JRPC Peace Dialogue

Thank you!

jrpcblog — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 13:24:29 +0000

Dear Friends,
The words, “thank you” do not come close to expressing the emotion, the gratitude and the pride I feel as I look back to the generous contributions of time, energy, money, muscle, food, services, gifts and so much more that was given to us last Sunday to make our peace party a success. And it was a very wonderful success. We had wonderful donations that reflected the talents and opportunities in our midst and over 30 volunteers that made it all come together on Sunday. It was a perfect example of community. Many people do not know that the Peace Center relies entirely on the money we receive from the public to survive. And for 25 years, the public – our community – has come through for us, throughout the year in memberships and donations and especially at the peace party. Check out the list of donors and volunteers at http://www.jrpc.org/pdf_files/Peace%20Party/2011%20donor%20poster.pdf – and make a point to thank them yourself! Thanks to all of you, we will forge ahead into the future to work alongside you in order to leave a better world to those who come behind us.
With much gratitude for each and every one of you,
Betsy

International Day of Peace, 9/21/11

jrpcblog — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:49:10 +0000

Dear friends,
Even as we scurry around getting ready for the peace party and worrying over the weather, ticket sales and all the minute details, we are all aware of the deeper reason we do this and the larger worries inherent in that work. We are involved – actively, diplomatically or behind the scenes in wars around the world and even here in our back yard against the working class and the poor and other disenfranchised groups. Next Wednesday, the world will set aside one day to acknowledge the International Day of Peace. Millions around the world will dedicate themselves to a 24-hour global ceasefire and to personal participation through spiritual reflection, by offering acts of kindness, displaying increased tolerance, rekindling strained personal relationships or participating in local observations of the International Day of Peace.
President Obama plans to conduct test launches of nuclear missiles on that day. In addition to the million dollar price tag for each test, it is just not an appropriate way to celebrate a day set aside as a 24 hour cease fire by the United Nations. It does not honor President Obama’s own commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons and the United States obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and other international agreements. I invite you to sign this petition asking him not to test launch nuclear missiles on the international day of peace. http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6357/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8001 and then please plan to join us at JRPC on Wednesday, September 21 from 12 noon to 1 pm. We will spend some time in meditation for peace and compassion and then connect with each other in dialogue and conversation. We will be serving some light treats and you are welcome to bring a lunch or food item to share.
See you then – and hopefully on Sunday too!
Betsy

Remembering 9/11

jrpcblog — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 12:58:18 +0000

Dear friends and neighbors,
911. The stories, the memories and the commentaries are monopolizing the pages of every news outlet, much of it focused on the militarism and Islamophobia that have become commonplace since 2001. The victims of that tragic day, as well as the victims of the 10-year aftermath deserve our remembrance and our honor, for they are all victims of the world as we know it. Most of us remember the wonderful ways neighbors and strangers reached out and connected with one another and the work we did in those first days to lobby for sanity, forgiveness and peace. Every time I walk into the peace center, I see the series of wire circles created by all of you with names of 911 victims wrapped lovingly around each wire. Today those wires are covered in green, growing vines that remind me that life goes on and it is possible to grow and thrive from the ashes of destruction.
In the three weeks between now and the October 6 anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan, people of peace and faith all around the country are planning walks, teach-ins, fasts, vigils and other events to bring the focus of 911 back to forgiveness and peace – to build instead of destroy. I challenge you to find some way to build community in your life. You might sit in meditation today at Unity Church’s Day of Prayer, or join them tonight for an interfaith prayer service. You might celebrate community at the Festival of Peace in Arlee this Saturday, at Missoula’s Sunday Streets this Sunday, and of course at our peace party on the 18th. Perhaps you simply reach out to someone you don’t know, help a neighbor, fast for a day or say a prayer. Each action we take, however small, builds collectively. Stop by JRPC during Sunday Streets to write down your ideas for community-building. We’ll compile them all and send them off to all those in Washington who need to hear a different way forward built on hospitality and kindness.
In the coming weeks, do what you can and pray in whatever way your heart commands for an end to fear and violence and a way forward to peace, pace, Paix, Amani, Vrede, Hoa Binh, Paz, Baris, Shalom, Salaam, dangnefedd, Eirin, Heiwa, Ashti, Shantee, Mir, Frieden, He Ping…
…Betsy

