Over the past few weeks, American politicians have been calling for the censor and prosecution of Wikileaks and its founder, Julian Assange. In fact, some people in our government have been calling for Assange to be prosecuted for treason which is ridiculous since he's not a U.S. citizen and because of that cannot be a traitor. Still others have branded Wikileaks a "terrorist" which is just as ridiculous since terrorism is the willful murder of innocent civilians or military actions against the same for political purposes. The only thing being murdered in the case of Wikileaks is the credibility of the U.S. and it's leaders, both Republicans and Democrats.
Another method being deployed against Wikileaks is to smear it's founder Julian Assange with rape allegations. First, in Sweden having unprotected sex with a consenting adult female is considered rape. Such an allegation in the United States would be laughed out of court. Yet, this charge is being pursued by Sweden due to pressure from Washington and Stockholm's desire to please the U.S. Government. Washington's tactic is to smear the messenger and thereby taint the message which is nothing new.
Many of these leaked reports from Wikileaks are already well known throughout the world. Going back several months ago when Wikileaks released a video of an American helicopter gun ship murdering innocent civilians in Iraq, most of the people in the world, especially the Arab world knew about this event. The only people shielded from that news by a self censoring media were the Americans and that's the point. People around the world, from Latin America to Southeast Asia and on to the streets of Baghdad who have been on the receiving end of U.S. foreign policy already know many things hidden from the American people. That's what Washington is most afraid of, the American people learning what their government is up to, especially when that government is spending trillions of dollars to do so while at the same time it is asking the poor and middle classes to endure sacrifices and pain.
In closing, any government which continuously lies to its citizens and or has too many secrets is neither free nor democratic!
Kenneth Dalton
President
VFP 21, N.J. & VVAW
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Vets for Peace Arrested at the White House
Daniel Ellsberg (in video above) joined with hundreds of Veterans For Peace members from across the nation to take a message of dissent to President Obama on December 16.
Veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, Gulf War I, Vietnam and other overseas military actions, accompanied by military families and other peace activists, chained themselves to the White House fence or otherwise refused police orders to leave. The civil disobedience, which led to 131 arrests, was done on the day the latest official report about the military situation in Afghanistan was released. Two members of Veterans For Peace, Chapter 21 NJ, Jules Orkin and Stefan Neustadter, were among those arrested in protest of continuing the counter-productive and wasteful wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Those arrested also included Ellsberg, the former Marine officer who leaked the Pentagon papers, retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, FBI whistleblower Colleen Rowley, and Pulitzer prize-winning war correspondent Chris Hedges, noted Examiner.com blogger Gregory Patin. "While small in numbers, this protest is significant because it was organized and led by veterans who have served their country," Patin wrote. "It is also significant that it was completely ignored by the mainstream media on a news day largely filled with sports news and holiday shopping reports."
But Veterans For Peace was determined to send a message directly to Obama by getting arrested in front of the White House while throwing piles of postcards signed by antiwar activists over the White House fence.
"We are dedicated to exposing the true costs of war and militarism," said Mike Ferner, national president of Veterans for Peace, as reported in The Huffington Post. "We've killed well over a million people. We've orphaned and displaced five times that number at least. And here in our own country, we've managed to throw millions of people of out work and out of their homes," Ferner said at a press conference. "There is a connection there. That connection is the true cost of war."
"Citing information available for every city and state in America on the Cost of War website," The Huffington Post report by Dan Froomkin added, "the former Navy hospital corpsman noted that his hometown of Toledo alone has sent almost a billion dollars into the war effort."
Monday, August 30, 2010
Crying Out Loud
Address by associate member Nancy Nygard of Teaneck at a peace rally on Sunday, August 29, by about 300 members and friends of Veterans For Peace and Military Families Speak Out that culminated VFP's annual convention in Portland, Maine.
Hi!
I am so glad to see everyone here.
I am a very proud member of Veterans For Peace. My husband and I joined VFP in 2005. At the same time we joined Military Families Speak Out.
Our son Joe had joined the army in 2003 and by 2005 was getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. We were against the invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan and knew we had to speak out, act out, rise up. Doing nothing was not an option.
In February of 2006 Joe was deployed to Afghanistan for a year. It was my first deployment also. I didn’t know what to do or what to think. Why was I crying all the time? Why was I so angry at all the other mom’s in the supermarket? Why did I have such hatred of the assholes with hummers?
