Online Edition: September 2004     Vol. V, No. I

ACTIONS FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
sponsored by Peace Life Center Middle East Committee. Public invited

Modesto Peace/Life Center Vigil for Peace: Third Fridays--5:30 - 6:30 p.m. at Tenth Street Plaza, across from Brenden Theaters. Bring signs that relate to this central theme: cut funding for wars and weapons; create jobs, make health care available to all, improve education, restore our environment, help the homeless. Main message: Nuclear weapons threaten all lives and endanger the hard work parents do to nurture life. None of us wants to see them used.  For more info about vigils, call 484-0226, or 765-3813, or the Peace Life Center, 529-5750

Save These Dates!

October 9:  Annual Fundraiser Auction & Frolic Potluck Party for Stanislaus Connections

October 23: Harvest Supper

CONTENTS

Peace & Justice

Around the Center: 

Articles

Now `the time has come' here too: to recognize our neighbors as equals and to end the conflict with them, in the realization that there is no military way of doing this."
    — Daniel Barenboim, conductor and pianist

Living Lightly

Link:  SectionZ: Making our Ecomony Safe for People and Nature

Recipes from Connections

New this Month:  A Gathering of Voices

A monthly column of local poetry

Out and About

COMMUNITY CALENDAR --CURRENT & COMING EVENTS

Masthead and Back Issues

Letters to Connections

Modesto Sister Cities International saves burnt child: Thank you, American people!

By SERGEI SAMBORSKI, Ph.D.

I met 14-month-old Volodymyr Roziznany in our sister city of Khmelnitskiy, Ukraine, on June 14, 2004. By then he had qualified as a “1st category invalid,” as they say in Ukraine, due to the 3rd degree burn he had had received 6 months before. 36% of his body was burnt when he pulled a boiling kettle from a stove.

His mother Zoya and father Oleksandr were in total despair. They seemed to have exhausted all their numerous attempts to relieve the boy from constant pain. Volodya's body could not grow because of 2-inch thick contracting scars caused by pig skin graft. His left arm was visibly shorter than the right one, and he was unable to bend his elbow. Local doctors could not do much with antiquated equipment. The parents sought treatment everywhere in Ukraine but could not find it. Then someone told them about the Medical Project launched by the Modesto-Khmelnitskiy Sister Cities Committee 3 years ago. The parents remembered seeing a TV program showing delivery of medical equipment to the City Children's Hospital last summer. Viktor Vikarchuk, who visited Modesto last October, recalled meeting George McMahan who told him about Shriners and their medical centers for children.

That very evening Mike Shuken of Medical Relief Foundation at Doctors Medical Center and I in Khmelnitskiy, at our computers, visited the Shriners’ web site. We found out that the Boston Shriners Burn Hospital helps children from around the world for free. The next day I took photos of little Vlad and mailed them to Boston along with the English translation of his medical records. Three weeks later, Volodymyr qualified for treatment! The American Embassy in Ukraine was quickly issued entry visas for Zoya and her son. The Medical Relief Foundation speedily raised money, and tickets were purchased for the transatlantic flight

Boston’s Casa Monte Cassino immediately agreed to provide free stay for mother and her child for as long as the treatment would take. On August 10, Dr. Robert Sheridan spent two hours removing those thick contracting scars from Vlad's chest. "Volodya's body stretched out immediately. It's a miracle!", screamed excited Zoya during our phone conversation. "Everybody is so kind to us in America!", continued mother with tears in her voice, "My son had never received so many toys in his entire life as he did during the first week in the States!" Zoya is awed by American cleanliness. She had seen hospitals in American movies and even painted some images in her anticipatory mind, but when she saw the Shriners Hospital she felt like "being in a Sci-Fi movie on a different planet." “They change linen every day!” she exclaimed.

Volodya's temporary artificial graft on his chest was replaced with his own permanent skin. On August 24, Dr. Sheridan worked on his arm, leg, and chin. The boy will resume his natural growth pain-free! Shriners will monitor his recovery for many years to come.

The whole city of Khmelnitskiy is rooting for little Volodymyr and applauding the American people for their altruistic benevolence. I was very proud to represent your spirit, my dear fellow Americans, in newspaper interviews, TV, and radio programs. Thanks to our people-to-people diplomacy and 17 years of active exchange programs between Modesto and Khmelnitskiy, there is no American bashing in Ukraine. Our friendship and mutual respect come from closely knowing and therefore understanding each other. Ukrainians distinguish very clearly between the Bush Administration's arrogant policies worldwide and the true American spirit of sister- and brotherhood of people like you and me and all of us together.

