Hiroshima Beckons Obama

Published on Friday, October 30, 2009 by The Japan Times Online

Hiroshima Beckons Obama

by John Einarsen

For the past 64 years the name "Hiroshima" has conjured a nightmare vision for all humanity: the unthinkable specter of instantaneous atomic annihilation. Only by personally visiting Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the two cities that have experienced atomic bombing, can one begin to grasp the threat posed by the world's present arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Just one bomb, dubbed "Little Boy," devastated Hiroshima in a split second. By comparison, the potential destructive power of the more than 20,000 nuclear warheads deployed or stockpiled today by the United States, Russia, France, Britain, China, Israel, India and Pakistan gives bizarre new meaning to the term "overkill" — and proliferation continues.

Under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the U.S. puts nuclear weapons in the hands of Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. Israel is widely believed to have its own arsenal, North Korea has a test program, and R&D in Iran and reportedly Myanmar threatens to further destabilize already volatile regions.

Today, who does not fear even a single atomic bomb in terrorist hands?

While Hiroshima illuminates the world's darkest forebodings, it is also a beacon of hope — a witness reminding us at every opportunity that nuclear weapons must never again be used. Hiroshima's citizens stand certain in their knowledge of what the "atomic option" really means, and insist that our planet must be nuclear-free, a truth beyond politics or the ideology of nationalism.

This message is now global: Mayors for Peace, a Hiroshima/Nagasaki- initiated international network of local authorities campaigning for the elimination by 2020 of all remaining nuclear weapons, is supported by more than 3,000 cities in 134 countries and regions. Every visitor to Hiroshima and its Peace Museum comes face to face with a history from which we must all learn — or risk repeating.

Who better to visit Hiroshima, witness its message firsthand, and speak to the world's nuclear fears, than the commander in chief of one of the world's largest nuclear-equipped militaries?

Now, as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Japan on Nov. 12 and 13 offers him an unprecedented opportunity to build already-established momentum toward the abolition of nuclear weapons.

If Obama were to speak from Hiroshima (as no other sitting U.S. president ever has), this would allow the entire world to imagine a future no longer held hostage by fears of cold war, nuclear winter, or nuclear terrorism. As Obama has stated, political will and support for a nuclear-free world first requires imagination. An address from Hiroshima would be bold, historic and compelling.

Obama's groundbreaking April 5 speech in Prague — mentioned by many speakers at memorial events in Nagasaki and Hiroshima this past summer and widely reported in the Japanese media — shows just how closely attuned he is to the essence of Hiroshima's viewpoint:

"Now, understand, this matters to people everywhere. One nuclear weapon exploded in one city — be it New York or Moscow, Islamabad or Mumbai, Tokyo or Tel Aviv, Paris or Prague — could kill hundreds of thousands of people. And no matter where it happens, there is no end to what the consequences might be — for our global safety, our security, our society, our economy, to our ultimate survival.

"Some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be stopped, cannot be checked — that we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess the ultimate tools of destruction. Such fatalism is a deadly adversary, for if we believe that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then in some way we are admitting to ourselves that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable."

Obama showed his determination to confront this vital issue Sept. 24 by chairing a head-of-state U.N. Security Council session that unanimously passed an unprecedented resolution for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide. As yet, Hiroshima is not known to be on the U.S. president's November Japan itinerary. He already has, however, received an open invitation from Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba, thousands of Hiroshima's schoolchildren and many hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors).

Such a visit would be well-timed: It would appeal to Japan's eagerly progressive new administration, which has just swept the country's long-dominant conservative Liberal Democratic Party out of office. It would signify to the international community that the U.S. once again embraces a more farsighted and responsible role in international diplomacy.

It would demonstrate at a crucial juncture that the U.S. recognizes the horrific potential of nuclear weaponry (as President Harry Truman showed in his restraint during the Korean War) and is ready to join others, both in Japan and worldwide, in making much-needed efforts to eliminate that threat.

A November "Hiroshima Address" need not dwell on the circumstances of the past. More constructively, it could affirm the potential for everyone to learn from Hiroshima's experience and move decisively toward a nuclear-free future. Here is an opportunity to truly change history, dwarfing even U.S. President Richard Nixon's journey to China — an embodiment of "the audacity of hope," to which millions around the world have responded, and still yearn for.