MFSO helped me understand that it was ok to cry and that anger could be turned into action. They comforted me and held my hand and I knew I never had to say I’m sorry. They understood that I wanted to hear all the news but I didn’t want to hear all the news. They knew about the sleepless nights and I know they remembered holding their babies in their arms and never imagining having to let them go to war. They were and still are the sanity in my insanity that surely goes on for me and so many other military families.
My son Joe was stop lossed in September of 2006 until February 2007. His tour of duty was extended another 4 months. He spent 16 months in Afghanistan. During his deployment 71 soldiers from his brigade were either killed in action or died in accidents. 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division carved out the northern most outposts in Afghanistan. Two years later the army would begin closing them down. Outposts where my son said “good soldiers died”.
In September of 2007 Joe received his honorable discharge and left the army after serving 4 years on a 3 year enlistment. Joe enrolled in college full time, had a great paying part time job, had a daughter and a son and the hope of change that was to come with a new president. Joe was proud of his service to his country and we are so proud of him.
Two years went by. Two years! In December of 2009 President Obama gave his surge on Afghanistan speech and the next day Fed-ex showed up at our door with orders for Joe to report for duty off the individual ready reserve for deployment of no more than 400 days…to Iraq!
Thoughtless people told me he’s lucky he’s in Iraq like they used to tell me he’s lucky he’s in Afghanistan.
As of this month our combat commitment in Iraq has ended. I guess the combat infantry battalion my son is assigned to is there on vacation as are the entire 3rd infantry division, 3000 man brigades from the 4th infantry division, Dave Cline’s old outfit the 25th infantry division, 2 combat aviation brigades and 2 national guard infantry brigades, all on vacation in sunny Iraq!
Standing guard over a stalled convoy, Joe writes, “after we dropped off our load at a little spot outside Tallil we pulled to the side in a friendly area and waited for the rest of our guys to catch up. We dismounted and smoked and joked for a little bit. That’s when the kids came up. I always liked talking to the local kids in Afghanistan. Their honesty and innocence about the only pure things in a shitty, shitty place. Here it is the same way. These poor children have known nothing but death and destruction in their young lives and even if after we leave, their country turns to peace, they will forever be scarred from the horrors they have seen. Life for them has always been about survival. Seeing little girls the age of my little daughter, running alongside our convoy, their clothes dirty and their feet bare, offering anything, even themselves for just a bottle of water breaks my heart. Back on the base, eating ice cream and pizza and buffalo wings, just makes the whole experience of war more disgusting. As these people starve to death, partly because of us, we eat like kings”.
To a certain extent our participation in MFSO and VFP has been a selfish act because we think that the American people, in spite of their yellow ribbons, don’t give a damn about American soldiers, but you do! I’ve found a community that not only believes in world peace but respects the courage and sacrifice of soldiers and their families. I’m so glad I’m not alone. Thank you Military Families Speak Out and Veterans For Peace!
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!
Hi!
I am so glad to see everyone here.
I am a very proud member of Veterans For Peace. My husband and I joined VFP in 2005. At the same time we joined Military Families Speak Out.
Our son Joe had joined the army in 2003 and by 2005 was getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. We were against the invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan and knew we had to speak out, act out, rise up. Doing nothing was not an option.
In February of 2006 Joe was deployed to Afghanistan for a year. It was my first deployment also. I didn’t know what to do or what to think. Why was I crying all the time? Why was I so angry at all the other mom’s in the supermarket? Why did I have such hatred of the assholes with hummers?
MFSO helped me understand that it was ok to cry and that anger could be turned into action. They comforted me and held my hand and I knew I never had to say I’m sorry. They understood that I wanted to hear all the news but I didn’t want to hear all the news. They knew about the sleepless nights and I know they remembered holding their babies in their arms and never imagining having to let them go to war. They were and still are the sanity in my insanity that surely goes on for me and so many other military families.
My son Joe was stop lossed in September of 2006 until February 2007. His tour of duty was extended another 4 months. He spent 16 months in Afghanistan. During his deployment 71 soldiers from his brigade were either killed in action or died in accidents. 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division carved out the northern most outposts in Afghanistan. Two years later the army would begin closing them down. Outposts where my son said “good soldiers died”.
In September of 2007 Joe received his honorable discharge and left the army after serving 4 years on a 3 year enlistment. Joe enrolled in college full time, had a great paying part time job, had a daughter and a son and the hope of change that was to come with a new president. Joe was proud of his service to his country and we are so proud of him.
