People for Peace, Justice, and
Healing meets every Saturday morning (except Dec. 25) from 10:00 a.m. to noon
at Associated Ministries, 1224 South "I" Street, Tacoma, WA 98405
to share concerns and plan activities. We are involved in educational events, lectures,
study groups, workshops, and calls for community action.
Please consider joining us. All people of good
will are welcome!
Instant Run-Off Voting Wins
— Instant Run-Off Voting, endorsed by People for Peace, Justice, and
Healing, was approved by Pierce County voters on November 7, 2006.
Rich Anderson-Connolly, a leader
in the campaign to bring instant runoff voting (IRV) to Pierce County, explains
why this
measure is so important: "Instant runoff voting
ends the 'lesser of two evils' dilemma inherent in our current plurality voting
system. Seldom does either candidate from the two major parties offer a genuinely
non-violent approach to resolving conflicts. IRV allows 'third' parties to run
without the possibility of spoiling the more preferred candidate from the two parties.
Thus we should see more candidates who better represent the peace, labor, and
environmental communities running for office, and hopefully winning elections. But even
if they don't win, these voices will be part of the campaigns, because they can not be
excluded as 'spoilers.' Simply by participating in elections, these candidates and
their ideas will help to transform our culture in much-needed ways. Furthermore the
winning candidate will know how many of their votes came as second or third choices from
these communities." The city of Minneapolis also endorsed Instant Run-Off Voting on
Nov. 7 by a 2-1 margin. You can inform
yourself about instant runoff voting at fairvote.org
and at irvwa.org.
(7/9/06; rev. 11/11/06)
PPJH endorses Olympia Caterpillar Campaign letter On
May 27, 2006, People for Peace, Justice, and Healing
endorsed and signed a letter
from the Olympia Caterpillar Campaign to Mr. John Harnish, the president and CEO of
The Harnish Group, Inc, which is the largest distributor of Caterpillar equipment in
Washington State. The letter calls attention to "Caterpillar's complicity with
large-scale human rights violations in the Occupied Territories," and states
that "Caterpillar's equipment, most notably the D9 and D10 militarized bulldozers, is
directly implicated in grave abuses of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army." The
Olympia Caterpillar Campaign is requesting a meeting with Mr. Harnish to discuss how
The Harnish Group can assist with the campaign to ensure "that Caterpillar complies
with international law concerning corporations and human rights." The letter has
also been endorsed by Veterans for Peace Chapter 109, the Rachel Corrie Chapter,
Amnesty International of Puget Sound, Olympia Amnesty International, the Rachel Corrie
Foundation for Peace and Justice, the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project, the Olympia
Movement for Justice and Peace, the Green Party of South Puget Sound, and the Northwest
Middle East Peace Forum, Tacoma and Greater Pierce County. (6/2/06)
Norm Dicks's Change of Heart on the Iraq War On
Saturday, November 26, 2005, People for Peace, Justice, and healing adopted a
statement welcoming Norm Dicks's Thanksgiving 2005
announcement that he had decided that the Iraq war, which he did so much to
promote, is "a mistake." (11/26/05)
Robert P. Ericksen: Three new
poems! Robert P.
Ericksen has given PPJH permission to post three new poems, all of which refer to the
Iraq war. They are, in order of composition, Seeing Is
Believing, Losses, and Phony
Cowboys and Their Consequences. See also Ericksen's earlier poems published on this
web site, Pity Poor Pat Tillman, Dominoes
Again (also published
in Pacific Lutheran University's student newspaper, The Mast, on Feb. 20, 2004),
I Turn to Prayer, and It Must
Be Fate, all inspired by the war in Iraq. — Robert P. Ericksen is
a professor of history at Pacific Lutheran University. In May 2004 Prof. Ericksen gave
a talk on U.S. foreign policy sponsored by People for Peace, Justice, and
Healing, entitled "The Illusion of Overwhelming Force,"
which has received 3,719 hits as of Jun. 1, 2007; each passing day's newspaper confirms
the truth of its argument. Ericksen is also the author of Theologians under Hitler; his work was
the focus of a recently completed PBS documentary.(5/7/05; rev. 6/26/07)
Poem by Karen Konrad Karen Konrad's new
untitled poem begins "It is time to awaken..." (See
below for several other poems.) (8/6/05)
Scott Ritter's Feb. 2005 Olympia visit initiated discussion of US
plans to attack Iran On Friday evening, Feb. 18, 2005, in Olympia, WA,
former UNSCOM weapons inspector
Scott Ritter appeared with journalist Dahr Jamail at an event that was co-sponsored
by United for Peace of Pierce County. Ritter made
two shocking claims: that George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb Iran in
June 2005, and that the U.S. manipulated the results of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.
