STANISLAUS CONNECTIONS
Working For Peace, Justice, and A Sustainable Environment
February, 2001
A Modesto Peace/Life Center Publication
Peace Community
By MYRTLE OSNER
On International Women’s Day, Barbara Lubin, Director of
the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), came to Modesto Junior College
with her message of justice for the Middle East.
Barbara Lubin repeated several times that she is Jewish.
She has been in Palestine many times on behalf of the Middle East Children’s
Alliance. Her life’s work has become caring for what happens to the children
who have been born in and lived their whole lives in refugee camps in Palestine.
It is shocking to hear that the camps have existed for fifty years.
At the time Israel took over, Palestinians were made to
move out of their homes without their belongings, expecting to return for their
things later. Instead, their homes were demolished or taken over by Israel. She
considers this “confiscation” of Palestinian-owned lands. For these views
she has been attacked and hated by many people.
Barbara Lubin has four children and was once on the
Berkeley school Board of Education. She fought for special education rights for
her Down’s syndrome son. This experience led her to other social justice
issues. In her work with the MECA, she has built playgrounds and schools, and
tutoring centers accessible to all in the refugee camps. She has helped to start
agricultural cooperatives so that people could feed themselves and grow a cash
crop. A co-op for processing and packaging run by women as well as clinics in
the West Bank are other projects.
MECA has also aided the Kurds, a persecuted minority in
Iran, and children in Iraq and Lebanon. Her view of the sanctions against Iraq:
they are illegal, immoral, and wrong. Children are the most damaged, even more
than adults, by the lack of clean water, medicines and health care.
Barbara Lubin defined “collateral damage” for us. When
the military uses these words, they mean damage inflicted in addition to hitting
military targets. “Collateral damage” occurs when a bomb misses its target
and hits a neighborhood, killing civilians. Listen for that phrase when you hear
the news. And remember, those are American and British planes bombing.
Continuing the military theme, Barbara advised that we
should not be giving aid to Israel, since the $6 billion a year goes to buy
military hardware. She has even heard people inside Israel voice this opinion.
No matter who is prime minister, that is what happens to the money.
Tanks, bullets, tear gas, and airplanes are paid for by us.
Lubin had no praise for Yasser Arafat whom she bitterly
castigated for building luxury resorts and hotels instead of upgrading the
camps.
Palestinians and Jews lived together for thousands of
years, she said. To create a state exclusively for one religion was the biggest
mistake. And it was done to protect the interests of the U.S. and Great Britain,
and is still so. There will never be peace until there is justice for all,
including Palestinians. She believes that there are peace movements in Israel
but we don’t hear anything about them because U.S. interests are all about oil
in the Middle East.
ACTION: The
Middle East Children's Alliance is a non-governmental organization working for
peace and justice in the Middle East focusing on Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and
Iraq. Programs emphasize the need to educate North Americans about the Middle
East and U.S. foreign policy, and to support projects that aid and empower
communities. MECA believes in insuring the human rights of all people in the
region, especially focusing on the rights of children. Contact(MECA); 905 Parker
St., Berkeley, CA 94710; 510/548.0542; Fax: 510/548.0543; email: meca@mecaforpeace.org;
web: http://www.mecaforpeace.org
Peace
Essay Contest 2001 honors
By
INDIRA CLARK
Over 80 winners and
finalists were honored at the Peace Essay Contest 2001 Awards Reception on March
2nd.
The Modesto Symphony Youth
String Quartet opened the awards reception. The winners received cash prizes and
all participants received t-shirts with the 2001 contest design by Judith
Cochran Pirkle, custom- printed by Peggy Castaneda. Letters and certificates
from local members of the State Legislature and US Congress were also given.
All 837 entrants received a
Certificate of Participation created by Jeshua Franklin with the 2001 design.
It was our pleasure to
present special book awards of Howard Zinn’s The People’s History of the United States to 5 seniors whose
entries over the years have repeatedly placed them among the finalists and
winners. “We can win a book, too!” two 6th graders exclaimed as they set the
goal of continuing to write top-ranking essays.
