KC Iraq Task Force Update - June 26, 2008
Ira Harritt
"You are the people who are shaping a better world.
One of the secrets of inner
peace is the practice of compassion."
-- Dalai Lama
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Peacemakers,
Mike Murphy, co-chair of the KC Iraq Task Force, and I were talking on the phone today about bringing the Cost of War banners and other materials to the Fringe Festival. He commented that most of the people at the Festival probably already believe that we need to end the Iraq war. We agreed that our purpose for being at the Fringe Festival would not be to convince anyone about the need to leave Iraq but rather to motivate them to action. And perhaps ask them “What have you done for peace lately?”
We encourage you to be able to respond positively to this question and to participate in one or more of the activities listed below. We will be using the Cost of War banners, “What’s the Best Way to Support the Troops?”, “Your Tax Dollars for Sale” Street Theater and other peacemaking tools to engage and motivate people to take action. We need your help to end the Iraq war, prevent the Bush administration from attaching Iran and to change the direction of our foreign policy!
It is also distressing that the administration is so skilled at spinning pro-war propaganda and that the news media is so willing to report as fact all things the administration reports. In a front page KC Star article (June 23, 2008) http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/675501.html the author reported on “significant political, economic and security progress in Iraq.” It also noted that there was instability and dangers, leading the reader to conclude that we are progressing toward “victory” but not so much that we can leave anytime soon. The problem is that while there has been some decrease in violence, mostly for reasons not related to the surge, the essential political, reconstruction and economic progress has been insignificant. Further continuing to occupy Iraq will not help accomplish these necessary issues which are key to real progress.
In response we are beginning planning for a “What’s Success in Iraq?” or “Mission Accomplished?”game. We invite your ideas as to what the shifting goals for our presence in Iraq have been: Build an Inclusive Democratic State; Defeat the Terrorists; Iraq being able to sustain and defend itself; reduction in violence; $20 a barrel oil…!/? If the administration keeps changing the goal its hard to say the goal has not been reached. We plan to make a carnival type game in which participants can throw a Velcro ball at any one of a half dozen moving “Iraq War goals.” Email us your ideas.
Also note the description and link below to new report, “Where to from here? An Assessment of Antiwar Organizing and Activism,” a listening project conducted by the War Resisters League. It provides much food for thought about how we can build a real movement for peace. Join at the next KC Iraq Task Force Monthly meeting on Monday, July 28, 6:30pm at the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO. (Call 816 931-5256 for directions.)
And finally I encourage you to attend the benefit showing of the “Body of War.” The film will be screened at the Screenland Theater, 1656 Washington, KCMO on Monday, June 30 at 7 pm; Tuesday July 1 at 7 pm and Wednesday July 2 at 2 pm. See below for more information.
Thanks for all of your efforts for peace and justice,
Ira Harritt
KC AFSC
Upcoming vigils and demonstrations at which we need your help:
Email me at ihar...@afsc.org if you can help at one or more of these events!
|
Date / Time |
Event |
Location |
Activity |
Volunteer to: |
|
July 4, Friday, 10-2:00pm |
Patriots’ Picnic |
8336 Sagamore, Leawood, KS |
“Your Tax Dollars for Sale” Street Theater |
Perform in Street Theater scene |
|
July 11, Friday, 6:00pm- |
Cross Roads Art Walk –delayed 1st Friday |
Cross Roads Art district – Exact location to be announced |
Leafleting and “Your Tax Dollars for Sale” Street Theater |
Perform in Street Theater scene |
|
July 24, Thursday, 25, Friday & Saturday, 26, 6-11pm |
KC Fringe Festival |
Cross Roads or River Market location to be announced |
Cost of War banners, “What’s the Best Way to Support the Troops?” + |
Hold banners, leaflet, collect petition signatures, etc. |
|
August 24, Sunday, 6:00-7:30pm |
Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band Concert |
Sprint Center 13 and Grand, KCMO |
Cost of War banners, “What’s the Best Way to Support the Troops?” + |
Hold banners, leaflet, collect petition signatures, etc. |
|
August 28, Thursday 6:30 to 8:00pm |
Bob Dylan Concert |
Uptown Theater3700 Broadway |
Cost of War banners, “What’s the Best Way to Support the Troops?” + |
Hold banners, leaflet, collect petition signatures, etc. |
Volunteer to help with one of the following projects.
