Dallas Peace Times

January 2012

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PEACE TIMES n DPC 2011 Accomplishments

• Nuclear

Technology Outpaces Human Ability to Ensure Safety • Fellowship Recipient Sees Young People Becoming Less Insular • Pastors for Peace Passes Through Dallas, Encourage Enrollment in Cuba Medical School

Celebrate Dallas Peace Center's 30th Anniversary

As an interfaith, inclusive, progressive, peace and justice organization that has provided uncompromising work for peace through justice in North Texas and around the world.

Your financial support is essential! Your outreach to others is vital!

To share in the growth and effectiveness of the Dallas Peace Center, make your monthly sustaining pledge of $30 to ensure another 30 years of peace and justice work.

Become a sustaining member

TODAY!

Dallas Peace Center • 5910 Cedar Springs Rd. Dallas, TX 75235-6806 • (214) 823-7793 admin@dallaspeacecenter.org

30 More Years of Peace and Justice Research * Education * Dialogue * Action

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Celebrated the re-ratification of START Submit weekly email of peace and justice events in North Texas Host monthly activist committee meetings and promote community engagement Hosted panel discussion Breaking the Chains of Modern Day Slavery Monthly Dallas Peace Times On-line covering peace and justice events Hosted discussion forum, Normalizing Crisis Mode: The Perpetual Erosion of Civil Liberties and Human Rights Hosted Workshop with Judge Scott McCown Center for Public Policy Priorities Connecting the Dots: Action for Justice in Deficit America Co-sponsored film series with Iranians for Peace and Justice Hosted Diane Wilson, author of Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth Provided access to nationwide Teach-in conducted by Cornel West and Frances Fox Piven on Austerity, Debt, Corporate Greed (and what YOU can do about it) Hosted panel discussion Arab Spring: The Road to Freedom & Justice Hosted dinner lecture with Dr. Lloyd Jeff Dumas, author of The Technology Trap: Where Human Error and Malevolence Meet Powerful Technology Issued press statement and held press conference on the killing of Osama Bin Laden Co-hosted Day of Prayer for Peaceful Protesters Advised constituents to act on several pieces of legislation before the Texas Legislature Sponsored rally to STOP Wasting America's Resources Co-sponsored rally in solidarity with the Syrian people Hosted Summer Dinner Lecture with Ken Butigan of Pace e Bene Another Step Toward Mainstreaming Nonviolence Hosted Summer Dinner Lecture with Rinku Sen of Applied Research Center and Colorlines.com Why Diversity Does Not Equal Equity: Taking on Today's Racial Climate Hosted Summer Dinner Lecture with Matthew Hoh of Afghanistan Study Group A New Way Forward: Rethinking US Strategy in Afghanistan Issued press statement and held press conference to Stop the Machine; Create a New World on 10th Year of War in Afghanistan Collaborated with Reform Immigration Texas Alliance to resist anti-immigration legislation in the Texas Can Do Better campaign Co-sponsored Post 9/11 Ending the Cycles of Violence Organized and participated in congressional visits to address the need for fair immigration policy, freedom and support for the Arab revolution countries, and reduction in defense spending to support needs at home Participated in rally and organized call to action Support Palestinian Full Membership in the UN Co-sponsored the Troy Davis Miscarriage of Justice Demonstration Hosted Young Artist for Peace Concert honoring the contributions of young activist Participated in community roundtable at the 7th Annual Conference on Immigration and Education Sponsored by Proyecto Immigrante Co-sponsored Films for Peace and Justice with Black Cinematheque Hosted A Day of Advocacy Training for Social Change Co-sponsored Focus Pakistan Conference Co-sponsored 1Night 1000 Strong Rally for peace and freedom in the Middle East and northern Africa Launched One Makes A Difference peace education program Co-Sponsored round table geared toward solutions to school to prison pipeline in DISD Serves as host organization for the Human Rights at Home Campaign

DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

DPC Achievements for 2011

DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS Iraq War

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Justice Deficit America 6 Arab Spring: Panelists have confidence in their people’s future 9 9/11 Observation 10 Sen. Cornyn 17 N. Texans hear Hibakusha’s story of Hiroshima’s devastation 18

Racial Inequity 20 Pakistani Women’s Rights 21 Gaza Freedom Flotilla 24 Nagasaki Bombing 25 DALLAS PEACE CENTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR KELLI OBAZEE MANAGING EDITOR Adrian Sierra EDITOR Trish Major DPC PHOTOGRAPHER WALID AJAJ

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2012 BOARD MEMBERS PRESIDENT Rev. RYAN KOCH VICE PRESIDENT/TREASURER John Fullinwider SECRETARY Zara Tariq aftab siddiqui rev. l. charles stovall Eric Reece Sam Nance Saddyna Belmashkan Rev. Diane Baker Mavis belisle sara mokuria Len Ellis Dr. Qaisar Abbas

by Kelli Obazee

DIRECTOR’S CUT

2011 presented a mosaic of events that were pivotal for our nation’s local, national and international affairs. Together with stalwart activists, like-minded organizations, and faith communities committed to social justice, the Dallas Peace Center engaged in advocacy visits with legislators, educational discussion forums, community trainings for social change, lectures, press conferences, and much more.

In 2011 our voices as activists and peace-builders rang clear that balancing state and federal budgets on the backs of our nation’s most vulnerable is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We addressed misguided legislation on immigration and advocated on behalf of fair discipline for minority children and children with disabilities that are disproportionately subject to harsh and unfair treatment in DISD. We rallied and participated in constructive actions with those engaged in the Arab revolution for freedom and liberty. We kept our focus to act strategically on the issues of ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing our troops home, and spending US taxpayer money on human needs, not warfare.

This month’s publication is dedicated to what we accomplished together in 2011. We made a difference by courageously acting against injustice and standing for justice. We made a difference by putting forth the peace curriculum One Makes A Difference that empowers our youth to chart their destiny. We made a difference by finding common ground among what might otherwise be considered dissimilar organizations and worked toward our goal of creating a more just and peaceful world.

Thank you for ALL of your support. These accomplishments are ours to embrace and take encouragement from as we look to the challenges of 2012. A special thanks to Trish Major who has served as our Senior Editor for over 7 years, Adrian Sierra who is the editing manager that has put together this lovely compilation of stories and images, and to Walid Ajaj for all of the photographs that truly captures the heart and work of the Dallas Peace Center. A special thanks to our 2011 and 2012 Board Members who empower the Dallas Peace Center to do this amazing work.

As the Dallas Peace Center faces 2012, we have a lot to be thankful for – but at the top of our list is the ongoing support DPC receives from you and other people of conscience in the Dallas area. Whether you joined a picket line or other demonstration, whether you marched or wrote letters to Congress, whether you attended a rally, committee meeting, film screening, peace concert, or summer lecture, or if you supported DPC financially – no matter how you contributed, your efforts made a difference this year.

The Dallas Peace Center is part of the larger worldwide movement for peace and human rights. We work with peace and justice organizations in the Dallas area, across the U.S., and internationally. Through research, education, and dialogue, we hope to generate action in the great tradition of non-violence – the vision and the power that ended British colonialism in India, dismantled apartheid in South Africa, and overcame Jim Crow in America.

DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

Dear Friends & Colleagues,

The Dallas Peace Center provides the organizational base, the infrastructure, for progressive activism in Dallas. We need your continued participation and support to strengthen this foundation. Help us build a stronger movement through: Expanded Communication: Peace Peeks, e-mail highlights of events in North Texas; Dallas Peace Times, print and online journal with peace and justice dispatches from North Texas, along with national and international reports; Speakers Bureau, experienced peace and justice organizers addressing critical issues; Website Development, the comprehensive source for progressive action in North Texas.

Advocacy Training: Voter Education/ Registration; Congressional Visits; Rally, Media and Messaging; Transformative Facilitator Training.

Workshops in Non-Violent Direct Action: History & practice of non-violence for social change; One Makes a Difference – transforming lives with this curricula for youth leadership development.

Organization & Coalition Building: Strengthening the mission and finances of the Dallas Peace Center; building and maintaining strong alliances with faith-based communities and peace and justice organizations.

May you be an instrument for peace in 2011 – and thanks again!

-The Dallas Peace Center

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DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

Blessed are the Peacemakers: A Meditation for 2012

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Reflection

by Rev. William K. McElvaney Many years ago a teacher of faith, hope, and love offered these words: “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Blessed are the peacemakers? How is it that peacemakers are blessed?

Peacemakers are not blessed because the percentages are favorable; the odds seldom favor peacemaking, especially on a global scale. Peacemakers take on entrenched powers and principalities. Big systems. Big money. Big violence. Peacemakers are blessed because the God of many names calls us to stand up and speak out for a world future based on nonviolence and reconciliation. It’s who we are. It’s what we do.

Peacemakers are not blessed because we are born smart, clever or wise in our own right. Peacemakers are blessed because in peacemaking we are likely to experience God at the deepest level. We come to know the God of peace as ones who discover our vocation, our direction for living.

Peacemakers are not blessed because peacemaking is considered to be politically correct or, for that matter, incorrect. Peacemakers are blessed because peacemaking at its best is theologically faithful to the core beliefs of all our religious traditions.

The blessings for peacemakers include the friends and mentors with whom we share the efforts of peacemaking.

How much we learn from each other on the lowly yet exalted path of peacemaking. The struggle together tests our character and resolve and refines our souls.

As peacemakers we are not willing to accept perpetual counterinsurgency war as the new normal for the future of the United States. As peacemakers we are not mesmerized by Washingtonian language wrapped in the rhetoric of freedom and democracy while thousands are sacrificed on the altar of unnecessary wars. As peacemakers we don’t define security in terms of drone air attacks or in bombing operations against those who have not attacked our country.