Two years went by. Two years! In December of 2009 President Obama gave his surge on Afghanistan speech and the next day Fed-ex showed up at our door with orders for Joe to report for duty off the individual ready reserve for deployment of no more than 400 days…to Iraq!
Thoughtless people told me he’s lucky he’s in Iraq like they used to tell me he’s lucky he’s in Afghanistan.
As of this month our combat commitment in Iraq has ended. I guess the combat infantry battalion my son is assigned to is there on vacation as are the entire 3rd infantry division, 3000 man brigades from the 4th infantry division, Dave Cline’s old outfit the 25th infantry division, 2 combat aviation brigades and 2 national guard infantry brigades, all on vacation in sunny Iraq!
Standing guard over a stalled convoy, Joe writes, “after we dropped off our load at a little spot outside Tallil we pulled to the side in a friendly area and waited for the rest of our guys to catch up. We dismounted and smoked and joked for a little bit. That’s when the kids came up. I always liked talking to the local kids in Afghanistan. Their honesty and innocence about the only pure things in a shitty, shitty place. Here it is the same way. These poor children have known nothing but death and destruction in their young lives and even if after we leave, their country turns to peace, they will forever be scarred from the horrors they have seen. Life for them has always been about survival. Seeing little girls the age of my little daughter, running alongside our convoy, their clothes dirty and their feet bare, offering anything, even themselves for just a bottle of water breaks my heart. Back on the base, eating ice cream and pizza and buffalo wings, just makes the whole experience of war more disgusting. As these people starve to death, partly because of us, we eat like kings”.
To a certain extent our participation in MFSO and VFP has been a selfish act because we think that the American people, in spite of their yellow ribbons, don’t give a damn about American soldiers, but you do! I’ve found a community that not only believes in world peace but respects the courage and sacrifice of soldiers and their families. I’m so glad I’m not alone. Thank you Military Families Speak Out and Veterans For Peace!
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Winding Down a Misbegotten War
By Jan Barry
As the last U.S. combat units rumbled out of Iraq under President Obama's August deadline, Time magazine's chief political columnist, Joe Klein, summed up the costly consequences of what he called "a war that should never have been fought." Blasting the Bush administration for blundering into "a neo-colonialist delusion" that caused hundreds of thousands of casualties and may still cost trillions of dollars for health care of a generation of war-mauled veterans, Klein then turned his ire, remarkably, on himself.
"As for myself, I deeply regret that once, on television in the days before the war, I foolishly--spontaneously--said that going ahead with the [March 2003] invasion might be the right thing to do," he wrote in a column titled "Never Again" in Time's August 16 issue. Although he subsequently wrote about the war with increasing skepticism, Klein added, "The issue then was as clear as it is now. It demanded a clarity that I failed to summon. The essential principle is immutable: we should never go to war unless we have been attacked or are under direct, immediate threat of attack. Never. And never again."
War veterans who protested the invasion and brutal occupation of Iraq will take little pride in having predicted the disastrous impact on Iraqi society and on U.S. troops that Klein describes, seven years into what he calls "a profound misadventure" with toxic effects. A Time news piece that follows Klein's column cites a Rand Corp. study and military reports that found that "more than 500,000 troops have returned home to the U.S. in the last decade with a mental illness," created by the relentless stress of repeated war tours mixed with an epidemic of traumatic brain injuries from roadside bombs and other explosions.
Veterans For Peace activists, who warned of such dangers to soldiers and civilians for years, contend that the draw-down of troops in Iraq is a misbegotten maneuver by the Obama administration to claim peace in Iraq while waging a wider war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, under the same misguided strategy of the previous administration of trying to police unruly corners of the world with highly destruction military actions.
"The lessons of this disastrous intervention should also be an impetus for Congress and the administration to end the war in Afghanistan," Veterans For Peace leaders said in a recent statement. "It’s time to focus on creating real security here at home and rebuilding America."
But Time magazine and its chief political writer are not ready to tackle that issue. Like most of the mainstream news media, they take their cues from the White House on how to stay within accepted parameters in discussing foreign policy. "Obama's announcement [of the end of combat operations in Iraq, in a speech to the Disabled American Veterans] was no celebration. It was a somber acknowledgement that amends will be made to those whose lives were shattered and that their courageous service in an unnecessary cause will be honored," Klein wrote.
"A national discussion about America's place in the world, and the military's excessive place in our foreign policy, would also be appropriate in the wake of this disaster," he added, "but I'm not holding my breath." So that means a debate on the implications of the war in Iraq and lessons to be drawn for the war policy in Afghanistan isn't about to happen, unless the public overrules the press and politicians and demands it.
