 November 2002
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
SHORT TAKES
The top military spenders:
United States $343.2 billion
Based on 2000 funding (most recent year available)
Global Priorities--For approximately 30% of
Eliminate Starvation and Malnutrition ($19 b)
Prepared by <Lightparty@aol.com> For more information,
www.worldgame.org Sources: Center for Defense Information, Council
for a Livable World, International Institute for Strategic Studies,
US State Department, US Central Intelligence Agency.
The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
issued this Call As conscientious objectors to war, we commit ourselves to refuse to pay some or all of the federal taxes that fund the military attacks on Iraq. Over the past twelve years, individual conscientious objectors have gone to jail for protesting the Gulf War, gone to Iraq in violation of a US travel ban, carried humanitarian supplies into Iraq in violation of the sanctions, and watched with immense sadness as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens died because US bombs destroyed their civilian infrastructure, and US-initiated sanctions resulted in starvation and disease.
We call on all those who oppose the military attacks on Iraq to
join us in refusing to pay for them, and instead to redirect their
federal tax money to heal the wounds of war. We ask people of
conscience to refuse to pay the federal excise tax on their phone
bills, or to refuse to pay some or all of their federal income
taxes, as a clear signal to our government that continuing the
cycle of violence is wrong.
The Dirtiest Dozen The full report version of "The Dirtiest Dozen Corporations--Partners in Mass Destruction" is available at www.reachingcriticalwill.org; this joint project of Reaching Critical Will (part of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom) and the Arms Trade Resource Center profiles 13 corporations who butter their bread with nuclear weapons and power contracts; a brilliant poster with all 13 corporations is also available for ($5 each, bulk rates available); to order, contact info@ reachingcritical will.org; 212/682-1265; WILPF, 777 UN Plaza, 6th Floor, New York NY 10017 Reviving Resistance: Tools for Anti-Nuclear Organizing in the Age of Terror An organizing packet, with resources, analysis, ideas, and tools; download from www.warresisters.org/Reviving_Resist ance.pdf or request from War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012; 212/228-0450
Mobile Chernobyl: Coming to a Highway Near You The Senate
voted to approve nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada,
despite the fact that nuclear waste would travel America's
highways and byways on trains and trucks, a potential Mobile Chernobyl.
But the fight is not over yet. The Map Science Center has created
a report, "What If? Nuclear Waste Accident Scenarios in
the United States," including Nuclear Waste Route Maps and
solid accompanying information. At www.mapscience.org/plumes,
enter your address and ZIP code to see if the shipments will come
through your back yard and take action. World Policy Institute,
66 Fifth Ave., 9th Floor, New York, NY 10011; 212/229-5808 x112;
www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms
Cassette 1
Cassette 2
Cassette 3:
Cassette 4:
Cassettes are $7.50 each or $25 for the set, postage included.
Send orders to the American Friends Service Committee, 2161 Massachusetts
Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140. Checks should be made payable to AFSC-PES.
The present situation threatens to make living conditions for the people of Iraq even more unbearable, and as a result we can expect to see thousands of refugees in neighboring countries. Since June 2002, AFSC has worked with other international aid agencies on a contingency plan for Iraq. Three 40-foot containers have already been sent to Jordan, filled with health kits, school kits, and blankets to be distributed by staff from AFSC and other international and local organizations. AFSC has also released funds for the purchase of local supplies for those in need.
Additional funds are needed urgently! Your contribution
will support purchasing the most basic and desperately needed
items such as food, medicine, blankets, and tents. To make a contribution
with a Visa or Mastercard, visit www.afsc.org or call 888/588-2372
x1. Send checks, payable to AFSC Crisis Fund and marked "Iraq,"
to AFSC/Development, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 19102.
