PEACE WORK

The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power. - - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Women and the Vote -- A History Lesson on Why Women Should Vote The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic." Click to Read Complete Article
Inspiring Video about Women and Voting" One Vote" is a compelling 6-minute video about women and voting, directed by two-time Oscar nominees Deborah Hoffmann and Frances Reid. Through interviews with women from various walks of life, the video captures the political attitudes, feelings, beliefs and desires of millions of women. The on-screen subjects are articulate and passionate, explaining why they vote, and what makes voting crucial to them and their children's future. Click to See Film
Bush's Folly Song ©Safdie May 2004* We're all getting older and we've seen it all before. The failure of our leaders And they've taken us to war Click Here for Complete Song Lyrics
Our Children are Not a Commodity! Anti-Military Recruitment Campaign The public education system in the United States has had its share of problems over the years. Untrained teachers, lack of adequate funding and biased instruction plague our students from kindergarten all the way through high school. As if these realities were not enough, many of the nation’s schools are now faced with either becoming feeder institutions for the U.S. military, or risk losing federal funding because of the controversial No Child Left Behind Act. Click to Read Complete Article
Arundhati Roy blasts US over Iraq war NEW DELHI: Acclaimed author Arundhati Roy has blasted the US-led war in Iraq and branded democracy as "the Free World's whore" in a blistering article in a leading Indian magazine. Roy, who makes the cover of the latest edition of Outlook magazine published this weekend, is well known as a social activist and critic of the United States and globalisation. Her article, a reprint of a speech she made in New York on May 13 at the Center for Economic and Social Rights, brands the US as the "American Empire" where "facts don't matter." "Apart from the invented links between Iraq and Al Qaeda, we had the manufactured frenzy about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction," she said. "We once again witnessed the paranoia that a starved, bombed besieged country was about to annihilate almighty America. "The war against Iraq has been fought and won and no weapons of mass destruction have been found. Not even a little one. Perhaps they'll have to be planted before they're discovered." Roy, who won the Booker Prize for "The God of Small Things" which has sold more than six million copies in over 40 languages, criticised US President George Bush and other leaders for not listening to public opinion against the war. "Democracy, the modern world's holy cow, is in crisis every kind of outrage is being committed in the name of democracy. It has become little more than a hollow word, a pretty shell, emptied of all content or meaning," she said. "Democracy is the Free World's whore, willing to dress up, dress down, willing to satisfy a whole range of tastes, available to be used and abused at will." Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market means they are on sale to the highest bidder, she said. Last year Roy spent a day in prison after being found guilty of criminal contempt by India's supreme court. This originally appeared in the Daily Times - -AFP http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp
Inspiring a New Generation of Internationalist Leaders by Joanne Tawfilis, Vienna, Austria I recently heard about an organization, Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), and their intent and success in training students who have lived abroad to become active voices for global understanding on their own campuses after they return home. The objective of the AID was formulated on the basis that Americans who study abroad tend to be more internationalist in their outlook on global affairs than the general student population. Click to Read complete Article
	"Hope, Hell, and High Water: Some Reasons for Believing in the Rainbow" What do you do when the waves are high, the boat is leaking, there is no land in sight, and you don't know how to swim? There are many examples in mythology and in history of persons in just such a predicament. Click to Read Complete Article
REMEMBER TO SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY KITCHEN, MIDDLEWAY HOUSE, MOTHER HUBBARDS CUBBARD, BACKSTREET MISSION AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS WHO SUPPORT THOSE IN NEED OR WHO WORK TO IMPROVE OUR COMMUNITIES' HEALTH. FOR MORE ORGANIZATIONS THAT CAN USE YOUR HELP, VISIT THE BLOOMINGTON VOLUNTEER NETWORK AT http://www.city.bloomington.in.us/volunteer/
The Million Worker March: A 21st Century Initiative! … mothers, grandmothers & other caregivers; grassroots activists; subsistence & family farmers & farmworkers; prisoners & ex-cons; those struggling on welfare, disability benefits, social security; child and bonded laborers; domestic & home-care workers; immigrants with or without papers; sex workers; refuseniks & veterans; students; rape survivors & others fighting for justice; community volunteers & more; whatever our sexual choice … Click To Read More
