|
--------------------------------------------------------------
You
are invited to march with our banner
Defend
Chelsea Manning & all whistleblowers!
Saturday
27 June,
meet 12.15pm outside Baker
St
All Welcome
Queer
Strike, Payday, Compassion in
Care, whistleblowers
from Yarl’s Wood detention
centre, women from the Julian Assange Vigil and many more...
| |
|
Finally
Chelsea Manning is getting some official recognition at this year's Pride. After pressure from us and
others, she is now a Pride Hero!
She's also being celebrated internationally, including at Pride in San
Francisco,
Seattle
and St
Petersburg (USA).
This is what Pride should be for: to represent grassroots lesbian gay bi trans queer campaigns, not pink washing of corporate / government / military interests. Racist and xenophobic UKIP has
been banned, but shamefully
Barclays is leading the march again, despite last year’s objections.
|
|
|
Chelsea,
former US army
intelligence analyst, bravely released to WikiLeaks the collateral murder video
of the airstrike killing
civilians in Baghdad, as
well as some 250,000 US
diplomatic cables and nearly 500,000 army reports from
Iraq and Afghanistan exposing US and UK and other governments war crimes, including rape and other torture and
corruption. For her commitment to humanity and truth she's been sentenced to 35 years in
prison.
She has appealed against this sadistically long sentence while
winning her rights as a trans woman. We must get her out!
| |
|
Compassion
in Care and others demonstrate for Edna's
Law,
the whistleblowers protection law, Downing Street, 27 May 2015. | |
|
We
must defend Chelsea and other whistleblowers in the military, government, police,
prisons, detention centres, care homes, hospitals and other institutions.
We also need to protect the many people – women the vast majority – who do the invisible work of caring for and giving voice to loved ones trapped in institutions.
Whistleblowers are under
threat of imprisonment,
physical attack, isolation,
and sacking, leaving them destitute. They are punished for caring about others and society as
a whole. Defending them is a priority for the lgbtq and all our movements, especially in these increasingly repressive times.
They need and deserve our support. They are an example for us all.
It could be one of us
any day.
Bring
your banners, placards,
make some
noise!
(020) 7482 2496
(020) 7267 8698
| |
Friday, June 26, 2015
Support Chelsea Manning In London
War Veterans Film An Instant Hit
Messages
1
Thu Jun 25, 2015 2:08 pm (PDT) . Posted by:
"Pat Scanlon" patscanlonmusic
FROM
OUR VFP BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE UK
On Thursday, June 25, 2015 12:50 PM, Ben Griffin <coord@vfpuk.org> wrote:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
War Veterans’ film an internet hit in time for Armed Forces Day
London, UK, 25th June 2015
In the run up to Armed Forces Day a video exposing the brutal potential outcomes of armed service has become a viral hit online.
Action Man: Battlefield Casualties, a Veterans For Peace UK film has been viewed over 300,000 times in just 36 hours. The series of dark, satirical adverts showing three toy soldiers complete with anti-depressants, wheelchairs and bodybags has received wide praise from veterans and civilians alike, who have commented on its brutal honesty.
The film, written by artist Darren Cullen, has been released this week to counter Armed Forces Day, a marketing push by the Ministry of Defence focused on children and their parents. Cullen said “Armed Forces Day is designed to capture the imagination of children, with face painting, marches and military vehicles. But the flag waving and grinning photo opportunities conceal the brutal possible outcomes of military service. Our film is intended to counter the recruitment propaganda of Armed Forces Day”.
The former head of the Army’s recruitment strategy Colonel David Allfrey has said that, “Our new model is about raising awareness, and that takes a ten-year span. It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air-show and thinking, “That looks great” From then the army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip.”
Veterans For Peace UK are using the film to build support for the campaign to raise the recruitment age of the British Army. "The UK is one of only nineteen countries worldwide still recruiting 16 year olds into the Army" said John Boulton, who joined the army at 16 and went on to serve in Afghanistan. “The UK stands alongside Iran and North Korea in continuing to recruit children into its armed forces. We want to put pressure on the government to bring UK recruitment policy into line with the rest of the world.”
The Army website states “If you're under 18, you'll need parental consent to join”, but Kieran Devlin, who joined the British Army at 15 and served in the Gulf War said, “The recruitment adverts conceal the deadly possibilities of military service from children and their parents. It is official Army policy to funnel the youngest recruits into the most dangerous jobs. Those enlisting on their sixteenth birthday can only join combat arms such as the infantry. Those who enlisted at 16 and completed training were twice as likely to be killed in Afghanistan as those who joined at 18 or over.”