As the last U.S. combat units rumbled out of Iraq under President Obama's August deadline, Time magazine's chief political columnist, Joe Klein, summed up the costly consequences of what he called "a war that should never have been fought." Blasting the Bush administration for blundering into "a neo-colonialist delusion" that caused hundreds of thousands of casualties and may still cost trillions of dollars for health care of a generation of war-mauled veterans, Klein then turned his ire, remarkably, on himself.
"As for myself, I deeply regret that once, on television in the days before the war, I foolishly--spontaneously--said that going ahead with the [March 2003] invasion might be the right thing to do," he wrote in a column titled "Never Again" in Time's August 16 issue. Although he subsequently wrote about the war with increasing skepticism, Klein added, "The issue then was as clear as it is now. It demanded a clarity that I failed to summon. The essential principle is immutable: we should never go to war unless we have been attacked or are under direct, immediate threat of attack. Never. And never again."
War veterans who protested the invasion and brutal occupation of Iraq will take little pride in having predicted the disastrous impact on Iraqi society and on U.S. troops that Klein describes, seven years into what he calls "a profound misadventure" with toxic effects. A Time news piece that follows Klein's column cites a Rand Corp. study and military reports that found that "more than 500,000 troops have returned home to the U.S. in the last decade with a mental illness," created by the relentless stress of repeated war tours mixed with an epidemic of traumatic brain injuries from roadside bombs and other explosions.
Veterans For Peace activists, who warned of such dangers to soldiers and civilians for years, contend that the draw-down of troops in Iraq is a misbegotten maneuver by the Obama administration to claim peace in Iraq while waging a wider war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, under the same misguided strategy of the previous administration of trying to police unruly corners of the world with highly destruction military actions.
"The lessons of this disastrous intervention should also be an impetus for Congress and the administration to end the war in Afghanistan," Veterans For Peace leaders said in a recent statement. "It’s time to focus on creating real security here at home and rebuilding America."
But Time magazine and its chief political writer are not ready to tackle that issue. Like most of the mainstream news media, they take their cues from the White House on how to stay within accepted parameters in discussing foreign policy. "Obama's announcement [of the end of combat operations in Iraq, in a speech to the Disabled American Veterans] was no celebration. It was a somber acknowledgement that amends will be made to those whose lives were shattered and that their courageous service in an unnecessary cause will be honored," Klein wrote.
"A national discussion about America's place in the world, and the military's excessive place in our foreign policy, would also be appropriate in the wake of this disaster," he added, "but I'm not holding my breath." So that means a debate on the implications of the war in Iraq and lessons to be drawn for the war policy in Afghanistan isn't about to happen, unless the public overrules the press and politicians and demands it.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Peace Action at Work
By Jan Barry
In cold rain and summer heat, snowdrifts and bitter winds, a Veterans For Peace Chapter 21 contingent anchors a weekly peace vigil on a busy street corner by the NJ National Guard Armory in Teaneck. Chapter members are also active in numerous other vigils, public meetings and marches around the state, as well as in New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
"This is what the troops gotta put up with, so we're out here in the same kind of weather conditions," one of the vets explained to a visitor to the Teaneck vigil one blustery day. The solidarity with today's soldiers extends from memories of guard duty and patrols in military units in Vietnam, Korea, even as far back as World War II. The solidarity also extends across American society: A retired cop stands next to a retired firefighter, a Jewish mother next to a Catholic priest, holding signs commemorating the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan of more than 5,000 US troops, signs crafted by a house painter and carried by a plumber from his repair truck to every weekly vigil.
Drivers honk their horns, sometimes two and three in a row, and wave to the peace vigil regulars from family cars, delivery trucks, school busses. Some passerbys stop on cold days, roll down a window and with a big smile hold out a big container of coffee or hot chocolate. College students stop by between classes, parents drop by with young children, frazzled parents of soldiers and, sometimes, raw-edged young veterans come by for comfort for their unrelenting concerns.
Many in the chapter have protested the war in Iraq since the US invasion and violent occupation began seven years ago. Some joined to focus their protest on the war in Afghanistan, now expanding into it's ninth year. To address the deaths and destruction of soldiers and civilian societies by both wars, Chapter 21 cosponsors a wide range of public outreach activities, often in partnership with Military Families Speak Out, which has family members serving on active duty.