"Support Our Troops!" yellow curlicue ribbons decorate tailgates of trucks backdoors of vans, trunks of cars "Support our Troops!" Click Here for Complete Poem READ OTHER POETS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE IN THE PEACE POET'S GALLERY
Jim Hightower - Time to take our country back
The Monster at the Door Born in 1910, I lived through 90 years of the previous century, with its two world wars and uncounted smaller conflicts, massacres, tortures and atrocities. Over one hundred million people died in those years due to the abuses of power that arose when governments became disconnected from the basic human values of their people. Click to Read Complete Article
Effort Seeks to turn out Indian Vote NATIVE VOTE:Local Indian voter registration part of national drive. BY STEVE KUCHERA Like many people, Mike Sayers used to be an infrequent voter. "A lot of people feel, 'I'm not going to vote because just one vote won't make a difference,"' said Sayers, the Duluth urban liaison for the Red Lake Ojibwe Band. "But you get 150,000 or 200,000 people saying the same thing and it can have a drastic effect on an election." Click to Read Complete Article
Why This Election is Important to Me Dr. Charles Frederickson I was born and raised in the Buckle of the Bible Belt, taught to respect and honor the democratic values of fair play, liberty and justice for all humanity. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I became a very independent pragmatic idealist, chronic optimist and heretical make-do believer, appreciative of the free opportunities and conveniences I had for too long simply taken for granted, but also emotionally disturbed and perturbed about the indignities and inequities suffered by those circumstantially less fortunate, determined to somehow make a positive impact. Click to Read Complete Article
Three Years Later: Peaceful Tomorrows 9/11/04 Statement Nearly three years ago, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was born out of a shared belief that America's military response to the 9/11 attacks which took our loved ones' lives would result in the deaths of countless innocent civilians and increase recruitment for terrorist causes, making the United States, and the world, less safe and less free for generations to come. Click to Read Complete Article
Physicians for Social Responsibility Statement on Iraq Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) calls on the United States to hand over authority in Iraq to a genuine international coalition, built around states in the region, and organized under the authority of the United Nations. The deterioration of the situation in Iraq is directly attributable to numerous failures in US policy dating to the determination of the current Administration to invade Iraq without adequate casus belli, without proper international backing and authority, and on the basis of false claims of Al Qaeda links to Saddam Hussein and the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Since that time, US policy has failed to create or permit the emergence of broadly representative Iraqi leadership, has alienated Iraqi opinion by operating as an occupying, not a liberating power, and has stimulated, rather than deterred, terrorist attacks and armed resistance in Iraq and elsewhere. The invasion has also diverted resources from securing Afghanistan, allowing senior Al Qaeda and Taliban figures to continue their campaign of terror against the West. Click Here for More From the Physicians for Social Responsibility
Phantom of the Opera Cheney emerges from his bunker to snarl at John Edwards There comes a time in every horror story where the true face of evil must make itself known. In fact, in every narrative, the revelation of the Man Behind the Curtain is a poignant moment. In Oz, the wizard is finally shown to be a tired old man in the corner manipulating machinery to create the impression of power. When Zod and his cohorts leveled the White House in Superman II, he saw through the stand-in for the President. No one who commands so many could capitulate so quickly. The real president comes out from a washroom next to the Oval Office "maybe the one Bill and Monica made famous", "who knows?"and says "Im the one they're protecting. Click to Read complete Article
