Central New York Voices for Peace and Social Justice April 2005 741 We thank the Onondaga People for asserting their right to land and for working to clean the Earth on behalf of us all.
Published by the Syracuse Peace Council – Founded in 1936 PEACE NEWSLETTER CONTENTS SPC STAFF Carol Baum, Andy Mager, Jessica Maxwell, Paul Pearce Syracuse Peace Council in Action ...... 3 (SPC Press/TV) A Jury of One’s Peers by Charles A. Keller, III Esq...... 5 Saving NYS Healthcare by Desiree Newsome...... 6 SPC STEERING COMMITTEE The Esthetics of Repression: Banned Art by Kimberley McCoy...... 8 Carol Baum, Gary Bonaparte, Joan Conley, Dik Cool, Barbara Humphrey, Andy Mager, Jessica Maxwell, Budget Fiasco by Elizabeth Quick ...... 9 Emily Moeller, Beth Mosley, Tina Musa, Shirley Novak, War and “Dear Taxpayer” by Peter Swords ...... 10 Mike Pasquale, Nick Poulos, Carole Resnick Supporting Onondaga Land Rights by Carole Resnick...... 11 Specifi c Goals of the Onondaga Land Rights ...... 12 PEACE NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE Andy Mager (coordinator), Ed Kinane, Rae Kramer, Onondaga Land Rights Action Facts ...... 13 Donna Muhs-McCarten, Sara Smits. Calendar: Jackie Toward a Green, Sustainable Syracuse by Ollie Clubb ...... 15 Hayes. Layout: Jackie Hayes, Andy Mager Partner Abuse and War Making by Van Cleary-Hammarstedt...... 17 Vermont Votes No to War by John Nichols ...... 18 ISSN 0735-4134 Jimmy Massey – Healing a Soul by Jude Nagurney Camwell...... 19 May PNL Deadlines GLIMCAP’s Oil War: Iraq and Colombia by Ed Kinane ...... 21 Article submissions: April 1 Is Peace Breaking Out in Palestine? by Ali Abunimah...... 23 Advertising: April 8 Community Calendar ...... 24 Calendar items: April 20
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The Peace Newsletter (PNL) is published monthly by the Syracuse Peace Council (SPC). The PNL is the newsletter of SPC as well as a forum for articles which discuss Central New York Voices issues of concern to the peace and justice movement. The opinions expressed in the for Peace and Social Justice PNL refl ect the diversity of opinions within SPC itself. Subscribe to the PNL Still only $12 a year for 11 issues! Syracuse Peace Council Name:Name: ______Statement of Purpose Address:Address: ______City:City: ______The Syracuse Peace Council (SPC), founded in 1936, is an antiwar/social justice organization. It is community-based, autonomous and funded by the contributions State:State: ______Zip Zip ______of its supporters. Phone:Phone: (____)______(____)______SPC educates, agitates and organizes for a world where war, violence and Email:Email: ______exploitation in any form will no longer exist. It challenges the existing unjust power relationships among nations, among people and between ourselves and the EnclosedEnclosed is is $12 $12 for for a aone one year year subscription subscription environment. As members, we work to replace inequality, hierarchy, domination toto the the PNL. PNL. and powerlessness with mutual respect, personal empowerment, cooperation and EnclosedEnclosed is is an an additional additional donation donation of of $___ $___ a sense of community. forfor all all your your great great work! work! Present social injustices cannot be understood in isolation from each other, nor PleasePlease contact contact me me about about volunteering. volunteering. can they be overcome without recognizing their economic and militaristic roots. SPC seeks to make these connections clear. We initiate and support activities that AddAdd me me to to SPC’s SPC’s email email announcements announcements list. list. help build this sense of community and help tear down the walls of oppression. A fundamental basis for peace and justice is an economic system that places human This is a new subscription need above monetary profi t. We establish relationships among people based on This is a renewal cooperation rather than competition or the threat of destruction. My address has changed Our political values and personal lives shape and refl ect each other. In both, we are committed to nonviolent means of confl ict resolution and to a process of Syracuse Peace Council decision-making that responds to the needs of us all. 924 Burnet Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13203
2 Peace Newsletter April 2005 SYRACUSE PEACE COUNCIL Educate, Agitate, Organize 924 Burnet Ave., Syracuse, NY 13203 (315) 472-5478 SPC IN ACTION [email protected] compiled by Jessica Maxwell www.peacecouncil.net OFFICE HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 10 am - 5 pm Much work lies ahead to be sure that our Wed. til 8 pm community responds productively. Please join us in supporting their action: Staff email addresses: Andy Mager
Charles A. Keller, III. Esq. section of the community in the county or residents who reside within the jurisdiction other governmental subdivision where in of that court. Every court, that is, except Imagine you are accused of a crime in the court convenes….” This language is one – Syracuse City Court. In Syracuse your community. You plead “not guilty.” at the heart of a dispute that has arisen in City Court, a litigant receives a jury panel You demand a trial before a jury of your Syracuse City Court over the jury system composed mostly of county residents peers as is your right. But when the jury in Onondaga County and across New who reside outside the jurisdiction of the marches in, none of them look like you do York State. Court. What this means is that a resident and then you fi nd out that almost none of of Skaneateles or Clay can be a juror on a them are from the place where you Syracuse City Court case, but a Syracuse are now standing trial. Inherent Unfairness resident can never be a juror on a case in Now imagine that you In August of 2002, a Skaneateles or Clay. Although Clay residents are a citizen curious about Syracuse resident do not live within the city or pay taxes to the jury system in your com- was charged in the city or vote for city offi cials, they have munity. After some inves- Syracuse the ability to decide disputes in a court of tigation, you discover that law within the city while a city resident almost all of the has no such ability in Clay. This results in jurors for cases an inherent unfairness to both the litigants in your commu- who have their cases decided and the nity live outside citizens/potential jurors who live of your community. in Syracuse and are treated Further, you fi nd out that differently from ev- although these citizens are eryone else in free to enter and sit in judgment the county. in your community, you are prevented from sitting as a juror in their community. Such a system sounds inherently unfair to both citizens and litigants and would not possibly be allowed, right? Wrong. This is exactly the state of the jury system in Onondaga County and numerous other counties throughout New York State. One of the most fundamental rights reserved to all citizens in the United States with Theft of Services is a right to trial by a jury of one’s peers. and Resisting Arrest. He pled “not This right is so important that it is twice guilty” and the case of People v. referred to in the Constitution of the United Minimum Chances Bradwell was scheduled for a jury States. Article III, Section 2, clause 3 of the for Minorities to Serve trial on July 1, 2003 in Syracuse Constitution states that, “The Trial of all Beyond the obvious unfairness to residents City Court. On that day, a panel of prospec- Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, of Syracuse in terms of having outsiders tive jurors was brought over and so-called shall be by Jury.” The Sixth Amendment take their places in the jury system, a “juror questionnaires” were distributed to provides that, “In all criminal prosecu- more serious result of this system is that the lawyers. Upon review of the question- tions, the accused shall enjoy the right to no matter what local court you are before, naires, it was determined that out of 28 a speedy and public trial, by an impartial you will get a jury that minimizes the panelists, only two resided within the city jury of the State and district [emphasis chances for African Americans and other of Syracuse and upon a visual inspection of added] wherein the crime shall have been minorities to serve as jurors. According to the panel it was noted that there was only committed….” In New York, this right to 2000 Census fi gures, African Americans one African American and no Hispanics a jury “of one’s peers” is guaranteed by over the age of 18 make up over 20% of present. As the attorney for Mr. Bradwell, the Judiciary Law. That law provides that the population of Syracuse, but less than an African American, I lodged a challenge a litigant “shall have the right to …petit 8% of the population of Onondaga County. to the drawing of the panel on both statu- juries selected at random from a fair cross- Outside the city of Syracuse, African tory and Constitutional grounds. Americans make up less than 2% of the After several hearings on the matter, residents of Onondaga County and some it was learned that in every court in Onon- towns and villages, such as Skaneateles Charles is the Director of the Criminal Law daga County, whether it is County Court, Clinic at the Syracuse University College Supreme Court, Town or Village Court, a of Law. litigant has a right to a jury composed of continued on next page April 2005 Peace Newsletter 5 Jury / continued from previous page Unequal Treatment and Marcellus, have almost no minority This use of a coun- population at all. ty-wide panel is Using a county-wide panel in Syracuse not even standard City Court has the result of fl ooding the jury throughout New pool with county residents who are over York State, 92% white. Since Syracuse has an African though it is American population of over 20%, but less widespread. Sev- than 8% of the jurors on the county-wide eral counties do use only panels currently used can be expected to city residents for their city courts. Graphic: Dan Newman be African-American, you get panels with Other counties use a county-wide panel only around one-third the number of African in their city courts but will provide a jury Americans that would be available on a panel of city residents upon request. So a in favor of preserving the current system. city resident only panel. Conversely, every defendant accused of the same crime or a The trial court disagreed, however, and town and village court in Onondaga uses litigant in a civil case will be treated very ruled that the use of county-wide panels a panel only of those particular town and differently depending upon what county village residents, which means that less in Syracuse City Court violated New York they happen to be in, even though the than 2% of those panels can be expected law. Syracuse City Court Judge Langston to be African American. If these town and laws governing those counties are iden- C. McKinney ordered the Commissioner village courts were given a county-wide tical. This disparate treatment also runs of Jurors to return a panel of prospective panel like Syracuse City Court is given, counter to the notion of equal protection jurors drawn only from the city of Syracuse. then there would be four times as many under the law. That order was in turn stayed by another African American jurors on those panels. In the Bradwell case (along with sev- order from Onondaga County Supreme This systematic disenfranchisement should eral other similar challenge cases raised by Court Justice Anthony Paris, who ruled not be acceptable and runs afoul of the rights the Syracuse University College of Law that McKinney had misinterpreted state to due process and equal protection under - Criminal Law Clinic), the Onondaga law and had acted without jurisdiction in the laws guaranteed by the Constitution of County District Attorney’s Office and ordering a new panel. Currently, Judge the United States. the Commissioner of Jurors both argued Paris’ ruling is on appeal to the NYS
