Weekly Antiwar Pickets - Every Friday

While it may have fallen from the news headlines, the bloody U.S. war in Afghanistan continues, and is regularly spilling into neighboring countries like Pakistan.  To keep the anti-war flag flying, the Northland Anti-War Coalition holds "Stand for Peace" pickets every Friday from 5-6pm at the corner of Lake Ave. & Superior Street in downtown Duluth.  Join us in holding signs and talking to people about the urgent need to bring the troops home now!  Feel free to make and bring your own sign, though we always have a few extras on hand.  And be sure to bring a friend!

Attend the United National Antiwar Conference!

Say No! to the NATO/G8 Wars and Poverty Agenda

A Conference to Challenge the Wars of the 1% Against the 99% Abroad and at Home.

 

March 23-25, 2012 – Stamford Hilton Hotel, CT
 

 

Next spring, international military, financial, and political leaders who serve the 1% at home and abroad will meet in Chicago to discuss their economic and military strategies for the planet for the coming period.

 

At the invitation of the White House, the 28-nation US-commanded and largely US-financed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the G-8 world economic powers are meeting in Chicago, May 15-22, 2012.

Original Child Bomb - August 6

by the Just Peace Committee of Peace UCC

In remembrance of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Just Peace Committee of Peace United Church of Christ, together with the Community of the 3rd Way, invite you to a showing of the film Original Child Bomb on Sunday, August 6th at 7pm at Peace UCC (1111 N 11th Ave E).


Inspired by Thomas Merton's poem, Original Child Bomb shows the human cost of nuclear weapons. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are depicted through declassified footage, photographs, drawings and testimonies of mothers, brothers and soldiers. Ordinary people gaze upon the nuclear past and its terrifying present. They expose the political rhetoric surrounding "security" and "weapons of mass destruction." The film is a wake-up call and an invitation to action. 


This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Penny at 218-727-2972.

Cuba caravan visits Twin Ports July 6

Pastors for Peace will roll through the Twin Ports on Wednesday, July 6 as part of their 22nd caravan to Cuba. Caravan volunteers are visiting 130 cities in Canada, the US and Mexico before delivering hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba in nonviolent defiance of the US blockade.

Loaves and Fishes Community is hosting a gathering to welcome the caravan to Duluth. Potluck starts at 6pm at Dorothy Day House (1712 Jefferson Street), followed by a short presentation about the caravan by Rev. Luis Barrios, associate priest at St Mary's Episcopal Church in West Harlem and member of the Pastors for Peace board of directors. Freewill cash donations to support the caravan will be accepted.


All are welcome, but RSVP to Loaves and Fishes at duluthcatholicworker(at)gmail(dot)com or by calling 218-724-2054.

Colombian musician and human rights campaigner visits Duluth

This summer, Witness for Peace -- Upper Midwest is hosting a visit to Duluth by Colombian musician and community organizer Daira Quiñones Preciado. Daira is a singer, dancer, and poet who has directly suffered from Colombia's civil war, and who now works to help others who have been similarly victimized by privileged, armed sectors of Colombian society. Daira is among 4.9 million Colombians displaced by violence and she works with displaced people in Bogotá, focusing on their need for food, shelter, and clothing, as well as organizing workshops on dance, music, identity, and human rights. Daira is one of the founders of FUNDARTECP, the Foundation for Art and Culture of the Pacific.

Daira will take part in two public events in June and July:

Women Leading the Way to Justice and Peace

Thursday, June 23

10am to noon

Center for Nonviolence (202 E Superior St, Duluth)

Daira will join local human rights activists for a report from an all-women Witness for Peace delegation to Colombia, looking at the role of women in transforming Colombian society and resisting war.

Conversations in Song

Friday, July 8 

Peace Church (1111 N 11th Ave E, Duluth)

6pm refreshments, 7pm performance

Daira will team up with local talents Sara Thomsen, Beth Bartlett, Steve Horner and Ritchie Townsend for an evening of music and art. Freewill donations to benefit Witness for Peace. 

MN Senators call for troop drawdown in Afghanistan

On June 15, a bi-partisan group of 27 US Senators - including Minnesota's Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar - sent a letter to President Obama demanding an accelerated withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. In a press release issued the same day, Sen. Franken is quoted as saying: "When we started the surge in Afghanistan, the President said we would start drawing down our troops this July and we're holding him to that. Today we call for a sizable and sustained drawdown of our troops starting this summer."