The topic and awards
reception have received much praise and appreciation from teachers and parents.
In addition to the senior
entrants, we are also saying farewell to two of our longtime community service
volunteers: Jeshua Franklin and Martha Tyson have logged hundreds of hours over
the years. We wish them the best as they head off to college in August. PEC has
many opportunities for volunteers (even those over the age of 17).
The PEC committee meets in
April to evaluate 2001 and pick the topic for PEC 2002. The judging panels have
made their recommendations but suggestions from others are always welcome.
You’re invited to serve on the committee or topics sub-committee.
Begun in 1987, the Peace
Essay Contest, a project of the Modesto Peace/Life Center, is open to 5th-12th
grade students in Stanislaus County, and is co-sponsored by Modesto Junior
College’s Literature and Language Arts Department. Peace Contest Committee
2001: Margaret Barker, Indira Clark, Pam Franklin, Elaine Gorman, Judith Cochran
Pirkle, Deborah Roberts, and Sandy Sample.
ACTION:
To volunteer, contact Modesto Peace/Life Center at 529-5750. email: modestoplc@ainet.com
or peaceessay@juno.co
Youth
summit tackles corporate globalization through grassroots organizing
By
TIRZA HOLLENHORST
“Ain’t
no power like the power of the people, cause the power of the people don’t
stop.”
— Youth Summit group chant
The first ever Youth Summit
on Globalization held in January in Washington D.C. brought a crowd of kids
between the ages of 15 and 24 into the fight for a more just world. The
conference was an extension of the “Defending Those Who Give the Earth a
Voice” campaign initiated by the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and
oldest grassroots environmental organization, and Amnesty International, an
activist organization working for human rights.
The goal of the campaign is
to expose where human rights abuses are being committed against environmental
activists, as well as amplifying the voices of our planet’s heroes by raising
awareness, educating, and motivating the public to take action. This unusual
coalition is funded by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.
We were a diverse crowd —
clean cut boys, hippie chicks, experienced activists, and rock-throwing radicals
— all standing on chairs chanting, affirming our belief in the power of one,
the strength of many, and the irrepressible force of the truth.
The aim of the conference
was to train students to become effective grassroots organizers of efforts to
hold the forces of corporate globalization accountable. Hopefully, these 200
plus youths will take their skills to their campuses and communities, where they
can facilitate the globalization debate through effective grassroots
organization.
Workshops provided us with
perspectives on issues relating to globalization: human rights, trade
agreements, corporations and the US government, and methods of effective
campaign planning.
Distinguished speakers
included Carl Pope, the executive director of Sierra Club, Owens Wiwa, Nigerian
environmental and human rights defender, and Simon Billennes for the Trillium, a
socially conscious investment firm. These and other dynamic speakers presented
lessons on message development and public communication, strategic campaign
planning, and the “how-to” of successful lobbying.
We worked in small groups
to create comprehensive plans for campaigns. My group worked to draft a viable
plan to change University of California at Berkeley coffee venues over to fair
trade coffee.
At the end of the weekend
over a hundred of us lobbied our members of Congress on the issue of
International Right to Know. This was the first time Chris, my husband, and I
had lobbied our national representatives, and we enjoyed being the first to
inform our officials of this upcoming piece of legislation.
A
few highlighted issues:
Free
Trade Area of the Americas: An
agreement being negotiated in secret by trade representatives and “industry
sector advisory committees” (ISACs) to extend free trade to the western
hemisphere (an expansion of NAFTA). Worried that the FTAA will compromise labor
standards, human rights, and the environment, we want President Bush and the US
Trade Representative to release the draft text. Free trade does not mean
unrestricted trade, and the negotiations behind closed doors are barring
citizens from participation until it is too late.
International
Right to Know: Corporations operating
within the US must disclose certain information under Community Right to Know
legislation, while US-based corporations operating abroad are not required to
disclose this same information to the affected communities. An International
Right to Know principle simply requires that US-based corporations follow US
disclosure laws wherever they operate and provide information on the location of
operations, labor practices, environmental impact, and security agreements. This
is an issue of fairness and a need to end the double standard.