Saving NYS Healthcare
To the Peace Newsletter, 1199 SEIU fi ghting for the 200 health care My name is Desiree C. Newsome and I jobs that will be lost in the Syracuse area. am a part of the Healthcare Education It’s about the uninsured and underinsured Project, a joint effort of 1199 SEIU (Ser- that come into my clinic daily. It’s about vice Employees International Union) and people like my mother who must decide Greater New York Hospital Association between paying her bills or buying medi- to prevent a $3 billion cut to New York’s cine to manage her diabetes. And it’s about healthcare industry. the 6,000 people in Onondaga County on Governor Pataki’s budget means $800 Family Health Plus who will lose their millon in cuts and taxes to hospitals and health coverage if this budget passes. This $520 million in cuts to our nursing homes, lack of coverage should never happen in many of which are already struggling. What a country as great as the US. this also means is that the poorest among What can each of us, as community us will suffer the most. I have a diffi cult members, do to help ensure that health Photo: www.endcuts.net time accepting this. I work at the Staten care and hospitals will be there when Island University Hospital as a registrar our loved ones need them? Act now. and I see the need for quality care on a There is strength in numbers. Check out daily basis. [www.endcuts.net]. Write letters and call an important fi ght – an urgent fi ght – our This is not a partisan issue – it’s about your state representatives. Write letters to budget is currently being determined by improving the quality of life of all Ameri- your local newspaper. Call us at 424-1743 our elected offi cials. cans. Our hospitals, nursing homes, and x156 for more information and to volunteer Don’t let them decide without hearing jobs are in jeopardy of being destroyed. to walk door to door to talk about these from you. I say this as more than just a delegate of issues or help out in the offi ce. This is –Desiree Newsome 6 Peace Newsletter April 2005 Sometimes I wander through this old abandoned town Filled with the misery of time wasted Filled with the fear of population zero Filled with a history of war
Then you show up and you smile for no reason Like its all so simple and clear like we’re the hope of a hundred generations Like you and I have no fear
Like we are rocking in the soul of emma goldman Like we are rosa’s pride Like we are stronger than your average superhero Like we’re an ocean wide
Six months of winter gets underneath my skin All but my eyes are cast in snow women The world whips by, whispers go fight win And these words have no meaning to me Jolie Christine Rickman
Then you show up and you smile for no reason Presenté Like its all so simple and clear like we’re the hope of a hundred generations 1970-2005 Like you and I have no fear
April 2005 Peace Newsletter 7 The Esthetics of Repression: banned Art Kimberley McCoy If Giuliani never made a ruckus about Chris Ofi li’s painting, “The Holy Virgin banned Art Auction Are conservatives so sexually repressed Mary” (the one with the elephant dung, April 30, 7:30 pm that they need a controversy before they remember?) at the 1999 Brooklyn Museum can safely talk about nipples? Did God of Art’s ‘Sensation’ show, the art world Westcott Community Center actually fi nd Janet Jackson’s nipple mor- may have never learned the power of poo Drop off work from 3-6 pm ally offensive? as a viable artistic medium. Viewing 6:30-7:30 pm Make way for the banned Art Auc- Organizers include Africa Bound, tion – an auction with controversy built the Student Environmental Action in. This auction is a time to remove the Exhibit A. The Breast Coalition, Eastside Neighborhood Arts, Culture and Technology. fi g leaf and celebrate freedom of speech In 2002, the US Department of Justice spent as if it still existed. Defenders of the First $8,000 on curtains to cover up an art deco Amendment (that means you) are invited statue of a toga-clad woman entitled the Proceeds go to the 2005 Ghana Trip of to create art to be auctioned. “Spirit of Justice.” Apparently Justice was the Syracuse Africa Bound Program: Youth sharing culture across the globe. Why banned art? a bit too spirited for John Ashcroft, who felt uncomfortable speaking To learn more, contact Kim: 422-4924 to the press beside her ex- or [[email protected]]. posed tin breast. According to the BBC, the Department Personal Inspiration of Justice had been regularly My fi rst offi cial banning was during my renting curtains for $2,000 to senior year in high school. The literary hide the offending breast and magazine that friends and I published decided that spending $8,000 stumbled into its most successful year on permanent curtains would ever, thanks to encouragement from the be a good investment. school’s administration. We didn’t know what a blessing the simple phrase ‘blow- job’ was until the administration declared Exhibit B. The our publication unfi t for student consump- President’s Monkey tion. Our otherwise dull magazine became In December, Syracuse a sought after commodity. Who knew a University graduate, Chris poem that wasn’t even about sex – it was Savido’s painting, “Bush actually about mismanaged urban renewal Monkeys,” a portrait using – could be so popular? Our underground Well mostly because it’s fun, clever, witty, imagery of monkeys and swamp scum to marketing proved far more fi nancially and sexy! form Bush’s likeness, caused a 60-piece fruitful than the typical lunchroom distri- But also because there are too many art show at New York City’s Chelsea Mar- bution. Keep in mind that my senior year paintings of blue circles on black stripes ket to close a month early. A Republican in high school coincided with the whole and too many sculptures of white cubes on donor did the only thing he saw fi t. He Clinton scandal thing, a time when being slightly larger white cubes. donated the funds to turn the portrait into overly sensitive about ‘blow-jobs’ was a Because art should not match those a billboard hanging over the entrance to national duty. tangerine drapes you bought at Target. Holland Tunnel. Four hundred thousand Throughout history, those in power Because if you need a conversation drivers saw the work each week for a have always tried to stifl e the artist with piece for when in-laws visit, it might as month. The irony never ceases. the dissenting voice. As artists, we must not well be made of burnt fl ag ashes. compromise our beliefs. In 1934, Diego Because art has the power to piss Rivera refused to remove anti-capitalism people off and sometimes it’s good to imagery from his mural commissioned by piss people off. Exhibit C. Stoning Hope John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Rivera was banned The brilliance of controversial art is In late February, three City Council members from the site and the mural was fi rst hid- that the conservative right loves to hate it from Lakewood City, Colorado pulled an art den by a massive drape and then axed at and lefties love to love it. exhibit entitled “Hope Stones,” declaring it, midnight by the Rockefeller Center’s work- “Anti-American.” The artist, Gayla Lemke, men. Rivera went on to recreate the mural an air force veteran, included text in her in the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City, Kimberley McCoy is an Arts and Culture work such as the line, “A real coward is this time with an added portrait of Rock- organizer at Eastside Neighbors in Partner- someone who drops a bomb from a protected efeller, Jr. Rivera’s fi rst mural may have ship. She studied Art History at Syracuse space several thousand feet up.” The work been destroyed but his story of resistance University, is a radical cheerleader and a included other highly insulting lines such will outlive the fading brushstrokes of lover of chocolate cupcakes. as “Love is a verb, not a noun.” any mural of the status quo. 8 Peace Newsletter April 2005 Federal Budget Fiasco
Elizabeth Quick Early in February, President Bush unveiled his $2.57 trillion federal budget proposal for 2006. Bush’s budget starkly reveals what he values and what he does not. The plan claims to reduce the current record defi cit of $427 billion to $390 bil- lion, but this amount excludes the projected cost of the Iraq war for 2006. Current pro- jections put the 2006 fi gure for warfare expense at $80 billion if current rates are maintained. Also notably absent are transition costs for Bush’s proposed Social Security overhaul. Proposed Federal spending for 2006. Chart: War Resisters League [www.warresisters.org]. Yet, Bush remains “upbeat” and maintains that his goal of reducing the defi cit by 2009 benefi ts that offer people the opportunity lumped together. The Community Develop- can still be met – by “sharper reductions to rise out of poverty, while protecting tax ment Block Grant Program (CDBG), which in spending” during the next few years. cuts for the affl uent.” provides funding for cities’ special programs, Bush declared, “It is a budget that sets For example, cuts would be made to would be eliminated. Instead of individual priorities. Our priorities are winning the Medicaid and Food Stamps, “two of the programs like CDBG, grant chunks will war on terror, protecting our homeland, services most vital to low-income and vul- be given to state and local governments, growing our economy. It’s a budget that nerable people.” The budget cuts programs with reduced funding to divvy up among focuses on results.” that support farmers. It calls for block grants the same number of programs. – i.e. a reduction in overall funds – for Head State and local governments, with Where the Money Is Going Start, housing, job training, child welfare, less money to divide, will have to “reduce and other community service programs. benefi ts, eligibility” and modify “program The increases represented in Bush’s budget It would place “a rigid fi ve-year cap on a rules in order to control costs.” These block proposal should come as no surprise to those wide range of services” that will further grants can result in as much as a 40% total familiar with his policies. The 2006 budget devastate human needs programs. aid decrease to cities in New York State. boosts the Defense Department by 4.8%, for Ironically, despite Bush’s priority of Bush’s 2006 budget proposal suggests a cumulative 38.6% increase over the past “homeland security,” the budget would less funding for these new block grants fi ve years. The Department of Homeland also cut police department and fi refi ghter than the CDBG program alone received Security would see a 7% increase. State funding. The Environmental Protection for 2005. Department and foreign aid spending would Agency would be cut by 5.6%, and the Bush’s budget won’t just hurt federal increase by 15.7%. The State Department Centers for Disease Control and Preven- programs. It’ll have ripple effects in state budget would create a $100 million fund “to tion by 12.4%, undermining HIV/AIDS and local budgets. They’ll have to scramble quickly deploy civilian personnel to unstable education and prevention. Education cuts and make cuts of their own. In Central New regions.” These projected increases do not would include reducing elementary educa- York and around the state, we can expect to include an expected additional request for tion, special education, literacy, and English see reduced Medicaid payments, reduced continued funding of the Iraq war. as a Second Language funding. mental health support, reduced tuition aid and SUNY cuts, and reduced contributions Where the Money Isn’t Going to state pension funds. Closer to Home According to Senator Schumer, the Where the money is not going in Bush’s Bush’s budget proposal shifts problems from proposed budget would also eliminate proposed budget covers much more territory the federal government to state and local funding for Amtrak, purging more than than where it is going. To fund the Iraq war, government, leaving them to deal with larger 500 jobs in Upstate New York. Syracuse’s Defense and Homeland Security, the money problems with even more limited funds. 2004-2005 CDBG grant totaled $7.4 mil- would be taken from other programs, many The National Governor’s Association op- lion. This was money used for programs of which are already under-funded. poses Bush’s proposed budget, saying that like creating low-income housing, creating According to the Center for Human the budget must “save both the states and and retaining jobs, and supporting services Need, Bush’s budget “…cuts services and federal government money, as opposed to like the Boys & Girls Club, Parks, Recre- shifting costs to the states through budget ation & Youth Programs, Big Brothers & cuts, caps or other mechanisms.” Elizabeth is a United Methodist pastor serv- With the budget proposing block grant ing a congregation in Oneida, NY. funding, many social service programs are Continued on next page April 2005 Peace Newsletter 9 War and “Dear Taxpayer”
