Upcoming Events - 12/07/08

Next meetings of the WNC Peace Coalition will be January 6, 2009 and January 20, 2009. We are taking the month of December off. Events and late breaking news can be listed in the comments.

UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION – USA INVITES YOU TO A PROGRAM TO CELEBRATE THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRESENTATION BY: DR. PAUL MAGNARELLA, Director of Peace and Justice Studies, Warren Wilson College

TOPIC: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Its Origin, its Evolution, and its Promise

Dr. Magnarella has researched and written extensively about human rights in various countries and the perspectives of different cultures about human rights. He will take us through significant events in the evolution of the Declaration, report the attitude of various U.S. Governments toward the Declaration, and discuss what is needed to make it more effective in promoting peace and justice. Dr. Magnarella will also share the highlights of the Salzburg (Austria) Global Seminar on International and Islamic Law in which he recently participated.

**WHEN: Monday, December 8, 6:30 p.m.

**WHERE: Canon Lounge in Gladfelter Building, Warren Wilson College Campus

++++++++

EVENTS

12/10/08 Human Rights Day - 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights

12/12/08 to 12/14/08 United for Peace & Justice will hold their National Assembly near Chicago at the Wyndham O'Hare Hotel.

12/12/08 Unitarian Universalist Congregation will show "Kilowatt Ours" an updated film about energy issues (if you saw the earlier version, this will have new material). Time is 7 PM. Discussion will follow. Free, donations accepted. Contact Lew at patrie.wncpsr@main.nc.us or call 828-299-1242 for more information.

12/15/08 Bill of Rights Day

12/16/08 WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility meeting at UU Church in Asheville on Charlotte and Edwin St. Contact Lew at patrie.wncpsr@main.nc.us or call 828-299-1242 for more information. This meeting has been canceled.

12/21/08 The Ethical Society of Asheville will meet at 2 PM at the Botanical Gardens Visitor Center at 151 W.T. Weaver Blvd in Asheville. "Ethical Culture Celebrations - What do Ethical Humanists celebrate? Why? How?" will be the topic presented by Joy McConnell, Ethical Culture Leader, former Co-Leader of the Ethical Society of St. Louis and Visiting Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Greater Chicago.

01/06/09 WNC Peace Coalition will have a meeting at 7 PM in the basement of Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville.

01/13/09 to 01/17/09 "Heeding God's Call: A Gathering on Peace" in Philadelphia. This is a gathering of the Religious Society of Friends, Church of the Brethren and Mennonite Church. The purpose of the gathering is to strengthen our witness and work for peace in the world by inspiring hope, raising voices, taking action. More information at www.peacegathering2009.org.

01/19/09 Martin Luther King Day

January 20, 2009: Join thousands to demand "Bring the troops home now!"

01/20/09 WNC Peace Coalition will have a meeting at 7 PM in the basement of Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville.

03/20/09 to 03/23/09 Department of Peace Campaign National Conference, March 20-23, 2009 in Washington, DC

3/21/09 Massive day of protest against the Iraq occupation and war.

Mass Actions on the 6th Anniversary of the Iraq War -- March 21, 2009
Bring All the Troops Home Now -- End All Colonial Occupations!
Fund People's Needs, Not Militarism & Bank Bailouts!

04/29/09 to 04/30/09 Join Christian Peace Witness for Iraq in Washington DC. This is with the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND ACTIONS

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Read about what life is like for an Iraqi teenager in Mosul.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OBAMA AND THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

For the US foreign policy to change, the peace movement needs to raise HELL!

Some people are not waiting to see what Obama will do as president before acting. In South Korea activists are now meeting and publicly calling on president-elect Obama to end the dangerous and costly U.S.-South Korea (ROK) military alliance that is contributing to major tensions in the region.

The U.S. is currently doubling its military presence in the Asian-Pacific region. New and expanded Pentagon bases are going into Guam, Australia, Japan, and South Korea. "Missile defense" is being peddled to Australia, Japan, and South Korea which is forcing China, who today only has 20 nuclear missiles capable of hitting the west coast of the U.S., to produce more for fear that a U.S. "first-strike" could knock out their nuclear capability. In fact the U.S. Space Command has been war gaming such a first-strike attack on China for the past several years!

