Vietnam War – Engaging Peace

International Conscientious Objectors’ Day

Posted on May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 by kathiemm

Material submitted by Lewis Randa, who received an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector from the military during the Vietnam War in 1971.

CO Memorial Stone at Cambridge Friends Meeting, Cambridge, MA. A gift from the Peace Abbey Foundation

May 15 is International Conscientious Objectors Day. Although conscientious objection to war is not a hot media topic today, respect, admiration, and appreciation for conscientious objectors (COs) will be expressed (mostly distally) around the world this Friday May 15; see here, for example.

The Peace Abbey, in Sherborn, MA, maintains a site that provides numerous materials regarding concientious objection, including historical information, a copy of the National Registry form , and a rich discussion of pacifism, reprinted here:

“Pacifism is opposition to war and violence. The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud (1864–1921) and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ahimsa (to do no harm), which is a core philosophy in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, ancient references abound.

In Christianity, Jesus Christ‘s injunction to “love your enemies” and asking for forgiveness for his crucifiers “for they know not what they do” have been interpreted as calling for pacifism. In modern times, interest was revived by Leo Tolstoy in his late works, particularly in The Kingdom of God Is Within You. Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) propounded the practice of steadfast nonviolent opposition which he called “satyagraha“, instrumental in its role in the Indian Independence Movement. Its effectiveness served as inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr., James Lawson, James Bevel,^[2] Thich Nhat Hanh^[3] and many others in the 1950s and 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. Pacifism was widely associated with the much publicized image of Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 with the “Tank Man“, where one protester stood in nonviolent opposition to a column of tanks.

Pacifism covers a spectrum of views, including the belief that international disputes can and should be peacefully resolved, calls for the abolition of the institutions of the military and war, opposition to any organization of society through governmental force (anarchist or libertarian pacifism), rejection of the use of physical violence to obtain political, economic or social goals, the obliteration of force, and opposition to violence under any circumstance, even defence of self and others. Historians of pacifism Peter Brock and Thomas Paul Socknat define pacifism “in the sense generally accepted in English-speaking areas” as “an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare”.^[4] Philosopher Jenny Teichman defines the main form of pacifism as “anti-warism”, the rejection of all forms of warfare.^[5] Teichman’s beliefs have been summarized by Brian Orend as …’A pacifist rejects war and believes there are no moral grounds which can justify resorting to war. War, for the pacifist, is always wrong.’ In a sense the philosophy is based on the idea that the ends do not justify the means.^[6]“

Lewis Randa is a Quaker, pacifist, vegan, educator, and social change activist. He is the founder and director of The Life Experience School for children with disabilities (1972); The Peace Abbey, an Interfaith Center for the study and practice of Nonviolence and Pacifism (1988); The Special Peace Corps., an organization that provides community service programs for adults with mental challenges (1990); The Courage of Conscience Award, an international peace award for nonviolent contributions to peace and justice (1991); The National Registry for Conscientious Objection, a register for people of all ages to publicly state their refusal to participate in armed conflict (1992); The Pacifist Memorial, a national monument honoring pacifists throughout history (1994); The Veganpeace Animal Sanctuary, a safe haven for animals that have escaped from slaughterhouses following the rescue of Emily the Cow (1995); Stonewalk, a global peace walk that involves physically pulling a two-ton memorial stone for Unknown Civilians Killed in War (Documentary shown on PBS) (1999 – 2005); Citycare, an empowerment program for the homeless (2000); R.A.T.C., the college-based Reserve Activist Training Corps; and The Lavender House, a Group Home for adults with disabilities (2002).

Veterans, heroism and whistleblowing

Posted on November 11, 2019November 11, 2019 by kathiemm

By Mary Bess.

We need to understand the spark of divinity within human beings who put their lives at risk to benefit others. Of particular interest are those who commit acts of heroism for which they will not be honored and may even be vilified, despised and ostracized.

Especially on Veterans Day, helicopter reconnaissance pilot Hugh Thompson, Jr. and his crew come to mind. Their chopper was hovering over My Lai on March 16, 1968 when they saw what looked like a massacre taking place. Civilians – old men, women, even children, were being herded into a ditch and shot. Thompson brought down the chopper and warned U. S. soldiers that if they didn’t stop shooting civilians, he would turn his guns on them. Strangely, there wasn’t much screaming coming from the victims. Later it was learned that their tongues had been cut out to prevent screams. Pregnant women had been bayonetted through the belly. The lucky ones, according to Thompson, were those “who took a round right through the brain. There was a lot of evil.” This is not to say that the perpetrators of these war crimes weren’t victims themselves. A full account of the massacre can be found in “The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story,’” by Trent Angers.

