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Revised Oct. 6, 2023, Hilo Peace Leaflet

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2023

        Hawaii Solidarity for 

        Peace in Ukraine!

Day of Prayer and Civil Disobedience to Urge Diplomacy in Ukraine War

  Washington, DC – This week a group of constituents and faith leaders will gather in Washington D.C. for a day of prayer, advocacy, and potentially, civil disobedience to demand that Congress call for a ceasefire and diplomacy as a path to peace in Ukraine. The group will hold a sit-in at Senator Bernie Sanders’ office to remind the progressive senator of his antiwar roots and urge him to take diplomatic steps to end the deadly conflict. (Hawaii Representatives and Senators – Case, Tokuda, Hirono, and Schatz –where do you stand?)

  Faith leaders from various religions will also hold a prayer vigil in the Senate. The faith leaders include Michele Dunne, Executive Director, Franciscan Action Network; Tarunjit Butalia, Executive Director, Religions for Peace, USA; Rev. Adam Taylor, President, Sojourners; Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee; Amelia Keagan, Associate General Secretary for Policy, Friends Committee for National Legislation; Prof. Eli McCarthy, Just Peace Fellow, Franciscan Action Network and Georgetown University. They will also be joined by Dr. Cornel West.

DEMAND A DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION TO THE WAR

& $$$ FOR URGENT NEEDS AT HOME.

Tell Congress to vote NO on billions more for weapons and military
training to continue the Russia-Ukraine-NATO war. This is a theft of working people to line the pockets of weapons manufacturers which is opposed by 55% of the American people.

In the US–34 million are food insecure; — Most live paycheck to paycheck; –Millions have no access to clean water; –Over 500,000 are homeless; –650,000 are bankrupt from medical bills

STOP THE KILLING – CEASEFIRE NOW
NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE, NOT WEAPONS FOR ENDLESS WAR
BILLION$ FOR HUMAN NEEDS, NOT FOR WAR PROFITEERS.
NUCLEAR ABOLITION, NOT NUCLEAR WAR!

  The Advocacy Day is sponsored by CODEPINK and the Peace in Ukraine Coalition. For more information, please contact Medea Benjamin Medea.benjamin@gmail.com, 415-235-6517 or Melissa Garriga melissa@codepink.org, 228-990-4168

The Path to Peace is NOT More Weapons & War!

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760

         Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts.

For more information see http://www.malu-aina.org

October 6, 2023, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1149Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office

 

Oct. 6, 2023 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – The Path to Peace is NOT More Weapons & War!

Monday, October 2nd, 2023

Hawaii Solidarity for Peace in Ukraine!

Day of Prayer and Civil Disobedience to Urge Diplomacy in Ukraine War

  Washington, DC – On Wednesday, October 4, a group of constituents and faith leaders will gather in Washington D.C. for a day of prayer, advocacy and, potentially, civil disobedience to demand that Congress call for a ceasefire and diplomacy as a path to peace in Ukraine. The group will hold a sit-in at Senator Bernie Sanders’ office to remind the progressive senator of his antiwar roots and urge him to take diplomatic steps to end the deadly conflict.

  Faith leaders from various religions will also hold a prayer vigil in the Senate. The faith leaders include Michele Dunne, Executive Director, Franciscan Action Network; Tarunjit Butalia, Executive Director, Religions for Peace, USA; Rev. Adam Taylor, President, Sojourners; Joyce Ajlouny, General Secretary, American Friends Service Committee; Amelia Keagan, Associate General Secretary for Policy, Friends Committee for National Legislation; Prof. Eli McCarthy, Just Peace Fellow, Franciscan Action Network and Georgetown University. They will also be joined by Dr. Cornel West.

  The vigil will be followed by a sit-in at Senator Sanders’ office in Washington D.C. The sit-in will coincide with a protest happening at Senator Sanders’ office in Burlington, VT. The activists in D.C. plan to use large and colorful visuals, including a Bernie impersonator who will read out Sanders’ own words regarding the need for diplomacy to end the Ukraine war. 

