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Oct. 21: Missoula Demonstration

Oct 182023
 
  • When: Saturday, October 21, Noon
  • Where: Missoula County Courthouse
  • What: Demonstration to demand immediate ceasefire in Palestine
  • Sponsored by: Montanans in Solidarity with Palestine

The situation in Palestine has escalated toward full-blown genocide. Three-thousand Palestinians are dead and more than a million people are nearing starvation.

Please come out Saturday, Oct. 21, at noon (12pm) to the Missoula County Courthouse to demand an immediate ceasefire, an end to the occupation, and a free Palestine. If you know anyone else who cannot stay silent, bring them; we are aiming to send a loud, clear call for justice.

This event is sponsored by Montanans in Solidarity with Palestine, Montanans proud to stand with the Palestinian people in their quest for justice.
https://www.facebook.com/MT4Palestine
https://www.facebook.com/events/884307123296556

Support solidarity with both Palestinian and Israeli people for their suffering and loss. Do not support solidarity with the political entities that supposedly represent them.

To learn more about the context for this recent violence, we encourage you to check out the following links:

 October 18, 2023  Posted by at 7:26 pm Action, Events Tagged with: , , , ,

March 20: “War Made Easy” Film Screening and Panel

Mar 192023
 

As we reach the 20th anniversary of the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq, the documentary War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death is getting renewed attention.

The film takes a blistering look at how U.S. media outlets from Fox News to MSNBC enthusiastically disseminated propaganda and helped sell wars that would directly kill thousands of American troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan people. This documentary is based on the acclaimed book by Norman Solomon, and narrated by Sean Penn.

Register for the event at: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/tZckcO2qrTgjHdaf9cYBZyCBzptL2SQzl7KO/success?user_id=TgfNjf0hRd62VGVBePrcXQ&timezone_id=America%2FNew_York&fbclid=IwAR0fHao1Pby-875evGh3rRN-YjQekrifbBm_BAeZ3SU2rUpWVn7IV1wu30I

You can join us for the free livestream screening of War Made Easy March 20 at 4:45 MDT (6:45 pm EDT). If you are unable to attend the screening, you can watch the film in advance here:
https://vimeo.com/386267191
And then join us for the live panel presentation at 6:00 pm MDT (8 pm EDT) for the live panel discussion.

The panel will include:

  • Kathy Kelly, President of the Board of World BEYOND War and co-coordinator of Ban Killer Drones.
  • Dennis Kucinich, former U.S. Congressman.
  • David Swanson, campaign coordinator of RootsAction and Executive Director of World BEYOND War.
  • Norman Solomon, national director of RootsAction and author of War Made Easy, the book that the documentary was based on.
  • India Walton, senior strategic organizer with RootsAction Education Fund and director of Roots Action Civic Engagement in Buffalo.
  • Marcy Winograd, coordinator of CodePink Congress and co-chair of the Peace in Ukraine Coalition.

Some comments about the War Made Easy film:

  • Howard Zinn: “Superb”
  • San Francisco Chronicle: “Searing”
  • The Nation: “Chilling”
  • Variety: “Damning”
  • Philadelphia Inquirer: “Sobering and more than a little scary”
  • San Francisco Bay Guardian: “Horror and humor commingle”
  • An Inconvenient Truth editor Jay Cassidy: “A tour de force”

This screening and panel are cosponsored by Helena Service for Peace and Justice. Cosponsors of the Defuse Nuclear War coalition are listed here.

 March 19, 2023  Posted by at 3:40 pm Events Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Alison Weir Presentation: What is the Israel lobby, and how is it damaging Americans?

Jun 102022
 
Alison Weir

Join us on June 16, 6:00 pm MDT, with Alison Weir, Executive Director of If Americans Knew, as she speaks on “What is the Israel lobby, and how is it damaging Americans?”

This live event will be held in Helena, Montana at the Lewis & Clark Library, 120 S Last Chance Gulch.

Journalist and Historian Alison Weir is Executive Director of If Americans Knew (https://www.ifamericaknew.org/) and President of the Council for the National Interest (https://www.councilforthenationalinterest.org/), both of which are co-sponsors of this June 16th Zoom event along with Helena SERPAJ. Weir also edits the Israel-Palestine News: https://israelpalestinenews.org/

Alison Weir’s book Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel (https://againstourbetterjudgment.com/) documents the history of the Israel lobby in the US and discusses the root of the current violence in Israel-Palestine, the distorted media coverage of the region, and why US taxpayers continue to send Israel $10.5 million in military aid every day (https://ifamericansknew.org/stat/usaid.html#pal).

More about Alison Weir and If American Knew (IAK) at:

 June 10, 2022  Posted by at 7:37 am Events Tagged with: , , , ,

Links for Mazin Qumsiyeh Presentation: “A Palestinian Reflection on the State of Our Planet”

May 282022
 
Mazin Qumsiyeh

On Thursday, May 26, 2022, at 8pm Montana time, Peacemaker Mazin Qumsiyeh of Occupied Bethlehem in Palestine, a Palestinian peace and justice and nonviolent liberation leader and courageous advocate of human rights for all, presented a talk entitled “A Palestinian Reflection on the State of Our Planet” — sponsored by the Helena Service for Peace and Justice. Recordings of the presentation are available at the links below.