Thompson reported the incident in a tearful rage when he returned to headquarters. When charges were brought against 26 officers and enlisted soldiers, including William Calley and Ernest Medina, he testified against them. They were acquitted or pardoned.

Thompson was shunned and condemned by the military, the government and the public for his whistleblowing. Congressman Mendel Rivers (D-S.C.) actually said Thompson was the only person at My Lai who should be punished and unsuccessfully tried to have him court- marshaled for turning his guns on fellow soldiers. People made death threats and left mutilated animals on his porch. Subsequent to My Lai he suffered post traumatic stress, bouts of alcoholism and severe nightmare disorder. He was married and divorced several times. Although the military abandoned him for telling the truth, he did not abandon the military, serving until 1983. He died in 2006 at age 62 with his surviving crew member Lawrence Colburn at his side.

Anyone who thinks whistleblowing is an easy road is mistaken. Thompson told the Associated Press in 2004, “Don’t do the right thing looking for a reward, because it might not come.” Chelsea Manning, who was obligated by law under the Geneva Convention to report the murder of civilians gunned down by a U. S. Apache helicopter crew as they attempted to remove the dead and injured from an Iraqi street, was imprisoned in August 2013 for reporting the war crime as he was required to do. By doing so, according to the military, he was “disrupting good order and discipline” and “discrediting the armed forces.” Prosecutors did not present any evidence that the leaks caused harm to anyone. She served more than seven years of a 35-year sentence.

In 1998, 30 years after the My Lai massacre, Thompson and his crew were awarded the Soldier’s Medal, the highest award for bravery not involving contact with the enemy. In 1999 Thompson and Colburn received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award.

Why did Thompson continue to speak out instead of going along with the subsequent coverup? At least two factors would seem to have influenced his behavior. His grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee, whose ancestors were victims of ethnic cleansing under the Indian Removal Act. He was raised an Episcopalian in a working class family that condemned ethnic discrimination and aided minorities within the community.

My Lai became a symbol for everything wrong with our presence in Vietnam when Army veteran Ron Ridenhour and Dispatch News Service reporter Seymour Hersh broke the story. Because My Lai is the only massacre from the Vietnam era to gain wide notice, it is thought to be an anomaly. It wasn’t. Hersh reports that, on a recent trip to Vietnam, he learned that massacres of civilians like the one that took place at My Lai were not unusual.

A study by the International Committee of the Red Cross reports that there have been 10 civilian deaths for every soldier death in wars fought since the mid-20th century. Practically speaking, civilians have become the enemy. Hugh Thompson reached out to enemy civilians in recognition that we are all one.

Note from Kathie MM: Originally posted on the Boca Beacon by Marcy Shortuse. Republished with permission. And thanks to Stefan Schindler for bringing this fine article to my attention.

Honor Thy Children (to save humanity)

Posted on February 18, 2019February 17, 2019 by kathiemm

by Kathie MM

Cloe Axelson in a WBUR Cognoscenti article tells us, “The kids have something to say, and we should listen.” And she’s right.

Axelson’s article focuses on student activists who survived last February’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 died.

Parkland was not the first example of a mass school shooting in this country; given that the United States has become a nation in which nearly 100 people die daily from guns, it is unlikely to be the last. [I hope you are as horrified to read these words as I am to write them and are thinking of ways to fight the NRA’s deadly work for the arms industry.]

One of the highlights of Axelson’s article is her reminiscence about another young student, Mary Beth Tinker, who was suspended from her middle school in Iowa in the 1960s for wearing a black arm band to school to protest the Vietnam War. The ACLU took her case on behalf of student rights to free speech all the way to the Supreme Court, where she won her case in a 7-2 decision.

I have same hypotheses about the child-rearing Mary Beth and other student activists experienced. I believe that in general, they were not bullied and beaten by their parents. They were not sent off to military schools to straighten them out. They were not told to shut their traps, mind their own beeswax, watch out or they’d get what was coming to them, obey…or else.

More likely, young activists like these are allowed to ask questions, wonder about injustices, read widely, educate themselves about society’s ills, and even speak out about problems they see in their communities and beyond—nurtured rather than suppressed, taught to love rather than to hate, urged to strive for a better society rather than become bullies themselves.

“Beating the devil” out of kids is not a path to a better world. Corporal punishment can beat out a lot of potential for developing a universal ethic and sense of justice—and perhaps destroy our only hope for survival of the planet. If you want to stop violence in and to the world, work to end violence in the home.

