Peace Action Wisconsin

Floods in Pakistan

On July 28^th the Indus River began to flood and has yet to cease since then. This is flooding season for Pakistan but no one was prepared for this season’s outcome. Flooding this dramatic and powerful hasn’t occurred for 80 years but it seems Mother Nature has released a wrath that will be remembered for years and generations to come. With the magnitudes of devastation came the feelings of despair, anger, and frustration. Now aid is being dispersed by the Pakistani government, militant groups, and foreign nations (U.S.). Many whom survived the floods have lost everything and any progress that was made is now washed away with the currents. The destruction is gargantuan and the rebuilding will be painfully slow.

Pakistan has a long, tumultuous history with water, natural disasters and poverty. The government has paid little attention to water quality till the 1990’s. Though the problem has been identified, the government seems to have little power in solving it. Only 0.04 percent of the nation’s budget is used for environmental protection. The pollution comes from textile and food processing mills and only 3 active sewage plants function for the whole country. The unsanitary conditions cause Gastroenteritis (stomach flu), which is the leading cause of death in Pakistan. The last major natural disaster was in 2005 an earthquake hit and killed over 80,000 and injured more than 70,000. Within that time period were smaller earthquakes and average levels of heavy rainfall in July through August. The calm has ended and another major devastation strikes the fragile infrastructure once again. Lastly up to a third of the 170 million Pakistanis reside in poverty. Majority of impoverished work in agriculture, which only constitutes 22 percent of the nation’s economy. Sadly, after the floods have cleared much of the land, cattle, and farming equipment will be virtually non-existent.

The flooding of the Indus River, which runs through Pakistan, has hit cities, towns, and all fields in between. Officials estimate the total area flooded is close to the size of Italy. About 12 million are affected in the hardest hit areas; the Kyber Pahtunkhwa and Panjab Provinces. It is estimated that 2 to 4 million are affected in the Sindh area as well. Out of the 1600 estimated dead, about 113 people died in mudslides. Over 10,000 livestock have perished and 1.4 million acres of cropland has been obliterated. Between 260,000 to 650,000 homes are partially and completely damaged in the Pahtunkwa and Panjab Provinces. Up to 25 miles of the Indus Highway is under water and will cost 411 million in repairs. All electricity grids have been shut down from Panjab to Sindh. Over 2 million people in the flooded zone are left homeless and displaced. Over 6 million people are going hungry and the number will continue to rise in future months. It is estimated that 50 years of progress has been washed away in a matter of a few weeks and will take over a century to fully bounce back.

Who has done what so far? The Pakistani Government has evacuated 500,000 from Sindh and hopes to reach a million. Unfortunately the Pakistani people are very displeased with the slowness and especially the neglect displayed by their President. President Asif Ali Zardari left the country to visit with the Prime Minister David Cameron in Britain while the citizens’ deal with the aftermath of the floods and face more potential flooding. The Pakistani Taliban has publicly condemned foreign aid and has set up refuges to help those affected. The U.S. has decided to aid 150 million dollars, evacuated 6,000 by helicopter and boat, and delivered 718,000 pounds of supplies. Although efforts are generous and continuous by all, it still isn’t enough. Pakistan is asking for a bare minimum of 450 million and this amount could sustain 6 million people on 1 dollar a day for up to 3 months. Many citizens feel they cannot rely on their government to fulfill basic needs. Foreign aid will need to replace what the government lacks.

Flooding has never been this detrimental in the past 8 decades. Many Pakistanis are scared, hungry, homeless, and unsure about the future. So many escaped with their lives but not their livelihoods. Many will have to start over and be at the government, terrorist, and a foreign nations’ mercy for weeks or months. They have lost their land, homes, livestock, and security. It takes an emotional and physical toll on the effected. The worse part about all of this is that the flooding season isn’t even over.

