After The War: Peace

Showing posts with label Peace. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

My Letter to the Senators: Against Attacking Syria

Click on the link after the letter to send your own through The Nation Magazine. They made it simple, you can change it into your own words...their words were different than mine!

I agree that it is not acceptable to ignore such action by any political leader on their own people and such an action is plainly against international human rights justice.

I too have seen horrible injustice in times of conflict and war, being a war photojournalist in the Middle East for almost ten years. The evil than man is capable of is unbearable. I have walked in regions of utter poverty, hunger, and social inequalities where those is power are full of both greed and pride allowing others to suffer in extremes without blinking an eye.

However, it is my deepest hopes that the United States of America waits just a bit to gather global and national approval through the UN before we fly one plane, drone or take one step upon Syria's soil. After living and working in war torn area's and analyzing conflict worldwide, I am highly concerned that this action will greatly harm hundreds if not thousands of innocent people. It will put our country and American's on foreign soil at high risk for their own safety. If we do not wait the few weeks that it takes to gain allies at this time, we will not only increase our security concerns but gain many new enemies who were once allies.

Not only is our security at risk, but also our national debt. This may sound cruel, but in the name humanity should we not first spend the billions for our own people who are downtrodden and sleeping in cars, behind bushes and under bridges or those who work full time at an unsustainable living wage, or those who cannot get medical care when they are diagnosed with cancer? Are we not then like the other countries who spend their nations wealth making themselves and others more wealthy while their citizens die of hunger?

Are we not then becoming the global police who ignores international law and does as we please? It is time to show the world that we are not like that, we are patient to wait for the pieces to be put into place to have the ability to have the support of the rest of the world and the courts use just cause for the crimes that Assad has committed. We are just to adhere to international protocol before jumping into action. It is our chance to undo the damage that was done during and before the incursion in Iraq. It is our chance as a nation to shine and become the example that we presented during the Vietnam war and WWII.

CLICK HERE FOR easy letter writing to your Senators

Monday, November 26, 2012

On Memorials: Berlin: Remembering

Memorials can bring Peace and a sense of Justice: See this video:
by Tony Coll, "The Restaurant at the End of the Third Reich"

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Sign Open Letter to Obama: Gazan attack 15 November 2012

25,000 signatures is needed to request Obama to condition US aid to Israel on compliance with the law which states that it cannot be used to violate the rights of Palestinians.

Dear President Obama,

We are Americans from small towns and big cities, and we are Palestinians and Israelis a world away. We are the women, men, and children who are suffering every single day in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, and we are the people from across the world who seek to end that suffering. We are mothers of soldiers and children of refuseniks. We are Jews and Muslims, Christians and atheists, and people of the many other traditions of the world.

And we are all united by our determination to see a truly just peace take root in Israel and Palestine. That goal became even more elusive during your first term, but the American voters have just given you a second chance to make history.

Our request is simple.

Fifteen church leaders have bravely spoken out in a letter to Congress--stating a principle that should be obvious: Israel, the biggest long-term recipient of US aid, should not be above the law. Mr. President, please condition US aid to Israel on compliance with US and international law. It must not be used to violate the rights of Palestinians.

Anything less is a danger to Palestinians, to Israelis, to Americans and to the entire world.

Sign Here

Jewish Voice For Peace Protest Request

16 November 2012

Jewish Voice for Peace requests protests to be organized around the world. You can start your own in your area, or find others to join. It is time to stop this mess and take action.

To find locations click here

To Start Your Own

Search the Stop the Bombs, Stop the Siege, Stop Payment events already scheduled to take place around the country in the coming days as Israel continues its military assault on Gaza. If you don't see a protest listed in your area, consider organizing your own by clicking the link! We'll provide you with resources for your demonstration that you can easily download and print, as well as connecting you with any others in your area who are also interested in attending and organizing a demonstration. Together we will say: Stop the Bombs. Stop the Siege. Stop Payment on the Israeli Military’s Blank Check!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Spontaneous Protest in Tel Aviv against War

This is in Hebrew, but you get the idea. You can tell that many Israelis are tired of the bombardments in Gaza:

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Pope John XXIII - Pacem in Terris - Peace on Earth

Susan Brannon
13 July 2012

Pope John XXIII was born on 25 November 1881 until 3 June 1963. In Easter week of 1963, less than two months before his death Pope John XXIII issued his encyclical letter, The Pacem in Terris meaning Peace on Earth. Below is part of that text:

Peace on Earth, which men of every era have most eagerly yearned for, can be firmly established only if the order laid down by God be dutifully observed.
He created all things out of nothing, pouring into them the abundance of His wisdom and goodness.
God also created man in His own images and likeness, endowed him with intelligence and freedom,
and made him lord of creation.
How strongly does the turmoil of individual men and peoples contrast with the perfect order of the universe!
But the Creator of the world has imprinted in man's heart an order which his conscience reveals to him and enjoins him to obey.
The family...is...the first and essential cell of human society.