As peacemakers we define security in terms of jobs, health care and education, and in terms of adequate food, shelter and clothing for millions of Americans lacking these necessities in a culture of huge corporate bonuses and profiteering from enormous weapon contracts. Accordingly, faith-based peacemakers have an imperative to care for the most vulnerable through a variety of means including encouraging humane public policy. At the same time, we expect government to make a just and compassionate effort to support these necessities for all Americans.

Some U.S. citizens call this socialism; the preamble to the U.S. Constitution calls it establishing justice and promoting the general welfare. Peacemakers call it the common good, or as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “the beloved community.”

When Jesus offered his blessing to peacemakers, he didn’t say, “Blessed are the Christian peacemakers.” He just said, according to scripture, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” It was an inclusive blessing. In our day his saying translates as ”Blessed are the Muslim peacemakers. Blessed are the Buddhist and Hindu peacemakers. Blessed are the Sikh and Baha’i peacemakers. Blessed are the Jewish and Christian peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers of every persuasion and grounding.”

Nobody said peacemaking would be easy, whether in personal relationships or on a global scale. Nobody said it would be a short-term project. Nobody guaranteed success. But somebody did say, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons and daughters of the God of peace.”

2012 beckons us to discover the blessings of JUST peacemaking.

Hadi Jawad 2005 Peace Maker Award Recipient Dec 17, Dallas Texas

The U.S occupation of Iraq has mercifully come to an end. Most Iraqis, reeling from challenges of daily living in a war ravaged country, do not have much to celebrate. Nor will returning American troops participate in the revelry of ticker tape parades.

With hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead or maimed and millions homeless; a staggering loss of American lives and treasure, it is by all measures a somber occasion for both nations. The invasion of Iraq by western nations was an epic tragedy.

It was not too long ago that Iraq was on the verge of becoming a first world nation. Enriched by revenues from rising oil prices in the 1980's, Iraq was a model of development in the Middle East. Iraqis enjoyed high literacy rates, universal medical coverage in the most advanced medical treatment facilities in the region. The population was so well fed that pediatricians were complaining about the rising rates of obesity among Iraqi boys. Women were an important part of the workforce and held important positions in government, many were doctors and engineers. Christian and Jewish minorities enjoyed religious freedoms and participated in the social, cultural and financial life of the country. But it was not long before things began to change for the worse. Those well fed kids began to die of starvation by the tens of thousands as a dictator's drive for regional domination and western interests collided.

In the 1990'S, United Nations sanctions against Iraq, meant to destabilize Saddam Hussein's government, ended up killing more than half a million Iraqi children under the age of five according to the U.N itself. Even today Iraqi children pay a very high price. According to a Reuters report in Feb 2011, the invasion and occupation created 4.5 million orphans in Iraq (roughly 20% of the population) with 500,000 living on the streets of Baghdad , Basra, and other cities. Many NGO's have reported on the suffering these street kids endure as they fall prey

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DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

The Iraq War: An Epic Tragedy

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to sex traffickers, drug dealers and the slave trade. The irony of Iraq's massive oil wealth, safely secured in the vaults of international banks, while that nation's most prized possession - it's children, endure unimaginable abuse and suffering, is startling.

The United States has been an important actor in the Middle East for almost a century and must bear responsibility for it's actions. In the last three decades, the impact of misguided U.S. policies is evident in events that set the stage for the ruinous crisis' Iraqis face today: the 8 year Iran/Iraq war, the draconian sanctions imposed by the U.N. on Iraq in 1991 and of course, the invasion of 2003.. While the removal of US troops in Iraq is a momentous occasion, more must be done. Nations that participated in Iraq's destruction must guarantee humanitarian needs such as clean drinking water, electricity, medicines and food security to the Iraqi people. And to show the world that no nation or any leader is above the law, legal procedures must be started against those responsible, for what former U.N Secretary General Koffi Annan described as an "illegal war" against a sovereign nation.

Will Americans reflect on the suffering they inflicted on a nation that posed no threat to its security? Will Iraqis pick up the pieces of their shattered dreams, transcend ethnic and sectarian differences, and move towards an unknown future with self respect and dignity?

The epic tragedy of Iraq will haunt for a very long time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War

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DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

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Economy

“Connecting the Dots: Action for Justice in Deficit America.”

by Trish Major The line between news and opinion has fuzzed so much that it has almost been washed away. Information sources are often more interested in checking you off as “for” or “against” than in delivering facts and figures that help you make up your own mind about politics and society.

That’s why information sessions like the one held last spring at SMU on Saturday, March 26, are so welcome and valuable. The morning seminar, sponsored by the Dallas Peace Center, was titled, “Connecting the Dots: Action for Justice in Deficit America.”

Throughout the country, lawmakers attempt to solve municipal, state and federal budget crises on the backs of the most vulnerable members of society. Cutbacks are being proposed that could be disastrous for education, housing, health, public services and worker rights. This informative discussion with workshops included three speakers telling what they knew about the state of the city, state, and society.

Featured Speakers included: Judge Scott McCown, Executive Director for Center for Public Policy Priorities "A Balanced Approach to Meeting the Needs of Texas" McCown was named one of "The 25 Most Powerful People in Texas Politics" in 2010 and 2005 and called a "voice for the voiceless" by Texas Monthly Magazine.

He has been involved in public policy for over twenty years.

Vicki Washington St. Luke's Community United Methodist Church "Building a Progressive Movement: Put Your Whole Self In, Or Take Your Whole Self Out" Washington is the founder and producing director of r.t.w. ~ reading the writers, a readers' theatre performance organization. She is founding artistic director of the AfroAmerican Artists Alliance Inc., a community-focused, professional theatre.

Jim Schutze Columnist, Dallas Observer "Citizen Action at City Hall: Countering the Corporate Agenda" Since 1998 Jim Schutze has been the city columnist for the Dallas Observer. He has been a recipient of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' national award for best commentary twice and Lincoln University's national Unity Award for writing on civil rights and racial issues three times.

Workshops Equity in Education * Work Place Relations * Inclusive Communities Community and the Law *Legislative Visits/Advocacy Training The Role of Church and Social Justice

Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

February 2011 - Post 9/11 Normalizing Crisis Mode: The Perpetual Erosion of Civil Liberties and Human Rights 7

Education

Dumas: Nuclear Technology Outpaces Human Ability to Ensure Safety and drugs. Dumas said that one sailor who was steering a nuclear aircraft carrier said the job was so boring that he used LSD.

by Trish Major “I’m only human.”

We don’t say this when everything is going well. We only say it when we have made a mistake. And it’s true – being human means making mistakes. Why, then, do we create technologies that require us to be perfect in order to avert disaster?

economies.

Dr. Lloyd Jeff Dumas, author of The Technology Trap: Where Human Error and Malevolence Meet Powerful Technology, talked about this puzzle at a dinner lecture on April 30 benefitting the Dallas Peace Center and the DPC Nuclear Free World Committee. Dumas, a professor of Political Economy, Economy and Public Policy at UT-Dallas, is an internationally respected expert on wartime and peacetime

With the demise of the Soviet Union, we might have thought our nuclear fears would be assuaged, however, Dumas said, “the Cold War may be over but the Cold War mentality lies on.” Add to that our fears about global warming and dependence on foreign fuels, and the nuclear industry is still chugging away. Nuclear weapons give us the illusion of safety and nuclear power gives us the illusion of clean energy. Both illusions are dependent on the illusion that, given human error and malevolence, nothing bad will happen.

But accidents happen. Dumas produced a litany of examples of human errors that have occurred in dangerous situations; some have resulted in disaster, some were never known by the public. Between 1950 and 2008 almost 1,500 air accidents were caused by pilot error.

Eighty percent of problems in nuclear power plants are caused by human error. Drug errors are so prevalent, said Dumas, that patients should expect one every day they are in a hospital. The difference between trivial and catastrophic error depends on surrounding conditions.

Many of the jobs in the nuclear industry tend to be boring – the very point being to make sure nothing happens.

These kinds of jobs, said Dumas, dull the mind, and produce mood swings, poor judgment and even hallucinations. People in these positions distract themselves with amusing thoughts and games, alcohol

Round the clock shift work wreaks havoc on the body clock, said Dumas. The normal performance of night shift workers is similar to that of day shift workers who have lost a whole night’s sleep.

But human error is not just a problem of individuals.

Dumas contends that when a group of people work together to solve problems or make policy, they contend with a unique set of evils: the “Good News Syndrome” in which no one wants to pass on bad news to superiors; “Group Think” through which the quality of decisions deteriorates as a result of consensus; and “Group Psychosis,” when a crazy, charismatic leader is able to lure people into his or her group and then isolate them.

Poor communication is a human error that can lead to disaster when a nuclear element is involved. Dumas recounted an incident from 1987 when the Indian army prepared for an exercise on the Pakistan border. Startled, Pakistan reinforced their border, and only after intense diplomatic efforts was the confusion between these two nuclear capable countries resolved. “It wouldn’t take much miscommunication or error to precipitate a war between two historic rivals,” said Dumas. ”Both countries have made great progress in building their arsenals and no progress in diplomacy.”

Adding a nuclear element multiplies disasters. The ready availability of the technology and materials to assemble nuclear bombs makes the world susceptible to terrorists.

Had nuclear weapons been used during the 9/11 attacks, the death toll would have been in the 100s of thousands – and still rising.

Japan’s earthquake was a disaster, but because a nuclear power plant was involved (and because human beings underestimated the intensity of possible earthquakes when they designed it) it is a global and multi-generational catastrophe.

Dumas contended that we must meet our energy needs with renewable energy and increased efficiency. “Our fallibility is part of what makes us human,” he said, “and like it or not, it will always be with us. We must live within the boundaries of our fallibility.”

