Monday, June 25, 2018

VFPeNews: Korea, Muslim Ban, Poor People's Campaign Veterans For Peace

Veterans For Peace<vfp@veteransforpeace.org>
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VFP Welcomes the Joint Statement from the US-DPRK Summit

As a peace organization of mostly U.S. veterans that have advocated for an official end to the Korean War for a long time, we are very pleased to see the positive developments for peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula this year. We are proud of the fact that, from last November, we have worked very hard, along with other U.S. peace groups, in drafting and promoting the People's Peace Treaty with North Korea, which is an open declaration of concerned American people for peace with the North Korean people. It is quite encouraging to see more than 30,000 American people have signed this online treaty so far. This clearly shows that not only Korean people but also American people want to end the Korean War now with a peace treaty.
While we pause to celebrate the Joint Statement from the Singapore summit, we know we have much more work to do in the coming months and years. We will keep our eyes on the prize, remain vigilant, and rise above partisan politics. We also urge our members and American people to call upon our government officials to take the next bold step to negotiate and sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War—the longest U.S. war—officially, as we observe the 65th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement this July.

Open Letter to Amnesty International by a Former Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience

Camilo E. Mejia, a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience (June 2004), on account of his refusal to return to the Iraq war on conscientious objection grounds, wrote an open letter to Amnesty International in condemnation of the destabilizing role they have played in Nicaragua.

Poor People's Campaign: #40DaysofAction

This week many members of VFP will head to D.C. for the final week of actions of the 40 Days of Action with the Poor People's Campaign!
VFP Flyers for Poor People's Actions
Also are you planning on traveling to D.C. for the June 23rd mobilization?  We want to hear from you!  Please fill out this form.
ICYMI: Check out our Video of VFP Chapters participating across the country!

VFP President Gerry Condon Speaks at Poor People’s Campaign action

Veterans For Peace Board President, Gerry Condon’s spoke at the Poor People’s Campaign actionat the California State Capitol, Sacramento, June 18, 2018.
The PPC "served" the Assembly with our demands (for redress).  During the reading of the demands, the chair called for a recess.  The Assembly filed out and security started clearing the gallery.  Those who were "moral witnesses" stayed and were detained, Gerry Condon among them.
"Poor and working class people are pushed into the military by the lack of decent civilian jobs, the lack of access to higher education and job training. So it is the poor in this country who are forced to fight and die for the 1%, the billionaire class who profit from war and global exploitation. 
Too many of our hard-earned tax dollars are going to war and weapons of mass destruction. Instead of pursuing global nuclear disarmament, the U.S. is building a new generation of nuclear bombs."

Executive Director Michael McPhearson Testifies about Right to Boycott

VFP Executive Director Michael McPhearson testified at the Presbyterian Church General Assembly in St. Louis.  The Presbyterian GA are heard resolutions on Palestinian rights, affirming our right to boycott, calling for churches to recognize Israel as a colonial apartheid state, and more.
"My name is Michael McPhearson. I am a veteran and anti-war activist, and I urge you to vote in favor of this overture to help protect our right to boycott for Palestinian rights.
Americans have effectively used boycotts as a nonviolent tactic for change from the American Revolution to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Boycotts are constitutionally-protected free speech, as well as a basic right to decide how to spend your own money. Those rights are being threatened in an attempt to make an exception for Israel."

VFP Seattle: "Abolish Nuclear Weapons"

Veterans For Peace joined activists from Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action as they kicked off their campaign against nuclear weapons by holding banners during the morning rush hour.
The two banners read “ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS” and “RESIST TRIDENT—NO NEW NUKES.”

¡Presente!: Enrique Salas

The Baja Chapter's Communications Director USN Deported Veteran Alex Murill writes in memory of fellow veteran, Enrique Salas and other fallen deported veterans.
"At the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, a ceremony was held by Unified U.S. Deported Veterans and Veterans for Peace in Playas de Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. This service was to honor the life of Cpl. Enrique Salas USMC and also to remember the other deported veterans that have died in exile awaiting to return home to the U.S."

Request Peace is Patriotic Tabling Materials

July is coming soon and as we are all aware, public attention during this month is focused Patriotism and Freedom with an undeniable “Support our Troops” message. While we may not agree with the theme, this month brings an opportunity for us to educate our neighbors on exactly how “Peace is Patriotic.”
With many public gatherings, parades, and community events, this month also brings an opportunity to educate and participate / table at local events.
Please fill out this form to request tabling materials.