President Obama, fulfill the promise of your Nobel Peace Prize — speak to the world from Hiroshima!

© 2009 Japan Times

John Einarsen, a Kyoto resident, served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, and is the founding editor of the international quarterly Kyoto Journal (www.kyotojournal.org [1]).

 

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

 

"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

 

Haunt Mikulski's office/Protest War Council/Uruguayan Voters Reject Chance to Prosecute Dictators

POP is joining together with students like Laura Musselwhite and others in the AMSA for a Halloween “treat, not trick” demonstration on Oct. 30 at four locations around the country.  The idea is to give out “treats,” urging Senators not to “trick” the nation’s patients with a bad ‘biologic’ medicines proposal.  The action sites are as follows:

 

Washington, DC: Russell Senate Office Bldg, Constitution & Delaware at 3:00 pm

Baltimore, MD: Barbara Mikulski’s office, 1629 Thames St.  at 2:30 pm

Raleigh, NC: Senator Kay Hagan’s office, 310 New Bern Ave @ 1:30 pm

Palo Alto, CA: Anna Eshoo’s office, 698 Emerson St, Palo Alto at 2:00 pm,

 

Call Bill Moyer at 206-356-9980.

 

Healthcare Not Warfare

 

Make our anti-war presence known at the White House while War Council meets!

 

When: 12 noon - 2 pm, Friday, Oct. 30th

Where: In front of the White House, 1600 Penn. Avenue NW

What: Us, the peacemakers, equipped with anti-war signs and noisemakers

Why: Because Pres. Obama is expected to announce a military surge over the weekend, and will be meeting with all of his war advisors Friday at the White House

Contact: pete4peace@gmail.com

 

http://www.truthout.org/1028097

 

Uruguayan Voters Reject Chance to Prosecute Dictators

Wednesday 28 October 2009

by: Sam Ferguson, t r u t h o u t | Report

 

A young girl poses for a photo at the Plaza de la ciudad de Treinta y Tres, Uruguay. (Photo: libertinus / flickr)

Montevideo, Uruguay - During Uruguay's last dictatorship, which ruled from 1973 to 1985, approximately 200 Uruguayans were forcibly disappeared. Thousands more were held as political prisoners and tortured. In this small country of 3.5 million people, hundreds of thousands fled into exile.

Last Sunday, October 25, voters here had the chance to repeal a controversial amnesty law, which has shielded many officials from prosecution for these crimes. The measure failed, garnering only 48 percent support.

The law, known as the "ley de caducidad," was passed in 1986, after pressure from military officers who refused to appear in court when cited in connection with the dictatorship's crimes. Uruguay's young civilian government quelled military resistance by passing the law.

Other countries here in the Southern Cone, such as Argentina and Chile, have done an about-face in recent years, prosecuting hundreds of former military officials after more than a decade of impunity. But little Uruguay, often referred to as the "Switzerland of the south" for its relative political and economic stability, has opted to move on from the past.

Jeremias Elmasian, a hotelier in Uruguay who did not support the initiative, said over lunch on Saturday before the election that "we have to look to the future."

Beginning in 2007, activists began collecting signatures to place an initiative on the ballot to repeal the law. In June 2009, the electoral court here confirmed that the campaign had turned in 258,326 valid signatures, more than the required 10 percent of the voting population.

Campaign organizers said the law was needed for "truth and justice."

Oscar Lopez Goldaracena, a human rights attorney and proponent of the initiative, said before Sunday's vote that the law was necessary to "put our law in line with international law and to recuperate our ethics."

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights declared the law contrary to the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights in 2008.

Yesterday was not the first time the Uruguayan public challenged the law. In 1989, Uruguayans also voted whether to repeal the law. It lost by a wide margin, 57 to 43.

Some here said that the new referendum was justified because the 1989 referendum was passed under military pressure. The amnesty law was originally passed after military officials refused to appear in court when cited by judges.

Juan Ferreira, who voted for the amnesty law in 1986 as a deputy in Congress, recently said on a television program here, "In this transition, we all had to do things we didn't want to," adding further that, "this is another Uruguay."

There was no organized campaign against repealing the amnesty law, but interviews with Uruguayans over the weekend suggest several reasons why the initiative failed to garner a majority.

