Massachusetts Peace Action Condemns Unlawful U.S. Attacks On Yemen By Biden Administration

Massachusetts Peace Action Condemns Unlawful U.S. Attacks On Yemen By Biden Administration

Media Release: Massachusetts Peace Action Condemns Unlawful U.S. Attacks On Yemen By Biden Administration (CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts) January 12th, 2024 – Last night, President Joe Biden bombed several locations in Yemen without Congressional authorization and in clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA) strongly condemns this unlawful escalation which risks plunging the United States into a new and prolonged war in the Middle East. “We resolutely condemn this unlawful escalation by the Biden Administration,” said Brian Garvey, Assistant Director at Massachusetts Peace Action. “Biden is risking a new war in the Middle East, which is the last thing the people of America need right now.” In response to unrelenting Israeli war crimes in Gaza, Ansar Allah (the group that controls most of Yemen, also known as the Houthis) attacked international shipping bound for Israel. “However, that doesn’t give President Biden the right to illegally wage war on Yemen, a nation already ravaged by over 8 years of U.S.-enabled conflict and man-made famine.” “The region is already on fire. The current war in Gaza has killed almost 24,000 people – including roughly 10,000 Palestinian children. Now, Biden is throwing on more fuel with this escalation. Haven’t enough innocent people ...
Gaza, August 2022. Photo: Mohammed Ibrahim/ unsplash

On the Conflict in Gaza and Israel

Massachusetts Peace Action is saddened by the loss of life on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict. We condemn the use of violence against Israeli and Palestinian civilians.  The escalating violence we are seeing today is unfortunate, but unsurprising. What is needed now is an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation. We reject the framing of this event as “unprovoked”.  Two million Palestinians in Gaza have been under a brutal Israeli siege since 2007 and periodically attacked by overwhelming Israeli military assaults. Most of them are refugees from villages ethnically cleansed by Israel since 1948. Unarmed protests along the barrier that encloses Gaza have been met with Israeli gunfire that killed hundreds and severely wounded thousands. Meanwhile, the new Israeli government has rapidly expanded illegal settlements, turned a blind eye to settler violence, bulldozed houses and forced the expulsion of many more Palestinians from their homes. Palestinian resistance should surprise no one. The US must end its funding of the occupation, $3.8 billion a year in military aid, and pressure Israel to comply with international law that demands humanitarian rights for Palestinians, an end to the Israeli occupation and self-determination for the millions living under Israeli occupation. Israelis and Palestinians are both ...
Massachusetts Remembers Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Massachusetts Remembers Hiroshima and Nagasaki

(Cambridge) Aug. 5 – On the 78th anniversary of the atomic attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Massachusetts, peace activists and faith groups across Massachusetts will gather and reflect, calling for worldwide abolition of nuclear weapons.    Saturday, August 5 Northampton, 11am, King/Pleasant and Main Streets Commemorating Hiroshima and Nagasaki Brookline, 2pm, Coolidge Corner Library, 31 Pleasant Street 7th Annual Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Memorial Sunday, August 6 Pittsfield, 8am, Park Square 78 Years Since Hiroshima  Springfield, 2:30 pm, City Hall, 36 Court St. 78th Anniversary Remembrance of Hiroshima/Nagasaki Bombings Fall River, 6pm, Veterans Memorial Bicentennial Park, President Ave. Hiroshima Day Commemoration Cambridge, 6pm, Friends Meeting, 5 Longfellow Park Hiroshima/ Nagasaki Commemoration Andover, 7pm, Old Town Hall, 20 Main St. Commemorating the Victims of Nuclear Weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki Worcester, 7:30 pm, Worcester Peace Park, Pleasant & Winslow Sts. Hiroshima Remembrance Watertown, 7:30 pm, Watertown Square, Main St at Spring St. Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki Monday, August 7 Bridgewater, 6pm, Public Library, 15 South St or online African Americans Against the Bomb: Presentation & Conversation with Vincent Intondi Wednesday, August 9 Walpole, 5pm, Walpole Common, 5 West St. Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Never Again Easthampton, 5:30 pm, Emiliy Williston Library, 9 Park Street ...
Mass Peace Activists Urge Congress to Stop Biden From Sending Cluster Munitions to Ukraine

Mass Peace Activists Urge Congress to Stop Biden From Sending Cluster Munitions to Ukraine

