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Cornel West Gathers Crowds in Syracuse; Links Drones, Racism and Poverty – Vicki Ross, for the Resist Militarism! Task Force

The Peace Center sent at least 27 people to join with about 500 others, to hear Dr. Cornel West in the Tucker Baptist Church in Syracuse on April 27. His title was “Connecting the Dots: Poverty, Racism, and Drones,” he emphasized our common humanity and the way powerful forces demonize and oppress people, violating their civil and human rights. "We're seeing the unfolding of a movement . . . to view drones -- which kill children especially -- as a crime against humanity," West said during the march. "It's a moral and spiritual awakening with political consequences."

Approximately 300, including Dr. West, rallied at BOCES, near Hancock National Guard Air Base, one of the three largest centers of drone operation in the U.S.; we marched to the base and there served a “People’s Order of Protection” to stop the killing, maiming, and terrorizing of innocents. The People’s Orders contrasted with the Orders of Protection (OOPs) issued by DeWitt Town Court for the protection of the Hancock Base Commander from the nonviolent civil resisters who have been arrested at Hancock trying to stop the war crimes committed there. Some 55 OOPs have been issued, but one was recently overturned on appeal, which we hope is the beginning of the end of this egregious misuse of a legal instrument designed to protect victims of domestic violence or stalking. No one was arrested at the base action, although some who attended had been threatened with arrest if they were anywhere near the base. The town had granted permits for the rally, march and vigil.

The following day, at DeWitt Town Court, John Amidon, of Albany was acquitted by Judge Gideon of all charges stemming from his participation in a similar protest at Hancock last year. Video proved he was pulled over the barrier by the officers (contrary to claims by the prosecutor), and his mask was permitted because street theater was permitted.

The Peace Center provided music, flowers for a ceremony at the base honoring drone victims (huge

thanks to Maureen’s Wholesale Flower Shop!), and helped plan and run the events. We have plenty more work to do, especially since the Niagara Falls Air Base has just started a drone mission.

However, the tide is turning – We Shall Overcome.  

Peace, Salaam, Shalom, Pace, Pax, Shanti, Nrim-kyyam-ye – Cynthia Lehman

As the new Chair of the Coordinating Board, I want to introduce myself and share some of my hopes and dreams for the coming year. And I sincerely invite you to share your hopes and dreams for the Peace Center with me and/or any Board member. It is your Peace Center and if it is to be a truly effective and meaningful organization, your participation is essential. This year’s Board is wonderfully interesting, talented, diverse and eager to be the “change we wish to see in the world.“ Please help us to create, sustain and accomplish a vibrant vision for peace in WNY.

This is a very important time for the Peace Center as we enter a search for a new Executive Director. Because of this new beginning, I want to initiate a strategic planning process, strengthen the connections among and within our task forces, increase the active involvement of the membership and find new ways to make the Peace Center financially sustainable.

Throughout my life, I’ve worked for peace and justice as a volunteer and in professional capacities with children, youth and adults. I have been a psychiatric nurse, a college English teacher, a director of a diverse after-school program, a program director in non-profits addressing education, inter-religious and justice issues, an organizer of Buffalo’s Russian Sister City, a volunteer educator with Planned Parenthood, an organizer of an award winning congregational/inner city school partnership and an Alternatives to Violence facilitator. Currently I work as an English instructor for adult refugees who have been settled in Buffalo. I want to bring all that I have learned and my passion for peace to our work together and ask you to join me in whatever way you are able.

 

Peace Center's “Spring Happening” – Deb Ebel

The Spring Happening, on April 6, was a wonderful success with much music, poetry and camaraderie. Meridian West gallery offered their space, which was just perfect! The event filled the house for the duration,

NEWSLETTER March – April - May 2014 Editor: Jean Dickson, dickson.jean@gmail.com

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and the Peace Quilt raffle winner was Jean McNamara, who bough her ticket from Phil Smith. It goes without saying that she was just thrilled. The quilt raffle brought in over $1400 to our skinny little bank account, and the event itself raised over $200 more at the door. It has been suggested that we continue to usher in the equinox/spring annually with a "Happening" of some  sort, so stay tuned!      

Introducing New Coordinating Board Members! – Jean Dickson

In the new Coordinating Board of the WNY Peace Center, we welcome five new members. In alphabetic order, they are Nichole Barrett, Russell Brown, George “BaBa” Eng, Rev. T. Gerard Williams, and Michael Zak.

Nichole is a peace activist and currently a grad student in social work at UB. Russell is a veteran, a longtime active member of the WNY Peace Center, and the Chair of the Resist Militarism! Task force. BaBa served time for crimes committed in the 1960s and 70s, but he has educated himself and tried to redeem himself by helping others; he has also published a scholarly paper on restorative justice. Gerard, a minister who came from New York City in 2008, is an activist for social justice and combating hunger. Michael Zak is a young Buffalo community activist who has been involved in health care, housing, and social justice, and is currently involved in the movement for workers' cooperatives.

Albany Rally for Change in Criminal Justice Policies and Practices – Chuck Culhane

On May 5th some 500 advocates and families of prisoners gathered in front of the Capitol Building to call on Governor Cuomo and the legislature to agree to changes in the parole system, the prisons and jails, the judicial and prosecutorial processes, and other issues. There were several calls for the creation of commissions to examine deficiencies in the current system. Dr. Alice Green’s (Albany) Center for Law and Justice, for example, petitioned for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the distressing conditions documented in The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander’s important book, subtitled Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color-blindness.

