Yemen: Recognizing responsibility

Photo by Mary Leno

by Deborah Belle

Saturday’s rally in Brattle Square Plaza, Cambridge, MA, to end the U.S.-Saudi blockade of Yemen, began just as the morning’s rain ended and pedestrians returned to Harvard Square.

Activists held signs and gave out leaflets urging an end to U.S. support for the Saudi blockade.

As the leaflet noted, “Yemen is a Massachusetts war. Raytheon is headquartered here in Massachusetts. It makes the bombs for Saudi Arabia and it makes the jet engines for the planes that drop the bombs. Let’s do all we can to end this connection between Massachusetts and this terrible humanitarian disaster.”

Further information is available at the Raytheon Antiwar Campaign (617-354-2169), and at info@masspeaceaction.org.

Pegean says: “If you’re concerned about the situation in Yemen, let your national and state legislators know.”

Cartoon: Engaging Peace is taking flight! Come along for the ride!

by Joe Kandra, Kathie Malley-Morrison, Pat Daniel

Engaging Peace, the nonprofit we created in 2010 to promote peace and social justice education, is about to embark on a new venture. Specifically, the blog will be transferred to another activist organization–Massachusetts Peace Action (MAPA).

Mass Peace Action is the largest peace organization in Massachusetts, with ties to other peace organizations around the country. Here are a few examples of its activities in 2020:

  • Hosted more than 70 webinars, with speakers like Noam Chomsky and Trita Parsi
  • Held dozens of events to protest war in the Middle East and intervention in Latin America; sent more than 10,000 emails to state and federal legislators and the White House
  • Surpassed 15,000 supporters, 1,000 subscribers on YouTube, and 5,000 followers on Twitter
  • Grew to eight working groups with active engagement of over 100 volunteers
  • Started the “Fund Healthcare Not Warfare” Campaign

MAPA’s Education Fund, like Engaging Peace, is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization.

Before the Engaging Peace archive moves to its new site, we want to thank all our readers, guest authors, and donors for sharing our work towards peace and social justice over the last 11 years.

What a wonderful journey it’s been, starting when we first imagined a blog to making it happen, becoming a nonprofit, adding the newsletter, and growing our contacts to over 900. Over more than a decade, Engaging Peace has published over 1,000 posts (which prompted almost 5,500 reader comments), more than 100 monthly online newsletters, and over 60 political cartoons.

During that time, we were honored to have contributions from over 90 guest authors and illustrators, dozens of interns, and hundreds of commentators.

We most especially offer thanks to our donors who supported EP and helped us meet our budget, and to our board of directors (Doe West and Alice LoCicero) for helping to guide EP through a host of decisions and milestones.

Although Engaging Peace, Inc. as an organization will close, Kathie, Pat, and the EP cartoonist, Joe Kandra, will continue to publish occasional posts and cartoons on the MAPA site.

The best news of all is that our efforts for peace and social justice will continue within a larger constellation of activists within Mass Peace Action. Our work is their work, our goals are their goals. Please continue to participate in these efforts toward a more peaceful and just world for ourselves, our children, and the future of the earth.

Action: If you would like to sign up for MAPA’s e-alerts, just click here. And please be sure to watch for new posts and cartoons from Kathie and her team on the MAPA site.