Improper
involvement of US corporations in Myanmar (Burma):
The ruling military junta in Myanmar and US-based corporations have been
involved in human rights violations and environmental destruction. Forced labor,
relocation, routine violence, and rape have been documented in conjunction with
infrastructure projects. US-based companies such as UNOCAL must be held
accountable for their actions. The campaign seeks to disengage US companies from
involvement with Myanmar and military alliances.
Diamond
sales finance weapons purchases: Violence
and oppression are fueled in areas of Africa by the revenue generated by the
sale of ‘conflict diamonds.’ The United Nations has banned the international
sale of diamonds from rebel-controlled Angola and Sierra Leone. These diamonds
still make their way to US markets, and to the biggest distributors, Walmart and
Zales. Amnesty International will introduce legislation banning the importation
of undocumented diamonds that are outside the “clean stream.”
Multinational
oil operations in the Niger Delta: Oil
firms such as Chevron and Shell operate in the area. The military government has
brutally suppressed protests, and in 1995 executed Ken Saro-Wiwa, the leader of
the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, for his efforts to organize
peaceful protests against Shell. A Right to Know law would require Chevron to
publicly disclose its security procedures and interactions with Nigerian
security forces.
ACTION:
I would love to pass on information about planning and conducting a successful
grassroots campaign to educators or young activists in a one day teach-in.
Contact me at tirzalyn@animail.net,
or Erin Lieberman, Sierra Club’s Human Rights and the Environmental Campaign
action Team Leader at (510) 665-1411, ed1211@aol.com,
or Amnesty International at (415) 291-9233.
The
author and her husband, Chris Johnson, delegates to the first Youth Summit on
Globalization have written for Connections about their environmental research in
Egypt, South America and New Zealand.
Israeli
peace group calls for peace-keeping force
Gush Shalom, an
Israeli-Arab peace group, issued an urgent appeal to ambassadors in Israel for
an international protection force. The appeal text:
We call for the immediate
Gush Shalom, a
non-partisan and extra-parliamentary grass roots movement, aims to influence
public opinion. It is composed of Jews and Arabs, Independents as well as
members of political parties and other organizations. Its three principles:
Israeli willingness to
withdraw from all territories occupied since 1967.
Recognition of the PLO
as the representative of the Palestinian people.
Recognition of the
right of the Palestinian people to establish a state of its own, with East
Jerusalem as its capital, alongside the state of Israel.
By
LAUREN CANNON, JEFF GUNTZEL, LAURIE HASBROOK, TOM JACKSON, KATHY KELLY, and
DANNY MULLER
For several years, Voices
in the Wilderness members have enacted a simple skit in which a woman dressed in
black stands before an audience holding an empty basket. Two readers alternate
reading UN statements about conditions in Iraq under sanctions. As each
statement is read, an audience member walks forward, picks up a brick, and
places it in the basket. When the sixth brick is added to her load, she falls to
the ground, with a piercing cry.
Recently, Secretary of
State Colin Powell proposed “three baskets” to designate plans for future US
relations with Iraq. We welcome Mr. Powell’s readiness to heed the alarmed
concerns for Iraqi people voiced by Arab leaders with whom he recently met.
However, we must immediately challenge him to recognize that each basket he
proposes amounts to a ton of bricks heaped upon Iraqi civilians whose cries of
anguish have been muted by US State Department strategies.
Aiming to reassess an Iraq
policy which he said “was falling apart,” Secretary Powell suggested new
policy would come in “three baskets:” Sanctions, No-Fly Zones, and “Regime
Change.” Our sum-up of the basket contents is deprivation (sanctions),
violence (ongoing bombardment) and covert action (regime change.)
Be warned: Secretary
Powell’s vision for the future of US Iraq policy holds no apology for the
suffering and destruction caused by the sanctions; we don’t detect special
attention directed to humanitarian and economic concerns of Iraqi people. But
this simply means we must work harder to continue developing analysis,
education, and action!
