Current Events

"I just checked out your web site, and I must say that it is remarkable. It is surely the best single source of information on social justice and peace issues that I have found. Kudos!
-Jay Guzwiller XU '98

United Nations 75th Anniversary

To see that attitudes towards other nations can be practical, below is a reminder on the wall of the room of Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J. Although it was found in 1928 when Fr. Finn died, it still is practical in a June of 2018.

FRAMED ON THE WALL OF FATHER FRANCIS J. FINN'S OFFICE WERE THESE WORDS:

AMERICA FIRST

Not merely in matters material, but in things of the spirit.

Not merely in science, inventions, motors and skyscrapers, but also in ideals, principles, character.

Not merely in the calm assertion of rights, but in the glad assumption of duties.

Not flaunting her strength as a giant, but bending in helpfulness over a sick and wounded world like a good Samaritan.

Not in splendid isolation, but in courageous co-operation.

Not in pride, arrogance and disdain of other races and peoples, but in sympathy, love and understanding.

And so, in that spirit and with these hopes, I say with all my heart and soul, "AMERICA FIRST".

Printed in the St. Xavier Calendar for December 1928, one month after Fr. Finn's death. For more information about this Jesuit priest who wrote many books for young people google Fr. Francis J. Finn, S.J.

How did we as a human family move away from a vision similar to that of Fr. Francis Finn and begin to divide our world into friends and enemies, allies and adversaries? How can we move back to an internal and external vision that would work? Transforming the United Nations System by Dr. Joseph Schwartzberg addresses more representative external structures. Giving a favorable internal interpretation to the views and attitudes of other peoples and religions would address internal structures.

July 2017

June 2017

The People's Oath: (We come from all corners of the world and all corners of our country.

We are strong. We are bold. We are persistent.

We are powerful as citizens and we are united.

We believe that diversity makes us stronger.

We believe in justice and equality for all and the transformative power of love.

We vow to stand against hatred in any form and we vow to act with compassion.

We vow to defend each other and fight for freedom, dignity and opportunity for all people.

I so solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the duties of a citizen of the United States

and to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend all the people of the United States,

with concern for all the people of the world, and the whole planet--our common home.

April 2017 The American Friends Service Committee is reminding us about Gaza: www.gazaunlocked.org,

From J Street 2 AMOS OZ: The First Cup We were not born to be a people of masters. "To be a free people" - this wish must awaken an echo in our hearts so long as we have not lost our humanity. We are condemned now to rule people who do not want to be ruled by us. Condemned, not merry and euphoric. The shorter the occupation lasts, the better for us, because an occupation is inevitably a corrupting occupation, and even a liberal and human occupation is an occupation. I have fears about the kind of seeds we will sow in the near future in the hearts of the occupied. Even more, I have fears about the seeds that will be implanted in the hearts of the occupiers. Davar, August 22, 1967

Many people on all sides of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict feel as though they are in an endless period of waiting for a peace. Sometimes, it seems there is no end in sight. Often, children are the ones who experience the greatest burdens of conflict. Deborah Ellis, Canadian activist and author, compiled a book of interviews with Israeli and Palestinian children titled, Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak. It showcases the emotions of fear, confusion, anger, and hope felt by children on all sides of the conflict, as they long for an end. Gul, an Israeli boy, states, "All I know about this war is that it's about this country, this land. The Palestinians want it, and we want it, so we're fighting over it. I don't know how it will end, or if it ever will." Maryam, a Palestinian girl, expresses a similar longing for an end to the conflict, "I have only one wish. I would like to go to heaven. Maybe in heaven there is happiness, after we die. Maybe then."

36th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus:

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor 5.18)

Hope itself seems threatened; in place of hope we find fear and anger. . . we insistently ask for the grace to know how we can share in the great ministry of reconciliation. . .choosing the path of consolation that fortifies our faith, hope, and love. . . this disposition to attend to the Spirit in our relationships must include those with whom we work. Often they teach us this openness to the Spirit."

https://paradigmsshifting.org/ Sr. Louise Akers promotes peace, justice, and the integrity of creation.

March 2017

Cardinal Turkson said the Vatican hoped that positions by China, which is investing heavily in the export of clean energy products such as solar panels and wind turbines, "would provoke a re-consideration of the positions of some countries, in this case the United States."

The Vatican was also "very worried" that the U.S. budget, released on March 16, increased military spending at the expense of environmental protection, diplomacy and foreign aid, he added.

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation:

https://globalsolutions.org/blog/2016/11/Vision-Hope#.WJyrU28rLct

February 2017 Pope Francis says we should fashion an economy without scores of victims rather than only giving them money after they become victims.

https://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/Vatican?id=14993#.WJhhIc2Bm9g.mailto

February 2017 Christopher Hale. Catholics for the Common Good. "Pope Francis says that politics can also be one of the highest forms of love because it's in service of the common good."

https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/catholic-millennial-21-questions-christopher-j-hale

January 2017 In 2016 the Earth's temperature rose for the third year in a row. New York Times 1/19/17 A8 "When the heat buildup in the ocean is taken into account, global temperatures are rising relentlessly. Scientists have calculated that the heat accumulating throughout the Earth because of human emissions is roughly equal to the energy that would be released by 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding across the planet every day."

January 2017 Former Secretary of Defense tries to make citizens aware of what a nuclear war would mean: https://www.wjperryproject.org/

January 2017 What are the risks of even a limited nuclear war?

The best resource outlining these studies is the report "Nuclear Famine: Two Billion People at Risk?" from Physicians for Social Responsibility: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

https://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/two-billion-at-risk.pdf

"Which is the greater threat: nuclear weapons or climate change? Each of these threats has the potential to destroy civilization and render the Earth largely uninhabitable by human beings. They are also intertwined: Some advocate for more nuclear power to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but increasing the number of nuclear reactors, and the amount of enriched uranium and plutonium required for their operation, would also increase the risk of spreading nuclear weapons. Likewise, if we don't reduce emissions, some natural resources, like fresh water, could become more scarce, leading to conflicts that might spiral into war and the possible use of nuclear weapons.

We can't afford to address one threat without addressing the other. And in fact, the international cooperation required to reduce and prohibit nuclear weapons would likely also lead to cooperation to save us from deadly climate disruption. At the end of the day, trying to answer the question is like standing around in a burning house arguing about whether it is better to die of smoke inhalation or from a falling timber.

What can ordinary people do to meet the challenges that the Doomsday Clock is warning about? First, get smart about the problems. Nuclear weapons and climate change may seem to be outside our daily experience and beyond our control, but we all have a stake in avoiding untimely death. We want to live our lives free from destruction by nuclear weapons and from the growing scarcity of natural resources brought about by a warming planet. These interests in survival should motivate us to learn as much as we can about the powerful technologies that could destroy our way of life.

Second, share what you've learned with others-in your family, workplace, church, school, or social media feeds. The more we talk to each other about what matters most-surviving and flourishing-the more confidence we'll have about expressing our interests.

Third, tell your government representatives that you don't want even more of your tax money spent on nuclear weapons or on subsidizing carbon dioxide-producing fossil fuel technologies. Write letters, tell them at town hall meetings, email their offices, and let them know that your security depends on getting rid of nuclear weapons and on finding ways to keep our planet habitable for humanity." Bulletin of Atomic Scientists https://thebulletin.org/ 

December 2016: Interview with Senator Bernie Sanders: During the primary campaign, somebody -- I think it was the Shorenstein school of media at Harvard, just over there. They studied the kind of coverage, and they said that something like 90 percent of media coverage during the primary -- and I don't think they got any better during the general -- was all on this kind of stuff, gossip; 10 percent on issues.

December 2016 Statement of Principles Regarding the Suitability of Nominees for Senate-Confirmed Positions

As President-elect Trump undertakes the process of selecting his cabinet members and other high-ranking administration officials, it is imperative that nominees support the U.S. Constitution, embody American ideals of inclusion and respect for all individuals, uphold our democratic processes and institutions, and respect our nation's human rights obligations. While each of the undersigned organizations has additional priorities and will respond to the incoming administration accordingly, we all believe that potential cabinet members and senior administration appointees should adhere to the following principles: Adherence to the U.S. Constitution Nominees for Senate-confirmed positions who support taking actions or enacting policies that are objectively unconstitutional, and especially provisions designed to undermine individual liberties and equal protection under the law, should be deemed unsuitable for those positions by the Senate. An example of such an action would be implementing a ban on people of a specific faith entering the country or advocating policies that violate the civil rights or liberties of any particular group of people.

