by Glen Anderson The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in his “Beyond Vietnam” speech on April 4, 1967, stated, “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered.”  He urged people to nonviolently resist these.  This will be the theme of the Western Washington FOR’s 2014 Spring Assembly April 12 in West Seattle. Each year the Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Spring Assembly brings together grassroots folks from throughout Western Washington to share ideas and network with each other to strengthen the movements for social justice, nonviolence, and peace.  This year’s Spring Assembly will occur on Saturday April 12 at…

by Larry Kerschner I will be co-presenting, with Todd Boyle, a workshop on GI Resistance and Military Counter-Recruitment at the April 12 Spring Assembly at the Fauntleroy UCC Church in West Seattle. I will focus on GI Resistance and Todd will focus on Military Counter-Recruitment. In my opinion, the American War in Viet Nam ended mainly from three factors. First, the tenacity and fighting abilities of the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong in protecting their country from a foreign invader. Second, the growing opposition to the war among the American public. By September 1970, 47 percent of college-educated and 61 percent of grade-school graduates were in favor of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Viet Nam. Finally, the…

by Nick Mele In mid-2013, the Pace e Bene Center announced a long-term initiative to mainstream nonviolence to begin in 2014. Campaign Nonviolence aims to build a just, nonviolent world by spreading knowledge of nonviolence and awareness of the interconnections among all forms of exploitation of people and the rest of the environment, poverty, and war. As people practice nonviolence in their private lives, Campaign Nonviolence promoters and trainers will help move personal nonviolence toward public nonviolent action to oppose injustice and war. For 2014, the Campaign’s goal is to organize nonviolent actions in every U.S. state during the week that begins on September 21, the International Day of Peace. To mainstream nonviolence, Campaign Nonviolence provides resources for organizing and…

by Brenda Collier So far 2014 has been a great year for those of us who want to abolish the death penalty in Washington State.  In February Governor Inslee announced a moratorium and a week or so later the Seattle Times reversed its position and came out against the death penalty.  We need to take advantage of this opportunity and increase our efforts to build grassroots support, so that the legislature will abolish the death penalty in the 2015 session. There are many reasons to abolish the death penalty.  For me it is a moral issue – my commitment to nonviolence means I am a pacifist and against killing anyone.  But, if we are trying to convince others that the…

by Doug Mackey FORUSA has seen many transitions over the nearly 100 years it been around, but the changes occurring in the last two years are likely among the most significant.  I say this having just spent the last year looking through the nearly 100 years of our periodical Fellowship magazine, its predecessors The World Tomorrow and The New World, and some of the historic files of the American FOR buried in the headquarters in Nyack, NY. This two-year chunk of time began as I attended my first meeting of the National Council at Shadowcliff, the 100-year old mansion and FOR headquarters overlooking the Hudson River just north of New York City.  I learned that Mark Johnson, then Executive Director,…

by John Repp When Washington’s new recreational marijuana stores open, they will be cash-only. You cannot use a check or credit card to buy the pot or even the vast array of cannabis infused soda, oils, and sweets that will dazzle the first-time visitor. Cash only. Why? Because cannabis, while legal in Colorado and Washington State, is still illegal all over the United States. Private banks and even credit unions say they are afraid that they will be prosecuted for money laundering if they offer banking services to the new businesses. This creates a huge security problem for Denver shops like Starbuds well as a law enforcement problem for the local police. There have been armed robberies in Colorado. Washington…

by Chuck Schultz People like neat phrases that set forth wisdom or truth.  An adage is such a phrase that sets forth a general truth and that has gained credit through long use.  An adage, a venerable declaration, often passes as conventional wisdom. For example, Lightning never strikes twice in the same place is commonly heard.  People may believe that is true, even when they also believe that lightening repeatedly strikes the same lightning rods. Political pronouncements and advertising slogans mimic adages so that they will receive the same kind of credibility.  Adages and even political statements have some truth in them, but comprehending their relevance requires you to distinguish what is accurate and evaluate it in relation to particular…

by Susan Cundiff  (Reprinted from the Eugene Register Guard, November 20, 2013) When the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in 2011, the world watched in horror as scenes of devastation unfolded in Fukushima. Then we learned about the additional catastrophic events at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, and the horror multiplied. Since the Trojan nuclear power plant near Rainier shut down in 1993, people in the Northwest may think we’re free from the threat of a similar nuclear disaster. Few realize, however, that there is a Fukushima-style nuclear power plant operating on the banks of the Columbia River — the Columbia Generating Station. Never heard of CGS? Not surprising. It was originally known as Washington Public Power Supply System Nuclear…

by Ellen Finkelstein At the annual MLK Day commemoration at Seattle’s Garfield High School, Tom Ewell (Whidbey Island FOR) & I led a workshop on King’s “Call to Conscience.” We featured a PBS Tavis Smiley Special Report that includes some video and audio of King’s historic April 4, 1967, “Beyond Vietnam” speech at Riverside Church in NYC as well as interviews about the impact of the speech in 1967 and its relevance today.  You can watch the video: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/tsr/mlk-a-call-to-conscience/ I am pleased to be adapting the workshop for the PJALS (Peace & Justice Action League of Spokane) annual conference on March 7-8. [Kristin Stoneking, FOR Executive Director, will be the keynote speaker.] What most struck me as I viewed the…

by Marcia Mullins Are you committed to securing justice for those experiencing our court system? If so, read on for a way to put that commitment into action. At the Nov 2013 WWFOR Fall Retreat, many of us had the great fortune to hear Mary Paterson (keynote speaker) talk about the No New Jim Crow Coalition – Seattle, “dedicated to ending mass incarceration in America, beginning in Seattle/King County.” The work of this group is exciting and is expanding quickly into many areas of legal reform such as abolition of the death penalty. An encouraging program from the City of Seattle also seeks reform by focusing on Restorative Justice: moving from retribution to reconciliation and healing of all parties. (Event…