Category Archives: North America

United States : There Are Anti-War Candidates

. .DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. .

An article from David Swanson

I don’t have any use for PEP politicians (progressive except on the Pentagon), but there are going to be serious members of the U.S. Congress next year who aren’t afraid of flags and war songs. There are going to be a lot more than (AOC+3) four of them.


CORI BUSH

One is going to be Cori Bush from St. Louis who won her primary against a long-time incumbent. She’s recently tweeted the following:

“If you’re having a bad day, just think of all the social services we’re going to fund after we defund the Pentagon.”

“Militarization makes up 64% of our federal budget. Medicare & Health are 6%. Education is 5%. Social Security, Unemployment, and Labor together are 3%. Ignorance is thinking those priorities keep our families safe.”

“220K+ people, including 1,700 healthcare workers, have died from COVID-19 due to our government’s inability to protect its citizens & pass pandemic relief. Ignorance is Trump’s Pentagon taking $1 billion in funding designated for PPE production to make jet engine parts.”

“@BernieSanders and @EdMarkey proposed a 10% cut on the Pentagon budget to use to fund health care, housing, childcare and educational opportunities for cities and towns experiencing a poverty rate of 25% or more. Ignorance is blocking this bill knowing it would save lives.”

“Ignorance is paying Lockheed Martin more than $1 trillion over the course of a 60 year contract for a dysfunctional F-35 program. Ignorance is letting their CEO take a $20 million dollar salary while military veterans go homeless.”

“The Department of Defense has never passed an independent audit, yet we continue to give them money unchecked. Ignorance is the Trump administration *INCREASING* the Pentagon budget by more than $100 billion since he was elected.”

“Ignorance is giving weapons of war to local police departments with no accountability or oversight. Ignorance is calling us radical for saying that’s wrong.”

Cori Bush may appreciate this billboard going up in St. Louis. And I’m sure she fully appreciates that she’s up against Joe Biden on all of the above just as much as Trump. But she’s not going to be alone.

JAMAAL BOWMAN

Jamaal Bowman of New York said of his now-defeated primary competition:

“My opponent, Representative Eliot Engel, and I do not share the same foreign policy vision. He voted for one of the worst policy disasters of my lifetime — an unjust and costly 2 trillion dollar war in Iraq. He voted against President Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement which put a lid on Iran’s nuclear program. He went on CNN this past year and said he didn’t want to tie Trump’s hands when it came to strikes on Iran. He was one of only 16 House Democrats in 2016 to vote against an amendment that blocked the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia which has been relentlessly dropping them on Yemeni civilians. My opponent accepts donations from corporations and arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. He supports a hawkish and costly foreign policy agenda instead of focusing on the communities in our district that have been neglected for far too long. We must dramatically reduce the Pentagon’s budget over the next ten years, end the forever wars, and rebuild a diplomacy-first approach through the State Department. We have been in Afghanistan for 19 years, in Iraq for 17 years, and in Syria for five years. Congress must reassert its authority to bring our troops home.”

Engel stood by his warmongering and sank with it. This means that a different warmonger will become the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, while Engel likely heads off to make the big bucks from a yet-to-be-named weapons dealer.

MONDAIRE JONES

Mondaire Jones of New York also won his primary. His website says:

“The United States has been at war for most of my life — wars that have led to hundreds of thousands of people being killed and millions more displaced. We were led into the disastrous war in Iraq under false pretenses. The war in Afghanistan has been raging for almost 19 years. We are contributing to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, in Yemen, by providing weapons to the Saudi-led coalition. Extreme war powers, and a reluctance by members of Congress to exert oversight, have enabled the Trump Administration to bring us dangerously close to the brink of war with Iran. . . . Enough is enough. Our national security depends on a sane approach to American foreign policy that centers diplomacy, peace, human rights, and cooperation on the challenges facing our world. We must stop fighting endless wars. As a member of Congress, I will fight to finally repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which has given the executive branch a blank check to pursue foreign wars having nothing to do with the September 11th attacks. I will work to bring an end to existing conflicts, including the war in Afghanistan, through inclusive peace processes that center human rights, including women’s rights. I will support barring the sale of weapons to human rights violators, including Saudi Arabia, and I will support redirecting funds towards conflict prevention, including through development aid to reduce poverty and inequalities and combat climate change. . . . Our budgets reflect our values and priorities. Currently, the United States has chosen to prioritize investing in war and weapons ahead of providing for the basic needs of our people. The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) allocates a whopping $738 billion dollars for military spending. We spend more than approximately the next seven countries combined. It is estimated that we have spent almost $6 trillion dollars on the Global War on Terror alone. The United States maintains hundreds of costly military bases in dozens of countries throughout the world. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has gutted funding for the State Department and USAID, making the United States less able to lead on diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to address our world’s biggest challenges. As a member of Congress, I will push to reduce military spending and reinvest this money in the State Department, to strengthen diplomacy and peacebuilding, as well as domestically, in programs that meet the needs of our civilian population. I will fight to prioritize investment in human security approaches, which focus on meeting the human needs of people and protecting our environment.”

Those three are going to be added to Congress anew. That’s a big improvement. A couple more might get in, the first more likely than the second.

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Question for this article:

The peace movement in the United States, What are its strengths and weaknesses?

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MIKE SIEGEL

Mike Siegel, who won his primary in Texas, has not a word on his website but has said this:

“Let’s rebuild the State Department and our diplomatic corps. Let’s revamp our foreign aid spending to encourage the development of civil society and local economies. And instead of over-spending on war industries, let’s invest in the domestic safety net and the conditions for peace around the world.”

QASIM RASHID

Qasim Rashid, who won his primary in hyper-militarized Virginia, says on his website:

“The United States spends twice as much on national defense as China and Russia combined. We can spend this money more wisely and find ways to cut costs. US defense spending priorities must focus on foreign threats, assemble the defense infrastructure necessary to protect Americans from these threats, and support the men and women who defend our way of life, while they’re serving and after they serve.”

“[W]e should not be running our foreign policy through the Pentagon. It’s time to invest in diplomacy, and take time during the COVID-19 pandemic to think about what national security truly means in a 21st century world.”

Then there are incumbents.

PRAMILA JAYAPAL

This co-chair from Washington State of the extremely unreliable Progressive Caucus recently said:

“This will be a top priority of the progressive caucus — to really get some meaningful budget cuts in Pentagon spending this next cycle.”

She recently tweeted:

“We must retire the days of incremental change and usher in a new age of bold, progressive transformation. That means finally cutting wasteful defense spending to make long overdue investments in health care, infrastructure, and clean energy.”

MARK POCAN

Jayapal and Pocan, of Wisconsin, recently wrote:

“Every dollar wasted at the Pentagon is a dollar not being spent on test kits, personal protective equipment or contact tracing. Every handout to Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman is money that could have been spent on ending this pandemic, keeping small businesses afloat and staving off an economic meltdown. We hope our colleagues will join us in voting to cut the Pentagon budget, so we can redirect funding to where it’s needed in our communities.”

KATIE PORTER

A possibly ally is Katie Porter who recently asked a Lockheed Martin executive:

“Why should the taxpayer foot the bill to help Lockheed Martin at this time?”

Then there are the five most reliably antiwar Congress Members of recent years:

ILHAN OMAR

RO KHANNA

RASHIDA TLAIB

AYANNA PRESSLEY

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ

That makes a possible baker’s dozen out of 435 House Members, not counting 100 Senators. There are more:

BARBARA LEE

In July, Congresswoman Lee of Oakland and Congressman Pocan announced the formation of a Defense [sic] Spending Reduction Caucus. I have been unable to learn who is in it.

PETER DEFAZIO

EARL BLUMENAUER

Defazio and Blumenauer of Oregon have been relatively outspoken, even on their websites.