Adherence to the Rule of Law and Human Rights Obligations Nominees for Senate-confirmed positions who support taking actions or enacting policies that would violate U.S. laws or international conventions protecting human rights to which the United States is a signatory should be deemed unsuitable for those positions by the Senate. A willingness or desire to order the use of torture would fall into this category. The same standard for unsuitability would also apply to any nominee who has previously been involved in authorizing or implementing human rights or civil liberties violations.

Alliance for Citizenship

Amnesty International USA

Brooklyn for Peace

Center for Gender and Refugee Studies

Center for Victims of Torture

Church World Service

Human Rights First

Human Rights Initiative of North Texas

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

National Council of Jewish Women

National Religious Campaign Against Torture

North Carolina Stop Torture Now

Peace Action

Peace Action Bay Ridge

Presbyterian Church (USA)

The Advocates for Human Rights

USC International Human Rights Clinic UUSC:

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Voices for Progress

Win Without War

Women's Action for New Directions

Latest light graced story: https://www.xavier.edu/green/2016.cfm

September 2016 :https://yeson62.com/ We can't subtract violence by adding violence.
2014: Rabbi Michael Lerner; Salon: "My heart is broken as I witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the seeming indifference of Israelis. Tonight (August 4) and tomorrow (August 5), which mark

Israeli behavior toward Palestinians is destroying Judaism and creating a new kind of hatred of Jews by people who never before had any issue with Jews. Credit: Creative Commons/Jordi Bernabeu Farrús

Tisha B'av, the Jewish commemoration of disasters that happened to us through Jewish history, I'm going to be fasting and mourning also for a Judaism being murdered by Israel. No matter who gets blamed for the breakdowns in the cease-fire or for "starting" this latest iteration of a struggle that is at least 140 years old, one of the primary victims of the war between Israel and Hamas is the compassionate and love-oriented Judaism that has held together for several thousand years. Even as Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza, leaving behind immense devastation, over 1,800 dead Gazans, and over four thousand wounded, without adequate medical supplies because of Israel's continuing blockade, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu refuses to negotiate a cease-fire. He is fearful that he would be seen as "weak" if Israel gave way to Gazans' demand for an end to the blockade and the freedom of thousands of Palestinian prisoners kidnapped and held in Israeli jails in violation of their human rights.

https://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/37157529

Solar power 'key to peace' in Rio favela

Why Belgian entrepreneur Pol Dhuyvetter is helping a Rio favela to produce all its own power using solar panels.
Community based economic development, through nonviolent organizing as a pillar for peace.

A favela is a poor neighborhood in Brazil, in an urban area. It is a slum, a shanty town. A "Rio" is a river. So, Rio Babilonia Favela in the video is the poor Brazilian urban neighborhood of Babylonia (Babilon, perhaps down) by the river, in Rio de Janeiro.

In this hopeful video (link above) a Belgian entrepreneur, Pol Dhuvetter, is describing a solar-cooperative renewable-energy development organizing-project, to respond to high and rising costs of electricity to neighborhood residents (46 % higher than the global average).

He critiques the abuse by more wealthy people, including foreigners, in their using and abusing poor Brazilians. Instead his and others' alternative solidarity demonstrates that sustainable development through cooperatives is not only possible -- but is a peacemaking activity. It addresses one of the root causes of violence, social exclusion, particularly for people of color. Social and economic development is a needed and possible condition for peace -- "one of the pillars for a peaceful society."

Aug. 22 is the birthday of Anna Baltzer Public speaker annainthemiddleeast.com

Anna Baltzer is a Jewish-American public speaker, author and activist for Palestinian human rights. Wikipedia A loving person who has spoken in Cincinnati. She distinguishes between being Jewish as she is; evaluating the policies of Israel, a nation state like the U.S.; and being a responsible citizen. Critiquing the policies of Israel is no more anti-Israel or anti-Jewish than critiquing the policies of the U.S. is anti-American. born: 1979, Berkeley, CA Education: Columbia University Books: Witness in Palestine

June: From a Global Security System: An Alternative to War of WorldBeyondWar.org

5.1.3 "Planetary Citizenship: One People, One Planet, One Peace Humans constitute a single species, Homo sapiens. While we have developed a marvelous diversity of ethnic, religious, economic, and political systems which enrich our common life, we are in fact one people living on a very fragile planet. The biosphere which supports our lives and our civilizations is extremely thin, like the skin of an apple. Within it is everything we all need to stay alive and well. We all share in one atmosphere, one great ocean, one global climate, one single source of fresh water endlessly cycled around the earth, one great biodiversity. These constitute the biophysical commons on which civilization rests. It is gravely threatened by our industrial way of life, and our common task is to preserve it from destruction if we wish to live on. Today the single most important responsibility of national governments and governing agreements at the international level is the protection of the commons. We need to think first of the health of the global commons and only second in terms of national interest, for the latter is now totally dependent on the former. A perfect storm of global environmental disasters is already underway including unprecedented rates of extinction, a depletion of global fisheries, an unprecedented soil erosion crisis, massive deforestation, and accelerating and making these worse, a climate disaster in the making. We face a planetary emergency."

Muhammad Ali The Nation July 4-11, 2016, p. 11

"I'm a world man. My fellow man is not just an American and my race is the human race. I'm shook up when I see a child that is going hungry or a mother who is without medical attention. These are the things I'm interested in. And of course peace. Peace for all men and all nations at all times."

President Obama, Hiroshima, May 27, 2016

"The very spark that marks us as a species, our thoughts, our imagination, our language, our tool-making, our ability to set ourselves apart from nature and bend it to our will-those very things also give us the capacity for unmatched destruction.

How often does material advancement or social innovation blind us to this truth? How easily we learn to justify violence in the name of some higher cause.

Technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us. The scientific revolution that led to the splitting of an atom requires a moral revolution as well. . .

We have a shared responsibility to look directly into the eye of history and ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again.

The memory of the morning of Aug. 6, 1945 must never fade. That memory allows us to fight complacency. It fuels our moral imagination. It allows us to change.

Since that fateful day we have made choices that give us hope. The United States and Japan have forged not only an alliance but a friendship that has won far more for our people than we could ever claim through war. The nations of Europe built a union that replaced battlefields with bonds of commerce and democracy. Oppressed people and nations won liberation. An international community established institutions and treaties that work to avoid war and aspire to restrict and roll back and ultimately eliminate the existence of nuclear weapons. . . We must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them.

. . . We must see around the world today how even the crudest rifles and barrel bombs can serve up violence on a terrible scale. We must change our mind-set about war itself. . To see our growing interdependence as a cause for peaceful cooperation and not violent competition. . above all, we must reimagine our connection to one another as members of one human race.

My own nation's story began with simple words. All men are created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Realizing that ideal has never been easy, even within our own borders, even among our own citizens. But staying true to that story is worth the effort. It is an ideal to be strived for, an ideal that extends across continents and across oceans. The irreducible worth of every person, the insistence that every life is precious, the radical and necessary notion that we are part of a single human family-that is the story we must tell. . that is a future we can choose, a future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare but as the start of our own moral awakening."

https://tanenbaum.org/blog/2016/03/to-brussels-killers-you-do-not-win/ Combating extremism in a non-violent way.

https://tanenbaum.org/combat-extremism/ Named after Rabbi Tannenbaum, 13 Religious groups.

Promotio Justitiae: Jesuit document on Faith and the World Economy

https://www.sjweb.info/documents/sjs/pj/docs_pdf/PJ_121_ENG.pdf

Employment or working in a worker-owned cooperative is a human right.

I like a hymn from the Divine Office for Holy Week. "This I ask: that you love each other as I have loved you. I look on you as friends, as friends; Don't be distressed; let your hearts be free, for I leave with you my peace, my word. If you really love me, be glad, have hope, for I leave with you my Spirit to guide you; When the end is near I still am with you, for I will never leave you alone."