This month's actions range from a "Speak Out - Sing Out" at a church in Teaneck to a contingent from New Jersey joining a national peace march in the nation's capital; from conducting a writing workshop for veterans and family members in conjunction with vets in a neighboring area of New York state to planning workshops for the Veterans For Peace national convention in Portland, Maine in August.
"We're a movement," Chapter 21 President Ken Dalton said during discussions this week on plans to widen war protests to the doorsteps of national elected officials, incuding members of Congress and President Obama. "We can make changes. It may not be happening as fast as we'd like, but it's happening."
Adding to the pressures to wind down these costly wars is the disastrous financial squeeze on Americans, from state governments slashing staff and social programs to rising unemployment levels for young veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Jobless rate at 21.1%" for veterans in their early 20s, The Washington Post reported last week. "It was significantly higher than the 2008 unemployment rate among veterans in that age group: 14.1 percent. Many of the unemployed are members of the National Guard and reserves who have deployed multiple times, said Joseph Sharpe, director of the economic division at the American Legion. Sharpe said some come home to find their jobs have been eliminated because the company has downsized. Other companies might not want to hire someone who could deploy again or will have medical appointments because of war-related health problems, he said."
These are issues that Veterans For Peace in New Jersey and across the nation have been repeatedly raising at public events with other groups and in talks with members of Congress and their staffs. Spending an estimated $1 million per year to keep a soldier in Afghanistan is unsustainable, especially as tens of thousands of Americans lose their jobs--and millions can't find jobs--at home. It's an urgent discussion that hopefully all Americans will join.
In cold rain and summer heat, snowdrifts and bitter winds, a Veterans For Peace Chapter 21 contingent anchors a weekly peace vigil on a busy street corner by the NJ National Guard Armory in Teaneck. Chapter members are also active in numerous other vigils, public meetings and marches around the state, as well as in New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
"This is what the troops gotta put up with, so we're out here in the same kind of weather conditions," one of the vets explained to a visitor to the Teaneck vigil one blustery day. The solidarity with today's soldiers extends from memories of guard duty and patrols in military units in Vietnam, Korea, even as far back as World War II. The solidarity also extends across American society: A retired cop stands next to a retired firefighter, a Jewish mother next to a Catholic priest, holding signs commemorating the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan of more than 5,000 US troops, signs crafted by a house painter and carried by a plumber from his repair truck to every weekly vigil.
Drivers honk their horns, sometimes two and three in a row, and wave to the peace vigil regulars from family cars, delivery trucks, school busses. Some passerbys stop on cold days, roll down a window and with a big smile hold out a big container of coffee or hot chocolate. College students stop by between classes, parents drop by with young children, frazzled parents of soldiers and, sometimes, raw-edged young veterans come by for comfort for their unrelenting concerns.
Many in the chapter have protested the war in Iraq since the US invasion and violent occupation began seven years ago. Some joined to focus their protest on the war in Afghanistan, now expanding into it's ninth year. To address the deaths and destruction of soldiers and civilian societies by both wars, Chapter 21 cosponsors a wide range of public outreach activities, often in partnership with Military Families Speak Out, which has family members serving on active duty.
This month's actions range from a "Speak Out - Sing Out" at a church in Teaneck to a contingent from New Jersey joining a national peace march in the nation's capital; from conducting a writing workshop for veterans and family members in conjunction with vets in a neighboring area of New York state to planning workshops for the Veterans For Peace national convention in Portland, Maine in August.
"We're a movement," Chapter 21 President Ken Dalton said during discussions this week on plans to widen war protests to the doorsteps of national elected officials, incuding members of Congress and President Obama. "We can make changes. It may not be happening as fast as we'd like, but it's happening."
Adding to the pressures to wind down these costly wars is the disastrous financial squeeze on Americans, from state governments slashing staff and social programs to rising unemployment levels for young veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Jobless rate at 21.1%" for veterans in their early 20s, The Washington Post reported last week. "It was significantly higher than the 2008 unemployment rate among veterans in that age group: 14.1 percent. Many of the unemployed are members of the National Guard and reserves who have deployed multiple times, said Joseph Sharpe, director of the economic division at the American Legion. Sharpe said some come home to find their jobs have been eliminated because the company has downsized. Other companies might not want to hire someone who could deploy again or will have medical appointments because of war-related health problems, he said."
