Join us in handing out peace diplomas at JHU's commencement on May 22 at 8 AM

The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore will hand out peace diplomas at the Johns Hopkins University commencement in the football stadium on University Parkway on Thurs., May 22 from 8 to 9 AM. Afterwards have breakfast at One World Café. RSVP at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net.

PLEDGE OF RESISTANCE-Baltimore/Fund Our Communities, 325 East 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218 Ph: 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net

CONGRATULATIONS GRADUATES & FAMILIES May 22, 2014

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, the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq seem unending. Sadly, Barack Obama has continued the foreign policy of the previous administration.

JHU contributes to the death and destruction caused by U.S. military incursions. The U.S. Department of Defense [sic] announced on February 15, 2013, that "The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), Laurel, Md., is being awarded a five-year, sole source, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, task order contract (N00024-13-D-6400) for research, development, engineering, and test and evaluation for programs throughout the Department of Defense (DoD). The maximum ceiling amount is $2,296,583,964 for up to 11,964,743 staff hours of research and development in the core competency areas approved for JHU/APL by DoD which include: strategic systems test and evaluation; submarine security and survivability; space science and engineering; combat systems and guided missiles; theater air defense and power projection; and information technology (C4ISR/IO); simulation, modeling, and operations analysis."

As part of this contract, the JHU/APL is doing research on unmanned aerial vehicles/Reaper and Predator killer drones. We oppose this research as at least 2,500 people have been killed by U.S. killer drones. President Obama’s Kill List included as many as six U.S. citizens who were assassinated without any regard for a constitutionally-protected due process.

Get involved with the Human Rights Working Group at Johns Hopkins University, and sign its petition--http://hrwgjhu.wordpress.com/drone-petition/. The organization has sponsored a series of forums challenging the Top Secret swarming drone research at the university. The organization has made this observation: “JHU’s Applied Physics Laboratory [APL] has been deeply involved in developing technology for military drones, and huge new Pentagon contracts are now bringing drone weapons research to the Homewood campus. Because many of the university’s military contracts are classified, we do not yet know the full extent and nature of Hopkins’ drone research.” GET HOPKINS OUT OF DRONE RESEARCH.

We applaud the Foreign Affairs Symposium for establishing the Anne Smedinghoff Memorial Scholarship and for presenting the 2014 award to Shabana Basij-Rasikh. Sadly, last April, Anne Smedinghoff (Class of 2009) was killed in a suicide bomb attack in southern Afghanistan while trying to deliver books to underserved school children. Basij-Rasikh, from Afghanistan, is dedicated to women's education, despite the very difficult circumstances she will face in her home country. Consider making a donation to the Anne Smedinghoff Memorial Fund.

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

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs