November 99

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

Oppose the National Missile Defense Program

The Defense Department's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMD) is currently promoting the development of the National Missile Defense (NMD) system, a particularly dangerous and wasteful version of "star wars" which warrants close observation and activism. In July 1999, President Clinton signed legislation that will permit the deployment of the NMD system "as soon as technologically feasible." Instead of wasting billions testing undeveloped technology, defense efforts should be concentrated on the enforcement of treaties to prevent the development of other counter-technologies.

Some Facts about NMD

• The NMD system is costly and inefficient. According to the Welch Report, issued in February 1998 by an independent team of missile defense experts, there have been only four successful interceptions out of seventeen tests conducted by the BMD. Over $120 billion has already been spent on BMD programs. In a July 29,1999 interview with the Los Angeles times, John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists noted that quality standards remain a serious concern, especially when one miss could cause horrendous casualties and irreparable damage.
• The NMD will threaten international relations and violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. According to the Constitution, only the President has the authority to carry out, modify, or terminate a treaty. President Clinton has announced that he will make a decision in June 2000 whether or not to deploy the NMD system. If Russia disagrees with the Presidential decision, it is likely to respond by ceasing to honor other international treaties such as the Biological and Chemical Weapons Convention.
• Development of the NMD system will increase the proliferation of nuclear technology. According to the CIA, countries developing ballistic missiles also have the capability to develop anti-missile systems.
• BMD programs will spur additional offensive technologies that will threaten the security of the US. Both Russia and China have developed numerous countermeasures and will probably be willing to sell those technologies.
• Corporations seem to be the only ones benefiting from BMD programs. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing, for example, are being awarded long-term contracts to work on a project that has almost zero possibility of success.
  

Actions You Can Take

• Write a letter to President Clinton and to your Congressional representative. In your letter request an end to BMD funding and an end to the nuclearization and weaponization of outer space.
• Educate yourself and others in your community about nuclear issues. A good place to start is with "Why National Missile Defense Won't Work" by George Lewis, Theodore Postol, and John Pike, in Scientific American, August 1999. And visit the web sites below:
  

www.wagingpeace.org (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation)

www.fourthfreedom.org (The Fourth Freedom Forum)

www.fas.org (Federation of American Scientists)

www.psr.org (Physicians for Social Responsibility)

www.clw.org (Council for a Livable World)

www.ines2000.org (International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility)

From a bulletin by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, 1187 Coast Village Road PMB 121, Suite 1, Santa Barbara CA 93108; 805/965 3443; A2000@ silcom.com; www.wagingpeace.org/abolition2000

Why Do We Still have a Cold War Nuclear Policy Ten Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall?

Nationwide Speaking Events & Media Campaign

The United States has wasted the historic opportunity afforded by the end of the Cold War to make serious progress on dismantling the vast nuclear arsenals here and in Russia. Ten years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, but today tens of thousands of nuclear weapons remain and we are developing new ones. Project Abolition, a coalition of peace and disarmament groups, will posit the question: Why does the United States still cling to a Cold War nuclear policy?

To deliver its message, Project Abolition is planning a nationwide series of community forums to take place against the backdrop of a national media campaign, which will be launched on the anniversary date of the fall, November 9. Cities scheduled thus far are: Des Moines IA, Washington DC, and San Francisco CA on November 9; New Hampshire (call to confirm location) and Portland OR on November 10; and Little Rock AR on November 12 or 13; more locations will be announced.

A special feature of the Washington DC campaign will be a press event on November 9 in front of the "Wall of Denial" modeled after the Berlin Wall and symbolizing the denial of the Cold War's demise.

For more information, contact Karina H. Wood, Field Coordinator, Project Abolition and US Outreach Coordinator, Hague Appeal for Peace, at 85 John Street, Providence RI 02906; 401/276-0377; kwood@igc.org; www.fourthfreedom.org

Letter

Timothy Bruening <tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us>

Here is a question I would like to ask George W. Bush: In September 1991, as the USSR fell apart, your father, the great President Bush, unilaterally ordered a stand-down of US strategic bombers, which had, for decades, been prepared to take off in minutes. Their bombs were later unloaded and stored. Some missiles were taken off alert in just a few days, and orders for some new weapons were canceled. Soviet President Gorbachev reciprocated within a week. He garrisoned the Soviet Union's rail-based missiles, de-activated submarines, and lowered the alert level of the USSR's strategic bombers. Within a few months, both nations had withdrawn most of their tactical nukes from forward positions. These steps made a time of turmoil safer. Will you complete your father's great work by taking all nuclear weapons off alert, declare a "no first use" policy, and negotiate a treaty to abolish nuclear weapons?