The Army has repeatedly claimed that it doesn’t recruit in schools but their own document Engagement with UK Schools states that their overall rationale for engaging with schools is to “provide an environment which raises awareness of the MoD and Armed Forces among young people and to enable recruiters to access the school environments.” While Colonel Allfrey has boasted that "army careers advisers who operate in schools are skilled salesmen."
Veterans For Peace are calling for the recruitment age in the UK to be raised to 18 in line with most countries worldwide. The video as well as details about the campaign are on their website: www.battlefieldcasualties.co.uk
ENDS
----------------------------------------------------------
Veterans For Peace UK is a voluntary ex-services organisation of men and women who have served in every war that Britain has fought since WW2.We focus our work to:
• Educate young people on the true nature of military service and war. • Resist war and militarism through non-violent action. • Stand in solidarity with people resisting militarism and war.
We hope to convince people that war is not the answer to the problems of the 21st century.
Battlefield Casualties was directed by Price James, written by Darren Cullen, featuring Matt Berry, produced by Agile Films.
To speak to Darren Cullen call 07403273836To speak to Kieran or John call Veterans For Peace Coordinator Ben Griffin on 07866 559312 or email coord@vfpuk.org
Ben Griffin
Coordinator
Veterans For Peace UK
On Thursday, June 25, 2015 12:50 PM, Ben Griffin <coord@vfpuk.org> wrote:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
War Veterans’ film an internet hit in time for Armed Forces Day
London, UK, 25th June 2015
In the run up to Armed Forces Day a video exposing the brutal potential outcomes of armed service has become a viral hit online.
Action Man: Battlefield Casualties, a Veterans For Peace UK film has been viewed over 300,000 times in just 36 hours. The series of dark, satirical adverts showing three toy soldiers complete with anti-depressants, wheelchairs and bodybags has received wide praise from veterans and civilians alike, who have commented on its brutal honesty.
The film, written by artist Darren Cullen, has been released this week to counter Armed Forces Day, a marketing push by the Ministry of Defence focused on children and their parents. Cullen said “Armed Forces Day is designed to capture the imagination of children, with face painting, marches and military vehicles. But the flag waving and grinning photo opportunities conceal the brutal possible outcomes of military service. Our film is intended to counter the recruitment propaganda of Armed Forces Day”.
The former head of the Army’s recruitment strategy Colonel David Allfrey has said that, “Our new model is about raising awareness, and that takes a ten-year span. It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air-show and thinking, “That looks great” From then the army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip.”
Veterans For Peace UK are using the film to build support for the campaign to raise the recruitment age of the British Army. "The UK is one of only nineteen countries worldwide still recruiting 16 year olds into the Army" said John Boulton, who joined the army at 16 and went on to serve in Afghanistan. “The UK stands alongside Iran and North Korea in continuing to recruit children into its armed forces. We want to put pressure on the government to bring UK recruitment policy into line with the rest of the world.”
The Army website states “If you're under 18, you'll need parental consent to join”, but Kieran Devlin, who joined the British Army at 15 and served in the Gulf War said, “The recruitment adverts conceal the deadly possibilities of military service from children and their parents. It is official Army policy to funnel the youngest recruits into the most dangerous jobs. Those enlisting on their sixteenth birthday can only join combat arms such as the infantry. Those who enlisted at 16 and completed training were twice as likely to be killed in Afghanistan as those who joined at 18 or over.”
The Army has repeatedly claimed that it doesn’t recruit in schools but their own document Engagement with UK Schools states that their overall rationale for engaging with schools is to “provide an environment which raises awareness of the MoD and Armed Forces among young people and to enable recruiters to access the school environments.” While Colonel Allfrey has boasted that "army careers advisers who operate in schools are skilled salesmen."
Veterans For Peace are calling for the recruitment age in the UK to be raised to 18 in line with most countries worldwide. The video as well as details about the campaign are on their website: www.battlefieldcasualties.co.uk
ENDS
----------------------------------------------------------
Veterans For Peace UK is a voluntary ex-services organisation of men and women who have served in every war that Britain has fought since WW2.We focus our work to:
• Educate young people on the true nature of military service and war. • Resist war and militarism through non-violent action. • Stand in solidarity with people resisting militarism and war.
