In support of the Iranian activists

Dear Peace Community,

The world has witnessed an astounding Iranian insurrection against the theocratic government of Iran since its presidential election on June 12, 2009.  Prior to the election, the Iranian Labour News Agency conducted the largest opinion poll in Iran, interviewing 300,000 people nationwide, which put the former prime minister of Iran and reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi ahead of the politically conservative incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by 20 percentage points.  The election resulted in an unprecedented 85% turnout.  In a suspicious turn of events, however, Ahmadinejad won the election with 63% of the popular vote.  Almost immediately, Mousavi denounced the results.  He accused the government of election fraud due to several abnormal findings, including:   uniform percentages by which Mousavi lost in all Iranian districts (including his home town); 50 Iranian municipalities reporting a larger number of votes than eligible voters (more than 100% voter turnout); the claims of several ex-government bureaucrats who said they were purged because they refused to participate in the planned fraud; and the suspicious rapidity of the vote-count.  Massive protests have been taking place on the streets of Tehran, Iran’s capital, since June 13^th.       Demonstrations of this scale haven’t been seen since the Iranian revolution of 1979.  The power structure of Iran has been shaken to its foundation.  This is the first time Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been openly defied by the populace on such a scale.  Khamenei’s government has been cracking down on non-violent protestors with deadly force, arrests and censorship.

In the U.S., President Obama has wisely avoided officially endorsing the uprising, while denouncing the violent crackdown against protestors.  Iranians have been wary of U.S. interference, ever since we overthrew their democratically elected leader, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, in 1953, after he tried to nationalize the Iranian oil industry.  Any official endorsement by the U.S. might carry historical undertones that would undermine the pro-democracy movement in Iran.  Individually, however, we should all support the Iranian people’s right to protest and denounce the iron-fist tactics used by the Iranian government.  The following link provides six options for supporting Iranian activists:  http://matadorchange.com/6-ways-the-western-world-can-support-iranian-activists/

Yours in Peace,

Sean Gibbons, coordinating council member

Working for Peace

Dear peace activists,

Assuming all recipients of the JRPC e-news community seek peace, does that make you all peace activists?   Do your actions carry out your desire and words for peace?  While it is admirable to seek peace within yourself and peaceful relationships in your immediate circle of contacts, is that enough to consider yourself a peace activist?  Or do you prefer not to be called an activist?  Was your vote in 2008 a peace action?

On November 4, 2008, voters for peace rejoiced.  Tears, hugs, shouts, laughter were the outward signs of the tremendous relief shared that finally there was hope we would soon extricate ourselves as honorably as possible from Iraq and change our foreign policy to work for peace and justice instead of corporations and imperialism.  Some change has occurred, but not enough.

Now, as Jeremy Scahill’s article (below) portrays so well, President Obama and the Democrats are following in the footsteps of the previous administration in funding more war. Yesterday’s vote in the House simply repeated what had happened in the Senate earlier with only a few Democrats courageously voting against Obama’s war funding bill.  Many Republicans opposed it, further demonstrating that it’s all politics, not peace.  It’s hard not to fall into total cynicism.

So what to do?  Meditate?  Pray?  In my view, that’s simply not enough.  We have to use our voices, pens, computers, feet, and bodies to visibly and audibly demand peace from those who were elected to bring peace!  Can we join activists like Medea Benjamin of Code Pink and Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Non-Violence who are always “out there” and never quit?   As always, this e-news contains many links to peace actions you can take, and I urge you to take at least one step for peace daily.   However, what we really need is that magic answer to how we can reach those in power.  Do you have an idea?  Can we come together to explore possibilities through JRPC?

At the same time, to help sustain inner peace, you might like to join the didgeridoo meditation Sunday evening (see below) at the Peace Park.  Or if you like to work while you meditate, please visit our Peace Park any time and pull some toadflax (looks like a yellow snapdragon; needs pulling now while it’s blooming!) or knapweed.  Call me (Ethel) at 549-9722 if you have questions. You can also be inspired by seeing the progress being made on our rock sitting wall, but please don’t “help” without supervision.  Call Betsy at 543-3955 to be placed on the e-mail list for work sessions.

May we each act for peace as we can, sustain ourselves and encourage each other, and stay strong!

