VFPeNews: Korea Unity Statement, Poor People's Campaign and Convention!
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Poor People's Campaign: #40DaysofAction
The week of June 10th is the fifth week of The Poor People’s Campaign. It’s theme is Everybody Has a Right to Live focusing on Education, Income & Housing.
Did you know that while the U.S. economy has grown 18-fold in the past 50 years, wealth inequality has expanded, the costs of living have increased, and social programs have been restructured and cut dramatically?
We challenge the idea that our economy rewards hard-working individuals and, therefore, if only the millions of people in poverty acted better, worked harder, complained less and prayed more, they would be lifted up and out of their miserable conditions.
An Alternative is Possible: Redistributing funds towards programs of social uplift can shift our society from a War Economy!
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!
Korean Americans Call for Genuine Peace Ahead of Kim-Trump Summit
Ahead of the much-anticipated U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled to take place on June 12, Korean Americans are speaking out for an end to “seven decades of hostile relations” between the two countries and a “new era of peace.”
Joined by civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. and renowned social critic Noam Chomsky, 153 organizations across the United States and around the world released a joint statement today calling for a formal end to the Korean War and replacing the 1953 armistice with a permanent peace treaty to move towards establishing normal relations between the two countries.
Read the historic stratement.
VFP Banner at the PDX VA
VFP Board Member Dan Shea writes about his recent efforts to #SaveOurVA
"Bob Projansky of VFP 72 and yours truly decided to take our banner to Save the VA up to the Portland VA Hospital.
We first held the banner in the parking lot near entrance to Hospital but the auto fumes were getting to us.
We decide to try and commandeer tables in the VA lobby and hand out some flyers."
Last Chance for Convention Workshop Proposals! One of the most important activities during the Veterans For Peace Annual Conventions are the workshops. Most of them are organized and led by Veteran For Peace members. We greatly appreciate the time and effort you put into creating your workshop.
Please remember that there is limited space for workshops and many applicants. As a result, not all workshops will be selected.
Workshops that follow the theme of the convention – Reclaim Armistice Day, 1918-2018: End All Wars, and or address these issues :
Ann Wright & Medea Benjamin List Opportunities for Peace
VFP Advisory Board members Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright recently traveled to South Korea as part of an international women’s peace delegation, #WomenPeaceKorea. Upon they return they wrote this piece that details the many paths the U.S. could take to show its commitment to peace.
Resource Available!
A note from David Soumis!
"Lars Prip and myself still have the drone we obtained from Nick Mottern sometime way back. We are not using it now, and felt it would be great if another chapter or individual would like to have it to use in educational outreach, protests, etc.
Just have contact Lars or myself.
Thank you very much
David Soumis McFarland WI davidso1@charter.net, ljp816@gmail.com ¡Presente!: Jay Wenk
Veterans For Peace member, Jay Wenk, recently passed away. Jay was an amazing person who left us with his truth, his activism and his message that War is a bloody and deadly business. Read one of his recent poems, "I'm gonna tell you"
An article detailing his long life committed to justice was published in Woodstock's local paper, you can read it here. Doug Rawlings also wrote a poem in honor of Jay that you can read here.
Also his family is hosting a "Celebrating The Life And Work of Jay Wenk (Potluck and Party)" and invites VFP members who knew him to attend.
Chapter 10 is Hosting a Peace Writers Contest
 Veterans For Peace, Chapter 10and the Kateri Tekakwitha Interfaith Peace Conference are sponsoring a writing contest to help celebrate the 20th Kateri Tekakwitha Peace Conference.
The purpose of our contest is to encourage everyone to find their voice for peace and to end war and war preparations. The imperative for this is the ‘fierce urgency of now”and the literal survival of humanity. What we would like to see are letters (250 words or less) and op-eds (500 to 700 words) which illustrate the connections between poverty, racism, climate change and militarism. We also encourage connections to the Poor People’s Campaign
Nashville Veterans For Peace Radio Hour
In this two part show we discuss the definition and characteristics of moral injury a mental challenge faced by many if not all Veterans to some extent. Then we remember Robert (Bobby) Kennedy through his own words from a speech he gave in 1966 when he was a Senator but long before he considered the presidency.
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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
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
Deadline approaching for workshop proposals: June 6.
Visit the workshop tab for more information
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 laureates! Submit this form to read poetry the evening of Wednesday, August 22nd. Deadline to submit is July 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!
Don't Forget to Sign Up for Advocacy Days!
 Please plan to join in DC for Korea Peace Network Advocacy Days, June 11 - 12. Monday, June 11 will be an in-person strategy session and legislative briefing/training at the United Methodist Building, 100 Maryland Ave, NE, across the street from the Capitol and Supreme Court. The next day(s) are for meetings with congressional and administrative officials to press for peace and diplomacy.Here is the registration page (and please forward to other interested peace-mongers)
VFP Member Speaks Out Against Hate
 For the past two months, a campaign orchestrated by national anti-immigrant hate group the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and its legal arm the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has mobilized a small but vocal group of activists hell-bent on pushing city council members in Orange County, and other parts of southern California, to take a stance against the state’s sanctuary policies.
The law, already in place, called the California Values Act specifically addresses Law Enforcement’s role in engaging with ICE.
Veterans For Peace member, and also a member of Native American Veterans Association, testified that "my ancestors who were living on this continent for thousands of years had an immigration policy in place that none of it's current residents, the Puritan Anglo-Saxon invaders would be here".
The Peace Report: Israel in Alaska
"Israel will be testing their Arrow 3 weapons system from the island of Kodiak, just off the coast of Alaska. 62 shipping containers that have been renovated into sleeping quarters for the Israeli troops and have already been shipped to the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska, where the missile tests will take place. Yet, we’ve heard nothing on mainstream media about foreign troops coming to train on American soil."
Full Disclosure Project Launches Ad Campaign
 In the face of the attempted whitewashing of that war by the Pentagon, the Full Disclosure Campaign of Veterans For Peace is attempting to dissuade Hollywood from awarding the Burns/Novick an Emmy. Veterans For Peace were not silent about speaking out about the Koch Brothers and Bank of America-funded
The Vietnam War documentary series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Now with Burns and Novick’s misleading and less-than-honest documentary coming up for an Emmy, once more we are compelled to speak out.
The Full Disclosure team is raising funds to put THIS FULL PAGE ad in Variety magazine.
"The most sophisticated and heavily armed warring party in Afghanistan is the U.S. military. Despite spending hundreds of billions of dollars on non-military aid to Afghanistan, the United States has done little to improve Afghanistan’s infrastructure or alleviate its alarming water crisis. President Donald Trump’s interest in what’s happening under the ground in Afghanistan is focused exclusively on the U.S. capacity to extract Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, estimated to be worth trillions of dollars.
Ordinary Afghans could be forgiven for feeling paralyzed and defeated by controlling elites who ignore their most basic human needs. Yet every day, Afghan communities reject continued war and call for peace."
Read the Entire Article
June 11-12 - Korea Peace Network Advocacy Days in Washington D.C. Register Here
June 22-24 - Global Network Against Weapons in Space, Oxford, UK
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
Nov 16-18 - 2018 SOA Watch Encuentro
Nov 27-29 - International Youth Conference: Reaching High for a Nuclear Weapon Free World, Prague, Czech Republic
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