Human beings have the natural right to free initiative in the economic field, and the right to work.
Women have the right to working conditions in accordance with their requirements and their duties as wives and mothers.
Furthermore, there is the right to a working wage, a standard of living in keeping with the dignity of the human person...the right of assembly and association...to freedom of movement.

Every man has the right to life, to bodily integrity.
A human being also has the right to security in cases of sickness, inability to work, widowhood, old age, unemployment, or in any other case in which he is deprived of the means of subsistence through no fault of his own.

Every human being has the right...to freedom in searching for truth and in expressing and communicating his opinions, to share in the benefits of culture, and therefore the right to a basic education.

Every human being has the right to honor God according to the dictates of an upright conscience.

The right of every man to life is correlative with the duty to preserve it.
Men are meant to live with others and to work for one another's welfare.
When the relations of human society are expressed in terms of rights and duties, men become...deeply aware that they belong to this world of values.
To safeguard the inviolable rights of the human person, and to facilitate the fulfillment of its duties, should be the essential office of every public authority.
Truth...calls for...the elimination of every trace of racism.
Political communities have the right to existence, development, and to the means necessary for this.

It is with deep sorrow that we note the enormous stocks of armaments that have been and still are being made.
People live in constant fear

lest the storm that every moment threatens should break upon them with dreadful violence.
And with good reason, for the arms of war are ready at hand.

Justice, then, right reason and humanity urgently demand that the arms race should cease; that the stockpiles which exist in various countries should be reduced equally and simultaneously by the parties concerned;
that nuclear weapons should be banned; and that a general agreement should eventually be reached about progressive disarmament and an effective method of control.
The public authority of the world community...must have as its fundamental objective
the recognition, respect, safeguarding, and promotion of the rights of the human person.

There is an immense task incumbent on all men of good will, namely, the task of restoring the relations of the human family in truth, in justice, in love, and in freedom.
Every believer in this world of ours must be a spark of light.
This is the peace which we implore of Him with the ardent yearning of Our prayer

Friday, May 11, 2012

Death in Gaza Pt 1/6

Here are smaller portions of the documentary film Death in Gaza by James Miller, who was killed in Rafah, Gaza while shooting (no pun intended) this film. For background on this film view this post (and/or the full documentary!) I included this for those who do not have fast internet, like myself!
Death In Gaza Part 1/6

Death in Gaza Full Documentary and explanation
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 6/6

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Death in Gaza Full Documentary

This is a documentary by James Miller:
While filming, producer/director James Miller was killed by an Israeli soldier. He was considered a martyr to the Palestinians and they waved his picture in the streets. Miller's death came about after he and fellow crew members were attempting to approach an Israeli APC at night time, audibly and visibly suggesting their neutrality as journalists by wearing helmets and flak vests marked "TV", waving a white flag and walking slowly in the open. A first warning shot was fired by an Israeli soldier, and a crew member reaffirmed their neutrality by yelling "We are British journalists". Seconds later, another shot was fired and hit Miller in the neck, killing him instantly. This occurred while the crew was filming military activity from one of the children's homes in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
James Miller and crew had intended on illustrating this struggle from the Israeli children's point of view also, but James was killed before even the completion of the Palestinian segment of this film. His death was incorporated as a major part of the film, with an explanation by the narrator, Saira Shah, at the beginning of the film, and the full story and reactions at the end. It is mentioned that Palestinian militants made posters declaring that Miller was a martyr against the film crew's wishes. (Note: The links that these docs were linked to were removed. Instead I inserted the full documentary here and on my Part 2 link, I inserted the doc in smaller portions for slow Internets)...You know not everyone in the world has fast Internet, like myself! Remember that!

Smaller Portions of the documentary:
Death In Gaza Pt.1/6
Death In Gaza Pt. 2/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 3/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 4/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 5/6
Death in Gaza Pt. 6/6