We hope to convince people that war is not the answer to the problems of the 21st century.
Battlefield Casualties was directed by Price James, written by Darren Cullen, featuring Matt Berry, produced by Agile Films.
To speak to Darren Cullen call 07403273836To speak to Kieran or John call Veterans For Peace Coordinator Ben Griffin on 07866 559312 or email coord@vfpuk.org
Ben Griffin
Coordinator
Veterans For Peace UK
Thursday, June 25, 2015
How Do You See Iran?
TUESDAY: How Do You See Iran?
When: Tuesday, June 23, 2015, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Where: First Church in Cambridge • 11 Garden St • Harvard T • Cambridge
Massachusetts Peace Action presents and cordially invites you to “How
Do You See Iran,” a talk by Rashin Khosravibabandpouri.
Rashin Koshravibavandpouri is an Iranian-born journalist and
currently an M.S. student in International Relations at Suffolk University, as
well as a member of MAPA’s Middle East Working Group.
Topics discussed will include: the regional profile of Iran before
and after the Revolution, oil politics, political Islam, the structure of power
in Iran, Iran after the Cold War and 9/11, Iran and the Arab Spring of 2011, and
Iran, National Security, and the Nuclear Program.
 | ||
|
United for
Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and
community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed
after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic
justice.
Help us continue to do this critical work! Make
a donation to UJP today.
| ||
| 617-383-4857 | www.justicewithpeace.org | |
Upcoming Events:
| How Do You See Iran? | Tue Jun 23 | 6:30pm | First Church in Cambridge | Cambridge |  |
| POSTPONED: Vietnam War: Reflections, Resistance and Implications | Mon Jun 29 | 7:00pm | encuentro 5 |
Vatican encyclical: “War always does grave harm to the environment”
The Vatican’s latest encyclical ‘Care for Our Common Home’ has triggered much rejoicing from the environmental movement, and justifiably so, coming as it does in the run up to the latest round of climate change negotiations. But in questioning the global economic order and its depredations on the planetary environment, Pope Francis has also sought to communicate a wide range of problems that have blocked progress on environmental protection. There will be much interest in the repercussions from what many may view as a radical agenda for global environmental reform.
Humanitarian environmentalism
On chemical pollution and waste, Francis observes that: “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth”. [21] But, in common with the rest of the text he underscores the connection between contamination and the health of the poor and vulnerable, by noting that even in locations known to be polluted: “frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected” and “both everyday experience and scientific research show that the gravest effects of all attacks on the environment are suffered by the poorest”. This has often proved the case in peacetime, where those with the least social and political capital have been forced to live or work in proximity to hazardous sites. It has also proved true following conflict, where the barriers to effective data collection on environmental risks are higher, and effective governmental response may be wholly absent.
Pope Francis bemoans the absence of political leadership on environmental protection, calling for effective regulatory approaches to ensure that we are not overwhelmed by the technological and economic interests of the few: “The establishment of a legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems has become indispensable; otherwise, the new power structures based on the techno-economic paradigm may overwhelm not only our politics but also freedom and justice.” [53]
Pope
Francis, humanitarian environmentalist.
On the need for clear boundaries
While it is written in general terms, it’s not hard to find parallels with the current state of protection of the environment during conflict. Indeed a good example emerged this week in the Pentagon’s newly published Law of War Manual. Beyond the comparatively narrow remit of the ENMOD Convention and its ban on the use of environmental modification as a weapon of war, the manual questions the validity of the derived customary rules of articles 35 and 55 of Additional Protocol I:
Article 35(3) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I: It is prohibited to employ methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment.
Article 55(1) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I: Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare which are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population.
The new Pentagon manual states that: “The United States has not accepted these provisions and has repeatedly expressed the view that these provisions are ‘overly broad and ambiguous and ‘not a part of customary law.’”. This view runs counter to that of a large number of militaries. It also appears to be retrograde step as the US’s 1993 US Operational Law Handbook did acknowledge the rule. The objections of the US and UK appear to be framed around the legality of the use of nuclear weapons, subsuming the wider question of methods and means into the impact of a single type of weapon. While the usefulness of the provisions is regularly challenged by legal scholars, it is typically driven by specific concerns over the ambiguous nature of the long-term, widespread and severe thresholds, not by the legality or otherwise of specific weapons.