Iraqi Children and War

Over 50 countries in the world have or had wars that have huge effects on the lives of children (freethechildren.com). The War on Terrorism started in 2003 and since then many Iraqi children suffered monumental effects. Their attendance at school and designated play areas plummeted, physical and mental health deteriorated, and are assaulted and used by soldiers on both sides. Infants are born with massive deformities because of the toxic environments the mothers must co-exist in and expose their unborn children to Depleted Uranium, catastrophic amounts of phosphorous and sulfur, and other chemical wastes. The children outside of the womb must face violence on the streets and in their own homes. They must be careful not to play with left over weaponry (i.e. forgotten explosives in the ground) which also degrades the land and poisons the water supply (Lenntech.com). There is already an accumulated 1 billion of U.S. warfare supplies that are unaccounted for. Those missing grenades, machine guns, and other merchandise associated with war lay over Iraqi lands waiting to be discovered by innocent and curious children. War has horrible effects on soldiers such as death, injury, PSTD, amputation, and other various mental or physical ailments. Children are NOT soldiers and should not have to suffer the effects of war. Innocence should be protected, safety should be secured, and well-being should be a right for all children. Stop scarifying the future generation because those “shoulds” need to become absolutes.

Neighborhoods have become war zones. Schools have become bomb targets. Iraqi children have already been exposed to violence for over 30 years. Since 2003 the turmoil and uncertainty has gripped the nation even tighter and quality of life is even worse. Mothers and Fathers fear for their kids’ lives so much that school attendance is down 40 percent (www.guardian.co.uk). Recreational areas such as parks are now vacant lots. Kids witness friends, family, local officials and neighbors being kidnapped, raped, killed, or mutilated. No place seems safe enough to hide from the cruelties of war.

Homeless Iraqi Children left in the streets. Retrieved from: http://fabulously40.com/article/id/the-worlds-street-kids-2622

Some children get enlisted in the war. They are used to advance on the enemy and detonate bombs, shoot the enemy, and attack from places adult sized people can’t get to. In the world today 300,000 children are enlisted as solders. Most death by war is not caused by getting into the action but being innocent bystanders and suffering from abandonment, sexual abuse, psychological trauma, starvation, disease, mutilations and birth defects. In Iraq, 27 percent of children are suffering from malnutrition (USliberals).

Iraqi girl becomes victim of war. Retrieved from: http://www.stolenchildhood.net/entry/millions-of-iraqi-youth-victims-of-ongoing-turmoil/

The “homes” these children grow up in are also under attack from the war-polluted environment. Much of the water is contaminated by chemicals from warfare merchandise. Forests are also polluted and blown up by explosives. Only 37 percent of Iraqi homes are connected to the sewer systems (USLiberals). Imagine trying to raise a child and being one of the 63 percent without plumbing. The wood these families burn could be giving them cancer and the water the children drink could be diseased and the land they run and play on could blow kids into a million pieces.

Numerous toxins are a result of war are embedded in Iraq’s environment. There is 315 tons of Depleted Uranium estimated in  Southern Iraq. It comes from ammunition dust and settles wherever it lands. Cancer has increased 7 to 10 fold and deformities increased 4 to 6 fold. Though the British Ministry of Defense and Pentagon deny that DU has any negative health effects, researchers say otherwise. It is common knowledge that it’s lethal but important to military agencies and so will not officially say  DU is toxic. DU ammunition is possessed by 12 countries and growing (www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/extremedeformities.html). Other toxic chemicals include cyclonite from explosives, which causes cancer. Rocket propellants deposit perchlorates that damage the thyroid gland, which controls the amount of energy the body uses, creates proteins, and measures hormone sensitivity (www.endocrineweb.com/thyroid.html). And as stated above phosphorous and sulfur deposits from weapons and bombs damages the environment.

Why aren’t any treatments for the children offered in Iraq? The first obstacle is that the Sanctions Committee refuses Iraq the equipment needed to clean up the toxic war waste. They also refuse to import medicine needed to treat cancer because these contain radio-isotopes (considered nuclear ingredients). More than half the doctors have either fled the country or were killed since 2003. This is just one example of a health facility lost because war threatens an already delicate and weakened health care system.

“Because of the dire security, organizations such as Unicef (the United Nations Children’s Fund) have only a skeleton presence in Iraq. Save the Children is closing its operations next month after 15 years in the country. The Iraqi Red Crescent Society has been forced to suspend a program for children suffering from war trauma owing to lack of funding” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/feb/06/iraq.topstories3).