 May 28, 2022  Posted by at 4:33 pm Events, News Tagged with: , , , ,

Mazin Qumsiyeh Presentation

May 182022
 
Mazin Qumsiyeh being held by Israeli soldiers.

On Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 8pm Montana time Peacemaker Mazin Qumsiyeh of Occupied Bethlehem in Palestine, a Palestinian peace and justice and nonviolent liberation leader and courageous advocate of human rights for all, will present a talk entitled “A Palestinian reflection on the state of our planet.”

Mazin Qumsiyeh’s presentation is part of the “War and Peace” series organized by the Helena Service for Peace and Justice (SERPAJ). In 2013 Mazin Qumsiyeh, Palestinian peace and justice and nonviolent liberation leader, courageous advocate of human rights for all, was named recipient of the 2013 Montana Peace Seekers Network’s Peace Seeker of the Year Award (PDF file).

Mazin Qumsiyeh, Ph.D. was born to a Palestinian Christian family in the Shepherds’ Field (near Bethlehem). He formerly split his time between the USA and Palestine and is a U.S. citizen as well as a Palestinian. He now he lives and teaches in Palestine, and is active in the daily nonviolent liberation struggles and campaigns of the Palestinian people against the illegal and brutal Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land.

Qumsiyeh has served on the faculty of both Duke and Yale Universities, researching and teaching Genetics. He now teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied Palestine. He has served as chair of the board of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and as coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour.

He is author of several books, including Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle (2004) and Popular Resistance in Palestine: A History of Hope and Empowerment (2011).

 May 18, 2022  Posted by at 12:33 pm Events Tagged with: , , ,

Video of Kathy Kelly’s Presentation

Apr 252022
 

A recording of Kathy Kelly’s April 21 “War is Never the Answer” is now available at the following links:

28 people were able to participate on April 21 — 8 at the Lewis and Clark Library in Helena and 20 online. Thanks to all who could join us then. For those who could not, please use the links above to watch the recording of the event.

 April 25, 2022  Posted by at 4:16 pm Events, News Tagged with: , ,

An Evening with Kathy Kelly: “War Is Never the Answer”

Apr 132022
 
Photo of Kathy Kelly

Join us via Zoom on Thursday, April 21, 6pm for:
Kathy Kelly: “War Is Never The Answer”
An evening (via Zoom) with Kathy Kelly

Kathy Kelly is President of the Board of World BEYOND War, was a co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and Voices in the Wilderness, and is a co-coordinator of the Ban Killer Drones campaign (https://bankillerdrones.org/).

Kathy Kelly’s efforts to end wars began during the time of the Vietnam war, more than 60 years ago, and have led her to live in war zones and prisons over the past 35 years. A three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee for her activism to prevent the spread of violence, Kathy has also protested nuclear missile silo sites, the bombardment of Yemen, the occupation of Gaza, and the US drone policy and, while imprisoned, she worked to empower fellow imprisoned women.

Kathy Kelly was the recipient of the 2005 Peace Seeker of the Year Award (pdf file) from the Montana Peace Seekers Network.

The Zoom presentation by Kathy Kelly, “War Is Never The Answer,” will be followed by questions and conversation via Zoom, and also an in-person gathering at the Helena Library.

Zoom Meeting Information

To participate together as a group in the Zoom video meeting, join this April 21 Zoom meeting at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86121170772
Meeting ID: 861 2117 0772
Passcode: 791556

Facebook Event Page

https://www.facebook.com/events/1088413215070879

Event Sponsors

About Kathy Kelly

Kathy Kelly has devoted most of her life to making peace. In 2009 and 2010, Kathy co-founded Voices for Creative Nonviolence. From 2010 – 2019, Voices organized dozens of delegations to visit Afghanistan, where they learned about casualties of U.S. military drone attacks. Kathy has participated in almost 30 peacemaking missions in Afghanistan. Voices also helped organize protests at U.S. military bases operating weaponized military drone attacks.

In 2003 while Kathy was in Baghdad, cradling an Iraqi child in her arms, she witnessed firsthand the US military’s massive, deadly “Shock and Awe” bombardment of Baghdad that began the 2003 invasion of Iraq (https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/03/16/shock-and-awe-then-and-now/).

Kathy was also a founding member of Voices in the Wilderness, precursor to Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and from 1996 to 2003, as a Voices in the Wilderness peacemaker, she brought food and medicine to Iraqi citizens and children’s hospitals in deliberate violation of the deadly, severe US (Bush and Clinton) and UN-imposed economic sanctions that began in 1990.

Kathy’s trips to Iraq began after it was revealed in 1995 by UNICEF and others that in the 1990-1996 period, an estimated 576,000 Iraqi children under the age of five had died as a result of those sanctions — as reported in the New York Times. The 1990-initiated sanctions were a total financial and trade sanctions/embargo (banning essentials including medicines, chlorine need to purify water supplies, and almost everything) imposed by the UN Security Council through Resolution 661, adopted on August 6, 1990 (See also “The Secret Behind the Sanctions against Iraq” [pdf file] by Tom Nagy, and “Razing the Truth About Sanctions Against Iraq”).

