A review by John Repp Looking for ideas of hope, I picked up this book The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-first Century by Grace Lee Boggs (before the Occupy Wall Street movement).  It is a small book that is very rich in ideas and hope. Grace Lee Boggs has been an activist for over 70 years, living in Detroit since 1953. She is now 95 years old with the energy of a 25 year old. When seen on Democracy Now she always has a big smile on her face. She is Chinese-American who got a PhD in philosophy in 1940 but could not get a job in academia. She became a political activist after seeing the success…

“We are the 99%” is being proclaimed from Wall Street to Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Olympia, Yakima Valley, and points between and beyond. 900+ cities around the world held “Occupy” mobilizations on Oct. 15. It’s hard to miss that people are angry about the current economic crisis, yearning for change. Many of those involved in the actual occupations are young and motivated by student loan debts and/or lack of jobs and opportunities. However, there is an amazing diversity of people participating – students, teachers, machinists, health-care workers, homeless, lawyers, retired, unemployed, parents and their children. I’ve spent time at Occupy Seattle at Westlake and have been energized, heartened, frustrated, challenged, and moved. The courage and commitment will bolster you if your…

Currently there are recognized four international Crimes Against Peace: Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes, and Crimes of Aggression.  Polly Higgins, an English barrister, has started a campaign to add a fifth crime to the list.  Ecocide is the destruction of large areas of the environment and ecosystems.  Some ecocide is caused by natural events but there is a category for ecocide caused by human activity: Ascertainable Ecocide.  This is the destruction, damage or loss to territory, caused by human activity, whether by people, corporations or nations.  Some specific instances of this crime would be nuclear weapons tests, damaging exploitation of resources such as is going on with the tar sands extraction in Canada, the use of defoliants like Agent…

This is the last entry from the journal of our recent trip to Afghanistan.  To read the whole journal go to www.globaldaysoflistening.org and click on “Projects”. I now realize how little I have known and still know about Afghanistan and the people who live here.  Afghanistan appears to me to be teetering on the brink of collapse despite  “the light at the end of the tunnel” talk by the militarist machine.  Three and a half billion people on the globe live on less than $2.50 a day- most of the people of Afghanistan among them.  Many people here express the desire that the apparent stability maintained by the military presence continue out of a fear of a return of and…

by Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm “We’d like our dollars to feed our daughters and not be fodder to greed and war, so bring them home,” I sang with five strangers I had met five minutes earlier at Occupy Seattle. We sat on the cold concrete at Westlake Park, but the spirit of meaningful community was warming my heart. This is a time in history when nonviolent action is pulsing through the world, and the younger generation is finally getting out into the streets instead of only clicking tweets to show political dissent. People are fed up with corporations and Wall Street. There is momentum with the Occupy protests around the country. Our role as Fellowship of Reconciliation activists is to ramp up…

Sat Nov 19, evening, 5-8:30 pm, at Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, 225 N 70th, Seattle; Fun and Fundraising Auction to benefit WWFOR. Super salad supper, dessert auction, multigenerational auctioneer team, and lots of great items in the live and silent auctions! Bid on entertainment and other experiences, meals, art items, and much more. Come for the camaraderie, and perhaps your holiday shopping too! Support FOR’s work while you have a good time. Suggested door donation $10- 15 includes supper. lnfo at 206-789-5565. Click to view AuctionFlyer4.

When we think about stopping war, we think about Afghanistan, lraq, and elsewhere. But we also want to stop the wars against poor people, the working class, immigrants, Muslims, dissenters, gays and lesbians, the environment, public education, and other people and entities that are being systematically targeted. The public and the peace movement recognize that military veterans have special credibility when they speak and act against war. The other wars listed above have made many more people into “veterans” –  veterans of the wars against the poor, the working class, and so forth. What can we learn from each other’s struggles? How can we practice solidarity as allies with people who are being targeted? How can we work together for…

     WWFOR cannot function without the volunteers who agree to be members of the Area Committee and various other committees which are necessary to accomplish our goals.  At a recent Area Committee meeting I noticed that the faces were the same faces as at most of the recent meetings I have attended.      If WWFOR is to survive, and that is not certain, we have to have the energy and vision that new volunteers can bring.  The duties are generally not onerous but are extremely necessary.  One glaring need is for someone to step forward and begin working with Brenda Collier to at least be a back up for the Treasurer position.      Everyone I speak with wants WWFOR to…

We all know that things are bad: the economy and its impact, the ongoing wars increasing climate change and limited resources (oil, water). Many I talk with are demoralized, feeling disenfranchised. Some find solace in focusing on intentional transitional communities, in getting ready for worsening times by learning to live more sustainably and locally. Or want to do tangible tasks that result in visible, concrete results. Me too. I want to be prepared for the hard times. Yet, the CD that I play over and over proclaims: “I want to be ready, I want to be ready, I want to ready when joy comes back to me.” (Sean Staples song sung by Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem) Its pure energy…

 A review by John Repp: A review of a book written by Douglas P. Fry. The Human Potential for Peace: An Anthropological Challenge to Assumptions about War and Violence   New York: Oxford University, 2006.      Too many Americans hold these “truths” to be self-evident: “That there has always been war and there always will be. It’s human nature.” Many of us have probably heard such words in our work for an end to war. Unfortunately, these beliefs have power and are an obstacle to achieving a more peaceful world.  There is evidence for the idea that there has always been war. The history of civilization and our Western literary canon from its earliest works such as The Bible are full…