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A funny thing happened on the way to a late deadline. Well, maybe not so funny, because it could help me miss the deadline that has already lost some ground.
A portion of my editorial and the last part of the previous article I had completed were randomly abducted and whisked away into some obscure and secret cyber pocket. It’s the kind of thing to which computer users were accustomed ten years ago. Thank goodness, it is no longer common, but this little glitch has popped up several times recently in my publisher program, apparently connected to the save feature.
Ironically, I was writing about my penchant for finishing the newsletter at the last moment, or perhaps a day or two later. I had decided that I had a better defense than my ancient broadcasting history in which I never wanted to go on the air with a news script that might be outdated by something being spit out of the teletype while I was reading.
My new excuse is urgency.
It’s more than an excuse because I think everybody in PJALS has a sense of urgency when we are organizing, moving and learning together. Most of us also have access to some very current information through alternative and mainstream media, and this stuff can get stale or obsolete in a matter of hours.
There are other obstacles to getting a newsletter out in a timely manner, of course. Other fires require the attention of PJALS staff all the time, and you don’t pay me just to sit here and crank out the printed word. There are extra-curricular circumstances, as well, both personal and professional. Unfortunately, there are also those that fall into a tenuous space in between and seem to gobble energy without any good thing left for personal life or for PJALS.
These things, like the newsletter, have to be kept in some perspective. One may burn out forever or live to write and edit another month. But the work, the movement, must continue.
After almost 20 years, I almost said PJALS must continue. Would that be true?
Without PJALS, there would be no Handful of Salt, but what else would really be lost? Imagine life without PJALS.
It may be a bit more difficult for Nancy and me since we have relied upon PJALS for sustenance, fiscally, emotionally, politically, and socially, for a long time. But what if the plug were pulled? What if PJALS were transformed into a little historical footnote with assets liquidated and parsed to other worthy groups?
I thought about that the other day, and it didn’t even seem like the end of the world. PJALS has been on the edge before. We seen extreme circumstances, urgent needs for members and money. We’ve been under attack when our opponents seemed to hold all the good cards.
Today, though, there is no fiscal crisis. Thanks to solid support across the membership and some exceptional support from a couple of foundations and individuals, we’ve never been on sounder footing. Maybe that’s why I’m troubled about a softness or hollowness somewhere near our core. Or maybe I’m afraid of taking a step toward retirement just as Nancy and I prepare to halve our hours at PJALS this summer. I could be afraid to let go. Or I could be afraid to be let go.
This is getting much closer to my navel than I had planned, but I can’t keep it from being personal. I need PJALS even if I don’t work here. It’s like our little church we tried to fold a year ago. Most of us were thinking we held on out of selfishness, just because we didn’t fit anywhere else. We held our breath and let go, but the church wouldn’t die. It kept picking up whatever steam it needed to keep going, and we decided we were grateful for its noncooperation.
Is PJALS worth the trouble? If we get hundreds of people together on March 18, some of them will never consider joining PJALS, but they’ll be glad we’re here, glad we’re in the community, and glad we’re taking them out of their comfort zones.
How long has it been since you thought about the end of PJALS? What would signal the proper time for termination? What would you need in its place, if anything? Would active nonviolence live on in Spokane? I’d like to hear what you think. - RN
by Mike Kress
“We
have…come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency
of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to
take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., 1963 Last winter, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter revealed that George Bush asked for an Iran war plan ready to use by June of 2005. Seymour Hersh, writing for the New Yorker, has reported for some time about US covert operations in Iran. Today we are told that war in Iran is inevitable by the same observers who warned us about the cooked-up war in Iraq.
Evidently, neo-conservatives who control the US decided to attack Iran long ago.
Now that IAE Agency chief Mohamed El Baradei says Iran isn’t cooperating fully with inspectors, neo-cons will use their tool at the UN, Ambassador John Bolton, to help create an international crisis and justify attacks on Iran. Though there’s no evidence to prove that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, Iran’s refusal to halt lawful nuclear programs will become the pretext for America’s next unnecessary war.