The ease with which states sidestep even the most modest of requirements to protect the environment chimes with Pope Francis’ view that more robust systems of protection are necessary, although he is particularly scathing of current global responses and international conferences, which he argues are weakened by short sighted special interests, ensuring that:“the most one can expect is superficial rhetoric, sporadic acts of philanthropy and perfunctory expressions of concern for the environment, whereas any genuine attempt by groups within society to introduce change is viewed as a nuisance based on romantic illusions or an obstacle to be circumvented.”[54] Needless to say, this will resonate with many in the environmental field.
Although the overarching focus of the encyclical is climate change, with only a few specific references to weapons or the environmental impact of war, the links between natural resources and conflicts do get a special mention: “It is foreseeable that, once certain resources have been depleted, the scene will be set for new wars, albeit under the guise of noble claims…Politics must pay greater attention to foreseeing new conflicts and addressing the causes which can lead to them.” [57]
The interconnectedness of things
Natural resources and conflicts are just one of a number of areas where environmentalists will be pleased that Francis has underscored the interconnectedness of environmental issues. However in promoting his brand of humanitarian environmentalism, he also gives thought to the need to protect the environment for its own sake, setting this out through a detailed consideration of Christian scripture. He also challenges the deep-seated idea that humanity has dominion over the Earth and is free to use it as it wishes: “Although it is true that we Christians have at times incorrectly interpreted the Scriptures, nowadays we must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures.” [67]
The
TRWP’s Aneaka Kellay asking whether post-conflict environmental response could
be improved through new regulatory approaches at the UNEP/OCHA Environmental
Emergencies Forum.
Francis advocates for a new ‘ecological culture’ that reflects this interconnectedness, but cautions that it: “…cannot be reduced to a series of urgent and partial responses to the immediate problems of pollution, environmental decay and the depletion of natural resources.”The TRWP recently attended the UNEP/OCHA Environmental Emergencies Forum in Oslo and was impressed with the projects being planned and implemented globally to reduce the health and environmental risks from industrial accidents and natural disasters. There was much talk of building resilience, but less on tackling the root causes of such emergencies. While such global efforts were perhaps beyond the scope of the meeting, Francis identifies this elephant in the room by arguing that: “To seek only a technical remedy to each environmental problem which comes up is to separate what is in reality interconnected and to mask the true and deepest problems of the global system.” [111]
The encyclical challenges humanity’s dislocation from nature, particularly the refusal, or inability, to consider the environmental impact of society’s policies and actions, something that seems particularly relevant to the current failure to properly monitor the environmental and health legacy of conflict. Francis argues that this feeds humanity’s sense of dominion over nature: “Neglecting to monitor the harm done to nature and the environmental impact of our decisions is only the most striking sign of a disregard for the message contained in the structures of nature itself.” [117]
Global regulatory norms are needed
Turning again to the need for regulation, Pope Francis praises the environmental movement and its work to get green issues on the global agenda, but again regrets the failure of political will that has obstructed progress. He praises the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, its principles, agendas and declarations. He also welcomes the international agreements on hazardous wastes, the ozone layer and the trade in endangered species but regrets that Rio’s “accords have been poorly implemented, due to the lack of suitable mechanisms for oversight, periodic review and penalties in cases of non-compliance. The principles which it proclaimed still await an efficient and flexible means of practical implementation.” [167] He argues in favour or more international agreements that are enforceable, while respecting state sovereignty, arguing that:“Global regulatory norms are needed to impose obligations and prevent unacceptable actions.” [173] Perhaps conflict and the environment is one such area ripe for progress?
It is not the message of the encyclical that will surprise environmentalists, the arguments made are well trodden and explored, what makes this different is the messenger. Coming as it does from the head of the Catholic church seems like a notable departure and, while many of a more conservative bent will see this as a radical and terrifying agenda, it may also serve to reinforce the notion that radicalism is subjective and that sooner or later views can be mainstreamed, if and when the conditions allow it.