If Obama wants to reduce global tensions he should begin negotiating a de-escalation of militarism in the Asian-Pacific region. If Obama wants money for health care, education, energy policy, and new jobs at home then he must stop expanding U.S. military bases in that region and throughout the world.

Activists from Solidarity for Peace & Reunification of Korea (SPARK) in South Korea have it right. Make demands on Obama now, before he sets his foreign and military policy in stone. We in the U.S. have much to learn from our friends in South Korea. The Global Network has been invited to hold its 2009 space organizing conference in South Korea on April 16-18. Several key peace groups in South Korea will host the conference and we hope we can all celebrate the cancellation of the U.S.-ROK military alliance. We hope to raise our glasses to toast a new U.S.-ROK and U.S.-Asian Peace Alliance in place of the antiquated war making venture that now dominates our nations agenda.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Blog)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sign-On to Obama Letter Calling on Him to Reject Bush Plan to Deploy "Missile Defense" Systems in Poland and Czech Republic

The Global Network intends to send a letter in support of our friends in Poland and the Czech Republic who have been organizing to stop U.S. plans to deploy destabilizing "missile defense" systems in those countries. Please let us know ASAP if you would like your name and/or organization included as signers of the letter which is just below. Please include your city/state along with your name (and organizational name). Individual names are quite welcome.

Thanks for your support.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Blog)

Dear President-Elect Obama:

We write to congratulate you on your recent election as President of the U.S. We want to help you in every way possible to promote peace around the world so that our national resources could be used for the tremendous needs we have here at home like health care, education, dealing with climate change and more.

We specifically write to urge you to reject the Bush administration plan to deploy "missile defense" interceptors in Poland and a Star Wars radar system in the Czech Republic. We know you are aware of Russia's deep concern that these deployments are really aimed at them in spite of Pentagon assurances they are only aimed at Iran.

Respected U.S. scientists George Lewis and Ted Postol recently studied these proposed deployments and wrote a piece called "The European missile defense folly" that was printed in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in the May/June issue of 2008. In their report Lewis and Postol state that, "Despite claims to the contrary by both Missile Defense Agency and State Department officials, the interceptors that Washington wants to deploy in Poland are fast enough to catch Russian ICBMs launched from locations west of the Ural Mountains toward the continental United States. The location of the interceptor site in Poland is ideal for this purpose."

Russia of course has responded that they will be required to upgrade their offensive nuclear capability if these U.S. weapons are indeed deployed in Central Europe. The people of Poland and the Czech Republic are in large numbers opposed to their countries being used as U.S. bases and we understand that in recent days over 30 mayors from Czech towns near the proposed U.S. radar base wrote you urging the planned be scrapped.

We too write urging you, in the strongest way possible, to take a stand for peace and a step for nuclear disarmament by rejecting the dangerous Bush deployment plan for Central Europe. Expanding U.S. military operations near Russia's borders will only help create a new Cold War and a new arms race that would eventually spread throughout Europe and beyond. We look forward to hearing from you about how you intend to deal with this important issue. We wish you well and thank you for your attention to this matter of grave concern to us.

Individuals can sign on here.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From Public Citizen Action Network:

Reprocessing our country's growing stockpile of radioactive waste will not solve the waste problem. Further, reprocessing - the separation of uranium and plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel - is extremely expensive, poses a security threat and contaminates the environment.

Send a message to the Department of Energy (DOE) opposing the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), an initiative that calls for the United States to restart reprocessing nuclear waste.
In 2007, more than 14,000 comments were submitted opposing GNEP - the second most in DOE history! Be part of a growing movement to prevent nuclear reprocessing.

Reprocessing, which establishes the fundamental link between a nuclear reactor and a plutonium bomb, is the extraction of weapons-usable plutonium from nuclear waste. It is costly, ill-conceived, dangerous and environmentally damaging. Our current fleet of reactors is not designed to burn plutonium. The DOE wants to use this plutonium in nuclear reactors that will not be built for decades!