Again, the mainstream sources that most Americans use to get their information will not investigate the facts or give equal time to critics, and the smoke and mirrors of the Bush administration will dominate the debate. To paraphrase Noam Chomsky, in the absence of just cause the consent for war will be manufactured.
It now falls upon people of conscience to create and organize a mass movement of nationwide non-violent resistance – in the spirit of Dr. King and Mohandas K. Gandhi – that will stop the war before it starts. At the rate the White House rhetoric boils, this movement must start now and swing into full action early in March.
The only way to stop another senseless and unnecessary war is with a mass movement rooted in a moral strategy that brings people together. This movement must also earn the sympathy and trust of those who are undecided about the necessity of another Middle East war. Forget traditional protest rallies – 200,000 people crowding the Capitol Mall make no difference. Large marches that don’t influence the nation’s decision makers will only increase people’s cynicism, as well as the atmosphere of inevitability that the neo-cons wish to create.
Without a moral and unifying strategy that spells out specific non-violent tactics to achieve our goal, the power elite and the corporate media will ignore or marginalize our efforts. Remember the moral claims for justice and the appeals to America’s founding ideals during the civil rights movement, and you’ll understand the type of strategy we need today. Think of the Montgomery bus boycott, the Freedom Rides, and Gandhi’s march to the sea for salt, and you will have inspiration for the
actions necessary to stop the march to war.
Leaders of organizations that opposed the Iraq war must reconnect today and formulate a sustained campaign of militant non-violent action everyone can follow tomorrow. Peace, justice, religious, and human rights leaders must articulate a path to preventing war that people believe is effective – not because it’s safe, but because it is righteous and they are inspired to overcome fear.
This path must be part of a moral vision that appeals to the emotions and values of every citizen. Using communication techniques put forth by thinkers such as George Lakoff, we must revive the “revolution of values” that Dr. King called for in his 1967 speech at Riverside Church. In the words of King: “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” Simply debating facts will not prevent war.
People for peace must speak with our mouths, pens, keyboards, and bodies against another war for empire. We must push our peace and justice leaders to act, work around the corporate media to spread our message, tell our elected officials that they will not receive money or votes if they sell their souls for the neo-conservative agenda. We must take risks and welcome the metaphorical stones and arrows of the warmongers, knowing in our hearts that we were right about the last war and that we act today with our consciences clear.
Innocent Iranians, our children, our military, and all the world waits for us to wrest America’s destiny from the hands of the warlords. There is no time to waste. Gradualism is a luxury we cannot afford. The architects of the war against Iran have a head start – but we can prevail if we put our demands for peace into action.
- Mike Kress, PJALS and takethepowerback@kyrs.org
The response to crude and offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad is shocking and distressing. Yet the pain felt by Muslims is real and understandable. By insulting the core of their religion, the cartoons constitute a vile attack on Muslims everywhere. Despite the egregious nature of the insult, it cannot not justify mass violence, arson and death threats.
The cartoons, which depict Muhammad as a violent, degenerate criminal, were first published in a Danish newspaper last September, in an act of extraordinary insensitivity and poor judgment. (The commissioning editor now admits to his own ignorance of Islam and the way Muslims feel about Muhammad.) But ignorance is only part of it. Clearly, a certain malice is involved, if not in the first Danish publication, then in their repeated publication in newspapers around the world. No longer can editors claim ignorance. The whole world now knows that the Prophet Muhammad is not supposed to be depicted at all, let alone in a disparaging manner.
Nor can offending newspapers claim that this is valid political or social satire, protected by free speech. These cartoons of the Prophet do nothing but ridicule the core idea of an entire religion. They attack what is sacred. And there is no deeper wound, no deeper fury, than that.