On April 4, 2022, Kathy Kelly wrote: “I have long appreciated the Helena Service for Peace and Justice (SERPAJ), which reached out to me to suggest this April 21 gathering, for supporting peace team efforts to resist wars.”

Additional Resources

 April 13, 2022  Posted by at 10:05 am Events Tagged with: , , , ,

Registration Open for Course: To End All Wars

Jun 212021
 

An eight-week online course taught by Kathy Kelly starting July 2021

Dear Friends,

Kathy KellyI’m writing today to invite your participation in a course called “Lay Down My Sword and Shield.” For eight weeks, spanning July and August, as part of the School for Social and Cultural Change, participants will study causes and consequences of war. Along with weekly written presentations and opportunities to respond with “Comments,” we’ll gather each Saturday for a one hour Zoom conversation.

When the course was offered in April and May of 2021, we were joined by young people from India, Afghanistan and Mongolia. Adding to international perspectives were participants from Kuwait, Ireland, and Australia. I hope the summer course will be equally inclusive of people from around the world and across generations.

Please visit the website https://sscc.teachable.com/ to learn more about this course as well as other courses being offered by challenging and thought-provoking teachers such as Noam Chomsky and Michael Albert.

“Lay Down My Sword and Shield” is designed to help participants clarify their views about participating in, paying for or in any way tolerating warfare. In April and May, 2021, we welcomed guest speakers such as Ken Jones, Ann Wright, Diane Wilson, Lisa Savage and Asma Qaisi to speak with us about military contractors, nonviolent campaigns to challenge militarism, environmental concerns about militarism, economic war through siege, and aerial attacks against civilians such as the recent Israeli assault on Gaza.

I’m mainly familiar with wars waged by the U.S., having lived alongside people trapped by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there is much to learn from people still trapped in or seeking refuge from other warzones. Articles, interviews, films, art, literature and data will be presented about ongoing wars against Yemen, the West Bank and Gaza.

Participants in the April-May class initiated several helpful projects which will be available to future course members. Abdulhai Darya set up a website to feature peace activist causes which various course members advocate.

Doug Mackey collected recordings of each Saturday zoom call and made them available to all of us.

Others have written op-eds for their local papers, helped organize demonstrations protesting wars, and shared with us poetry, slide shows, and recommended videos for future use.

Here is the link to the school: https://sscc.teachable.com/courses

If you’d like to enroll, just follow the link. And below is information about the school’s sponsors.

With all good wishes to each recipient of this letter,

Kathy Kelly for “To End All Wars”

SSCC is sponsored/hosted by two organizations described and linked below — PARC Media and RevolutionZ. The sponsors handle maintenance, promotion, and other technical details, aiding faculty and students alike.

PARCMedia is a news and media project founded by two USMC veterans, Sergio Kochergin & Vince Emanuele. They give a working-class take on issues surrounding politics, ecology, community organizing, war, culture, and philosophy. PARCMedia offers video and audio podcasts and uses a space it maintains for all manner of gatherings, social, cultural, political.

RevolutionZ is a podcast hosted by Michael Albert. It addresses vision and strategy for a better future. It is all about what we want and how we get it. The word “Revolution” indicates attention to transforming basic underlying social relations and structures, not solely replacing bad actors and policies. The letter “Z” identifies with the web host, Z Communications/ZNet.

 June 21, 2021  Posted by at 8:15 am Events, News Tagged with: ,

Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Meeting

Mar 152021
 
  • Event: Initial meeting of a regional campaign to stop the new nuclear missile, the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent
  • Date: Thursday, March 18
  • Time: 7:30pm Eastern; 6:30 Central; 5:30 Mountain (Montana); 4:30 Pacific

Hello Friends from Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Colorado, and California,

I write to convene an initial Zoom organizing meeting for a regional campaign (as part of the broader national effort) to stop the new ICBM, the Ground-Based Deterrent System or GBSD.

All of your states are impacted and will be part of the missile program as you know, and we can also work to identify partners in North Dakota and other states in the Great Plains/Rocky Mountain region.

  • MO — Non-nuclear parts will presumably be manufactured at the Kansas City Plant.
  • NE, WY, CO, MT, ND — Missiles to be deployed there, replacing the Minutemen III missiles.
  • UT — Northrop Grumman has built a new HQ for the GBSD program there, and the solid rocket fuel system will presumably be tested in Utah as well.
  • CA — As with all US ICBMs, the missile will be flight tested out of Vandenberg Air Force Base, launched toward Kwajelein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

I see this as an initial organizing meeting to gauge interest, not a broad public meeting, but please feel free to invite colleagues from your organizations or others in your states. We can do more public webinars to spread the word soon. If you are already engaged in organizing on the issue, please share any information you have.

Here is an article on the issue from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/cold-war-era-weapon-100bn-us-plan-to-build-new-nuclear-missile-sparks-concern

Kevin Martin, President
Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund

Contact

 March 15, 2021  Posted by at 8:37 pm Events
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