Basket
One: Sanctions.
Secretary Powell is
desperate to resuscitate the dying sanctions regime and bring “the
coalition” back together. He has begun by bringing back to life dying myths
about Iraq and US policy. In a salute to his predecessor, Madeleine Albright,
Mr. Powell boldly told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “(Saddam
Hussein) is hurting the Iraqi people, not us. There is more than enough money
available to the regime now to take care of the needs they have.” In fact, all
of the money Iraq earns through the UN oil-for-food program goes into an escrow
account controlled by the UN Security Council. Some of the surplus funds in this
account are the result of logjams created by Security Council refusal to approve
certain contracts.
It’s no surprise to learn
that huge profits are derived from smuggling and black market profiteering when
sanctions create intense desperation for needed goods. We should be scandalized
whenever any government fails to spend its revenues on meeting human needs.
However, whatever hard currency the Iraqi government has accrued through the
illegal smuggling of oil and other goods, even if applied to infrastructure
repair and other societal needs, could not begin to pay the estimated 100
billion dollars needed to rehabilitate Iraq’s shattered economy. Large scale
investments of public and private monies are needed to repair the electrical
facilities which are necessary for water treatment. The agricultural, health
care, education, and industrial development sectors need massive financial
investments.
Mr. Powell says he hopes to
“change the nature of the debate.” He is deeply concerned that “We are
being accused and we are taking on the burden of hurting Iraqi people, hurting
Iraqi children.” A logical first step for the Secretary of State would be to
take a meaningful look at the facts behind the accusations, thoroughly
documented by UN coordinators on the ground in Iraq. Mr. Powell could seek the
interpretation and advice of former UN Humanitarian Coordinators in Iraq, Mr.
Denis Halliday and Mr. Hans von Sponeck, who have laid out very specific and
informed alternatives to the deprivation and violence of the current policy.
Unfortunately, Mr. Powell’s current vision seems limited to what appears to be
intensified propaganda to obscure the overwhelming evidence of U.S. culpability
in the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Iraq.
Basket
Two: No-Fly Zones
In his testimony, Mr.
Powell used the basket breakdown to isolate U.N. policy (sanctions) from U.S.
policy (No-Fly Zones and Regime Change). Previously, no pro-sanctions politician
and few journalists have made this distinction. The No-Fly Zones violate
international law and are not mandated by any U.N. Resolution. Weekly bombings
in the North and South of Iraq by U.S. and British planes have regularly missed
their targets, wounding and killing civilians and destroying homes, flocks, and
businesses.
Mr. Powell clarified that
the new administration is reviewing the policy, but he also wanted the Iraqi
regime to understand that “we reserve the right to strike militarily any
activity out there, any facility we find that is inconsistent with their
obligations to get rid of weapons of mass destruction.” If the recent bombing
on the outskirts of Baghdad is any indication, this means we can anticipate many
more guided missiles and illegal cluster bombs missing their mark and further
terrorizing the Iraqi people. It appears that the new administration has decided
to substitute bombs for weapons inspectors.
Basket
Three: Regime Change
The third major basket,
“regime change” carries on a supposed objective of the Clinton
administration. Mr. Powell has released more funds to the Iraqi National
Congress, an opposition group that claims it can pose a challenge to Iraq’s
government. “Hopefully,” said Mr. Powell, “we will see a regime change
that will be better for the world.” The U.S. could begin creating conditions
within the Middle East that are better for the world by ending its weapon sales
to every country in the region. Should the U.S. want to help Iraq move toward
more democratic governing structures, it should help Iraq strengthen its
education, communication, and social service systems, and help Iraqis to build a
strong and well educated middle class.
ACTION:
1. Call your congressperson
and ask that he or she support the Humanitarian Exports Leading to Peace Act (HR
742 - the H.E.L.P. ACT) introduced by Rep. Conyers. Consult EPIC , http://www.saveageneration.org
for information about the bill (go to the Talking Points section, then to Epic
Briefs—Epic refers to the bill as HR 3825 but the bill has been reintroduced
with a new number HR 742.) This bill holds real promise and deserves vigorous
support.