JIM MCGOVERN

Congressman McGovern of Massachusetts is a pretty reliable vote.

There are others.

This year 93 House Members voted to move 10% of military spending to human needs on a vote that was not even close and on which none of them were threatened or bribed by their party “leadership” to vote the wrong way, and with Trump available as the target of their rhetoric. Could boosting the number of members willing to speak out against militarism to over a dozen boost the number willing to vote against it on even the weakest measures to over 93, even if the White House changes?

There are numerous other candidates for Congress whom people have claimed should be added to “the squad” but unless they will talk about war and peace, they’re not getting a jersey on my squad and they’re not serious about what they claim to be serious about.

There may be others I don’t know about. Please add them in the comments under this article on davidswanson.org.

Not a single one of these members of Congress has ever proposed their ideal federal budget. The Progressive Caucus has a budget proposal that is much improved over past years in that it would move a teeny bit out of military spending, specifically $63 billion out of the off-the-books slush fund, $38 billion out of supplemental spending, and $62 billion out of the Pentagon’s budget. That’s $163 billion moved to useful things out of well over $1 trillion going to militarism.

Most Democrats and all Republicans in Congress are not listed above. The same goes for almost all “white” Congress Members. Also wildly under-represented here: men in Congress. Almost all Democrats running for Congress have zero foreign policy or budget positions on their website at all, other than their great love for veterans. In my view, what happens will depend very largely on public activism. Can we make opposing militarism mainstream, respectable, acceptable? Can we make warmongering marginal, shameful, despicable? We have to try.

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

Montreal: Demonstration for “climate justice”

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from the Tribune de Geneva (translation by CPNN)

Several thousand people demonstrated in Montreal on Saturday for “climate justice”. Several organizations had called for the rally to advocate for the social project “linking ecological action to social justice”. “Social justice – climate justice – same fight,” proclaimed a large banner, while another called for a “just and green revival”.


As of September 27, 2019, nearly half a million people had already marched through the streets of Montreal. AFP

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(Click here for the original article in French

Question for this article:

Despite the vested interests of companies and governments, Can we make progress toward sustainable development?

Are we seeing the dawn of a global youth movement?

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Last year, on September 27, nearly half a million people marched through the streets of Montreal with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg as part of the “global climate strike.” The march was called “the biggest demonstration in Quebec history” by one of the organizers.

Children’s shoes

Among the organizations that called for the demonstration on Saturday, on the occasion of the world day of climate mobilization, were notably the student coalition for an environmental and social shift (CEVES), “the planet is invited to parliament” and the ” coalition for the de-financement of the police ”.

The protest began in front of a downtown monument that until recently housed the statue of a former prime minister of Canada. The bronze statue of John A. Macdonald, accused of carrying out a policy of forced assimilation of indigenous populations, was thrown to the ground in late August during an anti-racism rally.

Children’s shoes were placed in front of the monument to symbolize the threat of climate change to new generations.

North America, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

United States and Canada: International Day of Peace

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION .

A survey by CPNN

Here are 148 events for the International Day of Peace located in all the United States as well as 11 events in Canada in five provinces. In order to save space, one event is given in detail for each state and province and internet links are provided for the others.
The events were listed in Google during the week of September 21-28 under the key words “International Day of Peace,” “peaceday” or “Journée Internationale de la Paix” or were listed on the following websites:
– Campaign Nonviolence
– International Cities of Peace Facebook
In addition to the above events, there were several hundred singing events listed on the websites of One Day One Choir and Montessori schools singing for peace, but it was not possible to distinguish events of 2020 from events in previous years.



Here are excerpts from the articles.

* * * CANADA * * *

ALBERTA

CALGARY : Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented her from coming here to accept the award in person, Stephanie Nolen remains grateful for being named the recipient of the Calgary Peace Prize for 2020. Awarded by the John de Chastelain Peace Studies Initiative at Mount Royal University, the Calgary Peace Prize recognizes outstanding individuals from the global community who work towards making the world a more just, safer and less violent place. As the world marks the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21, the recipients of the prize remain important examples of working towards that elusive goal. . . “Stephanie Nolen’s reporting has shone a light on some of the most important peace and justice issues of our time,” said acting Peace Prize co-ordinator and MRU policy studies professor Kari Roberts, PhD. “Her leadership through journalism has informed and engaged Canadians, giving them the information they need to promote change. Her work covering wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the AIDS epidemic, gender inequality and other humanitarian crises in Africa, Asia and South America has given voice to victims and explained these events to Canadians.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

TSAWWASSEN : Each year on the United Nations International Day of Peace, Sept. 21, the Rotary Club of Tsawwassen gathers with community leaders to celebrate peace in our families, our workplace, our schools, and our community. . . Rotary will also be recognizing an individual, group or organization living in, working with or serving the Tsawwassen community to create a culture of peace by combating racism, violence, discrimination, bullying, corruption or any other issue that creates conflict or disharmony.
.
KAMLOOPS
PRINCE GEORGE

MANITOBA

WINNIPEG : As in the past, Days of Peace brought together a number of  committed Participating Places who are doing their utmost to raise awareness and commit to act all in the name of promoting positive peace.

ONTARIO

TORONTO: McLaughlin College of York University held a zoom webinar for the World Day of Peace

Statement by Canadian Prime Minister
CORNWALL
OTTAWA VALLEY
OTTAWA

QUEBEC

MONTREAL : As every year, the September 21 Collective  co-organizes an event for the International Day of Peace with the  Days of Peace.  The main activity, which is called Bearer of Words, consists of questioning the world on issues facing our society in relation to current events and a desire for peace. This year 2020 marked by the pandemic raised the following question: COVID and me … what lessons can be learned for peace?  We will be on September 21, 2020, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Place de Lahaie in Montreal to ask this question and post the answers.

* * * UNITED STATES * * * *

ALASKA

KETCHIKAN : Students and community members wrote messages of peace on paper flags and tie-dyed cloth face masks Saturday. It’s part of this year’s celebration of “Kings for Peace Week.” (Eric Stone/KRBD). Students and community members rallied in Ketchikan Saturday as part of an annual event known as “Kings for Peace Week.” It’s a commemoration of both peace on the international stage and community togetherness. . . The celebration this year looks radically different than it did in years past. There’s usually a Peace Day assembly, a Peace Day dance — this year, there’s a Peace Day dance challenge on Instagram. And, of course, never before have students tie-dyed face masks.

HOMER

ALABAMA

SCOTTSBORO : Organization: Contemplative Interbeing. We will be practicing centering prayer, loving kindness meditation, and tonglen each day of CNV action week.

ARKANSAS

LITTLE ROCK : Arkansas Peace Week is a program of activities with a mission to educate and promote peacemaking in our society and raise awareness of organizations working to build a lasting peace in Arkansas.

ARIZONA

DOUGLAS
PRESCOTT
SEDONA
TUCSON

CALIFORNIA

MENLO PARK : Organization: Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice: Let us move from fear to friendship! Hosted by American Muslim Voice and Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice, we will begin with spiritual music and sharing a virtual picnic, followed by a program with prayers from Muslim, Jewish, Baha’i, Quaker and Christian traditions, poems composed and read by children, and three featured speakers. We will close with a ceremony “Light the Night for Peace & Justice” from our homes.

CASTRO VALLEY
EUREKA
LAGUNA WOODS
LOS ANGELES
MANHATTAN BEACH
MORROW BAY
NAPA
OAKLAND
OJAI
ORANGE Sisters of St Joseph
ORANGE League of Women Voters
PLEASANT HILL
SAN DIEGO Peace Resource Center
SAN DIEGO Baha’i
SAN DIEGO Franciscans
SANTA BARBARA
SEBASTOPOL
SOQUEL
SUNNYVALE
VISALIA

COLORADO

DENVER : Organization: Capitol Heights Presbyterian Church. Service in Prayer for Peace: A Zoom service devoted to prayer for peace.