And inspire yourself! Hear Mary Beth today in this brief video.

https://nowthisnews.com/videos/news/mary-beth-tinker-talks-about-her-role-in-the-history-of-student-rights

TO ENGAGE OR NOT TO ENGAGE – THAT IS THE QUESTION

Posted on January 7, 2019March 9, 2021 by kathiemm

by Stefan Schindler

Part One: YESTERDAY’S STORM AND TOMORROW’S RAINBOW

There is nothing stable in the world; uproar’s your only music. – John Keats

Fifty years after President Eisenhower launched a multi-trillion dollar arms race with the Soviet Union, the Cheney-Bush Administration (in a version of “the boy who cried wolf”) saw fit to shout the greatest and most dangerous lie in American history, claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and repeating – day after day, week after week, in the post-9/11 rush to vengeance and preemptive war – “Mushroom cloud! Mushroom cloud! Mushroom cloud!”

Thus did Cheney-Bush – and their cabal of Gingrichian sycophants, aided by a cheering mainstream news media – bring to fruition the nightmare envisioned in Bob Dylan’s 1963 tour de force, “Masters of War.” Dylan sings, and the lyrics still resonate:

You’ve thrown the worst fear / that can ever be hurled:

fear to bring children / into the world.

In the dawning of the year 2019, it remains to be seen whether President Donald Trump will also escape punishment for his narcissistic and multitudinous lies, for his continuation of American militaristic violence, and for his Reagan-Cheney-Bush-like crimes – economic and ecological – against the American people and the planet.

In what Gore Vidal called “The United States of Amnesia,” the Orwellian ignoration of the citizen population continues unabated. For example:

I go to the store and buy some stamps. The clerk hands me a packet. Each stamp has an American flag on it. In the lower left hand corner of each stamp is written “USA Forever” – a truly insidious slogan. Nothing lasts forever. Not a season; not a life; not an empire. George Carlin said: “That’s why they call it the American dream. You have to be asleep to believe it.”

In 1821, John Quincy Adams warned that America should not go abroad “in search of monsters to destroy,” for in doing so, “she might become the dictatress of the world, [but] she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.”

In the late 1890s, Mark Twain witnessed America’s imperial acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines in the Spanish-American war. Twain responded with an observation not taught in school: “America’s flag should be a skull-and-crossbones.” Then he added: “America cannot have an empire abroad and a Republic at home.” Adams and Twain understood that empire and democracy are mutually exclusive.

Lyndon Johnson said in 1964 that he did not want “a wider war” in Vietnam, even as he was lying about events in the Gulf of Tonkin and planning the invasion that President Kennedy refused to launch. Richard Nixon said he would bring The Vietnam War to an early end with “peace and honor,” yet disgraced himself with a heartless disregard for peace and an utter lack of honor, becoming the first American president to resign from office.

Due to the lies and depredations of Johnson and Nixon, the American people grew increasingly suspicious of their political leaders. That distrust deepened into cynicism when President George W. Bush’s claim – that Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction,” which he then used as a pretext for war – proved to be an outrageous lie. And now, alas, Donald Trump inhabits the White House, proving once again that a Nixonian neurotic and Bush-whacking ideologue can become the most powerful and most dangerous man in the world.

Yet all is not lost, not hopeless, not without redemptive possibilities. Despite the forces of obstruction, the American landscape is filled with a multitude of brave, inquisitive, vocal, active, dedicated justice-seekers and peacemakers. They recognize that they are not alone, that solidarity is our only hope, and that their collective voice indicates something like A Renaissance of The Renaissance. They – We! – know who Tom Paine was, and why he wrote “Common Sense” and “The Rights of Man.”

We know that John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were killed for their courage of conscience; and because we refuse to let their lives and deaths be in vain, we carry the torch they lit for a sane and better world. We dare, with John Lennon, to Imagine. We know that there are millions around the world who feel the same, and who are also doing their part to bequeath to a new generation the world of peace and beauty they deserve. Accordingly, we shall not despair; we shall not relinquish hope; and we shall indeed do whatever is necessary to restore America’s tarnished ideals to their once and future glory, for the sake of all humanity, and for Mother Earth and all her blessings.

Stefan Schindler

…………………….

Stefan Schindler is the co-founder of The National Registry for Conscientious Objection; a Board Member of The Life Experience School and Peace Abbey; and author of America’s Indochina Holocaust: The History and Global Matrix of The Vietnam War. His forthcoming book is entitled Buddha’s Political Philosophy.