Statement of Respect to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and all Native NationsPeace Action WI acknowledges that in Milwaukee we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland and Wisconsin is the home of the sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican Nations. We affirm our solidarity and support for the rights of Wisconsin Indigenous Nations.
October 12: Sherman/North
October 19: 27th/National in Support of ending the US Embargo on Cuba
On Nihon Hidankyo's Nobel Peace Prize
Kawasaki Akira
Peace Boat Executive Committee Member https://peaceboat.org/english/
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) International Steering Group Member
Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (JANA) Co-ChairOct 11, 2024
I am deeply happy to hear that Nihon Hidankyo has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I am truly elated. I am recalling the faces of each and every person who has spoken out about the reality of the atomic bombings, recalling their painful memories and struggling with their severe physical conditions. Many of them have already passed away. Now, I am thinking about each and every one of them.
More than ever, now is the time for the world to listen to the voices of the Hibakusha.
I believe that the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo precisely because we are now in a critical situation in which nuclear weapons may be again used. Hiroshima and Nagasaki must never be repeated, anywhere in the world.
In Japan, too, the reality is that the experience of war and the atomic bombings is becoming a faded memory. Politicians speak of strengthening nuclear deterrence and even of nuclear sharing. The awarding of the Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo is an opportunity to remind ourselves that Japan is the only country to have suffered the wartime use of nuclear weapons, and that we must play a leading role globally towards the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Japan must sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. If the Government of Japan is to congratulate Nihon Hidankyo, within that, it should also state its commitment to signing and ratifying the TPNW.
I have learned from many Hibakusha of Nihon Hidankyo the importance of Japan's Peace Constitution, and particularly its war-renouncing Article 9. Now is the time for us to return to the foundations of Japan's post-war pacifism , and hold high the principle of building peace through trust and international cooperation, without relying on military force.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2024/press-release/
DEMOCRACY NOW!
Atomic Bomb Survivors Win Nobel Peace Prize, Say Gaza Today Is Like Japan 80 Years Ago
A Japanese group of atomic bomb survivors, Nihon Hidankyo, has won the Nobel Peace Prize as fears grow of a new nuclear arms race. The head of the group has compared Gaza today to Japan 80 years ago when the U.S. bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We feature a Democracy Now! interview with Setsuko Thurlow, a survivor of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and an anti-nuclear activist, and get response from Joseph Gerson, president of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, a U.S. nuclear disarmament activist who has spent decades working closely with the group.
https://peaceboat.org/english/news/ceasefire-in-gaza_oct2024
Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Qualified Recipient for First Time in at Least Six Years
Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice
SATURDAY, Oct 12, 12:30 PM
VIGIL TO HONOR THE INNOCENT PEOPLE KILLED IN GAZA
Martin Luther King Plaza, 909 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, Racine 53404
Since Israel’s military assault began last October, more women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military than the equivalent period of ANY other conflict over the past two decades. The Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice is holding a vigil to honor the innocent lives killed and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the region.
During this solemn observance there will be speakers, music and prayers as well as a call to action.
Link to website: https://racinepeace.wordpress.com/
Contact: Sonali Knotek, 262-498-6664
Women in Black Weekly Peace Vigil
Thurs, Oct 10, NOON-12:30 PM
La Crosse, WI at Main St & 4th St
Contact Deborah Buffton [email protected]
Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice
STAND FOR PEACE
SATURDAY, Oct 19, 12:30 PM
Join us this Saturday for our weekly Stand for Palestine. We meet on the corner of Hwys 20 and 31, which you get to by driving into the Kohl's parking lot and parking near the AT&T store (5502 Washington Ave, WI 53406.)
Fox Valley Peace Coalition
Vigil in Appleton First Saturdays
Nov 2, 2024 at 11 AM
College & Appleton St
for info: [email protected]
REGISTRATION OPEN SOON
WISDOM FOR JUSTICE!