"the President said we would start drawing down our troops this July and we're holding him to that"

Al Franken

The Northland Anti-War Coalition calls for nothing short of an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all US troops and military contractors from Afghanistan. Still, the Senators' letter is a step in the right direction and reflects growing public frustration with endless US wars. Daniel Fanning, the northeast Minnesota Regional Outreach Representative for Sen. Franken, explained in a letter to NAWC and other organizations that Sen. Franken's office has heard from veterans, labor and faith groups across the state "and overall the message we've been hearing has been very consistent" for troop withdrawal.

People power works, so keep it up! Contact Senators Klobuchar and Franken today. Thank them for signing the letter to Obama and urge them to work for complete US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq NOW.

Continue reading for the full text of the letter.

Government escalates crackdown on Midwest activists

According to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, the bank accounts of a Chicago-area human rights activist Hatem Abudayyeh and his wife Naima were frozen on May 6. Abudayyeh is one of 23 Midwest activists ordered to appear before a federal grand jury, and his home was among those raided by the FBI in September. The Abudayyehs have a 5 year old daughter.

Take action Tuesday:
Call the Office of Foreign Assets Control at 202-622-2410 or 202-622-1651.

Demand:
--Unfreeze the bank accounts of the Abudayyeh family
--Stop repression against Palestinian, anti-war and international solidarity activists.

For more information, visit stopfbi.net 

UPDATE 5/10/11: Victory, sort of... TCF Bank appears to have illegally frozen the accounts, and today promised to issue a check for their value. The Committee to Stop FBI Repression reports:

Michael Deutsch, attorney for the family, said, “In my opinion, the bank did not act out of the blue. I suspect that the FBI and U.S Attorney investigation caused the bank to overreact and illegally freeze the Abudayyehs’ banking accounts that had been there for over a decade.”
 
In response to the seizing of the couple’s accounts, people across the country called the offices of US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago, and those of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) demanding the return of their money and an end to the repression.

A Code Pink activist from Washington, D.C., called Fitzgerald’s office and was told, “We’ve received hundreds of calls.” The OFAC office was bombarded as well, and journalists from a National Public Radio affiliate, Al Jazeera and other agencies contacted them for an explanation.

TCF is well known for having links to the right-wing think tank the Center for the American Experiment.

Coleen Rowley: Obama is not listening

On April 12, FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley visited Duluth to rally support for Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence specialist accused of leaking evidence of US war crimes to Wikileaks. Representatives of NAWC and Veterans for Peace joined Rowley for a noon press conference at the Duluth Civic Center, which was covered by local television stations and KUWS radio. 

“Disclosing fraud, waste, abuse, a risk to public safety or an illegal act is heroic."

Coleen Rowley

Tom Palumbo, a 12-year veteran of the US Army and registered nurse, told members of the media that the conditions of Manning's pre-trial confinement - including sleep deprivation and extreme isolation - were unethical and could lead to long-term physical and mental health problems for the 23-year-old private. 

Rowley spoke about her experience exposing both the failure of US intelligence agencies to follow leads on the planned 9/11 attack and the increased risk of terrorism that would result from an invasion of Iraq. She said that after 24 years in the FBI she is convinced that transparency is vital to democracy and national security. “Disclosing fraud, waste, abuse, a risk to public safety or an illegal act is heroic," she said, but added that "it’s very difficult to do,” especially for members of the military who have "no ability to speak up." Unfortunately, whistle-blower protection laws have little chance of clearing Congress, she said, and Obama appears more eager than Bush to prosecute people who expose wrong-doing, as evidenced by Manning's case.

Check out local coverage of the press conference here:

• WDIO: FBI Whistleblower speaks in Duluth
• Business North/KUWS: FBI 9/11 whistle blower in Duluth

Later that evening, Rowley delivered the final lecture in the Terrorism and Human Rights series at the College of St Scholastica. If you missed it, here's the full lecture. You can watch other speakers in the series at St Scholastica's YouTube channel.

Rally for Bradley Manning - April 12 in Duluth

Stand with Brad!

Blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime!