CONNECTICUT

MYSTIC : The United Nations International Day of Peace provides an opportunity for all individuals to come together in spirit and action to forward the ideals of and conditions for peace. This global day of peace is observed in cities, towns and villages worldwide. The Peace Sanctuary is a fitting place to celebrate our local history of peace with a short guided walk, yoga and meditation. Meets at the bottom of driveway at the Peace Sanctuary, 233 River Road in Mystic. This program is suited for adults and older, interested children. Preregistration is required, this program is limited to 15 people and masks are required.

NEWINGTON
NEWTOWN
WEST HARTFORD

DELEWARE

WILMINGTON : Peace Week Delaware: We continue to profess our mission to promote nonviolence by building a community whose members value equity and justice while demonstrating compassion. Our challenge has become more immediate as our community suffers the pain and trauma of the health and economic uncertainties of the pandemic. Peace Week Delaware event organizers are already planning events that will heal us and propel us forward. With sensitivity, creativity, and courage, they will summon us all to action by educating, inspiring and, where need be, deconstructing.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

WASHINGTON : Organization – InterFaith Council of Metropolitan Washington. Unity Walk. Now in it’s 16th year, the Unity Walk is a public demonstration of solidarity and unity for all faith groups in the DC metro area. Drawing over 1,000 people of all ages and backgrounds, participants visit 11 different houses of worship in upper Northwest DC, engage in mini facilitated dialogues with each other and with members of the clergy, sample traditional foods, and partake in service projects.

WASHINGTON – Death Penalty Action
WASHINGTON – Training in Early Warning

FLORIDA

HOLMES BEACH : Pandemic won’t stop AME Peace Day, The show must go on. Technology and a resilient spirit among students and staff at Anna Maria Elementary School means Peace Day will be celebrated this year. Virtually. AME guidance counselor Susan Tabicman said beginning Sept. 9 components of Peace Day will be recorded and then spliced to create a video. The video will be shown Sept. 21 in classrooms at the Holmes Beach school. “It’s different, but the whole year is different,” said Tabicman. “They’re adapting. Our kids are really pretty resilient.” Peace Day will open with fifth-grade students performing a socially distanced flag ceremony. Also, Anna Maria Island Rotary Club representative Judy Rup will give a keynote address. As they do every year, students will create art projects and write essays and poems in line with the event theme, which for 2020 is “Shaping Peace Together: Celebrate the Day by Spreading Compassion, Kindness, and Hope in the Face of the Pandemic” . . . Inspiring the younger generation to celebrate peace, Tableman said, is the point of the event.

GAINESVILLE
LAKEWOOD RANCH
ORLANDO
WINTER PARK

GEORGIA

  DAWSON COUNTY : On Monday, Sept. 21, the Rotary Club of Dawson County held an International Day of Peace ceremony honoring the first responders of Dawson County. The ceremony, which took place at Veterans Memorial Park, featured speeches from Rotary Club President Sharon Hall, Commission Chairman Billy Thurmond, Representative Kevin Tanner, Rotary District Governor Elect Mike Berg and a letter read on behalf of U.S. Rep. Doug Collins. Each speech honored the first responders of Dawson County, from the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, Dawson County Emergency Services and Dawson County Public Works. “We have a lot of opportunities throughout the year to honor our veterans and those who have served in the military, but sometimes it’s easy for us to forget those folks who get up every day and work every night protecting us here at home,” Tanner said. “Thank you for all you do, those that are out in front and those who are behind the scenes like our 911 workers, our jail personnel, our court staff and others who we don’t get to see all that often but are just as important.”

ATLANTA
GAINESVILLE
 
HAWAII

HAWAII : Buddhist bishop invites Catholics to join in peace day bell ringing. Bishop Eric Matsumoto of the Buddhist Temples of Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii in a Sept. 7 letter asked Bishop Larry Silva to invite Catholic parishes to ring their bells for Peace Day 2020, Sept. 21. The bell tolling is the main feature of the “Ring Your Bell for Peace Day” Zoom event sponsored by Honpa Hongwanji. “Because it is such a challenging time with so much happening in our nation and around the world, I thought we need to reach out even more to each other,” the Buddhist bishop told Bishop Silva. “More than ever, it is essential that we let mutual understanding, respect and appreciation guide us. Thus, I would like to ask for your blessing.” To participate from one’s temple, church, school, home or favorite place, all you need is a bell to ring, and a cellphone, computer or another device to connect online via Zoom. Register in advance at hongwanjihawaii.com/peaceday2020. Peace Day in Hawaii, Sept. 21, was established by state law in 2007 as a day “to promote peace programs, improve international relations, and increase educational awareness of peace.” Hawaii was the first state to join more than 200 countries in celebrating the United Nations International Day of Peace and Non-Violence, which was established in 1981.

HONOLULU
HONPA HONGWANJI MISSION
KAUA’I
KEAAU

IOWA

IOW CITYA : International Day of Peace is being recognized in Iowa City Monday evening, with a caravan of peace. According to PEACE Iowa, the caravan will begin at City Park at 5:45 p.m. The procession will travel around the city, decorated with short messages of peace. Participants are expected to return to the park at about 6:45 p.m.

CEDAR RAPIDS
CLINTON-virtual walk
CLINTON -Franciscan Peace Center
DAVENPORT
DUBUQUE

IDAHO

BOISE : Organization: Idaho Campaign Nonviolence. Using social media to spread peace and justice.

ILLINOIS

CHICAGO, IL : Organization: Chicago Peace Day. September 21, 2020, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm. Peace Day in Chicago: 42nd Anniversary “Shaping Peace Together”. An Online Live Streaming Event. There has never been a more important time for each of us to take positive action for peace. Chicago comes together on Peace Day to create the energy of peace, celebrate peace and share peace-building skills with the goal of helping everyone be a peacemaker in daily life. This intercultural event promotes unity, respect and getting involved in healing our city and our planet. This year’s new online format allows us to connect with peacemakers from around the world. Chicago will be featured in a positive light on the world stage through the global broadcast of Peace Weekend 2020.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS
CHICAGO -Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation
CHICAGO -Chicago Theological Union
ELGIN
JOLIET
LOVES PARK
NAPERVILLE
ROCKFORD
ROCK ISLAND
WOODSTOCK

INDIANA

INDIANAPOLIS : Organization: Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters. Entering the Narrow Gate, School of Spiritual Formation. Explore the classic elements of monastic, spiritual & contemplative life to discover how this ancient wisdom, learning and spiritual practice might be understood and lived in new settings & life today.

KANSAS

KANSAS CITY: Organization: PeaceWorks Kansas City Sat. & Sun. Sept. 26-27, 11am-5pm online PeaceWorks Art Fair for local artists at www.peaceworkskc.org This helps beginning artists, local and ethnically diverse artists bring their artwork to an online audience in 2020 due to the pandemic. The art fair will promote Pace e Bene’s Campaign Nonviolence. This is PeaceWorks KC’s main fundraiser.

WICHITA

KENTUCKY

LOUISVILLE : Organization: Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion
Morning Practice of Nonviolence, Led by Peacemakers. Start your day with intention-setting: be refreshed and set-a-path that supports the inner work of nonviolence. Each daily presenter will use their own combination of reflection, readings, prayers, meditation, or music for this 30-minute session. Morning Practice for Nonviolence is a free offering on DGCEC’s Zoom platform. Register here or call 502-614-5616 to receive the Zoom link which enables connecting in on one or all of the sessions.

LOUISIANA

SLIDELL : Organization: Pastor, United Methodist Church. Prayers, bible study, and sermon for peace.