Some criticized the revocation campaign, saying that the people had already spoken on the issue when the initiative failed in 1989.

Others, like Gonzalo Aguirre Ramirez, a former senator and former vice president, said that annulling the amnesty law harmed legal stability and was "very dangerous." "Imagine if you get divorced and then you remarry. Then, the state annuls the marriage law and prosecutes you for bigamy. This is the path we're taking."

Aguirre Ramirez also said that the law, which he voted for in 1986 as a senator, "pacified the country, and allowed us to get to elections."

Others said that the amnesty was fair because political prisoners and guerrillas were amnestied as well. Marta Caraballo, a telephone center employee, said she did not vote for the law because "when you lose a war, you lose. We have to move on."

Aguirre Ramirez called the amnesty "a just solution. For 15 years it worked well. We amnestied the tupamaros - the urban guerrilla group, which operated prior to and during the first years of the dictatorship "and the military."

Campaign organizers did not take the defeat as a sign that Uruguayans support the amnesty law. Maria Martinez of the NGO familiars, a group of family members of disappeared Uruguayans, pointed to the mechanics of Uruguay's voting system, where plebiscites are supported by dropping a "yes" flier into an election envelope. A plebiscite needs a majority of the entire voting population. Thus, abstentions are treated equally as voters who oppose the plebiscite. "I don't believe that more people would have voted for the amnesty law than voted against it," she said in an interview on Monday.

Martinez also said that the campaign had a hard time reaching voters in the interior of the country.

Explaining the plebiscite's failure, socialist presidential candidate Jose "Pepe" Mujica, who won the first round of presidential elections for the ruling Frente Amplio coalition with 48 percent of the vote, said in a press conference after the elections that holding plebiscites at the same time as presidential elections "confused" voters. His vice presidential candidate, Daniel Astori, however, said they'd respect the "will of the people."

The Frente Amplio officially supported the revocation campaign, but joined late and only gave tepid support.

Notably, the campaign drew disproportionate support from younger Uruguayans, though many were only children during the last dictatorship. A public party for the vote was scheduled outside of the University of the Republic.

Youth here have been moved by the stories of six Uruguayans, who were kidnapped as children after their parents were assassinated by agents involved in "Plan Condor," a clandestine cooperative campaign between Latin America's military governments to find dissidents and exiles living abroad. The six - Carlos D'Elia, Victoria and Anatole Julien, Macarena Gelman, Mariana Zaffaroni and Amaral Carcia - were all active in the campaign to repeal the amnesty law.

Ramon Centurion, a young employee at a newspaper stand on Montevideo's Avenida 18 de Julio, said the day before the election, "I see the children of the disappeared, their stories, in the newspapers. It gives me goosebumps. There has to be justice." On Tuesday, he was forced to close his stand temporarily as a large march in support of revoking the law made its way down Avenida 18 de Julio, the city's downtown artery. Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets, covering more than 15 city blocks.

Luis Gonzalez, a taxi cab driver, displayed a pink "yes" flier on the inside of his cab, the campaign sign of the anti-amnesty campaign. "They killed people, tortured and kidnapped. It's time they pay," he said, explaining his support for the initiative.

Ironically, the loss is likely to have little practical effect.

On October 19, six days before the election, the Supreme Court here held that the amnesty law was unconstitutional. But due to Uruguay's legal system, the law is not null. The decision has moral force in other cases like it, but is not binding in all cases as it would be in American courts.

Activists said they will continue to challenge the law in court.

Furthermore, several high profile cases against officials from Uruguay's dictatorship have already reached the courts because of an exception written in the amnesty law.

The original amnesty law required all cases against the military to be sent to the president, to determine whether the charged crimes were contemplated by the law. Until 2005, not one case had been declared outside the amnesty. But since then, after Tabare Vazquez assumed office as Uruguay's first leftist president since the dictatorship, several dozen cases have proceeded. Vazquez has excluded cases concerning kidnapped children and homicides against Uruguayan exiles as part of Plan Condor, such as the 1976 murder of Uruguayan politicians Zelmar Michelini and Hector Gutierrez in Buenos Aires.