A report on his talk posted
on the UFPPC web site generated
an extraordinary amount of interest, receiving 123,268 hits
as of Apr. 6, 2007, and has been posted on more than 400 web sites. Ritter continues
to warn of the likelihood of war with Iran; on Jan. 24, 2007, in Deerfield, MA, the former
U.N. weapons inspector warned: "Ladies
and gentlemen, we are on the edge of the abyss."
(2/21/05; rev. 4/7/07)
Two poems by Karen Havnaer Two recent poems by poet and playwright Karen Havnaer are published here
for the first time. People of Sadr City is addressed
to the inhabitants of a district of Baghdad. For Sgt. Brian Turner — Third Brigade, Second Infantry Division,
is dedicated to a recent visitor to PPJH who is himself a poet. (2/17/05)
Karen Konrad, "Winter at
Nisqually" Karen Konrad's recently completed poem, Winter at
Nisqually, published here for the first time, captures hauntingly the painfulness
of change and the strength change can bring. -- Her meditative poem
entitled Breathe into Life,
made available on this web site last May, continues to find readers who appreciate it as an
antidote to the difficulties and sorrows of the present time. (5/22/04; rev. 1/15/05)
The Northwest Detention Center See
the UFPPC website for more information
about the Tacoma's new prison, the
"Northwest Detention Center," located at 1623
E. "J" St. The prison was built by
a Sarasota, Florida, corporation with an extremely problematic
record, Correctional Services Corporation (NASDAQ symbol: CSCQ), and
purchased
by a rival firm, Geo, in July 2005. . -- If you haven't seen
this sinister complex of windowless buildings built on a
Superfund site whose toxic effects may still be posing risks to
detainees and employees alike,
make an effort to do so soon.
All Tacoma residents should see it for themselves.
Given our heritage of "the Tacoma Method" (1885) and
Executive Order 9066 (Feb. 19, 1942), we owe it to ourselves -- and
to others -- to be vigilant. (To that end, please note that members of the
public -- with 2 pieces of
picture ID -- are entitled to enter the Northwest Detention Center on
Wednesdays to witness legal proceedings (hearings).
Time to show up: 9:30 a.m.) (3/10/04; revised 10/11/05)
Martin Luther King Jr. United for
Peace of Pierce County has posted
a
collection of inspiring sayings by Martin Luther King Jr. (1/19/04)
Women of Iraq Tour 2003 in Tacoma On Monday,
Dec. 22, 2003, at 7:00 p.m. the Women of Iraq
Tour 2003 concluded with an appearance of Nermin Al-Mufti and
Amal Al-Khedairy at the Tacoma Society of Friends meeting house
(formerly the Hillside Community Church). You can read an account
of their presentation, part of an heroic effort to speak directly
to the American people, at the United
for Peace of Pierce County website (where it has received
2,314 hits as of Jun. 1, 2007). (12/23/03; rev. 6/26/07)
Tacoma City Council votes to defend the Bill of Rights On
Dec. 20, 2003, PPJH addressed
a letter to the seven members of the Tacoma City Council who four days
earlier voted in favor of the Resolution to Defend the Bill of Rights of
the U.S. Constitution. To read the text of the letter, individual
copies of which have been mailed to Mayor Bill Baarsma, Deputy Mayor Bil
Moss, and Councilpersons Bill Evans, Connie Ladenburg, Sharon McGavick,
Doug Miller, and Rick
Talbert, click here. — That
the City of Tacoma is currently prosecuting 21 port militarization resistance protestors
for exercising their constitutional rights in March 2007 has called into question
the significance this endorsement, however. For details, see the web site of United
for Peace of Pierce County. (12/20/03; rev. 6/26/07)
On Maher Arar Statement
on Maher Arar and the U.S. Policy of
"Extraordinary Renditions." In September 2006, a Canadian commission of inquiry
cleared Maher Arar of all suspicion of wrongdoing and called for further investigations
to identify those responsible for this horrific injustice, and in January 2007
the Canadian government announced that it would pay Arar almost $10 million in
reparations. The U.S. government continues to refuse to acknowledge
its culpability in the affair. (11/8/03; rev. 1/28/07)
What is People for Peace, Justice and Healing, anyway?
People for Peace, Justice, and Healing
Endorses the Earth Charter
PPJH decided to endorse the Earth Charter four and a half years
ago at our Feb. 8, 2003, meeting, and has conducted
a sustained examination of
the Earth
Charter to deepen our understanding of its sixteen principles.
