by John M Repp Over one million Americans died in the years long Covid-19 pandemic. It has been a trauma for many of us and our country failed miserably with absolute death numbers higher than any other country, and a per capita percentage higher than any other wealthy country. Trump’s response was incompetent and malevolent. He “suppressed scientific data, delayed testing, mocked and blocked mask-wearing, and convened mass gatherings where social distancing was impossible”. It cost him the election. To put this whole event in context, we must say, prior to the pandemic, the population health of American citizens had deteriorated since about 1970 relative to other wealthy societies, as measured by longevity, maternal death rates, and infant mortality. We stand…

A review by John M Repp of the new book Inequality Kills Us All: COVID-19’s Lessons for the World by Stephen Bezruchka (Routledge: New York, 2023) The study and understanding of global health requires that countries’ health measures be compared. Dr. Bezruchka makes the striking statement “A person who knows only one country knows no country” (p.49). I remember collecting signatures for a petition against the U.S. invasion of Iraq before the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. Out of curiosity I asked the people who were signing if they had lived outside the country or spoke another language. Many had, mostly former exchange students or Peace Corp volunteers. They knew it was wrong to invade Iraq. Bezruchka took…

by John M Repp Maria Ressa is a Filipino woman who jointly won the Nobel peace prize with a Russian editor in 2021. It is rare for a journalist to win the Nobel for peace; the last time that happened was in 1936 when a German reporter won for describing what was happening inside Germany. He could not accept the prize because he was in a Nazi concentration camp. Ressa founded Rappler which is a Filipino digital media company driven by uncompromising reporting. She jokes “First they came for the journalists. We don’t know what happened next.” Journalists, like scientists, seek the truth. It is not their job to stretch the truth to sell their product. Journalists can be some…

by John M Repp Tom Rogers got a draft notice to go into the army in 1966 during the Vietnam war, so he visited a Navy recruiting office and signed up. He had been studying engineering, so he then decided to train to run a nuclear submarine power plant. He did well, serving on four nuclear subs, eventually becoming the captain of the USS Pogy in 1988. He retired in 1998. While still in the Navy, he questioned why our national security strategy was based on weapons that would cause a global holocaust. He knew that a limited nuclear war was not possible, because the strategy was “counterforce”, taking out all the enemy nuclear weapons before they could fire back.…

By David Lambert Summary of National Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Executive Director, Ariel Gold’s presentation at the 2022 WWFOR Fall Retreat. Like most of us at the retreat, I had not seen Ariel Gold speak until she shared with us her activism experiences and plans for National FOR that day. When she mentioned taking her children to peace and justice events years ago, I understood immediately, having shared with my wife Marti, in years past, taking our two girls to similar events when they were young. When she, Ariel, shared how her Jewish faith has motivated her to work toward peace and justice between Palestinians and Jews, I felt the emotional intensity and commitment she has brought toward seeking reconciliation in…

Anew issue of our quarterly newsletter, Pacific Call, is now available for you to read online or download.  Click here to see it. Full URL is https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/PacificCall0123.pdf Articles in this issue include: WWFOR Fall Retreat         p.1 David Lambert on FOR’s Ariel Gold p.1 Jean Gant on the Fall Retreat         p.2 John Repp a review: INEQUALITY KILLS US ALL p.2-3 Graphics a) causes of health b) WA Counties   p.4 No Pandemic in San Juan County, WA    p.5 The Charleena Lyles Case by Carl Nakajima       p.5-6 A Coming Civil War in US? by John Repp p.6-7 Letters to Editors CDN: Sardarov and Cole    p.8

Author John M. Repp writes how the flexing of the U.S. nuclear muscle was done, at various times, behind the scenes. This article was first published at NorthwestCitizen, https://nwcitizen.com/. The possible use of nuclear weapons is back in the news after Vladimir Putin made veiled threats that if any nation tries to stop his aggression in Ukraine, he will use nuclear weapons. Putin knows he has not done anything worse than the United States has done over the past seventy-seven years. However, he threatened publicly, while American presidents have threatened using diplomatic channels. Most people think President Truman used atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force the Japanese to surrender. But Truman already knew the Japanese were ready to…

A new issue of our quarterly newsletter, Pacific Call, is now available for you to read online or download. Click here to see it. Articles in this issue include: WWFOR Fall Retreat p.1 March in Seattle against nukes Sept 24 p.1 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons p.1 To the midterm election WAPPC p.2 Measures to Stop Global Warming p.3-4 Yemen and Ukraine p.5 US military budget p.6 Letters to the ST editor on nuclear weapons p.7 What Gandhi learned reading John Ruskin p.7 2022 Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship p.8 Our main newsletter page, is https://wwfor.org/category/the-pacific-call/ [The full URL for the latest issue is https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PacificCall0922.pdf ]

by program co-director Bruce Pruitt-Hamm This article contains a brief introduction to each of the current youth fellows and their projects. Since the turn of the millennium the WWFOR has nurtured a unique long-term training program for youth in the theory and skills of nonviolent activism. In the year 2000 the Peace Activist Trainee program had 2 participants. In the 22 years following, more than 150 youth activists have received funding, training and support from WWFOR.  In 2014 the PAT program merged into the Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship in honor of PAT founder and WWFOR Organizer, Mike Yarrow, who died of cancer at age 74 that year. From 2014 to the present the MYPF program has been organized by 3…

by Louise Lansberry For over seven years, the Saudi War against Yemen has gone on.  For most Americans, this conflict is not at all on their radar even though the United Nations calls Yemen the greatest humanitarian tragedy in the world because of breakdown in availability of food and medical care as well as destruction of their country. The war in Ukraine, however, is right before our eyes in the media as well as within various groups wanting to emphasize the plight of the Ukrainian people.  There are many similarities in these two conflicts:  Ukraine and Yemen were each  invaded by a more powerful nation, Russia and Saudi Arabia respectively, wanting to re-define borders and change the leadership.  Further, the…