Tuesday, April 12

12 noon

Duluth Federal Building

Join Veterans for Peace and FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley for a rally in support 23-year old Pfc Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence specialist accused of leaking footage of US war crimes in Iraq. While the perpetrators of those crimes walk free, Manning is enduring brutal pre-trial punishment at the Quantico Marine base in Virginia, including 23-hour a day isolation and forced nudity. Among dozens of charges filed against Manning is "aiding the enemy" - a capital offense. 

The UK government and the UN have moved to intervene in Manning's case, and former State Department spokesman PJ Crowley called Manning's treatment "stupid and counter-productive" - an opinion that cost him his job. Two hundred and fifty legal scholars, including Obama's former advisor Laurence Tribe, recently signed a petition condemning Manning's treatment as unconstitutional.


President Obama's response? He defends Manning's abuse as "appropriate and meeting our basic standards." 


Exposing war crimes is not a crime. Stand up for Manning and your right to know. To learn more, visit bradleymanning.org.

Military Math

Thanks to markfiore.com

Rep. Hilty introduces priorities resolution to Minnesota House of Representatives

On March 21, state representative Bill Hilty (8A) introduced a resolution to the Minnesota House urging the federal government to cut military spending and re-invest the savings into cash-strapped states. House File 1249 calls on President Obama and the Minnesota congressional delegation "to shift federal funding priorities from war and the interests of the few, to meeting the essential needs of us all."

Current MN budget shortfall:

$5,028,000,000

MN taxpayers' projected contribution to the military budget over the next 2 years:
$26,000,000,000

HF1249 is co-authored by Kerry Gauthier, Mary Murphy and Tom Huntley of Duluth, and Range representatives Tom Rukavina and Tom Anzelc. A companion resolution has also been introduced to the Senate.

You can read the full text here.

Please help NAWC build support for HF1249 and educate our community about the cost of war. NAWC would like to bring this resolution to unions, faith communities and other civic groups around our region and ask for their endorsement. If we can come to the next meeting of your organization, please contact Joel at northlandantiwar[AT]gmail[DOT]com, or by phone at 218-340-4356.

Coleen Rowley at St Scholastica 3/22

UPDATE 3/22: Coleen Rowley's lecture has been POSTPONED on account of the blizzard. It has been rescheduled to TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 7:30pm

Tuesday, March 22  April 12

7:30 pm

College of St Scholastica - Mitchell Auditorium

"Obama's Response to Terrorism"

         with Coleen Rowley

Free and open to the public

Sponsored by the Alworth Center 

         for the Study of Peace and Justice

 

Our friend Coleen Rowley is returning to Duluth to give the closing lecture of the Terrorism and Human Rights series at the College of St Scholastica. A retired, 23-year veteran of the FBI, Rowley was honored by TIME Magazine as a Person of the Year in 2002 for blowing the whistle on pre-9/11 intelligence lapses. We don't want to give away her talk, but it's safe to say she'll tear U.S. war policy and intelligence gathering to shreds as anti-democratic and counter-productive. Don't miss her... we're sure you'll learn something new from our favorite agent-turned-activist.

While you're at it, check out these other fine speakers coming to our area:

Thursday, March 17

7:30 pm

College of St Scholastica - Mitchell Auditorium

"Dying to Drive the Foreigners Out"

      with Robert Pape

Dr. Pape is the director of the University of Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism and a leading international authority on the psychology of suicide terrorism. Check out his article "It's the Occupation, Stupid" for Foreign Policy here.

Saturday, March 26

7:00 pm

College of St Scholastica - Burns Wellness Center 249

"The Perils of Military Presence in Our Urban Communities"

      with Art Laffin

Art Laffin is an author, longtime peace activist and member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Community in Washington, DC. He has participated in numerous nonviolent actions for disarmament and upholding the rights of the homeless, prisoners, immigrants and victims of torture. Sponsored by the Duluth chapter of Pax Christi - the international Catholic peace movement. Free and open to the public.

Duluthian reports on protest in Iraq

While the corporate media in the U.S. have offered some coverage of the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, they have almost completely ignored the massive protests sweeping Iraq, led by ordinary people fed up with government corruption and repression. U.S.-backed security forces have responded violently, with dozens of deaths reported. Duluthian Michele Naar-Obed is currently in the Kurdish north with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) and has been able to send home regular reports. Below is a recent summary of events. You can read more and see photos from the protests on the CPT website. 

