Peace Diplomas distributed at JHU

Friends,

 

Today, members of the Pledge of Resistance continued the tradition of handing out peace diplomas during graduation ceremonies and protesting the weapons research at Johns Hopkins University.  The weather was lovely, the music delightful and the ambience was effervescent.  One police officer indicated we had to take “our show across the street.” But after we explained that we have a First Amendment right to engage the populace, there were no more attempts to prevent us from our efforts at promoting peace with justice.

 

Kagiso,

 

Max

 

PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE-Baltimore, 325 East 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218 

Ph: 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES & FAMILIES May 21, 2009

 

 

We, members of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, bestow this Peace Diploma with the hope your life will be one of seeking peace and working for justice.

 

          As you depart from Johns Hopkins University, you are quite aware that the economic climate is possibly the worst it has been since the Great Depression.  And the situation is not helped by the fact that the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq are expected to cost taxpayers well over one trillion dollars.  Despite the election of a new president, the warmongering continues.

 

       Revelations in recent years have detailed how U.S. operatives had been involved

in the torture of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba and other unnamed countries.  False confessions helped justify the invasion of Iraq, and lawyers in the Bush administration concocted legal memos which authorized the use of cruel interrogation tactics.

 

     The U.S. Empire has created a permanent war economy.  Since the empire needs weapons, the Pentagon awards research contracts to corporations and educational institutions to fulfill the need.  The Johns Hopkins University, for example, in fiscal year 2007 was #78 on the Department of War Top 100 list of military contractors receiving $619,680,141 from the Pentagon. According to the Applied Physics Laboratory website, it obtained from the U.S. Navy $510 million to perform military research.

 

          Those sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles sent into Iraq were tested by APL scientists.   The lab is a major developer of technology for warships and also continues to receive millions of dollars for research on the long-discredited Star Wars program. The APL develops and conducts missions to meet warfighter needs in space.

 

         Baltimore faces many funding problems, and the city government is forced to cut back desperately needed social services.  The money diverted towards war research at the Hopkins lab would be better spent in Maryland on projects which enhance life.  Let President Ronald Daniels know that you oppose weapons research at Johns Hopkins.

 

        We in the peace movement will continue to speak out.  We urge you to add your voices.