The Albany-based New York Prisoner Justice network was the prime organizer. The weather was lovely, as Karima Amin had forecast. She and her partner, George Baba Eng, directors of Prisoners Are People Too, organized the Buffalo contingent. Several

WNY Peace Center members, including Chris Barbera and Martin Gugino, attended.

There were speakers from around the state, and music and song, and Buffalo’s excellent hip-hop rapper Quadir Habeeb. The keynote speaker, Cornel West, fired up the crowd and connected issues of parole reform, solitary confinement, and the drug laws.

New York State Draft Energy Plan Ignores Climate Change – Charley Bowman, May 22, 2014

Climate change describes the changing average environment in which all plants and animals have evolved. Scientists tell us that such change is anthropogenic: caused by humans digging up fossil fuels – oil/methane/coal – and burning it to produce electricity for homes, move our cars and make – shale gas.

To switch to renewable, New York State needs to build its renewable capacity to about 250 GW, producing about 700 TWh annually from a mix of solar, wind, and geothermal. This means we need to find real estate for the solar panels and wind turbines. New York State is fortunate to have ample unused and often otherwise unusable spaces. For example, we could produce 50 TWh from solar (7 TWh wind) on our heavily polluted EPA sites; we could produce all of our electrical needs using a mix of solar and wind located on abandoned croplands; or we could produce all of our power needs from wind located on such lands…not to mention our unused/unneeded military bases, our rooftops, and our windy offshore locations. New York State can switch to 100% renewables without taking 1 square inch of active farmland.

NYSERDA should be holding hearings on the particular mix of renewable necessary to achieve our

“We could have saved the earth, but we were too damned cheap.”   – Kurt Vonnegut

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goal of 100% renewables in 17 years. So far, they are not.

NYSERDA’s public comment period ends on May 30, 2014. The Peace Center’s Renewable Energy Task Force is preparing an extensive comment on the draft energy plan. Please join the effort to inform NYSERDA that we need a realistic plan to end our reliance on fossil/nuclear fuels and fully transition to 100% renewable: http://energyplan.ny.gov/Process/comments.aspx

What a Board Member is Thinking About – Eric Gallion

One of the difficulties we have as activists is “preaching to the choir.” This has two components: getting the same people to all our events - people who are already dialed in, and while they might benefit from a bit more knowledge, we don’t need to win them over. The second part of this, though, is that we often don’t know how to talk to “regular” people about our issues in a way that wins them over.

A case in point might be the issue of our military’s use of drones. The progressive point of view is that this is a horrible practice: terrorizing regions, randomly killing innocent civilians with no oversight or even apology – remote control murder. An average person, however, may consider the use of drones to be a great thing or a necessary evil. Drones present a safe way (for us) to kill people who are trying to kill us, and while there are collateral casualties - the toll of innocents is much less than in past wars. Talking about how bad it is to kill people this way is not going to resonate with them – safety for them and their families comes first.

These people operate from a level of fear, requiring protective action. We need to frame the issue so that they can respond in a progressive way. For instance, there is a lot of evidence that our actions breed widespread anger and hatred, even when we just kill actual terrorists. We can show that our use of drones to kill people actually makes us Americans less secure. We are making terrorists faster than we can kill them, and in more places in the world. These remote-control assassinations also destabilize the countries involved, creating future problems that may come back to haunt us – what we call “blowback.”

With some people, you may be able to draw them into empathizing with what it would be like to live where fear of death from the sky was something you lived with constantly, but don’t count on it. We as a culture are remarkably uncaring when something happens to “other” people. A better argument might be to question why we are even waging these wars at all? They are hugely expensive, and in many cases we are operating in countries without any legal basis. Nobody woke up one day and decided to give the US a license to

go anywhere and kill anyone we deem to be a threat. Nobody gave us permission to act as the world's policeman – or rather its judge, jury and executioner.

In closing -- we need to get out and talk to a wider range of people, and we need to talk to them in ways that encourage them to agree with our viewpoints.

William Ayers speaks at Burning Books –  Joe Chamberlain

On May 21 Bill Ayers read from and discussed his new book, Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident, and his ideas and hopes for the future. He noted that during his Weather Underground days he had bombed property, but never killed anyone, despite claims by right-wingers. Ayer's reform proposals included 1. That everyone in the states, territories, and all

countries with our military bases should be able to vote in U.S. elections;

2. That jails should be eliminated, even for criminals like John Wayne Gacy and George W. Bush. He suggested that for each conviction, a hundred possible alternatives to cages be explored;

3. That education should be free for everyone, pre-school and up, and all educational debt be forgiven immediately;

4. That the draft be restored for all, starting from age18, one year of service every ten years, up to age 58, with choices and training for community service, including teaching the young and caring for the aged.

After his reading, Ayers fielded comments and questions. One man complained that Ayer’s – or Weather Underground's – actions had discredited the larger peace movement with their violence. Finally, in answer to expressions of political despair, Bill Ayers noted that progress has shallows and waves. In the shallows we must engage and listen; when the wave arrives, we will be ready to act.

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