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KC AFSC Peace and Justice Alert – October 18, 2013  Educate Yourself

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KC AFSC Peace and Justice Alert – October 18, 2013  Educate Yourself KC AFSC Peace and Justice Alert – October 18, 2013 Educate Yourself. Share your knowledge. Take Action! For information about the American Friends Service Committee, contact us at 816931-5256 or [email protected] Donate Now Click this link above to make a donation to support the work of the Kansas City Program of American Friends Service Committee --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Peacemakers, The good news is the government shutdown is over. The reality is that the budget austerity AFSC interns wars go on. (check out articles below analyzing budget challenges). created this Budget Mania Related to the shut down and forces at play, was last week’s premiere showing of Inequality game to engage youth in learning for All (still playing at the Tivoli and Glenwood Theaters) and the post-screening program about federal were powerful, engaging and very informative (check out Tivoli photo of panel). spending and revenue policies and needs in our community. The film is an in-depth portrait and analysis of the inequality of our economy and the actions which have created it. Most of the almost 200 attendees stayed for the discussion led by UMKC Professor Bill Black (Author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One), Mary Lindsay (Kansas City Move to Amend), Doug Greer (KC Friends of Community Media) and me, Ira Harritt (American Friends Service Committee). The small victory and growing public recognition of the importance of government services is hope for the future. Over one million jobs have already been lost to the austerity deficit cutting narrative. Unless people speak up for their interests more cutting will occur, more jobs lost, more people suffering from a jobless “recovery. We invite you to join the Move the Money Campaign to educate, mobilize and help change the storyline around the budget and then change budget and revenue policies themselves so they better serve our community! We are beginning new work to document the local impact of the sequester, government shutdown, and all the austerity budget-cutting going in Washington, D.C. We will hold listening dialogue sessions with community, civic, social service and education leaders and with city managers and elected officials to find out how they see the budget cutting frenzy impacting our community and to learn what they think should be done. Following the listening sessions we will hold meeting with editorial boards, community forums and publish online stories and report. Contact us to find out how you can be involved. We are also preparing to retire the Eyes Wide Open Cost of War Exhibit including 200 pairs of combat boots which represented Kansas and Missouri troops killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. We plan to donate the boots to homeless programs so that these symbols of war can be transformed into useful help to area homeless, just as the military budget should be transformed. We plan to have a donation day around November 11, Veterans’ Day. Stay tuned for details. See below for these activities, other calendar events, and articles, alerts and more. Thanks for all of your work for our community. Sincerely, Ira Harritt KC Program Coordinator American Friends Service Committee 816 931-5256, [email protected] Check out these events articles below: October 18–20: 20th Annual Peace Colloquy at Community of Christ Temple, 201 S. River Blvd., Independence, MO 64050. October 21, Monday, 6:00 to 7:30pm, Strategies for Social Change: Nonviolence Action Brainstorm, We will use a “critical path analysis” process and brainstorm and evaluate tactics for social change. Imagine a public policy goal where a corporate player resists change that you want to explore. Bring your ideas and help innovate. At the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO October 26, Saturday, 9 am-4 pm, Local Peacebuilding: Lessons from Uganda Articles: Winning The Peace: The Post-Shutdown Challenge by Richard Eskow Shutting Down Americans: The Government Shutdown in Perspective by Jo Comerford and Mattea Kramer Iraq: Counting the Bodies by Michael Reagan Snowden Showing Dangerous Symptoms of Patriotism by Ray McGovern UN Expert Challenges Foundations of US Covert Drone War Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Andrea Germanos, staff writer Fast-Food Giants Make Billions While Their Workers Use Billions In Welfare Benefits By Steven Rosenfeld ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out infographic on Syrian Refugee crisis> http://afsc.org/story/infographic-syrian-refugee-crisis Upcoming Peace and Justice Activities Click on link or scroll down for more information about the peace and justice activity October 18–20: 20th Annual Peace Colloquy at Community of Christ Temple, 201 S. River Blvd., Independence, MO 64050. Programming for ages 5 and up at this “Peace, Justice, and Song” weekend will create experiences of the transformational power of song as it gives witness, proclaims the gospel, promotes peace with justice, and inspires us to act. Highlights include a kick-off hymn festival, more than 20 inspiring workshops, and a complimentary hymnal. See rates for children, youth, college students, and adults, and register online at www.CofChrist.org/peacecolloquy. October 21, Monday, 6:00 to 7:30pm, Strategies for Social Change: Nonviolence Action Brainstorm, We will use a “critical path analysis” process and brainstorm and evaluate tactics for social change. Imagine a public policy goal where a corporate player resists change that you want to explore. Bring your ideas and help innovate. At the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO October 26, Saturday, 9 am-4 pm, Local Peacebuilding: Lessons from Uganda The conference will explore local peacebuilding initiatives in northern Uganda, with a special focus on how healthcare services contribute to peacebuilding by functioning as sites of healing that diverse populations must share. At Johnson County Community College, Hudson Auditorium. Free admission More information http://www.jccc.edu/internationaleducation/local-peacebuilding.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st and 3rdSaturdays, 1:00pm, Chelsea Manning Support Rally, Join us outside the gates of Ft. Leavenworth, in support of Bradley Manning through his court martial trial in February. EVERY Tuesday, JOIN THIS Peace Demonstration between 5PM - 6 PM in the median strip on the south corner of the intersection at 63rd & Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo. For more information email '63rd Street Patriots' at [email protected] Weekly Wednesday, Noon, Jericho Walk for Immigrant Rights gather outside KansasCity Immigration Court, 2345 Grand Blvd., KCMO Info at http://www.ijamkc.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- News and Alerts --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published on Thursday, October 17, 2013 by Campaign for America's Future Blog Winning The Peace: The Post-Shutdown Challenge by Richard Eskow It’s a major victory. The shutdown’s ending, the government isn’t defaulting (at least not yet), and Democrats didn’t yield in the face of threats and bullying. But what happens next could shape our fate for many years to come. Congratulations are in order. The President vowed not to negotiate over the debt ceiling, and he was as good as his word. He stood up to the closet ideologues of the artificial “center,” the ones who unwisely argued that being the “adult in the room” meant surrendering to the tantrums of children. Sen. Harry Reid’s tough talk was matched by equally tough action. (Reid also deserves credit for coining the phrase “banana Republicans,” as pithy a summation of their approach to governance as we’ve seen.) Once and Future Losses But the celebrations are premature. Yes, the public is furious at Republicans – Tea Partiers and plain-vanilla GOP extremists alike – for causing so much damage in pursuit of an ideology so far outside the political mainstream. Most Americans have rejected the things Republicans stand for: their values, their priorities, and their apocalyptic economic vision. And yet, unless something changes, this deal will bend the next few months’ deliberations along the same misguided lines that have guided our political discourse for years now. House and Senate members will be encouraged to come up with a “deficit reduction plan” – in other words, to impose another round of cuts just like those which have already wounded the economy and shredded millions of jobs. That’s hardly cause for celebration. The conservative Peter G Peterson Foundation estimates that the. “crisis driven fiscal policy” of the past several years has resulted in the loss of 900,000 jobs. Discretionary cuts of the kind that will be urged upon Congress have
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