhappy with the investment of pension fund money in Israeli stocks, bonds and currency. Last June (2021) the Connecticut Treasurer’s Office reported it held $85 million in those assets.
The March will be led by drummers with stops at Eversource (CT's largest utility), Travelers (the worst insurer for climate in the world), DEEP, and finishing at the State Capitol where the Governor and legislators will be kicking off the legislative session.
Masks will be required for this event and all related Covid safety protocols will be in place.
Sponsors: Acadia Center, Blue Earth Compost, Collaborative Center for Justice, Congress of Community Colleges (4Cs), Connecticut Chapter Sierra, Club, Connecticut Citizen Action Group, Connecticut Clean Water Action , Connecticut Climate Crisis Mobilization (C3M), CT Coalition for Environmental & Economic Justice, CSEA SEIU Lcl 2001, Democracy4All, Drinking Liberally Meriden, Drinking Liberally Windsor, Eastern Connecticut Green Action, Efficiency for All, Indivisible West Hartford, National Association of Social Workers, No More Dirty Power in Killingly, Recovery4All Coalition, Save the Sound, Sunrise Movement Connecticut, UAW Region9A, Unitarian Universalist Society East
Back in the days right after 9/11 a number of us went to demonstrations with signs saying "Stern Justice, but No War". We argued Bin Laden and his gang could be pursued and destroyed without invasion of Afghanistan. Our message was drowned out by the anger and war fever. Bush and the Republicans and Democrats united to conquer Afghanistan and to reorganize it as an ally government. It would be a shining example of neoliberalism and supposed democracy. For 20 years the fiction was maintained that this plan was working. Not any more. Perhaps now people will understand there was an alternative in 2001 and more importantly there was an alternative to the whole Western strategy of conquest and domination.
The events in Afghanistan are a catastrophe, proof of the total failure of militarist strategy outlined in the “The New American Century (1997)” and other visions of U.S. empire.
We need to take long look at US involvement in Afghanistan, well before 9/11, all the way back to Carter and Brzezinski arming of mujahedeen
There was a alternative back in 2011, stern justice, but not war. Recall that in the end Bin Laden was killed by a special force, not in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan.
There was an alternative after the U.S. invaded in October 2001 and defeated the Taliban main forces. See this segment on Democracy Now from August 20.
Tasks for Today
For all its terrible bombings from Afghanistan to Palestine to northern Syria, the US has a moral obligation to take in hundreds of thousands of refugees. (It did just that after Vietnam.)
The U.S. should take in the women and children and the poor, not just the people who collaborated with the U.S. war machine.
It’s time to close up many US bases abroad, to stop the ability of U.S. militarists to meddle and attack foreign countries.
In 1933 Congress had a special commission to investigate the influence of weapons makers and high finance on the U.S. entry into the Great War (World War I). There should be a Congressional investigation now to document: a) How the military-industrial complex pushes for war b)How the corporate media glamorizes war and gives soapboxes to retired military figures c) How billions in weapons the U.S. military handed over to the Taliban in Afghanistan
A fine archive of articles about Afghanistan can be found on "The Struggle" site by clicking here that will include this statement by RAWA, the revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan.
Click here for an article about Jawad, an Afghan refugee to the United States and his difficult experiences.
State representative Robyn Porter and member of the City Council of Hamden, Justin Farmer denounced the killing of black youth. The first speaker was Mubarak's sister, Mariyann.
See video of the Rally on June 27
On June 26 on the Black Lives Matter Instagram channel over 26,000 watched Mariyann Soulemane speak about her brother and his shooting (1/15/20) after he was entirely surrounded by CT Trooper and West Haven police cars. There have been no indictments, no firings and no reports.
Come to the vigil that takes place 3 days after Mubarak would have been 21 years old at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Hall Sts. in West Haven. (820 Campbell Avenue) More about the case: WestHavenCall.com
Sponsors: Justice for Mubarak, Black Lives Matter (national), Promoting Enduring Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace (New Haven), Black Alliance for Just Immigration, West Haven Black Coalition, Justice for Jayson, Justice for Steven Barrier, Democratic Socialists of America AfroSocialists & Socialist of Color Caucus
Daniel Ellsberg was given our Gandhi Peace Award in 1976 for his bravery in issuing the Pentagon Papers. In 2107 he wrote The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner in which he told of his years in the nuclear war making department of the Kennedy Administration. There he learned that the strategy of our military for any war with the Soviet Union was to launch a full military strike with expected hundreds of millions dead.
He leaked a document this year (2021) that showed that in the '50's the U.S. military wanted to use nuclear weapons to defend Quemoy and Matsu, two "rocks" off the coast of Taiwan.
The event will be moderated by Joseph Gerson, president of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security , and a peacenews columnist.
Click here for link to register for the Mass Peace Action program
It was a brazen attack on April 7, 2021. A masked man attacked 2011 Gandhi Peace Award winner Rabbi Arik Ascherman with a stick. Ascherman was in a private Palestinian field belonging to shepherds. He was trying to foil the newest settler tactic, "guard and secure". Settlers bring their flocks to Palestinian fields. If Palestinians object they are driven off. Eventually the claim is that this is the settler's land. See the video of the attack here.
See our April 27 press release here. Send a complaint to the Israeli Ministry of Public Security. Their email is applications@mops.gov.il Please BCC us a copy at office@pepeace.org You could simply write, "I've seen the video of the latest attack on Rabbi Ascherman that happened on April 7. Why have there been no arrests? What is the state of the investigation? If the suspects had been Palestinians would the weeks drag on without any reports?"
Read NYT columnist Nick Kristof's tribute to Ascherman in 2010.
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