All four disastrous nuclear power accidents were the result of different problems. How will the next accident happen? “I don’t know, but it will.”

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DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

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DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

Cooper Fellowship recipient Stephan Black Sees Young People Becoming Less Insular

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Youth

by Trish Major What is the matter with kids today? Nothing, according the Stephen Black, recipient of the 2011 Robert O. Cooper Fellowship. In fact, the present generation of college students and graduates are rising to the challenges of injustice where previous generations have shirked their responsibilities, he said during his lecture at SMU on April 17. In fact, he calls this “the Teach for America Generation.”

An example of that generation, SMU Senior Jordan Johansen, was awarded the 2011 William K. McElvaney Peace and Justice Award that evening. The McElvaney Award goes to an SMU student who has demonstrated great leadership in working for peace and justice. Johansen (also a 2011-2012 Fulbright Fellow) is a student in the Embrey Human Rights Program and president of the SMU Amnesty International chapter.

Black is director of the Center for Ethics & Social Responsibility at the University of Alabama and founder of Impact Alabama: A Student Service Initiative, Alabama’s “first nonprofit dedicated to developing and implementing substantive service-learning projects in coordination with more than twenty universities and colleges throughout the state.”

According to Black, the biggest challenge facing the future of ethical progress is our society’s 35-40-year decline in civic engagement – that is time spent with other people outside of the family. This decline, brought to general public attention by Robert Putnam in his book Bowling Alone, is documented in the shrinking membership lists of almost all civic clubs, like the Rotary, Kiwanis, Girl Scouts and PTAs. Black said that although many of these clubs have a dowdy image, they have raised money and provided services that have greatly improved their communities.

“Making a difference is a story of groups,” said Black. “People don’t march alone down the road toward change.”

Two realities explain this insular trend, according to Black: our economy requires people to work as much as they can in order to make ends meet, and the population’s continuing love affair with the suburbs. The majority of Americans lie in suburbs where not only do they have to spend more time commuting farther, but they are surrounded by friends and neighbors who are very much like themselves.

Although their parents chose isolation, Black said the present generation of college students seems to be reacting against the homogeneity in which they were raised. He terms this growing culture of responsibility and compassion almost as a revolt against past generations’ xenophobia and all-consuming concern for personal safety. The challenge that this generation is taking on, he said, is seeing life through someone else’s eyes – “What would it feel like as a parent to know your child is at a school where the average reading level is 10 years below grade?”

Black said he can’t create “alternative spring breaks” fast enough for the demand, whereas 20 years ago the idea of spending your break building houses or helping in a clinic was totally foreign.

Also, the option of a “gap year” is becoming more and more popular: students taking one or two years after graduation to do public service before they start their careers.

Black is wary of the charity trap – when people do charity work, and then think that they have fulfilled their responsibility to their fellow human being. He recalled a conversation with Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller in which Fuller noted that there was less affordable housing now than when he started, and wondered whether people, having done a weekend of charity, felt no need to work for justice.

Black said that charity can take us backwards, except when it acts as a spark to get people involved in working on a structural level.

He said one of the best things about the Teach for America program, which places well-trained recent college graduates in low-performing urban and rural school districts for 2-year stints, is that an increasing number of alumni are choosing to continue teaching. The social status of a teaching career has risen dramatically in the last ten years, as new teachers see themselves as an integral part of education reform.

Last year, as a part of Impact’s FocusFirst vision screening initiative, college students screened 3,200 kids in Alabama, 11-12 percent of whom were found to have vision problems that could have impaired their learning ability for life. “There’s something fundamentally bizarre about college students having to do this,” said Black, still incredulous that it isn’t a fundamental part of our civic structure. Perhaps, when these college kids are running the world, it will be.

Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

8th Anniversary of Iraq War 9

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International

by Trish Major The dreams, fears and confidence that are so evident among the people participating in Arab Spring were mirrored by a panel of representatives that came together at the Richardson Civic Center last spring on April 30. Americans with ties to Yemen, Libya, Syria and Bahrain expressed their confidence in a new generation and hesitance in accepting U.S. involvement in their countries’ affairs.

Panelists, brought together by the Dallas Peace Center’s Middle East Peace Committee, were Alam Ali Mohammed, who was born in Yemen, raised in Detroit, and spend a number of years in Yemen; Borak Hassan, who was born in Libya, has been in the DFW area since 1981 and still has family in Libya; Salem Akkad, whose family is from Syria; and a panelist whose local Shia community has close ties to Bahrain.

All of the panelists agreed that the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt played a strong role in encouraging their own countries’ revolutions. The panelist representing Bahrain said that, historically, there has been two types of leadership in the Middle East: Leaders who are subservient to the U.S. and European powers, and leaders who resist those powers.

The revolution showed that it is possible to demand your rights and still live.

That the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions were conducted in a peaceful manner was instructive, said Hassan of Libya.

There have been many attempts at change in Libya, he said.

Tunisia gave people the confidence that peaceful resistance can work. Mohammed said that Yemen is second in the world in owning personal weapons, and yet “you haven’t heard of one bullet shot for freedom. That’s called discipline.”

Akkad and Mohammed commented that the new generation is unwilling to abide by the brutal governments of the past.

Mohammed said that his father’s generation would say “the walls have ears” and would be afraid to criticize the government. They emigrated when Mohammed was 12, and when they landed in New York his father said, “Now you can speak.” Likewise, Syria has been dealing with a

repressive regime for 50 years, said Akkad. The last generation lived in fear; the new generation was emboldened by Tunisia and Egypt to change.

Panelists encouraged Americans to learn about the uprisings in the Middle East, and to not be fooled by misinformation.

Akkad and the panelist representing Bahrain said the demonstrations in Syria and Bahrain were dismissed as sectarian uprisings, and surely a favorite technique of tyrants is to pit the people against each other – Sunni, Shia, Kurds, upper class, lower class. The Bahrain panelist recounted that this claim of sectarian violence provided the excuse for Saudi Arabia to send its army to quell the uprising in Bahrain.

The general consensus among the panelists was that U.S. foreign policy operates on a double standard. It exposes its hypocrisy when it turns a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s abuses and yet claims to be an agent for human rights. However Hassan was adamant that the people of oppressive countries cannot use this as an excuse. “For Arabs and Muslims to blame anyone other than ourselves is unacceptable,” he said.

The people of Tunisia and Egypt said it was time to change and they did it, said Hassan. “Nobody is going to change it for us; we have to make the change. The Libyan people have to do it themselves.”

DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

Arab Spring: Panelists Have Confidence in their People’s Futures

This sentiment was echoed by other panelists – the U.S. needs to stay out of the situations in all the countries. No one wants the U.S. to intervene militarily, said Mohammed, indicating that history shows the U.S. doing more harm than good to a country when it tries to “help.” The Bahrain panelist concurred. “It’s time for the U.S. to take a break,” he said. “Have a time out.”

Of the American people asked only that they care enough to educate themselves and show their support for the people’s movements. “In today’s world, you change things more immediately and effectively without bullets,” said Mohammed. “The people chose not to use weapons, so let us ask the U.S. to put their weapons down.”

Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

Human Trafficking 10

DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

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One Makes A Difference DPC Peace Education Program The DPC's One Makes a Difference curriculum provides: a strong intellectual and ethical foundation that encourages academic excellence, enhance self-esteem, increase community understanding, civic engagement and inspires future global leaders.

The curriculum is inspired by the simple and profound belief that ONE MAKES A DIFFERENCE. The goal of the program is to encourage participants to piece together their personal stories and histories in a way that clarifies their understanding of interconnectedness and peace.

When young people have the opportunity to share their knowledge in a group, they can teach each other a lot.

Each person in the group is a teacher, learner, and listener creating new knowledge and relationships of trust.

The twenty 3-hour sessions included in the One Makes A Difference program incorporate heart/mind coherence, self-awareness, conflict resolution, non-violent communication and civic engagement.

Join us as we launch a program that empowers our youth to charter their destiny for success.

For more information: office@dallaspeacecenter.org or call 214-823-7793

Human/Civil Rights

DPC presents ‘Post 911 Normalizing Crisis Mode’ The Perpetual Erosion of Civil Liberties and Human Rights Since the September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has put into effect a boatload of policies, either through congressional action or executive privilege, that compromise the civil rights of U.S. residents. To explicate the effects and the future of these policies, the Dallas Peace Center has brought together legal scholars and civil rights activists for a seminar “Post 911 Normalizing Crisis Mode.” This event was held on Sunday, February 27, at the Vester Hughes Auditorium in Caruth Hall, SMU. The main speaker, Chip Pitts, past president of the Bill Of Rights Defense Committee, and lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School and Oxford University. Pitts is former chair of Amnesty International USA and was the Dallas Peace Center’s 2004 Peacemaker of the Year. He spoke about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA); bodyscanners and related measures; the FBI's stepped-up investigations of anti-war, peace and civil rights groups; wasteful and ineffective spending by the military/industrial/ surveillance complex; and how the decline in the objective rule of law increases room for arbitrary, subjective direction.

Other panelists offered views on the effects these trends have on different areas of our society. Rev. Holsey Hickman shared a historical perspective of the erosion of civil liberties and human rights. Adriana Cadena, coordinator of Reform Immigration Texas Alliance (RITA) and Jesse Garcia, president of LULAC Council 4871 discussed the erosion of human rights in the United States as felt by the immigrant community.

Khalil Meek, executive director of the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) spoke about the chilling effects of post 911 “Pre-emptive

Prosecutions” and “Material Support Statutes.” David Broiles, a member of the Texas Legal Panel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas discussed ACLUTX litigation concerning First Amendment issues, specifically, intimidation and arrests of antiwar and other protesters.