Peter E. Swords very indignant and started writing letters since Thoreau) makes a persuasive wit- about misplaced national priorities. ness, even if the IRS collects the tax with Every spring, I feel that surge of energy that At the same time, local support groups penalties and interest. accompanies the return of daylight. Natu- developed, challenging militarism. One, At demonstrations at the Federal Build- rally, when things are thawing, sprouting the Military Tax Resistance Support ing in the ’80s, we showed how much big- and ready to grow, we look at where to use Group, helped people share fears, hopes ger the Pentagon budget was than that for this energy, much as farmers prioritize what and strategies for reducing our complicity human services, and got some media. An seeds to plant. What would our world be with the Pentagon. editorial in the paper described war tax like if we all came together democratically resisters as “smug” and “self-righteous.” to set planetary energy priorities? Yet, we were replacing the myth of the Yet each spring, income tax forms “welfare queen” with the facts about the bring a less hopeful mood to many of us. Iraq/Afghanistan War Costs Pentagon’s share of the tax pie. We even As I review a year’s expenses, I see where had hopes for a “peace dividend.” my family’s energy has gone. Sometimes I Reconstruction But since then, dominated by the used to get a certain satisfaction from tax Combat-related military, our government has used our measures that worked out for my family taxes to make the US an unethical out- – child care tax credits, for example, or cast in the world. Two years ago I wrote tuition deductions. But such government to Congress: support for working people keeps waning. Some would say taxes oppress us twice: “Our grief is not a cry for war.” fi rst, by taking some of our energy, and With that quote from families of second, by using it to control us and op- 9/11 victims, we opposed the US press others. war in Afghanistan and the recent I recall the day I realized what proportion Spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unilateral assault on Iraq.We has primarily been “outside” the normal wanted the terrorists brought to of my “federal tax” funded things I don’t budgeting process. Graph: War Resisters League believe in. The Reagan military buildup was justice through cooperation and on: nuclear missiles in silos and subs, arms international law, not revenge. for the Contras, and “Star Wars.” About 1/3 Redirecting War Taxes Meanwhile, without real debate, of what the Feds took went there. At the Refusing to pay war taxes, whether a few Congress shirked its Constitu- same time education, social services and cents of Federal phone tax or symbolic tional responsibility to declare health care were being cut – even the solar or substantial amounts of Federal income war, and gave the administration energy tax credits which helped us build a tax, has raised my consciousness and oth- carte blanche to invade.…With greenhouse were being phased out. I got ers.’ We learned that the actual amount the rest of the world, we said no, wait for UN inspections, while refused was often less important than the our representatives appropriated symbolic value of redirecting money from more funds for war. Is this weapons and war to specifi c projects that taxation without representation, Peter is a local family therapist, social worker feed people, provide other basic needs, or or what? and training facilitator. He would like to see prevent violence. Further, the act of civil an end to poverty, especially for children. disobedience (inherent in tax resistance Our leaders are not listening. The country is caught in a vicious cycle of militarism and poverty, with a huge gap Budget / continued from page 9 Tell them to fi ght for our communities, between rich and poor. The Feds cut Med- and advocate for our futures. icaid beds while adding prison beds. US foreign policy pushes proliferation while Big Sisters, and the Westcott Community Learn More threatening global annihilation. Center. The outlook is grim, as local com- We need to form affi nity groups to The Washington Post has a great in- munities must prepare to make painful cuts organize resistance and support alternatives teractive website. It walks you step by in such programs. to fascism. Each of us can choose the is- step through the federal budget process: sues we care about most and the ways we [www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/ want to raise them. (PNL subscribers, see politics/interactives/budget101/]. Act Now the “Peace Tax Return” stuffer.) We can The clock is ticking – now is the time The National Priorities Project share our experiences, pool our energy and to contact our elected offi cials to voice our [www.nationalpriorities.org] has make a difference. Questioning the lies, concern over Bush’s proposed budget. Write, great information comparing mili- standing for justice, and holding each other call, or email Senators Schumer and Clinton, tary spending to other needs. in hope, we can build a community Congressman Walsh and local offi cials. that truly says NO to war. 10 Peace Newsletter April 2005 Supporting Onondaga PROUD NEIGHBOR Land Rights OF THE Carole Resnick action against New York State, Onondaga county, and the city of Syracuse is a matter ONONDAGA The Onondaga Nation, seat of the Haudeno- of great mutual concern. saunee, or Six Nations Confederacy, is ac- NATION knowledged as having the oldest continuous History and Healing participatory and democratic government in Among the debts we owe to the Haudenosaunee Buttons available for $1 from the Peace Council. the world (dating back 1,000-2,000 years). is their model of participatory democracy. They Onondaga leaders have been recognized shared it with the founders of our nation, who as valued participants in the proceedings in turn used it as a source of inspiration for the this legal action. of the United Nations. This sovereign and US Constitution. Recognizing and appreciat- Remarkable strength of character and distinct nation of people was indigenous to ing this legacy, we urge the court to respond conviction are evident as the Onondagas this area before Europeans arrived. They favorably to the land rights suit and to open step forward to present not only the legal are the “next door neighbor” to those of us the door for the long-term efforts necessary aspects of this action, but also the human who live in Syracuse and nearby towns. to heal the relationships between our local, concerns. Despite the anger and humili- The Onondagas have long considered regional and national communities with the ation they must feel, given the historic asserting their right to land taken from them sovereign Onondaga Nation. wrongs suffered by their ancestors and illegally. The Land Rights Action they fi led in We have been wrongly educated by which continue to cause suffering today, US federal court on March 11, 2005 is introduced history books, literature and movies to the Onondagas speak to us from a place of with a clear statement of their intent: accept an incorrect narrative of historical compassion. They seek reconciliation and events, couched in negative stereotypes of The Onondaga Nation hopes to healing. It is an example to all of us, and Native people. These stereotypes are based bring about a healing between especially to our children as they witness the Onondaga people and others in fear and racism. this historic moment. who live in this area that has been NOON seeks to help make right the We can have a win-win outcome if the the homeland of the Onondaga historic wrongs done to the Onondaga Onondaga’s concern for cleaning up the people since the dawn of time. people. We urge our neighbors, the people environment moves us to take our share The Onondagas have a unique of Central New York, to listen carefully to of responsibility and act. We all stand to spiritual, cultural and historic what the Onondagas are saying to us, and benefi t – humanly, morally, and practically. relationship with this land which to respond honestly and without fear. The environmental dangers we face already bears no resemblance to legal We understand that the Onondagas will threaten our health, and will soon threaten concepts of ownership, possession sue no individual and that they seek no ac- our survival. The environment has no geo- or other legal rights. The Nation tion against any individual property owner. graphic borders. The Onondaga Nation’s intends that this suit may be a Our homes are not in jeopardy. No one will land rights action offers us an opportunity to step toward reconciliation, lasting be evicted. We thank the Onondagas for move beyond our mis-education to become justice, peace and respect among their effort – furthered by this land rights active participants in creating a just resolu- all who inhabit this region. action – to restore and protect the water, tion to these past and ongoing wrongs. Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation land and air from the devastating effects The Onondagas have taught us about (NOON) seeks to promote understanding of industrial pollution. We thank them for the two row wampum. The Onondaga land of and respect for the Onondaga people seeking to heal our wounds, environmen- rights action offers us an opportunity to try and culture within the broader Central New tally and socially. to honor the historic agreement it represents. York community; to educate ourselves and This time, instead of violating a promise to others about the history of the relations Acting Side by Side respect each other’s land and traditions, we between the US and the Onondaga Nation; Together, we have little choice but to act can peacefully travel – side by side – on a to challenge racism towards native peoples; decisively to restore health to the environ- journey to heal the historic injustices against and to work with the Onondaga Nation on ment which knows no legal boundaries. the Onondaga people and the environmental matters of mutual concern. Their land rights The land rights action has been taken by damage that affects us all. the Onondagas not only on their own be- The Onondagas have made their move. half but on behalf of all humans, animals It’s up to us to do our part to change the Carole wrote this statement on behalf of and plant life who share this dangerously priorities of our state and nation from short- NOON (a Peace Council program), and polluted water, land and air. These are sighted protection of corporate profi t to care has enjoyed many years of friendship with also our environmental concerns, and we for the quality of human life, now and people of the Onondaga Nation. pledge our support for a fair resolution to in the generations to follow. April 2005 Peace Newsletter 11 Specific Goals of the Onondaga Nation Land Rights Action The following is from the Onondaga Nation Communications Offi ce. Check out its website for wonderful detail and background [www.onondaganation.org].
