By Abby Brockway As a Christian, obedience is a theme that has been in my life and appears as I study scripture. My story of obedience began on a cold January evening when I spoke at a climate rally in Seattle. After the talk, a spiritual leader representing an indigenous group called Idle No More encouraged me to think more about obedience. I did just that. Last summer, Lummi leader and Master Carver Praying Wolf Jewell James stopped at Saint Marks Cathedral in Seattle on a journey with his totem pole from Montana to Alberta. Letters of apologies signed by various church leaders in the Northwest was presented to James Jewell and to the Lummi Nation acknowledging the historical disrespect…

By John M Repp A review of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate 2014 by Naomi Klein What is wrong with us? Why can’t we answer history’s hard knock on our front door in the form of super storms, record droughts, floods, wildfires, globetrotting diseases, food shortages and finally threats of tipping points like the melting of the West Antarctic glacier and massive releases of methane from Arctic permafrost. The answer is denial, denial of climate change. Naomi Klein tells us exactly when and how she broke through her denial of climate change. It came when she heard a young Bolivian woman tell her in late 2009 that climate change was both terrible threat and an opportunity. When she…

By Bruce Pruitt-Hamm They say “Necessity is the Mother of Invention.” After nearly 40 years of enjoying paid staff, the Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation (WWFOR) is transitioning to become all volunteer… and all active! Following chronic budget concerns, our “board” decided this spring to terminate the position of our WWFOR Organizer of 10 years, Ellen Finkelstein. A “Transition Committee” was commissioned and has been working for months to ensure that the regional organization continues and expands its tradition of networking unpaid activists (aka “volunteers”). WWFOR has, using volunteers, organized (with Oregon FOR) a Northwest-wide annual conference at Seabeck conference grounds on Hood Canal for over 60 years. The WWFOR is updating that tradition with new technologies for networking and…

By Larry Kerschner   The end result of the war between the U.S. Empire and the Spanish Empire in 1898 marked the beginning of the global American Empire.  Spain had been losing control of its empire due to internal corruption and external national liberation movements, especially in Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines.  On September 23, 1868, at Lares, nearly 1000 Puerto Rican revolutionaries declared the first Republic of Puerto Rico.  Many of these rebels were former African slaves who had escaped. The revolt would be known as El Grito de Lares (the Cry of Lares). These revolutionary forces eventually controlled the mountains and much of the rural areas around the towns with Spanish garrisons.     Although unable to push…

Insights from 2014 PATs Farhiya Abdi and Amy Olson and trainer Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm. Reflections from a Trainer by Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm I wonder what passersby at Westlake Mall were thinking when they saw a gaggle of high school students solemnly rising up by the escalator, in black and white striped t-shirts, their hands clasped behind their backs with handcuffs. Signs on their front read such things as “12 years old; Incarcerated for unruly behavior; ordered to pay court costs.” Their backs each revealed another message: “We do not deserve this.” Although this sight may have been taken differently depending on the eye of the beholder, the intent was to evoke the question: is youth incarceration the answer? This act of guerrilla theater…

by Larry Kerschner It seems like there are an awful lot of trains going off the tracks lately.  On December 14 of last year, a Burlington Northern and Santa Fe train derailed north of Centralia, spilling three rail cars, including one carrying methanol.  On January 13, 2014, a BNSF train derailed two cars just south of Auburn. During a two-week period during early May of this year there were three separate train derailments in Grays Harbor County.  On May 22, a Puget Sound and Pacific train derailed north of Centralia.  On August 4 three train cars, including a tanker car carrying methanol, derailed on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks north of downtown Centralia.  On July 2, a coal train…

by Larry Kerschner Protest activity surrounding the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference of 1999, which was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations, occurred during the week of November 30, 1999 and put Seattle on the world map. However, the first time 65,000 protesting people in the streets of Seattle were known around the world for a radical attitude was during the Seattle General Strike which began at 10 a.m. on February 6, 1919, and paralyzed the city for five days. At that time the American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a collection of unions of skilled craftsmen who saw no need to join in labor struggle with semi-skilled or unskilled workers. AFL unions…

by Glen Anderson Most Americans are suffering from economic injustice in one or more ways.  Many millions can’t find decent jobs or work for wages that are too low.  The gap between extremely rich people and everyone else has been widening since the 1970s.  Many Americans are homeless or are suffering from foreclosure. The Occupy Movement and millions of Americans’ ongoing experiences have convinced more and more people that capitalism is failing to meet most people’s needs, so they are looking for alternatives.  Western Washington FOR’s 2014 Fall Retreat – “Economic Justice for the 99%” – will bring us together to better understand the problems and to work together at the grassroots to organize solutions. Everyone is invited to WWFOR’s…

by Noreen Koga The drive to Tacoma was cool and clear that Saturday morning in late June 2014. Not knowing what to expect I was drawn immediately to the event announcement listed in the Fellowship newsletter. The mention of the word “nuclear” always catches my attention. With my Mother’s family from Yamaguchi Prefecture (next door to Hiroshima) and the mention of how my Mother’s cousin had perished that fateful morning on August 6, 1946, I’ve always felt a deep connection with anything “nuclear.” Remembering my Grandparents visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in 1974 and viewing the booklet from the museum displaying the human atrocities, I recalled feeling the shock and awe as I saw the photos. Although the…

by Larry Kerschner We installed a 4 Kw solar photovoltaic system at our home a little over a year ago. Over the course of the first year we produced about 25% of the total electricity we used.  Obviously less in the winter than in the summer. During the period of mid-June through mid-July of this year, we produced 63.5% of the power we were using.  Washington State is at a similar latitude as Germany. Germany’s annual solar resources are roughly comparable to those of Alaska. We have a greater solar potential here than in Germany. The German government, unlike ours, has subsidized renewable energy for years.  By the end of 2012, Germany had installed about 30 Gw of solar capacity,…