On Thursday, former Uruguayan dictator Gregorio Alvarez was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the death of 37 people while he was chief of the Army. In another case, Juan Maria Bordabery, the dictatorship's first de facto president, is currently being investigated for the deaths of four Uruguayans, including Michelini and Gutierrez, in Argentina in 1976.

Election night was an emotional roller coaster for supporters of the law. For an American, it felt like a repeat of the 2000 presidential race.

At 8:30 PM, an hour after polls closed, Luis Eduardo Gonzalez, a pollster for Channel 2, announced that the amnesty law was repealed.

At the headquarters of the PIT-CNT, Uruguay's national labor coalition and the principal supporter of the initiative, activists for the campaign screamed in celebration. Union organizer Luis Puig embraced and hugged everyone around him.

But when a press conference was called at 8:45 PM, campaign officials waited outside, crowding around a small television as journalists wondered why nobody showed up to comment.

Then Channel 12 announced it had jumped the gun: The initial exit polls were incorrect. The press conference was delayed until more details emerged. Euphoria at the PIT-CNT sunk into angst, despair and confusion. Relatives of the dictatorship's victims began to cry.

By 9:30 PM, all the networks predicted that the initiative would lose, with 48 percent of the vote.

Finally, at 10:30, in a somber state, Puig, the union's representative on the campaign, reconvened the press conference. Flanked by 12 other activists, he conceded that the initiative was not likely to pass. But, he added, "the fight for truth and justice won't end ... because our society won't allow us to live with impunity."

One activist for the campaign, Lille Caruso, commented on the loss the day after the election, "Evidently, we're still divided."

Click here to Subscribe

 

Listening to Justice Goldstone

The African World

 

Listening to Justice Goldstone

 

By Bill Fletcher, Jr.,

BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor

Black Commentator

October 29. 2009

 

http://www.blackcommentator.com/348/348_aw_justice_goldstone.html

 

On Friday night I was completely engrossed in an

interview conducted by Bill Moyers of Justice Richard

Goldstone [Click here for the transcript of the

interview: http://tinyurl.com/yllft94.]

 

Justice Goldstone, a Jewish South African with

impeccable credentials as an international human rights

advocate and investigator, was charged by the United

Nations with the task of conducting an investigation

into allegations of human rights abuses and war crimes

which took place at the time of the Israeli invasion of

Gaza in December 2008.  The result, a report adopted by

the United Nations Human Rights Council this past week,

while finding war crimes committed by both sides,

represented a stinging indictment of the activities of

the Israeli military in its attack on the Gaza.

 

Moyers, an outstanding interviewer, posed tough

questions to Goldstone, many of which were derived from

criticisms of Justice Goldstone by anti-Palestinian

forces for alleged bias.  In fact, a clip of Israeli

Prime Minister Netanyahu addressing the United Nations

(played during the show), made such charges quite

explicit.  Justice Goldstone never wavered.  A

committed Zionist and long-time friend of Israel,

Goldstone described the Israeli behavior in no

uncertain terms as an act of collective punishment

against the people of Gaza for having elected Hamas

(the Islamic resistance movement) in the first place.

 

The executive summary of the report (the report itself

is more than 500 pages) is extremely compelling.  Drawn

from interviews conducted by Justice Goldstone's

committee, the report paints a picture of what one can

only be described as barbaric vengeance on the part of

the Israelis.  The supposed reason behind the attacks

lay in the firing of rockets at Israeli communities by

Palestinians from Gaza.  While the firing of rockets

against civilian targets is understood internationally

to be a war crime, the Israeli government had been

manipulating the situation against the Gaza for some

time, conducting a blockade and, in fact, breaking the

truce that had been agreed to with Hamas.  In that

sense, the Gaza invasion seemed to be a logical

extension of the behavior of the Israeli government to

neutralize Hamas.  It was also consistent with the sort

of behavior one observed when Israel conducted its

aggressive war against Lebanon in 2006, destroying

civilian targets, e.g., airports, and using cluster bombs.

 

On Friday night Justice Goldstone was absolutely

steadfast in his commitment to the conclusions of his

report.  This has been striking not just in his

responses to Moyers' questions on Friday night, but

also in terms of his responses to criticisms in the

immediate aftermath of the release of his report.

While many people with less courage would have

retracted their report or, at least, segments of their

report, Goldstone stood firm and absolutely unapologetic.