  A coalition of constituents from across the country will spend the day in the halls of Congress visiting their representatives and asking for them to pursue a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine. The coalition includes constituents from Vermont, California, Washington State, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. Those taking part in the sit-in are risking arrest in order for their voices to be heard.

  “I have been so disappointed in my senator, Bernie Sanders. He is usually a champion for peace, but he has voted for more and more weapons to Ukraine and even criticized Democrats who called for peace talks. Yes, Bernie should condemn the Russian invasion, but he should also be calling for a negotiated end to this brutal war,” says Crystal Zevon, an artist and CODEPINK peace activist from Barnet, VT who is coming to Washington DC. 

  “We need Bernie to provide leadership to put a stop to the US funding of the Ukraine war now. Use the money for health care, not warfare,” says Burlington resident  James Marc Leas, a retired IBM engineer and now a patent attorney. 

  The day of action will start at 9:30am ET in the Senate Hart Building atrium and will move to Senator Sanders’ office at approximately 10:30 am ET. The group is calling on all senators to take action to end the costly and deadly war by prioritizing diplomacy over weapons. They believe that there is no possible victory on the battlefield and that the only way to end this war is through negotiations. (Hawaii Representatives and Senators – Case, Tokuda, Hirono, and Schatz –where do you stand?)

  The Advocacy Day is sponsored by CODEPINK and the Peace in Ukraine Coalition. For more information, please contact Medea Benjamin Medea.benjamin@gmail.com, 415-235-6517 or Melissa Garriga melissa@codepink.org, 228-990-4168

The Path to Peace is NOT More Weapons & War!

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760

         Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts.

For more information see http://www.malu-aina.org

October 6, 2023, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1149Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office

-- 
Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760
Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

Military says what? “We are stewards of the land.”

Monday, October 2nd, 2023

Pohakuloa Toxic Area (PTA) Commander says

“We are stewards of the land.”

Lt. Col. Tim Alvarado

LTC Tim Alvarado, PTA Commander

Can you imagine — the commander of a 133,000-acre military base that has been bombed and shelled for 75 years with millions of live rounds fired annually (including Depleted Uranium radiation, lead, etc.) saying “WE ARE STEWARDS OF THE LAND.”

 

  1. Jun 29, 2023 · By JOHN BURNETT Hawaii Tribune-Herald | Thursday, June 29, 2023, 12:05 a.m. Share this story. JOHN BURNETT/Tribune-Herald Lt. Col. Timothy Alvarado, the new commanding

Even the State DLNR in testimony on the State lease renewal draft EIS of 23,000 acres of Hawaiian Crown & Government lands to the military on June 7, 2022 had harsh words. Both the Dept. of Land & Natural Resources and Office of Conservation & Coastal Lands  listed a range of adverse military impacts to animals, archeological sites, and cultural resources.  These agencies listed major data gaps.  They expressed alarm at the number of dump sites,  Perhaps most significant, they said “Military activity that involves maneuvers, ammunition, artillery and mortar systems, depleted uranium, explosives, firing points, hazardous material and waste seem inconsistent with the conservation district, according to the agency.”

“It appears that military training is in direct conflict of the Conservation District designation,” the agency wrote.

The State comments noted. the Army document lacks any provisions for restorative actions such as reforestation, or cleanup of unexploded munitions.

Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760
Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

Upcoming Peace Events. Please pass the word. Mahalo.

Sunday, September 17th, 2023

Celebrate International Day of Peace

Pohakuloa Main Gate

10:30 AM Noon Thurs. September 21, 2023

Car Pools leave Komohana and Saddle Rd at 9AM

 

Stop Bombing Pohakuloa!

No DU Weapons to Ukraine! No State Military Lease Renewals! Revoke Military-Seized

Lands by ExecutiveOrder! Make the Military Clean Up its Toxic Mess,

Including DU! Return the Land to the Hawaiian people!

