Viva La Revolution!
The Peace Portal
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/peace
After celebrating Armistice Day at Director Park where Veterans For Peace Chapter 72, allies and friend gathered to Reclaim Armistice Day.
Dan Shea read a Proclamation that culminated with Therefore, We of Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 of the City of Portland, Oregon, the "City of Roses," do hereby proclaim November 11th, 2019 to be Armistice Day in Portland, Oregon and encourage all residents to celebrate Peace by Divesting from War, to work for Peace at Home and Abroad, and to uphold our values of justice, freedom, and democracy for all.
After Garett Reppenhagen the Executive Director of Veterans For Peace spoke, then open Mic for other voices, after taking a group photo, we all walked up to the Oregon Historical Society to view the World War II African American Experience exhibit.
Time for ANOTHER Rally at 1 p.m. March 1:45 p.m.
Sunday, October 11 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Call Out for Justice: End the Wars!
- Overseas
- On the People
- On Human Rights
- On the Planet
-- Free Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, Stop the Drones
-- Redirect Money for Human Needs
-- Support Women, Sexual Minorities, Youth, Immigrant and Racial Justice
-- Resist Police Violence and State Surveillance
-- Stabilize the Climate
Mobilization on the anniversary of the invasion of Aghanistan.
Another World is Possible!
Partial list of co-sponsors: Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group • Portland Jobs with Justice • Living Earth • Occupy Portland Elder Caucus • Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility • Jewish Voice for Peace-Portland • Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 • Augustana Lutheran Church • War Resisters League-Portland • Peace Action Group—First Unitarian Church and others
Partial list of endorsers: The Portland Alliance • Recruiter Watch PDX • Little Light of Mine Friends Worship Group • Portland Copwatch • Oregon Wildlife Federation • Back 2 the WALL • Black Lives Matter Portland and others
Stop the Saudi / U.S. Bombing of Yemen!
UNAC statement on Yemen
The massive month-long bombardment of Yemen conducted by Saudi Arabia is in reality yet another U.S. war in the region. Not one Saudi bombing mission is possible without U.S. logistical and intelligence support.
It is critical that the U.S. antiwar movement understand and focus on the U.S. role and its military, political and diplomatic support of the brutal Saudi devastation of Yemen, the poorest country in the region. More than 1,000 Yemenis have been murdered to date, 8,000 wounded and 150,000 displaced from their homes. [read more]
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MEDIA RELEASE from the
United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC)
P.O. Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054 g Ph: 518-227-6947 g Email: UNACpeace@gmail.com g Web: www.UNACpeace.org
For Immediate Release: Monday, April 27, 2015 (And Today, eight years later in 2023 we must do it again!)
For More information: Marilyn Levin – Cell: 518-227-6947; Email: UNACconference2015.org
National 'Stop the Wars at Home & Abroad! Conference set for May 8-10 in Secaucus, N.J.
Hundreds of antiwar and social justice activists from around the country will be gathering in Secaucus, N.J., from May 8 to 10 for a conference titled “Stop the Wars at Home & Abroad!”
Hosted by the United National Antiwar Coalition, the goal of the event is to build the progressive movement by bringing together activists who work primarily on issues of U.S. wars and occupations with those in the emerging domestic movements such as Black Lives Matter, Fight for $15 and climate change.
“Most young activists today have grown up in a period of constant war,” said UNAC Co-Coordinator Marilyn Levin, a longtime peace activist and a veteran of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. “Conflicts overseas have become a kind of background to their lives while they concentrate on more immediate issues like police shootings, costly student loans and raising the minimum wage. What we want to do in Secaucus is discuss how all these issues are related, share experiences, learn from new ideas and move forward together in the struggle for peace and social justice.”