Many Muslims feel an intimate, personal connection to the Prophet Muhammad. When they think of divine mercy, kindness and integrity, they think of the Prophet. He is the embodiment of every virtuous ideal. In fact, the ideal of every Muslim is to become as much like the Prophet as possible. He is regarded as the best of human beings, the exemplar of humanity.
In short, the Prophet Muhammad is sacred to Muslims. Westerners understand the concept. Christians are hurt and outraged by disrespectful and blasphemous depictions of Jesus. Jews feel pain when the holy Torah, the word of God, is ridiculed or desecrated. In this country, burning of the flag gives similar offense.
The emotional wound of the cartoons cannot be undone, but plenty can be done. The great effort in the West to learn about Islam and understand Muslims after 9/11 should be stepped up. There’s an opportunity for people of faith to recognize and acknowledge that which is sacred in other religions, even if not to them.
For Muslims, it’s an opportunity to examine responses to what offends them. Retaliating with a Holocaust cartoon contest, as an Iranian newspaper has done, is to fall to the same level of ignorance, bigotry and malice that the original cartoons represent. Instead, Muslims should transform the incident into an opportunity for dialogue, education, and understanding.
There is a story in the Hadith (sayings and doings of the Prophet Muhammad) that Muhammad was with his companions in the simple mosque of Medina. The mosque had an earthen floor and was open on all sides. A Bedouin man walked in and began to urinate in the corner. Muhammad's companions were incensed, yelling at him to stop and threatening to assault him.
"No," the Prophet told his followers. “Let him be. He does not know any better." When the man had finished, Muhammad addressed him gently: "This place is not meant for urine, but only for prayer and the remembrance of Allah." Then he told his followers to get water to wash the floor.
Burning embassies and demanding that editors be executed is not an Islamic response to insult. That response lies in the nonviolent actions of the Prophet Muhammad, as illustrated above. Educate those who have offended by violating what is sacred to you. Reach out to them. Teach them so they may know better.
-
FOR staff—Muslim, Christian, and Jewish: Jennifer Hyman,
Communications;
Rabia Harris, Chaplain; Ibrahim M. Abdil-Mu'id Ramey, Disarmament; Ethan Vesely-Flad,
Editor of Fellowship.
Rabia Harris, Chaplain; Ibrahim M. Abdil-Mu'id Ramey, Disarmament; Ethan Vesely-Flad,
Editor of Fellowship.
Dear Mr. President,
Thank you for asking the Fellowship of Reconciliation to prepare State of the Union talking points for you. We share your deep concern for the state of this nation and the world, and are pleased to help you shape a forward-thinking vision at this critical time.
Mr. President, now is the time to address the conditions of decay, distrust, and deception that will otherwise become the legacy of this administration and Congress. Our nation needs to be able to trust its elected leaders again. As a person of faith, you surely recognize that for the American people to move forward to a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation, the way to begin this process is to speak the truth.
This will be painful. You will have to acknowledge the lies and mismanagement that have been a hallmark of the past four years. You must take responsibility for the manipulated evidence that led to the war in Iraq and the terribly inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina; forswear the policies and practices of torture and illegal surveillance; and take concrete steps to distance yourself from the corruption and scandal that is implicating members of your administration and old business associates.
You must announce an exit strategy from Iraq and Afghanistan. This should encompass the withdrawal of our soldiers by the end of 2006, leaving the region clean of U.S. military bases. Growth of bases in the two countries is a key reason why Iran has increased its militant rhetoric.
A moral presidency demands a firm commitment to the peoples of the world that their lives will be free of foreign aggression and occupation. Let us seize the momentum from the recent democratic elections in Iraq to show the Middle East and the world that the United States is not an occupying empire or a bullying superpower.
On the domestic front, the nation’s economic health should be a top priority. The gap between rich and poor Americans has grown to historic levels, with the richest five percent making almost 1,500% more than the poorest 20 percent, and CEOs making 431 times more than the average worker. Couple this with the skyrocketing cost of energy – the price of oil is now approaching $70 a barrel – and you will understand why many people are getting desperate.