Doug
Weir managed the Toxic Remnants of War Project
_______________________________________________
 |
CIW, Fair
Food allies to rally outside Kroger annual shareholder meeting Thursday in
Cincinnati! Also: CIW education team in South Carolina pays respects at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston… On Thursday, June 24th, in Cincinnati, Ohio, local clergy, students, and residents with the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center and Ohio Fair Food will join the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) for a demonstration outside the 2015 Kroger’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Together, they will call on the supermarket giant to join its competitors Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Fresh Market in supporting the award-winning Fair Food Program. Last year’s shareholder meeting event ended in an impromptu march on Kroger headquarters after the company made the extraordinary decision to turn away a delegation representing the CIW and their Ohio allies — despite the fact that the delegation members held proxies authorizing them to speak on behalf of shareholders not in attendance at the meeting [...] [...] CIW education team pays respects at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston… Meanwhile, the CIW’s worker-to-worker education team continues to make its way up the east coast, as the expansion of the Fair Food Program reaches South Carolina’s coastal tomato industry. But while the task at hand — informing workers on participating Low Country tomato farms of their rights under the Fair Food Program — is of utmost importance, events in Charleston this week shook the country as a whole and transcended the education team’s mission. Accordingly, the team members decided to set aside their work yesterday to visit Mother Emanuel AME Church and pay their respects to the victims of last Wednesday’s horrific shooting... |
The Latest FromThe United National Anti-War Coaltion
Charleston Shootings Expose Systemic Racism in the United States  It is systemic racism that
killed the nine Black church members in Charleston, South Carolina just as it is
systemic racism that killed Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and other
Black victims, perhaps as many as two per day in 2015. The mainstream media and
the politicians will deny this and claim it is the act of a lone, crazy
individual or due to the lack of gun control laws, not the system that has
accepted South Carolina flying the confederate flag at its Capitol.The shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church was reminiscent of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four children in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, prior to the end of Jim Crow in the South. Has the U.S. moved back to that period in our history? Are the killings of Blacks today any different than the lynchings of several decades ago? Just as the Birmingham bombers of 1963 were initially not prosecuted by the racist justice system, not one cop has been convicted for the many killings of unarmed Blacks, some caught on video. [Read more...]
UNAC supports the International Peoples' Tribunal being
organized by BAYAN, USA, a coalition of Filipino groups along with other
organizations. The tribunal will take place in Washington, DC, July 16 - 18.
The Tribunal will hear testimony about crimes against the Filipino people by
President Benigno S. Aquino and the U.S. Government as represented by President
Barack Obama.
For information on the proceedings, the Jurors, the cases to be heard, the human rights and social justice |
Rally: Stop US bombing in Iraq/Syria and Bring Troops Home
Rally: Stop US bombing in Iraq/Syria and Bring Troops Home
When: Tuesday, June 30, 2015, 5:00 pm to
7:15 pm
Where: Harvard Square MBTA entrance •
Cambridge
The US has spent trillions and killed hundreds of thousands, including more than 4,500 US dead in the decades of war on Iraq. That war destroyed the infrastructure of the country and opened the door to the murderous group called ISIS. It is a catastrophic disaster for the people of Iraq.
Successive administrations keep the wars going. But war is not the answer to the complicated disasters now occurring in the middle east. ISIS is using our weapons it keeps stealing from the Iraqi army that we keep training and arming.
In addition to arming and fueling conflict in the middle east, the US is moving heavy tanks to border states with Russia and making threatening moves with regard to China (South China sea) in an ominous escalation and reviving of hostilities not seen since the end of the cold war.
Saudi Arabia uses weapons it purchases from the U.S. to commit massive atrocities from the air against the civilian population of Yemen.
Join United for Justice with Peace to protest these dangerous escalations. The rally will take place in Harvard Square and will begin at 5pm. After the rally we will join the 70 days 4 peace vigil at University Lutheran Church on Winthrop St. from 7:00-7:16pm.
| ||
|
United for
Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and
community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed
after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic
justice.
Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP
today.
| ||
| 617-383-4857 | www.justicewithpeace.org | |
Nuclear Weapons: Are They Legal?
Nuclear Weapons: Are They Legal?
When: Thursday, July 16, 2015, 6:30 pm to
8:30 pm
Where: Framingham Public Library • 49
Lexington Street • Framingham
by Prof. Elaine Scarry, Ph.
Harvard Prof. Elaine Scarry is the author of “Thermonuclear Monarchy”. She argues that the power of one leader to obliterate millions of people with a nuclear weapon deeply violates our constitutional rights, undermines the social contract, and is fundamentally at odds with democracy. After Dr. Scarry’s talk we will offer action steps you can take to move our elected representatives towards nuclear negotiations and nuclear abolition.