ACTION: Help us raise enough money to support Zoya and little Volodymyr throughout his treatment period which may last from 3 to 6 months. Send your tax-deductible donations to Medical Relief Foundation, c/o Mike Shuken, 837 Granada Lane, Vacaville, CA 95688. Make checks payable to the Medical Relief Foundation with "Little Vlad Fund" written in the memo section.

The author chairs the Modesto Sister Cities International Modesto-Khmelnitskiy Committee. Reach him at 521-9433; fax 577-3838.

ACLU next meeting: school censorship

By FRED HERMAN

The next membership meeting and public forum of Stanislaus County's American Civil Liberties chapter will focus on school censorship.

A panel on "Freedom to Teach, Freedom to Learn" is being arranged by Turlock teacher Kathy O'Brien and will include Mark Twain Junior High School librarian and local columnist Brad Barker, and retired American Government instructor Bob Jackson, a former Modesto city schools trustee.

Other speakers, including members of the conservative community, have been invited.

The program runs from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m., Wednesday, October 13 in the basement of the Modesto-Stanislaus Public Library, including a panel discussion and questions from the audience. There is no charge and light refreshments will be available.

Free copies of an ACLU pamphlet delineating the rights of teen-agers, "We Have Rights Too But What Are They?," will be given to the first 100-150 persons to arrive. Students, teachers and parents are especially invited.

Connections gets a new look!

BY MYRTLE OSNER and INDIRA CLARK

With this issue Stanislaus Connections inaugurates a new format. Mark Haskett of Haskett Graphix redesigned the entire paper. We also welcome Linda Knoll as our new layout editor. Both Linda and Mark have extensive backgrounds in graphic design.

Also in this issue we begin a new feature, "A Gathering of Voices", highlighting the work of local poet activists. We thank Marian Martino of Martino Graphics for the new logo for this column

Stanislaus Connections has completed 15 years of publication as the successor the Modesto Peace Life Center's trusty old monthly newsletter which we had published for over 19 years. Dreamed about for years, expanding to newspaper format allows us to devote more space for peace, social justice, and environmental issues, and to explore and reach further into the community.

Charles Milligan designed the original layout. Fred Herman served as founding editor for almost three years. A volunteer committee has produced Connections ever since. Anita Young, our layout editor for 12 years, retired after the last issue. She did a marvelous job in making Connections look good for our readers

We hope you will support Stanislaus Connections with your thoughts and dollars as an alternative source of news and views. Fill out the subscription blank and send in your money. We welcome new readers.

Readers tell us they like photos and graphics in Connections. Help us by searching out talent, local or otherwise, original or with copyright waiver permission.

Elections: sooner than you think

By MYRTLE OSNER

There are only two months left in the run-up to elections (Tuesday, Nov. 2).

Have you moved, or changed your name? Then you must re-register to vote. Many people don't understand that ELECTION MATERIAL CANNOT BE FORWARDED.

Both parties are out in force wanting to register YOU! If you want to be absolutely sure, get a form at any library. city hall or post office, fill it out now and mail it (no stamp needed). Unless you get your form in early, you will not receive a sample ballot and won't know where your precinct is. The last day to register for this election is October 11.

Absentee ballots are mailed about October 5. Get your requests to vote absentee mailed in September! Send a request in writing to your County Elections Dept. (in Stanislaus, 1021 I St., Modesto, 95354) or you can appear there in person.

Modesto’s League of Women Voters will hold several candidates' forums during October, featuring the  eleven candidates for Riverbank on October 18 at the Riverbank Community Center.

As usual, there will be a dizzying array of state ballot measures. Get your copy of the "Pros and Cons" at the library or call The League (524-1698, Modesto). Arguments on both sides are fairly presented and readable. The ballot pamphlet is not always easy to decipher but better than it used to be.

In Tuolumne and Stanislaus counties, the Yosemite College District has a bond measure on the ballot to provide for repairs to its aging buildings. More info in the October issue.

"The political process is the way that communities of people organize their common life, allocate their resources, and tackle their shared problems. Politics is about the values we honor, the dollars we allocate and process we follow so that we can live together with some measure of justice, order and peace... Public policy is never merely politics, never just about economics."