The Voices of Iraqi Kurdistan Will Not Be Silenced

By Michele Naar-Obed

Neither military forces firing indiscriminately into crowds of unarmed demonstrators, nor arrests, torture and disappearances of protest organizers nor empty promises made by government leaders have deterred the Kurdish people from continuing their demonstrations demanding an end to what they call a corrupt government run primarily by tribal parties.

Having watched the people of Tunisia, Sudan and Egypt force the step down of dictators, the people of the Kurdish north of Iraq are following their example and the wave of uprisings has washed over this land. Since 17 February, 2011, thousands of people flood the city center of Suleimaniya now dubbed “Freedom Square”, for daily demonstrations.

Since the demonstrations began there have been deaths and injuries of unarmed civilians by military and security forces, imposed curfew, armed militias positioned throughout the city of Suleimaniya and surrounding Freedom Square, an independent television station burned to the ground, hundreds of organizers arrested and disappeared, Suleimaniya students studying in Erbil universities sent back to Suleianiya, roadblocks set up around the city of Erbil not allowing Suleimaniya cars to enter, KRG Parliament emergency sessions to negotiate the demands of the people, assassination attempts against religious leaders who advocate for this nonviolent revolution, five unidentified people assumed to be terrorists, shot dead by Kurdish security forces outside of Suleimaniya city. and scores of demonstrations occurring regularly in the sub districts throughout the Suleimaniya governorate. 

The White Group formed consisting of unarmed individuals forming a human peace wall standing between the thousands of soldiers and the thousands of demonstrators in order to create a safe environment for both demonstrator and soldier. 

Both the Erbil and Dohuk governorates have banned demonstrations. Both of these governorates are KDP party controlled. Most people there appear too frightened to break the ban.

The people who have found their voice are not willing to be silenced again. The demonstrators talk of a hunger strike followed by a general strike to force Mr. Barzani to step down from his position as KRG president and to force immediate elections for an interim government. Nobody knows how long this will take or what new efforts will arise to drive out this current government if these demands aren't met.

It is clear that the current government and party leaders are feeling threatened of losing their positions of power that they have held since 1991. They have been fighting, often with dirty tactics, to regain control. If they do, the opposition people are sure that they will be killed, tortured, disappeared, arrested, and broken. The stakes are high.

There has been little reporting outside of the highly controlled local media outlets and there is a plea to not let this struggle die in vain.

Tell Congress: Close the SOA!

by Twin Ports SOA Watch

If the federal budget is out of balance, why are we paying to train Latin American soldiers to make war on their own people? That's what Twin Ports-area students will be asking members of Congress when they travel to DC in April to take part in SOA Watch lobby days.

The School of the Americas, now officially known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), has graduated the worst human rights abusers and despots in our hemisphere. Our former representatives Jim Oberstar (MN-8) and Dave Obey (WI-7) were among the strongest congressional critics of the SOA/WHINSEC and worked for decades to close it down.

Now we need to make sure our new Congressmen get it right.

We need your help!

1. Donate air miles or money to help UMD and CSS students take part in lobby days. If you can donate miles, contact Margie at mnelson{at}css{dot}edu. Checks can be made out to "CJL at CSS" and mailed to:

Center for Just Living
attn: Jay Newcomb
1200 Kenwood Avenue
Duluth, MN 55811

2. Collect signatures! You can print out petition forms for Duffy here and Cravaack here.

Cravaack defends NASCAR, defunds peace

On Friday, the House of Representatives passed a temporary government funding bill that included massive cuts to social security, heating and food assistance, infrastructure, environmental protection and non-military foreign aid. But is this really about fiscal restraint in the face of a growing deficit and debt? Consider the antics of Duluth's new Tea Party-backed representative, Chip Cravaack:

Cravaack's contribution to the bill was a amendment to strip all federal support for the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP). The Reagan-era program is tasked with promoting global conflict resolution. Gutting it would "save taxpayers $42 million," Cravaack touted on his website. (For the record, $42 million is roughly .005% of the Pentagon's annual budget). The measure passed.

But when Cravaack had the opportunity to "save taxpayers" a similar amount of cash by supporting fellow Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum's amendment to stop U.S. military sponsorship of NASCAR, Cravaack all of a sudden got less stingy. Arguing that NASCAR sponsorship was in important recruiting tool, Cravaack, along with the House majority, voted no. 