(Cambridge) July 7 – The Biden administration announced today its decision to provide cluster munition to Ukraine. Cluster bombs are known to cause grievous injury to civilians, particularly children, and are internationally banned under the The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) established in 2008. A cluster munition is a weapon consisting of a dispenser from which many bomblets are scattered over wide areas. Cluster munitions’ bomblets have the highest failure rate among all classes of weapons and many of them linger long after the conflict ends, only to detonate unexpectedly years later when stumbled upon by innocent civilians. Massachusetts Peace Action’s Assistant Director, Brian Garvey, said, “President Biden should be helping to negotiate an end to this terrible war in Ukraine, not escalating it by sending even deadlier weapons into this conflict.” “There’s a reason these weapons are banned – they’ve killed an estimated 56,000 to 86,000 civilians since World War II. Civilians, including children in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Lebanon, the Balkans and Laos, continue to suffer from incidents involving remnants of cluster munitions. They have also killed and wounded scores of American service members.” “We cannot let history repeat itself. If we send cluster munitions to Ukraine, we will ...
Historic Peace Sailboat "Golden Rule" to Visit Boston

Historic Peace Sailboat “Golden Rule” to Visit Boston

(Boston) June 18 – The 39-foot sailboat Golden Rule is sailing the coast of New England during June to alert us to the need for a world without nuclear weapons.  WHEN: June 18-20 WHERE: Fan Pier, “Christopher Columbus Park”, and more In 1958, an intrepid crew of Quaker peace activists sailed the Golden Rule to the South Pacific, to try to “get in the way” of massive nuclear tests the U.S. was planning there. They were arrested in Honolulu, but they left a lasting legacy. Now, a new crew from Veterans for Peace is using this historic ship to campaign against the madness of nuclear weapons.  They will be in Boston June 18-21 and local peace supporters will welcome them with a series of public events. Schedule of Events Sunday, June 18 10:45 am – Quaker Witness at Raytheon, 10 Moulton St, Cambridge. 12 noon – Greet the Golden Rule on arrival, Fan Pier Marina, Peace Procession with Brass Band along Waterfront. 2:00 pm – Father’s Day for Peace, “Christopher Columbus Park” (despite the association of that name with a brutal colonial history), Proclamation, Speakers. Music by singer/songwriters Ben Grosscup and Pat Scanlon. Monday, June 19 11:00 am – 1:00 pm – Public invited ...
Legislature to Tackle Three Peace Issues at June Hearings

Legislature to Tackle Three Peace Issues at June Hearings

(Cambridge) June 12 – Peace activists will testify Monday and Tuesday on three bills relating to peace issues. The Joint Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Management will discuss the Nuclear Weapons & Climate Commission bill (H.738), Monday, June 12, 2023 at at 11:00 AM EST in State House room B-2..   The bill will set up a commission to plan how to end production of nuclear weapons and use of fossil fuels in the Commonwealth. The Joint Committee on Transportation will hear testimony on two bills in support of automatic draft registration (H.3296/ S.2281). The bills would cause applicants for drivers’ licenses, learner’s permits, state ID cards, and renewals of these cards to be automatically registered with the Selective Service System unless the applicant opts out.   The hearing will be on Tuesday, June 13, 2023 at 10:00 am EST in State House Room B-2. Two bills to divest the state pension fund from companies that produce nuclear weapons (S.1651/H.2480) will be heard by the Joint Committee on Public Service on June 13th, 1:00 p.m. EST, in room A-1 . MAPA supports the two Nuclear Weapons bills and opposes the draft registration bill ...
Anti-War Activists Publish Ceasefire Petition

Anti-War Activists Publish Ceasefire Petition

(Cambridge) May 24 – Massachusetts Peace Action joins the Peace in Ukraine Coalition to fan out across congressional home district offices today, to deliver a petition in The Hill that urges Presidents Biden, Putin and Zelensky to support peace talks and a ceasefire in Ukraine. Members will deliver the petition to the JFK Building offices of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and to district offices of Rep. Stephen Lynch, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Seth Moulton, Rep. Jake Auchincloss and Rep. Katherine Clark. Peace activists in Washington DC will also share a copy of the petition/ad with Congressional offices on the Hill and with offices of the US State Department and the Ukrainian and Russian embassies. The petition, published as a full-page ad today in The Hill, reads, “The longer the war goes on, the greater the danger of spiraling escalation which can lead to a wider war, environmental devastation and nuclear annihilation.” The petition reinforces the efforts of global leaders who are involved in peace initiatives, including the presidents of China, Brazil, and South Africa; the UN Secretary General; and the Pope. It also reflects the growing U.S. public skepticism about continued U.S. support for the war. Massachusetts Peace Action asks Massachusetts lawmakers to issue a ...
"Beyond Vietnam" Recitation Hosted by the New Democracy Coalition

