Democracy for New Mexico

7/27: Col. Ann Wright to Discuss Experience with Gaza Flotilla in Albuquerque

From Veterans for Peace:
Col. Ann Wright will be discussing her experiences as part of the Gaza flotilla on Tuesday, July 27, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at the First Congregational Church located at 2801 Lomas. Blvd. NE (NW corner, at Girard) in Albuquerque. Please click for flyer (pdf).

A Veterans For Peace member and 29-year veteran, Col. Ann Wright is a retired Army colonel. She was also a diplomat for 15 years, in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned from the Department of State on March 19, 2003, in opposition to the Iraq war. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.” Col. Wright was on the International Gaza Aid Flotilla and was cuffed and taken into custody during the attack where nine were killed. She has also been on the forefront in bringing attention to the finding that 1 out of 3 women in the U.S. military is sexually assaulted.

3/27: Barbara Lubin, Ziad Abbas to Speak in ABQ on Current Situation in Israel and Palestine

From the Middle East Peace and Justice Alliance:
Barbara Lubin, Founder and Executive Director of the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) and Ziad Abbas, co-founder of the Ibdaa Cultural Center, will speak in Albuquerque on March 27, 2010 on the situation in Israel and Palestine today, the experience of occupation, the role of U.S. policy, strategies for peace and the MECA water project.

This event, sponsored by the Middle East Peace and Justice Alliance, and Another Jewish Voice in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, is a benefit for the Middle East Children's Alliance Gaza Water Project. A reception will be held at 6:30 PM followed by the presentation at 7:30 PM at the Mennonite Church at 1300 Girard SE in Albuquerque. There is a suggested $20 donation. Click for flyer

Since 1988, MECA has delivered millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to children's clinics, hospitals, schools and women's organizations in the Occupied Territory and Iraq. Their talk and slide presentation will highlight the relationship between Israeli apartheid policies and the deprivation of life essential to human rights and how we, the international community, can respond

Barbara Lubin is a life-long peace and justice activist. She has led nearly twenty delegations to the Middle East. Her tireless work is an inspiration to many. She has lectured on the issue of Middle East politics and the plight of the children in the region to dozens of schools, universities, conferences, religious institutions and community groups. Barbara is also the former President of the Berkeley Board of Education.

Lubin says, “It has always amazed me that one people is asked to recognize, and the Israelis are never asked or forced to recognize the rights of Palestinians.”

Mr. Abbas was born and raised in Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, where he is the co-director of the Ibdaa Cultural and Community Center and a journalist. When he told his uncle he was going to the U.S., “I told him I was going to America and I said I was taking one of our family keys with me to the US ... that I would show it to the Americans to explain how we owned homes, how we had villages, how we still have keys despite the fact that our houses were destroyed sixty years ago, and how we still have rights to the land.”

The health and well being of virtually every Palestinian child and adult is threatened by the shortage of clean, safe water due to the ongoing, U.S backed Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian Occupied Territory and the siege of Gaza.

For more information, contact Dr. Lori Rudolph 505-550-9553 or lorir@unm.edu.

Today: Peace Groups Solidarity Vigil for Gaza Freedom March in Albuquerque

From the Middle East Peace and Justice Alliance:
A dozen New Mexico peace groups are holding a vigil today in Albuquerque in solidarity with the Global Gaza Freedom March taking place in Egypt/Gaza from December 27-31, 2009. The purpose of the vigil is to mourn the loss of life and destruction of civic infrastructure as a result of the 2008/9 Israeli invasion, which resulted in the deaths of 348 Palestinian children, destroyed over 14,000 buildings including schools and mosques, and left 71,675 people homeless.

The Gaza Luminaria Vigil will take place on Tuesday, December 29, 2009, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM, in front of the federal court house on Lomas, between 3rd and 4th streets in downtown Albuquerque. Vigil sponsors include: Another Jewish Voice, Albuquerque; Another Jewish Voice, Santa Fe; Center for Action and Contemplation; the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel; CODE PINK; the Middle East Peace & Justice Alliance; Pax Christi; Stop the War Machine; United Nations Association; UNM Coalition for Peace & Justice in the Middle East; and Veterans for Peace.

The names of the children killed will be read at the vigil by Jewish and Palestinian American children.

Another purpose is to protest the continued Israeli blockade of Gaza that began in June of 2007. According to Rita Erickson, one of the vigil organizers, “Israel’s siege has prevented the reconstruction of Gaza, preventing the importation of building supplies, humanitarian aid, food, medical supplies, school books, and fuel.” Another organizer, Janice Hart of Another Jewish Voice, notes that “This kind of collective punishment is illegal under international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel continues to control all access to the Gaza Strip via the Mediterranean as well as overland via Israel and via Egypt through agreements with the Egyptian government.”

