The U.S. Army has fired or suspended 14 officers and soldiers stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, following an investigation into sexual assaults and murders at the base, including the bludgeoning to death of 20-year-old soldier Vanessa Guillén, whose remains were found in July, 2020.
Follow this link to the news story: Shut It Down: Calls Grow to Close Fort Hood After Probe into Murders & Sexual Assaults at Army Base | Democracy Now!
On the weekend of March 30-31, 2019, VFP Chapter 112 was invited to attend and present at the California Progressive Alliance’s founding convention at the union hall in San Luis Obispo, CA. Please check out Chapter 112 member Michael Cervantes, who presented the CPA proposal on Corporate Power, Militarism and Perpetual War. Go to url: Bylaws, Platform and Proposals – (californiaprogressivealliance.org) and scroll to the proposal Corporate Power, Militarism and Perpetual War to read the proposal and note that we are signatories to the proposal. To view Michael’s presentation go to minute 11:23 in the video here.
Check out Justice For All Ventura County latest interview with George J. Sandoval with Veterans For Peace Ventura County. Mr. Sandoval, a veteran and filmmaker, is currently working on a documentary about deported veterans. You can see the powerful trailer during the interview.
To learn more about George visit http://www.westendproductions.tv/
To see the Justice For All video interview and documentary trailer with George Sandoval go here: https://youtu.be/vqtiExzkQZM
[excerpted from a previous event given at the UU Church in Ventura, Jan. 2020]
“How Deportation has banished thousands of U.S. Veterans to Mexico”
About the topic: Mr. Sandoval has embarked on his latest project taking him to Tijuana to film and interview U.S. military veterans deported by our government. Mr. Sandoval joins a growing number of American elected representatives, veterans and civil liberties groups demanding justice for military veterans and to Bring the Deported Veterans Home!
Thousands of veterans of the U.S. armed forces have been unceremoniously deported. Many are combat veterans who sustained physical wounds and emotional trauma in conflicts going back to the war in Vietnam. Many were decorated for their service. But service records notwithstanding, the U.S. has seen fit to kick them out of the country they swore to defend. The largest number of these veterans live exiled in the border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The vast majority had been in the United States lawfully for decades and long ago lost any ties to the nations in which they were born. Many do not speak Spanish, and Mexico is a foreign land far from home.
Our federal government failed to ensure that service members were naturalized during military careers, or shortly thereafter, although nearly all deported veterans were eligible to naturalize during their service. Deportations have denied veterans comprehensive medical care they would receive in the U.S., leaving many to die or suffer. Nearly all deported veterans have left behind families who have struggled with the absence of a spouse, sibling, parent or child.
About George J. Sandoval: Mr. Sandoval is the executive director and founder of the non-profit Oxnard Film Society. In 2015, He produced and co-curated the exhibit, We Remember- Ventura County to Vietnam and Back, for the Museum of Ventura County, which included a memorial wall honoring the 114 soldiers from Ventura County who died in the war. From 2001-2014 he was a member and past president of the Ojai Film Society. He has produced and directed numerous documentaries including El Campo: A Brief History of the Piru Labor Camp built during the Bracero Program; The Chinese in Ventura County; Oxnard -The Changing Face of an American City; and The Moment a 30-min. film in collaboration with writer/poet Aram Saroyan.
In 90 days, the treaty will enter into force, cementing a categorical ban on nuclear weapons, 75 years after their first use.
veterans for peace ventura county, QAnon, conspiracy theory
TICKETSIt’s been 75 years this month since the start of the Atomic Age, with the U.S. nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, but its trail of destruction has never ended.
Dark Circle covers both the period’s beginnings and its aftermath, providing a scientific primer on the catastrophic power of nuclear energy while also relating tragic human stories detailing the devastating toll radioactive toxicity has taken on people and livestock—focusing in large part on Rocky Flats, Colorado, whose plutonium processing facility infamously contaminated the surrounding area.
Documentary Grand Prize winner at Sundance, Academy shortlisted for Best Documentary, and Emmy winner, Dark Circle is no less potent today than it was 40 years ago.
Film Sponsor: Veterans for Peace – Ventura County Chapter #112
Here’s an amazingly good online talk by Erik Endstrom to a meeting of the
Massachusetts Peace Council. Endstrom is a graduate of Stoughton High
School (MA), West Point, and combat in Afgahnistan. He’s the author of a
new book, “Un-American: A Soldier’s Reckoning of Our Longest War “.