As required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the DOE has released a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and must consider comments from the public. During the 2007 comment period, both the public and members of Congress called for a total cost analysis of the reprocessing program. DOE has still not provided the amount. By submitting comments you can continue to push DOE to be accountable for fulling review the implications of reprocessing nuclear waste. You can send the provided comments or use the letter template to develop your own.

The DOE will be accepting comments for the next 30 days. Now is your chance to tell the Energy Department that you oppose reprocessing radioactive waste! We need your voice to help us match the overwhelming 2007 public response.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

More than 80 countries - including most U.S. allies in NATO - began signing a treaty banning cluster bombs in Oslo, Norway, today.

The U.S. government is not there, the Bush administration having refused to join the majority of the world's nations in stopping the use of these weapons, which kill or maim mostly civilians and children.

Cluster Bomb Ban: Obama Will Review U.S. Decision Not to Sign Treaty

A spokesperson for President-Elect Barack Obama told his hometown newspaper this week that he will "carefully review the new treaty and work closely [with] our friends and allies to ensure that the United States is doing everything feasible to promote protection of civilians." FCNL and the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs have been urging Obama to make such a statement.

Keep Taking Action: Urge the U.S. to Ban Cluster Bombs
Now the rest of the government needs to start supporting the cluster bomb treaty. Sign a petition to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urging the United States to renounce cluster bombs.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Subject: Ethical Society of Asheville December Meeting

"Ethical Culture Celebrations - What do Ethical Humanists celebrate? Why? How?" will be the topic presented by Joy McConnell, Ethical Culture Leader, former Co-Leader of the Ethical Society of St. Louis and Visiting Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Greater Chicago, at the December 21st meeting of the Ethical Society of Asheville, 2:00-3:30 at the Botanical Gardens Visitor Center, 151 W.T. Weaver Blvd. Mrs. McConnell has served the Ethical Culture movement in a variety of ways, among them are Religious Education Director in St. Louis and for the American Ethical Union (AEU) and as a founding and continuing staff member of the AEU Lay Leadership Summer Schools started in 1996. Mrs. McConnell will share, from her more than 30 years of experience in Ethical Culture, aspects of what Ethical Humanists regard as sacred and how that ties into the history and current practices in Ethical Societies throughout the United States. She will invite us to join in celebration. There will be a discussion period following Mrs. McConnell's presentation and, following the meeting, there will be time for informal conversation. All are welcome! For more information contact: asheville@aeu.org, www.aeu.org or 687-7759.

Ethical Culture is a humanist, educational, philosophical, non-theistic alternative to traditional religions. It is affiliated with the American Ethical Union and the International Humanist and Ethical Union. Members are inspired by the ideal that the supreme aim of human life is working to create a more humane society. Their commitment is to the worth and dignity of the individual and to treating each human being so as to bring out the best in him or her.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From Friends Committee on National Legislation:

What Could War Money Buy NC?

This week we don't want you to send an email, we want you to send a handwritten letter to your new or returning member of Congress. And here's why.

Right now, when members of Congress are feeling that the U.S. government budget is being squeezed by the recession and the federal government bailout, we have some suggestions on how to save money while also investing in meeting the needs of our communities. FCNL is developing a new campaign, Our Nation's Checkbook, to urge Congress to save money by ending the Iraq war and investing in our communities at home - to pay for more health care, more elementary school teachers, investments in renewable energy, and university scholarships. Our researchers have compiled a handout that lists how much the taxpayers in your state have spent on the Iraq war and what this money could have bought if it had instead been invested in local priorities.

Take Action

Will you send this information, together with a handwritten note and a few resources about FCNL, to your representative? Suggestion for writing a personal note introducing FCNL and urging your representative to think about new spending priorities for the country.

Download and print information to mail along with your letter: How much will the taxpayers in your state have spent on the war in Iraq by January? What might have that Iraq money bought for people in our communities? Find a link to your state information. After you send your letter and information, please take copies to your meeting, church, or community group and encourage others to send this packet as well. The more people your representative hears from, the more likely he or she is to pay attention. Help your representative understand that war-and war funding-is not inevitable.

Photo is from the recent School of the America protest.