This vigil is one of scores being held throughout the world in solidarity with the Global Gaza Freedom March being held in Egypt/Gaza on December 27-31. Over 1400 people are attempting to cross into Gaza for the march, but according to Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, a march organizer, “the Egyptian authorities have blocked our participants’ freedom of movement and interfered with a peaceful commemoration of the dead,” Benjamin added that the Gaza Freedom March participants are continuing to urge the Egyptian government to allow them to proceed to Gaza.

KUNM's Social Justice Fair with David Barsamian Set for 6.8.09

From KUNM: David Barsamian, the award-winning founder and director of Alternative Radio, will be speaking at KUNM’s first-ever Social Justice Fair on Monday, June 8th. We invite you to come to the UNM Continuing Education Conference Center at 1634 University Boulevard NE in Albuquerque at 6:30 PM to check out what local organizations are doing for social justice, and then stay for David Barsamian’s speech at 7 PM. He is a witty and engaging speaker, and we will be giving out quite a few really great door prizes (CDs, restaurant gift certificates, etc.) to people in random numbered seats.

Barsamian has been working in radio since 1978. Over the years he has interviewed the likes of Angela Davis, Ralph Nader, Vandana Shiva, and Carlos Fuentes. In addition to his radio work he is an author and lecturer. His interviews and articles appear regularly in The Progressive, The Nation, and Z Magazine. He is the author of numerous books with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Eqbal Ahmad, Tariq Ali and Edward Said. His series of books with Chomsky, America's leading dissident, have sold in the hundreds of thousands and have been translated into many languages. His latest books are What We Say Goes with Noam Chomsky and Targeting Iran. Barsamian also lectures on U.S. foreign policy, corporate control, the media, and propaganda.

Tickets for the event are $5, but if you are a current KUNM member and reserve your tickets ahead of time, you will pay for only 1 but get 2. It’s a benefit of membership.

To reserve your 2 tickets for the price of 1, call Cris Nichols at 505-277-3968 or Carol Boss at 505-277-0768 before 5 PM on Thursday, June 4th. The 2-for-1 membership special will NOT be available at the door because we need to verify that your membership is current and we do not want to tie up a line at the event by checking against a roster of thousands of current members.

Check Out Events During Taos Peace Week May 26-31

The Taos Peace House and Town of Taos is hosting the First Annual World Peace Week, May 26-31, 2009. Grassroots organizations and individuals interested in world peace will gather for a five-day experience of celebrating, creating, and strategizing for peace in their communities, lives and world. Peace Week is driven by the general inquiry, "What Does Peace Enable Me To Do?" Click to read the Town of Taos resolution about Peace Week.

The weeklong conference takes place at Taos Convention Center, KTAO Solar Center, Kit Carson Park, and other local venues. Peace Week is organized around programs and presenters with themes of non-violent conflict resolution and social change, war veterans insights on war and peace, healing scars of war and PTSD, industrial hemp and medical marijuna, Fair Trade and sustainable living, meditation and massage, sacred activism, social evolution of humanity, and Israeli and Palestinian peace-making.

Plenaries to strategize for peace, orientation, and classes are based upon C.T. Butler's Formal Consensus model for facilitating meetings and making democratic decisions. Open Space Technology will allow for spontaneous meetings, discussions and strategizing for peace. People will enjoy the health and wellness tent with massage demostration, exhibit and vendor hall, "A Piece for Peace" art show, and food by DragonFly Cafe, as well as music and entertainment.*

For Vets: On Friday, a powerful program with varied aspects will feature and offer resources and support for current and past veterans -- especially those interested in furthering peace efforts in a personal and conscious way. The Joan Duffy Chapter (Santa Fe) of Veterans for Peace is encouraging and facilitating ride sharing to enable more people to attend. Chapter President Bob Gaines will coordinate those who offer and those who need rides. Contact him at gaines@comcast.net.

For detailed information, a schedule of events and a registration form, visit the Taos World Peace Week 2009 website at www.worldpeaceconference2009.org/.

This Weekend: ABQ Protests of Wars of Occupation, Rally to Bring Troops Home

From the Y6C: The New Mexico Year 6 Coalition (Y6C) will hold an “Occupation is a Crime” rally on Saturday, March 21, 2009 from 11 AM to 1 PM at the corner of Second and Copper NW, Albuquerque, at the Galleria Plaza, next to the Convention Center, downtown. The New Mexico Iraq Veterans Against the War will be joining the demonstration.

