Protest Israeli attack on aid convoy

At least 10 international activists were killed and dozens injured yesterday by Israeli commandos who violently intercepted an aid convoy to Gaza in international waters. The Israeli government has detained nearly 700 members of the convoy and cut them off from all outside communication. Both the BBC and al-Jazeera are running live blogs with what little information is getting through.

The attack has been met with outrage from governments and civil society around the world, but at the time of writing, the US White House has only mustered "regrets" for the "tragic loss of life."

TAKE ACTION!

Emergency Protest Against
Israeli Attack on Gaza Freedom Convoy
Tuesday, June 1 -- 5pm
Duluth Federal Building
Called by Twin Ports Break the Bonds and NAWC

Call the White House and your members of Congress!

The US is Israel's best ally and donor, and the greatest obstacle to international efforts to hold Israel to account for its violations of international law. Please call the White House and your members of Congress. Tell them that you are outraged by Israel's unprovoked and illegal attack, and ask them to work for:

1. the unconditional release of Free Gaza participants;
2. an immediate end to the devastating Israeli economic blockade of Gaza, which has created a humanitarian crisis affecting 1.5 million people;
3. a halt to all US military cooperation with and aid to Israel.

WHITE HOUSE
202-456-1111

STATE DEPARTMENT
202-647-4000

MINNESOTA
Representative James Oberstar (CD8)
218-727-7474

Senator Al Franken
218-722-2390

Senator Amy Klobuchar
202-224-3244

WISCONSIN
Representative Dave Obey (CD7)
715-398-4426

Senator Herb Kohl
202-224-5653

Senator Russ Feingold
202-224-5323

Send off for Witness for Peace -- June 6

Delegates from Witness for Peace -- Upper Midwest will soon travel to Nicaragua on a mission of people-to-people diplomacy and fact-finding. In addition to investigating the effects of US and international economic policies on the Nicaraguan people, the delegation will look into the possibilities and practice of sustainable development and fair trade.

Please come and show your support for Witness for Peace! Proceeds will benefit the WfP scholarship fund, enabling more people to take part in this and future WfP delegations.

Celebration Send Off for Witness for Peace!
Sunday, June 6 -- 5:30 to8:30 pm
Peace Church Fellowship Hall
1111 N 11th Ave E, Duluth

--Beans and Rice Dinner--
--Nicaragua Slide Show--
--Music by the Biochemical Characters--
--Multicultural Silent Auction--

Suggested donation: $10/adult, $5/student. $20/family

Letter from Kurdistan

by Michele Naar-Obed

(photo: Village destroyed by bombing in Pshdar district, courtesy CPT)

May 21, 2010

Dear friends,

It seems like it's been frantic around here for weeks now. So frantic that I completely mixed up my days and missed my plane. So a few updates:

We've had a spate of kidnappings and killings in the two main cities of Suleimaniya and Erbil in the KRG. One of them, the kidnapping and murder of Sardasht Osman the young Kurdish journalist, made international news. Right around the time of Sardasht's kidnapping, the young son of a Sheik was kidnapped, injured and died on route to the hospital in Suleimaniya. 3 days ago, TNT was found under 4 bridges in a subdistrict of Halubja. The explosives were defused without problem. And finally, the local security officers discovered a terrorist ring inside Suleimaniya who may be responsible for some of these incidents. More investigations are underway and some of the members of the alleged terrorist ring are still at large. As for Sardasht's murder, accusations are still being hurled at certain political party members, but investigations are still pending.

With the current power vacuum throughout Iraq, and with no central government formation, there are stories of various groups intent on taking advantage of the situation to create confusion and chaos. Some of those elements have made very public and hateful statements against the Kurds. Others have gone as far to say that it's too bad that Saddam didn't finish the job of wiping the Kurds out.

Up on the northeastern border in the foothills of the Qandil Mountains, Iran has been heavily shelling the villages inside Iraq's border. The pretext is that Iran is after PJAK, the armed Iranian Kurdish liberation group which is related to the PKK. The Iranian regime recently executed 5 political prisoners, 4 of which were Kurdish and there have been nonviolent demonstrations, sit-ins and strikes by the Iranian Kurds close to the border with Iraq.

The villages inside Iraq that sustained the most damage and destruction during this recent round of shelling are the 9 villages that CPT has been working with to develop a new collective village in a safer area. We had hoped to get the village started before there were any further injuries or deaths, but we failed on that count. One woman was injured by a rocket in the village of Maradu. Family members wrapped her in a blanket and carried her over very rough terrain in the midst of the shelling until they got her close enough to an area where she could be evacuated by ambulance to a hospital in Suleimaniya. She is still awaiting surgery.

During the worst of the shelling which went on continuously for about 4 days, the villagers stayed underground in dugouts. Some of the children from the villages took their final exams under these deadly conditions. Meanwhile, many animals were killed and injured, and much of the new spring planting was destroyed. During lulls in the attacks, the families began to flee with their remaining animals to an old tent camp along the river still in the restricted area but in a safer zone for now. Rumor has it that the shelling will continue over these next days and they are afraid that even this tent camp will be hit.