This 18-month-old boy from Basra, Iraq suffers from birth defects, which doctors believe were caused by his mothers exposure to DU. Retrieved from: http://angryindian.blogspot.com/2010/03/fallujah-doctors-report-rise-in-birth.html

Lastly the funding for medical clinics and treatment centers for physical and especially mental ailments have ceased to exist.

Children are faced with death everyday in Iraq and will have to suffer the consequences well after the War on Terrorism has ended. Kids will suffer losses of magnitude proportions. Their families, friends, health, mental, safety, education, innocence, and morals will all be damaged by war. The UN issued a report on Iraqi casualties and it ranges from 50 to 100,000. Almost half of those numbers are children.

Water, Women, and Woe in Africa

Amanda White

Women in Africa suffer daily from sexism and are pigeonholed in the duty of retaining, maintaining, and searching for the cheapest and closest water resource in a continent where 14 out of the 47 countries suffer severe water scarcity. It is predicted that by 2025 11 more countries will join this list (WWF). The pressure is on for the women who have traditionally been in charge of the household. Water is the basis of life and women are assigned the task of keeping their families alive even if it means sacrificing their own education, dreams, and their daughters’ futures. An example of a developing country with water and gender inequality issues is Mali. Then there are the facts on water scarcity and the rapid climb across Africa. A detailed description of what women and girls lose because of male superiority, norms, and values. The sole responsibility of water collecting has put pressure on women’s other roles like working in the fields. What has been done and the successes and failures of outside help? Lastly, what can be done in the future and how we can help. Water is one of the most important physical human needs that should be collected, maintained, and retained by ALL human beings. Women and men should share the responsibilities and not place a huge pressure on just one gender because it will negatively affect health and mind, which is too terrible to waste.

Mali is located in the heart of western Africa with a population of 9.4 million and 65 percent of the country is covered by the Saharan, which means that it consists of sparse vegetation and dry lands (N’Djim). About 80 to 90 percent of the total population lives in rural environments and makes most money off of herding and agriculture during the rainy season. Many hope that the two great rivers running through the country (Senegal and Niger) flood and irrigate their patches of field. During the dry season work is slowed and women have to fend for their families. The satisfaction rate for “potable water” is 49 percent so half of the women and girls and their families live on unsatisfactory amounts of water (N’Djim). Because of deforestation and overgrazing the water table is negatively imbalanced which means less ground water to wells, running through taps, or even collection by the streams (WWF). So women need to travel farther and longer to find any type of water because the cost of water from a closer source takes half their income and leaves no money for other basic needs like clothes, food, or shelter. When women and girls have to spend such a majority of their time on fetching water maintaining the household, and childcare; there is no time for anything else. Since the girls of Mali have the monumental task of helping the women with water collection, agriculture upkeep, and other traditional household duties the girls’ education suffers greatly. The literacy rate for women is less than half that of men (11.5percent versus 26.6percent of men). For young girls about 34.4 percent have less primary schooling than the 21.7 percent of boys. This unequal balance in the world of academia will stunt the independence of the future women in Mali and gender inequality will continue through the generations.

An average household in an African developing country consumes about 40 to 60 liters of water daily for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and personal hygiene (Rathgeber). While in the U.S. on an average daily basis one household uses 600 liters of water (Shah). So its no surprise that only 12 percent of the world’s pop (none are 3^rd world countries) uses up 85 percent of Earth’s fresh water (Shah). Lack of safe drinking water contributes to 80 percent of the diseases in the world. This leads to one of the main causes in death and every day 650 people die from Diarrhea (WWF). About 250 million individuals were diagnosed with water borne diseases at the dawn of the 21^st century. A majority of 75 percent of those diagnosed resided in tropical, rural, and/or slum-like areas (Aureli).

Women face hardships in education, employment, and health regarding the traditional roles inflicted on them at birth. As an example above many girls in Sub-Saharan Mali where there is an increase in water scarcity have limited amount of education. Although it is studied and predicted that four years of primary education can increase farming productivity up to 10 percent so the 70 to 80 percent majority of women working in the fields could be doing better if allowed more time at a younger age to complete the basic education. The access to Sub-Saharan African schools is also a challenge because they spend so much time helping mothers, grandmother, aunts, and other women of the community that are trekking to the already very distant education facility is a challenge. Also most girls end up repeating grades more often than boys. This could be due to the harassment of peers and other male and some female superiorities hinting at domesticity rather than advancing in mathematics or engineering. Today in Africa there are 57 percent of girls that are not enrolled in primary education.