Among those scheduled to speak at the gathering are former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Army Col. Anne Wright, former CIA analyst and whistleblower Ray McGovern and former U.S. Army Ranger Rory Fanning, now all prominent antiwar activists. Also Michael McPhearson of Veterans for Peace; Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink; and Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
From the domestic struggle side, scheduled speakers include Glen Ford, executive editor of Black Agenda Report; Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization for Progress (POP) in Newark, N.J.; Jaribu Hill, co-founder of the Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights; Charles Jenkins, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Michael McPhearson, executive director of the Don't Shoot Coalition in St. Louis, Mo.; Lucy Pagoada, co-founder of Honduras USA Resistencia; Rolandah Cleopattrah McMillan, a McDonalds's workers and organizer with Virginia Raise Up; and Clarence Thomas, a leader of the West Coast International Longshore & Warehouse Union, which is calling for a May 1 port shutdown in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
A special feature of the conference will be Skype greetings from Cuba from the recently released Cuban Five, as well as greetings from U.S. political prisoner Mumia abu-Jamal.
The conference will be held at the Empire Meadows (Clarion) Hotel in Secaucus, N.J. Registration for the three-day event is $50 for general admission, $25 for people with low incomes and $15 for students or those 21 years old or younger. Information is at: www.unacconference2015.org.
Founded in 2010, UNAC is this country's largest antiwar coalition. Its principles of unity are opposition to all U.S. wars, occupations and interference in the internal affairs of other countries; respect for the right of oppressed peoples to self-determination; and promotion of large demonstrations as the primary, but not only, form of opposition to U.S. foreign policy. More information is at www.unacpeace.org.
1040 For Peace
Jack Payden-Travers
In the fiscal calendar this is Tax Time. In my church calendar it is the season of Easter, the holiest time of the year for all Christians. For my Jewish brothers and sisters it is Passover season. By my garden’s reckoning it is Spring.
There is a certain irony that resurrection time parallels Tax Day for I have just meditated on gospel passages reminding me of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple followed by his arrest, judgment and execution by the state. It is with this background that each year I am expected to file my federal taxes to share the costs of government expected of all citizens. I do file each year but each time I find myself asking, as I am sure you do also: What does my tax dollar buy?
Unfortunately I have found ever since I began working that the U.S. tax dollar is disproportionately paying for war: past, present and future. This year that amounts to 40 percent. During the Vietnam War, I was issued a Draft card and notified to report for military duty. It was my obligation to fight. I reported to the Armed Forces Entrance and Examination Station at 39 Whitehall Street in lower Manhattan but when issued an order to “take one step forward and join the finest fighting force the world has ever seen, the United States Army,” I refused.
My mother thought I was crazy. She told me I had ruined my life, dishonored our family, and deserved to be prosecuted and put in jail. Five years and $10,000.00 was the penalty for induction refusal.
I had wanted to join the military and fight in ‘Nam when I graduated from high school but a college scholarship and family pressure sent me off to college. I encountered a History professor who had served in the German Army during World War II. The question he asked each of us was: “What would you have done, if you had been ordered to serve in Hitler’s army during that period?”
On my Induction day in 1970 I answered that question by refusing to step forward and fight in what my conscience told me was an unjust war. As fate would have it, I am once again confronted with that challenge each April 15th when I am asked to pay my taxes with the largest percentage going to current and past and future wars. As a conscientious objector to war, I believe that paying for war is participation in war. That is something that my religious beliefs forbid.
And so this year as I have done for four decades I will file my taxes. I will pay for roads, health care, social programs, government operations, education, etc. But I will also refuse a portion of my tax debt. I will withhold $10.40 of my taxes owed as a symbol of my refusal to participate in war with either my body or my money. I will join with 1040 for Peace members who choose to support peaceful alternatives to war by donating that money to groups that work for peace and justice.
-end-
Jack Payden-Travers, Lynchburg, VA, writes for PeaceVoice serves as the Director of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund in Washington, DC.
St. Stephen’s Church
Why is the US bombing in Iraq and Syria? Where did ISIS come from and is it an imminent threat to the US? What are the root causes of the conflicts in this region? What is the impact of US military intervention now and in the past? And are there alternatives to US military action or other solutions?
Join the Washington Peace Center at a teach-in to discuss these and other questions.
Speakers:
- Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies, author of many books on the Middle East
- Ramah Kudaimi, US Campaign Against the Israeli Occupation and Washington Peace Center, Syrian-American activist.
- (other speakers TBA)
Join us on Veterans’ Day to stop the next war now! Organized by the Washington Peace Center. Please RSVP here.