What can you do? Start by doubling the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $10.30, which will at least approach a living wage. Then acknowledge that your tax cut policies don’t help anyone except the wealthy. Last year, two million jobs were created, but this was less than 40% of what your Council of Economic Advisors had predicted, and only half what a normal job growth figure would have been without the tax cuts. Specifically, you should call for a reinstatement of the Estate Tax, which even many rich Americans (like Bill Gates) have acknowledged was a fair tax on their wealth.
We know that health care is a major concern. Seize the moment! Now is the time to call for universal health care for the US. There is no good reason why we, the wealthiest nation in the world, are also the only industrialized democracy without health coverage for all its citizens. We are very concerned by reports you seek to further privatize the system, rather than creating more governmental support for the least of us – those who cannot afford what is currently offered.
Are you worried about the budget implications? This recommitment to health care, the reconstruction of the region around New Orleans, a strong environmental program, and a balanced education policy (like a fully-funded No Child Left Behind Act) are all eminently possible. Once you steer the nation away from wars of aggression abroad, some of our bloated, $400 billion-plus military budget can be reallocated towards education, renewable energy, and economic development. Creating a strong social safety net and a healthy population must be a top priority, since we cannot afford to be "Left Behind" in the the competitive global skills market.
Mr. President, as a man of faith, you are certainly aware of the words of the prophet Micah, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?” This nation and the world could use some justice, mercy and humility right now. We look forward to your State of the Union address tomorrow as an opportunity to help our country respond to Micah’s challenge and regain our spiritual compass. - FOR
PJALS
is affiliated with FOR, the world’s largest interfaith pacifist
organization. Consider an individual membership in FOR and/or a
subscribtion to Fellowship, a magazine of peacemaking published by the
Fellowship of Reconciliation. Sample copies and details at PJALS.
Don’t give up on us, yet. We don’t have our email version of the Handful of Salt, but we are getting the newsletter onto our more accessible website in a more timely manner.
We still want to give you the email option, but if you wish we’d print one less hard copy, and you would rather read the newsletter at www.pjals.net, send us an email. That’s something even Rusty can fix. But watch out, our email address is not the one we’ve had for years, and we didn’t get the new one on the February edition, either. Here’s an update:
Email Wil: livingwage@pjals.net
Email Krista: inwe@pjals.net
Email Rusty/Nancy: pjals@pjals.net
The PJALS website may be accessed at either http://www.pjals.com or http://www.pjals.net
This is very short notice, but PJALS is delighted to be able to offer a session on Rosenberg Nonviolent Communication on Saturday, March 4, at the Community Building, from 9:30 am– 12:30 pm.
Liz Churchill, a Rosenberg trainer, has offered her time and services while she is visiting in the Spokane area. Her presentation is entitled Speaking Peace: The Power of Nonviolent Communication.
There will be no charge for the course, but we will accept donations to offer Liz some compensation for this incredible opportunity. This is recommended for anyone interested in active nonviolence.
WOMEN
IN DECISION-MAKING:
MEETING CHALLENGES, CREATING CHANGE
2006 CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
MEETING CHALLENGES, CREATING CHANGE
2006 CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
March 8, 2006, 4 – 6 p.m.,
Spokane Woman’s Club
9th Avenue & Walnut Street
9th Avenue & Walnut Street
“By
effectively increasing the impact of women on public life at all
levels, the potential for change towards gender equality and
empowerment of women and a more
democratic and just society is increased”
democratic and just society is increased”
-UN Secretary-General on equal participation of women
and men in decision-making processes, Dec. 2005
and men in decision-making processes, Dec. 2005
Sponsors
& Supporters
Spokane Women’s Coalition, YWCA
Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest, Links, Inc., NAACP of Spokane
Washington Commission on Hispanic Affairs, Peace and Justice Action League
Spokane Chapter of NOW, Older Women’s League
The G.F.W.C. Woman’s Club of Spokane, Lands Council
Women’s Studies Center-Eastern Washington University
Spokane County Domestic Violence Consortium, AAUW
Soroptomist International of Spokane, League of Women Voters
EVERYONE IS WELCOME!
Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest, Links, Inc., NAACP of Spokane
Washington Commission on Hispanic Affairs, Peace and Justice Action League
Spokane Chapter of NOW, Older Women’s League
The G.F.W.C. Woman’s Club of Spokane, Lands Council
Women’s Studies Center-Eastern Washington University
Spokane County Domestic Violence Consortium, AAUW
Soroptomist International of Spokane, League of Women Voters
EVERYONE IS WELCOME!
As we all know, the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) rights has taken an enormous step forward. On January 27, House Bill 2661 passed 25-23 in the state Senate. The bill adds sexual orientation as protected under the state-level HRC. This was an exciting and historic day that was allowed to last for about three days.
State Initiative King Tim Eyman filed notice Jan. 30 of a referendum and initiative on this bill. To place the initiative on the ballot,
Eyman needs 112,440 valid signatures within 90 days of the end of the legislative session, March 9. He has slightly less time to pass a repeal referendum, but also needs ½ the signatures.
Organizations all over Washington are coordinating opposition to these measures. The old Bigot Busters/Decline to Sign campaign of 1994 is being revitalized. In Spokane, it’s headed by Michael McAfoose with Action Northwest. INWE is going to assist this campaign any way we can. A state-wide campaign, WA Won’t Discriminate (www.washingtonwontdiscriminate.org) is also working on public education on the issue. To get involved with either and help protect our new anti-discrimination legislation, visit their websites or call INWE for more info.
In marriage equality news, we are still awaiting the Washington Supreme Court decision on the challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. There’s no timeline on this, but be prepared for a rally at the Federal Building in Spokane on the day of the decision. INWE will get the word out as soon as possible, but we could have fewer than 12 hours notice. Check your e-mails and your messages every Thursday for the information on this historic decision!
On February 26, INWE co-sponsored “Get Busy, Get Equal”, a presentation, discussion, and potluck with Sharon McGowan. Sharon is a staff attorney with the ACLU National Task Gay and Lesbian Rights Project and was on the litigation team for Lawrence v. Texas. Lawrence was a historic Supreme Court decision that struck down sodomy laws as unconstitutional, framing the protection of LGBTQQ people from harassment as an inalienable privacy issue. This groundbreaking case continues to be a fundamental legal support for protections of LGBTQQ people all over the United States. The conversation was legally-heavy while also remaining light and lively. INWE is grateful for this opportunity work with both Sharon and the ACLU of Washington to present this information to our community. We look forward to more events, educational and political, in the coming months.
For more information or to be added to our action list, contact Krista Benson at inwe@pjals.net or 509-838-7870.
The Rainbow Center Board voted on Feb. 14th to give the community one month to come up with a way to keep the Center open. On Tuesday, March 14th there will be a motion before the board to close the Rainbow Center .
Volunteers from the RC and others who use the Center are working to keep the doors open, and we have a community meeting on Tues, March 7, at 7 p.m. at the Rainbow Center to allow the community a voice and discuss three options that I feel were given by the RC board concerning this issue: 1st, Close the Rainbow Center, 2nd, Restructure through election of a new board, and 3rd, Restructure by allowing another organization to take over the 501c-3.
An organization is already considering taking the necessary steps to provide a stable foundation for the Rainbow Center. Community input is being reviewed and a course of action will be determined after the March 7th meeting. We invite everyone to this meeting. - KB
Some Guantanamo prisoners, on hunger strike to protest detention without trial, could be close to death, say lawyers for detainees.
Yousef Al-Ahehri has refused solid foods since August. The 21-year-old Saudi, is “in very grave condition,” said Julia Tarver Mason, an attorney with Paul, Weiss, a US law firm representing 13 detainees. Mason said when she saw Al-Shehri October 1, the prisoner had lost some of his vision, was vomiting daily, urinating infrequently, and no longer able to walk.