Campaign Against Torture to End Solitary Confinement
Wednesday, October 23rd at 11 AM
Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF) 1015 N. 10th St. Milwaukee, WI 53233.
Directly impacted leaders and religious leaders will call for an end to the torture of solitary confinement. There is an urgent need to completely depopulate Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility and close the state's two oldest prisons in Waupun and Green Bay.
We will stand in solidarity with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture's Together to End Solitary Campaign that raises attention on the 23rd of each month.
You can visit https://www.nrcat.org/torture-in-us-prisons/take-action/together-campaign for details about the campaign.
Olive Harvest 2024 – Honor Palestinian Resilience
Oct 27, 2024, 1-4 pm
Tenney Park Shelter, 402 N Thornton Ave, Madison
The event will close with a public vigil on E. Johnson St.
Please join us for an afternoon in honor of Palestinian resilience during the 2024 olive harvest. Enjoy live Palestinian music by Ensemble Shamaali, Palestinian olives, olive oil, hot tea, and light Palestinian snacks.
Sponsor an olive tree in the Madison-Masafer Yatta olive grove, or shop for Palestinian olive oil, olive oil soap, hand-crafted treasures, and Stand with Palestine yard signs.
Explore or purchase children’s books about Palestine with Read Palestine! Children’s activities will include a read-aloud, kite decorating, window sign making, and temporary tattoos.
Andaleeb Cartonera will have a table where you can make a cartonera (cardboard covered book) about Palestine, or borrow or purchase one of these beautiful works of art.
Learn about Madison’s efforts to educate grocery stores about the Sabra Hummus boycott, and write a customer comment to ask Willy Street Co-op to remove Sabra from the shelves.
Hear from Madison groups working to end the Genocide in Gaza, and learn about the Madison-Masafer Yatta Olive Grove, a project to help farmers remain on their lands in the southern West Bank despite a spiking campaign of settler and military violence that includes the destruction of olive groves.
This event is free and open to the public, donations accepted, and presented by Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, Jewish Voice for Peace-Madison, and Palestine Partners.
2024 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND CHILI SUPPER
Tuesday, Nov, 19, 5:30 PM (Doors open at 5 PM)
Zao church, 2319 E Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI 53211
$5-$10 donation
Music Julianne Lovely Thompson
Speaker - from Jewish Voice for Peace
Election of 2025 Steering Committee. See our website for candidate’s bios.
Nominations for the 2025 Steering Committee are accepted from the floor.
It's Time for Congress to Challenge Years of Failed Pentagon Audits
Greg Williams, Director of the Center for Defense Information
Project On Government Oversight"A closer look at a few concerning Pentagon programs offers a clear example of where we’re going wrong and highlights the pressing need for acquisition reform.
- The Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program: This $141 billion program, designed to replace our current ICBMs, has seen costs soar over 81% through its program cycle. Yet even absent reliable financial data, Congress’s support for this program seems unwavering.
- The Constellation frigate program: This $22 billion program is running three years behind schedule, a delay the Government Accountability Office (GAO) attributes at least in part to “the Navy’s decision to begin construction before the design was complete.” As my colleague Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette recently testified, “Agreeing to a contract for a critical program like Constellation without first having a design for that program seems like, at best, acquisition and procurement malpractice.”
- The F-35 Lightning II fighter program: At an investment of nearly $2 trillion, the F-35 program has been so plagued by cost overruns, delays, and performance problems that there is not space to list them all here.10 At the same time, the Department of Defense inspector general identified the Joint Strike Fighter Program (the F-35) as one of 10 “weaknesses” in the FY 2022 audit:
The [Joint Strike Fighter, or] JSF Program Office was unable to verify the completeness and value of the JSF Program assets, and the assets were not in an accountable property system of record. Not only were the auditors unable to perform the necessary procedures to conclude on the JSF property balances, but they also could not quantify the extent of the misstatement.
