Kathleen Malley-Morrison – Engaging Peace

Cartoon: Full speed ahead

Posted on September 30, 2020September 30, 2020 by kathiemm

by Joe Kandra, Kathie Malley-Morrison, Pat Daniel

The billionaires who put power and profit ahead of survival of the planet and ordinary people are desperately struggling to hold on to the control and influence that have allowed them to pollute, put women and people of color back “in their places,” profit from guns and weapons of war, militarize the police, promote white nationalism, and un-separate church (Christian) and State.

Hanging onto the remnants of democracy that serve their cause, they try to monopolize the voting process and Senate authority to appoint Supreme Court justices to ram through their power agenda while they still can.

If you don’t think the overnight promotion of Amy Coney Barrett isn’t part of their grand plan, think again.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is leading the charge to appoint Barrett, exposing the hypocrisy in his abuse of power:

At the beginning of President Obama’s last year in office, Mitch proclaimed: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice… Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.” (February 13, 2016)
Slightly more than a month before the 2020 Presidential election, McConnell sneered: “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.” ( September 16, 2020)

As for Amy Coney Barrett, you might remember her as a member of the legal team that enabled George W. Bush to win the Electoral College in the 2000 election by halting the vote count in Florida.

Here’s a small sample of Barrett’s views that McConnell is trying to ram through:

Abortion: “…life begins at conception.” She argues that justices should not be strictly bound by Supreme Court precedents—a view that opens the possibility that she could vote to overturn Roe v. Wade:
Catholic Church: “We see the teachings of the (Catholic) Church as truth… We give witness that the Church’s teachings—on the dignity of the human person and the value of human life from conception to natural death; on the meaning of human sexuality, the significance of sexual difference and the complementarity of men and women; on openness to life and the gift of motherhood; and on marriage and family founded on the indissoluble commitment of a man and a woman—provide a sure guide…” She believes “A legal career is but a means to an end … and that end is building the Kingdom of God.”
Affordable health care: “Chief Justice Roberts pushed the Affordable Care Act beyond its plausible meaning to save the statute.” In her view, if the Chief Justice interpreted the Act the way she did, “he would have had to invalidate the statute as lying beyond Congress’s commerce power.”
Immigration: Barrett voted to uphold the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule, which “adds barriers for immigrants seeking green cards if they rely on public benefits, food stamps or housing vouchers.”

The United States still clings to some of its democratic institutions and processes. Let’s use them to preserve the best of what has been achieved so far, and work to make the best better. Vote, and hold your senators accountable for theirs.

If pillows could talk…

Posted on October 30, 2019October 29, 2019 by kathiemm

by Joe Kandra (cartoonist) and Kathie MM

You don’t have to be Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted on October 22, 2018October 22, 2018 by kathiemm

by Kathie MM

In my years of preparing and teaching seminars in Family Violence and the Psychology of War and Peace at Boston University, I learned a lot about moral disengagement (the kinds of thinking that allow people to tolerate and promote violent and inhumane behavior) and moral engagement (involvement in behavior that promotes humanity, peace, and justice, even when doing so is unpopular and costly). Most of you know the names of some of the best-known models of moral engagement—e.g., Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Theresa, Howard Zinn.

Rejoice! There are thousands of less well-known people who live lives of moral engagement. I bet you’ve encountered a few in your own life. One such individual I know is Lewis Randa , who will be leading a new Stonewalk on October 24, 2018. Under his leadership, volunteers will unearth a memorial stone for Victims of Violence at its present location at the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA, and pull it, using human power alone, on a caisson to the September 11th Labyrinth at Boston College.

Ideally, a democracy should encourage morally engaged leaders like Lewis to flourish, to inspire, and to promote positive change. To improve our own struggling democracy, more people need to engage morally in the task of finding and supporting reforms and reformers at the most basic political levels in their communities, while doing their best to evaluate the characters and commitments of politicians who have reached, by hook or by crook, higher office.

Moral engagement may not be common at the top, but it is not absent either. The good news is that to help make your community, your country, and the environment better, you don’t have to be a martyr, you don’t have to help pull the caisson from Sherborn to Boston (although that would certainly show engagement!), and you don’t have to be MLK. However, there are things you can do. How about getting together with other reform-minded people and searching for ways to encourage morally engaged leaders to run for office–and win? Meanwhile, you can help get out the vote November 6.

International Day of Nonviolence, October 2, 2018

Posted on October 1, 2018 by kathiemm

The “Nonviolence” (or “Knotted Gun”) sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd on display at the UN Visitors’ Plaza. UN Photo/Fan Xiao

The International Day of Nonviolence is marked on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of nonviolence.

According to General Assembly resolution A/RES/61/271 of 15 June 2007, which established the commemoration, the International Day is an occasion to “disseminate the message of nonviolence, including through education and public awareness.” The resolution reaffirms “the universal relevance of the principle of nonviolence” and the desire “to secure a culture of peace, tolerance, understanding and nonviolence.”

Introducing the resolution in the General Assembly on behalf of 140 co-sponsors, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Anand Sharma, said that the wide and diverse sponsorship of the resolution was a reflection of the universal respect for Mahatma Gandhi and of the enduring relevance of his philosophy. Quoting the late leader’s own words, he said:

“Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man”.

From United Nations – TRANSCEND Media Service, Oct 2018

Note from Kathie MM: Most of you have not heard that October 2 has been declared by the United Nations as International Day of Nonviolence. Why do our media not call our attention to this important day? What kinds of messages do flood our media? What can you do to promote nonviolence in your home, your community, your country, the world? Can you spend some time thinking about this issue on October 2–in particular thinking about what kinds of steps you can take today, tomorrow, and on everyday leading up to and beyond the November elections?