Peace Dollars an article by Ray Cunnington How do you wage peace? You pay wages to people who work for peace so they have money to live on. That's why the Hamilton Culture of Peace Network is introducing 'Peace Dollars' to the community this year. Peace Dollars have the potential to raise funds for many worthwhile causes, and each dollar is printed with UNESCO'S six principles for a peaceable society, first developed by Nobel Peace Prize Laureates for the United Nations' Manifesto 2000. The Hamilton Culture of Peace Network is a collection of concerned individuals and local groups united in a ten-year-effort to build a culture of peace, non-violence and social justice for the children of the world. Part of its mission is to spread the Manifesto to every one of the half million people who live in the Hamilton, Ontario, area. To assist in this task and help other groups working for non-violence and cooperation to benefit, we are offering Peace Dollars at a 50% discount to any who share the goals of Manifesto 2000 and purchase a minimum of 20 sheets. Do your own fundraising - Buy a sheet of 10 for $5 - Sell for $10 In our city there are virtually no men, women or children so poor they could not afford to buy one Peace Dollar per year to help build a safer and more inclusive community. We hope Peace Dollars will help stimulate the energy of faith groups, community groups, students and individuals from all over the city so we can all have better information and make the city safer and more responsive to each others' needs. In the long run Peace Dollars will retain a value which may later be exchanged for goods such as printed materials or admission to special events. If you want to know more about PEACE DOLLARS and how you can raise money for your organization please contact us by e-mail at cpd@hwcn.org or ray.c@cogeco.ca or by phone at (905) 628-4976. You can also obtain a free internet listing for your group on our webpage. While our particular peace dollars are local to Hamilton, we believe the idea has merit and could be duplicated in many other cities.
Community Topics-
Mark Kruzan - Mayor, Bloomington, IN to give Keynote Address on Sustaining Sustainability on Friday, October 15, at BIONEERS Annual Conference "Visionary & Practical Solutions for Restoring the Earth and People, October 15-17, 2004, Indiana University, Blomington, IN. Bioneers conference, to be held on the IU Campus on October 15-17. Residents of southern Indiana will have the opportunity to participate in this inspiring conference via a satellite link at Indiana University. A number of talks and workshops on local issues have been added to create a local conference with the theme: Sustainability: The Campus-Community Connection. Local organizations and vendors will be on hand with information tables. All events are free and open to the public. Click Here for More Information or Contact David Haberman
Slow Fest Block Party at Encore
Bloomington City Council Opposes I-69 throu Bloomington: Resolution against I-69 passes 7-1
The Sixth Annual Simply Living Fair was a Success! Click to get details
Interconnectedness of all in the universe DOOM AND GLOOM? YOUR PERCEPTION CALLS THE TUNE ---------------------------- by Jan Lundberg To most people in the U.S., any change that would disturb dominant society's definition of reality is frightening. In a stark portrait of an energy-deprived economic future, we lose our cars, computers, refrigerators, convenience foods, unending plastic objects, and most of the rest of modern life's accoutrements. To most watchers of TV news, this is not a realistic vision but a needless scenario of "doom and gloom." Read the complete Article - culture Change #75 Prior coverage of the pepper-spray case on this website: http://culturechange.org/issue15/pepperspray.html Hear a new song by a plaintiff and a duet between a pepper-sprayed protester and her father at http://culturechange.org/depavers.html
NAACP: 94 years working for social change!
Educating Children with Images of the Earth an article by Robert Bogatin Our environment, our health, our social structures, indeed our survival, all depend on a new worldview. What better icon is there than amazing images of Earth from Space? To see the Earth as it truly is; blue and beautiful, with no boundaries or lines. The EarthSeeds Project is a non-profit movement of many individuals and organizations educating children worldwide. EarthSeeds uses authentic whole Earth images in the forms of globes and posters in conjunction with self-discovery based curriculum and interactive learning tools such as the online community, "Planetary PenPals" at www.earthseeds.net. We educate children around the world about the importance of environmental awareness, water, renewable energy and global citizenship. Our newest educational tool is The Astronaut's Globe, a 16" beach ball made from 2000 NASA photos that includes a Crewmember's Guide filled with Earth Science, activities and games and resources for exploration. Our interactive online learning community, Planetary PenPals, connects children worldwide to engage them in environmental and social discussions and collaborative projects. Planetary PenPals, along with an expanded EarthSeeds Curriculum Kit will be available in February of 2005. Educators and children can register NOW for free to participate in these exciting projects. Email: crew@earthseeds.net to register or for more information visit www.earthseeds.net. EarthSeeds was recently at The World Renewable Energy Congress in Denver. Our giant Earth Globe was spotted at the protest march at the Republican Convention. We will be presenting to 28,000 schools on September 24th at the New Choices for the Future Conference. And they were at the Sustainable Living Fair and Sustainable Resources Conference both in Colorado this September.