• To achieve a healing with our neighbors of the centuries of diffi culties caused by the illegal taking of Onondaga and Haudenosaunee lands. • To restore to the Onondaga Nation recognition of title to its aboriginal terri- tory. • To recover possession of portions of this territory from New York State and will- ing sellers for the use of the Onondaga people. • To secure a continuing source of revenue from the Nation’s lands without displacing persons from the land. • To secure revenues and land suffi cient to achieve economic self-suffi ciency, including: ♦ An adequate supply of quality housing ♦ A quality education system ♦ Affordable, quality health care ♦ Sound and sustainable agricultural programs ♦ Programs for the proper care of elders and youth ♦ A program for environmental restoration and protection ♦ Employment opportunities for the Nation and its neighbors
• To protect and conserve the natural resources within and affecting the Nation’s land, as a means of safeguarding all citizens’ rights to a natural, healthy environment. • To obtain recognition of the basic rights of the Onondaga Nation, including those rights agreed upon in treaties with the United States. • To secure Onondaga rights to hunt, fi sh and gather for subsistence and for cultural needs. • To secure adequate protection for the burial sites of our ancestors, as well as other important sacred and archeological sites. • To resolve all ongoing confl icts with the state and federal governments, particularly regarding taxation and jurisdiction. • To provide for the growth and perpetuation of Onondaga culture, language, laws, religion, and way of life.
What We Can Do: Show your support for our neighbors, the Onondagas, by: • Educating ourselves and others. Materials are available at SPC or on the web: [www.peacecouncil.net/NOON]. • Learning more and/or getting involved at a NOON (Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation) meeting on Monday, April 4 at 7 pm at the Westcott Day Hab Center, 522 Westcott St., Syracuse. • Signing NOON’s statement of support (on Peace Council web site). • Writing a letter to the editor of the Post-Standard, New Times or other publication. • Speaking up in everyday conversation. Challenge racism and misinformation and respond respectfully to peoples’ fear. • Clarifying that the people of the Onondaga Nation have stated that they will not evict anyone. • Emphasizing the Onondaga focus on cleaning up the environment which we all share. • Inviting NOON to make a presentation to groups with which you’re involved. • Attending public craft fairs or other cultural events at the Nation.
12 Peace Newsletter April 2005 Onondaga Nation Land Rights Action Facts
• The Onondaga Nation seeks justice – New York State took Onondaga Approximate Area of its land illegally and needs to Lake the Onodaga Nation’s acknowledge its right to the Territoryaboriginal territory land. The Onondagas have • From time consistently asserted their right immemorial to the land for over 200 years. the ancestors of the Onondaga
• The Onondagas intend to use have lived on Watertown their right to the land as a legal the shores of ¨¦§81 and moral force for the Earth Onondaga Lake. – to clean up polluted areas and protect areas which remain clean. • A century of deg- radation caused ester Rome • The theft of the Onondaga land and mistreatment by callous corpo- Syracuse Utica of the people and their culture was wrong. The rations and indif- Current Onondaga Onondagas don’t want to perpetuate that wrong as ferent govern- Resident Territory they seek redress. They have pledged that no one will ment offi cials has be evicted from their homes. transformed the Ithaca Lake from a com- ¨¦§88 • For over two centuries the Onondaga people have munity asset to a Elmira Binghamton suffered great hardship. They seek to achieve toxic liability. greater self-suffi ciency with their land rights action • The recently pro- while contributing to Central New York’s economic posed Onondaga Miles development. 200 Lake clean-up plan will not Map: Onondaga Nation Communications remove all of the Office Federal Treaties and New York toxic waste that has drained, and continues to drain, into the Lake State “Agreements” from over a dozen Superfund sites.
• The 1784 Fort Stanwix Treaty between the Six Nations • The Onondagas were not consulted, as required by Federal and the US protected Haudenosaunee (Iroquois law, when the proposed clean-up plan was fi nalized. Confederacy) land – including Onondaga territory. The Onondaga Nation • The US Constitution, adopted in 1789, grants exclusive jurisdiction over Indian affairs to Congress, • Of their original land area of 2.6 million acres, the preventing states from acquiring Indian land without Onondagas now control only 7,300 acres. federal approval. • The Onondaga Nation lies at the center of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a model of participatory • The “agreements” through which New York State democracy. claims it acquired Onondaga lands between 1788 and 1822 violated federal laws and treaties. The Onondaga • The Onondagas served as an inspiration to European Nation did not approve these agreements (nor the colonists working to build democratic structures and 1788-1790 Fort Schuyler agreement). New York State to women’s rights advocates who admired the gender grabbed whomever they could to sign these documents. equality in Onondaga culture.
Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, 924 Burnet Ave., 472-5478 email: noon@ peacecouncil.net or web: www.peacecouncil.net/noon April 2005 Peace Newsletter 13 SPC / continued from page 4 SPC Three-year Plan SPC activists from various standing com- mittees, steering committee and staff have been meeting this winter to think critically about SPC’s work for the next three years – how to build a stronger Peace Council, how to empower more people, what issues to focus on and other questions. We’re grate- ful we have so many clear thinkers in our community to help build the movement. Stay tuned for the results of our planning process later this spring.
UFPJ National Assembly SPC is one of the 800 local and national groups joined together to oppose the US government’s policy of permanent war- fare and empire-building. That coalition, United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), held its second national assembly in St. Louis in late February. Carol Baum represented SPC. Decisions made by the over 500 rep- resentatives include: • Devoting the bulk of UFPJ’s resources to ending the US war in Iraq and bring- ing the troops home asap. • Focusing on six campaigns: grassroots education, local costs of the war, legisla- tion, community implications of using the National Guard, supporting Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq, and a mass mobilization on September 10. • Electing a new 41-person steering com- mittee. Carol is happy to share more details. You can also visit [www.unitedforpeace.org].
La Estancia SPC Steering Committee member Shirley Novak accompanied 12 people to El Salvador February 19-26 as part this year’s Syracuse, NY-La Estancia, El Salvador Sister Com- munity delegation. The group included one university and fi ve high school students, a timpanist with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, two youth group leaders and three teachers. Besides visiting each of the fi ve caserios that make up the remote, mountainous community of La Estancia, the group visited El Mozote, site of the 1981 massacre of nearly 1,000 civilians by the Salvadoran military. It also visited the Na- tional Cathedral, site of the slain Archbishop Oscar Romero’s tomb. For information about presentations, contact Shirley: 446-6099 or [shirleynovak@ yahoo.com].
14 Peace Newsletter April 2005 Toward a Green, Sustainable Syracuse
Ollie Clubb The good news is that “green urbanism” In thinking about and planning for our is thriving in many own community’s future – indeed, for northern European our planet’s very future – one fact over- cities. They have been shadows all others: global warming. The fostering sustainable world’s plight was highlighted in late Janu- construction practices, ary by a recent scientifi c study of climate practicing large scale change. The report concluded that global energy conserva- warming must be halted within ten years tion, switching to to avert the 2º centigrade temperature rise renewable sources likely to precipitate an irreversible climate of energy, creating catastrophe. That would occur when the extensive car-free amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, which zones, and creating has already reached 379 parts per million, heavily used transit Bicycle lanes and pedestrian walkways are among the approaches used reaches 400 parts per million. and bike transporta- by other cities to build community and create sustainability. Photo: The danger – and what society must tion systems to sup- [bicycling.511.org] do to meet it – was noted as early as plant car-oriented December 1988 when Queen Beatrix of urban designs. (See “Portland and cities throughout the world The Netherlands, in her annual Christmas Timothy Beatley, Green Urbanism; also, are responsible for creating a sustainable speech, warned her people that they had Jay Walljasper, “Learning from Europe: A future for our children…. We cannot wait to change their ways. “At Christmas,” she Blueprint for Building Livable Towns and for federal action.” said, “the joyous anniversary of Jesus’ birth, Cities,” E Magazine, March/April 2005) Jay Walljasper commented: “Town light breaks through in a world darkened The Netherlands has created what planners, city offi cials, environmental- by man’s egotism and lust for domination urbanism writer Jay Walljasper calls a ists, and tourists from all over the coun- over his fellow man and nature. We feel transportation network “beyond the wildest try are drawn to Portland.