“Beyond Vietnam” Recitation Hosted by the New Democracy Coalition

(Boston) May 2 – The New Democracy Coalition will host its annual public reading with a recitation of “Beyond Vietnam”, the historic speech in which Civil Rights Movement icon, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., declared his opposition to the Vietnam War in 1967. WHEN: Tuesday, May 2, 4PM (Music Starts at 3pm) WHERE: Boston City Hall Plaza “We are humbled to read his speeches collectively every year as a civic ritual which seeks to bring Boston together. This reading demonstrates the capacity of Bostonians of all races and walks of life to come together and embrace each other in our diversity,” said the Rev. Kevin Peterson, who founded the event in 2018 on the 50th anniversary of King’s assassination. Nowhere else around the planet is Rev. King celebrated with an annual public reading.  Residents from all city neighborhoods will be represented as individual readers. More than 100 readers will perform—each reading 2 to 3 lines of the “Beyond Vietnam” speech, which focuses on the connection between racism, militarism, and economic inequality. The youngest Bostonian reading is 8 years old. The oldest reader is 104. High profile readers include comedian Jimmy Tingle, Ambassador Ray Flynn, Reverend Ray Hammond, EL Mundo President ...
Tax Day Rally for Peace and Our Future

Tax Day Rally for Peace and Our Future

(Boston) April 15 – Local activists and community leaders rallying to move tax dollars from the Pentagon to Human Needs at Home! WHEN and WHERE: Saturday, April 15th 12pm in Downtown Crossing (350 Washington St. Boston, MA 02109) 11am on Greenfield Common, 14 Court Sq. Greenfield, MA, 01301 WHO: Speakers in Boston will include State Representative Mike Connolly; Michael Kane, Mass. Alliance of HUD Tenants; Lady Lawrence Carty, Housing=Health, and more; with music from singer/songwriter Ben Grosscup. Speakers in Greenfield will include: War Tax Resisters; Aaron Falbel; Betsy Corner for Randy Kehler; Merri Ansara for Mass. Peace Action; and Eric Wasileski, Veterans for Peace, with music from: Tom Neilson & Lynn Waldron; The Raging Grannies; Annie Hassett. OUR MESSAGE: As Tax Day approaches, almost all Americans understand their responsibilities to pay income taxes to the Federal Government. But very few of us know that more than half of those taxes will be spent on weapons, wars and military costs. This Needs to Change! ...
Local Activists to Prepare to Rally for War in Yemen

Local Activists to Prepare to Rally for War in Yemen

(Newton) March 1 – Local peace activists and humanitarians are gathering for March 1st rallies to end U.S. support for the war in Yemen. WHEN: March 1, 2023 12PM WHERE: Rep. Jake Auchincloss‘ office, 29 Crafts Street, Newton, Rep. Stephen Lynch‘s office, 1245 Hancock Street, Quincy Our Message:  Since March 2015, the Saudi/UAE-led bombing and blockade of Yemen have killed tens of thousands of people and wreaked havoc on the country. 17 million people in Yemen are food insecure and 500,000 children are on the verge of starving to death. This humanitarian crisis has worsened since President Biden took office. Despite his February 2021 commitment to end participation in Saudi offensive operations in Yemen, the U.S. continues to enable the Saudis by servicing their fighter jets and providing military and diplomatic support for the Saudi/UAE-led coalition. Congress can end this war, and we are rallying to demand they do the following: ? Pass a War Powers Resolution. Introduce or co-sponsor a Yemen War Powers Resolution before International Women’s Day on March 8th, to end U.S. participation in the war in Yemen. The war has exacerbated gender inequality in Yemen. Congress should reassert its constitutional authority to declare war and end executive branch overreach in ...