Our study of the document has deepened our belief that the Earth Charter is
superior to the Bush administration's "National Security Policy for the
United States of America" as a vision of how the U.S.A. can live in peace
with the other nations of the planet while moving toward a
safer, healthier, more just future for
us and those who come after us.
As of Jan. 28, 2007
17,128 groups, organizations, and individuals had endorsed the Earth Charter.
Despite virtually no news about it in the corporate-controlled mainstream media,
this document seems to be developing momentum. In November 2003 the Fourth
Summit of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates issued a statement supporting
the Earth Charter.
Click here
to view this fascinating list. The beginning of the
"T" list gives a sense of the variety of the 3,037 organizations that have
embraced this call for a worldwide change of mind and heart
in people around the world as humanity's best hope for the future:
Taiwan Ecological Stewardship Association, Taiwan
Tasmanian Environment Steadman, Australia
Teaneck Creek Conservancy, United States
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Chihuahua, Mexico
TELC Girl's Hr. Sec. School, India
Tenemos Retreat Center, United States
Tennessee Clean Water Action, United States
Terra Curanda (magazine), Netherlands
Terrawatu, Tanzania
The Acorn Group, United States
The African Conservation Foundation, United Kingdom
The Apeiron Foundation, United States
The Atomic Mirror, United States
The Beany Group In conjunction with City of Greater Bendigo, Australia
The Bloedel Reserve, United States
The Canopus Foundation, Germany
The Center for Ecoliteracy, United States
The Central Mission of Franciscans, Germany
'The Centre' (Environmental & Cultural Education Centre), Indonesia
The Change Institute, United States
The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation, United States
The Chewonki Foundation, United States
. . . and the list goes on!
With its themes of
-- respect for life
-- ecological and environmental concerns
-- social justice
-- peace
-- democracy
with its exemplary international genesis, and with its comprehensive outlook on the
humanity's problems, PPJH hopes that the Earth Charter can offer a positive vision of the
nation's and the world's future -- and an alternative
to the vision of national security through global domination that has been embraced by the
short-sighted leaders of the current U.S. administration.
Please read the Earth Charter and see whether you, too, are willing to embrace
its principles. PJHers will
also want to review the Earth
Charter USA Campaign, whose national secretariat is based at the Center for Respect
of Life and Environment in Washington, DC.
Individual members may be interested in becoming Earth Charter
Facilitators, which they can do through the above link.
Support United for Peace of Pierce County!
People for Peace, Justice, and Healing continues to support the work of
United for Peace of Pierce
County, which organized the "The World STILL
Says No to War!" rally in McKinley Park in Tacoma on March 20, 2004, and which
was a very visible presence in the antiwar rallies in
Seattle on Mar. 19, 2005, and in Tacoma on Mar. 19, 2006. —
UFPPC is a local group affiliated with the national coalition
United for Peace and Justice.
In the aftermath of the Iraq war, UFPPC adopted a new mission statement:
"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions
rather than cooperative diplomacy." Many PJHers are members of UFPPC. Visit
the increasingly popular UFPPC website
(which recently passed 4,300,000 hits) for more information.
United for Peace of Pierce County was founded on Nov. 14, 2002, to
oppose nonviolently a war on Iraq. UFPPC was the organizer of a
successful March around the Mall on Dec. 8, 2002, and of a full afternoon of
anti-war and pro-peace activities on Feb. 15, 2003, which included a rally
with speakers and singers in McKinley Park, a march from McKinley Park to the
Federal Courthouse in which more than a thousand people particpated, and an
elaborate and unprecedented Celebration of Peace in the Washington State
History Museum from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. that was very well attended.
Like the March around the Mall before it, UFPPC's events made the front page in
News
Tribune. Tacoma was one of more than five hundred cities
around the world participating in the largest peace demonstration
in the history of humanity.
Some photographs:
The rally (Flo Ariessohn)
The march (Flo Ariessohn)
No Iraq War sign (Tom Bates)
The crowd near the stage (Tom Bates)
Vance Lelli performing (Tom Bates)
Rally at the Federal Courthouse (Adam Bray)
The "No Iraq War" plane! (Adam Bray)
More shots (Flo Ariessohn)
Still more shots! (Brian Smith)
Feb. 15 peace demonstrations
around the world.
Links to other
photographs
of peace demonstrations around the world.
In fact, there were not 600 separate demonstrations on February 15.
In reality THERE WAS JUST *ONE* DEMONSTRATION FOR PEACE,
AND *THE WORLD* WAS WHERE IT WAS TAKING PLACE!