You can help bring an end to the Iraq war and create a better world.
Contact us at ihar...@afsc.org or call 816 931-5256
ÿ Help educate the public. Sign up to be on call to leaflet, table, hold Cost of War banners or vigil at community events (concerts, festivals, markets). We will contact you when we plan an action. Your signing up will make it easier to turn out enough volunteers to hold a successful action.
ÿ Sign up to be on call to participate in performances of the “Your Tax Dollars for Sale Street Theater.” – Roles do not require great acting skills – enthusiasm helps We will contact you when we plan an action. Signing up will make it easier to turn out enough volunteers to hold a successful action.
ÿ Volunteer to help research war profiteers in the KC metro. We want to identify a corporation profiting from the war and hold demonstrations to draw the public’s attention to the forces which fuel the war machine. –Would require internet searching.
ÿ Volunteer to be a listener in a project to meet with civic, business and other community leaders to discuss with them how the war and war spending impacts their areas of interest. We want to motivate community leaders to recognize the disastrous impact of the war on our community and to speak out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Upcoming Peace and Justice Activities
Click on link or scroll down for more information about the peace and justice activity
Peace and Justice Teach-ins will be on a break. For up to date information go to: http://peaceandjusticecoffeehouse.blogspot.com/
June 30, Monday and July 1, Tuesday at 7 pm and Wednesday, July 2 at 2 pm Special Benefit Showing of Body of War, Screenland, 1656 Washington, KCMO
July 4, Friday, 10:30am to 2:30 p.m Patriots Picnic Benefit in support of the continuing peacemaking work of the American Friends Service Committee at the home of Sharon Lockhart, 8336 Sagamore, Leawood, KS. Celebrate the Fourth of July, the freedoms of our democracy! Enjoy picnic fare, game for kids and music by Women of the Drum and Barkley Martin. See details below.
July 28th, Monday, 6:30pm, KC Iraq Task Force Planning Meeting. We will work on public education and advocacy actions: utilizing the Cost of War, What is the Best Way to Support the Troops and other exhibits, present the new “Auction-Today: Your Tax Dollars for Sale” Street Theater, organize dialogue sessions on war and the economy and other activities to promote peace and end the Iraq war. Come to the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO for information call 816 931-5256.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BODY OF WAR
We have scheduled a screening for BODY OF WAR here in KC at the Screenland next week.
This film by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro tells the story of Tomas Young, a soldier from KC who was paralyzed in Iraq in 2004 on his 5th day of duty.
Tomas has been battling complications and is currently hospitalized at St Luke's.
This will be the only chance to see the movie in KC before the DVD comes out.
The movie will be shown at the Screenland, 1656 Washington:
Monday June 30 at 7 pm
Tuesday July 1 at 7 pm
Wednesday July 2 at 2 pm
We are asking for a $10 donation at the door but NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY as long as there are seats available in the theater.
We will also be having a vigil for Tomas on Tuesday July 1 at 5 pm at 63 and Ward Parkway, then leave to go to the theater.
This is an excellent way to honor our nation's bravest for the 4th of July. Hope you can join us for this great film next week.
Peace!
PLEASE FORWARD THIS ANNOUNCEMENT!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMER Peace And Justice SERIES -- June/July 2008
Hosted by Justice and Peace Committee
Village Presbyterian Church
67th
and Mission
Rd.
Prairie Village, Kansas
Programs will begin at 7 p.m. and end at 9 p.m.
A one hour presentation will be followed by a Q and A session. Light refreshments will be served
Village
Presbyterian Church
> July 2 - Ira Harritt, American Friends
Service Committee, K.C. Program Coordinator and K.C. Iraq Task Force Co-Chair
"Iraq:
Choosing the Path Forward"
> July 9 - Rev. Rick Behrens, Grandview Park Presbyterian
"Loving the Immigrant: a Look at the New Sanctuary
Movement."