This seminar was sponsored by the Dallas Peace Center, along with CAIR-TX, MLFA, RITA, LULAC Council 4371, and ACLUTX, Border Network for Human Rights.

Mothers Day No War 11

Reflection

Peace Begins With Me

by Len Ellis 2012 Board Member As we transition into a new year, I invite you to reflect back on 2011, specifically to times where you have made a difference. I'm hoping you are acknowledging your contribution, no matter how big or small. With each act, together, we all add to creating a consciousness of peace and nonviolence.

And what about this coming year?

Martin Luther King said "If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live." Biting words, for sure, and while some of us may not have a cause we are willing to die for, I'm wondering how many of us have a cause we are willing to LIVE for?

Are we living what we believe? Something that we believe in so passionately that we devote our time, talent and treasure to promote that cause, to stand up for what is right. While we may be deemed a martyr for giving our life for a cause, I think more importantly we can be a hero for devoting our life TO a cause.

For many of us, the New Year also brings resolutions statements about how we may want to change.

Although we can decide to change a behavior at any time, the New Year provides a convenient break point.

Thing is, change is always happening, all around us, and we get to choose how we interact with that change. We have the gift of choice, and we can choose to give, or choose to make a difference in someone's life, or choose to model peace in the face of conflict. Or not.

- release and don’t participate in judgment and condemnation, - practice acts of kindness on a regular basis, - bring peace and reconciliation to every circumstance, - confront, then resolve nonviolently, any conflict that comes up, - discover, then be an advocate for, that cause you are willing to live for.

Louse Diamond, founder of The Peace Company, says “As we turn from thinking about what we are against to thinking about what we are for, we find an ever-stronger desire to be part of the solution and not the problem.”

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Realizing that what we desire most is to be happy, and that if there is war, poverty, hunger, scandal, deception, corruption, greed, violence, abuse, going on all around us, it may be difficult to detach and find that happiness.

While most of these 'big picture' conflicts are out of our direct control, we can chose to not participate in them, and more importantly, we can chose to live a life that does not include these behaviors. When we do this, when we live in what the Dalai Lama calls 'positive ethical conduct', then we are contributing to the consciousness of peace, we are adding to the possibility that some day, happiness is the norm.

The idea of happiness and a peaceful life goes back to ancient Greece, to Aristotle, where he espouses the value of leading a virtuous life. Both Aristotle and the Dalai Lama (and many along the way) admit that it is easier to lose control, to overreact, to create conflict, than it is to live positively. And by direct inference, this means it is up to ME, it's in MY control, which way to live. In other words, Peace Begins With ME!

In the tradition of New Year Resolutions, I'd like to suggest that on our way to finding a cause we are willing to live for, we resolve to: - treat each other with respect and dignity, Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

Ken Butigan Summer Lectures 12

DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

Advocacy Workshop Explores Avenues for Working for Peace and Justice

by Trish Major The persistent myth that Rosa Parks independently decided to keep her seat on a bus a half century ago has been a disservice to peace and justice organizers everywhere. Parks had taken extensive nonviolence training, and had been a part of detailed planning sessions before she took her place in history.

The people of Syria are now the ones making history, so like justice pioneers before them, north Texas Syrians, knowing the value training and planning, came (along with others) to an Advocacy Workshop at which longtime peace activists revealed how to most effectively work for justice.

The afternoon started with Det. Darvin Hill of the Dallas Police Department’s Criminal Intelligence Unit. The Dallas Peace Center and other peace and justice groups have worked closely with Hill and his colleagues as they have planned demonstrations over many years. When notified ahead of time, Hill’s unit can assign a detective to the event who will advise the demonstrators on the legality of their plans and act as a mediator between demonstrators and any others who might try to obstruct or abridge their rights – be it passersby, counterdemonstrators, property managers or other officers.

Hill said in his experience, he almost never has problems with unruly peace activists; when problems arise, they usually are due to people reacting to the demonstrators’ message or trying to curb demonstrators’ free speech rights.

A couple pieces of information that every demonstrator should know are: • You have the right to demonstrate on any public sidewalk, as long as you don’t obstruct pedestrian traffic. (The one exception is the sidewalks directly in front of Federal buildings.)

• You do not need a permit to demonstrate on public property, be it a sidewalk or a park.

• When there is a dispute, the senior officer at the scene ultimately decides the outcome on that day –

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Advocacy

after all, he or she is the one with the handcuffs, right?

Hill encouraged all participants to call him whenever they plan a public action.

Jan Sanders has been entrenched in the world of politics since before her husband, the late Barefoot Sanders, was a Texas State Representative in the ‘50s. He went on to be Assistant Attorney General in the LBJ White House, and then was a Federal Judge until his retirement in 2006. Along the way, Jan Sanders accumulated a wealth of knowledge on how to work the political system, and used in her own activism. She imparted practical information through a handout and through having participants work in small groups.

The handout included information on recruiting other volunteers to work on your issue, writing letters and communicating effectively. It also included two important worksheets to fill out before and after visiting a public official.

The “Issue Analysis Worksheet” asks basic questions that need to be answered before an successful visit to a decisionmaker. For instance, “Where is the decision made?” Is your issue a city or a county matter? Is it handled by an elected official or a government agency?

Other questions include “When is the decision made?” and “Who are other persons that contribute heavily to the decision-making process?”

After a visit, citizen lobbyists should immediately fill out the “Day of Advocacy” worksheet that includes questions like “What is the legislator’s opinion on the issue?” and “What did you ask for?” and “How did they answer.”

Workshop participants divided into small groups to plan visits around agreed upon issues.

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Rinku Sen Summer Lectures

Mavis Belisle, a DPC board member and longtime peace and environmental activist, started her talk on peacekeeping during demonstrations by emphasizing that rallies should be viewed as activities that are supplementary to the political process. “No decisions are made on the street,” she said. “What we do is leveraging the decisionmakers.” Another benefit of group demonstrations is that is builds solidarity with your own cohorts. “They see themselves acting together and there is an empowering aspect to that.”

During the civil rights movement, leaders tried to train every participant in nonviolence. But when people started protesting the Vietnam War, crowds grew so quickly and were so wide-spread that not everyone could be trained, to organizers started training peacekeepers. When the war ended and peace activists had some breathing room, they came up with a standard set of goals for peacekeepers: safety, effective communication, and making n event that people will want to come back to.

Belisle listed the threats to these goals at a demonstration:

• The larger the numbers, the more probability of

people getting hurt and in need of basic first aid.

• Counter-protestors can cause problems either

individually or as an organized action: Belisle said that violence is like a spark of fire, and the best way to keep it from ruining an event is to isolate it until it burns itself out. She suggested that peacekeepers surround a one-on-one controversy until it is over so it doesn’t flow out to the rest of the group. Likewise, for a group of counterprotesters, peacekeepers should form a barrier to separate them from the group.

• As Hill mentioned earlier, police can be a problem if they see themselves as protectors of the status quo rather than defenders of civil rights.

• Individuals intending no harm can spoil a rally –

people under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or who are mentally ill.

Belisle cautioned participants to be aware of their body language when dealing with people who oppose them.

She had them line up facing each other and argue over a topic. After a couple minutes she told them her observations: that they stepped forward, reducing the space between them; they raised their voices; and they began using large gestures.

A participant, thinking of the brutality being inflicted on protesters in Syria, asked if there is a way for people to protest peacefully and not get hurt. Belisle said No. She said that the decision to protest nonviolently is a longrange, big picture decision. The people of Syria have decided to make individual sacrifices for the good of their country and its future, and we must respect that decision and support it in spite of the heartbreak that comes with it. Belisle predicted that, although the sacrifice is greater in Syria, the end result will be a more stable government that in countries that revolted in a violent manner.

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After the small group activity, Sanders gave basic advice on visiting elected officials: make an appointment for a visit, and write a letter letting them know what you are going to talk about (If the official cannot meet with you, meet with a staff member); be polite and truthful; dress properly and be respectful; do not be intimidated – this is your office; have a specific request of them, and bring information to back up your request; leave something behind, whether it is information or a plate of cookies.

The workshop ended with Johnny Wolf, who has made banners and publicized events in and around Dallas for many years. He said the first thing to do in messaging is to empty yourself of anger. Then find tha thing that reveals the heart of the problem. For example, when the Holy Land Foundation was on trial for working through Hamas to give aid to Palestinians, peace and justice demonstrators said, “Feeding hungry children is not a crime.” When Cindy Sheehan protested the war in which President George W. Bush said her son died for a noble cause, she asked “For what noble cause?” Wolf encouraged participants to use messages that are universal truths, that create solidarity among all people.

At one point in the workshop, DPC Board Member Ian Hunter, who lived in South Africa during apartheid and participated in demonstrations for freedom there, encouraged participants to go outside the box when considering ways to influence decisions. Try something new, he said. Use every angle to work for peace and justice.

Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

Matthew Hoh Summer Lectures 14

DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

Cycling Vets Challenge Military Attitudes, Actions

by Trish Major Jacob George grew up in a farming family in Arkansas where military service was deeply honored. Three weeks after 9/11 he began his first tour of duty. The first time he went to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, he jumped out of a helicopter and came face to face with the “enemy” – a Pakistani farmer who was out in his field and who was terrified. It hit George at that time that this was not a combatant, but was just a farmer trying to survive, much the same way his family was in Arkansas. A good soldier, he tucked this observation back in his brain, not to retrieve it until he left the service.