Hungering for Nuclear Disarmament - Kathy Kelly

"During vigils at the Naval Base, in front of the detention center and at the District Court House, we hold banners, one of which says “Disarm Trident, Love One Another. Steve Baggarly, one of the fasters, carries copies of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, negotiated in July 2017, by 122 nations. 
“Most of the world is tired of being held hostage by omnicidal weapons and wants nuclear disarmament,” said Steve. “The U.S. and the 8 other nuclear powers who boycotted the Treaty negotiations are the outliers.” Baggarly added that, “Our true national security lies in achieving the long overdue objective of nuclear disarmament.”
Read the whole article and click here for the latest legal updates!
In This Issue:

VFP Convention: August 22-26th

Veterans For Peace is looking forward to seeing YOU at our 33rd Annual convention, August 22-26th in St. Paul, Minnesota.
If you need convincing, check out this great video!
Our registration is now open and we have a lot of other deadlines and information available on our website, but scroll down for direct links and more information!
Registration
Registration is Now Open for the 33rd Annual Convention.  
Housing
Veterans For Peace has a special group rate at the Intercontinental St. Paul Riverfront.  Click here for more details and for housing information.
Workshops
The deadline for workshop proposals is past.  We will update you soon on the list of workshops!
Awards
Nominate an individual for one of five awards offered by VFP National.  Visit the Awards tab for award descriptions.  Deadline to submit is June 30th
Have a chapter who is deserving of the VFP Chapter of the Year Award? Submit this form to nominate a deserving chapter.   Deadline to submit is June 30th
Tabling
Submit this form, if you're interested in tabling at the 2018 convention.  Deadline to submit is June 30th
​Poetry
Calling all poet laureate​s​!  Submit this form to read poetry the evening of Wednesday, August 22nd.  Deadline to submit is Ju​ly 5th
Program Ads
Place your ad in the program book. Click here to learn more about placing and ad in the 2018 convention program book.  ​Deadline for ad submissions is July 20th
Resolution and Bylaws
Resolution proposals are now being accepted.  Read the protocols for submitting a resolution here.  Deadline to submit is July 22nd.

All Current Members, this includes Associate Members, shall be entitled to speak to resolutions presented before the Annual Convention. All Current Members, this includes Associate Members , shall be entitled to one vote on resolutions.

Proposals can be emailed to the Resolutions Committee Chair, Bob Krzewinski, at wolverbob@gmail.com or mailed to 706 Dwight Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48198. Emailing resolutions is the preferred way of submitting resolutions. Resolutions submitted by mail must include a telephone number of the resolution maker.

We will start accepting bylaw amendments next week.  Deadline to submit is July 22nd

All Current Veteran Members are allowed to submit and vote on bylaw amendments.

Please also check out the Convention FAQ for other inquries!

SCOTUS Decision on Muslim Ban Expected Soon

As another decision day has passed with no announcement – tomorrow (Friday 6/22) has been added as a potential decision day. The Supreme Court will decide whether the latest iteration of the #MuslimBan -- which permanently bans nationals from 6 Muslim-majority countries -- violates federal law because it's an overreach of a president's authority and our constitution and discriminates against a particular religious group.
Check out this FAQ to see what we can expect from a decision.
Here is how you can take action today:
  • Speak out on social media – Use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to say #NoMuslimBanEver and #WeWillNotBeBanned. Use our hashtag #VetsSpeakOut to make your veteran (or ally) voice heard and be a part of this very critical conversation.
  • If you are in D.C. – Attend an action outside the Supreme Court at 12pm ET on decision day (click that you’re “Going” or “Interested” on the Facebook event page) and sign up for a text alert.
  • Find an event near you –  #StandWithMuslims as allies in support of all those who are impacted by the Trump administration’s xenophobic, Islamophobic, and white nationalist agenda.
  • Stay updated by following us on Facebook  and Twitter
Let your voice be heard. Stand up for the values of tolerance, respect, and love for all people and all faiths.

Calling All Artists!

Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 would like to invite convention registrants to display 2D or 3D art during the convention.  Seeking artistic creations embracing the theme:   IMAGINE A WORLD WITHOUT WAR!
We live in challenging times; it is easy to focus on the negative.  Some metaphysical theorists argue that thoughts precede action; we must be able to visualize and sense something in our mind and body before it can manifest physically.  The first step in creating a new reality is imagining it.  
Installed in the registration/main gathering area, using color, texture, abstract or figurative art, our art exhibit strives to imbue the convention with beauty, light, positive thought and optimism. Something we can strive FOR vs. fight against.
Questions  email Mary McNellis at vfpsoaw@yahoo.com    Subject line:  Art Exhibit

VFP Member Mike Madden Found Not Guilty

"At first glance, this gross-misdemeanor trial, which involved a year and a half of delays, numerous court filings and tens of thousands of dollars in prosecutorial, defense, judicial and staff costs, should have never gone to trial. On second glance, it may just have been as important a case on principle as any argued or tried last week in the Twin Cities."
“You know, the way First Amendment rights have been eroding, this jury at least believes that the government has been too restrictive with speech,” he added. The state “did not prove that I refused to leave. I believe that they (the jury) felt that my First Amendment rights outweighed the order to leave.”

Last Call for Chapter Reports

Please submit Chapter Reports as soon as possible!
Please keep to a 200-word limit and submit high resolution photos. Any chapters involved with the Poor People's Campaign in a significant way may either highlight that in their chapter report, or submit an additional 100 words focusing just on that, as we plan to feature the campaign in this upcoming issue.
Please email Chapter Reports:editor@veteransforpeace.org
June 24-July 1 - Action Week Against Air Base Ramstein, Germany
July 9-10 - NO to NATO Counter Summit, Brussels, Belgium
July 10-18 - International Action Camp Against Nuclear Weapons in Germany, Buchel, Germany
Aug 23-26 - 2018 VFP National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota
Sept 19-21 - 2nd Annual Conference in Havana, Cuba on "Realities and Challenges of Being a Zone of Peace in Latin America and the Caribbean"
Nov 11 - Armistice Day

Veterans For Peace, 1404 N. Broadway, St. Louis, MO 63102

Veterans For Peace appreciates your tax-exempt donations.
We also encourage you to join our ranks.


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June 23 -We're on the National Mall right now! The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival<info@poorpeoplescampaign.org>
To   
Alfred,
As you read this, thousands of us from California to the Carolinas are gathered on the National Mall, preparing to march on the U.S. Capitol to deliver letters to Congress demanding an immediate end to the policy violence that hurts poor children and families of every color and creed.
We are faith leaders of numerous religious affiliations, advocates and poor and disenfranchised people who are directly affected by the policies being pushed by the Trump administration and Congress.
We are the “new and unsettling force” that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King called for in starting the Poor People’s Campaign along with so many others 50 years ago.
And people are watching us.
This campaign isn’t just on the ground. Even from home, you can take part in the event by amplifying it on Facebook and Twitter.
Click the graphic below to share a Facebook post linking to our livestream. And get the word out on Twitter with the hashtag #poorpeoplescampaign.
This is the moment we’ve been building toward, the start of a new phase in our movement to organize and build power to end policy violence against the poor once and for all. Don’t miss your chance to be part of it.
Sincerely,
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
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SIGN: Stephen Miller must be fired for separating children from families

Matt Hildreth<moveon-help@list.moveon.org>
To  A  
Children do not belong in cages, nor should they be separated from their families. Senior White House Policy Advisor Stephen Miller should be fired immediately for creating the inhumane and blatantly racist policy to take away children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Dear MoveOn member,
Senior White House official Stephen Miller is the engineer of the "zero tolerance" policy that's tearing families apart. He should be fired immediately.1
Although public pressure has forced Trump to modify the policy for now, families—including children—can be indefinitely detained in what are essentially prisons. There are also no guarantees that the families torn apart will ever be reunited.2
Stephen Miller's policies are so objectionable that a Republican member of Congress said, "the president should fire Stephen Miller now. This is a human rights mess. It is on the president to clean it up and fire the people responsible for making it."3
Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal separately said of Miller, "I don’t think that most Americans understand that a 33-year-old individual with connections to white supremacists is actually crafting policies that are going to literally destroy our country and what we stand for."4
Recently, The New York Times reported that "Mr. Miller was instrumental in Mr. Trump's decision to ratchet up the zero tolerance policy."5 Last year, The Guardian reported Stephen Miller was also the policy architect behind the Muslim travel ban.6 The New Yorker reported that he was responsible for ending temporary protected status for Haitian, Salvadoran, and Honduran immigrants already living in the U.S.7
Miller's policies look like a page out of the white nationalist playbook—and that's because Miller has long identified with members of that movement. He even helped white nationalist Richard Spencer raise money for an immigration debate at Duke University.8