2. Help us gain signers for
a sign-on letter to be distributed to faith-based, humanitarian, and human
rights groups, calling on President Bush to terminate the sanctions and help
facilitate the capital investment required to enable the Government of Iraq to
rebuild its infrastructure. The letter is posted at http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw
President Bush has said he
wants to work with faith based groups. Let us make sure he hears from hundreds
of faith based groups regarding their belief that the sanctions must end.
(slightly edited)
Security Council action to End All Sanctions Against Iraq and prohibit U.S. and U.K. military assaults against Iraq
By
RAMSEY CLARK
The genocide in Iraq caused
by Security Council sanctions forced by the United States and the bombing of
Iraq by U.S. aircraft and missiles continues unabated. A nationwide survey by 50
U.S. citizens in Iraq last month, my eleventh trip to Iraq since sanctions were
imposed on August 6, 1990, confirmed that deaths caused by sanctions increased
for the tenth consecutive year, though the rate of increase has declined.
General health conditions continue to deteriorate though available food and
medicine has increased slightly, apparently from the cumulative effects of
decade long severe shortages.
Other health concerns
include increasing cancer rates, greatest among the young, which the people of
Iraq and the medical care system believe are caused by depleted uranium from the
near one million depleted uranium shells fired into Iraq by the U.S. in the
first months of 1991 and the probable use of depleted uranium ammunition since.
Among many examples of such concern we encountered was a statement made to me by
the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Basra, Monsignor Djibrael Kassab, that the
small Catholic population within his diocese has recently suffered three infant
births with deformities never seen before including the absence of facial
features and eyes, which he has reported to the Vatican.
Constant overflights with
frequent aerial strikes against Iraq have continued, averaging several attacks a
week with deaths and injuries nearly every week.
The
Genocidal Effect Of Sanctions On Iraq To January 20, 2001:
Infant mortality from selected illnesses caused by the U.N. sanctions against
Iraq has increased from a monthly average of slightly less than 600 deaths in
1989 to more than 6700 in 2000, or eleven times. The percentage of total
registered births under 2.5 kgs in 1990 was 4.5%. In 2000 it was nearly 25%, up
five times. For children under five years old the average number of reported
cases of kwashiorkor, marasmus and other malnutrition illnesses caused by
protein, calorie and/or vitamin deficiencies rose from less than 8550 in 1990 to
190,000 in 2000, an increase of more than 22 times.
The sanctions must be
completely removed immediately. Every day the sanctions continue adds to the
death toll of the worst genocide of the last decade of the most violent century
in human history.
The U.S., realizing that
world opinion will no longer tolerate the sanctions, is seeking to take credit
for modifying them while its purpose will be to continue to control their
implementation and cause their reinstatement for alleged violations by Iraq.
Under the ruse of arms inspections and false claims of arms violations, the U.S.
has systematically frustrated any easing of sanctions. The U.S. has claimed and
failed to prove, a long series of violations by Iraq including false claims that
Iraq was withholding food and medicine from its own people when Iraq’s model
system of food distribution and rationing has saved its people. I have
repeatedly reported these U.S. deceptions to the Security Council since the food
for oil program was initiated. Combined with the failure of the Sanctions
Committee to approve contracts by Iraq for purchases of urgently needed
medicines, food and equipment, the U.S. has succeeded in preventing the easing
of sanctions and will continue to do so if they are not completely ended.
Criminal
Aerial Assaults On Iraq: The United
States has bombed Iraq from aircraft and cruise missiles with impunity since the
cease fire in February 1991. In the week before the inauguration of William J.