But even when his Tea Party colleagues bucked Speaker Boehner and cut $450 million in funding for a second F-35 engine that the Pentagon didn't want (but happened to be made in Boehner's district by his buddies GE and Rolls Royce), Cravaack again showed his knee-jerk support for all things military and voted to protect Boehner's earmark. 

Cravaack's public statements would make it seem like he cares about balancing the federal budget. But his votes to date show a disturbing trend to oppose any funding for programs he ideologically opposes, while lavishly showering arms merchants with hundreds of millions of dollars in handouts. And sadly he has a lot of company on the Hill. The vote on the F-35 engine was a rare victory for common sense: both Obama and House Republican budget bills actually increase military spending while decimating or outright eliminating programs that millions of people depend on. The current budget "debate" between pro-war Democrats and the Tea Party are a ruse. Until people power changes the tide, we'll continue to see resources shifted from common good toward corporate profits and war.

Contact Rep. Chip Cravaack

Take action: Congress to vote on Pentagon cuts

Within a few weeks Congress must pass what's called a continuing resolution to fund the federal government. If the legislation fails, government will shut down. House Republicans are using this opportunity to push drastic cuts to domestic programs and non-military international relations. Alarmingly, their plans include an increase in military spending. This is only a more draconian version of the budget plan put forward by President Obama in his State of the Union address, in which he called for a 5-year freeze on domestic spending even as his administration put forward the largest military budget in history.

This week, Representative Pete Stark (CA) will introduce an amendment to the continuing resolution that would insist that the Pentagon budget be put on the table. Your Congressman needs to know that you support reining in military spending. If you live in Duluth/NE Minnesota, your representative is Chip Cravaack. If you live in Superior or NW Wisconsin, your representative is Sean Duffy. Urge him to support Rep. Pete Stark's amendment to the continuing resolution requiring immediate cuts in the Pentagon budget.


For more information about the amendment, including a list of 10 reasons why military spending should be dramatically reduced, visit Friends Committee on National Legislation.

UMD faculty union denounces FBI attacks on anti-war movement

On January 25th, the Executive Committee of the University Education Association-Duluth (UEA-D) adopted a resolution calling for an end to FBI harassment and grand jury investigations of the Midwest anti-war movement. UEA-D represents nearly 500 faculty members at UMD.

This follows an similar statement from the 17,000-member Duluth Central Labor Body in October. The DCLB was one of the first labor councils in the country to take a stand against federal attacks on our movement. 


Continue to read the text of the UEA-D resolution.

Duluth Peace Park in Rania, Iraq

Here are a few photos of the newly-minted Duluth Peace Park in Rania, Iraq! In the spirit of people-to-people diplomacy, the Duluth-Rania Friendship Exchange has been working to develop a relationship between the two communities since 2009. Last fall, five delegates from Rania visited Duluth as official representatives of their city.

If you live in Duluth and are interested in traveling to Rania with an upcoming delegation, the next planning meeting is this Thursday, February 10, from 7-9pm at the Fireside Room at Peace Church (1111 N 11th Ave E, Duluth).

A gift from the U.S. to the Egyptian police state

As popular uprisings sweep North Africa and the Middle East, new light is being shed on the U.S. government's role in propping up regional dictators and proliferating weapons around the globe. Egypt in particular has benefited from Washington's war chest, receiving an average of $1.3 billion in military aid every year. That's more than $50 billion since Hosni Mubarak came to power. All the while, State Department officials in Egypt were sending home regular reports that Egyptian security forces routinely tortured members of the political opposition and media, as Wikileaks revealed today.

Congressmen Chip Cravaack and Sean Duffy have called for deep cuts to domestic spending in order to balance the federal budget. Perhaps they should be asking themselves what the people of Egypt are asking today: Why is there always enough money for guns, but never enough for butter?

NAWC Attempts People's Subpoena of FBI

Today, as Midwest anti-war activists once again defied orders to appear before a grand jury in Chicago, a dozen anti-war and labor activists went to the Duluth Federal Building and attempted to serve People's Subpoenas on the FBI and US attorney's office for "all documents in your possession which evidence violations of citizens' First Amendment rights..."

Building security was friendly, but the FBI didn't answer the door.