Harvard Prof. Elaine Scarry is the author of “Thermonuclear Monarchy”. She argues that the power of one leader to obliterate millions of people with a nuclear weapon deeply violates our constitutional rights, undermines the social contract, and is fundamentally at odds with democracy. After Dr. Scarry’s talk we will offer action steps you can take to move our elected representatives towards nuclear negotiations and nuclear abolition.
| ||
|
United for
Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and
community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed
after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic
justice.
Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP
today.
| ||
| 617-383-4857 | www.justicewithpeace.org | |
Upcoming Events:
| POSTPONED: Vietnam War: Reflections, Resistance and Implications | Mon Jun 29 | 7:00pm | encuentro 5 | Boston |  |
| Rally: Stop US bombing in Iraq/Syria and Bring Troops Home | Tue Jun 30 | 5:00pm | Harvard Square MBTA entrance | Cambridge |  |
| Nuclear Weapons: Are They Legal? | Thu Jul 16 | 6:30pm | Framingham Public Library | Framingham |  |
| 70 Years: Never Again | Thu Aug 6 | 1:00pm | Across Massachusetts |  | |
| Peace and Planet: Poetry and Performance | Sun Aug 9 | 6:00pm | Out of the Blue Gallery | Cambridge |
Once Again- All Honor To The Waldensian Heretics! (Or For Sticklers Followers Of Peter Waldo)- A Smidgen Of Justice Finally!
Once Again- All Honor To The Waldensian
Heretics! (Or For Sticklers Followers Of Peter Waldo)- A Smidgen Of Justice
Finally!
Sometimes in the cyberspace, the
blogosphere, hell, maybe in life you can’t win. Recently, very recently, I
posted a short mention in this space honoring the old time formerly heretical
grouping persecuted, no more than persecuted, almost exterminated by the Roman
Catholic Church, the Waldensians (alternatively Waldenese which is the way they
were presented in Western Civ class
and which I like better since Waldensian makes me think they might be followers
of Henry David Thoreau, a different kind of Protestant later or even better so
nobody can mistake them, followers of the pious 12th century ex-merchant
Peter Waldo although that Waldo part has problems too). To make some kind of
historical amends (although as far as I know no dough from the Vatican coffers)
the Roman Catholic Church’s leader, Pope Francis, had asked, maybe begged for
all I know since he did it in foreign language (not English anyway) and his
gestures may be subject to some differences of interpretation, the small scattered
Waldensese community of formerly heretical “premature” Protestants for
forgiveness. Particularly for the egregious acts a 15th century former
pope’s bull (that is what they call the thing when the pope orders something
done, or not done, I am not making it up or trying to be sarcastic so do not
sent comments on this please), get this Innocent VIII by name, telling every
true believer in the apostolic works of the Church to smite them down like
vermin. And they did.
Here is where I got into trouble or
rather in two types of trouble from a couple of separate commenters who got hot
under the collar about how they interpreted what I said as a some kind of
“smack down” of the Roman Church and/or its leader (the word one commenter
actually used as in “smacked down Pope Francis”). This from a person who said
she was a “lapsed Catholic” whatever that is, and as if that was some kind of
talisman for what she accused me of doing.
The reason for that negative comment
was that I had mentioned that this Roman Catholic Church, or rather its
bureaucracy, is a little slow on the uptake when it comes to trying to right
various crimes in its long and sometimes seedy past although I notice they zip
right along with this making saints out of whole cloth business especially of
former popes. Take Galileo and his simple proposition that the earth was not
flat and that the earth went around the sun like we all learned in about second
grade. It took another bull ( I think) a few years back to get the Church to
recognize that maybe Galileo was right or at least they should have treated him
better.
Now comes the case of the Waldenese,
a small grouping not doing anything to hurt mighty Rome back in the days from
about the 12th to the 16th century when they had plenty
to say in Europe and elsewhere about who was to believe in what doctrine or
face what kind of hell on earth at the stake for their misbegotten ways. Maybe Rome
was a little off from its glory “caesaro-papist” days but they could put serious
hurt on dissenters, no question. Now a few centuries later all is forgiven. At that
rate serious current “errors” like the dive the Vatican took on trying to save
the Jews during World War II or more recently the sexual ravaging of their innocent
youth by very disturbed and nasty priests should be “rectified” by some Pope
Innocent LXIII sometime after 2400. So, no, I did not “smack down” the current
pope but just stated what was what.