On Sunday February 21, 2016 Pope Francis shared the following powerful words:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The international conference "For a world without the death penalty," promoted by the Community of Sant'Egidio will take place in Rome tomorrow. I hope this symposium gives a renewed strength to efforts to abolish capital punishment. A sign of hope is the development of a growing opposition to the death penalty in public opinion, even as a social instrument of legitimate defense. Today modern societies have the opportunity to fight crime effectively without permanently removing the chance of redemption from those who have committed crimes. This issue has to be considered within the perspective of a penal justice which is more and more in compliance with human dignity and God's plan for humanity and society. The commandment "You shall not kill," has absolute value and applies to both the innocent and the guilty.

The special Jubilee of Mercy is a propitious occasion to promote, throughout the world, ever more mature forms of respect for life and the dignity of every person. Even a criminal maintains an inviolable right to life, which is a gift of God. I appeal to the consciences of those who govern to reach an international consensus to abolish the death penalty. And I propose, to those among them who are Catholic, to make a courageous and exemplary gesture by seeking a moratorium on executions during this Holy Year of Mercy.

All Christians and people of good will are called today to work not only for the abolition of the death penalty, but also to improve the conditions of life in prison, in respect of human dignity of persons deprived of liberty."

"This is an attack not just on Paris, it's an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share." President Barack Obama.

Giving our thoughts and prayers to all those affected immediately by the terrorism in Paris, Beirut, Mali, we can react with positive love for a new human family. Deb Reich in No More Enemies points out that trees can inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen to give us life. We have the ability to inhale negative experiences and then breathe out love, the ultimate power that sustains the world. Green plants have evolved to transmute water and sunlight and soil nutrients into energy for the food chain.

I think humanity is evolving into an ever-greater capacity to experience hatred, fear, abuse, suffering and transmute those experiences inwardly into loving energy to give back to the world. This spiritual food chain can sustain our existence.

I think one of the best articulations the human family has made of universal values has been the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which we can promote and make more effective.

We need to ask who the terrorists are and why they resort to violence. War, drone attacks, poverty, hunger also kill. A peace with justice could lessen acts of terrorism.

If we want to put order into our world, we need to transform the United Nations, transform our values into striving for a loving and inclusive world that realizes we are one human family.

The Catholic Worker Jan-Feb. 2016 Kathy Kelly describes a US bombing on Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. "The attack killed thirty-one people and the US is refusing to allow an independent investigation." "Killing suspects, anywhere, at whatever distance from any battlefield,and surrounded by however many innocent civilians, is a hallmark of the United States' drone assassination campaign." "When the US government chooses to wage war, high principles are cited. . But the US doesn't acknowledge that innocent men, women and children will be killed, maimed, traumatized and displaced."

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. "Even a relatively small nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, with each country using 50 Hiroshima-size nuclear weapons on the other side's cities, could result in a nuclear famine killing some two billion of the most vulnerable people on the planet. A nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia could destroy civilization in a single afternoon and send temperatures on Earth plummeting into a new ice age. Such a war could destroy most complex life on the planet. Despite the gravity of such threats, they are being ignored, which is morally reprehensible and politically irresponsible."

www.wagingpeace.org/sunflower-newsletter-february-2016

AVAAZ.org A way to respond to terrorism, violence. (Let's also work together to create the structures which will make our world more democratic, just, peaceful, and sustainable)

"We citizens of the world have grown wiser. We see the game to drive us apart. To use horror to make us turn away from each other in fear, and turn on each other in a spiral of brutality.

And we resolve, today, that every act of hate and cynical manipulation will only bring us closer together. We, Muslims and Non-Muslims from every nation of the world, resolve to love each other more fiercely than ever before, to listen more deeply to each other than ever before, and to let the pain of each fresh atrocity committed in the names of our faiths or nations or cultures be the birth pangs of the more united, more loving world we are determined to create.

We will build that world, because the truth is on our side. The truth that we are all one people, one tribe. Our fates are bound together, and together we will rise, undivided."

July, 2015, hundredth anniversary of World War I, Angelus St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis: "Never war! Never war! I think most of all about children, whose hopes for a dignified life, a future, are dashed, dead children, wounded children, mutilated children, orphans, children who have the leftovers of war for toys, children who don't know how to smile. Stop it, please! I beg you with all my heart! It's time to stop!"

"As my predecessor Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J., wrote in this column shortly after the release of the commission's report in 1983,'the fever of war poisons our imaginations, inflates our assumptions and distorts our vision. Hindsight should not make us feel superior to those who went before us. It should, though, give us a few sobering second thoughts about our present imaginations, assumptions and visions.'" Matt Malone, S.J. America. Dec. 7-15 2015

We can't have elections determined by the unequal distribution of income and money.

"As promised here are links to two of the videos I personally have found to be eye opening hidden injustices caused by the current construct of campaign finance in America." Michael McGrath Xavier student.

https://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_we_the_people_and_the_republic_we_must_reclaim

https://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_the_unstoppable_walk_to_political_reform?language=en

"Over the last several years, Veterans For Peace chapters have taken the lead in celebrating Armistice Day on November 11. We are reclaiming the original intention of that day - a worldwide call for peace that was spurred by universal revulsion at the huge slaughter of World War One. In Canada and the United Kingdom, this day is known as Remembrance Day.

After World War II, the U.S. Congress decided to re-brand November 11 as Veterans Day. Who could speak against that? But honoring the warrior quickly morphed into honoring the military and glorifying war. Armistice Day was flipped from a day for peace into a day for displays of militarism.

This November 11, it is as urgent as ever to ring the bells for peace. Many Veterans For Peace chapters ring bells, and ask local churches to do the same, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as was done at the end of World War One.

Visit the Armistice Day page for ways to get involved.

There are so many reasons we must press our government
to end reckless military interventions
that endanger the entire world.

In Syria, the U.S. has armed and supported rebelswho share its goal of overthrowing the Assad government. U.S. intervention in Syria has been a major factor in the ongoing tragedy that has made refugees of half of all Syrians, and has done irreparable destruction to the nation of Syria. The U.S. government and military must end its support of the rebels and abandon its efforts at regime change. It must join in sincere diplomatic efforts with the Syrian government and Syrian opposition forces, along with Russia, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. All sides know that the solution to the Syrian war is political, not military. It is time to stop the bloodshed and the exodus of refugees, and to start talks that respect the self-determination of the Syrian people.

In Afghanistan, the deliberate U.S. bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospitalwas followed by a weak apology from President Obama, and his announcement that he would break his promise to end that war, and keep thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond his presidency. Fourteen years of deliberate and reckless killing of thousands of Afghanistan civilians has not brought Afghanistan peace or stability.

All U.S. troops, planes, drones, contractors and NATO allies must leave Afghanistan. Let the Afghan people find their own peace and determine their own future.

Don't Tempt Nuclear War - End the U.S./NATO Confrontation with Russia. With Russia and the U.S. bombing different rebel targets in Syria, and with the U.S. and NATO pressing Russia on its very borders, the threat of yet another World War looms. The U.S. and Russia have thousands of nuclear weapons pointed at one another, with the capacity to kill many millions of people in each country. Nuclear war between Russia and the United States, which was miraculously avoided during the tense standoff of the Cold War, has re-emerged as an all too real possibility.

In Ukraine, the U.S. poured in many millions of dollars to stir up opposition to the elected (if corrupt) government, even supporting fascist gangs who led a violent coup that brought a rightwing, western-friendly government to power. Russian speaking Ukrainians in the east were immediately targeted by fascist elements who took control of Ukrainian military and security forces. The Russian speaking minority felt it necessary to organize armed self-defense. Russia facilitated a plebiscite in the Ukrainian province of Crimea, where Russia's Black Sea naval fleet is based, leading to an overwhelming vote to rejoin the Russian federation.

U.S. and NATO forces must pull back from Russia's borders. U.S. and NATO forces are stationed in Poland and the Baltic nations, encircling Russia on its own borders. A coordinated international media campaign portrays Russian President Putin as the aggressor, while NATO carries out threatening war games and the U.S. beefs up its first strike nuclear capacity in Europe.