This local rally is in solidarity with the massive national March on the Pentagon being organized by ANSWER in Washington, DC on the 6th anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. The rally is calling for an end to the expansion by the administration and Congress of the wars of occupation taking place in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, and the impending invasion or Iran.

The Y6 rally is addressing in specific the vote of the new 1st Congressional District representative, Martin Heinrich, who voted on his first day in office for HR 34. This resolution was the political green light for Israel to continue the massacre in Gaza in January which was only made possible due to their large supply of U.S. weapons. About 1,500 people died, many of them women and children. Many new experimental weapons such as the DIME were tested on the civilian population, which is also a war crime.

Politically many people are calling for a democratic one-state solution, not a two-state apartheid arrangement.

The Y6 Coalition is calling on Rep. Heinrich to work with the national S30 movement to stop the next $30 billion installment of U.S. weapons to Israel. A representative for the Congressman’s office will also address the rally.

Participants are being encouraged to bring signs, bring banners, shout loud. There will be political speakers and music.

PLUS: Early Friday morning, in support of the Saturday rally, the local chapter of the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will set up a Tower Watch at the rally site. They will stay all day and night through Saturday. The Tower Watch is a national campaign by Iraq war veterans to demand an end to the colonial occupation of Iraq. They are asking supporters to come join them Friday and Saturday.

The Y6C is composed of the following organizations:

• Albuquerque Another Jewish Voice
• Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice
• Albuquerque Chapter Veterans for Peace
• Albuquerque Raging Grannies
• Columbia Solidarity Committee of New Mexico
• Grassroots Press, www.grass-roots-press.com
• Gray Panthers of Greater Albuquerque
• Green Party of Bernalillo County
• Iraq Veterans Against War - Albuquerque
• Los Alamos Study Group
• Middle East Peace and Justice Alliance
• Nob Hill Tutoring
• Nukes Out of Duke City
• The Mission Committee of the Albuquerque Mennonite Church
• Pax Christi Holy Rosary
• School of the Americas Watch Albuquerque
• Social Justice Council of the First Unitarian Church
• Stop the War Machine
• Stop $30 Billion Coalition
• Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Social Concerns Committee

Saturday: Gaza Protests Set for ABQ, Taos, Santa Fe

From the Middle East Peace and Justice Alliance:

SILENCE IS COMPLICITY
SAVE THE GAZA COALITION invites you to a
"National Day of Protest and Children’s March"
Please come express your solidarity with the people of Gaza
Join us on this national day of protest
Saturday, January 10, Noon until 2:00 PM
Old Town Plaza in Albuquerque
Bring signs, if you have them.
YOUR PRESENCE IS NEEDED!

Please help spread the word - pass this announcement on to your contacts. Sponsors: Another Jewish Voice, Islamic Center of New Mexico, Amnesty International, Stop the War Machine, and the Middle East Peace and Justice Alliance. For more information: 828-0546 or 314-0482 or 228-9151. Flyers for distribution are here (doc) and here (doc).

From Taos Peace House:

VIGIL FOR PEACE IN GAZA
SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2009
2:00 PM at the Taos Plaza
Everyone welcome
Free vegetarian meals by Taos Food Not Bombs.

Join millions of people in calling for an end to the war on Gaza. Stop Killing! Stop the Siege! Stop the Occupation! Over 700 men, women and children killed. Tens of thousands without food and water.Call on the U.S. Congress to stop funding the assault and blockade of Gaza.

From the Interfaith Leadership Alliance of Santa Fe: Rally for Peace, Saturday, January 10th at 1:00 PM, at the Santa Fe Plaza.

12/30: SWM and MEPJA Gaza Protests

From Stop the War Machine:

Protest the massacre in Gaza
Noon-2 PM, Tuesday, December 30, 2008
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
1801 Mountain Rd, NW (in Old Town), Albuquerque, NM

We call for this demonstration on Tuesday as part of a national day of Action (see here) for peace and solidarity with the brave people of Palestine who are being massacred with weapons manufactured in large part in the U.S.A., and New Mexico. To that end we call for the city of Albuquerque and New Mexico to cut all ties with war profiteers like Lockheed Martin. For more information contact Stop the War Machine at 505-401-4808 or stopthewarmachine@comcast.net.

From Middle East Peace and Justice Alliance: Americans must speak out now so the world knows we stand with international law and human rights. On Tuesday, 12/30, there will be a candlelight vigil and press conference at the Federal Court Bldg. on Lomas between 3rd and 4th Streets in Albuquerque at 5:00 PM. Arrive around 4:45 PM. Bring candles. Wear warm clothes and anything that demonstrates solidarity with Palestinians. Please bring a poem you’d like to share and read. Pass this message on to all who might lend their support.