…It’s doing that darkness today, in all its frightening dreams of commuters, environmentalists something more creative and sustainable gloom, as the future of creation itself is at and city lovers across America. In Amster- than urban-planning-as-usual. Instead of stake.” It was high time, Beatrix said, that dam, for instance, only 20% of people’s accepting ever-escalating levels of traffi c, “the position was reviewed and our way trips around the city are in a car; 36% are air pollution, sprawl and inner-city decay, of life adjusted accordingly.” on foot, another 31% on bikes, and 11% Portland has made a commitment to pub- Writing in Outside magazine (June on transit.” lic transit, environmental quality, compact 2003), Florence Williams noted that Back in 1997, the Guardian Weekly, development, and the revitalization of poor Beatrix was calling for “an environmen- noting that 124,000 cyclists ride into its neighborhoods. It offers a different vision tal revolution on a scale that no other downtown every day, reported that, “Co- of what cities could look like in the 21st nation had ever attempted.” In response, penhagen is probably the greenest capital century.” (Yes, Summer 1999) People and the Dutch parliament adopted a 25-year city in the world – likely to be the only city businesses have been fl ocking to Portland National Environmental Policy Plan to to meet the United Nations’ latest target because of its beauty and livability. create a society of “negligible risk” for for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Its Portland isn’t the only US city think- humans and ecosystems. The Dutch have clean air, low number of cars and effi cient ing and planning “green.” “Sustainable been meeting the plan’s ambitious goals public transport system put most other cit- Seattle” has long been following green while simultaneously creating the fastest ies to shame.” planning guidelines. Davis, California growing economy in Europe. Increasingly, state and municipal gov- has no school buses; its children all walk Obviously, nothing like that is to be ernments in the US have been addressing or ride bikes to school on its superb sys- expected from the Bush administration. the threat of global warming; and many tem of bike-pedestrian pathways. Madison, It’s in bed with the fossil fuel industries, cities have been redesigning themselves Wisconsin, with a bikes- and buses-only fi ghting tooth-and-nail against any inter- along “green” European lines. Portland, main drag, has three bicycles for every two national agreements or federal action to Oregon exemplifi es this trend. Through cars – and a beautiful, pedestrian-friendly reduce the greenhouse gases produced by the efforts of citizen activists allied with downtown booming with new residential burning oil and coal. Perhaps blindly, the far-sighted political leaders, Portland has construction. For the past decade, Mayor Bush administration is dragging our own reinvented itself as a “green” city where, as Richard Daley, Jr. has been working to make country and the rest of the world toward Mayor Vera Katz says, “pedestrians come Chicago “the greenest city in America.” an ecological precipice. fi rst, public transit [and bike transporta- Chicago’s city hall even has a “green roof” tion] second, and cars third.” Moreover, consisting of vegetation that absorbs rain Portland was the fi rst US city to join the while insulating in the winter and cooling Ollie is a peace and environmental activist international “Cities for Climate Protection in Syracuse. Campaign” (1993). As Mayor Katz put it, Continued on next page April 2005 Peace Newsletter 15 Sustain / from previous page daylighting, insulation, and innovative heating, the building in the summer. Chicago also it has added 13,000 feet has the nation’s fi rst hydrogen-powered of fl oor space with no buses on its streets. Minneapolis, Minnesota increase in energy con- and Boulder, Colorado also have much to sumption. offer as models for the kind of “green city” Focus Greater Syracuse could become. Syracuse promotes Already there are “green” stirrings here. sustainability as a The City of Syracuse, having joined the theme, “stirring the Cities for Climate Protection campaign two pot” with Friday-morn- years ago, is implementing a local global ing seminars and their warming action plan through municipal annual, heavily attended energy conservation retrofi ts – and Onondaga luncheon scheduled for County has begun to do the same. April 15. Architects at With two wind farms already and a the Ashley-McGraw Windmills are a promising source of renewable energy. While these much larger one planned for the Tug Hill firm have initiated a are in Hawaii, you can find them nearby in Fenner with more planned Plateau, Upstate New York is slated to be- “Greening USA” project for the region. Photo: [www.tropicdiver.com] come the northeast’s wind-power capital. to establish green rating Bristol-Myers Squibb, an environmental criteria for communities analogous to those affi rmed SU’s commitment to help make pariah not long ago, has so transformed its created for buildings. Syracuse a “world leader” in environmental operations that it is now ranked among the Central New York’s academic insti- systems. world’s top 100 corporations for environ- tutions are also launching sustainability Our community is also seeing the mental excellence. initiatives. SUNY-ESF is collaborating nation’s fi rst Land Rights Action by a The Rosamond Gifford Zoo has become with Bristol-Myers Squibb in planning for Native American nation focused on en- an outstanding model for “green” building a bio-mass facility to provide both institu- vironmental cleanup (see page 11). methods. The Zoo has created a new addi- tions with renewable energy; and ESF has There is a growing consciousness here tion constructed entirely with natural, non- initiated a “green campus” program. Le that we have to move toward sustainability toxic materials. Through extensive use of Moyne College has created a geo-thermal for both human civilization and the natural facility to provide energy for one of its world to survive. But so far these have dormitories. Syracuse been scattered efforts. There is no coher- University is con- ent, unifying “green city” vision guiding structing a “Center of urban planning as in other US and Euro- Excellence for Envi- pean cities – and no serious attempt thus ronmental Systems” far to halt urban sprawl or, in the interest devoted to indoor air of environmental quality and livability, quality research and move away from a car-dominated urban technology; and transportation system and landscape. its new School of Management is being designed by the archi- To learn more or become involved in creat- tect who designed the ing a sustainable Syracuse, please contact: world’s fi rst “green” Sam Gordon at 558-9750; Stacey Smith at skyscraper. Chancel- 471-5068; or Ollie Clubb at 479-5983. lor Nancy Cantor has Subscribers see enclosed stuffer.
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16 Peace Newsletter April 2005 Partner Abuse and War Making: Some Connections
Van Cleary-Hammarstedt masculinity by raising the homophobic lead to better soldiers. Lt. Col. David specter of being effeminate. Grossman’s chilling book, On Killing: For nearly a decade I worked with men As with domestic violence, those who The Psychological Cost of Learning to who were abusive and controlling to their wage war justify it to themselves and oth- Kill in War and Society (1995), describes wives or girlfriends through the Vera House ers. From arguably just wars (World War how the army applied lessons from World Alternatives Program here in Syracuse. I II) to naked aggression, governments and War II, when few soldiers actually fi red listened to hundreds of stories of partner soldiers strive to legitimize their actions. their weapons at the enemy. (Estimates abuse. One man, whom I’ll call Jim, said And when they can’t (Viet Nam) the war were that upwards of 80% of soldiers did he was watching TV when his girlfriend effort may be seriously weakened. Except not fi re, even in life threatening situations.) started “nagging” him. He said he asked her for the few soldiers who enjoy killing, most Planners added more “realistic” training, to stop, but when she wouldn’t, he raised would rather not be put in the position awards and closer supervision to reach an his voice. And when that didn’t keep her where they have to kill or be killed. estimated 95% fi ring rate in Viet Nam. In quiet he screamed and threatened her, to no As with partner abuse, the real reasons the Alternatives Program, we repeatedly for wars are often cloaked in noble justifi - heard men say abuse became easier each PNL Graphic: Kate Woodle cations. Most of the men I worked with time. said their abuse was her I worked with men who said that their fault, she start- military experience fueled their violence toward their partner. One man described how using violence was in the front of his mind as a strat- avail. Next he egy for hit her. I asked what happened then. Jim said she started crying and left the room. He returned to watching TV. This story helps shed light on the nature of war and ways to end it. ed it, what she did was wrong, etc., and their violence, though unacceptable, was at Two Core Beliefs least somewhat justifi able. Mr. Bush told how to The domestic violence fi eld, drawing from us our invasion of Iraq was indeed Saddam operate in the the stories of women who were battered, Hussein’s responsibility. world. and from interviews with men, identifi es In both partner abuse and war, seem- Men acknowledged that if women two core beliefs that lead to domestic ingly petty instances of violence need to were bigger and stronger than men, part- violence. First, the man is the boss, and be understood in a larger context. For ner abuse wouldn’t happen because men second, control and abuse are legitimate in Jim, turning off the TV might mean his couldn’t get away with it. War making is a relationship. Through Jim’s story we can partner has equal control in the relation- very similar. A major reason the US doesn’t see these beliefs at work. Jim escalated his ship. There are echoes of this logic when attack nations that some in the “defense” abuse to get his way, and believed he had our war planners warn of the “precedent” establishment might want to (Iran, North the right to do so. He justifi ed his actions that not using a violent response will set Korea) is that our military is stretched too by saying it was his girlfriend’s fault. And on the international stage. Jim and those thin. The costs would be too high and the he benefi ted from abuse. Jim’s violence making war don’t want to “send the wrong public wouldn’t support it. reestablished his position of authority and message” by being nonviolent. he got what he wanted. Parallels between war and partner abuse Uncoupling War and Partner abound. The most obvious is that both are War and Partner Abuse as Abuse almost exclusively the domain of men. In Mutually Reinforcing The feminist movement has challenged both, men see women as inferior. Military The woman hating and homophobic quali- women’s subordinate position. Now most basic training is infamous for putdowns of ties of war making and partner abuse rein- believe partner abuse is wrong, and that women. Both spheres reinforce a dominant force each other. When people grow up in women and men should be equal. (At least families and communities where violence those who oppose equality won’t say so Van, the former coordinator at Alternatives, is regularly practiced and legitimized, the in public.) now works on violence prevention and youth drill sergeant’s job becomes easier. development. In crass terms, more war video games Continued on next page April 2005 Peace Newsletter 17 Abuse / continued from previous International systems universally pro- moting dignity, human rights and economic WHITE The war making system, however, justice