Ethel MacDonald, JRPC Coordinating Council member

PRIDE Celebration June 19 – 21st in Kalispell

Dear Peace Community,

Many of you may have read the article in the Missoulian about Barry Brubaker and his efforts to stop the PRIDE Celebration that will take place June 19-21 in Kalispell, Montana.  Mr. Brubaker asserts that the parade and accompanying events will “further erode morality and set precedence for future lasciviousness and lewd displays that other communities have experienced with allowing such activities.”  He describes himself as “not very educated”, but he “[knows] the word of God” and believes that “the end is coming and there’s going to be fire, earthquakes…these are the final days, and we have to speak truth.”  Mr. Brubaker’s open hostility towards the LGBTI community and his petition to stop the PRIDE Celebration (which has accumulated a few hundred signatures) underscore the need for all of us who are able to attend MT PRIDE in Kalispell.  These kinds of superstitious, bigoted, insecurity-induced opinions are more pervasive that we’d like to believe.  The LGBTI community and its allies need have a strong showing in the Flathead this month in order to demonstrate our firm presence in Montana and give a human face to the LGBTI movement here.  Let’s banish ignorance by reaching out with compassion and non-violent self expression.

Peace,

Sean Gibbons, JRPC Coordinating Council member

Celebrate Diversity

Dear people of peace,

We have spent many years in this country struggling for civil and human rights– for women, people of color, workers, the GLBTIQ community and victims of crime to name just a very few.  In the peace community we often talk about appreciating diversity as one of the tenets of social justice.  The PRIDE celebration in Kalispell next week has the tagline – “Celebrate Diversity”, and so I’ve been reflecting on what that means and how we do it?  It is easy to understand what it is not.  Surely Barry Brubaker is not celebrating diversity in his attempt to stop the gay pride parade because it is against his definition of God’s will.  The same can be said for the person or persons who murdered Dr. George Tiller last weekend for providing abortions to women.  And there is no cause for celebration when women, people of color – including Montana’s indigenous population — or those in the LGBTIQ community are fired, attacked or hated for being who they are.  But likewise, it is not enough to accept that there are folks in the world who do not agree with us or look like us or think like us. True celebration must go beyond merely appreciating or tolerating others.  To truly celebrate what is different, we must actively seek it out, embrace it and welcome it into our lives, our conversations and our attitudes.  President Obama’s address to Notre Dame last month (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/chi-barack-obama-notre-dame-speech,0,2951798.story) was a beautiful expression of what is possible when we overcome the division of difference.  But even knowing this, it is far too easy for me to react negatively to a new idea because it is unfamiliar to my own or to find myself judging someone else because they don’t think and act like me.   As people of peace, our celebration of diversity must include making room at the table for what is different, truly looking forward to understanding that difference and agreeing to work together through the human urges to judge and react.  It is about all the people who stand up and speak out and do so repeatedly despite the costs, and about those who come to their aid.  Diverse perspectives are essential for balanced decision-making, so I hope that I will welcome them even if I don’t want to hear them.  And I also hope that I will be willing to speak up when I’m the one who is different.  Our new Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sotomayor herself said, “I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society?”  And finally, I propose that our celebration of diversity must also be about forgiveness.  It is not easy to invite Mr. Brubaker or Dr. Tiller’s murderer to the table, but we must.  They represent diversity as well.  Consider coming to Kalispell next week and practicing this celebration of our rich human tapestry.  I want to close with this poem called Forgiveness written by one of this century’s great defenders of human rights and a six-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, Leonard Peltier.

Let us forgive the worst among us
because the worst is in ourselves,
the worst lives in each of us,
along with the best.

Let us forgive the worst
in each of us
and all of us
so that the best
in each of us
and all of us
may be free.

from PRISON WRITINGS: My Life Is My Sun Dance
Published by St. Martins Press, NYC; 1999

Support the Employee Free Choice Act & PRIDE

Dear Friends,

When asked about her vote against entering WWII, Jeannette Rankin talked about working to prevent situations of injustice from becoming conflict. She said we had done great injustice when we turned a blind eye to what was happening in Germany before the question of war ever came up.  She worked for the rights of women, workers and children with the same passion that she worked for world peace.

Happy, healthy people whose needs are met are more able to engage in working for a better world for others, a lesson we should remember as we face some critical issues of justice — brave struggles for workers rights, health care for all and marriage equality.  While wars may not be fought over these issues, make no mistake about the importance they play in whether or not our country lives up to its founding vision, and whether or not we learn to live in peace.  Audre Lord said, “there is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.”

Affordable, accessible health care for all of us is related to making sure that workers are free to form unions and protect their rights and interests. And both are impacted by the arbitrary walls that deny the rights of marriage to some and dictate who and how to love.  These issues are your issues – whether directly or indirectly. They call you to not be a bystander.

Get involved in these debates. Show up today to support the Employee Free Choice Act, and make plans to be an LGBTI ally in Kalispell at the PRIDE celebration June 19 and 20. Let’s make Jeannette proud and make this country stronger.

Betsy