December 2004

Peace & Justice

2005 Peace Essay Contest

Without belittling the courage with which [people] have died, we should not forget those acts of courage with which [people]... have lived. The stories of past courage... can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each must look into his [or her] own soul.

— John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Profiles in Courage

Personal courage is the theme of the 2005 Peace Essay Contest. Each of us is faced with taking unpopular or controversial stands. Practicing listening to one's conscience and acting on one's convictions are important skills for character building.

Sponsored by the Modesto Peace/Life Center, the 19th annual Peace Essay Contest is open to 5th - 12th grade students living or attending school in Stanislaus County.

For the 2005 Peace Essay Contest flyer, contact the Modesto Peace/Life Center, 529-5750 or peaceessay@juno.com

A failed transition: The mounting costs of the Iraq War

Military: Killed Since war began (3/19/03): 1145 Other Coalition Troops 145 US Military Deaths - Afghanistan 143 Monthly average before the transition: 449

Number of U.S. troops wounded in combat since the war began: 8,201 (94% occurred after May 1, 2003) Percentage of U.S. wounded unable to return to duty: 64% Iraqi soldiers and insurgents killed since May 1, 2003: 24,000

Civilians: Iraqi civilians killed since March 20, 2003: 14,284-16,419 (some say as many as 100,000).

Other data: Number of insurgents in Iraq: November 2003: 5,000; August 2004: 20,000 Percentage of Americans who believe that the Iraq War has worsened the U.S. image in the world: 69% Number of soldiers whose tours of duty have been extended by the Army: 20,000 Percentage of reserve troops who earn lower salaries while on deployment: 30-40% Fraction of National Guard troops among U.S. force now in Iraq: 1/3

The bill so far: $151.1 billion

Amount contractor Halliburton is alleged to have charged for meals never served to troops and for cost overruns on fuel deliveries: $221 million Kickbacks received by Halliburton employees from subcontractors: $6 million Effect on al Qaeda of the Iraq War, according to International Institute for Strategic Studies: Accelerated recruitment Estimated number of al Qaeda terrorists as of May 2004: 18,000 with 1,000 active in Iraq Percentage of Iraqis expressing no confidence in U.S. civilian authorities or coalition forces: 80%

Full report available at: www.ips-dc.org/iraq/failedtransition   The Institute for Policy Studies, 733 15th Street NW, Suite 1020, Washington, DC 20005; 202-234-9382.

Middle East heroes: Laila Najjar and Adi Frish

For individuals looking for a model of conflict resolution and interested in reading about a story of hope from the Middle East, read the story of Laila Najjar and Adi Frish in the online Global Heroes Magazine.

They grew up as friends is the Oasis of Peace (Neve Shalom in Hebrew, Wahat al-Salam in Arabic), a small village situated midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The Oasis of Peace was jointly established by Palestinians and Israelis, including the two girls' parents, in the 1970s as a place where the two groups could live, work and raise their children together. Over 50 families reside in the village, which has been nominated five times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Visit:  www.globalheroesmagazine.com/middleeast/middleeast.html

Nicanet National Meeting in Santa Cruz: A Better World is Possible!

Submitted by SHELLY SCRIBNER

The annual National Leadership Meeting of the Nicaragua Network will be hosted by the Tres Americas committee of Santa Cruz, on December 4-5, 2004. The theme, “A Better World is Possible” will run through all the presentations and discussions including the fight against water privatization, the premiere of the new Nicaragua Network video on community-based alternative development projects, as well as agenda items on sweatshop organizing, educating Congress, and prioritizing Nicaragua Network programs for the coming year.

The National Leadership Meeting is open to anyone interested in Nicaragua solidarity.

Registration for the two day conference is $50 which includes breakfasts and some meals as well as helping to provide travel subsidies for committee representatives who might otherwise not be able to attend. One-day participants and/or Santa Cruz residents who do not want meals can register for $30.

• Ruth Selma Herrera, head of the Consumer Defense Network in Nicaragua, will join a panel of experts on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 4, to talk about water privatization. Panel members will give a global perspective on the fight against water privatization, a report on the struggle of California communities to keep their municipal water, and a report on the struggle in Nicaragua against privatization.

• Nicanet’s Managua-based Coordinator Paul Baker-Hernandez will give a political, economic, environmental justice and civil society update on current events and trends in Nicaragara including sweatshop organizing since Nicaragua Network reincorporated Campaign for Labor Rights back within our “family.”