— Blythe Sawyer.

"Your voice is silent if you don't vote."
ACTION: REGISTER AND VOTE!

A people's democratic platform

(a review from The Nation, Aug 2, 2004, by Myrtle Osner).

Lobby for reforms that desperately need to be made by our government.

The Nation asked 23 well-known people to tell them what was most important to them for the Democratic platform. The group ranged from Howard Dean, Walter Cronkite and George McGovern, to hip-hopper Bakari Kitwana. Their replies are summarized to give an idea of what many people think are the real needs of real people in this country.

Not surprisingly, many agreed with Howard Dean that The top need is universal healthcare: "The Democrats need to stand up for universal healthcare and get it passed. We are the last industrialized country in the world that doesn't have it… Universal health care could be paid for by getting rid of the President's tax cuts, which have simply been a huge wealth transfer from poor and modest-income people to big corporations." (Dean). "Maybe the national pride can be touched if people are made aware that Americans do NOT enjoy the world's best medicine but are among the worst served of all the major nations. And that this miserable record applies not just to the poor but to the middle class as a whole." Arthur Miller, author. "Are we a life-affirming society or one that perversely courts death? ...We don't have national health insurance... My small bottle of prescription tablets and nasal spray set me back $114.35 … As well we are the only such nation that insists on the death penalty." Studs Terkel, author.

"The missile shield program should be cut back… The administration is spending $10 billion a year to deploy a system that even its proponents consider rudimentary… Meanwhile, our system is vulnerable to terrorism because of a lack of funds." Jeremy Bernstein, professor of physics.

"Ratify the Kyoto Protocol and withdraw from NAFTA and the WTO… Offer tax credits for the purchase of small, fuel-efficient autos. Cut the military budget to half, rebuild infrastructure and expand public transportation, and use the money to fund healthcare, childcare, education and job training." Gary Indiana, author.

"Democrats must insist on labor rights and environmental standards in every trade agreement. If workers at the bottom cannot win the right to organize and bargain collectively for livable wages, safer workplaces and economic and political freedom, wages and living standards in rich and poor nations alike will continue to be pulled downward." Sherrod Brown, Congressman from Ohio. "By supporting workers who choose to organize, we can guarantee that the true protection of workers' rights is not a thing of the past, but a foundation we can build on for the future." David Bonior, former House majority whip.

"One key election reform is adoption of instant-runoff voting. IRV allows each voter to rank his/her choices… A second key reform is public funding of elections." Doris D. "Granny" Haddock, who walked across America to promote campaign finance reform.

"The war on drugs has failed to end illegal drug sales, while mandatory sentencing has played a primary role in the rise of US incarceration in the last thirty years from 330,000 to more than 2 million easily one-fourth of whom are drug offenders. [we] should advocate the repeal of mandatory-minimum sentencing laws at the state and federal level." Bakari Kitwana, African-American author. "The idea of a "drug-free" society is absurd in a nation where pharmaceutical companies run ads for powerful anti-depressants and beer ads during the Super Bowl." Eric Schlosser, author "Fast Food Nation."

To read the full article, go to the library or www.thenation.com.

Your Elected Officials

Modestan visits rich and poor families in India

By LEE RYAN MILLER

Twelfth in a series

January to May 2003 I lived on a ship that circumnavigated the globe. I was teaching political science on Semester at Sea, a program run by the University of Pittsburgh. Some 650 students participated, visiting nine countries and ten ports.

In this series, I present excerpts from my journal and commentary on the societies that we visited.

More than half of Indians are illiterate, and 44% subsist on $1 or less per day. Despite this, India has a large and growing computer software industry, and is one of only a handful of countries possessing nuclear weapons. India is a land of remarkable contrasts.

While in Chennai, I spent several days visiting the family of an Indian American friend. The Ramaswamis, a middle-class Hindu family, owned a three-bedroom apartment in a pleasant Chennai neighborhood, located just one block from the Taj Hotel, one of the most luxurious hotels in Chennai. 

A block away in the opposite direction was a very poor, predominantly Muslim neighborhood. There, people wore dirty, shabby clothes and lived in shacks. Cows roamed freely on the street. The contrast was astounding. It was just the next block, and it seemed to be a different world.