 

The issuing of the Goldstone report, and its adoption

by the UN Human Rights Council, is another signal that

something is changing with regard to attitudes towards

Israeli aggression and the Israeli occupation of the

Palestinian territories.  Try as anti-Palestinian

pundits might, it has been very difficult to debunk the

report.  Had the chair of the investigating committee

been someone more closely identified with the

Palestinian struggle for self-determination, the

Israeli allegations of bias might have had greater

international weight.  In the case of Goldstone's

report, such charges simply did not/do not pass the

straight face test.  Even the United States, with the

shameful criticism of the Goldstone report by

Ambassador Susan Rice, could not identify one factual

error in the report or one concrete reason that would

support a notion of alleged bias.

 

The Goldstone report needs to be popularized.  While

most people will not read its 500+ page analysis, the

gist of the report needs to be broadly circulated.  It

is a condemnation of the horrific approach that the

Israeli government has taken, not only towards Gaza,

but towards the entirety of the Occupied Territories.

As such, it must be used as another argument as to why

economic, political and military support for the

Israeli government and its Occupation needs to be halted.

_____________

 

BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, Bill Fletcher,

Jr., is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy

Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica

Forum and co-author of, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis

in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice

(University of California Press), which examines the

crisis of organized labor in the USA

 

US Drone Strikes May Break International Law: UN

Published on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 by Agence France-Presse

US Drone Strikes May Break International Law: UN

by Agence France-Presse

UNITED NATIONS - US drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan could be breaking international laws against summary executions, the UN's top investigator of such crimes said.

According to independent reports, only 10 out of the 70 cross-border strikes in Pakistan were able to hit their actual targets.

"The problem with the United States is that it is making an increased use of drones/Predators (which are) particularly prominently used now in relation to Pakistan and Afghanistan," UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Philip Alston told a press conference.

"My concern is that drones/Predators are being operated in a framework which may well violate international humanitarian law and international human rights law," he said.

US strikes with remote-controlled aircraft against Al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan have often resulted in civilian deaths and drawn bitter criticism from local populations.

"The onus is really on the United States government to reveal more about the ways in which it makes sure that arbitrary extrajudicial executions aren't in fact being carried out through the use of these weapons," he added.

Alston said he presented a report on the matter to the UN General Assembly.

He urged the United States to be more forthright about how and when it uses drone aircraft, something about which the US Defense Department and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) usually keep silent.

"We need the United States to be more up front and say, 'OK, we're willing to discuss some aspects of this program,' otherwise you have the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely no accountability in terms of the relevant international laws," Alston said.

Since August 2008, around 70 strikes by unmanned aircraft have killed close to 600 people in northwestern Pakistan.

"I would like to know the legal basis upon which the United States is operating, in other words... who is running the program, what accountability mechanisms are in place in relation to that," Alston said.

"Secondly, what precautions the United States is taking to ensure that these weapons are used strictly for purposes consistent with international humanitarian law.

"Third, what sort of review mechanism is there to evaluate when these weapons have been used? Those are the issues I'd like to see addressed," the UN official said.

© 2009 Agence France-Press

 

 

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

 

"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

 

Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 1

Baltimore Activist Alert Oct. 29 – Nov. 19, 2009

 

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.

The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center.  Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com.  If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.  Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

 

The Baltimore IndyMedia Center publicizes peace-related events. Go to http://www.radicalendar.org/group/_baltimore.

 

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists  

4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA  

5] Used stamps for humanitarian causes

6] Donate to send students to Berlin for Peace Prize Laureates

7] “Most Dangerous Man In America” film – Oct. 29

8] Eyewitness Honduras – Oct. 29

9] Film THE NUCLEAR COMEBACK – Oct. 29

10] Death penalty meeting – Oct. 29

11] Marriage Equality celebration – Oct. 29

12] Nonviolent Peacemaking – Oct. 29

13] End Mountaintop Removal Day – Oct. 30

14] WIB Inner Harbor peace vigil – Oct. 30

15] WIB Roland Park vigil – Oct. 30            

16] White House vigil – Oct. 30              

17] Justice for Palestine/Israel vigil – Oct. 30

18] Support The Congo demo – Oct. 30

19] Silent vigil at Homewood Friends – Oct. 30

20] Vigil at Walter Reed – Oct. 30                  

21] Documentary WETBACK – Oct. 30                                   

22] Ballroom dancing – Oct. 30                                    

23] Olney vigil to end the war – Oct. 31                                   

24] Peace vigil in Chester, PA – Oct. 31                                           

25] Peace vigil at Capitol – Oct. 31

26] Autumn Fest ’09 – Oct. 31                     

-------

1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available.  “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Call Max at 410-366-1637.