would undercut much of the “need” RIBBON seems to show few signs of weakening for war. As long as international systems CAMPAIGN its grip, especially in the US. It is Bush’s benefi t some at the expense of others, we centerpiece, and during his campaign John create the misery that generates hatred of Vera House White Ribbon Campaign Kerry stressed his record as a war hero, those who benefi t from and control these (April 8-17) aims to raise awareness calling for a “smarter” war. systems. about domestic violence and raise funds Even progressives, united in opposing Collective security arrangements to support the Alternatives Program. partner abuse, are not universally opposed could provide another way to break the Men are particularly encouraged to to all war. predator/prey logic. Promoting defense take leadership, while everyone in the Widespread opposition to war making policies like those of Switzerland or Costa community is encouraged to take part is abstract, sort of like being for quality Rica are another path. Applying the Bush by purchasing and wearing a White healthcare or education. Yet the problem of administration doctrine of preemptive war to Ribbon. how to rid the world of tyrants like Saddam potential threats, on the other hand, pushes White Ribbons are available at Hussein or Pol Pot or genocidal regimes us in a dangerous direction. the Peace Council and elsewhere for like the Nazis remains a challenge our The mass movements for Indian in- $1. Contact Vera House, 425-0818 world has diffi culty overcoming. dependence from England and civil rights [www.verahouse.org]. in the US provide powerful examples to follow. In both, activists lost their lives Lessons from Partner Abuse standing for social justice, while rejecting we have come a long way toward cross- In the Alternatives Program, we taught violence and embracing an ethic of love. ing this hurdle (delegitimizing violence), that the alternative to male domination Gandhi, in the powerful fi lm of the same when it comes to partner abuse, the same and violence/abuse is a relationship based name, says, “I am willing to die, but I am cannot be said, of war making. Finding a on equality, respect and mutuality. How not willing to kill.” way to change this dynamic will take all might these principles apply in interna- When faced with this stark choice the creativity, courage, and love we tional relations? most will still choose violence. While can muster. Vermont Votes No to War John Nichols There is no question that the message was heard by Vermont’s Congressional representatives. US Rep. Bernie Sander, Congress may not be prepared to hold an I-Vermont, supported the resolution being honest debate on when and how the United considered in Burlington. US Senator Jim States should exit Iraq, but town meetings Jeffords, I-Vermont, endorsed the resolu- of rural Vermont are not so constrained. tion campaign, as did US Senator Patrick Declaring that “The War in Iraq is a Local Leahy, D-Vermont. ‘‘This resolution has Issue,” communities across the state voted prompted the kind of constructive debate on March 1 for resolutions urging President that should be happening not only in [vermonttroopshomenow.org] Bush and Congress to take steps to with- Washington but in every community in draw US troops from Iraq and called on the country,’’ said Leahy. Guard. That brought the issue home, as their state legislature to investigate the use Activists hope the Vermont resolu- and abuse of the Vermont National Guard 200 of the state’s 251 towns have residents tion campaign will go national. Already, who have been called up to serve in Iraq. in the confl ict. Amherst, Massachusetts – which begins Spearheaded by peace activists, the A rural state where wages are low in many city council meetings by reading aloud the regions, Vermont has traditionally had a campaign put antiwar resolutions on town names of Iraqis and US soldiers who have meeting agendas in more than 50 com- high level of participation in the National died in the war – has passed a “Bring the munities statewide – more than one fi fth Guard. With Guard units being so heavily Troops Home” resolution, as has Arcata, of Vermont’s town meetings. Forty-nine used in the Iraq, Vermont has suffered the California. voted for the resolutions. Only three voted highest per capita death toll of any state In November, San Francisco voters “no,” while one saw a tie. In Burlington, since the war began. endorsed an antiwar statement that de- the antiwar initiative received the support Nancy Lessin, a co-founder of Military clared, “The Federal government should of 65% of electors. Families Speak Out, says the resolution take immediate steps to end the US occu- campaign “brings into discussion the very pation of Iraq and bring our troops safely people who should be discussing the impact This article was condensed from the April 4 home now.” of this war: National Guard families, lo- Nation magazine. John Nichols is the Nation’s The Vermont resolution campaign fo- cal politicians, police departments, school Washington correspondent. cused on the status of the Vermont National offi cials.” 18 Peace Newsletter April 2005 Jimmy Massey – Healing a Soul
Jude Nagurney Camwell Jimmy was shocked, upon his return to Retired Marine Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey the States to see the spoke to several audiences in Syracuse on media’s exaggerated March 10. He was on an upstate New York version of “fi refi ghts” speaking tour co-sponsored by SPC. in Iraq. These so-called “fi refi ghts” were more Jimmy Massey found his conscience in like “spray and pray” Iraq. He also became a walking casualty – fi ring off weaponry of war. Jimmy’s 12 years as a US Marine in every direction (with are still apparent in his appearance and innocent people killed, his mannerisms. When he tells you his and many more angry story, you begin to understand that he is with the troops). He wounded in a way that your eyes could said that the Marines never readily detect. would enter an urban At 19, short of funds, Jimmy dropped area, “guns-a-blazing” out of community college and joined the Ma- – like cowboys in a rines, becoming what he calls an “economic Western movie. conscript.” He sought pride, income, and At Al-Rashid Mil- a college education, the “intangible traits” itary Complex, five associated with being part of the armed miles from Baghdad’s services. It was to develop the further traits Jimmy Massey’s visit to Syracuse sparked significant attention, with some airport, Iraqi citizens 500 people hearing him speak in person, and some controversy at the of self-discipline, self-reliance, and honor were demonstrating. events and on the Post-Standard’s letters page. Photo: Andy Mager that he joined the Marine Corps. As long as they were not armed, they were Preying on Other Youth free to say and do whatever they pleased. six weeks, Jimmy had been a participant As a Marine recruiter, Jimmy found him- Jimmy heard a gunshot coming from his in what he describes as his company’s self preying upon youth from economi- Marines. He picked up his gun and, along killing of at least 30 civilians. When he cally depressed areas. He has said, “A lot with other Marines, picked off the demon- shot to kill, most of the time, he was kill- of the kids joining the military are from strators, one by one. He killed at least three ing civilians. the ‘barrios’ or the poor parts of the Ap- in a matter of moments. He recalls their Jimmy was relieved of his command palachian Mountains. Appalachia has some white jelibahs (traditional robes) turning and medevac’ed back to the US. Having of the poorest counties in the country—so blood-red. Jimmy approached the bodies, seven years to go before retirement, he they’re sweeping them up.” Tears welled most of them piled on top of one another was offered a stateside desk job. Jimmy in his eyes when he spoke about how he as if they’d been shielding one another says he didn’t want their money anymore. believes that he’s betrayed his own Ap- from the gunfi re. There were no weapons. Military psychologists wished to label him palachian people. He and his Marines had killed innocent a “conscientious objector.” Unwilling to He carries the guilt of recruiting one civilians. One was a 6-year old girl. accept the label, Jimmy secured Gary My- particular neurologically impaired man under ers (of My Lai trial fame) as his attorney. Jimmy says the military quickly “changed pressure from his gunnery sergeant. Jimmy Facing Iraqi Sorrow manipulated recruitment forms to promote their tune” when Myers came on board. the enlistment of many young men he knew Soon after that incident, Jimmy was staff- He was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic would otherwise have been disqualifi ed. He ing a checkpoint on the road to Baghdad Stress Disorder (PTSD) and honorably said that there had been something fraudu- stadium. When a red Kia Spectra didn’t discharged on disability with no retire- lent on nearly every one of the enlistment respond to hand motions and warning shots, ment benefi ts. forms he’d ever processed. his troops fi red on the vehicle. They killed Jimmy is writing a book, not for fame In March 2003, Jimmy found himself three of the four Iraqi men inside. or fortune, but to document what he con- in Iraq. In the forward lines most of the The lone survivor, dressed in West- siders to be war crimes and to keep track time, his job was to scout out the enemy and ern-style clothing with a fresh hair-cut and of the places in Iraq that he knows have provide security. He was shot at only once. neatly trimmed beard and speaking Eng- been directly affected by depleted uranium. lish, challenged Jimmy, “Why did you kill He believes that he sold his soul when he my brother? We are not terrorists. We did became an economic conscript. He’s taken nothing to you.” The man returned to his on the heavy-duty shrapnel of guilt and Jude is an emotional literacy and communi- brother, rocking him with pitiful cries. remorse. With every talk, Jimmy Massey cation skills educator at Contact. She blogs This is the point where Jimmy says says audiences help him to heal his soul at [iddybud.blogspot.com]. he “lost it.” He couldn’t do it anymore. In – one day, one night at a time.
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20 Peace Newsletter April 2005 GLIMCAP’s Oil War: Iraq and Colombia Ed Kinane This past February Ed returned to Colombia as part of a Witness for Peace delegation with three other SPC activists: Ann Tiffany, Rae Kramer and Dan Sage. They traveled in Putumayo, the remote department on the border of Ecuador teeming with oil, coca, guerillas and paramilitaries. They met with Putumayo’s governor (a former priest and former coca grower), an army base commander (trained at Ft. Benning, GA), and with displaced small farmers in Nueva Esperanza, a squatter camp. To learn more, call Ed or Ann at 478-4571.