MAINE

CASCO : Organization: Unity Center for Spiritual Growth. Silent Saturday. This is an opportunity to enter into silence, meditate in our beautiful gardens and open yourself to the Divine Presence. In this supportive atmosphere you will be able to put aside the preoccupations of daily living and listen to the inner movement of Spirit. During the day you will be alone to engage in whatever form of meditation suits you. We will also partner with the local rotary for a Peace Vigil.

MARYLAND

COLLEGE PARK” Organization: DC Peace Team/ Online Training: In this session, the participants will get familiar with the use of the method known as early warning early response (EWER). This approach aims at improving Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) strategies against different threats that can surge in the current US context. The idea is to increase the preparation of Peace Team members by fostering a collective reflection on how we communicate with each other, how we analyze and understand a threat and how we prepare ourselves to respond to it.

NEW WINDSOR

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Question related to this article:

What has happened this year (2020) for the International Day of Peace?

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MASSACHUSETTS

BOSTON, MA : We have planned and organized the Boston area celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace each year since 2010. This year’s theme is Shaping Peace Together during this time with pandemics of Racial Injustice, Violence, and COVID-19. The Reverend Rodney Dailey (New Bethel AME Church, Lowell MA) will once again serve as emcee. The planned program is below, followed by information about the people who will be speaking or performing, links to programs and videos of our previous events, and then a list of our sponsors. We hope you will join us and enjoy the program.

CAMBRIDGE
MARBLEHEAD
PALMER
WORCESTER

MICHIGAN

ALPENA : Local Girl Scouts gathered at St. Paul Lutheran church to show off their main project promoting peace commemorating international peace day.  Each year the Girl Scouts decide on a project they want to complete and this year they decided on a peace book.  This project won them a silver award issued by the state of Michigan. The book was put together for the Alpena Peace Coalition and includes input from the community about what peace means to them.  The girls are hoping that the tips provided in the book will inspire change in the community.

CHEBOYGAN
GREATER LANSING
KENOSHA
ROCHESTER

MINNESOTA

ST PAUL : Organization: Twin Cities Nonviolent, Harry Bury. By participating in this 10 Days Free From Violence in the Twin Cities, in whatever way you or your organization take action against violence of any form, you can join with us to spread the word about action in which you are involved in the Twin Cities and surrounding areas.

LITTLE FALLS

MISSISSIPPI

JACKSON : Organization: Pre School Program. Reading and peace lesson with pre-school students. Peace Cranes Lesson.

MISSOURI

KANSAS CITY : Organization: PeaceWorks Kansas City. PeaceWorks Kansas City will hold its annual UNplaza Art Fair Sept. 26 and 27 at Southmoreland Park, located between 45th and 47th Street (Emmanuel Cleaver Blvd) and Warwick Blvd. and Oak St. In Kansas City, Missouri. There is no cost to attend the Fair. The Art Fair features local artists of all ages, ethnicities, races, LGBTQI, and abilities, and many are beginning artists. Unlike the nearby corporate-backed Plaza Art Fair, we also offer affordable art. Non-profits that work for peace and the common good are also invited to set up informational booths. This year we are inviting musicians, spoken word artists, poets to perform and activists to give speeches on Peace issues.

MONTANA

HELENA : Organization: Oregon City UMC. Campaign Nonviolence Peace Event!

ARLEE

NEBRASKA

LINCOLN : Organization: Nebraskans for Peace. 9/26 9:30am – 3pm. This year’s peace conference marks the 50th anniversary of “Nebraskans for Peace,” the oldest Peace & Justice organization in the country. Workshops will explore “Examining the Concept of ‘White Fragility’ through an Anti-racist and Race Equity Lens” and “Making the Green New Deal a Reality.” Keynotes will address “The Future of Food” and “U.S. Global Dominance and StratCom’s Role.” For complete schedule, go to NFP Facebook page or www.NebraskansforPeace.org. Watch any or all of the day’s presentations on Facebook or at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChBw6W–I52s5II_BH_qEwg/

OMAHA :

NEW HAMPSHIRE

CONCORD : Action Details: Personal prayer and meditation for peace on the International Day of Peace, September 21st.

NEW JERSEY

WYCKOFF : Organization: Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace. Confronting Climate Change, Ourselves and Our Future with Faith – Led by Jeff Renner. Online Sunday, September 20 – 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Pacific Time

NEW MEXICO

TAOS, NM : Organization: Nonviolence News. Nonviolence News Happy Hour, Friday, Sept 25, from 4-5pm ET: Every two weeks, we gather to discuss what’s been happening in Nonviolence News. It’s a time to learn new tactics, weigh strategies, discover new applications of nonviolence in our world. Come! It’s fun. Cosponsored by MK Gandhi Institute and Nonviolence International. This event is free, but registration is required. Learn more and sign up.

ALBUQUERQUE-St. John XXIII Parish :
ALBUQUERQUE- Holy Cross Albuquerque :
ALBUQUERQUE-Justice4FaithABQ

NEVADA

LAS VEGAS : Organization: Las Vegas Catholic Worker. Fri., Sept. 25, 2020 from 10 – 11 a.m. in front of Lloyd George Federal Courthouse, 333 Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV 89101 (E. Clark Ave. & Bonneville), signs provided, free parking on 7th between Clark Ave. & Bonneville, Questions- (702) 647-0728 or julia@lvcw.org

NEW YORK

ITHACA

Mark International Day of Peace by joining fellow Cornell students for an online interfaith vigil. This brief service will invite you to pause, pray & meditate, hear from students about what peace means to them, and learn about opportunities to practice peace on and off campus. Vigil will be followed by a 90-minute workshop that will invite students to think about action toward peace through the lenses of spirituality and social justice. All current Cornell students are invited to attend.

NEW YORK – UNITED NATIONS : Speaking in front of the Japanese Peace Bell on the grounds of the UN Secretariat, Mr. Guterres outlined how the coronavirus is putting peace at risk, prompting him in March to appeal for a global ceasefire shortly after the pandemic was declared.  “Beyond war zones, the pandemic is highlighting and exploiting inequalities of all kinds, setting communities and countries against each other,” he stated.  Prior to ringing the bell, the Secretary-General called for a minute of silence for victims of war and conflict around the world.  . . The Secretary-General described the Peace Bell as a symbol of unity, cast from coins and medals donated by people all over the world.  It was gifted to the UN by Japan in 1954. Mr. Guterres noted that Japanese culture has a deep appreciation for natural imperfections and flaws, as reflected in an art form known as kintsugi, which takes broken pieces of pottery and fuses them together using golden lacquer.   “The result is a piece that is not ‘good as new’, but ‘better than new’. As we mark the International Day of Peace, let’s apply this principle to our fractured world,” he said. “Let’s address the fragilities and inequalities that work against peace, so that we emerge from the crisis stronger than before.   Let’s push for peace wherever conflict is raging and wherever there are diplomatic opportunities to silence the guns.  Let’s prioritize peace and build a safer future for all.”   The Peace Bell ceremony was beamed globally via live feed, with the UN chief and the new UN General Assembly President, Volkan Bozkir of Turkey, standing at appropriately distanced podiums, in line with COVID-19 measures. 
 
BROOKLYN
ISLIP
NEW YORK
NY MUSEUM OF HIP HOP
ROCHESTER
WANTAGH

NORTH CAROLINA

SYLVA : Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, marked the 39th International Day of Peace. Some people in Sylva celebrated the day with an interfaith vigil, calling for peace and racial justice.“It is not enough to see, you need to do,” one of the speakers said. Reconcile Sylva and the local NAACP chapter organized the event. It was a part of Campaign Nonviolence. “What more could you want in life then to live in peace,” said Dana Patterson, chair for the community coordination committee for the NAACP. Patterson said the vigil was important for many reasons.“For a community like that to bring us together to talk about what it means to actually achieve peace that is huge, that’s huge for such a small community,” said Patterson adding that she hopes continued discussions like this bring about a better world for children.