> July 16 - Bilgehan Yasar, Charter School
Principal
"Introducing the new Math, Science and Technology School
in Kansas City”
> July 23 - Rev. Eric Garbison, Cherith Brook
Community
"Poverty in the Metro Area: Sharing Our Home with the
Homeless"
> July 30 - Eva Schulte, Executive Director
of Communities Creating Opportunity &
Carol Thrane
"Show Me Healthy Communities: Grassroots Training to
Affect Social Change"
There is no registration or fee for these presentations. For more information, please contact mariann...@villagepres.org - phone 913-671-2333.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVERY Sunday: Iraq Peace Vigil, 4pm, JC Nichols Fountain, 47th & Main, Streets, Kansas City, MO http://www.kciraqtaskforce.org/
EVERY Tuesday, JOIN THIS Peace Demonstration Every Tuesday between 5PM - 6 PM in the median strip on the south corner of the intersection at 63rd & Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo. For more information email '63rd Street Patriots' at schwar...@sbcglobal.net
Every Wednesday, 5:00pm, Iraq Anti-War Protest, College and Quivira, Overland Park, KS (NW corner). Send a message to Sen. Pat Robert that it’s time to end the war!
1st Wednesday of each month, Prayers for World Peace and Group Blessings at 3741 Walnut St - Kansas City, MO (Note new address). Interested persons can call 816-256-4164 for more details.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Join the
Chalk Project
Marking the 4,000 death of American Troops in Iraq
with Respect and Messages of Peace
Send photos of chalk outlines to dmell...@afsc.org
Click Here to see some of the Chalk Project outlines
Help rouse the
public’s conscience over
the growing deaths in the Iraq
occupation and call for a change from war making to making peace in the world
–through diplomacy, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, supporting
human rights…
Join with others in creating an organic memorial to those who have died in the Iraq occupation by creating body chalk outlines on streets, sidewalks or other locations (it works best working with a partner) and then to chalk the message “Too Many Have Died In Iraq” – and add your own message of peace—for example: Education Not War; Healthcare Not Bombing; Butter Not Bullets; Renewable Energy Not Oil warring, Diplomacy Not Ultimatums, etc.(We ask that you keep it positive. Not curse words or name calling.)
Our goal is for area activists to make 4,000 body outlines spread throughout the city.
We offer this caution-it is possible that creating these outlines may be considered breaking anti-graffiti laws in some places. To help you avoid this make sure you use only chalk and be willing to wash the chalk away if a business or homeowner complains.
We would also like to document the outlines created, messages left, locations and times seen. When you see a Chalk Project body outline we ask that you e-mail your “sighting” to dmell...@afsc.org.
Please include in your email the location e.g. “SW corner of 48th Street and Oak, KCMO), the messages in the outline, and times you saw it. Please also attach a digital photos in jpeg or pict format if you are able to take one. Sightings will be posted on a website to be determined. For info call 816 931-5256.
Click Here to see some of the Chalk Project outlines
Email us sightings of Chalk Project outlines at dmill...@afsc.org !
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Join us for a
Patriots Picnic
You are invited to celebrate the Fourth of July,
and to support the continuing peacemaking work of
the American Friends Service Committee.
on Friday, July 4, 2008,
from 10:30am to 2:30 p.m.
Let Freedom Ring! Keep the Faith!
Join us and Celebrate the Fourth
with like minded Patriots!
Enjoy hot dogs, burgers (veggie and otherwise), salads and other picnic fare. There will be games for the kids (young and old),
and live music- Including Women of the Drum and
Barkley Martin who will share his organic home grown blend
of folk, jazz and bluegrass
Participate in our July 4th Apple Pie Bake- Off - For more information call us or see entry form below.
at the home of Sharon Lockhart
8336 Sagamore, Leawood, KS 66206
We will provide a chance to learn more about the American Friends Service Committee and to contribute to our important work for peace and social justice.
Suggested donation $25 / family.
R.S.V.P. to Deborah at 816 931-5256 or email dmell...@afsc.org .