The more serious comment, or at
least I took it more seriously, was one of cultural relativism I suppose. The commenter
a “non-lapsed Catholic” from what I could gather blasted me (at least he did not
use the ‘smack down” term, mercifully) for putting today’s standard of religious
tolerance back to that time, a time when the Church was in danger from every
corner. You could not have a group, even an isolated group not bothering anybody
whom Rome saw as a threat doing whatever they pleased. This thought is what
galled the commenter most when I wrote “Get this too though Waldo and his gang
thought that everybody would be just as well off if there was not a clergy
separate from the congregation, that everybody could be a priest (maybe
women too?). And you wonder why Rome had the stakes piled up high and the
flames on big time.” He went off about the need for a clergy to mediate between
God and the congregation, that the mediation should be by a man since the original
followers (of Jesus) were men, and indiscriminate giving of alms and other such
communal actions were, well, “communistic.” So you can see where he was going.
Look I suggested that everybody who
was interested check with the very informative article in the on-line Wikipedia if you didn’t have time to go
to the library (or the expense of ordering a book on the subject from Amazon)
to brush up on exactly what these people were up to and why Rome’s nose got
bent out of shape about the matter. It is usually fruitless to argue religion
but a doctrine of giving alms to the poor, leading a simple life, having the religious
ceremony done in the vernacular, buying into the idea of the priesthood of all believers,
giving up of the ceremonial body and blood (bread and wine) idea (called transubstantiation,
I think) and forgetting about that Church raking in the dough money-maker
purgatory look very simple, look very pre-organized Church to me. So cultural
relativism or not that Catholic commenter seems to have missed out on the
Reformation, maybe more. I’ll stick with old Waldo on this one.
Here is the original post and you
decide whether I was being blasphemous, sacrilegious, or a heathen:
You have probably heard the news
lately that the Roman Catholic Church’s Pope Francis has asked the Waldenese
community of hearty and alive irreverent Protestants to accept the church’s
forgiveness for attempting to exterminate their forbears in the late 15th
century by order of the then pope, get this, Pope Innocent VIII (eight, right).
And they almost succeeded, with now a small remnant still living in small
enclaves in various spots around the world. By the way doing nobody harm just
like when they were started by a renegade merchant named, well, Waldo,
who thought that piety, poverty and doing good works were worthy
endeavors. Get this too though Waldo and his gang thought that everybody would
be just as well off if there was not a clergy separate from the congregation,
that everybody could be a priest (maybe women too?). And you wonder why Rome
had the stakes piled up high and the flames on big time. Well, I know everybody
studied this group in Western History class in passing, I know I did, as
precursors of the Protestant Reformation and martyrs to the cause of
enlightenment so I will just leave a link to Wikipedia on the subject
for you to look at-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldensians
Here is my problem though and
maybe not so much a reflection on the current pope as on the church bureaucracy
and inertia but isn’t several hundred years later for forgiveness and
reconciliation in the case of Galileo just a little too late to do those fallen
martyrs any good. What took so long? This may be a Tweeter Pope but you guys
have got to push harder to come into the 18th century, the age of
enlightenment. Okay.
Peter Waldo
Light glows in the darkness
As The 100th Anniversary Of The First
Year Of World War I (Remember The War To End All Wars) Continues ... Some
Remembrances-The Culturati’s Corner
In say 1912, 1913, hell, even the
beginning of 1914, the first few months anyway, before the war clouds got a
full head of steam in the summer they all profusely professed their unmitigated
horror at the thought of war, thought of the old way of doing business in the
world. Yes the artists of every school the
Cubist/Fauvists/Futurists/Constructivists, Surrealists or those who would come
to speak for those movements (hell even the hide-bound Academy filled with its
rules, or be damned, spoke the pious words of peace, brotherhood and the
affinity of all humankind when there was sunny weather), those who saw the
disjointedness of modern industrial society in its squalor, it creation of
generations of short, nasty, brutish lives just like the philosophers predicted
and put the pieces to paint, sculptors who put twisted pieces of metal
juxtaposed to each other saw that building a mighty machine from which you had
to run created many problems; writers of serious history books proving that,
according to their Whiggish theory of progress,
humankind had moved beyond war as an instrument of policy and the
diplomats and high and mighty would put the brakes on in time, not realizing
that they were all squabbling cousins; writers of serious and not so serious
novels drenched in platitudes and hidden gazebo love affairs put paid to that
notion in their sweet nothing words that man and woman had too much to do, too
much sex to harness to denigrate themselves by crying the warrior’s cry and by
having half-virgin, neat trick, maidens strewing flowers on the bloodlust
streets; musicians whose muse spoke of delicate tempos and sweet muted violin
concertos, not the stress and strife of the tattoos of war marches with their
tinny conceits; and poets, ah, those constricted poets who bleed the moon of
its amber swearing, swearing on a stack of seven sealed bibles, that they would
go to the hells before touching the hair of another man, putting another man to
ground or laying their own heads down for some imperial mission.
