Terry Rockefeller – 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 1pm
First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, 11 Garden Street, Hastings Room • Harvard Square T
Light lunch will be served • $5 donation requested

Terry Rockefeller will report back on her recent trip to Iraq, where she attended the Third Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI), an international conference in Erbil. Under the theme “Another Iraq is Possible with Peace and Human Rights,” ICSSI was attended by about 150 Iraqi and 100 representatives of international civil society organizations. At the meeting participants discussed the challenges that Iraqi people are facing, the issues on which Iraqi civil society is now working, and the kinds of solidarity needed among Iraqi NGOs and international organizations to bring about democratic change, social justice, human rights, freedom, and dignity for all Iraqis.

She will particularly address:

• anger and a search for how to address pollution and the grave health affects due to war damages
• Iraqis’ discussions of privatization of oil resources
• Ongoing obstacles to having a free civil society
• Iraqis’ thoughts on withdrawal of US troops; US peace and justice activists’ need to monitor practices of private security contractors

Listen to Terry Rockefeller’s interview with Callie Crossley on WGBH, September 7, 2011.

A Massachusetts Peace Action delegation today turned in 600 petition signatures and 150 postcards today to Ed Birce of Sen. Kerry’s Boston office. Saying “Don’t Balance the Budget on our Backs!”, the petitions and cards from Massachusetts voters  call on Sen. Kerry to end wars, cut military spending, create jobs, preserve services and benefits, and restore tax fairness.   From left, Mass. PA program director Shelagh Foreman; Birce; peace activist Hazel Arnett; and Guardian (UK) correspondent Jonathan Steele.   See this article to read how to give your input to Sen. Kerry.

Fall 2011 Lunchtime Seminars
Wednesdays at 1pm. Light lunch served; $5 donation requested

First Church in Cambridge, Congregational - 11 Garden Street, near Harvard Square

October 12 – No Seminar

Subrata Ghoshroy’s talk on the Pentagon R&D Budget has been cancelled. We hope to reschedule at a later date.

October 26 – Civil Society and “Arab Spring” in Iraq

Terry Rockefeller, 9/11 Familes for Peaceful Tomorrows

The U.S. is proposing to keep a military force in Iraq after December 31 despite its commitment in the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) to withdraw all troops by then.   Terry Rockefeller will report back from her September trip to Iraq and specifically on the work of La’Onf, a nonviolent anti-occupation network and force for re-knitting of Iraqi society.

November 9 – The Humanitarian Case for Global Nuclear Abolition

John Loretz, Program Director, Int’l Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War

Loretz will present the medical and environmental case for a nuclear weapons convention.  He will explain recent scientific findings about the climate effects of regional nuclear war and touch on issues around the nuclear chain which have come into focus following Fukushima.

December 7 – Budget Cutting, SuperCommittee and the Peace and Progressive Movements

Ken Thomson, Strong Democracy and Cambridge/Somerville for Change

Ken Thomson will give an update on the SuperCommittee budget negotiation process in Congress, the role of Sen. Kerry, and facilitate a discussion on the response of the peace and progressive movement.

Scarred Lands, Wounded Lives

The Environmental Footprint of War

Brookline: Thursday, October 13, 6:30pm.  Coolidge Corner Library, 31 Pleasant St., Brookline

When we make war, we destroy not only the enemy, we destroy our earth as well. In all its stages – from the production of weapons through combat to clean up – war entails actions that pollute land, air and water, destroy biodiversity and drain natural resources. Yet the environmental damage caused by war (and preparations for war) is underreported, even ignored. The environment is war’s silent casualty.

Using specialist and eyewitness accounts from Vietnam and Afghanistan to Australia and the Pacific Islands and supported by on-site and archival footage, the film shows how war and preparations for war further compromise the environmental health of a planet already under stress from massive population increases, unsustainable demands on natural resources, and ruinous environmental practices. In the context of today’s growing awareness and alarm about global climate change, the film shows that natural security is an essential component of national security.

Afghanistan: Why Obama Must Change Course

Watertown: Monday, October 17, 7pm. First Parish, 35 Church St., Watertown.  Cosponsored with Watertown Citizens for Environmental Safety.

Jamaica Plain: Tuesday, October 18, 7pm. 6 Eliot St., Jamaica Plain.   Cosponsored with Jamaica Plain Forum and UJP Afghanistan/Pakistan Task Force.

Jonathan Steele, Guardian correspondent, has covered Afghanistan for more than thirty years, and will sign copies of his latest book, Ghosts of Afghanistan. October 2011 marks ten years of U.S. war and occupation in that country.   

45 protesters organized by Peace Action and its coalition partners called on Senator Kerry to “Represent US!” Saturday, October 1.

Calling for Sen. Kerry to use the Super Committee to create jobs, defend services and benefits, tax the rich and corporations, and end wars and cut the military, the protesters marched through the streets of Beacon Hill to Senator Kerry’s house. They delivered dozens of postcards written by Massachusetts residents the previous week with input to the Senator on the SuperCommittee’s work.

The Raging Grannies led a song. The protesters were addressed by Cole Harrison of Massachusetts Peace Action; Michael Kane and another representative of the Mass. Association of HUD Tenants, Martina Cruz; a school committee member from Lawrence; Virginia Pratt of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; Marilyn Levin of Boston UNAC; and Guntram Mueller from Peace Action who addressed wasteful spending on nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants.

Organizers vowed to continue to pressure Senator Kerry to ensure he does not make a bad compromise with budget-cutters.