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-to-begin-sending-controversial-depleted-uranium-shells-to-ukraine

      Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons have been used at the military Pohakuloa Toxic Area (PTA) in the center of Hawaii Island and at other sites in Hawaii. DU oxide dust particles can be carried long distances in the winds that blow through the Saddle Area and wildfires started at PTA from bombing. Inhaling DU oxide dust particles can cause various cancers, birth defects, and genetic damage.

      You are also invited to join the 10 AM Peace Pole dedication at Gil Kahele Park, across from Pohakuloa sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Hawaii. “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”

Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa

                Founders and editors of The Nuclear Resister for 42 years,

                                 Jack and Felice                                   

will speak at a Malu ‘Aina Peace Meeting Monday, Sept. 25, 2023

6:30 -7:15 PM at the Kea’au Community Center

(check out nukeresister.org)

Photo of Jack & Felice blocking the road to the Nevada Nuclear Test site

Please pass the word!

Join Malu ‘Aina peace organizing meetings on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month from 6-8 PM at the Kea’au Community

Center and the Friday weekly peace vigils at the downtown Hilo Post Office 3:30-5PM. Mahalo. Jim Albertini of Malu ‘Aina

 Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622

Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information see http://www.malu-aina.org

Photos from the Sept. 1, 2023, Hilo Peace Vigil

Saturday, September 2nd, 2023

Sept. 1, 2023, Hilo Peace Vigil, every Friday —  3:30-5 PM at the downtown Hilo Post Office– week 1144 — that marks 22 years. Next week starts year 23. Please view photos from today’s peace vigil and today’s peace leaflet. Each week I write a new leaflet available on www,malu-aina.org or via email. Send a request to be put on our email list if you would like to receive the leaflet automatically.

There is Still Hope!

Amid the Sad State of Affairs in Hawaii, the USA, and the World!

 

     It’s been sixty years since the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is time that we all begin to live that dream if the world is to survive.  We all need to become part of a grassroots, local and global, movement for justice, peace, and a livable planet. In my view, the US Empire is the greatest threat to peace on the planet. The ruling elite wants to remain the global empire in a unipolar, not multi-polar, world. Positive action will not come from the top down. We must organize from the ground up. Get involved. Now!

     In Maui, wildfire deaths and destruction are tragic symptoms of a global ecosystem dangerously out of balance. In Hawaii, the illegal US military occupation and corporate domination have abused and polluted the land, and priced Hawaiians out of paradise – their homeland and nation.

     Former US President Donald J. Trump is facing 91 felony charges. Many of his enablers are facing charges too. Eight Republicans were in the recent televised Presidential Debate that Trump skipped. What a bunch of pathetic clowns and a tragic statement about the state of America. A cloud of corruption is hanging over Joe Biden and his family too. That doesn’t help to make matters better. And the US under Biden, and his war crime advisors like Antony Blinken, Victoria Nuland, and Elliott Abrams, is continuing its proxy war to weaken Russia and topple Putin. The US is destroying Ukraine killing hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians, and threatening global nuclear war on top of increasingly visible man-made climate change catastrophe with record heat, fires, storms, and flooding.

Tragic Statistics!

US post-9/11 wars caused 4.5 million deaths, and displaced 38-60 million people, a Brown University study shows https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57769.htm
– 2024 Fiscal Year US Budget: 64.5% for the Military and 35.5% for
Everything Else.

In addition, the US plans to spend $1.7 TRILLION to modernize its massive nuclear weapon arsenal.

There have been 476 mass shootings in the US so far in 2023 – in schools, stores, at football, baseball games, festivals, etc. places where people are supposed to be enjoying life, not facing death.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”MLK

1 . Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject violence & war as solutions. 3. Defend civil liberties.
       4. Oppose all discrimination: anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, anti-Black, anti-Asian, anti-Russian, anti-LGBTQ, etc. 5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai’i 96760

         Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts.

For more information see http://www.malu-aina.org

September 1, 2023, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1144– Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office