They all professed loudly (and those
few who did not profess, could not profess because they were happily getting
their blood rising, kept their own consul until the summer), that come the war
drums they would resist the siren call, would stick to their Whiggish, Futurist,
Constructionist, Cubist worlds and blast the war-makers to hell in quotes,
words, chords, clanged metal, and pretty pastels. They would stay the
course.
And then the war drums intensified, the
people, their clients, patrons and buyers, cried out their lusts and they, they
made of ordinary human clay as it turned out, poets, beautiful poets like
Wilfred Owens who would sicken of war before he passed leaving a beautiful
damnation on war, its psychoses, and broken bones and dreams, and the idiots
who brought humankind to such a fate, like e. e. cummings who drove through
sheer hell in those rickety ambulances floors sprayed with blood, man blood,
angers, anguishes and more sets of broken bones, and broken dreams, like Rupert
Brooke all manly and old school give and go, as they marched in formation
leaving the ports and then mowed down like freshly mown grass in their
thousands as the charge call came and they rested, a lot of them, in those
freshly mown grasses, like Robert Graves all grave all sputtering in his words
confused about what had happened, suppressing, always suppressing that instinct
to cry out against the hatred night, like old school, old Thomas Hardy writing
beautiful old English pastoral sentiments before the war and then full-blown
into imperium’s service, no questions asked old England right or wrong, like
old stuffed shirt himself T.S. Eliot speaking of hollow loves, hollow men,
wastelands, and such in the high club rooms on the home front, and like old
brother Yeats speaking of terrible beauties born in the colonies and maybe at
the home front too as long as Eliot does not miss his high tea. Jesus what a
blasted night that Great War time was.
And as the war drums intensified, the
people, their clients, patrons and buyers, cried out their lusts and they, they
made of ordinary human clay as it turned out, artists, beautiful artists like
Fernand Leger who could no longer push the envelope of representative art
because it had been twisted by the rubble of war, by the crashing big guns, by
the hubris of commanders and commanded and he turned to new form, tubes, cubes,
prisms, anything but battered humankind in its every rusts and lusts, all
bright and intersecting once he got the mustard gas out of his system, once he
had done his patria duty, like speaking of mustard gas old worn out John Singer
Sargent of the three name WASPs forgetting Boston Brahmin society ladies in
decollage, forgetting ancient world religious murals hanging atop Boston museum
and spewing trench warfare and the blind leading the blind out of no man’s
land, out of the devil’s claws, like Umberto Boccioni, all swirls, curves,
dashes, and dangling guns as the endless charges endlessly charge, like Gustav
Klimt and his endlessly detailed gold dust opulent Asiatic dreams filled with
lovely matrons and high symbolism and blessed Eve women to fill the night,
Adam’s night after they fled the garden, like Joan Miro and his infernal boxes,
circles, spats, eyes, dibs, dabs, vaginas, and blots forever suspended in deep
space for a candid world to fret through, fret through a long career, and like
poor maddened rising like a phoenix in the Spartacist uprising George Grosz
puncturing the nasty bourgeoisie, the big bourgeoisie the ones with the real
dough and their overfed dreams stuffed with sausage, and from the bloated
military and their fat-assed generals stuff with howitzers and rocket shells,
like Picasso, yeah, Picasso taking the shape out of recognized human existence
and reconfiguring the forms, the mesh of form to fit the new hard order, like,
Braque, if only because if you put the yolk on Picasso you have to tie him to
the tether too.
And do not forget when the war drums
intensified, and the people, their clients, patrons and buyers, cried out their
lusts and they, they, other creative souls made of ordinary human clay as it
turned out sculptors, writers, serious and not, musicians went to the trenches
to die deathless deaths in their thousands for, well, for humankind, of course,
their always fate ….
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