Peace Party 2011: Homegrown Community–9/18/11 at 4:30 pm Caras Park

jrpcblog — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:45:36 +0000

Dear Community of Friends and Supporters…
As we greet September, I am reflecting on our heritage here at the peace center. It was with a few interested folk wanting to gather, discuss and create a peace community that the peace center began. It was a grassroots gathering and over the years we have become a vital and visible place and vision in Missoula. Now 25 years we not only want to remember, but celebrate our beginning and our community.
So this year’s theme is “Homegrown Community”. The Peace Party is scheduled for Sunday, September 18, 2011 from 4:30 – 8 pm in Caras Park. In keeping with our theme and celebrating community we want our silent auction to reflect our commitment to community with donations that are home-made or services that can be provided. For instance, if you can put up preserves, mow a lawn or sew a garment, then together we celebrate and showcase the many talents of our community. How about a gift certificate for a pumpkin pie in November, or one for walking a dog or gifting flower seeds for spring planting. The ideas are as diversified as our community and surely items we might all find useful. I look forward to hearing your ideas and ways to make this a Homegrown Silent Auction.
Please don’t hesitate to call the Peace Center (543-3955) to discuss your ideas and questions, or to arrange a pick up for your donation. Also, remember tickets for the Peace Party are available at the peace center. Stop in, call us or download the forms for mailing at www.jrpc.org. And let us know by tomorrow if you’d like to volunteer at the party.
I am looking forward to all the preparations as well as sharing the celebration with you.
peace and blessings,
Carel Schneider, Coordinating Council Chair

Women, War & Peace on PBS

jrpcblog — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:23:31 +0000

Dear friends,
Last night I had the privilege of reading about peace and conflict with some of Missoula’s brightest scholars and writers. Many of the readings covered the tragedies of our past: the massacre of Native Americans, the genocide of Rwanda, the hatred and destruction of 911 and its aftermath and the systemic rape and torture of women in the Congo as a part of the war that rages there. While there were many heavy passages and disturbing pictures brought to mind, there was also hope.
Many people see hope as a passive waiting for things to get better. But last night, hope was felt in the stories of people who refused to be anesthetized into distraction, people who followed weblinks to places they could contribute, people who wept with victims they had never seen and raged at a system that sees lives as collateral damage, and people who spread peace through a song or a poem that lifts a soul and awakens a mind as it travels from friend to friend.
Last night’s readings are part of a 5-part series on PBS, titled ‘Women, War & Peace’ (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/). Watch for it on KUFM’s The Write Question, and also on MCAT. If you are moved to take action, go to http://athousandsisters.org/ or http://www.runforcongowomen.org/ or call JRPC to see how we can work together. Meanwhile, do whatever local, particular thing you can do…sing a song, read a story, write a poem, share an inspiration, change your mind and change the world…Betsy

Peace Party 9/18/11 – Celebrating 25 Years!

jrpcblog — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 11:28:35 +0000

Dear peace community,
One month from today we will celebrate our 25 years together as a community dedicated to learning about and working for nonviolence, social justice and environmental stewardship. As I scrapbooked the events of JRPC’s past, I was so impressed with what has been accomplished by 25 years of dedicated folks – the events, the actions, the bold statements, and the network of committed neighbors working together with passion. One glance at any media source will make it crystal clear that the work of this community is still needed in the world. Without the work of individuals like you, our community stagnates, just as your efforts wane without the support of the rest of us.
Make your plans to support and celebrate this “homegrown community” of ours at the peace party on Sunday, September 18, 4:30 to 8 in Caras Park. Plan to start gathering at 4 to enjoy the music of the Polson band, Gladys Friday. Then enjoy a silent auction with lots of handmade items and services offered by members of our community. Or plan to bid on a meal prepared by some of Missoula’s most creative chefs in our live auction. A $5 raffle ticket gets you a chance to win a week’s stay at Crestwood Resort in Whitefish or a half-day float with 10,000 Waves. And back by popular demand, the Gay Men’s Chorus and the MT Women’s chorus are preparing a special musical treat for us.
Laura and her crew from Homestead Organics are preparing a wonderful locally-grown meal that will remind us of our potluck past. And we are offering a real potluck dessert-share, so plan to bring and share! Each year two-thirds of you decide to register and come at the door. Which is great, but it makes planning difficult. Please consider registering early so we know how much food to prepare.
You can find ticket forms, raffle tickets and donation receipts on our website, www.jrpc.org. Better yet, stop in and buy them in person at 519 S. Higgins. It’s going to be a great celebration, with ticket prices still a great bargain, starting at just $15. Bring your memories and get ready to have some fun. The world is full of wounds that need healing and wrongs that need to be righted. Let’s strengthen our community with the power to make peace…

Betsy

Pipeline Protest Sit-ins

jrpcblog — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:47:40 +0000

Hello friends and family,
I want to share with you what I am up to and invite you to find a way to support my action if it speaks to you. On August 21st I travel to Washington D.C., joining hundreds of other people from around the country as we commit civil disobedience at the White House. We will plead with President Obama that he deny a permit to the Canadian Company that proposes building the Keystone XL Pipeline, which if the US agrees, will run from Canada to Texas. It will carry very dirty and corrosive oil, coming as it does from tar sands, and the inevitable spills will be devastating. The pipeline will cross rivers and farmland, as well as threaten the huge Ogallala aquifer. Because the proposal involves a foreign owned company crossing our territory, the President must give permission or it cannot be built.
The protesters will stage waves of sit-ins at the White House drawing attention to this pending disaster and pressuring President Obama to halt “building a fuse to the largest carbon bomb on the planet.” Arrests are likely. I am encouraging you to consider going to DC. Here’s an invitation from Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein and Wendall Berry among others — http://www.tarsandsaction.org/invitation/. You are welcome to forward it along to friends. To learn more about the Tar Sands, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoKW771tG_Q
Another way you can participate is by helping fund the costs of folks who will be joining this action. If twenty people send a $20 check, that is a plane ticket. Any amount is appreciated. You can make a check to Joan Kresich with Tar Sands Action in the memo line on your check, and send it to Montana Women For, PO Box 2196, Livingston, MT 59047. Thank you for considering our action.
Please call me if you have questions, concerns, or ideas to share.
With love and hope for our grandchildren’s earth,
Margarita
(406) 333-4746
margarita@wispwest.net

