A Message of Peace

and Friendship from Iran

One of the speakers at the recent U.S. United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) conference was Leila Zand, Program Director, Middle East & Civilian Diplomacy, Fellowship Of Reconciliation. She said that rather than sharing her own views on the dangers of a war on Iran, she had asked friends in Iran what they would say. She read the following message that they sent her:

“Dear fellow American peace lovers, please deliver our message to your politicians. We are not just a piece of land. We are not oil. We are not nuclear sites. We are not evil. We are women, men, children. We are people with dreams, jobs, families, with a baggage of 5000 years of experience. When we talk about war we know what we are talking about. We have heard the shrieks of missiles. We have smelled the gunpowder. We have run for shelters. We have seen pieces of a human body in top of our trees and on our roof tops. We have lost loved ones. We know what war means. War was behind our windows. We experienced war in our back yard. For my generation, killing, bombs, missiles, chemical weapons and terrorism is not just in Hollywood; is not a computer game; it is real. And that is why we don’t want evil to knock on our door again. We don’t want war.”

We Don’t Want War Either!

No War on Iran!

 1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (March 30, 2012 – 549th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Iran Pledge of Resistance

 On the 9^th anniversary of Shock and Awe in Iraq, it’s time to stop the next war now: Take the Iran Pledge of Resistance.

 The Iran Pledge of Resistance (IPOR) is a coordinated grassroots campaign to build an emergency response network capable of preempting any escalated U.S. intervention in Iran or the Middle East.

 Over the past few months there has been escalating talk about the possibility of a U.S. war with Iran. Israel, the U.S.’s closest ally in the region, is threatening attacks which could pull us into war. President Obama and the Republican presidential candidates are saying that “all options are on the table” to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. This is despite the fact that top U.S. intelligence officials have made consistent statements that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program nor is there proof they intend to establish one.

 On Feb 15, 2003 millions of people marched against war in Iraq.  What if millions of us again join together to say no to war, but this time organize a mass horizontal direct action network?

 Let’s stop this war before it starts.   Take the Pledge!

 “If the United States applies increased sanctions, invades, bombs, sends combat troops or drones, or otherwise significantly escalates its intervention in Iran or the region directly or through support of its allies, I pledge to join with others to engage in acts of legal protest and/or nonviolent civil disobedience to prevent or halt the death and destruction which U.S. military actions would cause to the people of Iran, the Middle East, our communities at home, and the planet itself.”

 Working together, we can be a powerful force that can change the course of history. Go to iranpledge.org to take the pledge now.

Sign the Pledge of Resistance and start organizing now!

 1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (March 23, 2012 – 548th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Occupy Hilo is planning a HELCO protest on Monday, March 26th from 4-5:30.  If all goes well, it will be a continuing protest at HELCO on the last Monday of the month.
Please pass the word.
Mahalo.
Jim

Genius Reasons to Keep Troops

in

Afghanistan!

* When you’re setting a record for the longest modern war, cutting it short just increases the chances of somebody breaking your record some day.

* If we pull U.S. troops out after they have shot children from helicopters, kicked in doors at night, waved Nazi flags, urinated on corpses, massacred villages, and burned Korans it will look like we’re sorry they did those things.

* Unless we keep “winning” in Afghanistan it will be very hard to generate enthusiasm for our wars in Syria and Iran.  And with suicide the top killer of our troops, we cannot allow our men and women to be killing themselves in vain.

* If we ended the war that created the 2001 authorization to use military force, how would we justify our special forces operations in over 100 other countries, the elimination of habeas corpus, or the legalization of murdering U.S. citizens?  Besides, if we stay a few more years we might find an al Qaeda member.

* A few hundred billion dollars a year is a small price to pay for weapons bases, a gas pipeline, huge profits for generous campaign funders, and a perfect testing ground for weapons that will be absolutely essential in our next pointless war.

* Terror hasn’t conceded defeat yet.

