May 2001

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

From the editor's desk

For an unelected president, he's certainly trying to make his mark. This issue of Peacework looks at some of George Bush's moves to rush through his agenda before the 2004 midterm election.

To start at the top, so to speak, there's the militarization of space. Ruth Rosen sounds the warning that decades of scientists' awe, policy-makers' respect, and solemn treaty promises--all are suddenly disposable. Our London correspondent, Janet Bloomfield, is appalled, and for the moment our hopes rest on the assumption that her compatriots and their European allies share her views.

This is a president who seems to like to play war, and Joseph Gerson reminds us that fragile relations along the Pacific rim--especially with China and North Korea--are at grave risk in an arena where missteps may have unthinkable consequences.

To be fair, the war on drug's fumigation doctrine, now playing out with such disastrous results for small farmers in Colombia, is Bill Clinton's baby--but a bi-partisan Bill Clinton, comfortably in bed with big oil and compliant militaries. And it's the military and corporations that stand to gain from US military presence in El Salvador, as well.

In his open letter on the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Leonard Peltier asks us to think carefully about the impact our actions will have on Mother Earth, on each other, and on future generations--the environmentalists' questions. It is very much to the point to raise them during this presidency which is proving itself so profoundly anti-environment. From desecration of pristine space, to betrayal of Kyoto and disdain for global warming, to scorched earth in Colombian rainforests, to irradiation of the nation's food supply--not to mention the wholesale dismantling of energy conservation and development of renewal sources, abandonment of limits for arsenic in our water and of worker health and safety standards, to name a few... these have been busy days for the new Administration.

Bush's championship of the FTAA fits seamlessly into the anti-environmental profile, and is one of the reasons the protest of the summit meeting in Quebec was such a powerful draw for grassroots movement forces from across the hemisphere. There are no environmental safeguards in these brave new trade agreements, and no labor and human rights safeguards either. For this May Peacework we've cobbled together a few early accounts of last week's events and summarized the Global Trade Watch's ten-point plan to fight for democratic decision-making and protection of the public interest.

Post-Quebec gatherings around Boston this week have all focused on the work ahead. The Harvard Living Wage Campaign is one such work-in-progress. As we write this, a large rally is headed from Cambridge City Hall to Harvard Yard where, for the last twelve days, students have been sitting in, in support of a very modest living wage for workers at the world's richest university. Harvard student Allegra Churchill wrote on her lap-top from inside Massachusetts Hall.

Of course, the global trade agenda and massive military spending plays out at home. Analyzing George Bush's so-called Faith-Based Initiative, Paul Chapman points out that it comes with, if anything, less funding than previous programs, and warns that churches, synagogues, and mosques that buy into it need to be clear that they want to participate in the dismantling of the nation's social safety net.

May is memorial day month--remembering. An obituary note for environmental scientist and activist Donnella Meadows recalls her opinion of Earth Day, which increasingly reminded her of Mother's Day. "All mothers have their breaking points," she wrote. In a moving essay, Marc Ellis, Professor of American and Jewish studies, considers Palestinians in context of the liberation message of Passover and "remembers the faces and cries of a people whose freedom is integral to my own and to that of my people." Bud Welch, whose daughter died in the Oklahoma City bombing, helps us to remember that this nation has abolished slavery, given women the right to vote, and passed civil rights laws. If we could make those necessary social changes, says he, then we can take the next step with the death penalty.

From a poster for the 1982 demonstration at the UN special session on disarmament

And finally, an invitation. Our friend Sidney Peck, sociologist, union organizer, community activist, and founding member of Mobilization for Survival, has been cleaning out his closets. He has given 50 years' worth of wonderful peace and justice posters to Peacework. There's a sampling on the pages of this issue. Come by the AFSC office May 17 to see the rest. Who knows--could be you'll take one home.

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