Please feel free to bring friends who may be interested in learning more about AFSC.
News and Action Alerts
New Report from Interviews with 90 Peace
and Justice Organizers
An Assessment of Antiwar Organizing and Activism
For more information, to read excerpts of
the report online, or to order copies, visit: http://warresisters.org/listeningprocess
What is lacking in today’s peace movement? How can grassroots
organizers turn popular antiwar sentiment into broad-based action? What
strategies and tactics should be employed, and how should the antiwar movement
relate to the elections?
The War Resisters League recently conducted a Listening Process, asking 90
grassroots organizers from across the county to address these and other
questions and to reflect on the state of the antiwar movement in the United States.
The new 40-page special issue of WIN magazine features their reflections and
insights.
The 90 interviewees are organizers and activists from diverse organizations,
including WRL local chapters; local efforts like Coalition Against Militarism
in Our Schools in southern California;
constituency-based organizations like U.S. Labor Against the War, Iraq Veterans
Against the War, and Women of Color Resource Center; and national coalitions
like United for Peace and Justice. Some of those interviewed work
primarily on peace and antiwar issues, while others focus mainly on gender
justice, labor, racial justice, the environment, or community issues.
The interviews explore constraints that the movement faces, as well as
openings; how to build a more multiracial, cross-class and broad-based
movement; the relevancy of nonviolence; the role of soldiers, veterans and
military families; and many other questions.
We hope this report will be a small contribution in an ongoing strategic
dialogue. We invite you to check it out, order copies, forward the report to
others, and comment online.
For more information, to order copies of the special issue of WIN magazine, or
to read excerpts of it online, visit http://warresisters.org/listeningprocess
• • •
The United States’
oldest secular pacifist organization, the War Resisters League works to end all
war and to remove the root causes of war. WRL challenges military recruitment,
actively supports GI resistance, challenges war profiteers, offers organizing
tools to local groups, and much more.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Ritter: Iran Not Pursuing Nukes, But U.S. Will Attack Before ‘09
June 26, 2008
In 2002, Scott Ritter, the former Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector In Iraq, publicly accused the Bush administration of lying to Congress and the public about assertions that Iraq was hiding a chemical and biological weapons arsenal…
Now Ritter, who was a Marine Corps intelligence officer for 12 years, is speaking out about what he sees as history repeating itself regarding U.S. policy toward Iran and the inevitability of a U.S.-led attack on the country, which he believes will happen prior to a new president being sworn into office in January 2009.
“We’re going to see some military activity before the new administration is sworn in.” Ritter said. But he added that “Iran is not a threat to the United States and Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program. That’s documented.”
More> http://dissentmag.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/scott-ritter-iran-not-pursuing-nukes-but-us-will-attack-before-09/
---------------------------------------------------------
US Mayors Step Into Iran Fray Calling for Diplomacy, Not War
by Medea Benjamin
Tensions around Iran have been heating up with President Bush’s recent trip to Europe urging stronger sanctions and reports of major Israeli military exercises in June designed to prepare for a potential strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed El Baradei, concerned about the belligerent direction, warned on June 21 that an attack on Iran would “transform the Middle East region into a ball of fire.”
U. S. mayors, feeling the disastrous effects of the war in Iraq on their city budgets and local military families, are speaking out to try to stop another disastrous war. Thanks to a grassroots campaign initiated by CODEPINK, Global Exchange and Cities for Peace, a group of mayors have signed on to a National Mayors Resolution for Diplomacy with Iran. So far, 32 mayors from Alexandria, VA to Wilmington, DE have signed on. The resolution urges the Bush Administration to pursue diplomatic engagement with Iran and calls on Congress to prohibit the use of funds to carry out any military action against Iran without Congressional authorization. More > http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/26/9895/
You can contact KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser at (816) 513-3500 • Fax: (816) 513-3518 • Email: ma...@kcmo.org to ask if he has signed on to support the resolution.