NATO, originally organized to confront the Warsaw Pact forces of the Soviet Union, should be dismantled, instead of being used to intimidate Russia and morphing into an international intervention force serving the aims of those who believe in U.S. and Western global hegemony.

The U.S. should pull back from its so-called "Pivot to Asia," where 60% of U.S. naval forces will be deployed, and where the U.S. is building regional military alliances to confront China. In so doing, the U.S. has pressured the Japanese government to abandon its constitutional pledge not to deploy their military outside Japan's borders, forced the South Korean government - against the will of its people - to build a naval base on Jeju Island, and continues to ignore the pleas of the Okinawan people to return a sense of sanity to their island by removing omnipresent military the U.S.

The United States, Russia and all nuclear powers must begin living up to their obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which requires them to negotiate in good faith to reduce and eventually eliminate all nuclear weapons. The Marshall Islands is suing the U.S. and all nuclear powers because they are doing just the opposite. The U.S. government recently announced a thirty year program, estimated to cost One Trillion Dollars, to "modernize" its nuclear arsenal. In other words, the U.S. is building new generations of nuclear bombs and missiles. This cannot stand.

U.S. drone wars in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and beyond must end.

The U.S. must begin dismantling its 900 military bases around the world.

War Abroad Mirrors Racism and Violence at Home. The militarization of U.S. foreign policy and use of violence and war around the world is mirrored here at home by racist police killings, and the militarization of law enforcement and schools, where military recruiters often have total access to students. Racism and xenophobia are used to dehumanize Muslims and others in order to justify killing them in war in their own countries. We in Veterans For Peace realize this is the same hatred used here at home to justify killing black, brown, and poor people. It is the same fearmongering used to criminalize honest, hard-working people and tear immigrant families apart through deportation.

This Armistice Day Veterans For Peace calls for justice and peace at home and abroad. We call for the end to racist policies, and for equality for all people.

Stop the War on Mother Earth. Veterans For Peace also sees the links between war and the destruction of the natural environment upon which all living creatures depend. Stubborn reliance on fossil fuels, and wars for control of them, are primary causes of the perilous climate change into which the world is descending. The ongoing nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan reminds us that nuclear power is neither green nor safe. Shortsighted energy policies threaten to make entire regions of the planet uninhabitable, turning millions of people into climate refugees. New and dangerous wars for water, land and other precious resources are almost certain to follow.

Between nuclear war and climate disaster, we are facing the possibility of Hell on Earth, UNLESS we create a united worldwide movement for peace, justice, equality and sustainability.

For all of these reasons, stand with Veterans For Peace on Armistice Day, November 11, 2015"

Words for Sept. 20, 2015 at a Mass at Bellarmine Chapel celebrating my 90th birthday.

Good morning. Thanks for being here as we give thanks to God together.

You may have heard a rumor that in a small way I'm still working for peace. The first reading for today reminds us that we who work for peace may receive resistance, misunderstanding, even more.

The second reading suggests that peace is integral and comprehensive. We need to share and listen compassionately to all.

In the gospel Jesus calls us to be servant leaders for peace, justice, and care for creation, our common home.

I do believe that we can trace the basic outline of a peace of Christ which I try to do on this web-page. I think Jesus wants us to form a global and local ethic such as "do unto others as you would have others do unto you." Jesus wants us to affirm basic human rights; pursue the various forms of non-violence; work toward an inclusive economy, strive to establish a democratic world order that will outlaw war, poverty, and oppression. There's also the little way of love in our daily lives of St. Therese and Dorothy Day. Let's go toward our vision together and with Jesus.

On this day 69 years ago, I was in the Philippine Islands in the 86th Infantry Division of the US Army. God's grace has brought me to this moment. Too many to name now have helped me on my journey. I think we underestimate how much we need one another. Thanks to all of you and each of you.

Thanks for all that has been. I hope for all that can be. God bless all of us. The Peace of Christ.

A different way to look at our world is presented in a readable way by Deb Reich in No More Enemies. She invites us to change enemies into partners by envisioning alternatives. Trees take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. We can be inundated by the violence in our world and give out love which unites us. https://globalsolutions.org/books/No-More-Enemies#.WJi1BlMrK70

Alternative sources of information:

https://fcnl.org

commondreams.org, truthout.org, informationclearinghouse.info www.foodandwaterwatch.org

community-wealth.org

www.rachelcorriefoundation.org

2015 Pope Francis' encyclical on care of the earth has come out. Learn more about the Catholic Climate Covenant and take the St. Francis Pledge: www.catholicclimatecovenant.org

UN: 2014 saw record number of world refugees

In 2014 a record 59.5 million people were refugees, asylum seekers or displaced due to conflict, violence or war, says an annual global trends report by the United Nations refugee agency. That total figure is up 16% from 2013 and 59% from 2004, says the report, which was released in advance of World Refugee Day on Saturday. The Guardian (London) (6/18), The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (6/18), Voice of America (6/18), Voice of America

The Pope decried "debates about the way to kill, as if there were a way to 'do it well.'"

"There is no human way of killing another person," Pope Francis declared.

"North Korea has been roundly condemned for its nuclear tests, including this one. To put this in perspective, however, the US has conducted more than 1,000 nuclear tests, continues to conduct subcritical nuclear tests, has not ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, is in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, regularly tests nuclear-capable missiles, and plans to spend $1 trillion modernizing its nuclear arsenal. The US and the other eight nuclear-armed countries are quick to point fingers at North Korea, but slow to recognize their own role in fanning the flames of nuclear catastrophe." Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. David Krieger.

Jewish Voice for Peace has been winning as you can read on their web-site www.jvp.org or in their newsletter. They also had a successful workshop on Islamophobia.

Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet: Consensus of scientific community. Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals1 show that 97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities. In addition, most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position. The following is a partial list of these organizations, along with links to their published statements and a selection of related resources.

https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

Romero, 35 Years After Murder

Thirty-five years ago, Archbishop óscar Romero was murdered by members of a U.S.-backed death squad while delivering mass in San Salvador, El Salvador. On Saturday, over 300,000 people gathered in the same city to see him beatified, bringing him a step closer to sainthood in the Catholic Church. The recognition has long been opposed by right-wing clerics and politicians. During the ceremony, eight deacons carried Romero's blood-stained shirt to the altar in a glass case. Archbishop Romero was shot through the heart while delivering mass at a hospital chapel on March 24, 1980. He was reportedly assassinated on the orders of U.S.-backed death squad leader Roberto D?Aubuisson, a graduate of the U.S.-run School of the Americas who went on to form the right-wing ARENA party. We go to San Salvador to speak with Roberto Lovato, a writer and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley?s Center for Latino Policy Research.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AARON MATe: Thirty-five years ago, Archbishop óscar Romero was murdered by members of a U.S.-backed death squad while delivering mass in San Salvador, El Salvador. On Saturday, over 300,000 people gathered in the same city to see him beatified. The recognition has long been opposed by right-wing clerics and politicians. During the ceremony, eight deacons carried Romero?s blood-stained shirt to the altar in a glass case. An envoy of Pope Francis lead the event in honor of a man known as a "voice for the voiceless."

JESúS DELGADO: [translated] We authorize that the venerable servant of God, óscar Arnulfo Romero Galdámez, bishop and martyr, pastor, according to the heart of Christ, evangelizer and father to the poor, heroic witness of the reign of God, reign of justice, fraternity and peace, hereon shall be called beatified.

AARON MATe: President Salvador Sánchez Ceren, a former member of the left-wing rebel movement FMLN, spoke at the ceremony. The presidents of Panama and Ecuador also attended. President Obama sent a statement hailing the church's new direction under Pope Francis, writing, quote, "I am grateful to Pope Francis for his leadership in reminding us of our obligation to help those most in need, and for his decision to beatify Blessed Oscar [Arnulfo] Romero."

For decades Veterans for Peace journeyed to a place of understanding of the futility and immorality of war and now wage peace. In 2014 They ask that their voice be heard.