Bradford Lyttle, Chicago IL If, as Mary Lord asserts ("Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize: Long-range Startegies for Peace," Peacework Sept. '02) militarism is the main problem, an effective peace movement must be opposed to militarism in all its forms. It must be a pacifist movement. The current "peace movement" in the US, with only a few exceptions, is not. While there are many individual pacifists in the peace movement, there are very few who believe that it is good strategy to advocate pacifism, and to attempt to build a peace movement on a pacifist basis. In my view, this is the main reason why the peace movement is weak. Compare the current peace movement to the movement to abolish slavery before the Civil War. The leaders of the abolition movement were against the institution of slavery. They were not just against various manifestations of slavery, such as branding, shackling, whipping, mutilation, and execution, they were against the institution. They proclaimed that slavery was morally wrong and socially destructive and had to be abolished. That is why they ultimately succeeded. But the current peace movement is not, for the most part, against the institution of military force. It is against certain manifestations of that institution. It is against nuclear weapons, land mines, the School of the Americas, the military draft, a larger war against Iraq, sanctions against Iraq, germ warfare and other "weapons of mass destruction." For the most part, the peace movement does not proclaim that all forms of military power are immoral and unjust, and it does not try rigorously to explain to the public why constantly relying on military force for "security" is unwise, and, ultimately, probably a fatal mistake. This being the situation, it is little wonder that the peace movement seems often to have little effect.
Whatever the reasons why very few people attempt to build the
peace movement around a pacifist strategy, I think it tragic that
they do not. I hope that people who consider themselves personal
pacifists will step back and take a long, hard, look at the condition
of the peace movement, and ask themselves if the non-pacifist
strategies that they have been following actually are the most
the realistic and effective. David Morse, Storrs, CT Here's an alert for high school teachers. Educators for Social Responsibility for metropolitan New York has a great, practically up-to-the-minute website (www.esrmetro.org) which aims at putting into the hands of high school teachers ideas and materials that deal with current peace issues. I doubt that many teachers know of its existence. It is not agitprop, but rather a thoughtful, arm's-length approach that respects open inquiry as fundamental to education. For public school teachers it helps authenticate in-the-present inquiry into the situation now unfolding with respect to Iraq, as well as Israel and Palestine. The lesson plans foster an activist approach without presuming pacifist or even anti-war values on the part of students. If you teach, or know someone who does, spread the word! ERS recommends some other sources of information worth checking out:
Alternative periodicals such as The Nation (on the web
at www.thenation.org and The Progressive www.progressive.org>
present information and perspectives not available in the mainstream
media. The Common Dreams website www.common dreams.org has alternative
viewpoints and resources. For more detailed information and analysis
on Iraq, visit the Iraq Action Coalition website at www.iraqaction.org
and the Education for Peace in Iraq Center at www.epic-usa.org
Explore the overseas press. You might begin with the U.K.'s
Guardian at www.guardian.co.uk.
If you are Black, poor, or a human casualty of the War on Drugs, it is easier and easier to get into prison. But it's harder and harder to get in if you are a social worker, an educator, or anyone else who wants to offer support to those incarcerated. Buck the trend, and reach out to a prisoner with Peacework. Peacework, a monthly magazine published by the American Friends Service Committee, offers news and analysis from the peace movement worldwide. Its perspective is based in respect for all people and a deep commitment to nonviolence. Peacework has always offered subscriptions to prisoners for a nominal $1 per year, and we are committed to continuing this outreach even as the number of subscribers in prison increases, and mailing costs rise.
For $15, you can subsidize one-year subscriptions to two of Peacework's
many incarcerated subscribers. Make checks payable to AFSC-Peacework,
and note in the memo line "Send Peacework to Prison."
Your gift is tax-deductible, and should be sent to Peacework,
AFSC, 2161 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge MA 02140.
Ann Eno is a regular participant in the vigil. This excerpt is from "The Search for Peace Continues," The Concord Journal, 1/17/02. For information: 978/692-5483; annenough@ aol.com January 16, 2002 marked the start of the 12th year of the Friday Peace Vigil in Concord, MA Center. We started walking together in silence before the Gulf War began in January 1991. A few weeks later, when the war allegedly ended, we decided to continue walking. Today (Oct. '02) we aare double the original numbers, and 100 times as determined. As we walk round the small island surrounded by a sea of traffic, we are in the company of two grand and intrepid trees, and a very tall flagpole. We envision that, some day, the American flag fluttering above us will be a symbol of our nation's compassion and care--not power or empire. As we walk on Friday mornings, the response to us is, for the most part, warming and positive. However, there have been times when our patriotism has been questioned. "Shame on you for not loving your country!" someone once yelled. It's our love for this country and our faith in the goodness of all of us and our profound hope in the extraordinary and evolving power of active nonviolence that gets us up with the sun (or rain or snow) to be here on Friday mornings. "It's the one time in the week I'm not ambivalent," said one vigil member. Come join us from 8 to 9 AM as we walk with all who suffer because of war. 
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