We have recently pointed to some good resources on peacemaking, including the World Council of Churches web site.

But don't forget the excellent web site of our own Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, which has a special page of resources on Iraq. www.pcusa.org/peacemaking/iraq

The Rev. W. Mark Koenig, Associate for Resources and Publications in the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, notes that changes may soon be made on that page "in an effort to make it a more fully denominational page as opposed to just a Peacemaking Program page."

Four themes have been identified for study and reflection during the Decade. They are:

School of the Americas reminder:

November 15-17, 2002 will be the next rally and nonviolent civil resistance actions to close the School of the Americas.  [10-15-02]  

They warn that the danger of nuclear conflict, in spite of apparent arms reductions, remains great, and that much more action is needed. They call on people of faith, and faith communities, to endorse the call.  

A Florida sixth-grader came up with a brilliantly simple idea for peace education: a national campaign (like the successful anti-litter campaigns of a few years back) to convince kids that violence is "nerdy and uncool." Shani Abergel's ideas were originally published in the book Young Voices: Breaking the Cycle of Violence, and are excerpted in InnerSelf.

A celebration in the midst of growing violence.   [8-8-02]

Note:  PresbyWeb has posted a very different view of this situation.  Click here for a summary, and some of the debate following.  You may want to join in the discussion.

Two Presbyterian Church (USA) pastors are among 43 protesters indicted in federal court last month for trespassing on a military base in Georgia, in the protest action at the School of the Americas reported below.

The Rev. Chuck Booker-Hirsch, of Ann Arbor, MI, and the Rev. Erik Johnson, of Maryville, TN, were arrested during the annual School of Americas Watch (SAW) protest last November.

We have posted two reports:

Marilyn White, past chairperson of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, puts the protests in a wider context of actions against US militarism.

While President Bush has been insisting on a continued embargo against Cuba, Christians in that nation welcomed the visit of former Pres. Jimmy Carter.

The Rev. Hector Mendez, a member of the central committee of the World Council of Churches, said, "We have been saying for many years that one of the main tasks of the churches in the U.S. and Cuba is to build bridges of reconciliation between our countries. The visit of former President Carter is one of those bridges."

A delegation of US church leaders has returned from a 12-day visit to Israel, Palestine, and neighboring countries, under the auspices of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Calling on both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to agree to an immediate ceasefire, they "condemn equally and unequivocally both the suicide bombings and Palestinian violence against Israeli society and the violence of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories."

The immediate question is how to stop the current violence. ... The United States should immediately work to bring about the creation of an international protection force to shield both Israelis and Palestinians from further violence, and call a regional peace conference including Israel, the Arab states, along with religious leaders and civil society organizations.

There has been enough killing - it's time for peace.

He also offers some hope: voices on both sides of the conflict calling for peace.

Gary Campbell, retired Presbyterian mission co-worker, reports on a visit to South Korea in August of 2001, with a Veterans for Peace delegation. Having served there as a very young soldier of the U.S. Army in 1950-51, he reports now on visits to the sites of civilian massacres during the Korean War, under the guidance of the Korean Truth Commission. With the other members of the delegation, he urges us to recognize the "war crimes" committed by the U.S. in Korea, and then to act against the continuing U.S. military presence on the Korean peninsula, especially in light of President Bush's inclusion of North Korea in his "axis of evil," with the threats that such a condemnation implies.

The House Armed Services Committee is considering a bill that would require everyone registered for the draft to serve up to one year in the armed services. The proposed Universal Military Training and Service Act of 2001 would mandate that men aged 18 to 22 serve between six months and a year in basic military training and education.

Here's an on-line report from the campus newspaper at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa.

And there's another report in the Maine Commons.

Presbyterian Washington Office, in line with previous GA actions, urges:

Voice Your Opposition to the U.S. Withdrawal from the ABM Treaty   [1-10-02]

We reported a year ago on a prayer vigil campaign by the group, Churches for Middle East Peace, in which the PC(USA) is an active participant.

A special report from Anne Llewellyn Barstow
dated 11-29-01, posted 12-1-01

Looking homeward from El Salvador  [11-19-01]

Julia Jones, who formerly served on the staff of the Presbyterian UN Office, is now in El Salvador, serving under the Presbyterian Reconciliation and Mission program.  She looks at the US from her new vantage point and suggests:

"We should celebrate all the good that our country does and has done in the world, because it has been a leader in countless important ways. We also have the responsibility, as citizens of the most powerful country in the world, to be aware of what our country is doing around the world, at home, in the United Nations, and elsewhere, to question it if need be, and to speak out or demand change if the U.S.'s actions are preventing peace, the promotion of human rights or a sustainable future."