Mayor for Peace link http://www.codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=4232
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by Salon.com
Chris Dodd’s Speech and a Glimmer of Hope for Stopping the FISA Bill
by Glenn Greenwald
Back in December, Harry Reid’s plan was to have the Senate quickly pass the Cheney/Rockefeller FISA bill before the Senate recessed for Christmas. But Chris Dodd’s relentless delaying tactics — his filibuster and holds and other procedural tactics designed to block quick enactment of the bill, supported at every step by Russ Feingold — forced Reid to pull the bill from the floor and prevented the Senate from considering the bill until the following February.
At this point, procedural delay of that sort (as opposed to some principled stand against this bill by a majority of Senate Democrats) is the best hope, by far, for preventing enactment of this FISA bill. The Senate’s plan was to pass the bill and send it to the President before the July 4 recess, but that plan is somewhat in jeopardy now. The more a bill like this is pushed off into the future, especially in an election year consumed with other matters, the greater the likelihood that, through inertia alone, enough delay can prevent enactment this year. The probability of being able permanently to stop this bill is still quite small but, as a result of several important events yesterday, it is higher today than it was two days ago: More > http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/25/9871/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by TomDispatch.com
Billion-Dollar Babies
Five Stealth
Pentagon Contractors Reaping Billions of Tax Dollars
by Nick Turse
The top Pentagon contractors, like death and taxes, almost never change. In 2002, the massive arms dealers Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman ranked one, two, and three among Department of Defense contractors, taking in $17 billion, $16.6 billion, and $8.7 billion. Lockheed, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman did it again in 2003 ($21.9, $17.3, and $11.1 billion); 2004 ($20.7, $17.1, and $11.9 billion); 2005 ($19.4, $18.3, and $13.5 billion); 2006 ($26.6, $20.3, and $16.6 billion); and, not surprisingly, 2007 as well ($27.8, $22.5, and $14.6 billion). Other regulars receiving mega-tax-funded payouts in a similarly clockwork-like manner include defense giants General Dynamics, Raytheon, the British weapons maker BAE Systems, and former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, as well as BP, Shell, and other power players from the military-petroleum complex.
With the basic Pentagon budget now clocking in at roughly $541 billion per year — before “supplemental” war funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, and the President’s Global War on Terror, as well as national security spending by other agencies, are factored in — even Lockheed’s hefty $28 billion take is a small percentage of the massive total. Obviously, significant sums of money are headed to other companies. However, most of them, including some of the largest, are all but unknown even to Pentagon-watchers and antiwar critics with a good grasp of the military industrial complex. More > http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/25/9870/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
The Great Pendulum of Economic Outrage Is About to Swing Again
by Robert B. Reich
The great pendulum of American economic outrage moves back and forth over time between anger at big government and anger at big business. For almost thirty years, big government has been the target — starting with Ronald Reagan’s admonition that government is the problem, not the solution; through Bill Clinton’s declaration that the era of big government is over; and George W. Bush’s hands-off brand of free market fundamentalism.
We deregulated much of the economy and pretty much allowed corporations to do what they wished. And for the first twenty years the result was largely good — a buoyant economy, a bullish stock market, a strong dollar.
But now we’re experiencing what happens when the pendulum swings too far and big business is given so much leeway that the public is harmed and the economy jeopardized. The corporate looting scandals that began with Enron were a wakeup call. Then came the practice of post-dating executive stock options. And more recently, an epidemic of unsafe products: drugs like Vioxx, tainted foods, Heparin and lead-painted toys imported from China.
We’ve had defense contractors that don’t deliver on their contracts, and insurance companies that won’t deliver on their promises. And just this past year, the subprime loan mess, a financial meltdown on Wall Street, out-of-control hedge funds and derivatives. Perhaps manipulation of oil futures markets.
The reality is that neither big government nor big business is the problem. Both are necessary parts of a modern economy. Problems arise when they’re out of balance — as they were by the 1970s, when government had grown so large it was stifling the economy, or as they have become this decade, as big business, including Wall Street, grew so irresponsible as to undermine public trust and threaten the economy.
More> http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/25/9866/
Ira Harritt
Kansas City Program
American Friends Service Committee
4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO 64110
(816) 931-5256
Fax (816) 561-5033