RALEIGH

NORTH DAKOTA

FARGO, ND : Organization: Nativity Church. Becoming a peace maker at school and at home lessons taught at Nativity School. Grades K – 5.

OHIO

BRUNSWICK : St. Ambrose School in Brunswick is among the schools that participated in the 2020 Pinwheels for Peace initiative on Sept. 21 a part of the International Day of Peace. Students created pinwheels during their art classes and each class had a short prayer service for peace as they placed their pinwheels on the school grounds at 923 Pearl Road, Brunswick. Art teacher Julia Kinley also had her students reflect on the day through chalk drawings on the school sidewalks. Students who are learning virtually had the opportunity to participate in this project, as well, and were invited to come and “plant” their pinwheels outside the school.

CINCINNATI
CLEVELAND
DAYTON

OKLAHOMA

MOORE : Organization: Norman Peace and Justice Center. “Resilience as a Community” A Miller Lecture event with Leymah Gbowee.

OREGON

HILLSBORO : Organization: Ultraviolet Women’s Resistance. Westside Ultraviolet, the city of Beaverton and Rotary International will install a new Peace Pole this September, proclaiming “May Peace Prevail on Earth”. The Peace Pole will be installed at Denney Gardens, a Habitat for Humanity community, on September 20, as part of Beaverton Welcoming Week. Please join us at a virtual, Facebook live-stream event on September 21 at 7 pm, featuring the Peace Pole dedication and peace activities honoring the International Day of Peace. The theme for the International Day of Peace is “Shaping Peace Together.” Celebrate the day by spreading compassion, kindness and hope in the face of the pandemic and joining us on Facebook live!

ASHLAND
BURNS
PORTLAND
SHERWOOD

PENNSYLVANIA

PHILADELPHIA : Peace Day Philly 2020 September 2020 marks 10 years for Peace Day Philly, the local initiative for the United Nations International Day of Peace, September 21. Peace Day Philly 2020 will include eleven programs over seven days – all on-line and all free – related to personal, local and global peace and justice. What do all of PDP’s 2020 programs have in common? Breaking down barriers (inward and outward) and making positive change toward a more peaceful, healthy and just world! Check out PDP’s calendar of free, on-line programs happening Sept. 15-21: http:// www.peacedayphilly.org/events/. #peaceday

COMRU TOWNSHIP
ELIZABETHTOWN
ERIE
PITTSBURGH – Duquesne University
SHILLINGTON
WAYNE

RHODE ISLAND

WESTERLY : The 3rd Annual International Peace Day and Candlelight Vigil celebration, sponsored by the Westerly Area Peace and Justice Group, was celebrated on Monday evening, September 21, 2020, on the steps and lawn of Christ Episcopal Church. At the “Peace Table” in prayer are, from left, local folk musician Geoff Kaufman, Westerly Area and Justice Group member Madeline Labriola, author and educator David Madden, and local musician Frank Pendola.

KINGSTON
PROVIDENCE

SOUTH CAROLINA

CHARLESTON, SC: Organization: Men Against Domestic Violence USA. This conference and peace actions will bring together domestic violence and law enforcement personel, prosecutors, victim advocates, judges, parole and probation officers, rape crisis workers, researchers, educators and more.

SOUTH DAKOTA

SIOUX FALLS, SD : Organization: Sioux Falls Seminary. Nonviolence, Peace, and Social Justice Study Group.

TENESSEE

MEMPHIS : Organization: Campaign Nonviolence Memphis
Sept. 19th: I AM US (USA) Interfaith & International Gathering Uniting for World Peace and Unity.
Sept. 19th: Battu, an Odissi Indian Dance.
Sept. 19th: Bahá’í Fireside
Sept. 20th: 108 Sun Salutations
Sept. 21st, 22nd & 23rd: Peace and Harmony Days Zoom Event
Sept. 21st: Between WWII & the Death of JFK, National Civil Rights Museum
Sept. 22nd: From white supremacist to human rights advocate: An evening with TM Garret.
Sept. 23nd: Second Concert for a Nonviolent Memphis
Sept. 24th: We all Want a Peace of the Pie, Meet the MICAH Youth Council
Sept. 25th: Meditation for Non-Harming
Sept. 26th: Preparing for Good Trouble

TEXAS

DALLAS : Dallas College: Students, employees and the community are invited to celebrate the United Nations’ 2020 peace day, with the theme: Shaping Peace Together. Activities will include:
Introduction to UN holiday
Poetry readings by Dallas College employees
Prerecorded video of acts of kindness
Moment of Peace at noon
30-day challenge kickoff for students
Q&A’s

AUSTIN
SAN ANTONIO
TYLER

UTAH

SALT LAKE CITY : Organization: Achorus Amorphous. Achorus Amorphous sends volunteers to picket for peace and against nuclear weaponeering of Northrop Grumman. At their Utah headquarters (in Salt Lake City) they manage operations at the nearby Hill Air Force Base where they broke ground 13 months ago in order to build a place to refurbish intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The Achorus Amorphous activities include singing and picketing and attempting to communicate with employees of Northrop.

SALT LAKE CITY – Gandhi Alliance for Peace

VERMONT

BURLINGTON : Organization: Peace and Justice Center
September 16 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm Unpacking Whiteness. Online.
This space is held for white people to specifically process how white supremacy culture is harmful to them.
September 18 @ 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm. Seeing & Disrupting Racism: A Focus on White Fragility. Online
September 19 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm. Fair Trade 101: Global Trade & Racism. Online.
September 23 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm. Seeing & Disrupting Racism: A Focus on White Fragility. Online

VIRGINIA

RICHMOND : The Steward School is proud to partner with SCAN this year for “Whirled” Peace Day on September 18th. . . we will livestream a virtual Whirled Peace Day celebration featuring special choral and musical performances, a guest speaker, and the traditional pinwheel planting.

GOODE
RICHMOND-JusRe Creative Services

WASHINGTON

OLYMPIA : Organization: Parallax Perspectives. Two series of 6 online workshops on “Nonviolent Grassroots Organizing” every week starting Sun. Sept. 20 and Mon. Sept. 21. Participants may choose either Sunday afternoons or Monday evenings (Pacific Daylight Time).

WISCONSIN

CHIPPEWAW VALLEY : September 21 is the International Day of Peace, a day observed around the world devoted to strengthening peace and non-violence between nations. To commemorate the day, a new event was held at the Highground Veterans Memorial Park and Museum on Monday afternoon. Organizers with the Highground Veteran’s Museum said as they were preparing 1,000 paper cranes for an upcoming World War II exhibit, they learned of the International Day of Peace, and with 300 paper cranes already made, they decided to put the physical symbols of peace to good use. Those cranes were hanging Monday afternoon as a reminder of peaceful intentions as attendees joined together with poems, songs, prayers and reflection during these difficult times. “I think it is such a perfect time for us to gather in a non-political matter to extend our hearts toward that promotion of peace; it’s very important,” said Theresa Hebert, the veteran’s museum and education program coordinator.
they hope to continue the event in the future.

CHEBOYGAN
EAU CLAIRE
GREEN BAY
LA CROSSE
MILWAUKEE – Marquette University
MILWAUKEE – Peace Action Wisconsin

WEST VIRGINIA

SPENCER : Organization: Catholic Committee of Appalachia. You Want to See in the World: Celebrating CCA’s Jubilee, 50TH ANNUAL GATHERING (Online)

WYOMING

JACKSON : Organization: Lotus Vibes. Weekly peaceful, meditation class.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, North America

English bulletin September 1, 2020

HOPE FOR THE US . .

In the face of pessimistic predictions, even to the point of civil war, there are progressive mobilizations in the United States.

Unionization . The public approval rating for unions has climbed to nearly its highest level in fifty years. There has also been a surge of unionization among adjunct professors, grad students, digital and print journalists, museum workers, nurses, cannabis store workers, and nonprofit employees.