Draft Resistance the site dedicated to shattering the myths surrounding the selective slavery system and buildng mass civil disobedience to stop the draft before it starts!
Export-Import Bank Adopts Global Environment Standards The official U.S. export credit agency has approved a new version of its environmental guidelines, which set minimum standards for environmental impact studies of projects it finances. The Export-Import Bank of the United States revised its guidelines to make them consistent with an international agreement on the procedures and standards for environmental impact studies of projects financed by export credit agencies. For more information, visit www.exim.gov. Click Here for Guidelines
Using Renewables Creates Three Times More Jobs than Fossil Fuels UC Berkeley's Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory study, released May 2004, shows that 240,000 jobs could be created by 2020 if legislation was passed to favor renewable sources over fossil fuels. This finding adds fuel to the fire over the fossil fuel-based energy policy promoted by the Bush administration and the need for reducing America's dependence on foreign oil. Environmentalists and labor activists have joined forces to realize the positive benefits of providing federal incentives for renewable power sources. To read the entire article, please visit
White House to Divert Population Fund to Combat Sex Trafficking 24.09.2004. The Bush administration is expected to announce next week plans to divert $25m from the funding Congress approved for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to fight sex trafficking. The White House withheld the fund from the UNFPA for the third straight year in 2004 on the excuse that the agency promotes abortion services in China. Click to Read Complete Article For more on the United Nations Population fund- Visit this Global Resource Center
Churches Work for Peace in Sudan In the midst of the genocide happening in Darfur, Sudan, the churches are working for peace, said Dr. Haruun Ruun, Executive Secretary of the New Sudan Council of Churches. He spoke to a meeting of the Church World Service Education and Advocacy committee on Wednesday, September 22, and urged international churches and people of faith to advocate for a peaceful resolution in the Sudan. Click to Read Complete Article
LOCAL FOOD NEWS Click here for Organic and Other Food News that is Local and Global IN THIS ISSUE YOU WILL FIND
-USDA Still Undermining Organic Integrity
-Corporate Ownership Tracking the Shifting Sands of the Organic Industry
-12 Myths of Hunger
-Handy Wallet Guide to Pesticides in Produce
-Food First Announces November Agroecology Trip to Cuba
-No. 1 in sports, but not in health or education
Slow Fest Block Party
- New Recipe
Iraq's New Patent Law: A Declaration of War Against Farmers PRESS RELEASE / Focus on the Global South and GRAIN 15oct04 [More on Monsanto] http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/d Monsanto-Roundup-Glyphosate.htm When former Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) administrator L. Paul Bremer III left Baghdad after the so-called "transfer of sovereignty" in June 2004, he left behind the 100 orders he enacted as chief of the occupation authority in Iraq. Among them is Order 81 on "Patent, Industrial Design, Undisclosed Information, Integrated Circuits and Plant Variety." [1] This order amends Iraq's original patent law of 1970 and unless and until it is revised or repealed by a new Iraqi government, it now has the status and force of a binding law. [2] With important implications for farmers and the future of agriculture in Iraq, this order is yet another important component in the United States' attempts to radically transform Iraq's economy. WHO GAINS? For generations, small farmers in Iraq operated in an essentially unregulated, informal seed supply system. Farm-saved seed and the free innovation with and exchange of planting materials among farming communities has long been the basis of agricultural practice. This has been made illegal under the new law. Read complete article

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs - ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -- Harold Thurman Whitman