A Jan. 23 report by Reprieve, a British rights group, identified three strikers in serious condition, including Yemeni Abu Bakah al-Samrani, said by detainees to weigh 70 pounds.
Barbara Olshansky, of the Guantanamo Project at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which coordinates legal representation for the 500 detainees at the camp, said the crisis is so serious attorneys are discussing how to advocate for burial rights. “We are looking at how to make arrangements with the U.S. government to ensure families are contacted, and [the strikers] receive a proper Muslim burial and are not interred at Guantanamo,” she said.
Camp officials say no detainees are near death. Army Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, spokesman for the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said there are nine strikers, five of whom are being fed through nasal tubes and “are clinically stable.” In late December, the military reported that 32 long-term strikers were being force-fed.
The procedure requires inserting a permanent tube through the nose. The tube descends into the stomach and is attached to another tube during feedings. In October, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the government to notify lawyers when strikers are force-fed and provide weekly medical updates.
Kessler said “detainees’ lawyers had presented ‘deeply troubling’ allegations of U.S. personnel violently shoving feeding tubes as thick as fingers through the men’s noses and into their stomachs without anesthesia or sedatives, with detainees vomiting blood as U.S. personnel mocked them,” reported Reuters, Jan. 19.
Kessler’s ruling applies to only four prisoners in a case argued by the Paul, Weiss Law firm. Mason said she receives weekly medical reports for Al-Shehri, force-fed since September, but not for Abdul-Rahman Shalabi. In October, when Mason saw the 31-year-old Saudi, who was also being force-fed, he had a purplish-reddish hue and appeared incredibly weak. Mason said she was not allowed to see either client when she returned in December.
“They claimed the detainees had refused my visit. When asked if I could go to the hospital to verify this, I was told no,” she said.
Camp officials say the “involuntary feedings” are done “humanely.” According to Navy Capt. John Edmonson, the senior medical officer at Guantanamo, the nasal tubes are four mm in diameter, “very soft and non-irritating.”
Martin said, “Our procedure for tube feeding is the one common to U.S. hospitals and correctional facilities, except they use a wider tube.”
Prison officials consider a detainee to be on a hunger strike if he refuses nine consecutive meals. Lawyers report that to avoid isolation and forced feedings, detainees are accepting meal trays but throwing out the food.
Attorney Rob Kirsch, in Guantanamo in early January, said his clients estimated 50 participants in the hunger strike. Kirsch’s firm represents six Bosnians who are not refusing food but described hunger strikers being brought in wheel chairs to an exercise yard for air and looking like people in concentration camps.
Lawyers say the hunger strike began August 8, after the military reneged on commitments to bring the prison into compliance with the Geneva Conventions.
- National Catholic Reporter, Feb. 20.
The drama continues on several fronts as the world’s largest retailer pursues dominance globally and locally.
The smiley face would have us believe it’s too late to do anything about the store in Pullman, that Wal-Mart has everything in hand in Hayden and on the South Hill, and that nobody could possible oppose a Sam’s Club in North Spokane.
In spite of the tremendous political influence, wealth and spin that Wal-Mart brings to each of its projects, decoy or dead duck, more and more communities are finding effective strategies to slow the vicious juggernaut.
PJALS people have determined that we can play a role in stopping the plague of Wal-Mart stores, and we’re organizing to help bring hope to communities at risk of having one of these economic black holes for a neighbor.
Those Wal-Mart opponents focusing upon the South Regal site have chosen to make a stand on traffic issues and have a established an online presence at www.nosouthhillwallmart.com
PJALS hopes to help by continuing to educate the public on economic justice issues. Our next meeting is at 7 pm, Monday, March 6th, at the Community Building. The Wal-Mart organizing will follow the Spokane Citizens for a Living Wage meeting which is at 5:30.