Colleges and Universities .. Search for Common Ground has partnered with Soliya and Tiger 21 to implement an orientation program for first-year students that will facilitate intra-campus dialogue and build trust, respect, and constructive coexistence across differences.

Black Lives Matter .. The movement continues to mobilize, most recently in professional sports. Players of the Women’s National Basketball Association are wearing t-shirts to support a progressive Congressional candidate opposing a team owner who opposes racial equality.

Youth climate activists .. A teen-age activist from the US has launched an international nonprofit organization, Climate Cardinals with over 5,000 volunteers translating climate information into more than 100 languages and dialects. The average age of the volunteers is 16!

International Day of Peace .. Campaign Nonviolence has already listed over 3500 actions planned for the national week of actions the third week of September around the International Day of Peace – “to take to the streets against violence and injustice, and to carry on Dr. King’s vision of what we could become—a new culture of nonviolence”

Peace movement .. The United National AntiWar Coalition, which unites a broad specturm of American peace organizations, has issued a “Call to Action”:

* Demanding justice and accountability against racist killer cops!*

* For economic justice in response to the economic collapse.


* In defense of migrants rounded up and deported!

* In solidarity with LGBTQ+ and disabled people

* Against endless wars, sanctions and occupations

Peace on the ballot .. New Haveners will vote on a referendum, proposed by the city’s peace commission and unanimously endorsed by the city’s Board of Alders on the following question: “Shall Congress prepare for health and climate crises by transferring funds from the military budget to cities for human needs, jobs and an environmentally sustainable economy?”

Progressive political agenda .: Addressing the Democratic National Convention, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for a mass people’s movement working to establish

* 21st century social, economic, and human rights, including guaranteed health care, higher * education, living wages, and labor rights for all people in the United States;

* a movement striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonization, misogyny, and homophobia, and to propose and build reimagined systems of immigration

* and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and xenophobia of our past;

* a movement that realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long-term stability for the many.”

Hopefully, in future editions of the bulletin, we will be able to report that these progressive mobilizations in the United States are able to provide a “soft landing” for the crash of the American empire.

HUMAN RIGHTS




Plan for Campaign Nonviolence Action Week, September 19-27, 2020

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION



USA: Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks to the 2020 Democratic National Convention

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT



First Person: Turning ‘apathetic people into climate activists’; a young person’s view

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION



Colombia: Details of the Non-Violence Secretariat to be created by the Mayor’s Office of Medellín
          

EDUCATION FOR PEACE



For colleges in the United States: First Year Connect

WOMEN’S EQUALITY



International Alert Programme on Women, Peace and Security in Nigeria

TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY


Palestine: 15 lessons from 15 years of BDS

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY



US: The United National AntiWar Coalition – Call to Action
d-democratic, North America,

US: The United National AntiWar Coalition – Call to Action

. .DISARMAMENT & SECURITY. .

Announcement of webinar from The United National AntiWar Coalition

The past months of the Black Lives Matter Movement have confirmed once again the only way to challenge this racist, militarized system is with the explosive power of people making demands and shutting it down.

Regardless of what happens in November our only way forward is to stay mobilized! The people must lead from below through organized, strategic protest.


• Demanding justice and accountability against racist killer cops!

• For economic justice in response to the economic collapse.

– For a public health response to the pandemic with Medicare for all.

• In defense of migrants rounded up and deported!

• In solidarity with LGBTQ+ and disabled people

• Against endless wars, sanctions and occupations

We face the greatest capitalist crash in US history and an out of control COVID-19 pandemic. At every level of government from the president to Congress down to mayors and local officials, the response to the pandemic and economic collapse shows a failed state.

The people must remain mobilized through the election and beyond. We will not win the change we need at the ballot box. The two candidates of the parties of the billionaires ignore the super-majority of people in the US who support improved Medicare for all, a robust Green New Deal, an end to inequality and taxation of the wealthy, an end to the never-ending wars and US imperialism. Neither party is responding to the call to stop racist militarized policing, invest in alternatives to policing while cutting police budget and democratic community control of the police. No matter who is elected the people must be mobilized in 2021 to make the country ungovernable until the people’s demands are met.

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Question for this article:

The peace movement in the United States, What are its strengths and weaknesses?

(Article continued from left column)

We defend:

• Resistance and uprisings against racism and police violence

• Education workers opposing dangerous school reopening

• Organizing for rent strikes and against evictions

• Black Lives Matter Movement everywhere

• Social movements seeking peace and justice

• Solidarity with all those resisting US imperialist violence

Click here to register: bit.ly/DNCRNCWebinar

An Online RALLY supported by: March on DNC and RNC, UNAC – United National Antiwar Coalition, ILPS – International League of Peoples Struggles, BAYAN – Philippine Coalition, NAARPR – National Alliance Against Racism & Political Repression, BAP – Black Alliance for Peace, IAC – International Action Center, VFP – Veterans For Peace, Cuba Si, IFCO, FIRE – Fight for Im/migrants & Refugees Everywhere, AFGJ – Alliance for Global Justice, Code Pink, Popular Resistance, SanctionsKill Campaign, US Peace Council, WILPF – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom -US chapter, Peoples Power Assemblies NYC, December 12 Movement, Call to Action on Puerto, Colectivo de Mujeres Mexicanas NY, Jornada: Se Acabaron Las Promesas, USPCN – U.S. Palestinian Community Network, POWIR – People’s Opposition to War Imperialism, and Racism, Southern Workers Assembly, SDS- Students for a Democratic Society, The People’s Forum, other groups to be added.

Enddorse the call: bit.ly/KeepItInTheStreets

Support UNAC

Please make a much needed contribution at: hppts://UNACpreace.org/donate.html

Join our Facebook group at: https://facebook.com/groups/unac1

Subscribe to the UNAC Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6zb1Rg8CiAO9Ff8kLlXXiQ

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, North America

USA: Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks to the 2020 Democratic National Convention

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

A video from Youtube

USA: Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks to the 2020 Democratic National Convention

Click on image to see video.

Good evening, ​bienvenidos​, and thank you to everyone here today endeavoring towards a better, more just future for our country and our world.

Questions related to this article:

Where in the world can we find good leadership today?

In fidelity and gratitude to a mass people’s movement working to establish 21st century social, economic, and human rights, including guaranteed health care, higher education, living wages, and labor rights for all people in the United States; a movement striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial injustice, colonization, misogyny, and homophobia, and to propose and build reimagined systems of immigration and foreign policy that turn away from the violence and xenophobia of our past; a movement that realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of long-term stability for the many, and who organized an historic, grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy.

In a time when millions of people in the United States are looking for deep systemic solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment, and lack of health care, and espíritu del pueblo and out of a love for all people, I hereby second the nomination of Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont for president of the United States of America.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, North America

Plan for Campaign Nonviolence Action Week, September 19-27, 2020

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

From the website of Campaign Nonviolence

Every year, Campaign Nonviolence organizes a national week of action across the United States and around the world, built around the third week of September, near Sept. 21st, International Peace Day. For the last six years, we have organized an unprecedented national grassroots movements with actions in every state where people connect the dots between the issues of injustice and violence, including war, poverty, racism and environmental destruction, and hold public events, actions and marches demanding immediate positive social change.

In September, 2019, the Campaign Nonviolence National Week of Action held over 3,300 actions, events and marches across the USA and in 20 countries. This was an historic unprecedented new form of organizing in the US, and we invite you to help us build up this national week of action.

The only way positive social change has happened in the US is from bottom up, people power, grassroots movements of nonviolence, so we invite everyone to join this Campaign Nonviolence National Week of Action Sept. 19-27, 2020, as an organizing tool, to help get the movement moving, to invite people of all walks of life to take to the streets against violence and injustice, and to carry on Dr. King’s vision of what we could become—a new culture of nonviolence. Join the growing Campaign Nonviolence national week of action movement by signing up for an action, or join with others planning an event.