These are issues that Veterans For Peace in New Jersey and across the nation have been repeatedly raising at public events with other groups and in talks with members of Congress and their staffs. Spending an estimated $1 million per year to keep a soldier in Afghanistan is unsustainable, especially as tens of thousands of Americans lose their jobs--and millions can't find jobs--at home. It's an urgent discussion that hopefully all Americans will join.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Remembering King in 2010
By Michael McPhearson
Executive Director, Veterans For Peace
As our nation celebrates the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, it is important to remember the breadth and depth of his the message and vision. In the era of the first Black President, it would be easy to say King's dream has been fulfilled and now it is time to move on to new challenges. But this is a misreading of current events and his words.
In his 1967 Riverside Church speech, Beyond Vietnam: Time to Break Silence, Dr. King talked about three major demons; racism, materialism and militarism. Today these triplets continue to haunt us. In fact they have become more entrenched. In the speech, King spoke of youth challenging his disapproval of their use of violence when the U.S. was "...using massive doses of violence..." in Vietnam. He called our government, "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." This continues to be true as our nation is conducting global military operations and occupying two countries with eyes on one or two others. The U.S. is the largest weapons exporter in the world and has the largest military budget, nearly outpacing all other nations combined.
Racism continues to distort the promise of America as people of color have the highest unemployment rates and are blocked from access to resources and opportunity. Speculation and greed caused by rampant materialism has ravaged our economy, devastating the lives of millions, hitting working class and poor people especially hard. The economic and social currents created by the triplets flow together and work hand in hand to divert resources to war for profit's sake and empire building rather than investing in healthcare, education, jobs, housing and other human needs that would uplift the poor and help change the insidious legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Perhaps Dr. King's most prophetic words come from this speech when he warned, "The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality we will find ourselves organizing clergy- and laymen-concerned committees for the next generation."
We find ourselves today as the clergy and laypersons organizing in our generation. As we remember Dr. King we must applaud how far we have come. We must also reflect on how far we have yet to go, and challenge others to see Dr. King's full vision of a just and peaceful world. He called for a true revolution of values that will cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies and see that using war to settle our differences is not just. He called on America to lead this revolution of values.
"There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war."
Dr. King wisely saw then what is still true today, that the world's only hope "...lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism."
This is how we ensure international security. This is how we stop nuclear proliferation and reverse global warming.
This January 18th remember Dr. King by proclaiming his full message. Do not stand by while it is watered down to make us all feel good. Celebrate the journey we have taken, but remind everyone how far we have to go. Will our nation take up the challenge? As Dr. King said, "The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history."
Executive Director, Veterans For Peace
As our nation celebrates the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, it is important to remember the breadth and depth of his the message and vision. In the era of the first Black President, it would be easy to say King's dream has been fulfilled and now it is time to move on to new challenges. But this is a misreading of current events and his words.
In his 1967 Riverside Church speech, Beyond Vietnam: Time to Break Silence, Dr. King talked about three major demons; racism, materialism and militarism. Today these triplets continue to haunt us. In fact they have become more entrenched. In the speech, King spoke of youth challenging his disapproval of their use of violence when the U.S. was "...using massive doses of violence..." in Vietnam. He called our government, "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." This continues to be true as our nation is conducting global military operations and occupying two countries with eyes on one or two others. The U.S. is the largest weapons exporter in the world and has the largest military budget, nearly outpacing all other nations combined.
Racism continues to distort the promise of America as people of color have the highest unemployment rates and are blocked from access to resources and opportunity. Speculation and greed caused by rampant materialism has ravaged our economy, devastating the lives of millions, hitting working class and poor people especially hard. The economic and social currents created by the triplets flow together and work hand in hand to divert resources to war for profit's sake and empire building rather than investing in healthcare, education, jobs, housing and other human needs that would uplift the poor and help change the insidious legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Perhaps Dr. King's most prophetic words come from this speech when he warned, "The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality we will find ourselves organizing clergy- and laymen-concerned committees for the next generation."
We find ourselves today as the clergy and laypersons organizing in our generation. As we remember Dr. King we must applaud how far we have come. We must also reflect on how far we have yet to go, and challenge others to see Dr. King's full vision of a just and peaceful world. He called for a true revolution of values that will cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies and see that using war to settle our differences is not just. He called on America to lead this revolution of values.
"There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war."
Dr. King wisely saw then what is still true today, that the world's only hope "...lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism."
This is how we ensure international security. This is how we stop nuclear proliferation and reverse global warming.
This January 18th remember Dr. King by proclaiming his full message. Do not stand by while it is watered down to make us all feel good. Celebrate the journey we have taken, but remind everyone how far we have to go. Will our nation take up the challenge? As Dr. King said, "The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history."
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