No More Enemies:

Women Cross Border Between North and South Korea

Women Cross DMZ, an international group of female peace activists led by Gloria Steinem, crossed one of the world?s most militarized borders, between North and South Korea, in order to draw attention to the need for a permanent peace treaty. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the division of the Korean peninsula. Other goals of the group were to highlight the suffering of divided families and promoting peace over war.

Mairead Maguire and Medea Benjamin, both members of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation's Advisory Council, took part in the action. Maguire, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, said, "We are here today because we don?t believe in war. You can get to human rights when you have a normal situation and not a country at war."

?Gloria Steinem and Female Activists Cross Korean Demilitarized Zone,? The Guardian, May 24, 2015.

Signs of the Times

Jesus urged us to read the signs of the times. Here I share my own reading of current events in the light of my vision of utopia, the truth of tomorrow. As a community, as a nation, we have a collective light graced story in which God has loved us and we have taken that love to others. The United States affirms civic rights and political rights. We did free the slaves. Much later we did enact civil rights legislation. We did finally give women the right to vote. We have made some advances in fairness to workers. As a nation we do care about the environment. There is a part of the American people that is generous and open to new ideas. We still have the opportunity for non-violent change.

I think we also need to face our collective dark graced story which takes courage and spiritual freedom to admit. God is present in our dark graced story revealing to us that it is dark and helping us to move the dark graced story to the light graced story side of the ledger. You may feel that what follows below is more of the dark graced story than the light. If you have more examples of the light graced story, I welcome them as part of our dialogue. I feel as long as we do not have basic human rights for each human person in our world, we have not reached the beginning. It's not enough for me to be relatively free and secure. I can't be happy as long as there's one person who is basically unhappy and lacking in the bare necessities.

2014 Ban Ki-moon, United Nations. "Ours is the first generation that can end poverty, and the last that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. In this 70th anniversary year in which we renew our commitment to the goals and principles of the UN charter, the international community must rise to the moment."

Forging a transformative vision
"Building economic power through community ownership is the antidote to the systemic failures of our current system.
Despite its great wealth, the United States today faces enormous difficulties, with no easily discernible answers in sight. Elections occur and debates ensue, but many of the most pressing problems facing ordinary citizens are only marginally affected. For the average American, the trends have been bad for a very long time. Real wages for 80 percent of American workers have been stagnant for decades. At the same time, income for the top 1 percent has jumped from roughly 10 percent of all income to roughly 20 percent. Put another way, virtually all the gains of the entire economic system have gone to a tiny, tiny group at the top for at least three decades.
At the most superficial level, Washington?as the saying goes?is broken. The political system is simply incapable of dealing with the challenges. It focuses on deficits, not assets or answers. Long-term, unchanging trends are a clear signal that it?s not simply partisan bickering and congressional stalemate that are causing the problems. We all know that something different is going on?both with the economy and, more fundamentally, with democracy itself...."

Dr. Gar Alperovitz

Useful exercise: Take any current event you would like to address: war and violence in Syria, South Sudan, Holy Land, etc. etc. go to any other section on this web-site, World Order, Economic Democracy, etc. and judge whether each or all of them together would alleviate the situation.

Useful links: www.globalsolutions.org Democratic World Federalists www.dwfed.org

Christian Life Community www.clc-usa.org (especially Apostolic section)

U.S. Catholic Conference www.USCCB.org

I am a veteran of World War II. I served in Patton?s army in Europe, also in the Philippine Islands. I came away from my service with the conviction there has to be a better way. My many years (68 in fact) of working for Faith and Justice have convinced me we don?t have the structures for a workable world.. I hope you would agree that one of the internal structures we need to change is an over-emphasis on violence and war. As Pope John Paul II said, ?War is the most barbarous and least effective ways of solving conflict.? You?re welcome to visit the front page of this web-site and play my 15 minute Vision of Hope. Better still, read Transforming the United Nations; System, Designs for a Workable World by Dr. Joseph E. Schwartzberg. Let?s dream of a world system that works for everyone, a United Federation of Nations.

World structures have not kept up with economic and technological progress. We need to envision new democratic structures that will make decisions that affect everyone (like global climate change, regional wars and violence, unemployment, poverty, hunger, pandemics, etc.) be made by everyone.

Each year Cuba has asked the United Nations to lift the economic embargo the United States imposes on the nation of Cuba.
?The United Nations has passed the resolution for 22 straight years with overwhelming support. Last year the vote was 188 to 2, with only the United States and Israel voting against the resolution.? Although many nations have criticized Cuba, no other nation has an economic embargo against Cuba. (See article in The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/09/cuba-us-embargo-116bn-un-report
The fact that the US stands alone shows the undemocratic nature and ineffectiveness of the UN. Sensible changes proposed by Transforming the United Nations System, Designs for a Workable World by Dr. Joseph E. Schwartzberg would be a step forward toward a more united and freer world, a United Federation of Nations, a system that works for everyone.
US intransigence also shows a lack of openness to new approaches and better ideas. If 188 nations have a different approach in a matter that adversely affects the citizens of a whole nation, isn?t it time that we rethink a policy that seems to hurt everyone including ourselves?

Peace and justice in the Holy Land includes: At this time our discussion has led to these issues: Ending the Israeli military occupation in the West Bank and removing the blockade of Gaza; compensating the original owners of the Israeli settlements, Israeli's who stay becoming Palestinian citizens; the establishment of an independent, democratic, and fully-sovereign state; and resolving the issue of the Return of Refugees to their homes from which they were expelled, or just compensation for their loss and their suffering; all in accordance with International Law.

The main role of US citizens is to demand free self-determination of all living in the Holy Land and the refugees. Immediately demolition of homes and continuing the settlements must stop. The latter is contrary to international law and the former of both international law and the moral law. True self-determination will not go forward until the demolition of homes and the increase of settlements ceases.

2013

Frances Beinecke, President, Natural Resources Defense Council:

"Fantastic news: Shell has announced that it will NOT attempt to drill in the Arctic Ocean this summer.
The oil giant?s stunning reversal came after a momentous court ruling two weeks ago. The federal court agreed with NRDC and our allies that the Bush Administration had wildly underestimated the risks of spills and other hazards when it opened the Arctic?s Chukchi Sea to oil leasing and exploration in 2008.
Simply put: the entire Arctic leasing program was based on a fiction -- as we have long claimed -- and all the leases, including Shell?s, have now been thrown into limbo.
The court victory and Shell?s retreat are huge steps forward in our campaign to close Alaska?s Polar Bear Seas -- the Beaufort and Chukchi -- to oil development and potential catastrophe.
And we have you to thank! You have stood with us every step of the way, to a tough battle against two administrations and Big Oil that has raged in and out of the courtroom for five years. We never gave up because we know just how much is at stake.
The Beaufort and Chukchi Seas are home to more than half of America?s polar bears. Their populations are already reeling from global warming. The last thing they need is a catastrophic oil spill.
This remote and rugged region is no place for drilling. In 2012, Shell?s rig had to flee from a 30-mile-long iceberg. Its emergency response equipment was ?crushed like a beer can? during tests. And its drill rig ran aground during relatively routine winter weather.
Other oil giants -- including ConocoPhilips and Statoil, the Norwegian multinational oil company -- have long since canceled or suspended their plans. Shell was the last holdout -- until this latest announcement. It?s so crucially important for the Obama Administration to slam the door shut on Arctic drilling by putting it completely off-limits to Big Oil. "

2011

Christmas 2011 From Pax Christi USA "For one second in time everyone has a taste of new beginnings, new possibilities, new life. It is Christmas. For a moment the Kingdom is come.

And who knows in the 60's Mama Cass belted out the promise, There's a new world coming and it's just around the bend. We believers in the Christmas message would have to agree around the bend is always a surprise; around the bend could be a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, whose name is PRINCE OF PEACE. And there's only one way to find out: keep following the Star of Bethlehem.

It is this promise, this hope we call Christmas that will feed the flame within us and lighten the path for the next generation.

This reflection is from Journey of Hope and Grace: Advent 1990, by Monika Hellwig and Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB. Mary Lou Kownacki, OSB is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA and a Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace.