More on the latest from Afghanistan: http://warisacrime.org/taxonomy/term/110

Bring ‘Em Home Now!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (March 16, 2012 – 547th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

__________________________
Eric Hoffman
Food & Technology Policy Campaigner
Friends of the Earth
202.222.0747

From: Trout, Kelly
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 11:19 AM
Subject: Declaration calls for precautionary oversight of synthetic biology

http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2012-03-new-declaration-calls-for-precautionary-oversight-for-synthetic-biology

For Immediate Release
March 13, 2012

Contact:
Eric Hoffman, Friends of the Earth U.S., 202-222-0747, ehoffman@foe.org<mailto:ehoffman@foe.org>
Jaydee Hanson, International Center for Technology Assessment, 202-547-9359, jhanson@icta.org<mailto:jhanson@icta.org>
Jim Thomas, ETC Group, 1-514-273-9994, jim@etcgroup.org<mailto:jim@etcgroup.org>

Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group, +52 55 5563 2664, silvia@etcgroup.org<mailto:silvia@etcgroup.org>

Carolyn Raffensperger, Science and Environmental Health Network, 515-268-0600, raffenspergerc@cs.com<mailto:raffenspergerc@cs.com>

New declaration calls for precautionary oversight for the emerging field of synthetic biology

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today a broad coalition of 111 organizations from around the world released The Principles for the Oversight of Synthetic Biology<http://www.foe.org/news/blog/2012-03-global-coalition-calls-oversight-synthetic-biology>, the first global civil society declaration to outline principles that must be adopted to protect public health and the environment from the risks posed by synthetic biology, and to address the field’s economic, social and ethical challenges. Until these governance principles are in place, the coalition is calling for a moratorium on the release and commercial use of synthetic organisms and products.

The synthetic biology industry is expanding rapidly, with a market value in 2011 of over $1.6 billion that is expected to reach $10.8 billion by 2016. However, there has been little to no governance of the industry or assessment of the novel risks posed by synthetic organisms. Synthetic biology is “extreme genetic engineering” – not just reading and rearranging genetic code, but writing it to create new genes, genetic traits and possibly entire life forms from scratch.

The global coalition calls for the following seven principles to be established to safeguard public health and the environment from the novel risks of synthetic biology and to ensure open, meaningful and full public participation in decisions regarding its uses:

1.  Employ the Precautionary Principle
2.  Require mandatory synthetic biology-specific regulations
3.  Protect public health and worker safety
4.  Protect the environment
5.  Guarantee the right-to-know and democratic participation
6.  Require corporate accountability and manufacturer liability
7.  Protect economic and environmental justice

“The Principles for the Oversight of Synthetic Biology marks an important milestone in the debate around synthetic biology, as it is the first document from a global coalition of civil society organizations that outlines how synthetic biology should be regulated,” said Eric Hoffman, Food and Technology Policy Campaigner at Friends of the Earth U.S. “This diverse coalition of 111 groups from around the world, including environmental, religious, consumer, scientific, worker safety and human rights groups, has come together to call for the proper governance of synthetic biology. Our recommendations are rooted in the guiding principle of placing the health of people and the environment above corporate profits.”

“Self-regulation of the synthetic biology industry simply won’t work. Current laws and regulations around biotechnology are outdated and inadequate to deal with the novel risks posed by synthetic biology technologies and their products,” said Andy Kimbrell, Executive Director of the International Center for Technology Assessment. “These principles outline the positive role local and national governments, as well as international laws, can play in protecting communities from the novel risks posed by synthetic biology.”

“In addition to the risks synthetic biology poses to human health and the environment, this technology may also deepen global social and economic injustices,” explained Silvia Ribeiro, Latin American Director of ETC Group. “Novel organisms tailored to break down biomass will enable a new bio-economy in which land, water and fertilizers used to produce food for communities in the global South will be diverted for producing biomass feed for synthetic organisms in order to produce fuels, chemicals and other high-end products for wealthy nations.”

“We are calling for a global moratorium on the release and commercial use of synthetic organisms until we have established a public interest research agenda, examined alternatives, developed the proper regulations and put into place rigorous biosafety measures,” said Carolyn Raffensperger, Executive Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. “It is our obligation to safeguard the future, to be wise in our development and use of technologies which could threaten humans and the Earth.”

The full report is available for download at: www.foe.org/principles-for-synthetic-biology<http://www.foe.org/principles-for-synthetic-biology>

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