Apparently running a household, raising children, and fetching water several times a day is not considered work but mothers’ natural responsibilities. Even with the traditional home responsibilities women still occupy 70 to 80 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa workforce in agriculture. They work on 80 percent of the food storage and transportations, 90 percent of the hoeing and weeding, and 60 percent of the harvesting and marketing portions of agriculture. While still spending 70 percent of their own personal time collecting water. Women work on average 461 minutes a day versus men’s work with 371 minutes (Blackden). In Uganda girls work 21.6 hours a week compared to their male classmates whom work 18.8 hours on agriculture (Blackden). So in total women work 25 percent more than men do, but still see no social, economical or ethical benefit to their extra work (Aureli).

There are more ways to attain poor health than just dehydration from lack of water. Women carry up to 20 kilos or water cans on their heads, shoulders, and/or backs to travel 1 to 3 hours back in one direction. This can cause deformities and chronic illnesses from such a heavy weight over long distances for so much of their lives (Aureli). Women exhaust 27 percent of caloric intake in one day just from retrieving and carrying water back to their families (Rathgeber). Without education and constant male dominance women face the heavy burdens of child bearing at a young age while keeping up with household duties and finding water. This all means a high fertility rate, low birth weights, child mortality, and high maternal mortality           (Abada). For the children, specifically girls, of this environment also feel the effects of water scarcity and unequal gender roles. There is a low survival rate for grades 5 and lower (notably girls). Boy children are favored in the household and their health takes priority of sisters with 14 percent of girls considered malnourished compared to the 5 percent of boys in Africa.

While women get the task of doing the work of raising children, cooking, cleaning, working in the fields, and being submissive to their husbands which all include the necessity of water that they must fetch on a daily basis. The husbands have control of where they will live, investments of money, and are all head of the household decisions. Since men are in charge of the finances it is hard to convince them to buy water when they have “traditional” wives that could walk longer for free. Though many outsiders looking in have tried to help like the Lesotho Project that more so submitted women to the task of labor orientated positions than executive-decision making. Their water-oriented roles were overlooked by planners and did not make their lives any easier. Those who want to help like donors, volunteers, and planners must identify that water quality is not a main concern for women it is about time management and the cheapest price. Also individual communities prefer different things with regards to water. It may be cheaper to go farther or going on farther walks to water sources is a bonding time for the women of the community. It could be a combination of characteristics on why water-saving projects fail and children and adults still die from water born illnesses. Even when a project does have success the men of the community will take credit on its behalf because they are the superior beings that should receive the awards and possibly pass on the achievements to the women of the household. How long could a donor’s project work? The solutions might only be short-term and not benefit the women and the community in the long run. The distance of the new wells or dam creating streams could still be of great distance, it could be too costly for the households around the solution, there is a lack of expertise and it would be costly to educate the locals, and lastly the unavailability of spare parts when wells breaks down. Women have the most experience with the water and many NGOs believe that they should be given more education on water technology and strategies. This is again is pigeonholing their talents. Let the water handling become a gender neutral thing and then maybe women and their girl children could become more than the water collectors but advance into other areas of expertise.

Water, women, and their woes in Africa are important to address because so many of the problems Sub-Saharan Africa faces could be solved if more people become aware of the effects water scarcity and male superiority poses. It is deadly to have such a big responsibility on one gender of each household. This causes a decrease in education health, and personal time for women and girls. Women and girls are subjected to hard labor and the relentless task of keeping the household and members sanitary, nourished, and hydrated. This is a vicious cycle that will not stop unless support for equality is raised and water scarcity is solved. Women are forever tied to the wells and streams they collect from because that is all they are allowed to know. This war of resource responsibility needs to stop therefore; a revolution can begin for more gender equality among the Sub-Saharan African communities.