UFPPC sponsored a June 21 concert at the Antique Sandwich Company featuring
Jim Page, Steve and Kristi Nebel, and Holly Gwynne Graham, and on July 15 the very
successful "Save Our Nation" event attended by hundreds of people, and featuring
noted activist Medea Benjamin, and in the fall sponsored the visit of Bay Area activist Jan
Adams.
MEETINGS OF UFPPC take place on the first and third Thursdays of each
month at First Congregational Church (209 South "J" St., Tacoma), at 7:00 p.m.
Check out the UFPPC website!
Join in the struggle for peace! Activism does make a
difference!
People for Peace, Justice, and Healing is a group of people living in or near Tacoma that began meeting in September 2001.
If you, too, are concerned about
the direction this country has taken and are interested in local
efforts to help this nation return to its core values of
liberty and justice for all, we hope you will consider joining
us in seeking paths that
lead to peace, justice, and healing for the United States of
America and for the world.
Our activities include a
vigil for peace every Wednesday,
from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in front of the Federal Courthouse
on Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma, across from UWT. The Federal
Courthouse is the most visible symbol of the authority of the federal
government in the city of Tacoma. Join us at the Federal
Courthouse with signs and make visible your stand for peace and justice!
The principal locus of action of People for Peace, Justice, and
Healing is the weekly Saturday morning meeting. We meet faithfully
every Saturday morning from 10:00 a.m. to noon at Associated Ministries,
1224 South "I" Street, Tacoma, WA 98405 to share concerns and plan
activities. We are involved in educational events, lectures,
study groups, workshops, and calls for community action. (The formation of the
leading anti-war group in Pierce County,
United for Peace of Pierce County, grew out of a
call from People for Peace, Justice, and Healing
in early November 2002 to people and groups in
Tacoma and Pierce County to form a coalition against the war on Iraq.)
Please consider joining us next Saturday morning. All people of good
will are welcome!
How does PJH function? We are a deliberately leaderless
group in which decisions are made by consensus at the weekly
Saturday meetings. We always welcome new participants.
A word about "healing" and beliefs. People for
Peace, Justice, and Healing does not advocate a particular set of beliefs,
is not pursuing a political program, and does not endorse candidates
in political campaigns. We call on all people
of good will to join us in trying to further our common
understanding of the challenges we face in finding the paths to
lasting peace and social justice, a commitment that led to our
recent endorsement of the Earth Charter. But valuing peace, justice,
and the health of the earth are not, in our opinion, enough.
We live in a nation born of
a bright dream, but also marred from the start by the historic
wrongs of genocide and slavery -- wrongs that have for too
long been denied or neglected.
Leadership in our contemporary society, misshapen by the powerful and
violent institutions of patriarchy, exploitation, and militarism,
continues to be marked by the manipulation and reinforcement
of patterns of prejudice and
fear that help maintain these institutions. PJHers tend to
believe that peaceful progress toward addressing these matters
depends on finding ways to heal the wounds
that have too often blighted and stymied our dearest hopes.
This is not always possible, of course,
and our efforts often fail to bear immediate fruit.
But we have faith in their long-term efficacy nevertheless. Our emphasis on
"healing" signifies a recognition that progress toward peace and
justice, if it is to be enduring, must involve learning about the harm
that has been done (and is being done). Reconciliation can only come
through acknowledgment of the truth, however painful that may sometimes be.
People for Peace, Justice, and Healing was prominently featured
in
an October 4, 2002 article in the Tacoma News Tribune.
On October 1, 2002, People for Peace, Justice and Healing
sponsored a full-page ad in the Tacoma News Tribune
questioning the wisdom of U.S. policy toward Iraq, and calling
on citizens to contact their elected representatives in an effort
to influence Congressional action on the pending war resolution.
The ad and the subsequent attention helped swell the numbers
of people who turned out for a Special Peace
Vigil on Monday, October 7, which commemorated the loss of civilian
life in Afghanistan and rallyied opposition to the impending war
on Iraq. -- To see some pictures of the October 7 vigil,
click on Local Events. -- The event
also produced an incident that led to
an exchange of letters with
the commanding general of Fort Lewis. People
for Peace, Justice, and Healing sponsored the visit of Kelly Campbell, a
co-founder of September 11
Families for Peaceful Tomorrows on May 18, 2003; other sponsored
speakers have been Jan Adams of War News, Stan Goff of
Bring Them Home Now!, and Robert P. Ericksen of Pacific Lutheran
University. On Thursday,
September 30, 2004, PPJH co-sponsored the visit to Tacoma of Daniel Ellsberg,
Medea Benjamin, and Norman Solomon, who spoke to a packed house at
UPS's Schneebeck Concert Hall about 'What's at Stake in the 2004 Elections -- and
Beyond."