Published on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 by Robert Reich's Blog
The Seven Biggest Economic Lies
by Robert Reich

The President's Jobs Bill doesn't have a chance in Congress and the Occupiers on Wall Street and elsewhere can't become a national movement for a more equitable society unless more Americans know the truth about the economy.

Here's a short (2 minute 30 second) effort to rebut the seven biggest whoppers now being told by those who want to take America backwards. The major points:

1. Tax cuts for the rich trickle down to everyone else. Baloney. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both sliced taxes on the rich and what happened? Most Americans' wages (measured by the real median wage) began flattening under Reagan and have dropped since George W. Bush. Trickle-down economics is a cruel joke. bju: (Pope Francis seems to agree with this in Joy in the Gospel)

2. Higher taxes on the rich would hurt the economy and slow job growth. False. From the end of World War II until 1981, the richest Americans faced a top marginal tax rate of 70 percent or above. Under Dwight Eisenhower it was 91 percent. Even after all deductions and credits, the top taxes on the very rich were far higher than they've been since. Yet the economy grew faster during those years than it has since. (Don't believe small businesses would be hurt by a higher marginal tax; fewer than 2 percent of small business owners are in the highest tax bracket.)

3. Shrinking government generates more jobs. Wrong again. It means fewer government workers everyone from teachers, fire fighters, police officers, and social workers at the state and local levels to safety inspectors and military personnel at the federal. And fewer government contractors, who would employ fewer private-sector workers. According to Moody's economist Mark Zandi (a campaign advisor to John McCain), the $61 billion in spending cuts proposed by the House GOP will cost the economy 700,000 jobs this year and next.

4. Cutting the budget deficit now is more important than boosting the economy. Untrue. With so many Americans out of work, budget cuts now will shrink the economy. They'll increase unemployment and reduce tax revenues. That will worsen the ratio of the debt to the total economy. The first priority must be getting jobs and growth back by boosting the economy. Only then, when jobs and growth are returning vigorously, should we turn to cutting the deficit.

5. Medicare and Medicaid are the major drivers of budget deficits. Wrong. Medicare and Medicaid spending is rising quickly, to be sure. But that's because the nation's health-care costs are rising so fast. One of the best ways of slowing these costs is to use Medicare and Medicaid's bargaining power over drug companies and hospitals to reduce costs, and to move from a fee-for-service system to a fee-for-healthy outcomes system. And since Medicare has far lower administrative costs than private health insurers, we should make Medicare available to everyone.

6. Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. Don't believe it. Social Security is solvent for the next 26 years. It could be solvent for the next century if we raised the ceiling on income subject to the Social Security payroll tax. That ceiling is now $106,800.

7. It's unfair that lower-income Americans don't pay income tax. Wrong. There's nothing unfair about it. Lower-income Americans pay out a larger share of their paychecks in payroll taxes, sales taxes, user fees, and tolls than everyone else.

Demagogues through history have known that big lies, repeated often enough, start being believed unless they're rebutted. These seven economic whoppers are just plain wrong. Make sure you know the truth and spread it on.
© 2011 Robert Reich
Robert Reich

Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His "Marketplace" commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.

The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010 by the John Jay College of Criminal justice. The latter were commissioned by the United States Catholic Conference, but the John Jay College is hardly the Catholic Church. To say the five-year study blames the sixties for priests pedophilia is a grossly inaccurate characterization of the report. I refer you to ?What Caused the Crisis?? By Kathleen McChesney in America June 6-15, 2011. Less than 5 percent of priests with abuse allegations exhibited behaviors consistent with pedophilia. Ibid. p. 14 Formation. .seems to have played a significant role in the likelihood of a man becoming an abuser. .abusers failed to recognize the harm they did to their victims. . . As seminaries gradually intensified the focus of formation on the human aspect of development, the number of incidents of abuse began to diminish. . .The failure of some diocesan leaders to take responsibility for the harms caused by priestly abuse was egregious in some cases. . . The study fairly notes that some bishops were innovators in dealing with the issue of abuse well before 2002 and some, the laggards, were not. . . The study found that the increase of abuse incidents during the 1960's and 1970's was consistent with the rise of other types of deviant behavior such as drug use, crime and changes in social behavior such as the increase in premarital sexual behavior and divorce. This finding may be dangerously misinterpreted by some as a cause of the abuse. While the sexual activities of clergy members with consenting adults during this time may reflect a sexually liberated society, at no time was the sexual abuse of minors legal, moral or justified. As adult followers of the Catholic faith, these offenders knew, or should have known, that their behaviors violated and injured the young.?The sexual abuse of minors is a long-term societal problem that is likely to persist, particularly in organizations that nurture and mentor adolescents. . The report's recommendations reinforce the actions undertaken by bishops and religious superiors to prevent future abuse actions that can and should be replicated in other countries and by other organizations. The suggested prevention policies focus on three areas: education, situational prevention models and oversight and accountability.

bju: I think we can agree with the John Jay College report that the sexual abuse of minors is a long-term societal problem. All faiths need to cooperate together to minimize future abuse. I would add that the world family abuses minors in many other ways as well. Children are hungry, poor, homeless, lacking in proper education, exposed to violence in video games, entertainment, a real-life war system, an exclusive global economy, a deteriorating planet.

Cecilie Surasky, Deputy Director, Jewish Voice for Peace: "By now many have heard about the Young, Jewish, and Proud members at the national gathering of Jewish federations where Bibi Netanyahu proclaimed that the movement for peace, justice and equality in Israel and Palestine, the movement to end the Israeli Occupation, is a movement to delegitimize Israel. And one by one, each of these young leaders bravely stood up in front of thousands of unbelievably hostile people and chanted the text on their banners, right in the middle of Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's speech: "I'm Young, Jewish, and Proud and the Loyalty Oath delegitimizes Israel" I'm Young, Jewish, and Proud and the Occupation delegitimizes Israel" "I'm Young, Jewish, and Proud and the Settlements delegitimize Israel."

May: ADC Condemns Israeli Use of Deadly Force on al-Nakba Commemorators

Washington, DC | www.adc.org | May 15, 2011 ? The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee strongly condemns the use of deadly force by Israeli forces on Palestinians commemorating al-Nakba or the catastrophe. For Palestinians and others in the Middle East, May 15th marks the destruction of historic Palestine and the massive forced expulsion and displacement of Palestinians by Israeli forces in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. News reports indicate that Israeli forces opened fire on commemorators in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as in the border areas including Lebanon and the Occupied Golan Heights. The use of deadly force on peaceful civilians, by any nation, must not be tolerated by the international community. Immediate action by the international community must be taken to ensure that the Israelis stop using excessive force on the demonstrators. Further, a clear message must be sent that the use of force will not be tolerated and Israel will be held accountable for its actions. According to media reports, and at the time of this release, at least nine Palestinians have been killed and dozens more injured after Israeli snipers opened fire on the peaceful demonstrators.

Al-Nakba was not a singular event. Displacement continues to this day, affecting thousands of Palestinians throughout the Middle East. There are approximately seven million Palestinian refugees and 450,000 internally displaced persons, representing 70% of the entire Palestinian population worldwide (9.8 million). Internal displacement continues, unabated, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) due to the Israeli construction of the wall, house demolitions, evictions, and land confiscation.

Similar patterns of forced displacement for Palestinians living in Israel occur as well. Urban development plans for the exclusive benefit of Jewish communities are displacing indigenous Palestinian communities in places like Naqab (Negev) and the Galilee. In 2010, the Netanyahu government approved the development of 1,600 new housing units in Occupied East Jerusalem, a policy condemned by the U.S. This development will also forcibly displace several Palestinian families from their land and homes.

ADC is committed to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. Any peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict requires the dismantlement of the Israeli Wall (the wall was declared illegal by the International Court of Justice), the cessation and dismantlement of all settlements, an end to the collective punishment imposed on the Palestinian population as a result of Israeli occupation policies, respect for the exercise of democratic rights of Palestinians in electing their government, the creation of a viable and independent Palestinian state, and the upholding of the right of return of the Palestinian refugees under international law. ADC will continue to advocate for the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination in an independent and fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

###

NOTE TO EDITORS: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which is non-profit, non-sectarian and non-partisan, is the largest grassroots Arab-American civil rights and civil liberties organization in the United States. It was founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk. ADC has a national network of chapters and members in all 50 states.

________________________________________

Warning Against Wars Like Iraq and Afghanistan

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/world/26gates.html?ref=global-home

WEST POINT, N.Y. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday, Feb. 25th that it would be unwise for the United States to ever fight another war like Iraq or Afghanistan, and that the chances of carrying out a change of government in that fashion again were slim.
?In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should have his head examined, as General MacArthur so delicately put it, Mr. Gates told an assembly of Army cadets here.

"Although most people, if asked directly, will say that they favor the abolition of nuclear weapons, very few have any real idea of the threat which existing nuclear arsenals pose to humans and other complex forms of life. In fact, here in the U.S., most people do not even know that immense nuclear arsenals still exist, that their own nation (and Russia) have 95% of the 22,000 nuclear weapons in the world, and that they keep 2,000 strategic nuclear weapons ready to launch with only a few minutes warning. They have no idea that just one of these weapons can instantly ignite tens or hundreds of square miles of the Earth's surface into a gigantic nuclear firestorm, and that a hundred such firestorms could produce enough smoke to cause deadly climate change, leading to global nuclear famine.

"An uniformed public cannot make informed decisions. We are still conducting our political discussions about nuclear weapons in Cold War terms, focusing upon how we are "behind" if we don't "modernize" our nuclear arsenal, that we are "locked into a position of permanent inferiority" by agreements with the Russians to limit our nuclear weapons. There is absolutely no discussion of the consequences of the use of existing arsenals, particularly those maintained by the US and Russia, the dialogue is dangerously out of touch with the peer-reviewed scientific predictions that *any* nuclear conflict which detonates as little as 1% of existing nuclear arsenals in cities will likely kill at least 1 billion people through nuclear famine. We must bring current scientific understandings of what nuclear war would do to the biosphere, agriculture, ecosystems and global climate into the active debate about the need for nuclear weaponry.

"Furthermore, In a time when we cannot find enough money to maintain our schools, highways, hospitals and basic infrastructure, do we need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild our nuclear weapons manufacturing complex and "upgrade" nuclear weapons systems? No, just the opposite, we need to stop or prevent funding for such projects, which guarantee that there will be no "world without nuclear weapons." I am going to start ending my presentations with a chart which shows what we could do with the endless billions we spend on nuclear weaponry, something like what Eisenhower did with his "Cross of Iron" speech. We have to give concrete examples of what could be immediately gained through the elimination of insane spending for nuclear doomsday machines. We can combat the idea that nuclear spending creates jobs by giving examples of what could be done to construct, for example, needed alternative energy systems (wind, solar, tidal, etc.) that can begin rebuilding our own industrial infrastructure, which has been dismantled and shipped overseas.

If we are going" to get into a race with other nations, let it be a race towards a better human future. Building nuclear weapons does just the opposite, it paves the way for mass extinction of complex forms of life, including human life."

-- Steven Starr,senior scientist with Physicians for Social Responsibility

"A democracy survives when its citizens have access to trustworthy and impartial sources of information, when it can discern lies from truth, when civic discourse is grounded in verifiable fact. And with the decimation of reporting these sources of information are disappearing. The increasing fusion of news and entertainment, the rise of a class of celebrity journalists on television who define reporting by their access to the famous and the powerful, the retreat by many readers into the ideological ghettos of the Internet and the ruthless drive by corporations to destroy the traditional news business are leaving us deaf, dumb and blind. The relentless assault on the ?liberal press? by right-wing propaganda outlets is in fact an assault on a system of information grounded in verifiable fact. And once this bedrock of civil discourse is eradicated, people will be free, as many already are, to believe whatever they want to believe, to pick and choose what facts or opinions suit their world and what do not. In this new world lies will become true." Chris Hedges Truthout 6/27/11

Although there were positive elements in the President's State of the Union like no tax cuts for the wealthy or subsidies to big oil, the risk I see in the President's approach is that I think we put too much emphasis on competition and not enough on sharing. We need to expand the notion of "We" to include the whole human family. We're all in this together. The physical, emotional, economic security of one is the security of all. We share one planet. We are one species. There is one economy, but it is not a fair, inclusive democratic economy. We need compassionate listening to the needs of all nations without favoritism and sharing what we have including power and decision-making.. See my web-site elsewhere for a fuller explanation of what I mean. George Washington said we should not favor one nation over another because we will overlook the faults of our friends, and exaggerate the faults of our supposed "enemies." We should work to make everyone equal partners with us. We should listen to the needs of our supposed enemies and move them at least to the column of nations we can work with and who will listen to us.

From Just Foreign Policy: U.S./Top News
1) Palestinians are planning a "day of rage" in response to the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements, the Guardian reports. Anti-US rallies took place in Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Jenin after the 14-1 vote on the resolution, in which the US stood alone against the rest of the Security Council, including Britain, Germany and France. The use of the veto for the first time under Obama will strengthen perceptions in the Arab world that for the US, protection of Israel overrides a just outcome for Palestinians, the Guardian says. According to the Palestinian press, Obama had suggested to President Abbas that US aid to the Palestinian Authority could be halted if the resolution went ahead. But a Palestinian official told Reuters that "people would take to the streets and topple the president" if Abbas backed down.

The Encyclical Love in Truth of Pope Benedict XVI in conjunction with the footnotes below indicate that the thought of the Catholic Church is toward an effective world authority.

67. "In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth. One also senses the urgent need to find innovative ways of implementing the principle of the responsibility to protect [146] and of giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making. This seems necessary in order to arrive at a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity. To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority, as my predecessor Blessed John XXIII indicated some years ago. Such an authority would need to be regulated by law, to observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good [147], and to make a commitment to securing authentic integral human development inspired by the values of charity in truth. Furthermore, such an authority would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights [148]. Obviously it would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums. Without this, despite the great progress accomplished in various sectors, international law would risk being conditioned by the balance of power among the strongest nations. The integral development of peoples and international cooperation require the establishment of a greater degree of international ordering, marked by subsidiarity, for the management of globalization [149]. They also require the construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order, to the interconnection between moral and social spheres, and to the link between politics and the economic and civil spheres, as envisaged by the Charter of the United Nations."

* [125] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 41: loc. cit., 843-845.
* [126] Cf. ibid.
* [127] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 20: loc. cit., 422-424.
* [128] Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 85: loc. cit., 298-299.
* [129] Cf. John Paul II, Message for the 1998 World Day of Peace, 3: AAS 90 (1998), 150; Address to the Members of the Vatican Foundation ?Centesimus Annus ? Pro Pontifice?, 9 May 1998, 2; Address to the Civil Authorities and Diplomatic Corps of Austria, 20 June 1998, 8; Message to the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, 5 May 2000, 6.
* [130] According to Saint Thomas ?ratio partis contrariatur rationi personae?, In III Sent., d. 5, q. 3, a. 2; also ?Homo non ordinatur ad communitatem politicam secundum se totum et secundum omnia sua?, Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 21, a. 4, ad 3.
* [131] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 1.
* [132] Cf. John Paul II, Address to the Sixth Public Session of the Pontifical Academies of Theology and of Saint Thomas Aquinas, 8 November 2001, 3.
* [133] Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church Dominus Iesus (6 August 2000), 22: AAS 92 (2000), 763-764; Id., Doctrinal Note on some questions regarding the participation of Catholics in political life (24 November 2002), 8: AAS 96 (2004), 369-370.
* [134] Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, 31: loc. cit., 1010; Address to the Participants in the Fourth National Congress of the Church in Italy, Verona, 19 October 2006.
* [135] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 5: loc. cit., 798-800; Benedict XVI, Address to the Participants in the Fourth National Congress of the Church in Italy, Verona, 19 October 2006.
* [136] No. 12.
* [137] Cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Quadragesimo Anno (15 May 1931): AAS 23 (1931), 203; John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 48: loc. cit., 852-854; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1883.
* [138] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris, loc. cit., 274.
* [139] Cf. Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Populorum Progressio, 10, 41: loc. cit., 262, 277-278.
* [140] Cf. Benedict XVI, Address to Members of the International Theological Commission, 5 October 2007; Address to the Participants in the International Congress on Natural Moral Law, 12 February 2007.
* [141] Cf. Benedict XVI, Address to the Bishops of Thailand on their ?Ad Limina? Visit, 16 May 2008.
* [142] Cf. Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, Instruction Erga Migrantes Caritas Christi (3 May 2004): AAS 96 (2004), 762-822.
* [143] John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 8: loc. cit., 594-598.
* [144] Jubilee of Workers, Greeting after Mass, 1 May 2000.
* [145] Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 36: loc. cit., 838-840.
* [146] Cf. Benedict XVI, Address to the Members of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, New York, 18 April 2008.
* [147] Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris, loc. cit., 293; Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 441.
* [148] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, 82.