‘Nuclear Free Future’ Month – Make a Peace Crane!

jrpcblog — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:27:50 +0000

Dear Friends,
There have been many atrocities in war over the years. The genocide of Nazi Germany, and of Rwanda, the Apartheid in South Africa, the killing fields of Cambodia and the destruction of the twin towers in New York are but a few of those that stand out in our history. But by far, the one event remembered across the world as a symbol of the tragedy of war is August 6, 1945, the “day the sun rose twice” in Japan. It stands out not because of the number of fatalities, but because of the horror of their deaths and the fact that the weapon used unleashed for us a new era – one where it was possible to imagine the annihilation of humankind. The captain of the bomber plane that dropped the bomb “Little Boy” on that fateful day wrote in his log, “What have we done?”
Today, nuclear capability has spread despite treaties and admonishments to the contrary. And as the possibility of nuclear annihilation becomes a reality we live with, we become less nervous about it and the threshold of our humanity falls slightly. Recently, Tokyo Electric Power Co. reported its second deadly radiation reading in as many days at its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant north of Tokyo. Today, we have 442 “peaceful” nuclear reactors each one a potential Fukushima. Similarly, the estimated 23,000 nuclear bombs on our planet are subject to catastrophic accidental misuse, deliberate sabotage, or intentional use by some misguided government with an insane death wish. Let us bring back the question, “What have we done?”
United for Peace and Justice has declared August Nuclear Free Future Month – a month of education and action for a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear power! Visit www.nuclearfreefuture.org for ideas and resources, or stop by JRPC. How about learning to make a peace crane – or several – so you can offer them to friends, neighbors, and legislators to begin the conversations that will reach out beyond the peace movement to put our planet on the path to true sustainability and eliminate the threat of another Hiroshima.
I’ll be looking forward to teaching you to make a crane…Betsy

Thoughts on Norway and “Terrorism”

jrpcblog — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:21:02 +0000

Dear friends,
The world has just witnessed another terrible large-scale attack on innocent people in Norway, and our hearts grieve with them. On a per capita basis, Norway lost twice as many people as the U.S. did on 9/11. We grieve for the loss of life but also for one more chip in the armor of our humanity. As the reports of this tragedy came out, the media rushed to report that Muslims must be responsible. Now that we know they were not, the word terrorism is suddenly no longer spoken as sited so well by Glenn Greenwald in his piece on “the Omnipotence of Al Qaeda and meaninglessness of “Terrorism” [http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/07/23/nyt/index.html] Is it only terrorism when it is committed by our enemies? Hardly, but when terrorists look like us, it touches a place inside that is not comfortable and we react by looking for someone or some idea to blame – for something to separate us from “them”.
Thich Nhat Hanh and many others teach us that to find peace in the world, we must find peace in ourselves. It seems likely that Anders Behring Breivik was not at peace with himself. However, he was not that different from many of us who continue to see the world in terms of the enemies we must fight and overcome. Ask yourself, what stereotypes do you hold? What assumptions have you made about others? Who or what do you define as “enemy”? Then join with me in voicing an apology to the Muslims of the world and all those we rush to blame and condemn. Let us grieve for the people of Norway and everywhere there is terrorism by looking inside at our own tendencies to see enemies to fight, and at all the times we too rush to judgment without all the facts. Let us be willing to forgive, to admit our mistakes, to keep an open mind and to be willing to learn from those we see as “enemies”. When we can do that, we stand a chance at living in peace with each other….Betsy

Peace: A Lifetime Journey

jrpcblog — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:16:01 +0000

Dear friends,
It was 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott attended the first Women’s Rights Convention in the U.S., held at Seneca Falls, New York. Its “Declaration of Sentiments”, demanding that the rights of women as individuals be acknowledged and respected by society, launched the movement of women to be included in the constitution. Stanton, Mott and others had been excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 because of their sex, and began the campaign to secure the rights of women here at home.
The Declaration was signed by sixty-eight women and thirty-two men.
When suffrage finally became a reality in 1920, seventy-two years after this first organized demand in 1848, only one signer of the Seneca Falls Declaration had lived long enough to cast her first ballot. Many, including Jeannette Rankin planted seeds and nurtured the work along the way. And it is likely that many grew discouraged as the years passed without sight of their goal. But collectively, each seed, each word, each action moved us forward. And the journey continues. Remember that peace is a lifetime journey, a path we must travel together. What is your unique part? Check out the Mutual of Omaha listing under Action Opportunities for an opportunity to tell your story.
To all the lifetimes, past, present and future that step up to the moment…Betsy