 • The premiere of a video filmed and produced by Robin Lloyd of Green Valley Media in Nicaragua this past summer of cooperatives and other community-based projects that create alternatives to the free-trade, sweatshop corporate model allowed under neo-liberal economics. While no utopian panacea, the projects taken together show that a better world is possible, and permitted the production of the first hopeful video to come out of Nicaragua in the past 14 years.

• US Representative Sam Farr (D-CA) speech entitled “Effective Ways to Educate Congress on Solidarity and Immigration Issues in the Present Political Climate.”

ALL OUT for January 20 Counter—Inaugural & March 19/20 Global Day of Protest on 2nd Anniversary of the war

From the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition

What is the perspective of the antiwar movement in the face of the growing escalation of war in Iraq and repression at home?

We do not have the luxury of taking a break for despondency and despair. The antiwar movement must merge the struggle for at home to defend women’s rights. The antiwar movement must be part and parcel of the workers’ movement to defend our unions and to launch a broader struggle against the merciless attacks on health care benefits and pensions. The antiwar movement must unite with the anti-racist movement in defense of affirmative action and civil rights and liberties. We know full well what the Bush administration has in mind regarding civil rights. The threatening opening salvo by the government’s IRS against the NAACP for the crime of criticizing Bush should be understood as a harbinger.

The unrelenting assault on the Muslim and Arab American community doesn’t give that community the luxury to take a break from the struggle for justice. The rights of the entire elderly working class in the United States are also in the cross-hairs of Bush’s Wall Street gunslingers. They want their hands on that social security money for the investment portfolio of the banks and corporations. The antiwar movement must speak plainly: instead of spending $270 million a day to make Iraq safe for Halliburton and Citibank, those tax dollars should be used to protect social security and to build schools and provide health care. We can bet that the Democrats will head for the hills on equal marriage rights as Bush and the ultra-right unleash a wave of bigotry. The antiwar movement must stand openly against all divide-and-conquer bigotry.

This global movement is strengthened not by looking up to the corporations that fund the two primary U.S. parties to rise up a leader to offer mild reforms, but from people standing side-by-side and engaging in collective action around positions of principle. This is the true democracy, and the only source for hope for our collective future.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition calls on all people who believe in justice to double our commitment to building the struggle against war and empire abroad, and for justice at home.

January 20, 2005: Counter-Inaugural Demonstration in Washington, D.C. lining the inaugural route in mass protest and simultaneous protests in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities.

Pledge now to support the January 20 demonstration against the war and say Bring the Troops Home Now!

March 19/20, 2005: Global Day of Coordinated Actions on the 2nd Anniversary of the “Shock and Awe” Invasion of Iraq: the whole world will be marking this day with mass actions.

Contact A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, Act Now to Stop War & End Racism, www.answercoalition.org. Email info@internationalanswer.org National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389 New York City, San Francisco: 415-821-6545

Christian Peacemaker Teams seeks applicants for 2005 delegations

Christian Peacemaker Teams is a faith-based group that seeks participants who are interested in human rights work, committed to nonviolence, and willing to participate in team worship and reflection. The delegation experience culminates in a nonviolent public witness that challenges violence.

COLOMBIA Participants will meet with human rights workers and church leaders in Bogota, travel to the industrial city of Barrancabermeja where CPT’s long-term team is based, and spend time in the countryside where paramilitaries and other armed groups threaten the lives of displaced people.

MIDDLE EAST Delegates will witness the reality of day-to-day life in the West Bank. They will meet with representatives of Israeli and Palestinian peace and justice groups, then join CPT Hebron in their work of violence deterrence, human rights documentation, and challenging the structural violence of the Occupation through nonviolent public witness.

KENORA/ ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG (GRASSY NARROWS, ONTARIO):  The Ontario Government approved corporate clear-cutting of forest on the traditional land-use area of this First Nations community. A blockade since November 2002 challenges the violators of the community’s traditional lands.

IRAQ: As Iraq continues to suffer under unstable and difficult conditions; delegates will meet with representatives of nongovernmental organizations, fledgling Iraqi civil society groups, the U.S. military, and others, to assess the current situation. Based primarily in Baghdad, the delegation may travel to outlying areas.

For more information or to apply, contact CPT, (PO Box 6508, Chicago, IL 60680; phone 773-277-0253; fax 773-277-0291; email delegations@cpt.org or visit www.cpt.org

Christian Peacemaker Teams is an initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, and Quakers) with support and membership from a range of Catholic and Protestant denominations