Clinton as President of the United States on January 20, 1993, President George
Bush authorized a fierce campaign of bombing. President Clinton continued the
aerial attacks and bombing on January 21, 1993 and throughout his eight years in
office. On occasion large numbers of cruise missiles were launched hitting among
many civilian facilities the Al Rashid Hotel in Baghdad and the home of Iraq’s
most famous painter and the Director of its Museum of Modern Art, Leyla al
Attar. Out of thousands of unlawful aerial sorties and hundreds of violent
attacks on defenseless people in Iraq, including the passengers on a U.N.
helicopter, the U.S. did not suffer a single casualty. Still the U.S. has
insisted it must attack and kill Iraqis to protect its aircraft which had no
right to fly over Iraq though no U.S. aircraft have been hit.
U.S. aircraft joined
occasionally by U.K. planes attacking targets in Iraq are engaged in criminal
violence and crimes against peace. Those who ordered the flights and attacks and
the pilots who executed the orders committed criminal acts that have caused the
deaths of hundreds of people. The Security Council has condoned these continuing
criminal assaults under pressure from the U.S. and tragically, has approved the
genocidal sanctions against Iraq. It has ignored other illegal attacks by the
U.S. including the surprise attacks on Tripoli and Benghazi, Libya in April 1986
which killed hundreds of civilians and the 20 cruise missile assault on the Al
Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan in August 1998 which provided half
the medicine available to the people of Sudan. Nothing could be more dangerous
to world peace.
The new U.S. Administration
has continued to make criminal aerial assaults on Iraq and threatened to
increase them as an alternative to sanctions which it now suggests have failed.
The Security Council must proclaim the assaults on Iraq to be the crime they
clearly are and demand they stop.
Widespread and growing
anger at the genocide sanctions and the criminal assaults against Iraq will turn
into rage, violence and war unless they are stopped. The very first purpose of
the U.N. is to prevent this scourge of war.
Appeal
against violence and war; appeal for peace and nonviolence
We address our appeal to
all people in order to raise their voice against another threatening war.
Citizens of Macedonia, see
what the war has left behind in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo
and do not let it happen to you as well. Do not allow yourself to become
overtaken by hatred against your fellow citizens. Do not allow yourself to take
arms into your hands. Do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed with the feeling
that “they are all the same,” because they are not, do not forget that.
Gather all your courage and raise your voice against the war, do not keep
silent, because it may be understood as approval. Do not divide people onto
“us and them,” because that is exactly what the war machinery wants you to
do. Determine yourself for peace and nonviolence and raise your voice against
all kinds of violence. You make up the majority. We were also the majority in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Kosovo, but we were too silent, silenced
by the violent explosion. Do not let it happen to you!
Give signs to your fellow
citizens which are on the “other side” that you want peace and believe that
there are many of them on the other side who wish the same. Only together you
can secure sustainable peace and constructive cooperation. If you do not feel
the tension or hear shooting in your place of living, do not turn your head away
thinking that it is far enough away from you.
Appeal to all sides in the
conflict to stop violence. It is your human right to live in peace. Demand it!
Demand all your human rights and realize them.
Bear in mind that the way
of violence can not be a legitimate mean to achieve political goals and
citizens’ rights. Be brave and decide for dialogue and cooperation, for the
way of nonviolence. We understand that it takes lot more courage, strength and
will, but it is worth of trying to build stabile relationship of mutual
interest. It is worth deciding for peace.
We appeal to all military
and paramilitary conscripts to resist conscription and mobilization. We appeal
to all people, in particular the governments to offer shelter and support to war
resisters and all other refugees.
We deeply sympathize with
victims of violence and their closest ones.
In solidarity.
Centar za nenasilnu akciju
- Sarajevo/Beograd
Adnan Hasanbegovic, Iva
Zenzerovic, Ivana Franovic, Milan Colic, Nedzad Horozovic, Nenad Vukosavljevic
Centre for Nonviolent
Action - Sarajevo, Bentbasa 31, 71000 Sarajevo, BiH, Tel/Fax: + 387 33 440-417;
Email: cna.sarajevo@gmx.net;
website: www.soros.org.ba/~cna
Friends of Bosnia, 85
Worcester St., #1, Boston, MA 02118; Tel: 617-424-6906; Fax: 617-424-6752; email:
info@friendsofbosnia.org;
website: www.friendsofbosnia.org
