Blog Posts Archive by Month: February, 2016
NOT A CLICHE; TOO MANY PEOPLE TO THANK...
The Peace Council’s Plowshares Craftsfair and Peace Festival is an annual event that brings together thousands of people for fellowship, fun, good eats, entertainment and commerce the way we’d like it to be. It is a two-day manifestation of hours of organizing, planning, creating, and asking for help. The backbone is the volunteer Plowshares Committee, which meets all year, and does a good part of its work around the potluck dinner table (to see who’s on the Committee or to join, see page 12).
AMERICA'S HISTORIC TERRORISM
Just as terrorism today is often justified by religious principle, our ancestors took the ancestral homelands of people, who had lived here for centuries, based on Papal Bulls of the 15th Century. Commonly referred to as the Doctrine of Discovery, the Papal Bulls gave Christians the right to “capture, vanquish and subdue all … pagan and other enemies of Christ … and take away all their possessions and property.” Charles Mann in his book 1491 shows us the rich legacy of cultural and agricultural development in the western hemisphere.
NY BILL WOULD CREATE OFFICIAL BLACKLIST OF ISRAEL BOYCOTT SUPPORTERS
The US government gives over $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel under the guise of the “War on Terror.” Those funds sustain an illegal occupation of Palestinian land and a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people. US politicians at every level, especially in New York, clamor to show they “stand with Israel” despite that country’s serious human rights violations. Now, they are attempting to silence grassroots activists who are participating in the global nonviolent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel’s poli
White Supremacy is Fundamental To The "WAR ON TERROR"
In the US, the state can murder a child with impunity if that child’s skin is a certain color, as in the tragic case of Tamir Rice. This represents a kind of terrorism, and yet the US government goes abroad to fight a so-called “War on Terror,” rather than fight it here. Some have argued that the government’s war on terror is in fact a war of terror, with its Hellfire missiles raining down on wedding parties and unsuspecting civilians.
Our Terrorisms
Pundits and politicos incessantly invoke, but seldom define, “terrorism.” Like the phony “war on drugs,” the phony “war on terrorism” promotes economic interests, serves political agendas. Neither war reduces drug use or violence. Nor are they designed to.
“Terrorism” – past and present – pervades the US psyche and economy. Terrorism, so-called, and the fear thereof, blunts our minds, shrinks our hearts. This contrived national obsession gives the Pentagon and NSA/Homeland Security their ever-expanding powers. It tightens their grip. It swells their coffers.
The Peace Newsletter in the Changing Media Landscape
The Peace Newsletter in
the Changing Media Landscape
The So-called "WAR ON TERROR"
This issue of the Peace Newsletter debunks the US’ so-called “War on Terror.” The quotation marks are purposeful. The phrase was pushed by the G.W. Bush administration after 9/11/01. It has been downplayed by the Obama administration, yet it has persisted in the public conversation about the US military presence worldwide.