(Article continued in the right column)

Questions related to this article:

The post-election fightback for human rights, is it gathering force in the USA?

(Article continued from the left column)

SEE THE FULL LIST OF PLANNED ACTIONS THIS SEPTEMBER

To support these powerful forms of action, Campaign Nonviolence invites people everywhere to:

* Take the Campaign Nonviolence Pledge


* Host or attend a Nonviolence Training in preparation for your action


* Start a Nonviolence Study Group and use our newest nonviolence study guide, Engaging Nonviolence!


* Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter


* Find tools and resources for Action Week. Get the CNV action toolkit, flyers, graphics, action ideas and more! See below.


* Read the 10 Tips for Great Actions and read about some great actions ideas.


* Join action organizers around the country as we come together for the next Campaign Nonviolence National Conference ONLINE to mark the 75th anniversary or Hiroshima and Nagasaki featuring Richard Rohr, Erica Chennoweth and more!


HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

USA: Will COVID-19 Spur a Wave of Unionization?

…. HUMAN RIGHTS ….

An article by Steven Greenhouse from Dissent Magazine

Workers have been infuriated by the callous treatment they’ve received in their workplaces. Many of them recognized that the most surefire way to get their employers to provide the protection they needed was through collective action.


Protestors outside a Staten Island Amazon warehouse fulfillment center on May 1, 2020 (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

This essay is part of a special section  on the pandemic in the Summer 2020 issue.

In mid-March, someone asked me whether COVID-19 would spur a wave of unionization. My first reaction was no. How could workers possibly unionize when there was all this social distancing and people couldn’t even meet in groups? Moreover, I thought workers would be so cowed by the horrors of the pandemic that they wouldn’t give much thought to unionizing.

That response was short-sighted. I didn’t realize how furious many workers would become about the uncaring, even callous way their companies have treated them during this crisis—about the many employers that didn’t lift a finger to provide masks or hand sanitizer. Many of these irate workers recognized that the most surefire way to get their employers to provide the protection they needed was through collective action.

We’ve seen that kind of action from workers at Amazon, McDonald’s, Domino’s, Instacart, Perdue Farms, Whole Foods, and smaller grocery stores like MOM’s Organic Market in Philadelphia. Many workers have incorporated social distancing into their battles—standing six feet apart as they picketed their workplace, or using cars to block the drive-thru at their McDonald’s.

Many of these workers would no doubt vote to join a union tomorrow if they could (even though Trump’s anti-union National Labor Relations Board [NLRB] temporarily suspended all unionization elections in late March). But it remains very unclear whether all the coronavirus-inspired anger and activism will result in increased union membership. The overriding reason why it might not is an old one: when there are unionization elections in the United States, the playing field is tilted sharply in favor of corporations and against workers seeking to organize.

Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University found in a study that companies often use intimidation tactics to thwart organizing drives. In her analysis, which looked at NLRB-supervised unionization elections between 1999 and 2003, 57 percent of companies threatened to close operations if workers voted to unionize, while 47 percent said they would cut wages or benefits. Bronfenbrenner also found that 34 percent illegally fired union supporters, 28 percent illegally attempted to infiltrate the union organizing committee, and 22 percent illegally used “bribes and special favors” to encourage workers to vote against the union. Another study of elections in 2016 and 2017 found that companies terminated nearly one in five rank-and-file workers who spearheaded unionization campaigns.

(Article continued in the right column)

Question(s) related to this article:

The right to form and join trade unions, Is it being respected?

(Article continued from the left column)

The federal judiciary’s conservative tilt makes unionization harder still. Not only do employers often require workers to hear anti-union consultants and watch anti-union videos, but they also have the right to prohibit union organizers from setting foot on company property, thanks to a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that exalted private property rights far above workers’ rights and concerns. Under that ruling, employers can even bar organizers from putting flyers on windshields in the employee parking lot.

During the pandemic, many employers remain as aggressive as ever in fighting unions. Amazon seems to have gone out of its way to signal that it won’t tolerate organizing efforts. The company fired Christian Smalls, who spearheaded a walkout by employees at its Staten Island warehouse who felt Amazon was doing far too little to protect them from the virus. Amazon also fired Bashir Mohamed, the lead worker-activist at a Minnesota warehouse, as well as two tech workers in Seattle who were outspoken climate campaigners and had criticized safety conditions at the warehouses. Whole Foods, an Amazon subsidiary, has created a heat map that uses twenty-five metrics, including diversity levels and number of complaints about safety, to keep tabs on which of its stores are most at risk of union activity.

On March 31, the CEO of Trader Joe’s sent an anti-union letter to all employees, while a Trader Joe’s worker in Louisville said the company fired him for airing safety concerns about COVID-19 on his Facebook page. All that came after Google fired four worker leaders who were promoting collective action and after the tech darling, Kickstarter, suddenly dismissed several members of its union organizing committee. (Kickstarter said they were not terminated for backing a union.)

The outlook for unionizing isn’t all glum. The burst of coronavirus-related walkouts and sickouts comes after the biggest wave of strikes since the 1980s: the 2018–19 #RedforEd strikes, as well as major work stoppages at General Motors, Marriott, and Stop & Shop. The public approval rating for unions has climbed to nearly its highest level in fifty years. There has also been a surge of unionization among adjunct professors, grad students, digital and print journalists, museum workers, nurses, cannabis store workers, and nonprofit employees.

Another welcome development for labor is that this year’s crop of Democratic presidential candidates put forward the most ambitious plans to rebuild unions in decades, perhaps ending a long period in which the party took labor for granted. One Democratic candidate after another seemed to realize (or acted as if they just realized) that if wage stagnation is going to end, if income inequality is going to be reduced, if the Democrats are to win back Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, then it will be vital to strengthen the labor movement. It’s hard to know whether the presumptive nominee Joe Biden means what he says about fighting hard to rebuild unions; one sure thing is that workers would benefit from a Democratic majority on the NLRB, which comes with control of the White House.

In a video of a walkout at an Amazon warehouse in Chicago, one courageous worker said, “This is not about Amazonians being lazy. We want to work. We want to work in a clean facility. We want to work where it’s going to be safe and our kids are going to be safe and our families are going to be safe. How can we be essential workers when our lives are not essential?”

She expressed an essential point: in a society where corporations are relentlessly focused on maximizing profits and productivity, collective action is by far the most effective way for workers to get employers to address their pressing needs. Most corporate executives couldn’t care less whether their employees have a voice at work. It’s up to the nation’s workers to make their employers hear their voice—loud and clear. There is no more pressing time to do this than during a horrid pandemic, when many workers have died because their companies failed to take adequate safety precautions.

Steven Greenhouse was a New York Times reporter for thirty-one years, spending his last nineteen years there as its labor and workplace reporter. He is the author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor, which was published last year by Knopf and will be released in paperback in July.

HUMAN RIGHTS, North America

For colleges in the United States: First Year Connect

EDUCATION FOR PEACE .

An announcement from Search for Common Ground

American society is plagued by far-reaching polarization stemming from deep grievances and divides. College campuses have become a battleground, with racial hate incidents, controversy over guest speakers, and heated debates over creating safe spaces or protecting free speech.

First Year Connect aims to combat polarization on college campuses and in American society by equipping a generation of young Americans to engage constructively across their differences. We intend for First Year Connect to be the primary orientation program used by colleges to develop healthy campus communities, reaching tens of thousands of students per year on a fee-for-service basis.

THE PROGRAM

First Year Connect is an orientation program for first-year students that will facilitate intra-campus dialogue and build trust, respect, and constructive coexistence across differences.