She also offers some good thoughts on alternative Christmas giving!

The U.S. is the world's major supplier of arms - providing 54% of all weapons delivered to the world in 1999. While we proclaim loudly our commitment to human rights, our actions as weapons-supplier to the world make those claims look like major hypocrisy.

Fifty-five people from across the U.S. gathered at Ghost Ranch August 6-13 for an intensive seminar on the looming crisis of economic globalization and militarism. The seminar was sponsored by the Witherspoon Society, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation.

She begins:   On the morning after a horrific afternoon in Jerusalem, words seem a bit superfluous. Today many Israelis will say goodbye to family and friends, infants, children and parents, as the dead are buried. Prayers for comfort seem a small offering to such tragedy.

One of the overtures considered by the 113^th General Assembly was number 01-64, from the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, which called on the church to support efforts to create a Global Nonviolent Peace Force. This would be "an international nonviolent, standing peace force [which would be] sent to conflict areas to prevent death and destruction and protect human rights, thus creating the space for local groups to struggle nonviolently, enter into dialogue, and seek peaceful resolution."

The Assembly's Committee on Global Issues recommended, and the Assembly approved, action to endorse research and development of such a "global nonviolent peace force," and asked the Peacemaking Program to follow developments, to participate in research and development efforts "as appropriate," and to make recommendations for actions to later Assemblies.

The Clinton administration received the benefit of lots of moral analysis - even ethical reflection. The current administration doesn't seem to be getting the same kind of commentary from the media or the citizenry.

A "Commentary" article published in last Sunday's Minneapolis Star Tribune points the way. It's written by Norman J. Vig, a professor of political science at Carleton College, in Northfield, Minnesota.

He begins: "We might as well make it official: The United States is acting like a rogue state." He is commenting specifically on the Bush administration's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing the emissions that seem clearly linked to the phenomenon of global warming. He mentions also the recent G8 summit in Genoa, and our planned imminent violation of the ABM treaty. So if any nation is flouting the will of the world of nations ... if any nation is willing and even eager to break the promises made in treaties over recent decades ... if any nation is operating purely on the basis of its own narrowly defined interests ... it's US.

The New York Times has recently added more details to earlier reports of the number of veterans of Ronald Reagan's covert wars in Central America who are now being nominated by the Bush administration to high foreign policy positions.

See "Bush Latin America Nominations Reopen Wounds," on the Times web site for August 1, 2001. People committed to peace and justice may want to express your concern to the White House, or to members of the Senate who will be called on to confirm many of these nominees.

This article will be available on the NY Times web site for one week free of charge (though you have to register to use the site). After that, you will be asked to pay a small charge for downloading it from their archives.

A wide variety of progressive groups are planning a series of conferences, demonstrations, lobbying, and more, "for all activists who oppose corporate globalization, US imperialism, and Bush's right-wing political agenda."

Sunday, Sept. 30 will include a rally protesting the World Bank/IMF meeting and demanding unconditional cancellation of debt for poor countries, and will kick off a week of protests and actions during the World Bank/IMF meetings. Sponsoring coalition: Mobilization for Global Justice including member groups of the Alliance for Global Justice: 50 Years Is Enough Network, Campaign for Labor Rights, ACERCA, Mexico Solidarity Network, and Nicaragua Network.

In an e-mail note dated 5/20/01, Witherspoon member Alice Winters wrote from Barranquilla, Colombia, explaining that the new university is in the final stages of seeking government approval. Given the close ties between the governments of Colombia and the U.S., a word from the U.S. ambassador could be very helpful, and we can urge our senators in Washington to encourage the ambassador to speak such a word.

 [5-28-01]

Witherspoooners Harold Barton and Brian Christofferson attended the Eco-Justice Conference which was held last week in Washington, DC., sponsored and planned by the National Council of Churches. As their first report on this important event, they have forwarded the latest issue of the e-list "Eco-Justice Notes." 

Peter Sawtell, Executive Director of Eco-Justice Ministries, recounts the day of lobbying on Capitol Hill by 350 conference participants. They visited legislators on behalf of the Gwich'in people and the caribou herd that will be devastated by oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; the people of Bangladesh, who will be among the most impacted victims of global warming; future generations, whose needs and interest are not adequately considered in short-sighted energy policies.

"We dared to remind our Senators and Representatives," he writes, "of the notion of sacrifice, and we called upon them to provide leadership of the sort that carries political risk."

Witherspooner Darrell Yeaney shares this report from a rabbi who sees non-violence as offering some hope in the continuing conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians.