"Peace & Good Will" Not Lie & Deny, Jan. 14, 2022 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet
Jim Albertini
"Peace on Earth, Good Will to All"
"Be The Peace You Wish To
See In The World!"
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We have just finished celebrating the Holy season of “Peace on Earth –Good Will to All” but in many ways you would never know it. The War Drums seem to be beating louder than ever – both at home & abroad! Instead of Peace and Good Will, it seems more a season of “Lie & Deny!”
Last week in the US marked the anniversary of the January 6th insurrection at the US Capital to declare Donald Trump as US president rather than Joe Biden. The lines of division are drawn. Hate too often fills the air.
We seem to be living in an increasingly polarized world. We need more good will to bring peace to our communities and world. Sadly, the only thing that seems to unite Americans in a bi-partisan way – Democrats and Republicans is the US war budget. But instead of projecting good will, it projects imperial power and US global domination. The bloated US war budget reflects how out of balance Americans really are with themselves and the rest of the world. So many human needs go unmet.
The United States spends more on its military than the next 11 top nations combined. The US war budget this year is tens of Billions larger than last year although the US war in Afghanistan has finally ended – the longest war in US history. Compared with China ($250 Billion) the US military budget (at $768 Billion) is more than three times bigger. The US spends over 12 times more than Russia ($60 Billion) on its military. The US has 750 military bases in 80 countries around the world. How many foreign bases do Russia and China have?
When the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s, the US repeatedly promised Russia that the US and NATO would not move eastward toward Russia. The US and NATO broke its promise, time, and time again. Lie and deny! NATO kept moving closer to Russia. Now tensions are rising fast with Russia and China, both nuclear powers. The tension with Russia is over Ukraine possibly joining NATO. Ukraine is on Russia’s border. Sign the peace petition here https://www.codepink.org/ukraine_nato?utm_campaign=ukraine_nato_us&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink
More than 50 years ago Martin Luther King said “The US is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” That statement remains true today. “Peace and Good Will” diplomacy is needed now more than ever if the world is to survive in this time of a global pandemic, increasing climate crisis, and the hair-trigger possibility of global nuclear war. We all need to do our part now. Later is too late. Here is Hawaii, let’s start by ending the long illegal US occupation of Hawaii after the US led coup of Jan. 17, 1893. It’s way past time for the independent nation of Hawaii to be restored. And the US should pay reparations for damage done.
Aloha Not Hate! Aloha Not War! Aloha & Nonviolence always!
1. Mourn all victims of
violence. 2. Reject violence & war as solutions. 3.
Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic,
anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, anti-Black, anti-Asian, etc.
5. Seek peace through
peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and
around the world.
Malu ‘Aina Center for
Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a
(Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760
Phone (808) 966-7622 Email j...@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information www.malu-aina.org
Jan. 14, 2022 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1059– Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office
-- Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email j...@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org