Mrs. Ramaswami took me shopping to buy clothes for my wife, Beth. Most Indian women have their clothes tailor-made, rather than buying them off the rack. We visited a huge department store that sold only fabrics. It consisted of several multi-storied buildings. There were silks, cottons, and blends—in every imaginable pattern and color. It was quite a feast for the eyes. I picked out some fabrics, and Mrs. Ramaswami’s tailors made them into some beautiful outfits.

One day we had lunch at the home of G.V. Ramakrishna, my friend’s uncle. Mr. Ramakrishna, a retired civil servant, lived with his wife in a beautiful flat with marble floors. He had served as ambassador to the European Union during the negotiations leading up to the creation of the World Trade Organization. I found him to be extremely knowledgeable about nearly everything under the sun. 

I spent my nights on the ship. Shipboard life in Chennai was different from most other ports. We experienced water rationing. Normally, while at sea, the crew purified seawater for drinking and washing. While in port they usually brought on water from land and purified it to supplement the water supplies. The water in Dar es Salaam and Chennai was so dirty, however, that the captain hadn’t felt confident that it would be safe— even if purified. So while in port, the taps flowed for just a four-hour period twice per day (6-10 a.m. and p.m.). When it did flow, it tasted awful. Decent drinking water was available only at specified locations. It was extremely hot and dirty in Chennai, and on a couple of occasions, I greatly regretted having gotten back to the ship too late to take a shower.

March 19 was my final day in Chennai. I spent the morning on a field trip to a public housing project. Our coach drove along the beach, where we saw slums that housed poor fishermen. As in many third world cities, poor people migrate in large numbers each year from rural areas to Chennai and helped swell the city’s population to six million residents. Newcomers usually cannot afford apartments; they build huts from mud, scraps of wood, and palm fronds on vacant land. Life in these slums is dangerous, subject to disease, fires, floods, and crime.

The government of Tamil Nadu, the state where Chennai is located, has a Slum Clearance Board responsible for addressing the problems of the slums. They approach the problems in many ways. For example, they have provided corrugated roofs for many of the dwellings in the slums (palm frond roofs tend to catch fire), and have provided electricity and water hook-ups. They also have built many public housing projects and resettled the slum dwellers. Many of these programs receive funding from the Indian national government.

The public housing project we visited was fairly new. It had been built on a swamp that was filled with about 8 feet of dirt in advance of construction. The first phase of the project was completed in 2001. They are building around 3000 apartments per year, and at the time of our visit, the project housed around 7000 families. The residents had formerly occupied slums that were slated for demolition by the government in order to build infrastructure projects like a railroad and a canal. Our guide indicated that their income was around 400-800 rupees ($8-16) per month. The residents were required to pay 150 rupees per month of rent for twenty years, after which they are to be given ownership of their apartments. Our guide told us that the rent is insufficient to meet expenses, and that the project is subsidized greatly by the government. 

This enormous project had a few public facilities. There was a community center that the residents were permitted to rent for a nominal fee for weddings and other events. There also was a primary school and a vocational training center, and a couple of small shops. When we visited the vocational training center, there were some women weaving baskets, and there were a few computers.

The apartments themselves looked nice from the outside, but were very depressing on the inside. An apartment basically consisted of a single dark, square concrete room, perhaps a dozen feet wide. An entire family lived, cooked, and slept in this space. It was hot outside, and even hotter inside the apartments. 

The residents had electricity, but no running water or phones. Every two apartments shared a toilet, and water was retrieved from a few taps on the street.

Our guide assured us that these people’s lives were considerably better in this place than in the slums. I found the conditions in the project quite wretched, and I can only imagine what conditions must be like in the slums.

After my visit to this public housing project, I spent the afternoon and evening visiting the Ramaswamis. The ship departed that evening. The following morning, the United States invaded Iraq.

Learn more about Semester at Sea: www.semesteratsea.com

Read more stories from Lee Ryan Miller: www.LeeRyanMiller.com

Read the last installment in this series, Modestan has a wild ride in India  

Next month: The ship tries to evade war, pirates, and a global epidemic.

 

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT ARTICLES TO CONNECTIONS.

Tenth of each month. Submit peace, justice and environmentally friendly event notices to P.O. Box 134, Modesto, CA, 95353, or call 522-4967 or 575-4299, or email to Jim Costello. Free listings subject to space, availability and editing.

09/01/04