Breean Beggs, Chief Catalyst for the Center for Justice, has been involved in legal efforts to stop Wal-Mart in other communities and will share some strategies we may wish to adopt in Spokane. We are finding helpful ideas from many sources, and can see that the surface has been barely scratched in calling for accountability from Wal-Mart which spends millions each year to enhance its image without changing the way it abuses workers, at home and abroad, or the way it shamelessly extorts several forms of corporate welfare from local and state governments.
From unfair labor practices to closing
local businesses, there are reasons people- small business owners and
women’s rights groups, environmentalists and labor unionists- are
learning ways to stand up to Wal-Mart, and why you should take action
against Wal-Mart.
Health Care. Wal-Mart fails to provide health insurance to over half its employees, and you pay the bill. W-M workers are atop the Medicaid rolls in at least 16 states, costing taxpayers billions each year.
End the Wal-Mart Tax! Demand that Wal-Mart provide affordable healthcare for its employees. Pledge to support actions by your local officials to end Wal-Mart’s abuse of our public healthcare systems.
Fair Labor. Wal-Mart has a long, sad track record of worker abuse, from forced overtime to illegal child labor to relentless union-busting. W-M is the subject of the largest class action discrimination lawsuit in history, including 1.5 million current and former female employees, paid and promoted at significantly lower rates than male co-workers.
Don’t tolerate employee abuse and discrimination at America’s largest employer. Demand that W-M stop discriminating against its employees and come clean on workers’ rights.
Local Economy. W-M plans to nearly double retail outlets by 2010 and steamroll into every town. For every new Supercenter, at least two local supermarkets and countless small businesses will close.
Stand up for American entrepreneurs and your hometown businesses. Pledge to support local businesses and local efforts to curb Wal-Mart’s predatory growth.
- Global Exchange www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops
PJALS
has The High Cost of Low Price on dvd.
Are you willing to die-in for your country? This type of dramatic demonstration is not usually considered an ideal fit for every peacemaker, but PJALS wants you to consider breaking the mold on March 18, 2006, when we commemorate the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq with Three Too Many.
You are urged to join us at Franklin Park, Queen and Division, for our Saturday observance at 2:00 pm. Hear Melanie Luedders and the Community Choir, speaker Mike Kress, poet Michael Reid, and journalist Mary Stamp with words from the World Council of Churches session she attended in Brazil.
We need you at this rally, whether you die-in or not, but consider what significance this symbolic action might have upon you, your friends and neighbors, and your elected representatives. You may wish to drop headlong into whatever cold, wet, or even muddy surface you’re standing upon as names of war dead are read. You may wish to take a knee or sit on a cushion or a piece of cardboard, or lie on a ground cloth. Perhaps you’ll just hang your head in sorrow and close your eyes in solidarity with those around you and sympathy with people all over the world who mourn the wasted opportunities and wasted lives that continue to accumulate where military options always pre-empt creativity and reconciliation. That counts, and it helps.
PJALS is about nonviolent social change, and Three Too Many is about getting more people of good will to take another step in confronting the evil of war. The apathy, ignorance, and misinformation that make it possible for our government to sustain hideous acts of mass death and destruction are things we can confront in a nonviolent and very active way, as long as we do it together. Our numbers will make it safe for the timid. Our enthusiasm will make it worthwhile for the cynical. Our truth will make it profitable for the unempowered.
Come, and help us have a positive impact upon a desperate situation. Let us know if you would like to help read the names of the dead. And your participation is always welcome as we plan events at PeaceWorks meetings on the first and third Thursdays at 5:30 pm at PJALS.
We have a position on war. There is always a better way to resolve conflicts and to protect the people and the way of life we love. We don’t have to decide whether a particular war is good or bad, only how we help enlighten the public and the powerful who take it upon themselves to kill and destroy. - RN
PJALS | ISSUES | HISTORY | CONTACT | HANDFUL | CALENDAR | SUPPORT | MEMBERSHIP