Your support for our work for a peaceful, hopeful, and just future
is greatly needed and can be expressed through a donation to
further our efforts.
Please send contributions:
PPJH, c/o Sallie Shawl,
Associated Ministries, 1224 South "I" St., Tacoma, WA
98405.
Poetry for Peace, Justice, and Healing
the path of sideways trees and
my tribe has many fingers were
written by PJHer Karen Konrad.
Jerusalem was written by PJHer Sheila Renton.
Iraq Is Like Crack,
Pox Americana,
Dominoes Again,
I Turn to Prayer, and It Must
Be Fate, all inspired by the American adventure in Iraq, were
written by R.P. Ericksen, a professor of history at Pacific Lutheran
University.
SNOW member Ann Evans's On the
Playground has been selected for inclusion in a forthcoming anthology of
anti-war poetry.
PJHer Ann Philis Murphy read The
Path of Peace aloud on Feb. 8.
UFPPC Member Duane Niatum reflects on Auden's famous dictum that
"Poetry makes nothing happen" in a poem dedicated to
Elizabeth Bishop:
Speaking with
an Elder Poet on an Anti-War Poem. In another poem,
For Friends Living along the Walla Walla
River, Niatum speaks of his search for "songs that
would . . . break my wolf's journey to blood tracks."
Unfortunately, W.H.
Auden's September 1, 1939 has
taken on new meaning in recent months.
Robert Bly's recent poem on the Iraq war is entitled
Call and Answer.
A website of poetry against the war has been created:
Poets
Against the War.
Cartoon Corner
Jack Kus presents:
On September 21, 2002, People for Peace, Justice, and Healing
was one of the first groups to organizationally affiliate
with Sound Nonviolent Opponents of
War (SNOW -- 'gentle, but it can shut down a city'), a regional
coalition formed in Seattle on September 18, 2002.
By November 2, 2003, the number of
member organizations had swelled to 105. Other member
organizations include: Washington Physicians for Social
Responsibility; University Unitarian Church Peace and Justice
Committee (Seattle); Fellowship of
Reconciliation, Seattle Chapter;
Pax Christi Pacific Northwest; Church Council
of Greater Seattle; Interfaith Network of Concern for the People
of Iraq (INOC); the Plymouth Congregational Church Peace Action
Group (Seattle);
United for Peace of Pierce County;
University Friends Meeting (Seattle);
and many others.
Click here to see
a complete
list of SNOW member organizations.
SNOW's 'Points of Agreement':
We commit to nonviolent actions:
We will commit no acts of violence, physical or verbal
We will commit no property damage
We will behave respectfully to all
If conflict is likely, we will strive to have ample trained
peacekeepers and legal observers
We encourage all participants to be trained in nonviolence
If arrest is risked, all participants will be trained in
nonviolence
We condemn human rights abuses including, but not limited to
U.S. wars and sanctions against Iraq;
Saddam Hussein's use of poisons as a weapon.
We recognize that the former is far greater in magnitude than
the latter but we need to be consistent in defense of human rights
for all
We oppose all weapons of mass destruction including
U.S. nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, biological weapons,
cluster bombs, landmines, and economic sanctions against Iraq
Iraqi, Israeli, Pakistani, Indian, and other countries'
nuclear weapons, and other WMD
We support an International Criminal Court to deal with those
who plan and perpetrate acts of terrorism, such as those of Sept.
11, 2001
We support U.S. foreign policies which promote human rights,
economic justice, and self-determination for all people as the
best way to prevent future acts of terrorism and to promote
global well-being.
SNOW calls on people in the U.S.
to act like giraffes: STICK YOUR NECK OUT! STAND
TALL FOR PEACE! -- SNOW meets weekly. Call 206-789-5565 (Fellowship of
Reconciliation) for more information, or consult the
SNOW
website. SNOW also maintains a number of listservs, including
a high-volume SNOW-NEWS listserv:
information on how to subscribe is available on the SNOW web site.
Comments or suggestions for the People for Peace, Justice, and
Healing website?
Click here to write the
webmaster, or call 253-535-7219.
To subscribe to our mailing list, please register with
Yahoo. Once you've
registered, join our group by going to Yahoo Groups
(click "Groups" on the Yahoo website above) and
search for "tacomapjh" -- or you can find our group under the
Cultures & Community/Issues and Causes/Peace and Nonviolence
category.
Last updated: December 31, 2007
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