Spencer Hindmarsh grew up experiencing the horrors of war, not in a war zone but dealing with his father’s post traumatic stress after service in Vietnam. Hindmarsh’s dad left Vietnam in 1968, but wasn’t diagnosed with PTSD until 1995. Hindmarsh witnessed his father’s struggle with anger, violence and eventually a broken marriage. When Hindmarsh failed out of college due to maturity problems, his father recommended that he enlist in the Air Force rather than the Army. He ended up flying 35 missions over Afghanistan in a spy plane, and becoming fluent in Hebrew. He found that there are truths that are kept from service members and the public that need to be told.

George and Hindmarsh rode their bicycles into the Dallas/Fort Worth and spent the second week of August here, talking at churches and activist groups, and participating in vigils and demonstrations against the war.

They are members of Operation Awareness, an organization which is sponsoring “A Ride to the End,” in which veterans ride bicycles across the United States, spreading the message that both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars must end. Hosted by Ramsey Sprague of 1919 Hemphill in Fort Worth, the two spoke to the Dallas Peace Center’s Middle East Peace Committee on August 10.

George said that it wasn’t until he shed his military identity and assumed his civilian identity that he realized, “I was a terrorist for the largest terrorist organization in the world: the U.S. military.”

Both men found in their experience that reasons given to the public for going to war were non-existent within the military, and information known by some members of he military was unknown by others. This lack of transparency not only causes confusion, it breeds apathy in all sectors. “My actions weren’t for freedom – to liberate Afghans or to free women,” said George. “It’s a surreal moment when you find your identity.”

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War

Hindmarsh said that the truths of the military are compartmentalized so the truths of a guy in a spy plane aren’t told to a guy on the ground and vice versa. For example, Hindmarsh was never told about the number of civilian casualties that he and his colleagues were racking up. He also never witnessed any discussion about finding Osama Bin Laden although, stateside, that was assumed to be a main purpose of the mission.

The U.S. presence in the Middle East has been fraught with cultural insensitivity, which has added to casualties and inefficiencies. Afghanistan is not governed centrally, but by many area leaders, said George. “If you want peace, you talk to the leaders – so why do we go around killing the leaders?” Hindmarsh noted that once a civilian is killed, his friends want justice (or revenge) and join the Taliban. “Bomb a wedding and you have a hundred people who want to join the Taliban,” he said. George added that the more troops you bring in, the stronger the insurgency grows and more shooting occurs. Naturally, more civilians will get caught in the crossfire, prompting more people to join the Taliban, causing a snowball effect.

The vets are convinced that the U.S. has stayed in Iraq and Afghanistan so long because of their proximity to Iran, and they see little evidence that we will be leaving soon. George said that on his first tour to Afghanistan in 2001, infrastructure was built to leave a minor footprint; when he went on his third tour, he found the military pouring concrete, indicating a long-term stay. Hindmarsh said that there are contracts for buildings that will still be in effect even after President Obama’s planned exit date.

He said that for every “combat” troop deployed, there are 10 “support” soldiers, so when Obama announces that combat troops will pull out, his commitment to leave is not very strong – as long as support troops are there, that decision can be reversed very easily.

The vets are committed to riding around the country and talking to groups until the U.S. is out of Iraq and Afghanistan. “I don’t even like the words ‘win’ and ‘lose’ in Afghanistan,” said Hindmarsh. “I don’t see win and lose in the situation at all. It’s all economics.” George added, “A major shift needs to take place that makes the military not a part of the economy. A cultural shift must take place.”

To follow the vets’ progress, go to www.operationawareness.org.

International

No Peace for Children in Syria

By Maisaa Hesham Edited by Rania Kisar

Ibrahim Jamal al-­‐Jahamani, a fellow prisoner who said he witnessed the brutal scene in Syria in May, heard the interrogators demand that the 15-­‐year-­‐old proclaim strongman Bashar Assad as his "beloved" president (Halaby, & Mroue, 2011)

The Syrian regime of Bashar al-­‐Assad con=nues to a?empt brutal repression of peaceful protestors through torture and killing. The following are stories of three children who were vic=ms of this brutality.

Sources of the informa=on are included at the end of the ar=cle.

The youth, later iden=fied as Tamer Mohammed al-­‐ Sharei, refused. Instead, he chanted an oSen-­‐heard slogan from an=-­‐regime street protests calling for "freedom and the love of God and our country." (Halaby, & Mroue, 2011)

Ola Yaser Jablawi 2009-­‐2011:

Tamer's refusal apparently was the final straw for the interrogators (Halaby, & Mroue, 2011)

On August 14, 2011, the residents of a small town near the city of Hama in the northern parts of Syria received a warning of their town geOng bombed. Ola Yaser Jablawi’s parents made the quick decision to flee the town leaving behind everything but their li?le one.

Minutes later they reached the check points of the Syrian Regime who immediately began shoo=ng at them without any previous warnings. Bullets went into the car from all direc=ons leaving li?le Ola dead from a bullet in her eye. As her father steps out of the car to check on his li?le girl, the regime shot him in the shoulder as well and abducts him to an unknown place =ll now. Ola was the only child to her parents who had her aSer 8 years of marriage. Now, the father is wounded and detained, the mother is mourning the loss of her li?le princess and Ola lost her precious life by the brutality of the Syrian Regime (Kisar, 2011).

Thamer Al-­‐Sharei 1996-­‐2011: Extracts as reported by the Associated Press from an eyewitness who was detained in the same torture camp the child was in: “Inside a filthy deten=on torture camp in Damascus, eight or nine interrogators repeatedly bludgeoned a skinny teenager whose hands were bound and who bore a bullet wound on the leS side of his chest. They struck his head, back, feet and genitals un=l he was leS on the floor of a cell, bleeding from his ears and crying out for his mother and father to help him.” (Halaby, & Mroue, 2011)

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"Guards broke his right wrist, bea=ng him with clubs on his hands, which were =ed behind his back," al-­‐ Jahamani told The Associated Press aSer his release from deten=on, referring to the bea=ngs as torture.

"They also beat him on the face, head, back, feet and genitals un=l he bled from the nose, mouth and ears and fell unconscious," he recalled.

"He pleaded for mercy and yelled: 'Mom, dad, come rescue me!'" al-­‐Jahamani said. "He was lying like a dog on the floor in his underwear, with blood covering his body. But his interrogators had no compassion that they were savagely bea=ng a boy," al-­‐Jahamani added, his voice breaking with emo=on (Halaby, & Mroue, 2011).

"He gave him an injec=on and they started bea=ng him again," concentra=ng on his feet and genitals, and the boy started bleeding from his ears, al-­‐Jahamani said.

The next day, the teenager's screams abruptly stopped and al-­‐Jahamani said he never heard a sound from him again (Halaby, & Mroue, 2011) Tamer's death became known in June, when blurry cellphone videos showed the teen's bruised and bullet-pocked body, missing most of his teeth, in a wooden coffin. In one clip, a woman cries out: "This is my son! I swear this is my son!" (Halaby, & Mroue, 2011) (Con%nue Next Page)

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DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

No Peace for Children in Syria (Con%nue From Page 16) Al-Jahamani said he saw the video after his release and instantly recognized the dead youth as the teen from the detention center. He had heard interrogators call him "Tamer." (Halaby, & Mroue, 2011) Hamza Al Khateeb 1998-­‐2011 A young boy from the city of Daraa south of Damascus with a compelling story that has become the symbol of the Syrian Revolu=on! The li?le boy was abducted by the Syrian Regime while in a peaceful protest only to return to his parents 15 days later as a mu=lated dead corpse.

A story of horror from April 29-­‐ May 24: “The child had spent nearly a month in the custody of Syrian security, and when they finally returned his corpse it bore the scars of brutal torture: Lacera=ons, bruises and burns to his feet, elbows, face and knees, consistent with the use of electric shock devices and of being whipped with cable, both techniques of torture documented by Human Rights Watch as being used in Syrian prisons during the bloody three-­‐month crackdown on protestors” (Flamandt, & Macleodast, 2011). Hamza's eyes as appeared in the pictures were swollen from bea=ngs as well as wounds of iden=cal bullet where he had apparently been shot through both arms, the bullets tearing a hole in his sides and lodging in his belly as the coroner’s office reported (Flamandt, & Macleodast, 2011). “His neck was broken and his penis cut off” as documented in many youtube videos (Flamandt, & Macleodast, 2011).

"When Hamza's mother came to see the body she was only shown his face," said the cousin, who was

Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

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present at the =me."We tried to tell the father not to look, but he pulled the blanket back. When he saw Hamza's body he fainted. People ran to help him and some started filming -­‐ it was chaos" (Flamandt, & Macleodast, 2011).

References Kisar, R. (2011, August 14). #latakia #syria [Web log message]. Retrieved from h?p:// www.twitlonger.com/show/cda3jj Halaby, J, & Mroue, B. (2011, July 7). tamer mohammed al-­‐sharei bea=ng described by fellow protester. Retrieved from h?p:// www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/08/tamer-­‐ mohammed-­‐al-­‐share-­‐syria-­‐torture-­‐ allega=ons_n_893080.html Flamandt, A, & LMacleodast, H. (2011, May 31).Tortured and killed: hamza al-­‐khateeb, age 13.

Retrieved from h?p://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/ features/2011/05/201153185927813389.html

Rania Kisar is the founder of the Virtual Freedom Riders, a closed facebook group that encompasses 85 cyber freedom activists who hop in and out of different blogs, pages, twitter events accomplishing objectives that are informative – sharing recent news about Syria; supportive – offering translation services to the Syrian Revolution pages on facebook; and combative – holding intellectual, factual, and peaceful debates with people who may oppose the quest for freedom. For more information on how to join our team, please contact syrianfreedomrider@gmail.com.

Advocacy

Constituents Visit Sen. Cornyn's Office About Military Spending in the Middle East

by Trish Major A group of five people connected to the Dallas Peace Center and other peace and justice organizations visited Sen. John Cornyn’s office on August 18 to discuss how military spending in the Middle East during a time of fiscal crisis is a bad investment. The group, which included natives of Pakistan and Syria, was welcomed

by Sen. Cornyn’s Deputy Regional Director Collin McLochlin.

Leslie Harris, a member of the DPC, Military Families Speak Out, and Veterans For Peace, began the conversation saying that she was shocked that in the endless budget discussions this year, the military budget hardly gets a mention, even though the occupation of Afghanistan is costing $123.9 billion a year.

McLochlin assured the group that, as far at Sen. Cornyn is concerned, everything is on the table for budget cuts, and he will be looking closely at eliminating duplication of efforts while maintaining a strong defense.

Harris took issue with the term “defense,” and continued to explain that, as it is being spent now, the U.S. military dollar is not buying more security. In fact, the U.S. presence in the Middle East and the needless killing of civilians has only strengthened the insurgency.

McLochlin concurred that civilian killing “nullifies what we are trying to do.” He added that he was seeing more Representatives, liberal and conservative, coming out to talk about the fiscal cost of war. He admitted, however, that Sen. Cornyn usually likes to defer to the generals on military matters.

Hadi Jawad of the DPC spoke of the incongruence of a U.S.-Afghanistan war. “My country, the richest and most moral in the world, is bombing the crap out of the poorest country in the world,” he said. “Our words are ringing hollow.”

He asked to convey to the Senator, “When you are faced with either our national interest or commitment to our national values, please err on the side of our values.”

He also made three specific requests: To reduce the rhetoric against Pakistan; to stop drone strikes that have

killed so many innocents; and to refrain from using the term “Islamic terrorism,” since it makes no more sense than “Christian terrorism.”

Ahmad Kayyas of the DPC and Coalition for Free Syria said that now is the time for the U.S. to build allies by standing firmly with the people of Syria. Kayyas said that reports say government troops have killed 2,600 of their own citizens, including 160 children, however that number is surely higher because people are so fearful of the Assad regime that often, when a son is killed, the family buries him quietly in the back yard so as not to attract attention.

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Kayyas asked that Senator Cornyn use his influence to tell Bashar al-Assad to step down, to call for sanctions on Syrian oil and gas, and to arrange for humanitarian and medical support for the people of Syria.

McLochlin took notes throughout the meeting and assured the constituents that he would communicate their concerns and requests to Sen. Cornyn.

After Division of Sudan, Horrors of Darfur Now Visited on Nuba Mountains

by Paulette Cooper www.nubapeace.org Shrapnel is dangerous for all living things, especially children of any age. The people of the Nuba Mountains in Sudan understand this. They see it played out on a daily basis. Lives are cut short, bodies cut in half, and wounds so severe they cannot be treated.

There is one doctor, few medical supplies, infections are rampant, and there is no end in sight. It is the same thing happening here as in Darfur. Why here in the Nuba Mountains this time? Why the bombing? Why the terror? Why is the President of Sudan, Omar Bashir, doing this to his own people?

Why any of it? And the even bigger question is: What can we as caring people do?

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After division of Sudan, horrors of Darfur now visited on Nuba Mountains

(Continue from Page 18) Sudan is now two independent countries.

After a vote by the people July 9th of this year, the country was divided into The Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan. During the North/South War, which was fought for 22 years, the people of the Nuba Mountains had aligned themselves with the South, and when the country was divided, the Nuba Mountains because part of North Sudan. That war was ended by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005.

After the vote to divide into two countries, the government of North Sudan began bombing the Nuba Mountain people. They raided the villages, destroyed the crops, killed the animals, and killed the people.

During the day, the people flee from the villages into the mountains to hide. They are not able to farm their crops. Starvation is now becoming major concern. A drought persists.

We cannot watch and utter the words, "Not on my watch!" Please take the time to make a difference. One person always makes a difference. You make a difference by doing nothing because it allows the status quo to continue. One voice matters. Make yours matter. Write to the President of the United States and ask that he intervene on humanitarian interests. We as a people cannot stand by while hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children are slaughtered through a strategy of genocide.

Learn about the situation there. When you do, tell the story to anyone who does not know it.

Here are some websites that will provide information: www.enoughproject.org, www.time.com/time/world/article/ 0,8599,2078615,00.html, www.sudantribune.com/Ethnic-cleansingonce-again,38972. These websites will provide visual evidence of the Nuba Mountains conflict: www.philmoore.info/ photography/documentary/nuba-mountainsconflict, http://www.globalpost.com/photogalleries/planet-pic/5670975/sudans-nubapeople-flee-attacks.

You are the power of one. You make a difference. Please do so.

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North Texans Hear Hibakusha’s Story of Hiroshima’s Devastation

by Trish Major As a 14 year old factory worker in Hiroshima, Mrs. Kajimoto was two or three kilometers from the hypocenter of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

Because she is determined that no one else ever go through what she did on that day and for years afterward, she is willing to relive the pain of her experience by telling her story in great detail. About 20 Dallas peace activists and community members were able to listen to Kajimoto and talk with her directly through a live videoconference on March 29 as part of a program presented by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

The museum set a goal of presenting a photo poster exhibit and providing a teleconference in every state, and that evening Steve Leeper, Chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, announced that its goal had been met: Texas was the 50th state to make the presentation, thanks mostly to the efforts of DPC board member Mavis Belisle.

The Dallas Event began with a reception at which posters and photographs were displayed that documented the beginning of the nuclear age: the capability of the technology and the carnage that it wrought. During that time, Jo Wharton taught participants how to fold a peace crane. When the group moved into the teleconferencing room, Janet Ellis led them in a song, and Njoki McElroy, an SMU professor and well-known storyteller, told the true tale of Sadako, the girl in Hiroshima who tried to fold 1,000 cranes as she died of radiation poisoning.

In the teleconference Kajimoto told the story of how, as a young teenager, she worked in a factory making airplane parts.

She saw a flash of light and then the building collapsed around her. When she and a friend finally freed themselves from the wreckage they went outside to find an even more horrific scene as broken and dying people begged for water and comfort. She told of the days she spent helping to care for sick people; she described the sensation of walking on skin that separated from the bones of people lying on the ground and the stench of decomposing bodies.

“I don’t want you to ever have to see any scene like that, and I don’t want to die like that,” she said.

Leeper stressed that the world is at a turning point. “We are deciding right now whether to eliminate nuclear weapons or let everybody have them,” he said. “It is an issue of a dominance paradigm versus a partnership paradigm, a peace culture versus a war culture.”

He encouraged people to get their city to be a part of Mayors for Peace, a program initiated by Hiroshima Mayor Takeshi Araki in 1982 to promote the solidarity of cities toward the total abolition of nuclear weapons. A petition on the website mayorsforpeace.org calls for leaders of nuclear states to not target cities and make a good faith effort to abolish nuclear weapons by 2020. He also encouraged people to participate in worldwide demonstrations to demand negotiations for a nuclear free world.

Pastors for Peace Passes Through Dallas, Encourage Enrollment in Cuba Medical School

By Trish Major Pastors for Peace is headed for Cuba for the 22nd time – but it is the first time the caravan has made the trip since founder Lucius Walker died last September. Members of the caravan say that Walker’s spirit still permeates the trip, and his drive for justice is still honored by the actions of the men and women who are making this stand against the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

Caravanistas began their journeys in the north, working their way through the Midwest, picking up people along the way, joining those on other routes, and eventually coming together McAllen, TX, where they plan to defy the American blockade of Cuba and cross into Mexico with the intention of bringing medical, construction and education supplies to Cuba.

Of the thirteen routes aimed at the border, six passed through Dallas on Friday, July 15. In the relaxed setting of the Pan-African Connection, travelers ate a potluck meal, met old and new friends on the trip, talked with Dallas supporters and heard about the Latin American School of Medicine.

Caravanistas had come on routes that started from Berkeley, CA; Winnipeg, Canada; Fargo, ND; Minneapolis, MN; Fort Wayne, IN; and Albany, NY. People on other routes would pass through San Antonio and Houston before heading from McAllen.

Luis Barrios, an Episcopal priest and IFCO board member, told a short history of Cuban-American relations.

It began with the arrogance that brought us the Monroe Doctrine and the idea of “manifest destiny,” excuses for plundering Latin American resources. It continued through the black Cuban liberation movement in 1898 and

FAITH

its suppression by the U.S. Marines until the victory of the people’s movement of 1958, whereupon the U.S. declared war on Cuba. The U.S. blockade of Cuba has continued for more than 50 years, limiting the movement of goods in and out of that country.

The original assumption was that without American goods, the Cuban people would revolt against the new government; it probably never occurred to the framers of the policy that Cuba could not only survive, but excel an area as vital and complex as medicine, and yet Cuban doctors are known all over the world. In a staggering display of generosity, Cuba not only sends doctors to poor, underserved countries, but it invites students from all over the world to take advantage of its medical school, free of cost, and return to their countries when they have graduated.

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Today, there are 150 American students being educated in the 6-year program at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana. Two of them, Darna Banks and Graham Sowa were present to talk about their experience.

They said that the school takes a holistic approach to health, emphasizing preventive medicine and community involvement. Classrooms are cooperative rather than competitive, and students are expected to take responsibility for each others’ success.

The students said that all expenses are paid, except for travel to and from Cuba. Students are offered either a 6month or year-long intensive Spanish course to prepare them for classes, which are conducted in Spanish.

The evening concluded early, although there were many questions about the medical school, so that caravanistas could start out for McAllen early the next morning and, in the spirit of Lucius Walker, reach out to Cuba.

Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

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DALLASPEACETIMES January 2012

Rinku Sen: Focus on Racial Inequity Explicitly, but not Exclusively

By Trish Major Rinku Sen, director of the Applied Research Center, would agree with Anne Frank when she wrote that “in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” In her talk at the Dallas Peace Center’s second summer dinner lecture of 2011, Sen explained that too often, when battling racism, we focus our attention on the racism of individuals instead of dealing with the structures and institutions that mold our opinions and ideas. She said she believes that only a minute number of people relish being racists, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t constantly absorbing “us & them” tutorials that are a part of our society.

At the event held at the Dallas Farmers Market on July 14, Sen recounted her own journey of awareness. As the child of Indian immigrant parents, Sen was most concerned about fitting in. She watched hours of TV, readily accepted non-race-related explanations for being left out and, when she went off to Brown University for college, had no intention of being a student activist. However, after a campus incident of race-related violence, her friends staged an “intervention,” and let her know she needed to be involved in this case. She said that when she went to the demonstration demanding accountability, she felt like she belonged for the first time. She realized that being an American wasn’t about fitting in, but investing in making your community the best it can be.

“Racial justice,” said Sen, “is about winning things!

It’s about changing the rules!” She said those who work for racial justice must move out in front of oppressors, and instead of being reactive, say, “This is our vision!”

Sen cautioned the audience to not be fooled by racial justice imposters like “diversity” and “equality.” While these are positive things, they are not substitutes. Diversity, she said, only refers to the bodies in the room – not whether they all are able to contribute at the same level. Equality refers to receiving the same things regardless of need. What is truly needed for racial justice is equity.

Sen laid out the four different levels of racism: internalized, in which you personally harbor racist attitudes; interpersonal, in which you reveal racist attitudes when dealing with others; institutional, in which written and unwritten rules in our institutions reveal racism; and structural, in which the system on which parts of our society are organized are racist.

Sen said that racism is such a part of who we are, at all these levels, that the only way to escape it is through

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intentionality. When people have a dominant frame in their heads, they tend to throw out the facts that don’t fit in the frame.

She also emphasized that these levels are not a chronology. “We can’t wait until we become anti-racist people to do racial justice work,” she said. We must change our focus from “Who is a racist?” to “What is causing racial inequity?” She suggested that we always focus on racial inequity explicitly, but not exclusively: our thinking should be, “Race and…”

She offered two examples: First, involving the Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN), and second, the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY).

ICAN, a statewide advocacy organization for social, racial, and economic justice, was hearing that a lot of people were being rejected from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (ChIP) for low-income families. The organization decided to test whether there was a racial element to the rejections. After sending trios of applicants that were equally qualified to receive ChIP – one white, one Native American and one Latino – they discovered that the application forms and hours of operation a problem, and Latino applicants were being asked intrusive questions such as “Are you legal?” “Who are your children’s fathers?” “Are all these children yours?” By working on the racial aspect of the problem, ICAN was able to solve problems that applied to all the applicants.

Further evidence that solving problems for those on the fringes of society can improve conditions for everybody comes from ROC-NY. The organization was formed to give power to restaurant workers, especially those in the back of the house, which is more dangerous and mostly minority.

When a server at a high-end restaurant came to ROC-NY saying that her manager demanded that servers give him 10 percent of their tips at the end of the night, ROC-NY mobilized to combat this illegal practice. However, it insisted that table bussers (who are also dependent on tips) be included in the lawsuit. By including “the back of the house,” the group was able to organize 260 workers to win $4 million in back wages and penalties for tip-dependent workers.

The only people who would help the servers were those on the margins, said Sen. Yet when you bring in the outer edges, all are included in the benefits.

Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

Young Artist for Peace 21

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American-Pakistani Conference Discusses Women's Rights, U.S. Relations

By Trish Major On July 24, Pakistani-Americans in the Dallas area showed their love for their native land in a sincere and sometimes painful manner – they openly discussed its shortcomings, and talked of ways it could improve. The Pakistan Independence Day Convention and Focus Pakistan Conference celebrated 64 years of autonomy, but acknowledged that improvements must be made in the areas of women’s rights and U.S. relations in order to ensure justice and peace for all citizens.

Shahnaz Bokhari, founder of the Progressive Women’s Association, said that women’s rights issues have always been pushed to the back of the closet. That is why she began the PWA in 1986 – to expose gender violence and make it an important issue on national and international levels. “If such issues are not brought to the scene, how will they be worked on?” she asked.

According to Bokhari, violence against women is customized according to the traditions of different provinces in Pakistan. Among the atrocities committed against women are bartering women for land, burning by acid, gas or oil, honor killing, rape and marriage to the Quran (which is used to make sure that a daughter never marries, thereby keeping wealth within the family).

Several speakers at the conference said the U.S.-Pakistan relations are marred by mistrust. Aftab Siddiqui, Chair of the Save Pakistan Committee and board member of the Dallas Peace Center, presented a brief history, outlining a long period of close friendship between the nations from Pakistan’s inception until the ‘70s, when it was on the front lines of the Soviet-Afghan war. Today, Pakistan is again on the frontlines of war with Afghanistan. Siddiqui said, “No other country has suffered so much for being a friend to the U.S.” Pakistan's The Dawn newspaper’s Washington Bureau Chief Anwar Iqbal sees the mistrust between the nations in his work. He said that the U.S. does not believe that Pakistan is doing what it can to fight terrorism and is protecting terrorist groups. Pakistan believes that the U.S. has alternative motives for its actions other than fighting terrorism, and its relationship with India is too close for Pakistan’s comfort.

Mahera Rahman, executive director of the Council on Pakistan Relations, lobbies in Washington D.C. on behalf of Pakistani-Americans. She said that one way to help U.S.-Pakistan relations is for more Pakistani-Americans to be involved in the political process.

PWA has followed the cases of thousands of domestic violence victims, publicizing their situations and demanding that the government take action to protect them. “Laws have been changing,” said Bokhari. “Women are bringing in bills, but it is a slow and steady struggle.”

One specific problem, she said, is the way in which the U.S. distributes aid to Pakistan. It is ineffective because it is spread so thinly. “We are saying that money should be invested in signature projects that have tangible outcomes.” She suggested hydroelectric dams or schools.

“Invest in something that would be transformational in Pakistan.”

Kelli Obazee, director of the Dallas Peace Center, observed, “When you handle these issues about women, you elevate the entire society.”

The event was sponsored by the Pakistan Council of Dallas Ft. Worth and cosponsored by the Dallas Peace Center and the Muslim Democratic Caucus of Texas.

Ross: Discrimination of Immigrants Inconsistent With Christian Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience 22

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Operation Recovery Works to Keep Traumatized Soldiers off the Front Lines

By Trish Major Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Traumatic Brain Injury.

Military Sexual Trauma.

Currently 20 to 40 percent of deployed military personnel are suffering from one or more of these conditions. Seventeen percent of those serving in Afghanistan are taking psychotropic drugs. Sick soldiers are being sent to fight our wars.

Operation Recovery, a project of Iraq Veterans Against the War, is a campaign to organize the military community so it can defend its right to heal from war and end the deployment of traumatized troops. Several members of the Operation Recovery Team were in Dallas on July 22 at First Unitarian Church to talk about the project.

The campaign has a two-pronged strategy: convince Congress to pass legislation forbidding the deployment of traumatized troops, and convince the troops themselves that they can refuse to deploy when they are suffering from trauma. One result of these actions may be ending the wars. Aaron Hughes, an organizing team leader for IVAW, said, “Our military depends on these wounded service members to perpetuate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Hughes was a member of the National Guard, and spent a year in Iraq.

Hughes introduced three IVAW members who have been meeting with GIs at Fort Hood, starting conversations with them, letting them know their rights and asking them to sign a petition. They ask the GIs’ advice on how to make things better for them. They also collect testimony to be compiled and sent to Congress.

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at about the same time that Operation Recovery was starting up. Kimble made a special point of exposing the problem of Military Sexual Trauma. One in three women in the military have reported sexual assault. He said that when we think of trauma, we generally think of male veterans, but there is a whole community of women that are suffering in silence. “Sexual aggression is implicit in a militarized society,” he said.

Sergio Kochergin was a Marine from 2002 to 2006 and completed three tours in Iraq. When he came home in 2006 he felt himself “slipping into a dark, dark hole.”

When he was called about IVAW he didn’t feel so alone anymore. He is convinced that the Vietnam War ultimately ended because he military was breaking down, and he sees that breakdown beginning now. He said that he expected negative reactions when he spoke to GIs at Fort Hood, but he found that most of them are receptive to what he has to say, and are tired of the military.

Malachi Muncy served with the National Guard in Iraq.

He felt like he had left part of himself in Iraq, and eight months after coming home he tried to commit suicide.

Then he volunteered to go back to Iraq. Today, he is incredulous that he was allowed to deploy, since he had attempted suicide and was on anti-anxiety drugs. When he returned he realized that the military did not have his best interests at heart.

Hughes said that the average service member is deployed three times. Each deployment increases the chances of trauma. “Whether it is sexual assault, bullets or bodies, these things remain in our minds,” he said.

Hughes said Operation Recovery will achieve its goals the same way the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee overcame Jim Crow laws in the South – by going door to door and letting people know that they have rights. One of them is the right to heal.

Scott Kimble, who was in the Army from 2003-2007 and deployed to Iraq, said he joined IVAW a year ago, Dallas Peace Center’s 2011 Timeline

Speakers Dr. Lloyd Jeff Dumas Author of The Peace Keeping Economy 23

Miko Peled Author of The General’s Son

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South Dallas Cultural Center Brings Culture of African Diaspora to Dallas The South Dallas Cultural Center isn’t just a place to go for education and entertainment. It is a home formed out of mutual adoption. SDCC has adopted the neighborhood, and the neighborhood has adopted SDCC. New children enter into the family, they grow up, and they stay connected. The Dallas Peace Center celebrates this relationship and the mutual respect between the Center and the community when it names the SDCC the 2011 Peacemaking Organization of the Year on December 1.