Yesterday, CPT went to visit them at the camp. All they had to offer was a glass of water from the river. One emergency aid organization came to visit them 2 days ago, wrote down their names and their emergency needs and they haven't heard any more from them yet. We saw about 75 people in all, many of them children and babies. More families are expected to arrive in these next days while others will go back to town to stay with relatives for the time being. Some of the children appeared traumatized but still they greeted us with smiles and handshakes and one of them grabbed my hand to lead me down to the rivers edge for a quick dunk in the river. Another family nabbed a couple of chickens, tied their legs together and offered them to our group as a gift. We graciously thanked them, unbound their legs and returned them to the family. Another time, when things are better, we will all sit down together and share a meal. This I know will happen.

The momentum for building this village hasn't slowed even with this crisis. The Mayors along with a member of their provincial council have formed a team to get the families on the list. In some ways, this process is reminiscent of “Shindler's List”. There are now 2 and possibly 3 choices of land for them on which to build this new village. Habitat for Humanity seems seriously hooked, but the main office in Amman still has to approach the donors for the money to build the houses.

We estimate 150 to 200 houses are needed. The local Habitat staff member says each house will cost about $12.000. They expect that the KRG will contribute 30% of the total construction costs and the Habitat donors will take care of the rest. The calculated cost of 200 houses is $2, 400,000 total. The KRG's contribution would be just over $800,000. This is pocket change when you think that this amount of money could provide safe housing and the basis for a sustainable life for over 1,000 people.

So for now, this is where I leave them. It's up to the villagers, the rest of the CPT team, the local NGOs, local government and most importantly, the guidance of the Spirit to keep this thing moving.

Meanwhile, 3 new villages have been destroyed and now there are another 650 or so people displaced and homeless. Up until this point, their villages have remain untouched by the ongoing attacks by Iran and Turkey. This year, they lost. Maybe next year we will be facilitating the development of yet another village.

Any of you that are so inclined, please pray, meditate, think loving thoughts, visualize or do whatever you feel led to do to keep this little movement alive. We will all be very grateful.

I expect to be home on May 26. I think I finally have my days straight now.

Peace, Michele

Michele Naar-Obed is a member of the Loaves & Fishes Community in Duluth and a volunteer with the Christian Peacemaker Teams. She has served multiple deployments with CPT to Iraq, most recently to the northern Kurdish region to work with communities displaced by Turkish bombing raids.

May Meeting Notes

May 16, 2010 Northland Anti-War Coalition Meeting Notes

Attendance: Scot, Margie, Ron, Tom, Joel, Steve and Adam

1. Tax Day Protest Report: NAWC's April 15 protest against war spending drew about 120 people. We had a rally at the MN Power Plaza, then marched with our signs through the Tea Party event at Bayfront Park and through Canal Park. It was a very high energy event, and it generated great press coverage. However, we were hoping for more people. About three dozen people also attended out forum that evening at UMD featuring former FBI whistle blower Coleen Rowley.

2. Practicing Justice: Scot reported that CHUM is going to be holding a panel on social justice from a religious perspective on May 20 at 7pm at Duluth's Teatro Zucone.

3. Community & Police: Scot reported that there will be a series of community meetings on the possibility of establishing a community review board over the police in Duluth. The meetings are being organized by the Duluth Task Force for the Improvement of Community Police Accountability. For more info go to www.digiterp.com/DTFICPA.

4. Trainings: There are two activist trainings coming up. One is a 2-day conflict resolution training session that'll take place at the Duluth-Superior Friends Meeting House from June 25-27 (see earlier post). To register, contact Bonnie Ambrosi at 218 728-9942 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              218 728-9942      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              218 728-9942      end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              218 728-9942      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or grihastashrami{at}gmail{dot}com. There will also be a Training for Change activist leadership event on the weekend of Oct. 17 led by Celia Kutz. Contact Joel Kilgour at jkilgour{at}riseup{dot}net for more details.

5. Fundraising: NAWC will hold a volleyball tournament/fundraising event this summer. Margie will head up a team to develop a more comprehensive plan and present it at the June NAWC meeting for approval.

6. Campus Outreach: NAWC will strive to put together a fall campus campaign that aims to hold a Young Activist Summit, a series of speaking engagements and that culminates in a campus protest. We will apply for grant money to see if we can provide scholarships to some local student activists to work on the project. Joel & Margie will head up a committee to work on this.

-Meeting Chair & Note Taker: Adam

-Next Meeting: Sunday, June 13 at 2pm at the Duluth Unitarian-Universalist Church at 835 College Street.

Conflict Resolution workshop June 25-27

Founded in 1975 as a collaboration between inmates at a maximum security prison in New York and members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) sought to reduce the level of violence in prison by teaching Gandhian techniques for non-violent conflict resolution. The original project was wildly successful and quickly spread to other prisons, community groups, schools and war zones. AVP International describes its purpose today as "enabling participants to deal with potentially violent situations in new and creative ways."

This summer, the Duluth-Superior Friends Meeting is sponsoring a Basic Community Workshop in Conflict Resolution facilitated by the Friends for a Non-Violent World. The 21-hour hands-on workshop focuses on "new skills to cope with violence, our own and others’, and build and deepen community. AVP workshops emphasize developing peace-building tools for use in homes, the workplace, and the broader community."

The workshop runs from Friday June 25 through Sunday June 27th at the Friends Meeting House (1802 E 1st St, Duluth). Pre-registration is required. For more information, visit the FNVW website (click on events) or contact Bonnie Ambrosi at 218 728-9942 or grihastashrami{at}gmail{dot}com.