Stephen Miller's white nationalist policies have no place in America—let alone the White House. Children don't belong in cages, and families belong together.
Thank you!
–Matt Hildreth, America's Voice
Sources:
1. "The Outrage Over Family Separation Is Exactly What Stephen Miller Wants," The Atlantic, June 19, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/41796?t=18&akid=210001%2E38417624%2EkxNrSz
2. "Trump's order could mean families will be together in detention purgatory indefinitely. But where will they stay?" NBC News, June 21, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/42134?t=20&akid=210001%2E38417624%2EkxNrSz
3. "White House aide Miller targeted in backlash over family separations," Politico, June 21, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/42135?t=22&akid=210001%2E38417624%2EkxNrSz
4. Ibid.
5. "How Trump Came to Enforce a Practice of Separating Migrant Families," The New York Times, June 16, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/41797?t=24&akid=210001%2E38417624%2EkxNrSz
6. "Meet Stephen Miller, architect of first travel ban, whose words may haunt him," The Guardian, March 15, 2017
https://act.moveon.org/go/41798?t=26&akid=210001%2E38417624%2EkxNrSz
7. "The Battle Inside the Trump Administration Over T.P.S.," The New Yorker, May 11, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/41799?t=28&akid=210001%2E38417624%2EkxNrSz
8. "Stephen Miller’s brash path from Duke campus to Trump White House," The Raleigh News & Observer, August 2, 2017
http://act.moveon.org/go/41800?t=30&akid=210001%2E38417624%2EkxNrSz
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“Although we are very diverse, we all treat each other with respect… and because of this, our crew is a great place to work.” Coalition of Immokalee Workers


Coalition of Immokalee Workers<workers@ciw-online.org>

Dear friends,

To say that these are troubling times is an acute understatement. It seems that every day we slide further down the slope toward a deeply dysfunctional new world, one in which the political norms and social advances once considered irreversible are dismantled, one by one, before our very eyes.

But troubling times often bring out the best in people of good conscience and good will.  Even as our civil and human rights are endangered on a national level, action taken by individuals and communities are fortifying and expanding those same rights on a local level. In the face of painful day-to-day degradations to our society, many of us ask ourselves: What can I do? How can I help stem the tide?

Becoming a Fair Food Sustainer is something you can do right now to defend and protect the rights of some of the most vulnerable people in our country today, the very communities who find themselves most under attack across the nation. 

Far too often – and for far too long – those who belong to communities marginalized by society face an uphill battle at work. And yet, when they report any abuse, those workers (across many industries) find they have nowhere to turn and no access to justice, which has long been locked away from them by powerful cultural and legal barriers with centuries-deep roots.

It is certainly important to reject the dehumanization of women, people of color, immigrants, indigenous activists, members of the LGBTQ community, or anyone else. But it is not enough. We must actively build the world we want to see – one rooted in mutual respect and equal rights for everyone, regardless of who you are, where you came from, or whom you love.

The Fair Food Program is one of the few movements that is not only defending its progress over the past decade, but is continuing to gain ground: this very summer, we are ready to extend the Program’s protections from the East Coast into Texas. Against all odds, the Fair Food Program’s powerful set of tools is reshaping the landscape of American agriculture. With each resolved complaint, each in-depth audit, each interactive education session on the farm, what was once a grossly uneven and dangerous terrain is being transformed.

In 2016, one Haitian farmworker reported a field supervisor who he believed was discriminating against Haitians. After the Fair Food Standards Council worked with the grower’s staff to resolve the complaint, the worker expressed his relief:

"Thank you for helping get this enormous weight off my chest. I feel like a tractor-trailer has been lifted off me. The work is difficult, but it is fine when we all get along. I was tired of going to work thinking 'what is going to happen today’?"

Similarly, one transgender worker spoke at length about the respect that she and others on her crew receive:

“Although we are very diverse, we all treat each other with respect... and because of this, our crew is a great place to work."

That these words are used to describe work in U.S. agriculture today – an industry rooted centuries ago in the myth of white supremacy, an industry where today modern-day slavery and sexual assault still haunt the fields – is nothing short of astounding. It also speaks volumes about the power and potential of the Program, and consumers like you, without whom it would not succeed.

By growing the Fair Food Program, we can begin to build the future we believe in, and resist the pressure to slide backwards into the world of first- and second-class citizenship we have worked so hard to leave behind. Protections for basic civil and human rights are needed now more than ever – and we have a proven model to provide that protection to some of this country's poorest workers through the Fair Food Program. 


But it cannot grow without your help as a Fair Food Sustainer. Sign up today!
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
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Coalition of Immokalee Workers | 110 S 2nd St, Immokalee, FL 34142
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