Hiroshima survivor Hideko Tamura
Hideko with her mother who perished in the blast
Video link for Hiroshima survivor Hideko Tamura's Story
A moving recount on video, by Hideko Tamura, was 10 years old living in Hiroshima, when atomic bombs wrought terrible destruction on the Japanese cities and citizens of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. She describes her experiences before, during and after the Hiroshima bomb.
She appeals to us all, "I depend on all of your energy, please continue what you are doing to rule out violent means, especially this inhumane, horrible weapon.... We are not barbarians, we are humans, and let us be truly and fully human...."
She’s the author of "One Sunny Day, A Child’s Memories of Hiroshima" and "When A Peace Tree Blooms.”
Opinion piece in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
by Janan Najeeb, Peace Action WI member and Founder and Executive Director of the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition
Why do college students protest? They know truth about Israel's genocide in Gaza
"We are telling them that a bunch of tents on college campuses is more problematic than the ethnic cleansing of tens of thousands of Palestinians, including more than 70% of whom are women and children, done with our tax dollars and military support."
https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/2024/05/13/uw-madison-protests-gaza-palestinians-war-genocide/73614300007/
Brief video on the Merchants of Death.
https://x.com/btnewsroom/status/1767684183609020482?s=12&t=NGZ9khDodTFDZ8bpfgyhgA
TBD: meet at 7:30am Weekday Coffee and Banner Drop for Palestine
Hosted by Milwaukee 4 Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace Milwaukee
Location: Meet at Colectivo Lakefront, walk to bridge over Lincoln Memorial Parkway
Details: We start the new year with more energy and a louder voice. Please join JVP Milwaukee and Milwaukee4Palestine on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7:30 am for a morning coffee and then a banner drop at 8 am. We cannot stop. We will not stop.TBD
TAKE ACTION TO STOP US RETALIATION FOR ICJ RULING IN
SOUTH AFRICA v. ISRAEL
Email and call your congressional reps.
Capitol Hill switchboard: 202-224-3121
Sample Script: Hello, my name is __________ and I am your constituent in zip code ___________. Please issue a statement (email, social media post) urging the Biden administration to restore funding to UNRWA, the UN relief agency providing the bulk of humanitarian relief–water and food– to the imprisoned Palestinian people under Israeli assault in Gaza. To cut off funding for UNRWA at Israel’s request is to threaten 2.3 million Gazans with mass starvation and turn Gaza into an extermination camp. Demand the White House fund UNRWA and not undermine the World Court order demanding provision of humanitarian aid. The US must not commit genocide in my name. Thank you.
Summary of the UNWRA situation from the BBC News:
The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize- awarded to jailed women's rights activist, Narges Mohammadi.
She is an Iranian physicist/engineer who has been working for women's rights in Iran for several decades and for her outspoken leadership she is in prison with a sentence of 31 years and 150 lashes
Demand that Gwen Moore call for an immediate ceasefire, no more weapons to Israel.
Office of WI Congressional Rep Gwen Moore, Phone: (414) 297-1140
The Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine
Website: https://www.wiscoforpali.org
URGENT! Call Congress: Stop the Gaza Genocide
Over 2 million Palestinian people trapped in Gaza are living through genocide in real time, as Israel bombs and starves them. Your solidarity is vital.
Representatives Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, Andre Carson, Summer Lee, and Delia Ramirez have just introduced a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and for humanitarian assistance to be allowed to enter Gaza. It is essential that we generate thousands of calls to elected officials asking them to support this life-saving resolution for a ceasefire.
TAKE ACTION: Call your members of Congress. It's extremely important to urge them to support this ceasefire.
Fill in your information and click "Call me.”
You'll receive a phone call on the number you provided and be patched through to your representatives' and senators' offices, one after the other. After you speak to one office, press * (star) to be connected to your next representative, until you've called all three. If you don't get through, leave a voicemail.
Note that we should be thanking Reps. Bush (MO-01), Tlaib (MI-12), Carson (IN-07), Lee (PA-12), Ramirez (IL-03), Bowman (NY-16), Watson Coleman (NJ-12), García (IL-04), Jackson (IL-01), Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Omar (MN-05), Pressley (MA-07), and Velázquez (NY-07) for their support of the resolution.
