Iraq Veterans Against the War marching in Boston. Photo by Jonathan McIntosh, used under CC Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
You won’t learn a lot about them in the corporate media, but there are hundreds if not thousands of them doing their work: non-profits resisting war and combating arms proliferation and promoting peace and nonviolence.
Today we provide links to many of these organizations. Visit their sites and learn more about them.
Some of these organizations were started by veterans committed to educating their compatriots concerning the real nature of war and the lies and propaganda used to promote it:
Guantanamo may be the most well-known symbol of government-sponsored torture of prisoners, but the horrors of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib take place right in your back yard—conveniently hidden in high-walled prisons.
Image in public domain.
In today’s post we provide some of the facts about torture in the U.S. prison system, along with links to articles and videos that document the torture and its horrendous effects.
Facts
“The US incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, sometimes imposing very long sentences marred by racial disparities.” Human Rights Watch
Thousands of American prisoners are kept in solitary confinement, a state of extreme isolation and sensory deprivation, which is itself an extremely destructive form of torture.
Like the prisoners in Guantanamo, some prisoners are driven by desperation to stage hunger strikes to try to bring attention to their inhumane treatment.
A substantial number of the tortured prisoners, including the ones in solitary confinement, are youth under the age of 18.
Today is Valentine’s Day, a day to embrace love over hate, non-violence over death and destruction, peace over war.
Many groups that embrace an ethic of peace and social justice focus some of their creative energy and dedication to Valentine’s Day messages, and these are particularly appropriate during the Season of Nonviolence.
The V-Day movement, an international effort to end violence against women, began in 1998 with one event and this year involves more than 1500 events in at least 140 countries. Working with other organizations dedicated to non-violent social change, they are the sponsors of One Billion Rising.
One Billion Rising is urging “ONE BILLION women and those who love them to WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to violence against women” today and every day.
United to End Genocide plans to deliver a valentine to the National Rifle Association (NRA) saying, “Have a heart: Don’t Kill the Arms Trade Treaty.” My name will be on that valentine. How about yours? You can learn more about United to End Genocide by watching this video.
United to End Genocide is joined in this Valentine’s Day Plan by the Win Without War Coalition, which includes groups such as the American Friends Service Committee, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Council for a Livable World, Greenpeace, the NAACP, NOW, and Psychologists for Social Responsibility.
The Women’s Human Rights Program of Amnesty International USA plans to deliver a Valentine’s Day message to Congress, reminding them that all women deserve to live a life free from violence. So do all men.
Enjoy the day, spread love, and find a way to join the singing and dancing of the One Billion Rising movement.
Moving to California, I married and began raising three boys. It was the time of World War II, with its nuclear atrocities that wiped out vast portions of my beloved Japan. All too soon again came the Korean “engagement.”
Quaker star. Image in public domain
Finally worried and angry enough, I joined Quakers. With the strength of their comradeship and guidance, I committed to non-violent protesting of further nuclear testing and missile development.
I was a paid office manager for the Sane Nuclear Policy Committee, then later for Women’s Strike for Peace and the Nuclear Weapons Freeze movement, and finally for the American Friends (Quaker) Service Committee. My main interest has long been in world peace:
To what extent could it be taught?
What are the essential ingredients of intercultural understanding and acceptance?
What does empathy have to do with understanding differences?
It is no surprise that I have fallen in with Occupiers. I find them particularly engaging because they are trying to do what I failed to do – discover and employ the most important fundamental of peace-making – creative alternatives to violence.
I have read some, listened a lot, and thought a great deal about the works of Gene Sharp, Richard Gregg and others, and the practices of Gandhi, Mandela, Schweitzer, Havel and Walesa, the Berrigan brothers, and Catholic Worker activists.
When the recent uprisings began in the Middle East, I started reading Al Jazeera and several foreign English language sources. I recognized at last some hope for stopping the destruction of this failing world and for rehabilitating our decadent American democracy.
I see the free Internet as an aid to improving international understanding, and nonviolent revolution as a means toward a human future.