We would like your comments on the articles posted on our website. Please register and let us know what you think with comments to this blog post.

by Bob Graf, aka www.nonviolentcow.org

A friend sent me last Sunday an article about The Christian Military Chaplaincy. If you read it under Featured Articles and know me a little bit you will know why. I am driven by a force, greater than I, to speak out against violence of human beings on human beings, be it in the streets or at war. The ethical and moral teachings behind this article on military chaplaincy are the same as the ones that drive our Marquette University Peace Action (MUPA) movement to have Marquette Be Faithful to the Gospel and No Longer Host Military Training on Campus, which violates Christian moral values and principles on war and violence.
When looking for a picture for this post I find a military recruiting poster for chaplains on an another article by Father McCarthy on this subject: Pentagon Mammon Molds Christianity. He points out in this article, as in the other one, that in conformity with Pentagon authorized policy, U.S. Military Chaplains do not teach the theology and norms of their Church’s Christian Just War tradition or Gospel Nonviolence to recruits and military personnel. With the military dictating what Christian values can be taught or not taught by chaplains to soldiers, the picture takes on a whole new meaning that is repulsive to Christians who seek to stop violence of humans on humans.
Tomorrow morning a group of us will stand in the cold for a prayer vigil of three recent homicide victims in Milwaukee. How many more men,woman and children must die in the USA, Iraq, or Afghanistan before we stop teaching and preaching violence and war? Military Chaplains, like the rest of us, must break the silence and say “enough!”

Army Chaplain Recruiting Poster

by Jim Draeger
Many people today in our own communities and across the nation ask, “Where is the peace movement?” Answers range from the peace movement is dead to we are pacified by Obama to we are fighting harder than ever. Regardless, the peace movement is alive, healthy, and strong both on and off the streets.
The peace movement gained prominence by taking to the streets. We learned from the labor and civil rights movements that we must rally in the streets to affect change. While our numbers in the streets have declined, our resolve has only strengthened. The core of movement still rallies; some of us have hit the streets every week for decades. We must continue our presence in the streets to keep our voices heard among the noise that attempts to stifle our message of peace and justice.
Equally important to efforts on the streets is our organizing work off the streets. Rallies have empowered us to act beyond the streets in our own homes, communities, and offices. We now lobby elected officials directly, write letters to the editor, organize public educational events, and hold conversations with all citizens to encourage them to find a place in the peace movement. This is the preparatory work that assembles the masses into the streets.
Now more than ever we need to continue our work on and off the streets. I challenge you to take at least one hour a week to work for peace and justice. Write a letter. Lobby your elected officials. Hold a conversation with your opponent. Talk with your neighbors. Gather signatures for petitions. March in the streets. Whatever the action…you are the peace movement and you have the power to enact change.

This is an email blog from Joe Radoszewski (minor editing by Jessie Read):

After all of the initial optimism the first few days of talks in Copenhagen 2 weeks ago, what has happened is basically a total meltdown in arriving at any useful solutions while the clock is desperately ticking. The Corporation of the United States has proved once again thru Hillary Clinton’s double talk that it is a hypocrite of the greatest magnitude, offering false promises and untenable conditions and solutions. Massive arrests of peaceful protesters, the barring of legitimate delegates to the Bella Convention Center and on and on. The people of civil society have proven themselves once again to be no match for the all-powerful corporations. If you have shown no interest in this and are not outraged by what has just occurred, than you are traveling the same dark road that all who before you have traveled when they ignored the famous words of Niemöller, who is perhaps best remembered for his oral admission of personal guilt and condemnation of the bystander. The exact words are in dispute; their sentiment is not:

First they came for the communists and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Finally, they came for me and there was no one left to speak out.

I know for a fact that many reading this blog are mostly oblivious to what has just happened in Copenhagen. What is worse, that same group doesn’t even know enough to give a damn. It is but yet another example of what the future holds for us all because of the mindless apathy that has become all pervasive. I can only encourage everyone, who has yet to do so, to watch the last 2 episodes of Democracy Now to see what is in store for the world in the next few decades, especially those in the lowest lying areas of the world who are most concerned such as The Maldives, Bangladesh, Tuvalu, The Solomon Islands and on: http://www.democracynow.org/

In a nutshell, what has occurred just this week in Copenhagen is a view into the near future. It is global warming on a massive scale with no turning back; armed repression of civil rights in protest and free speech; the continual dumbing down of society especially our own; further repression of the truth and real news sans facts; further robbing of the middle classes resulting in ever greater chasms between the haves and the have-nots. Whether or not one believes the story of Noah’s Ark is fact or fable, I would suggest at a minimum, that everyone learn how to tread water.