Albuquerque joins other cities in solidarity condemning Israel’s bombing of Gaza. We call upon the Israeli government to halt air strikes and cancel the pending invasion! We call upon the U.S. government to withhold all aid, civilian and military, to Israel ($30 billion has been promised over 10 years) while Israel continues the bombing and siege on Palestine campaign!

Guest Blog: Mikhail Gorbachev in Santa Fe

This is a guest blog by Stephen Fox, alternative newspaper managing editor and gallery owner of Santa Fe, who participated in yesterday's press conference in Santa Fe featuring the former President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. President Gorbachev also appeared at a fundraising dinner to benefit the Santa Fe Institute and Global Green USA, and spoke to a standing room only crowd at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.

On Monday I asked former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev if, after November, he would please be so kind as to lead and advise the next USA President as to how to get out of our quagmire. This is Gorbachev's reply, through a translator:

“The Middle East is what the entire world is watching. If things go badly for the USA, things go badly for all of us. America must not abuse the trust it has from its allies, much of which has virtually stopped. I am glad to see in this election a resurgence of interest in international affairs. As I will say in my talk tonight, judging from the USA’s military budget, your nation seems to be at war with the world, and I sense that the American people don’t like this at all. The size of your weapons budget is larger than it was at the peak of the Cold War, and larger all of the rest of the nuclear nations put together. Why do you continue to build these weapons? This is amazing to me!

I think that [former Secretaries of State] George Schultz and Henry Kissinger, [former US Senator] Sam Nunn, and [former Secretary of Defense] William Perry have put together recently a very interesting plan in this regard, for which I appreciate their initiative.

With a background of conflict, military budgets in the USA continue to grow, and you produce more weapons. The next president must show courage and responsibility to resist increasing your arms expenditures. Most serious nations in the European Union are studying the proposal by Schultz and Kissinger, and the USA should heed this proposal.

You must bear in mind, that many nations find it difficult to trust America if it insists on maintaining its weapon superiority.

After January 1, 1986, when I proposed an abolition of Nuclear Weapons, there was an immediate reaction, that many didn’t trust me, because of the USSR’s massive ground forces and conventional weapons. I replied by making some large cuts in spending for conventional weapons, and eventually we signed a treaty in this context in Paris.

So I would put the same question to America and to Americans!”

*****

At the beginning of today’s Press Conference in Santa Fe, Gorbachev defended Putin’s concern over USA building extensive missile defense systems in Eastern Europe, but said that it was good that Bush and Putin took the time to recently meet, once before Bush leaves office.

He also stated that the USA needs to “elect a President who gets along with the world, and doesn’t brandish a big stick and make threats.”

This is “up to the American people to persuade its leaders, and this burden can’t be shouldered by others.” After 15 years of “pushing” since leaving office in 1992, Gorbachev now believes that most world leaders and heads of state are “lagging,” and that what we need next is “planetary glasnost.”

He is encouraged by the progress in Russia of the political party he started, the Union of Social Democrats, given that more than 100 nations have the same kind of party, the Social Democrats. He said the history of the USSR was a 70 year experiment with Communism in its extreme Bolshevik form, and that Russia had “paid the price” for doing so.

Gorbachev reminisced on Yeltsin being pressured by the International Monetary Fund and a few US Think Tanks which came to impose on Russia a free market approach, which did a lot of good. He called it the “Washington Consensus” that was really the opposite ideology and effect of Bolshevism.

*****

I have met and talked with several Nobel Peace Laureates, as well as several others I thought should have won that honorable prize. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 95 individuals and 20 organizations since 1901.

The Laureates I have exchanged extensive correspondence with include His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, and Kofi Annan. I have talked at great length with Jody Williams.  I asked Oscar Aria Sanchez, former-and-now-again President of Costa Rica, to help create a branch in Santa Fe of the United Nations University for Peace; Dag Hammarskjold’s nephew Knut was on the Board of Honorary Advisors of this conception, as was Gandhi’s grandson, Arun, and Einstein’s granddaughter, Evelyn. So was former USA Secretary of Interior, Stewart Udall.

As an organization making a huge difference in the world, Doctors without Borders is my highest inspiration daily in my work to get the neurotoxic and carcinogenic artificial sweetener, aspartame, off the market by rescinding its approval to be sold.

Mairead Corrigan of Ireland was the first Nobel Peace Laureate I talked with for several hours at the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament in 1978. I also had a very long conversation with Canada's Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and I have always thought he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Certainly, George Mc Govern deserves something like a Nobel Peace Prize, for his lifetime of pacifism.