Endstrom enlisted after 9/11, and has a lot of insights in his book into
military recruiting in high schools.
After leaving the military he got an MBA from Oxford University and worked
for the Boston Consulting Group in the US and abroad. He brings that
analytic skill to his assessement of recruitng, war, PTSD, etc.
https://www.enedstrom.com/
Draft Registration and Draft Resistance:
http://Resisters.info
Compulsory National Service:
http://NationalService.info
Health Care Workers and the Draft:
http://MedicalDraft.info
Edward Hasbrouck
edward@hasbrouck.org
http://hasbrouck.org
This week Fire Drill Friday is all about WATER. There will be many impacts of climate change, but among the most important are impacts on water resources. The key impacts will be changes in rain and snow, rising temperatures and hence rising demand for water, especially to grow food, worsening water quality, and worse extreme events including floods and droughts that overload systems built for more stable weather patterns–all of which could contribute to increased militarization as the climate becomes more unstable and access to resources are limited. Watch the Teach In: Water Can’t Wait.
Garett highlighted these connections when he spoke at today’s rally. Watch Veterans For Peace’s Executive Director, Garett Reppenhagen speech:
“War in general is destructive to our planet in so many ways. In Iraq I saw firsthand total demolition of utility infrastructure. Destroyed plumbing made available clean water scarce and further damage to waste systems contaminated water supplies. The fertile crescent was nurtured by the Tigras and Euphrates Rivers, now too polluted to swim in. Today, precious few can even now count on something so simple as a safe cup of tap water.”
At the end of his speech, Garett shared an experience that many of us can relate to:
“When I came home I became very self destructive. I was a sniper in Iraq and because I perpetuated those crimes I felt a heavy weight of grief and guilt and finding my way into activism started to save my life. Repurposing myself and finding a new identity in the movement to serve this country in an HONEST way and protect my community in a REAL way that allowed me to start healing my moral injury.
If activism can save my soul then activism can save the soul of this country”
Veterans For Peace knows that it is critical to continue making these connections between war and the environment and to stand up for climate justice.
Will you stand with us?
“We need to burn more oil or suffer horribly” is slowly being recognized as a vicious deception, as more and more people come to understand that we need to burn less oil or suffer horribly. “We need to dump more money into war preparations or suffer horribly” is the same type of statement. The notion that a population must be prepared to fight off an invasion and occupation violently or do nothing may someday be understood as on a par with “We need to eat the roasted flesh of livestock or eat nothing.” Some of us grasp that there are other things to eat. Refusing to grasp that there are other ways to resist a military is daily becoming a more irrational act.” READ COMPLETE ARTICLE
Earlier this year, I launched the Women Veterans Task Force with the goal of ensuring that VA is equipped to adapt to the complex and unique needs of women veterans, the fastest growing and most diverse demographic within the veteran community. Throughout the year, we held several round tables, site visits, hearings, and meetings with women veterans across the country to identify issues and barriers they face.
To address many of the inequities and barriers that the Women Veterans Task Force identified, Congress Member, Julia Brownley introduced the Deborah Sampson Act. And, on November 12, 2019, the Deborah Sampson Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a vote of 399 to 11.
Find out more
FROM — http://www.veteransforpeace.org
Keynote Speaker: Ruth Aloua (Loke)
Ruth (Loke) was the keynote speaker at the 2019 Veterans For Peace convention.
Ruth Aloua is a Kanaka Maoli from the Kona District. Her grandmother’s lineage binds her to the island Hawai’i and her grandfathers to Maui. She is a mahi’ai (farmer) and a kia’i loko (fishpond guardian) whose work extends to the peaks of Mauna a Wākea to the plains of Pōhakuloa into the deepest depths of the ocean to the realm of Kanaloa. She is an advocate for peace and justice fostering nonviolent interaction between people, land, water, ocean and air.
Watch the video
Opening Plenary: Deb Abrahamson
Deb Abrahamson is the founder and director of SHAWL- Sovereignty, Health, Air, Water and Land. She spoke at the Veterans For Peace 2019 Convention about the poisoning and destruction of indigenous lands and people.
Watch the video
Friday Night event: Brittany DeBarros
Friday night the convention hosted an evening of Resistance, Resilience and Reggae. Brittany was one of the main speakers of the event before the evening of music!