When SDCC was conceived and built 25 years ago, the people who fought for it wanted a cultural center for African American artistic expression, however the Center ended up having a multicultural focus, according to director Vicki Meek. Soon after, the City of Dallas brought in focus groups and consultants to find out what the neighborhood really wanted out of the Center. They found that the Center needed to narrow its focus to the African American and African Diaspora cultural community.

Meek took over the Center in 1997 and has concentrated on the international nature of the African Diaspora, bringing in cultural programs from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. She understands the desires of the South Dallas African American community because she is a part of it.

Coming from a family of community organizers, and having no publicity budget, she realized that everything was going to have to happen by word of mouth. When she came to SDCC she immediately started going to PTA meetings, hanging out at the Minyards, going to the barber shops. “The only way it works is if people know they can trust you and realize that you are serious about your commitment,” she said.

Part of that commitment means trying new ideas that are suggested by people in community. One thing that has surprised Meek is how often there will be a program that no one thought would be popular, and it was enthusiastically welcomed. She said one time Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando came to the Center for a festival of her work. When they were about to show one of her Spanish language films. Rolando was afraid no one would want to stay for it, but everyone

stayed and enjoyed the film. “Don’t get hung up on the language,” said Meek. “Look at the people; look at the culture.”

One of SDCC’s programs is Fahari Arts which reaches out to the African American lesbian and gay community. This program was suggested by Harold Steward, whose general impression of the black gay community is that it is primarily interested in partying.

He wanted to create a vehicle to express more than that, and today Fahari Arts (“fahari” means “proud” in Swahili) includes an open mike event called Queerly Speaking and a Queer Film Festival.

Other programs include Saturday classes is literacy, music, dance, visual arts and self improvement for which the SDCC partners with Big Thought and Chase Bank; the monthly Evening of Spoken Word, emceed

by Michael Guinn; Black Cinematique, which produces the Black Women’s Film Festival, Short & Sweet for regional African American filmmakers, Black Men’s Film Festival and the Black Comedy Film Festival. The Senior Cinema features a daytime screening once a month along with a program. Visual art shows in the Center’s Gallery rotate every two months.

Also calling the SDCC home are two resident dance companies, afterschool programs at three schools and the Juanita Craft Center, and a year-old African Diaspora percussion ensemble.

One of the newest programs, Soul Children’s Theater, acquaints young people and the community with the rich and extensive literary treasures of the African Diaspora. Its artistic director, Eva Wilson, exemplifies the SDCC’s place in the community. She went to the SDCC summer arts programs as a child, she got a Master’s degree at Temple University in Pennsylvania, and she has returned to give back.

Meek said, “The kids grew up here. They know it’s theirs. We made an investment in the community and the community invests in us.”

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Dallas Supports Gaza Freedom Flotilla With 'Human Ship'

By Trish Major As the Audacity of Hope sat behind barbed wire in the harbor of Greece on July 5, humanitarian activists in Dallas showed their solidarity with the boat’s captain, crew and passengers. Although Grecian authorities, under pressure from Israel and the U.S., halted the boat’s voyage to break the siege of Gaza, Dallas’s “human ship” sailed around downtown sidewalks during rush hour.

The Audacity of Hope, flying the U.S. flag, was one of 10 boats in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla II, a fleet assembled with passengers from the United States, Spain, France, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Ireland, Greece, Sweden and Norway. The purpose of the flotilla was to break through the illegal blockade that Israel has imposed on Gaza, severely limiting food, water, medicine, building materials and personal movement. All the ships were eventually thwarted The Irish ship was sabotaged. One of the French ships broke into international waters, but was boarded and redirected by the Israeli army when it neared Gaza.

Dallas area activists gathered at Dealey Plaza at 5:00 p.m. to form a “human ship” made from canvas and modeled after the Audacity of Hope. In the middle of the ship was a mainsail that said, “End the Siege.”

Speakers expressed frustration and consternation with the U.S. State Department, Greece, and American Jews for their support of Israel’s illegal blockade. Roger Kallenberg, a member of Jewish Voices for Peace, said, “I am heartbroken, I’m confused, I’m aggravated that the Dallas Jewish community is not out here with us.

They taught me about peace and justice.” He went on to describe how, in his 65 years as a member of the Dallas Jewish community, he has seen that community change.

Today, said Kallenberg, the single issue that unites all Jews is support of Israel. He gave two examples: After World War II, when northern Jews came to Dallas and clashed with the Jews that already been here for a while, and recently, when gay and lesbian Jews clashed with the mainstream Jewish community. In each case, the two groups were able to get along once allegiance to Israel was declared. It has become the litmus test for determining “good Jews” according to Kallenberg.

In a letter read by organizer Leslie Harris, Texas State Representative Lon Burnam declared, “When faced by unarmed, peaceful protesters, Israel’s heavyhandedness and brutality does not reflect the actions of a democracy, but how petty tyrants behave in the Middle East… The medical, commercial and

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humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza must be met – it is the law. Collective punishment is wrong, and there is no country in the world that understands that fact better than the people of Israel.”

Burnam also questioned the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel which has led to “blind political, diplomatic, and financial support for the illegal and counterproductive policies of the Israeli government.” It is especially distressing, he wrote, that in dire economic times, when we don’t have money for our children’s education, “yet we provide the Israeli military a blank check year after year.”

Activist Hadi Jawad expressed the passion of those on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, saying that there are 300 people on 10 boats saying, “We are tired of your subjugation, your oppression, your humiliation of the people of Palestine and Gaza – and today, you people of Dallas are standing in solidarity with them.” Jawad lifted up the names of some of those on the Audacity of Hope who have been frequent visitors to Dallas, and have become friends to many in the peace movement here: Col. Ann Wright, Medea Benjamin and Kathy Kelly.

Kelli Obazee, executive director of the Dallas Peace Center, said, “These journeys for human rights, equity and peace are long, hard journeys, and they are taken by those who persevere and who recognize their small victories along the way.” Obazee celebrated these small victories when she recognized that there were new faces in the crowd, younger faces, and that she was contacted by a member of the Jewish community for dialogue.

After the speeches, the “human ship” set off on the sidewalk and, with the help of the Dallas Police Department, stopped traffic along the way during its 4block cruise of downtown Dallas. Passengers on the “ship” chanted, “What do we want?” “Freedom!”

“Where do we want it?” “GAZA!”

Dallas Remembers Bombing of Nagasaki

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by Trish Major Members of the Dallas peace community came together on August 9, 66 years after the bombing of Nagasaki, to remember the horror and recommit to preventing it from happening again.

The interior of the Interfaith Peace Chapel on the campus of the Cathedral of Hope was lined with posters explaining the technical aspects of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and depicting the unspeakable human toll. However, in the center of the chapel stood a Peace Pole, surrounded by the flags of the countries of the world, silently proclaiming global friendship and humanity.

Mavis Belisle, chair of the Dallas Peace Center’s Nuclear Free World Committee, hosted the event, which was co-sponsored by the Interfaith Peace Chapel and Dallas Pax Christi.

Joyce Hall of Dallas Pax Christi reflected on the stand of the Catholic Church on the morality of deterrence. She said that in 1983, Catholic bishops issued a statement that nuclear weapons are unacceptable, and should only be kept for purposes of deterrence. This statement was essentially repeated in 1993.

By 1998 the Cold War was clearly over and yet the U.S. was still spending $60 billion annually for nuclear weapons. At this time the bishops observed that the deterrence policy had become institutionalized and was an impediment to peace. Finally, in 2005 the Vatican signaled a change in Catholic moral teaching on nuclear weapons, saying that deterrence should only be considered a step, not a permanent situation, and current modernization of nuclear forces is counterproductive to peace.

Participants joined in a litany and an affirmation which included the words, “We choose a nuclear free future – and we will settle for nothing less. / We unite ourselves with sisters and brothers the world over, to join together in communities of resistance to all violence. / Bombs cannot dissolve hatred, but justice and love can overcome the machines of destruction. / Before us today are life and death. / We choose life, that we and the world’s children may live.

The service ended with two haikus that Hadi Jawad wrote last summer. A beautiful park called Ashley Pond graces the very site of the nuclear bomb factory in Los Alamos, N.M., and while there, these words came to him: At Ashley Pond prayers offered for bomb makers and their victims.

At the cradle of the Hiroshima bomb children played with joy!

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The Mission of the Dallas Peace Center is to promote a just and peaceful world through constructive action in education, dialogue, reconciliation and advocacy Vision Summary: The Dallas Peace Center envisions: A non-violent world that works for all with justice and respect for the Earth, self and others; a world where our children and future generations can expect to live in a just and peaceful society based on connectedness and compassion.

Value Statement: Dallas Peace Center believes in the power of peace and justice to create a sustainable world. Seeking the transformation of society, we embrace the following values:

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Nonviolent Action - which compels us to construct systemic change in conflict by winning over the hearts and minds

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Constructive Conflict - a process which provides an opportunity to attend to varied viewpoints, and serves as a mode of truth-finding and community-building

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Collaborative Strategies - the desire to join with other organization with similar goals and objectives to build mutual support; generate ideas and alternatives; take collective action and expand resources

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Inter-connectedness - the discovery of the many reciprocal connections we have that move us towards a sustainable and just human presence

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Compassion and Forgiveness - in words and actions through having awareness of suffering and the desire to relieve it Credits: Front Cover Picture http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_du0MH3PLYjI/TRYqZXXLs2I/ AAAAAAAAEt4/2As3mKe9zXk/s1600/happy-new-year.jpg Page 3 Iraq War Picture: Bottom Right Corner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War