Now … do you want to know how I really feel? I am outraged with the School of Assassins; I am outraged that Cheney and Bush were not impeached and laughed all the way to the bank; I am outraged that global warming is real, that our planet is in danger while the pathetic masses do nothing but talk … while there is still time for action; I am outraged that we have been so conditioned to live in a country that condones torture, massive imprisonments, continual wars and genocide while everybody continues to shop, watch TV and look the other way; I am outraged that while we now have an articulate president, he constantly offers promises and hope … but delivers meaningless table scraps and double-speak; I am outraged that we have a Congress so feeble and pathetic it can’t pass even the simplest legislation without rendering it almost useless; I am outraged that we have clandestine covert activities carried on not only by our government but also by government condoned paramilitary groups like Blackwater, no different than those of Savak, the Gestapo, Stasi or the KGB with the only thing keeping them from us … is a simple order of the president when the time is ripe. Where are the cries of outrage? Where is the protest. Who’s even paying attention? Naomi Klein was simply hoarse from all the talking and shouting in Copenhagen. Evo Morales was disgusted and disappointed. Environmental movements such as 350, TCK TCK, GreenPeace, numerous others … rejected and dejected. Where’s the outrage? Where are the Churches? In Nazi Germany, these men stood up as did Franz Jaggerstatter; where are our leaders? Martin Niemöller Reinhold Niebuhr Dietrich Bonhoeffer

For anybody who thinks Al Gore is off the track, global warming is a joke or irrelevant or phoney science, as do the makers of this fake-science broadcast on GB tv Ch #4, and I hesitate to give this link lest it be used as reason to do nothing, [see: http://www.greatglobalwarmingswindle.co.uk/ ] which aired in England in about 2007, to throw a wrench in the works of global solutions, had better take an hour and read thru this next well documented treatise by Bill Butler: “The Great Global Warming Swindle” is itself a Fraud and a Swindle” at http://www.durangobill.com/Swindle_Swindle.html

There, now I’ve said it. Wake up America, it’s no longer 1950.

By Liz Klainot

As the healthcare debate rages on, one of the main questions people have is “how are we going to afford it?” The general consensus seems to be that spending on healthcare should not increase the National deficit, but this would make it tough to get the reforms we need. So what can we do? Well, I have a simple solution. Decrease military spending, and instead shift that portion of the budget to spending on healthcare.

Right now over 40% of US tax dollars are spent on the military, while just 3% are spent on social programs, such as health care. 3%! What kind of country spends all this money on fighting wars and killing people while not taking care of basic human needs, like health care! In the fiscal year 2010 we will pay $704 billion in military expenditures! $130 billion of this will go to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just think how far that money could get us in terms of providing health care coverage for our citizens. As of September 30th, Americans have paid $915 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan! We could provide comprehensive health coverage for all Americans with that amount of money.
In the next decade, the Pentagon budget will increase by at least $133.1 billion! If we are so worried about increasing the deficit, why do we do it every year with military spending? At the same time, any healthcare legislation is expected to be deficit neutral. So, it’s apparently just fine to spend 100s of billions of dollars a year killing people, but when it comes to saving people, we need to watch what we spend.

We are constantly expanding our military bases in countries we are not at war with. What’s more important, maintaining a military base in Germany, or treating dozens of children with cancer? Buying new bombers, or helping reduce infant mortality by providing women with proper prenatal care? We need to get our priorities straight! By spending all of this money on war, we are not only killing civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the globe, we are also killing our own citizens, who are dying from lack of adequate healthcare!

We can provide health coverage for everyone without increasing the deficit, if we simply shift some of our war budget over to the health care budget. This would help bring peace abroad, and a more peaceful life for the citizens of this country, as they will be adequately treated for all health conditions and will not worry about how they are going to afford thousands of dollars in medical bills. This is a message congress needs to hear! If you care about this issue, please call your representatives and senators and let them know! We need to spend money on healthcare, not warfare!