 

2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/.  Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073.

 

3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR].  It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed.  It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.

 

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to donmuller@msn.com.  Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.  

 

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe.  It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing.  To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed.  If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.  

4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale.  For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2009/08/check-out-our-new-cafe-quetzal-order-form-1.html.

Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. Make the check out to HoCoFoLA and send it with your order form to HoCoFoLA, PO Box 94, Columbia, MD  21045. Contact Pat McLaine at 410-964-0960 or pamcl@aol.com.  The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up.

5] – Brad Hathaway spearheads an effort to sell donated used stamps to raise money for different humanitarian causes around the world. Go to www.mattapoisettquakers.org, and click the link for the stamp ministry.  Carefully clip canceled postage stamps and send to Quaker Missions, PO Box 795, Mattapoisett, MA 02739. Send no small flag stamps or Liberty Bell Forever stamps.

6] – Suheir Khajuria is a member of Chesapeake Physicians for social Responsibility.  She has been invited by IPPNW with two other students from the USA to participate in the Annual Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin in November.  The students, though, are struggling to raise funds for travel.  Consider making a donation at http://sites.google.com/site/medstudentsforpeace/home.  Any donations are tax-deductible contributions to IPPNW, and any amount is welcome.

7] – On Thurs., Oct. 29 at 6:30 PM, “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” [US, 2009] will be shown as part of the DC Labor FilmFest’s 1st Annual WHISTLEBLOWER FILM SERIES; at the Capitol Visitor’s Center, located on the East front at First Street and East Capitol Street, NE. FREE admission; open to all. In 1971, America is embroiled in a dirty war based on lies. A president is abusing the power of his office, ignoring the will of the people, congress and the courts. One man, at the center of power, armed with a safe full of secret documents, leaks the truth about the Vietnam War to the New York Times. He risks life in prison to end the war he helped plan. His act of conscience and desperation triggers a Constitutional crisis, Watergate, the only Presidential resignation in history and finally helps end the war. Henry Kissinger called Daniel Ellsberg, "the most dangerous man in America.” The speakers are Daniel Ellsberg and directors Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith. Call 202-974-8153.

8] – EYEWITNESS HONDURAS! is happening on Thurs, Oct. 29 at 7 PM at the Solidarity Center, 2011 N. Charles St. Lower Level.  A twelve-person U.S. Delegation in Solidarity with the Honduran Resistance has just returned from Honduras. Hear Teresa Gutierrez, national co-coordinator for the International Action Center, and Leilani Dowell, managing editor of Workers World Newspaper. Call: 443-909-8964

9] – On Thurs., Oct. 29 at Red Emma's, 800 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21202, see the free film: THE NUCLEAR COMEBACK.

 

10] – The Coalition Against the Death Penalty will meet Thurs., Oct. 29 at 7 PM at the AFSC, 4806 York Road.  Agenda items will include getting the men off of Maryland’s death row, the Troy Davis case and the new lethal injection protocols.  Call 410-488-6767 or 443-838-3221. Email bcadp @ comcast.net. Go to www.stopexecutionsinmaryland.org.

 

11] – The Human Rights Campaign, communityevents@hrc.org, on Thurs., Oct. 29 at 7 PM, presents Soulful Voices for Marriage Equality, a faith celebration, working towards marriage equality in the District of Columbia. It will be a night of moving music, dance, inspiring testimony and spiritual sustenance at Asbury United Methodist Church, 11th St. & K St. NW, WDC 20001.

 

12] – On Thurs., Oct. 29 from 7:30 to 9:30 PM, the fifth session in a six-week series “Engaging Our Conflicts: An Exploration of Nonviolent Peacemaking” takes place.  This is a Just Faith module based on Pace E Bene’s ENGAGE program.  This group will meet each Thursday evening through Nov. 5 at St. Francis of Assisi Church, Muncaster Mill Rd., Derwood, MD.  To register, call or email Charles McCarthy, director of Social Concerns at St. Francis at 301-840-1407 or cmccarthy@sfadw.org.