Our friend Angus is 92 years old. But age hasn’t impaired in the least his concern for the fate of the earth. Nor has it impaired Angus’ understanding of who or what most threatens the earth. Hardly a conversation goes by without Angus invoking GLIMCAP – his acronym for global imperialist capitalism. It’s GLIMCAP that drives the war in Iraq and Colombia. I Despite Colombia’s oil wealth, the majority of the population remains in poverty. Intimidation and violence by government, paramilitary, and international forces wreak havoc on civilian populations. say “war,” rather than “wars,” because it’s Photo: [www.cannabisculture.com] the same war in both places.. or you’re against us.” Civilians can’t be Lie. Despite all the hype and innuendo No one could mistake Iraq for Colombia. trusted: they may favor the enemy. and fabricated evidence, Saddam had no One is desert, the other jungle and mountain. Armed actors (the guerilla, military, connection to 9/11. Nor in recent years One speaks Arabic; the other Spanish. One paramilitary and other mercenaries) fi nd it were there any Iraqi weapons of mass is Islamic; the other Roman Catholic. easier and safer to kill or torture unarmed destruction. One is Eastern Hemisphere; the other people. In Colombia many civilians occupy The Big Lie operates just as blatantly Western. One helped birth “Western Civili- rural land – usually without title – coveted regarding Colombia. The US corporate zation”; the other had Western Civilization by paramilitaries and by corporations. media almost totally ignore our war rag- imposed. Iraq’s cities and civilization go To drive the small farmers off their ing there. So GLIMCAP gets away with back thousands of years; Colombia’s cities land, intimidation and terrorism work just the myth that our intervention is all about and civilization are more or less modern fi ne. So fi ne, in fact, that Colombia now has eradicating drugs. transplants. well over two million internally displaced The phony “war on drugs” in Colombia Despite their marked differences, the people – mostly children and women. mirrors the phony “war on drugs” in the thing about Iraq and Colombia is their In recent years, the US is invading US. Neither is designed to genuinely reduce similarity – at least the similarity of their and colonizing Iraq and Colombia. In both, the demand for, or supply of, drugs on US fates. Both countries are resource-rich but sovereignty is a joke. In both, the US needs streets or in US suburbs. Each, in its own income-poor. In both the income poverty the local military to be its occupier and way, is really a war on the poor. is closely linked to the resource wealth. In enforcer. In Iraq US forces are training The Colombian military – with the help both the consequences are tragic. local proxies. of US military advisors and mercenaries Both are war-torn. In both, it’s primarily Since 2000 the US, through Plan Co- – does try to disrupt coca growth and the civilians who get it in the neck. Civilians lombia, has provided our southern neighbor trade in the cocaine that derives from coca. may be innocent bystanders caught in a with $3.3 billion in military aid. The US However, the real target isn’t drugs, but crossfi re; but often they’re targets. As George has been training the Colombian military drug revenue – specifi cally the drug revenue W. Bush, our most prominent ideologue for years. It does so both in-country and that helps fi nance the guerilla. of terrorism, put it, “You’re either with us at the army’s School of the Americas (and The FARC guerilla derives much of at many other US bases). Colombia is the its income from taxing coca production. SOA’s best customer. (Although its military allies tend to ignore As we go to press Ed and several others are heading to Haiti to help accompany mem- bers of the democracy movement there. Stay The Big Lie tuned. Both colonizations are based on the Big continued on next page
April 2005 Peace Newsletter 21 Oil / continued from previous page has trained Colombia’s anti-narcotics battalions. Goff says, “the main interest it, the paramilitary also derives much of of the US is oil….We never mentioned its income from coca.) the words coca or narco-traffi cker in our Since 9/11 the so-called war on drugs training.” has escalated and morphed into the so-called Goff notes that the main purpose of “war on terrorism,” i.e. an anti-insurgency Plan Colombia is “defending the opera- war. It’s a war targeting those, both armed tions of Occidental, British Petroleum and and unarmed, who oppose President Uribe and his rightwing government. Uribe is Texas Petroleum and securing control of Washington’s closest ally in the region. future Colombian fi elds.” Not only are Why does Washington – facing a Colombia’s immense oil reserves at stake, dangerous defi cit, crumbling infrastruc- but also those of neighboring Ecuador and ture, and crises in health and education Venezuela. at home – pour tens of billions of dollars “According to 1996-2000 averages, down the hole of war? Venezuela…barely surpassed Saudi Ara- It’s a crap shoot (bankrolled by US bia…and Canada…as the number one crude taxpayers). If GLIMCAP wins, it wins [oil] exporter to the United States. During very big. Both Iraq and Colombia are – or the same period, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador together exported the same average rather could be – swimming in oil. Both Photo: Ann Tiffany countries sit atop huge reserves of the stuff. amount of crude to the United States as the And both countries have neighbors sitting Persian Gulf States combined….” [WOLA, revenue…and deadly scarcity. If Wash- on huge reserves of the stuff. Permanent “Protecting the Pipeline: The U.S. Military ington can corner the market, the US oil US military bases are now being built in Mission Expands,” May 2003] supply will be assured…at least for a few Iraq to make sure those neighbors don’t As Mr. Bush and the oiligarchy pursue more years. get any crazy ideas. global empire, oil reserves dominate their But more to the point: since our en- Stan Goff is an outspoken critic of calculus. The world’s oil supply is fi nite tire planet is hooked on oil, GLIMCAP US foreign policy. He’s also a retired and the world’s demand for oil keeps – Angus’ nemesis – would be fully US Special Forces sergeant whose unit accelerating. It’s a recipe for spiking oil in control.
22 Peace Newsletter April 2005 Is Peace Breaking Out in Palestine?
Ali Abunimah Are Israelis and Palestinians fi nally on the road to peace? A cursory glance at com- mentary in the US press would seem to suggest so. Since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced a truce in early February at the Sharm al-Sheikh summit, many observers see a “window of opportunity” they are encour- aging both sides to leap through. Sharon has announced he is now coordinating with the Palestinians on his The continuing harassment and humiliation of Palestinians by the Israeli military is a typical part originally unilateral plan to pull Israeli of occupation. This scene is from the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, West Bank. Photo: Musa troops and settlers out of Gaza and the Al-Shaer Israeli cabinet voted to approve the “dis- engagement.” ment in the West Bank, which lies between Peace Rhetoric Gap A New York Times editorial gushed Jerusalem and Jericho and cuts the West There is a vast and growing gap between about the disengagement that “it would Bank in two from north to south. If this the Bush administration’s peace rhetoric be churlish to greet [Sharon’s] historic expansion goes ahead, as it seems it will, and what is happening on the ground. decision with anything other than enthu- it confi rms that Israel intends there to be Post-“truce” talks between Israel and the siasm.” (24 February) Behind the photo no possibility for a contiguous Palestinian Palestinian Authority to hand over several opportunities and historic handshakes, state. (“Herzog’s Greater Jerusalem,” by West Bank cities to Palestinian control have however, the evidence on the ground is Shahar Ilan, Ha’aretz, 16 February) stalled. Israel has now “handed over” Jeri- that Israel is taking advantage of the new Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper cho, but this is a cosmetic move as there mood not to build peace, but to build more revealed that, according to the state land were no Israeli troops inside the city settlements. Without an immediate halt in authority, Israel plans to build more than center to begin with, and Israel continues settlement construction, the possibility for 6,000 new homes in settlements in the West to control the perimeter of the city with a territorially contiguous, free Palestinian Bank – many in Ma’ale Adumim – and that roadblocks. Many Palestinians feel that state alongside Israel will remain a distant the government will also legitimize 120 what is happening now is not a genuine mirage. This is true no matter how many unauthorized settlement outposts. (BBC, quest for peace, but simply discussions times President Bush talks about it, and 25 February 2005) between the jailor and the prisoner on the present easing of tension will be no A recent study by Israel’s Peace Now easing prison conditions. more than a short respite from more hor- using aerial photography and fi eld research In recent municipal elections in the ror to come. found that “the main building effort in the Gaza Strip, Hamas trounced Fatah, an Jewish settlements in the West Bank is now indication that despite a campaign of focused on the area between the Green Line assassination against their leaders by Israel Forges Ahead Israel, Islamist opposition groups remain [1967 border] and the separation fence, and the strongest force in some parts of the Phase One of President Bush’s Road Map it is aimed at turning the fence into Israel’s occupied territories. peace plan says that both sides must imme- permanent border.” (“Quietly carrying on diately halt all violence against each other, The dynamic that exists looks omi- building,” Ha’aretz, 8 January 2005) This nously like the failed Oslo peace process and Israel must freeze all construction of evidence bolsters Palestinian claims that Jewish-only settlements on occupied Pal- during which Israel doubled the number of the separation wall – ruled illegal last July settlers on Palestinian land, and never let estinian land. But Palestinians still watch by the International Court of Justice – is helplessly as Israeli bulldozers chew up up on forced land confi scation and house not a temporary security measure as Israel demolitions, sustaining a cycle of violence their farms and orchards. argues, but a land grab carried out while Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper reported which claimed thousands of innocent lives. world attention focuses on Gaza. The Despite the continuing euphoria created by that Israel is forging ahead with plans to deception, however, is not Israel’s alone, expand Ma’ale Adumim, the largest settle- Sharon’s theatrics, there is no evidence that but requires the active participation of all Israel has any intention of seizing perhaps those invested in the “peace process” as the last opportunity to save itself through it is currently confi gured and who prefer the two-state solution. Neither is there Ali Abunimah is a co-founder of The Elec- to talk about the Gaza withdrawal as if it any sign that its chief sponsor, the United tronic Intifada [electronicintifada.net], from were the only and most important thing States, has any intention of pressuring which this article was excerpted. happening. it to do so.