From Current Events 2009 August

The US is beginning to have a more positive view of the International Criminal Court. Those wishing to be involved e-mail Outreach@globalsolutions.org

Media

Modern media control public opinion and thus our limited democracy. Modern media promote our culture of violence. Modern media does not represent adequately workers, the environment, sustainable farming, peace groups, most of what you find on this web-page. Modern media is owned by and controlled by corporations. Modern media influences our understanding of religion and faith.

I think we need a three-fold approach to the media. We need to critique TV, radio, and the newspapers. See also,

• Fairness in Accuracy in Reporting
• The electronic intifada critiques the media on Middle East questions

Below is an example of a critique of the corporate media: "Because This Is the Middle East" FAIR 20 July 2006

"On July 16, CBS Face the Nation host (and CBS Evening News anchor) Bob Schieffer dedicated the entire Sunday morning news show to the Middle East conflict. In his closing editorial, he adapted a well-known fable in an attempt to explain the causes of the current conflict--or rather, the lack of causes: "Finally today, when the war broke out in the Middle East, the first thing I thought about was the old story of the frog and the scorpion who were trying to cross a river there. The scorpion couldn't swim, the frog was lost. So the scorpion proposed a deal, 'Give me a ride on your back, and I'll show you the way.' The frog agreed, and the trip went fine until they got to the middle of the river, and then suddenly the scorpion just stung the frog. As they were sinking, the frog asked, in his dying breath, 'Why would you do that?' To which the scorpion replied, 'Because this is the Middle East.'"

"Lest there be any doubt about who is the frog and who is the scorpion in that parable, Schieffer went on to spell it out: "It is worth noting that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip did not kidnap that Israeli soldier and provoke all of this because the Israelis were invading Gaza. No, all this happened in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal, which was what the Palestinians supposedly wanted. But this is the Middle East. Why would fundamentalists in Gaza and Lebanon choose to provoke this war at this time? There is no real answer except this is the Middle East."

"Schieffer was echoing the media's conventional wisdom in portraying the Palestinian raid that captured the Israeli soldier as an inexplicable provocation. The New York Times, in a June 29 editorial headlined "Hamas Provokes a Fight," declared that "the responsibility for this latest escalation rests squarely with Hamas," adding that "an Israeli military response was inevitable."

The media assumption is that in withdrawing from Gaza in September 2005, Israel ended its conflict with at least that portion of Palestine and gave up, as Schieffer put it, "what the Palestinians supposedly wanted." In reality, however, since the pullout and before the recent escalation of violence, at least 144 Palestinians in Gaza had been killed by Israeli forces, often by helicopter gunships, according to a list compiled by the Israeli human rights group B'tselem. Only 31 percent of the people killed were engaged in hostile actions at the time of their deaths, and 25 percent of all those killed were minors.

From the time of the pullout until the recent upsurge in violence, according to B'tselem's lists, no Israelis were killed by violence emanating from Gaza. Although during this period Palestinian militants launched some 1,000 crude Kasam missiles from Gaza into Israel, no fatalities resulted; at the same time, Israel fired 7,000 to 9,000 heavy artillery shells into Gaza. On June 9, just two weeks before the Hamas raid that killed two Israeli soldiers and captured a third, an apparent Israeli missile strike killed seven members of a Palestinian family picnicking on a Gaza beach, which prompted Hamas to end its 16-month-old informal ceasefire with Israel. (Though Israel has denied responsibility for the killings, a Human Rights Watch investigation strongly challenged the denial, calling the likelihood of Israel not being responsible "remote"; Human Rights Watch, 6/15/06.) Hamas has repeatedly pointed to the Gaza beach incident as one of the central events that prompted its cross-border raid--indeed, Schieffer's own CBS Evening News has reported that claim (CBS Evening News, 6/25/06). Even so, Schieffer seems unable to recall this recent event.

Hamas also points to the capture of some of its leaders by Israel as the provocation for its raid. If Israelis had every right, as Schieffer said, to respond with force to the capture of one soldier by Hamas, then how are Palestinians expected to feel about the more than 9,000 prisoners captured and held by Israel--including 342 juveniles and over 700 held without trial (Mandela Center for Human Rights, 4/30/06)?

Moreover, Israel's withdrawal did not remotely give Palestinians "what they wanted." In addition to its continued deadly attacks on Gaza, Israel has continued to control Gaza's borders and has withheld tens of millions of dollars of tax revenue in response to Hamas' victory in democratic elections in January 2006. Israel's actions crippled the Gaza economy and prompting warnings from the U.N. of a looming humanitarian disaster (UNRWA, 7/8/06).

None of this is to say that Hamas, which has regularly ignored the distinction between military and civilian targets, does not share part of the blame for the current crisis. But to act as though Israel had been behaving as a peace-loving neighbor to Gaza until the soldier's capture is a willful rewriting of very recent history. The most Schieffer can bring himself to say about Israel is this: "Israel had every right to respond, and it did. But again, this is the Middle East, so perhaps a response may have made it all worse by giving moderate Arabs in the region an excuse to distance themselves from Israel."

"Israel's "response" has resulted in the deaths to date of at least 103 Palestinians, while no Israelis have died other than one soldier killed by friendly fire (New York Times, 7/19/06). Meanwhile, Israel has also destroyed Gaza's main power plant and its water system, leaving tens of thousands of Gaza families without access to food, water and medical care (Oxfam, 7/19/06). In Lebanon, Israel has killed over 300 people, the vast majority of them civilians, wounded over 1000 and displaced half a million (MSNBC, 7/19/06). To call such devastation an "excuse" for Arabs to "distance themselves from Israel" is a trivialization of real human suffering.

Why is Bob Schieffer allowed to get away with such shallow, dismissive coverage of complicated and tragic events? Because it's the Middle East."

We also need alternative sources of information from the mainline news sources. One of these are the links on this web page. Another are the newsletters of the many peace and justice groups. One of the alternative sources of information is the web-site of the National Office of Jesuit Social Ministries www.jesuit.org Here you can access immediate information updates and urgent action steps which are priorities of the National Jesuit Social Ministries. Jesuit Advocates is a relatively easy way to contact your legislators.

The US Jesuit Conference is in a process of strategic discernment concerning the future apostolic priorities of the Society of Jesus. If you wish to give in-put, click here. See also,

• Iggy in all things
• Network
• Archdiocese of Cincinnati
• Ecumenical Advocacy Days
• Sojourners of Rev. James Wallis
• Jewish Voice for Peace also makes it relatively easy to contact public officials about Israel/Palestine/Lebanon

A third approach is to create our own means of communication. The picture above is taken in the radio studio of WVXU, 91.7 FM. For twenty eight years I had a weekly radio show called Faith and Justice Forum the response of religious groups to God's call for social action.

A fourth approach would be community ownership of the communications media or more wide-spread ownership. Presuming we achieve a genuine democracy, I think this would give everyone a better chance to exercise their natural right of free speech.

Free Press

Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector.

We believe that a more democratic US media system will lead to better public policies - at home and abroad. As our world becomes more and more interconnected, it is imperative that any kind of development takes into account basic environment, economic, and human rights, while defining corporate and personal responsibilities. Free Press considers information to be among the most important resources to any society. We strive to open up the media system to allow more diversity of opinion to be expressed, to present a broader perspective, and to increase the caliber of information available to everyday people. This, in turn, will lead to a more participatory and accountable government and to more sustainable policies and practices regarding national and global development.

2009 Current Events