Global Peace Walk 2000

Global Peace Walk 2000 will take its first step from the War Memorial Building in San Francisco on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday on January 15, 2000, bringing out the prayer of "Global Peace Now!" as a universal human resolve to spread across the United States.

Along the way, the Peace Walkers will be carrying petitions, messages, and information to educate and network with people and groups on the call to ban nuclear weapons worldwide, and on other issues of sustainability and human rights.

On Columbus Day, 2000, the Global Peace Walk will arrive in Washington DC and bring the petitions and a message of peace to our national leaders. The walk will arrive in New York City at the United Nations on October 24th, 2000 (United Nations Day), bringing the petitions to world governmental leaders and reaffirming the original principles of the United Nations Charter, to "save succeeding generations from the scourge of war," to "reaffirm faith in the dignity of human rights," and to "live together in peace."

Global Peace Walk, c/o Yucca Foundation, POB 170245, San Francisco CA 94117-0245; 415/863-2084; gpzone2000@aol.com; www.globalpeacenow.org

The Heat is On!

Global warming is destabilizing our world environment, altering drought and rainfall patterns, which not only affects human food supplies, but also disrupts migrations of species and ecosystems overall. Humanity has brought about this change through its release of "greenhouse gases"--primarily carbon dioxide, CO2, from the burning of fossil fuels--which trap the sun's heat and prevent it from radiating back into space. The solution must include a global transition to renewable energy technologies like solar and wind power. To begin the transition, governments should:

• Redirect fossil fuel subsidies to renewable energy.
• Create a global fund to finance renewable energy in developing nations.
• Demand a global cap on greenhouse gas emissions at 30% of current levels, with emission rights allocated fairly among all countries.

Contact your Senators and Representatives to act now! US Senate, Washington DC 20510; US House of Representatives, Washington DC 20510; Capitol Switchboard, 202/225-3121.

To learn more, contact EarthAction, 30 Cottage St., Amherst, MA 01002, 413/549-8118 or check out these web sites: www.igc.org/climate/eco.html; www.heatisonline.org; www.planetark.org; www.environnet.org; gcmd.gsfc.nasa.gov

Close the School of the Americas

March, Vigil, and Civil Disobedience, November 19-21, 1999 in Columbus, Georgia; Marking the tenth anniversary of the assassination of six Jesuit priests by SOA graduates, 10,000 will stand vigil, 5,000 will risk arrest, and 100 will risk prison. Civil Disobedience training will be offered, and is required for all risking arrest. Groups are being organized from many sites in New England! For a nonviolence training packet and details on lodging options and transportation, contact SOA Watch, POB 4566, Washington DC 20017; 202-234-3440

National Student Meeting and Young Adult Forum: In preparation for the action at SOA, young people (ages 16-30) will gather November 18-19 at the Koinonia community in Sumter County, Georgia to network, reflect, and engage in dialogue. On Saturday and Sunday (11/20 & 21), we will join the thousands of other people outside the gates of Fort Benning. If you would like to attend, please contact Shannon McManimon, AFSC, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 19102; 215/241-7000.

Educational Materials on the SOA, including videos and books in Spanish and English, available from Maryknoll World Productions at 800/227-8523.

Help for Victims of Hurricane Floyd

Hundreds of people are still living in dire conditions and thousands have lost their homes and their livelihoods; farm laborers have been hit especially hard. AFSC has provided grants to the North Carolina Friends Disaster Service and to the Farm Labor Organizing Commitee, and welcomes financial contributions to expand its assistance to both groups. Mail contributions to AFSC Hurricane Floyd Relief, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 10102; or call toll-free 888/588-2372 to contribute by phone.

Update on Mumia Abu-Jamal

The US Supreme Court has refused to hear Mumia's case before it completes the normal appeals process; the court did not rule on the issues he raised, and through the appeals process the case will most likely come before them again in the future. Since that decision, Mumia's case has been assigned to Federal District Court Judge William H. Yohn, who will consider Mumia's petition for habeas corpus. Pennsylvania's Governer Ridge signed a death warrant as soon as the US Supreme Court declined the case.t Judge Yohn has issued a stay of execution while he considers the case.