SCRIPT 1 FOR SENATORS:
My name is [YOUR FIRST & LAST NAME], and I'm a constituent of [SENATOR'S NAME]. I'm calling about Palestine and Israel. The senator must take immediate steps to deescalate, by calling for a ceasefire, pressuring Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and refusing to send any additional weapons or funding to the Israeli military. I am asking the senator to publicly call for a ceasefire along the lines of the resolution in the House led by Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib.
Any more military funding to Israel will further fuel violence by actively arming the Israeli government. This is a genocide. The senator must take action now to stop Israel's genocide against Palestinian people in Gaza and end all U.S. complicity in Israel's violence,
SCRIPT 2 FOR HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES:
My name is [YOUR FIRST & LAST NAME], and I'm a constituent of [REPRESENTATIVE'S NAME]. I'm calling about Palestine and Israel. The representative must take immediate steps to deescalate, by calling for a ceasefire, pressuring Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and refusing to send any additional weapons or funding to the Israeli military. I urge the Representative to add their name to to the ceasefire resolution introduced by Reps. Bush and Tlaib and co sponsored by 11 other Representatives.
This is a genocide. The representative must take action now to stop Israel's genocide against Palestinian people in Gaza and end all U.S. complicity in Israel's violence.
Women's Earth and Climate Network
Indigenous leaders urge Biden to shut down Line 5 pipeline due to ‘imminent’ threat. Peace Action WI has signed on.
CALL
President Biden has the authority to make the call to Shut down Line 5
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Phone: 1-202-456-1111
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Governor Evers may have the authority to make an emergency/crisis call
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Phone: 608-266-1212
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Online: https://evers.wi.gov/pages/connect.aspx
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Report: The Warfare State: How Funding for Militarism Compromises Our Welfare
In FY 2023, out of a $1.8 trillion federal discretionary budget, $1.1 trillion — or 62 percent— was for militarized programs. That includes war and weapons, law enforcement and mass incarceration, and detention and deportation.
Less than $2 out of every $5 in federal discretionary spending was available to fund investment in people and communities, including primary and secondary public education, housing programs, child care programs, federal disaster relief, environmental programs, and scientific research.
The U.S. spent $16 on the military and war for every $1 that was spent on diplomacy and humanitarian foreign aid.
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The vast majority of militarized spending was for weapons, war and the Pentagon, at $920 billion.
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Only $56 billion was spent for international affairs, diplomacy, and humanitarian foreign aid.
Antiwar Activists Publish Ceasefire in Ukraine Petition in Washington, DC newspaper on Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Peace Action WI delivered the Peace in Ukraine appeal letter to Gwen Moore's office, Ron Johnson's Office and Tammy Baldwin's office.
IT’S TIME TO STOP THE KILLING AND DEVASTATION. CEASEFIRE & PEACE NEGOTIATIONS NOW!
The war in Ukraine has taken hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives, uprooted millions, contaminated land, air and water and worsened the climate crisis.
The longer the war goes on, the greater the danger of spiraling escalation which can lead to a wider war, environmental devastation and nuclear annihilation.
The war diverts billions that could be addressing urgent human needs.
Total military victory cannot be achieved by either Russia or Ukraine. It is time to support the calls by Pope Francis, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres, Presidents Lula de Silva of Brazil, Erdoğan of Turkey, Xi of China, and others for a ceasefire and a negotiated end to this calamitous war.
Stop the killing, agree to a ceasefire and begin negotiations!
Bangor Trident Nuclear Sub Base - Kitsap, WA - August 8, 2022
- The carbon bootprint of the US military, larger than that of many countries.
- The wars for oil and other resources – how they support the fossil fuel-based status quo.
- The unequal burden of both climate crisis and militarism on people of color, the poor, and future generations.
- The resources spent on militarism and war – redirect to respond to the existential threat of climate crisis.
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