People
of Faith Peacemakers Justviewpoint.org connects people of conscience working
for social justice. People of Faith Peacemakers seek to transform a culture
of violence to create a culture of justice, peace, and sustainability. People of Faith Peacemakers is a resource and support
group for those concerned about peace and justice from a faith perspective.
Breakfast meetings, open to everyone, are from 8
to 9:30 am at St Martin's
Table, 2001 Riverside, Minneapolis, on the 2nd and 4th
Wednesdays of the month. FFI Eleanor 763-784-5177
elj@yackel.org
Image by Gregory McDaniels
People of Faith Calendar
UPDATED CALENDAR – August 2010 Wednesdays, 8 am
Aug 25 The
Wounds of War
…with Amy Blumenshine, co-author of Welcome
Them Home, Help Them Heal.
Amy has served in crisis intervention settings and will explore concepts
brought forth in her book, which has been recognized for its contributions to
the field of care-giving. Understanding the devastating costs of war and
violence, how can we – perhaps through our churches – be a part of
the healing process?
Sep 8 Rural
Immigration Issues in Wisconsin
Shaun Duvall, Director of
Puentes/Bridges, presents her story of how she organized visits of Midwestern
dairy farmers to Mexico to meet their employees’ families, learn to know their
communities, use their Spanish study, experience home-stays, and generally
deepen cultural understandings across borders. This first-of-a-kind program has
been replicated in several industries across the U.S., benefiting many and
earning Shaun an award from the Mexican government. The vivacious presenter,
Shaun, is Mom to our own Mary Duvall!
Sep 22 Reducing
Violence in the Community
Sondra Samuels will update us on the
work of the Peace Foundation on the Minneapolis Northside, and she and a
representative of the Minneapolis Police Department (to be named) will share
their perspectives on the growing problem of violence in the city.
Oct 13 Conversation
with Don Olson
A member of the Minnesota Eight and a
person with a long history of peacemaking – starting with draft
resistance in the 1960s – KFAI radio host Don Olson will interweave his
own peace work and teaching and years of radio interviews with discussion on
considerations of the draft in today’s environment.
Oct 27 Sabeel
Conference
Nov 10, 24 - Presbyterian National
Conference
And at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2130 E 31st
Street: Dialogue Breakfast (for
reservation, 729-8358)
Wednesday, August 18, 8:00-9:30 a.m..
“No
Peace in the Middle East is Possible (Without Unmasking the Lies and Telling
the Truth),” with the Rev. Philip
Wheaton
The Rev. Philip Wheaton, an Episcopal
priest in Washington DC, has served as a missionary in Latin America and as the
director of the Ecumenical Program for Interamerican Communication and Action
(EPICA) with the Latin American Department of the National Council of Churches.
He is also a theologian of liberation and author of many books, including
Nicaragua: A People's
Revolution, Indian Guatemala: Path
to Liberation, and Flowering of
the Prophetic Word in the Americas.
Born and raised in Minneapolis and a graduate of the University of
Minnesota, Wheaton is an ecumenist and interfaith Christian and presently
co-pastor of an ecumenical congregation in Washington, DC.
More information webservant
Carol Masters cmasters@bitstream.net
www.justviewpoint.org or Eleanor
763-784-5177
People of Faith
may receive this calendar by email. To join this list serve, email cmasters@bitstream.net
Please join us on
the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month for questions and
discussion on these important topics!
ONGOING for a Calendar of Peace Events and
Meetings: Minneapolis Alliance of Peacemakers www.mapm.org People of Faith Peacemakers is a MAP
member
EVERY WEDNESDAY: 7-8 a.m. PEACE VIGIL at Alliant TechSystems <http://www.circlevision.org/alliantaction.html>
5:00 · 6:00 p.m. Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge · A TWIN CITIES
ANTI-WAR TRADITION <http://www.worldwidewamm.org/>
PEOPLE OF FAITH
PEACEMAKERS support the following Peace Agenda by Jack Nelson Pallmeyer
|
PEACE AGENDA Background: Many
U.S. citizens and people throughout the world hope the Obama administration
will choose new approaches to security.
Alternative foreign policies are needed in order to address critical
domestic and international problems.
We believe U.S. foreign policy should be guided by three insights. Key Insights: ·
It is a grave danger
to confuse military power with real strength. The world is
changing. U.S. power is diminished. Our economy is weak.
Our military is strong, but counterproductive given the problems we
face. There are no military solutions to most of our nation’s or the
world’s problems. ·
Our
security and hope rest in joining the community of nations to solve pressing
problems, building international partnerships, and respecting international
law. We will be welcomed as a
good global partner or we will fail as a global bully.
·
The
nation’s economic crisis has many causes but is best understood in relation
to disastrous wars, excessive military spending, and failed foreign
policies. Living standards are
declining for most Americans because laws were changed to reward the greedy
few and because U.S. military spending equals that of the rest of the world
combined. Enlightened domestic
and foreign policies will allow us to address climate change, revitalize the
U.S. economy and meet critical health and other social needs. Peace Movement Agenda for Change: I. Dismantle the infrastructure for
disastrous wars: 1. Endorse the Cluster Bomb Treaty and urge all nations to comply. 2. Abandon the missile defense system and engage Russia and China to reduce nuclear arsenals. 3. Reject U.S. plans to militarize space and join with others to preserve space for peaceful purposes. 4.
Convene a global conference to cut global
military spending by 50% and redirect funds to address climate change and
global poverty. 5.
Stop
production of unneeded weapons systems and confront the “disastrous rise” of
the “Military Industrial Complex” (President Eisenhower’s words.) 6.
Close many of the more than 750 permanent foreign
U.S. military bases. 7.
Close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and the CIA secret
prisons, end the practice of rendering prisoners to third countries, and
issue a blanket policy precluding torture or degrading treatment of
prisoners. 8.
Develop
renewable energy sources that reduce our use of oil and renounce the Carter Doctrine which
says the U.S. has the right to use “any means necessary, including military
force,” to maintain unrestricted access to Persian Gulf oil. 9.
Renounce
the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war. II. Building an infrastructure of peace & prosperity: 1.
Recommit
the United States to support and strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty. 2.
Commit
the United States to strengthen the United Nations, and to respect
international law and nonintervention. 3.
Acknowledge
climate change as the gravest security threat to the United States and the
world and redirect resources accordingly. 4.
Disentangle U.S. foreign policies from imposition
of failed economic policies and flawed trade agreements. 5.
Create a cabinet-level Department of Peace to teach and implement effective mediation
and conflict resolution skills that build peace and prevent violence and
armed conflict. 6.
Abandon the “war on terror” and address the root
causes of terrorism (end illegal occupations, address economic and political
grievances, view terrorism as a criminal enterprise.) III. Resolution of current conflicts: 1.
Organize
a complete and total withdrawal of U.S. troops and private military
contractors from Iraq within nine months. 2.
Accelerate negotiations, begin withdrawing U.S.
troops from Afghanistan, and avoid escalating U.S. military involvement in
Pakistan. 3.
Help resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict
through determined, balanced diplomacy. 4.
Negotiate with Iran and work to make the Middle
East a nuclear weapons free zone. 5.
Improve relations with Latin American nations: · Close the prison at Guantanamo; · Shut down the U.S. Army School of the Americas; · Replace the “war on drugs” with efforts to reduce demand and to expand effective treatment; · Normalize relations with Cuba; and · Renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). |
Webworker cmasters@bitstream.net
Photography of peaceworkers by Michael Bayly is exhibited on
his website: Faces of
Resistance
Worldwide Independent Media: Indymedia http://www.indymedia.org