See Brittany’s speech
Photo Essay by Mike James
“Attending the Veterans For Peace national convention in Spokane WA was a bit of homecoming for me. I felt as though I had found my tribe. I met dozens of people who have repeatedly put it all on the line to organize, agitate and resist the inherently evil American Industrial Military Complex. At the same time I was happy to be able to witness first hand the internal struggles of the organization and meet face to face my brothers and sisters in peace who strive to hold the imperialists feet to the fire.”
See Mike’s amazing photos!
Farewell to VFP Executive Director Michael McPhearson
The Saturday evening banquet featured a good-bye tribute to Michael McPhearson for his years of tireless service to the organization. Michael also received the Gandhian Nonviolence Award
Watch the video tribute and see his acceptance of his award.
The Initiative to Clean up Unexploded Bombs in Vietnam
As part of the wonderful exhibit, Waging Peace, VFP member Chuck Searcy of Project RENEW describes the major success and strides in making Vietnam safe from the devices of death dropped on the country by the United States.
Watch video
VFP-ROCK: “Rise For Henoko”
Veterans for Peace Ryukyu Okinawa Chapter Kokusai (VFP-ROCK) gives an update on their most recent efforts to protect Henoko.
Visit riseforhenoko.com for more information.
See the update!
Report on SOVA Activities at the VFP 34th Annual Convention
A number of members of the Save Our VA campaign attended the VFP Convention in Spokane last week and wrote an action report, which included a workshop, a meeting and a great action.
Read their report!
Deported Veterans Issues & Advocacy Project Workshop
Deported Veterans Issues & Advocacy Project workshop covered legislative initiatives, legislative outreach team building, unified lobbying, and fundraising.
“It was a real honor to have been chosen to represent deported veterans in Tijuana. I had a wonderful experience and felt the convention itself went well and was very productive. I was able to reach many VFP members in regards to our cause in our Tijuana Chapter #182. Thank you again to all for the warm welcome and extraordinary efforts to make my stay comfortable” -Lupita Ciprian, Tijuana Chapter
See the Workshop
VFP Business Meeting
Check out the President’s message, the discussion of resolutions and board nominations! (Look for a follow up email in the coming weeks with the final listings of all Ballot information and more from the Business meeting)
Check out all the videos from the Business Meeting
VFP At Fairchild AirForce Base
“US Air Force refueling tankers from Fairchild Air Base, Spokane, Washington refuel Saudi Arabia bombers that kill people in Yemen! Good reason for our Vets For Peace protest at the Air Base!!!” – Ann Wright
See the protest!
Arlington North West
Dave Dittemore and George Taylor, VFP34 Tacoma, brought the Arlington Northwest display of 1500 grave markers that visibly demonstrate the cost of war. The memorial could be seen from mulitple spaces in Spokane!
View the closing ceremony
Poetry Soiree
Every VFP Convention holds a Poetry Reading for veteran poets to read aloud one of their poems. John Spitzberg hosted this event at the 2019 VFP National Convention in Spokane, Washington.
See the amazing poets
A Great Closing!
Spectrum Singers is an all-inclusive and intergenerational SATB chorus based out of Spokane, Washington. They performed at the Sunday Closing Plenary of the VFP 2019 National Convention. Hear the Spectrum Singers!
The Closing Ceremony also featured a conversation between Executive Director Garett Reppenhagen and Outgoing E.D. Michael McPhearson. Check it out!
October 5-6, 2019 – “No War 2019: Pathways to Peace,” World Beyond War conference, Limerick, Ireland
October 5-12 – Keep Space for Peace Week of Actions
November 11 – Armistice Day
November 15-17 – School of Americas Watch in Fort Benning, GA
For more calendar events, check out our website!
FROM — http://worldbeyondwar.org/
A new fact sheet series outlining the reasons why we should abolish war.
1. War Is Immoral
2. War Endangers Us
3. War Threatens Our Environment
4. War Erodes Liberties
5. War Impoverishes Us
6. War Promotes Bigotry
7. We Need $2 Trillion/Year for Other Things
The fact sheets are designed as printable handouts that can be used for tabling events, grassroots lobbying meetings, and much more. Each one contains a list of references, so you can learn more about any of the details mentioned. We believe that education is a critical component of a global security system, and an essential tool for getting us there. We educate both about and for the abolition of war. Our educational resources are based on knowledge and research that expose the myths of war and illuminate the proven nonviolent, peaceful alternatives that can bring us authentic security.
Thank you to numerous volunteers, including Gayle, Joanne, Tim, and Ben, who helped us complete the fact sheet series! For questions or more information about our peace education programs and volunteer opportunities, please email me at greta@worldbeyondwar.org.