April 2005 Peace Newsletter 23 US Foreign Policy: Global The Wind and the WIllows. Engagement or Global Empire? Intntl Mask & Puppet Museum, APRIL 1-3: Third Annual South 518 Prospect Ave. 11am. $5-7. Asian HumanSUN Rights Film Fest. MON TUES HIV Testing WED Procedures 2- day Mitchel THURS Wallerstein. Westcott CC. FRI SAT April 1-2: Shemin Auditorium, SU. training for health & human service826 Euclid Ave. 7:30pm. $10, $5 April 3: Westcott Cinema, 524 providers. 9am-5pm. Reg. Trainingfor students. 3 Westcott APRIL St. 1: 443-3376. The People Speak. 4 5 Center,6 1010 James St. 424-0009. 7 8 9 The Women's Effort Readings from US History Edited Fundraiser.Afternoon Tea by Howard Zinn. 8pm. Hendricks Educational Meeting on theWeekly Peace Outreach: 4:45- SPC Volunteer Orientation. Dance. 2-7pm. Spirits 205 North Chapel, SU. Donation. [enduringd Onondaga Land Rights Action. 5:30 pm. E. Genesee St. & Erie 7pm. Westcott Day Hab Center, Reading of the NamesWest of St. $5 426-1900. [email protected]]. 7 pm. Westcott Day Hab Center,Blvd. (Dewitt). 472-5478. 522 Westcott St. 472-5478. those Killed in Iraq. Health Care Rally. Palace The- 522 Westcott St. Neighbors of the Noon. Columbus Circle (Jef- Onondaga Nation, 472-5478, ater, 2384 James St. 11-1pm. APRIL 2: Comedian Kate EVERY TUES: Rough Times Live. ferson St. & Montgomery St.) Clinton. Hosmer Auditorium,[[email protected]]. At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey424-1743 ex. 156. Television by, for & about teens.From 8 War to Peace. Claude Anshin Jess 472-5478, Everson Museum. 7pm. $25. pm. Time Warnerble Ca Chan nel [[email protected]].EVERY SAT: Democ ra cy Now! www.cnypride.org. Thomas. 7pm. Borders Books, Car- 98. 478-UNIT. Syr. United Neighbors SW/ Tall- w/Amy Goodman.Time Warner EVERY MON: Morris ing.Danc West- ousel Center. 466-6100. man Mtg: Brady Faith Center, 404 Cable Ch. 98, 9 -11 am. cott Community Center, 826 Euclid Living Wage Coalition Meeting. WomenSouth Ave. and 7 Religion pm. . 476-7475.Prof. Ave., 7-8:30 pm. 478-8634. EVERYSAT: Sharing the Earth. 5pm. SEIU, 1153 W. Fayette St. 15 Margaret Thompson. 7pm. Rm 10 pm. Time Warner Ch. 98. 227, Coyne Science Center, People for Animal Rights. Le Moyne.Restorative Justice:Reading of the Names of Howard Zinn: "Bringing 11 12 The Promise, The Challenge. those Killed in Iraq. Democracy Alive."7:30pm. Piecing it All Together: Recogniz- Tom Knight's Singin' Howard Zehr. Maxwell SchoolNoon. Columbus Circle (Jef-16 Panasci Chapel, Le Moyne College.Weekly Peace Outreach: 4: ing the Faces of Our Community. Auditorium, SU. 4:30pm. ferson St. & Montgomery St.) Solar System. International FREE. 45-5:30 pm. Teall Ave. & Rt. P.E.A.C.E.690 Inc. 8am-4pm. Holiday Mask & Puppet Museum, 518 The Oasis of Peace in Israel 14 Jess 472-5478, 10 (Eastside). 472-5478. Inn, Electronics Pkwy. 634-3755. Prospect Ave. $5-7. 11am 7:30pm Auditorium Manlius Pebble Jail Ministry Fundraiser. Film [[email protected]]. and 1pm. Syracuse Gay/Lesbiano Cathlics & HS. Elaine, 655-8339. "Deadline." 7pm. Le Moyne College Friends Mass: St. Andrew’s Church, The Oasis of Peace in Israel Upstate Greens Organizing Dining Center. 424-1877. $5. nize! 5:30pm Muslim-Jewish student 2005Workshop. Pan-African 10am. 307 Festival East 124 Alden St., 5pm. 636-7726. Anti-Death Penalty Forum. Bring Our Troops Home-StopBuilding Peace in a Trauma- Negotiating the Peace in Colom-dinner, Winnick/Hillel House, SU. F.O.C.U.S. Sustainable Division St. $10-30 sliding scale. 13United Methodist Church, SU. 7pm. the War in Iraq- Rebuild ourSouthwesttized World. CC.500 401Hall South of Lan- Ave. 7:30pm. Community Project. Oncenter [www.syracusegreens.org]. bia. 4-7pm. Rm. 220 Eggers Hall, 12-5pm. 516-2216. ga FREE. Communities.Ralph Nader guages, SU. 11am-7pm. Complex. 10:30am-3:30pm. CNY SOA Abolitionists &Maxwell Ca- School, SU. and Patti Smith. 11am OCC. rib be an Latin Americaa li Cotion JewishCelebration View of Ecology.WomenRabbi and Po- Live From Southwest Com-CNY Labor-Religion Coalition 8:30pm Hendricks Chapel, SU. Danieletry CNY Jezer NOW. 7pm. Delavan Rm 227, Center, Coyne Joint Monthly Potluck Meeting: munity Center.Media Unit. 7pm Monthly Mtg. Plymouth Church 5: $10 Donation, $5 students. 4-7 pm. Brady Faith Center, 404 ScienceArt Gallery, Cntr, 501 LeMoyne W. Fayette College. St. Southwest Community Center,30 401 pm. Bonnie Pierce, 431-4040. 474-7055. 18 7pm. 446-2586. South Ave. South Ave. FREE. Westcott East Neighborhood Assoc. Mtg:Petit Library, 105 20 Victoria Pl. 7-9 pm. Starke Donnally Native American Celebration EVERY WED: itary Mil & Draft 17 472-2140. 19 In Honor of David Oakerhater & EVERY SUN: People’s 60 CounselingNoon - 3 pm. SPC, 924 Marcia Steele. Noon-4pm Grace What Ever Happened to Co- Syracuse United Neighbors/ Weekly Peace Outreach: Episcopal Ch., 819 Madison St. Minutes. Time Warner Cable Burnet Ave. Marge 472-5478. lombia's Drug War?Westcott Southside Mtg: Payton Temple, 1816 478-0901. Channel 98. 8 pm. Produced 4:45-5:30 pm. Adams St. & Rt. 81 CC. 826 Euclid Ave. 7-8:30pm. Midland Ave. 7 pm. 476-7475. (Downtown). 472-5478. 21 22 by SPC. Tape it, share it! See page 3. Earth Day @ Naef Recycling. Syracuse United Neighbors/Skunk ToursMilitarization & Paper Dropoff. Confer-380 Carr EVERY TUES:Partnership forCity Mtg:Mundy brary,Li 1204 S. St.ence 10am-4pm.. 1-5:30 pm.463-7266. Kitteredge Help support our work See page 2 to subscribe, only $12/yr! Animal Liberation Complimentary Copy EVERY SAT & SUN:Help Stop $3 Geddes St. 6:30 pm. 476-7475. Aud., SU. Benjamin Winters 25 Onondaga Creek Meeting. 6 pm. 23Philosophy and Policy Con- Billion in Health Care Cuts in NYS.Progressive Coalition Meeting. 5: For place call Aggie 478-4571. [[email protected]]. Encounters With Nature Work-When Religion Becomes Evil. ference. 9:30am-5:40pm. Grant 10:30 am. rahSa Wilkinson 424-30pm. CNY Labor Federation, 404 Domestic Violence in LGTBshops. 10:30am-Noon Petit Library.Dr. Jim Wiggins. IRC lecture series. Auditorium, SU. Tony, 442-7373. 1743, [[email protected]]. Oak St. Andy, 472-5478. Communities. Training for health435-3636. 2-3pm Soule Library.7pm, Rm 227, Coyne Science & human service providers. 9am-449-4300. Center, Le Moyne College. 5pm. 1010 James St. 424-0009. State Your Re-Action to State Educate, Agitate, Or 24 HowSPC to Study Deer-Proof Group Your on Gardenthe 26US Banned Art Auction. Drop Off: Repression.Syracuse Gay/Lesbian Grant Auditorium,o Cathlics & Global Agenda: 7-8:30 pm, Fayetteville Senior Center, 584 E.Weekly Peace Outreach.4: 303-6pm, Viewing: 6:30-7:30pm, SU Law School. 8am-7pm. Friends Meeting House, 821 27 Friends Mass: St. Andrew’s Church,Genesee St. 1-3pm. 488-PURR.45-5:30 pm. Rt. 57 & Vine St., Auction:Pax Christi 7:30pm. g:Mt 9:30am. Westcott 208 CC. [[email protected]].Euclid Ave.Carol 472-5478, 124 Alden St., 5 pm. 636-7726.Solvay Public Library, 615 Woods(Liverpool). EVERY WED: SPCopen til 8 pm Monthly Vigil Against 826 Euclid Ave. 422-4924. See Rd.[[email protected]]. 7-9pm. 468-2441. FREE. 28 29 Slocum Ave. Frank 446-1693. Many diverse tasks need inghelp Death Penalty: Noon. Columbus page 8. Children's Earth Day hands, minds, etc. 924net Bur Cir cle. 637-3344. Celebration.Thornden Park Ave. Jess 472-5478, [jessica Amphitheater. 1-4pm. @peacecouncil.net]. SPC Newsletter Mailingty: Par Religion and the Media.Prof Earth Day Festival. Green 4-6:30 pm. SPC ce,Offi 924 Bur- Gustav Niebuhr. 7pm. Rm 227, Party Coalition. Lexington Park. Friends of Dorothy Benefi t Dinner. net Ave. Free pizza. Coyne Science Cntr. Le Moyne. Lexington Ave & E. Genesee 5:30 - 7 pm. St. Vincent's Parish Cen- St.11am-6pm. Food Donation. PFLAG Monthly Meeting. ter. [friendsofdorothy@ twcny.rr.com]. 7:30pm. 446-0009. Donation. Syracuse United Neighbors/ Westside Mtg:Brown Memorial We Made it to Broadway. Church, corner Davis & S. Geddes Media St. Unit. 7pm Southwest MAY EVERY THURS: Womens Voices 1 7 pm. 476-7475. Community Center, 401 South 4 Mass Demonstration Demand- Ave. FREE. Radio . WAER - 88 FM. 8 pm. Syracuse Peace Council ing Nuclear Abolition Now! EVERY THURS:ter Infaith Peace ed New York City. Peace Action. EVERY MON: Syracuse Go Club EVERY WED:Open Figure Draw- Mary 446-8039, Vigil,Conventual Franciscanars, Fri Community Calendar Dewitt Wegmans, 7-10pm. 479- [www.abolitionnow.org]. 2 3 ing Inc., We Draw People! 7-10 pm.Assisi Center, 800 North Salina St. 9073. quest Westcott Community Center,5:30-6 826 pm. 473-0952. Weekly Peace Outreach: Euclid Ave. FREE. 478-8634. APRIL 2005 EVERY WED: ditation,Me Women’s EVERY HURS:T Free Legal 4:45-5:30 pm. Valley Dr. & Information Center, 601 Allen St., EVERY SUN: Common Threads, Seneca Turnpike. Servic es for people denied Acoustic local sic.mu WAER FM 8:30-9:45 am. FREE. All welcome. unem ploy ment benefits or whoTo list your group’s event or meeting, call 472-5478 dress Re 88. 2 - 5pm. 472-5711. have a welfare hearing. Westcott or send the info to SPC at [email protected] Community Center, 826 Euclid Ave. 6-8 pm. 924 Burnet Avenue NY 13203 Syracuse, www.peacecouncil.net (315) 472-5478 Return Ad