Habeas corpus, if granted, would mandate a federal district court to review the case and hold a new trial. This would be a significant step for Mumia, because it would lift the case out of the Pennsylvania state court system, where it is has been entirely in the power of Judge Sabo and other justices strongly supported by the Fraternal Order of Police.

For Mumia, a habeas corpus hearing in federal district court is a crucial opportunity for the evidence and witnesses denied consideration in the Pennsylvania court system to be heard and reviewed. However, the court is not required to grant Mumia the hearing. The 1996 Effective Death Penalty Act was specifically designed to discourage federal courts from reviewing and overturning death sentences handed down in the state courts.

Please send letters of support for Mumia, demanding that Judge Yohn grant Mumia Abu-Jamal an evidentiary hearing so that vital evidence, consistently ruled inadmissible by Judge Sabo, can be added to the record. Address your letter to Judge Yohn but please do not send it directly to him. Instead, send letters care of Mumia's lawyer, Leonard Weinglass, 6 West 20th St. #10A, New York NY 10011.

For up-to-the-minute information, or to get involved, contact:

Prison Radio, POB 411074, San Francisco CA 94141; www.prisonradio.org

Partisan Defense Commitee, POB 99 Canal St. Station, New York, NY 10013; 212/406-4252

Committee to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal, 163 Amsterdam Ave. #115, New York, NY 10023

Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM8335, SCI Greene, 1040 E. Roy Furman Hwy., Waynesburg, PA 15370

Tax Breaks, the Minimum Wage, and You

The minimum wage bill introduced by Representatives Rick Lazio (R-NY) and John Shimkus (R-IL) includes tax breaks of close to $100 billion over the next decade, with almost three quarters of the tax cuts targeted to the best-off one percent of the people. The top one percent, those making more than $301,000 a year, would get average annual tax cuts of $5,999. The bottom 60 percent would get 2.7 percent of the tax cuts, for an average of $4 a year.

This information is from Citizens for Tax Justice, whose director, Robert McIntyre, said "It's astonishing that a minimum wage bill supposedly designed to aid low-wage workers would actually give its biggest benefits to the highest-income people in the country."

See the CTJ web site (www.ctj.org) for more information on the tax breaks in the bill, and who would and wouldn't benefit from its passage.

Leonard Peltier Freedom Month

Throughout November, native peoples are holding events in front of the White House and around the world to urge President Clinton to grant executive clemency to jailed Native American leader Leonard Peltier. This campaign has been coordinated with efforts by Leonard Peltier's defense team, which has just completed a two-month concerted lobbying effort on Capitol Hill. Leonard Peltier writes: "I have not given up hope of freedom. Today I am asking you to stand up and represent me and everything I am so proud of, the dignity, spirituality, and pride of the First Nations Peoples of the world." For information on how you can get involved, contact the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, POB 583, Lawrence KS 66044; 785/842-5774; in Massachusetts, Ayuda a la Vida is coordinating a phone bank to arrange phone calls to the White House Comment Line; contact Jo-Ann Eccher, POB 24, Chilmark MA 02535; 508/645-3245

From Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary

Greetings friends and supporters,

I was shocked and disgusted to hear that Governor Ridge once again signed, last October 13, a new death warrant for Mumia Abu Jamal. I know how Mumia must be feeling right now and I would like to personally say to Mumia: "Please hang in there, brother! The people are doing everything and all that they can to save you."

To the people who are fighting for Mumia, as some of you may know, this does not mean the end, because I am sure his attorney, Leonard Weinglass, has filed for Habeas Corpus in the federal courts. It is you, the people, who must put the pressure on to win this case. Speak out! Without your support, the federal courts will sweep everything under the rug as usual. With Mumia's life at stake, you must react very strongly and swiftly yet with intelligence and control. You must show the world that you are prepared and ready to stop Mumia's execution.

Because of Mumia's outrageous case and his gift of putting into words many of our realities, serious concerns with the justice system, the death penalty, and political prisoners are now on the forefront. We need Mumia to be free so that he can continue to make a difference to change a society which devalues life, dignity, justice, and freedom.

United, we will save Mumia...

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,

--Leonard Peltier, Oct. 22, 1999

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, PO Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044