Students will meet in small groups (8-12 members) through an online video-conferencing platform before arriving on campus. Each group will be composed of students spanning political, racial, and other lines of diversity within the student body, and will be guided by a highly-trained facilitator.

A wide range of topics will be discussed, such as politics, religion, and personal values, and students will be given the chance to feel heard, welcomed, and embraced before they arrive on campus.

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:
 
What is the relation between peace and education?>

Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

(continued from left column)

First Year Connect builds on over 20 years of experience facilitating online, cross-cultural dialogue experiences for young people from varied backgrounds in universities, language centers, and youth organizations across the globe.

OUR GOALS

First Year Connect will empower students to set the cultural and social norms on campus during times of tension. The program will enable students to drive constructive dialogues on campus themselves rather than relying on top-down direction from administrators.

Even before starting classes, the student body will develop norms of constructive discourse, helping all students to feel heard and respected.

First Year Connect aims to protect both safe spaces and free speech. Students will be able to express themselves openly while creating a productive, genuine, and respectful dialogue with others.

A greater sense of community across campus will be developed and maintained as a result of the mutual trust and respect cultivated by First Year Connect. Students will become trained facilitators themselves, which will help hold the community together during times of heightened tension.

PATHWAY TO SUSTAINABLE SCALE

First Year Connect has partnered with a state university and a small liberal arts college for its 2-year pilot program. These pilot institutions have agreed to cover a portion of the program costs for the first two years, and then will cover the full costs starting in year 3 if the program meets agreed-upon metrics. If successful, First Year Connect can achieve scale by tapping into new markets through a fee-for-service model rather than relying on philanthropy.

In order to scale, a public relations campaign will target higher education leaders to popularize First Year Connect as the preferred program for orienting diverse student bodies into healthy campus communities.

Search for Common Ground has partnered with Soliya and Tiger 21 to implement First Year Connect.

North America, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

US: WNBA players wearing T-shirts opposing Dream owner

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article from ESPN

WNBA players are wearing “Vote Warnock” T-shirts to games this week to support Rev. Raphael Warnock, who is challenging Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) for her U.S. Senate seat.

Last month, Loeffler wrote a letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert objecting to the league’s promotion of Black Lives Matter — which is painted on the courts at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where the league is holding its restart — and advocating instead for teams to add American flags to jerseys.


Photo from Twitter – Sue Bird

Elizabeth Williams, a forward on the Atlanta Dream, told ESPN that the league’s executive committee began exploring the shirt idea as a response to Loeffler’s statements, because “for effective change to happen, there has to be policy changes. And so if we’re going to sit here and talk about wanting justice reform, part of that is making sure that we have officials in office that understand that.”

Williams said the Dream and other players have made a coordinated effort not to discuss Loeffler or her statements in recent weeks, and instead focused on how they could best support a candidate they felt better represented their political views.

“I think when all this stuff started happening with her, we didn’t want to feel like we were pawns,” Williams said. “We can only control so much about what the league does [in regard to Loeffler], and so for us, we wanted it to be bigger than that.

“That’s kind of been the theme of this season. So we wanted to make sure we could still keep the focus on our social justice movement, and funny enough, Rev. Warnock is somebody who supports everything that we support and just happens to be running in that seat. So it just worked out really well.”

Williams said Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird initially came up with the idea.

Bird told ESPN that participation in the campaign to support Warnock is voluntary and that all players have discussed the idea over Zoom calls while at IMG Academy, where the WNBA season resumed in late July.

“This was a situation where given what was said in regards to the owner of Atlanta and how, basically, she came out against a lot of what the women in our league stand for, I think was emotionally tough for a lot of the women in our league to hear that,” Bird said. “But very quickly we started to realize that this was only happening for her political gain. This was something that she wanted. And the more noise we made, whether it was a tweet saying to get her out, that was just playing into her hands.

“I’m not some political strategist, but what I do know is that voting is important. And I think our league has always encouraged people to use their voices and to get out and vote.

“So, what a great way for us to get the word out about this man, and hopefully put him in the Senate. And, if he’s in the Senate, you know who’s not. And I’ll just leave it at that.”

Last month, Loeffler told ESPN that she feared the WNBA’s public support for the Black Lives Matter movement could drive some fans away.

“I think a lot of people feel that they may not have a place,” Loeffler said. “They may feel excluded from this sport and other sports that make them feel like American values aren’t at the core of what we’re doing here.”

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Question for this article:

How can sports promote peace?

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She also contended that there is a difference between saying “Black lives matter” and the organization Black Lives Matter.

“I think we all agree the life of every African American is important,” Loeffler said. “There’s no room for racism in this country, and we have to root it out where it exists. But there’s a political organization called Black Lives Matter that I think is very important to make the distinction between their aim and where we are as a country at this moment.

“The Black Lives Matter political organization advocates things like defunding and abolishing the police, abolishing our military, emptying our prisons, destroying the nuclear family. It promotes violence and anti-Semitism. To me, this is not what our league stands for.”

Warnock released a statement through his campaign Tuesday saying he was “honored and humbled by the overwhelming support from the WNBA players. This movement gives us the opportunity to fight for what we believe in, and I stand by all athletes promoting social justice on and off the court.

“Senator Loeffler and those like her who seek to silence and dismiss others when they speak up for justice have planted themselves on the wrong side of history. We are in a moment of generational, transformative change, and there is no place in that movement for bigotry. We celebrate the courage and resolve of these players standing for justice, and I am proud to stand with them.”

Later Tuesday, Loeffler followed up with a statement of her own, saying, “This is just more proof that the out-of-control cancel culture wants to shut out anyone who disagrees with them. It’s clear that the league is more concerned with playing politics than basketball, and I stand by what I wrote in June.”

Following the Dream’s 81-74 loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday night, the players’ decision was a primary talking point.

“We definitely decided to wear it because he’s for Black Lives Matter,” guard Chennedy Carter said. “He supports the league and the movement, and we support him. We’re voting for Warnock.”

Forward Betnijah Laney concurred.

“He’s just somebody that also supports the Black Lives Matter — the movements that the WNBA is standing behind this year,” she said. “So, this is somebody that we’re supporting, as well.”

Also on Tuesday, the Seattle Storm defeated the Connecticut Sun 87-74. After the game, several members of the Storm spoke about the process.

“What we’re trying to do is first educate ourselves, and then educate everyone else. Initially, this kind of came from Sue — vote for Warnock. We had an opportunity to be on two separate Zooms with him and see what he stands for and what he’s fighting for,” forward Breanna Stewart said. “I think he’s someone who’s fighting to create change and fighting to be on the right side of things. Obviously, I’m not voting for Georgia, but continuing to use my platform to help with that — but I did vote today, just want to let you know.”

Guard Sami Whitcomb concurred, saying the players “are very concerned with leadership in this country and people that we want to be representing us and the morals that they represent. I think [Loeffler has] proven that she doesn’t represent us, she doesn’t represent our voices — not in this league, not in the community. Rev. Warnock does, so we’re putting our support behind him because of the person that he is and the type of legislation that he stands for. You can call it politics. We call it supporting the human race and morals.”

Seattle guard Jordin Canada added that this “is bigger than basketball. We’re more than athletes. To have someone in our league that doesn’t represent or support African Americans, who are 80% of our league, is disheartening, honestly, and sickening.”

Former Dream player Layshia Clarendon, who has written and spoken out about Loeffler’s comments, was also heavily involved in the planning of the WNBA players’ campaign.

“It’s important for us to support voting and the overall campaign to flip the Senate,” said Clarendon, who now plays for the New York Liberty. “We want people in office who support the same values and morals as we do. Rev. Warnock is pro criminal justice reform, for LGBT+ rights, and pro choice/reproductive rights. Those are the kind of people we want representing us, because that’s what our league stands for.”

DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION, North America