13] – The National Day of Action to End Mountaintop Removal is Fri., Oct. 30 from noon to 2 PM on the lawn of EPA headquarters, 12th St. NW and Constitution Ave. NW, WDC (Federal Triangle Metro). Contact Kate at krooth@ran.org. Go to http://dirtymoney.org.

14] – Women In Black sponsor a peace stand/vigil on Fri., Oct. 30 from noon-1 PM at the Inner Harbor, corner Pratt and Light.  Everyone welcome, wear black if you can.  See http://www.peacepath911.com/ or write wibbaltimore@hotmail.com or call 410-467-9114.

15] – There is also a noon vigil on Fri., Oct. 30 at Roland Park Place at 830 W. 40th St.  Call 410-467-9114. 

 

16] – A peace vigil takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM on Pennsylvania Ave., by the press gate to the White House. It is organized by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker. Call 202-882-9649.

 

17] – A vigil for Justice in Palestine/Israel (now in its 8th year) takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at 19th & JFK Blvd., Philadelphia (across from Israeli Consulate.  It is sponsored by Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East. Email cswartz@pil.net. Go to http://phillyjewishpeace.org/.

18] – There is a peace vigil to support the Congo every Friday, 4 to 6:30 PM at the Rwandan Embassy, 1714 New Hampshire Ave, NW.  Call the Rwandan Embassy at 202-232-2882 and register your concern about Rwanda's aggression towards the Congo.

19] – There is a silent vigil on Fri., Oct. 30 from 5 to 6 PM outside of Homewood Friends Meeting, 3107 N. Charles St., in opposition to war with Iraq. Placards say: "War Is Not the Answer." The silent vigil is sponsored by AFSC, Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings.

 

20] – SHED LIGHT ON US WAR CASUALTIES: FROM THE FRONT LINE TO THE BACK DOOR of Walter Reed Army Medical Center (North Gate), every Friday night, from 7 to 9 PM in the middle of the 7100 block of Georgia Ave., NW. Call 202-441-3265. Go to http://www.codepinkalert.org/Local_CODEPINKs_Washington_DC.shtml. 

 

21] – The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee is hosting its latest FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS VIDEO SERIES. The theme is Poverty and its Manifestations.  The second film in the series is WETBACK: THE UNDOCUMENTED DOCUMENTARY [Canada, 2005], and it will be shown on Fri., Oct. 30 at a private home.  If interested in seeing the DVD, RSVP to Max at 410-366-1637.

 

Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary is an 2005 Canadian documentary film, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and written and directed by Arturo Perez Torres. The filmmakers follow Nayo and Milton (whose surnames are not given), migrants from Chinandega, Nicaragua as they cross through Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and the United States in their attempt to reach Canada. Along the way, other migrants are interviewed as they are detained by Mexican authorities. Catholic human rights workers in Chiapas also offer their perspectives, particularly on the abuse of migrants by gangs such as the

 

Doors open at 7 PM, and the DVD starts at 7:30 PM.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available.  A discussion will follow.

 

22] –  There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM.  Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St.  Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Oct. 23. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.                  

 

23] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. in Olney, MD.  The next vigil is Oct. 31. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167. 

 

24] –  Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org.

 

25] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Sat., Oct. 31. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com.

 

26] – The Baltimore and D.C. Chapters of Veterans For Peace are hosting AUTUMN FEST ’09 on Sat., Oct. 31 in Millersville, MD from 3:30 to 8:30 PM.  For your contribution [a favorite dessert from your group + a suggested $20] to Veterans For Peace you’ll receive homemade vegetarian chili, the opportunity to hear toe-tapping tunes from Bob Perilla’s Big Hillbilly Bluegrass band, a roaring bonfire and the chance to listen to the vocals of Ryan Harvey.  There will be yummy desserts to share.  If you need directions to 1712 Baldwin Drive, Millersville, MD 21108 or if you are using public transport, call 410.721.3482 or email autumnfest@comcast.net.

 

To be continued.

 

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

 

"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