Yet somehow, today, former President Mikhail Gorbachev was the most compelling. I am certain that because I was asking on behalf of tens of millions of Americans and several billions people in hundreds of nations, that he really will help to advise and guide the next USA President to bring the USA out of the Middle East, and to end the war in Iraq.

There really is no choice.

This is a guest blog by Stephen Fox of Santa Fe. Guest blogs provide our readers a chance to express themselves on topics of interest to the political discourse here, and may or may not express the views of the DFNM blog. If you'd like to submit a post for consideration as a guest blog, contact me by clicking on the Email Me link on the upper left-hand corner of the page.

Technorati Tags: Mikhail Gorbachev Santa Fe New Mexico Middle East U.S. Military disarmament

This Weekend: Controversial Play 'My Name Is Rachel Corrie' at Out chYonda

Denver-based political theatre collective, Countdown to Zero, in partnership with Justice First!, announces the premier New Mexico production of 'My Name Is Rachel Corrie,' the highly controversial play, in a limited run at the Out ch'YondA Art Space (929 Fourth St. SW, Albuquerque). The play was created from the personal journal entries, emails, and writings of the young activist Rachel Corrie (above right) after her death in 2003 while trying to stop an Israeli bulldozer in a Palestinian residential area in Gaza. An idealistic, curious, and passionate young woman is presented as she explores her personal world as well as that of the complex world of Middle Eastern politics.

After a critically-acclaimed run in Denver, Countdown to Zero's production will run for two performances only, Saturday, February 16, 2:00 PM, and Sunday, February 17, at 2:00 PM. This play was chosen as an artistic vehicle for community conversation. After both performances, post-show discussions will be offered in order to address the issues raised in the play and to encourage fair and honest conversation and reflection. Ticket prices are $20. For reservations and information visit www.RachelABQ.com or call 505-350-1276.

Click for info on a companion event set for Saturday at 6:30 PM at the Albuquerque Mennonite Church where artists and activists will discuss political theater and music.

Read what the press has written about Countdown to Zero's production in Denver:

• The Rocky Mountain News: Worlds collide in 'Corrie'; actress brings grace and force to Mideast drama, reviewed 11/2/07
• The Denver Post: Rachel Corrie: Staging a protest (with images), reviewed 9/28/07
• Westword: A dead reckoning in Gaza, reviewed 11/4/07

A recent article in the Albuquerque Journal's Venue discusses Rachel Corrie's life and activism, and how and why the play was created. Excerpt:

Rachel Corrie, 23, grew up in Olympia, Wash., as a fairly typical young woman with fairly typical interests and wants. The daughter of an insurance executive and amateur flutist, Corrie had been a college student and a mental health worker. She wrote in her journal about her job, boys, her parents and that she liked the music of Pat Benatar.

Corrie went to Gaza in the troubled Middle East in 2003 as a member of the International Solidarity Movement, which was protesting the demolition of hundreds of Palestinian homes by the Israeli Defense Forces. She was called a traitor by some Americans, but her efforts in the Gaza Strip came from a desire to help people, as shown through her writings. Even as young as 12, she wrote about wanting to end child hunger worldwide.

Corrie was curious, creative, funny, idealistic, sometimes contrary and she so wanted to make the world a better place, Vicki Johnson of Justice First! said in a phone interview.

"She was an intensely passionate young girl on the verge of a wonderful, great life," Johnson said.

... Corrie died in Rafah on the Gaza Strip in March 2003 as she tried to protect the home of a Palestinian family that was being bulldozed by Israeli Defense Forces along the Gaza border with Egypt. She had on earlier occasions stayed overnight in the homes of other Palestinians to try to stop their demolition. Israeli officials called her death an accident, saying that the bulldozer driver didn't see Corrie as she was pulled under the blade of the heavy machinery.

After her death, her family and friends began talking about a play based on Corrie's life. As they pored over her personal journals, e-mails and other writings, they realized there was more than enough there so she could tell her own story. Some poignant e-mails from her worried parents were included, but mostly, the play is from Corrie's perspective.

Visit the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.

Organizations involved in Albuquerque's production of the play:

Out ch’YondA Live Arts Studio
Out ch’YondA Live Arts exists in the margins for folks who need and want to do art “by any means necessary.” It is a nurturing and creative environment for those who dwell on the edges of our society.

Countdown to Zero
Countdown to Zero is a political theatre collective dedicated to theatrical based political dialogue. It aims to expand community exchange locally and nationally in a time of charged political extremes.

Justice First!
Justice First! advocates diplomacy based on international and humanitarian law as the best hope for peace.