Archive for October, 2017

Hawaii County Resolution Diplomacy not War in Korea

Monday, October 16th, 2017

Please testify in support of this important resolution #363 at the start of the 9 a.m. meeting Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017 at the West Hawaii Civic Center, or by videoconference from council chambers in Hilo, the Pahoa and Waimea council offices, the Naalehu state office building or the old Kohala courthouse. 

Mahalo.  Jim Albertini

http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/council-resolution-trump-kim-seeks-peace-north-korea

 

Council resolution to Trump, Kim seeks peace with North Korea

Updated: 
October 15, 2017 – 7:58pm

HILO — All they are saying is give peace a chance.

Two County Council members are sponsoring a nonbinding resolution urging the United States to seek a peaceful and diplomatic solution to reduce tensions between the United States and North Korea.

The resolution, if passed Wednesday by the council, would be sent to President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the U.S. secretaries of state and defense, Hawaii’s congressional delegation, Hawaii County mayor and Hawaii governor.

Koohan Paik, who is involved in an Asia-Pacific peace group, asked the two council members to sponsor the resolution. If it passes, Hawaii County will likely be the first local government to send such a request, Paik said.

“We need diplomacy,” Paik said, rather than Trump and Kim “flinging unlawful threats at each other.”

The tension between the two leaders escalated at the end of last month, with Trump calling Kim “rocket man,” and saying he’s on a “suicide mission,” while Kim responded that Trump was “deranged,” and will “pay dearly” for his threats, according to The Associated Press.

Paik said she asked Honokaa Councilwoman Valerie Poindexter to sponsor it as council chairwoman, and Hilo Councilman Aaron Chung because he, like Paik, is of Korean descent.

“To me, it makes perfect sense that we should be the ones to pass a resolution to promote diplomatic talks with North Korea. Our culture is centered around the concept of ‘aloha,’” Poindexter said. “Not only that, but we are at the crossroads of East and West. We should be the bridge, not in the crosshairs for war.”

Chung said he’s usually not one to sponsor nonbinding resolutions and has in the past spoken out against them. But he decided this particular one merited discussion.

“This one has been a topic of great conversation in my household,” Chung said. “This is something I feel strongly about.”

As the closest county in the closest U.S. state to North Korea, Hawaii Islanders are feeling especially vulnerable to the increased tensions between the two nations, according to resolution sponsors.

“A peaceful solution to the present situation between the United States and North Korea is of particular importance to the State of Hawaii given our geographic location and vulnerability in the event of a war between the two nations,” the resolution states. “A call by the people of Hawaii for a peaceful resolution to any serious conflict situation, not just this one, is in keeping with our islands’ most treasured ideal, that of aloha.”

The public can comment on Resolution 354 at the start of the 9 a.m. meeting Wednesday at the West Hawaii Civic Center, or by videoconference from council chambers in Hilo, the Pahoa and Waimea council offices, the Naalehu state office building or the old Kohala courthouse.

Paik is director of development with the Hawaii Alliance for Progressive Action and formerly project director of the Asia-Pacific Program at the International Forum on Globalization.

 


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

Protest Trump & U.S. War Provocations

Tuesday, October 10th, 2017

The World in Peril

Trump is an ignorant, thin-skinned megalomaniac whose only ideology is himself.”

MIT Emeritus Professor Noam Chomsky

“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.” –              Martin Luther King, Jr.

No More War!  Join the Resistance!

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

Contact: Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622. Email: ja@malu-aina.org

Sign up on our website to receive our posts  http://www.malu-aina.org/

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet October 13. 2017– 838th week – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

U.S. Killing fields

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017

American Sniper!

From Las Vegas to Afghanistan and around the world.

                                                                                                       

                                                                                                      

      “Violence… is as American as cherry pie” H. Rap Brown, July 27, 1967 (50+ years ago). Or to put it another way –the U.S. has a serious addiction problem. The U.S. is addicted to guns and war. The net result is more violence, both at home and abroad.

     The details of the Oct. 1, 2017 massacre in Las Vegas continue to unfold.  At least 59 people dead, and more than 525 injured at a country music concert.  The mass shooter — a white, multi-millionaire, American sniper armed to the teeth and perched in a 32nd floor luxury hotel room.  Currently, the killer’s motivations remain unknown.  Meanwhile, families grieve, a nation mourns, and the world asks: America– what have you become?  

      Here is what is clear. The U.S. #1 export product – violence – is coming home to roost. Violence begets violence. We cannot do to the earth, air, and water, to people, plants and animals without doing to ourselves. What goes around, comes around. U.S. gun violence, endless wars, and environmental destruction bringing on climate disaster hurricanes, raging wild fires, etc. are all interconnected. But many Americans, like other addicts, remain in denial. This is what we hear: “The Vegas sniper had a second amendment right to possess guns – even 47 guns in his homes and hotel room; we need to wage war for peace, freedom and democracy. As for destroying earth’s environment, it’s an unintended consequence of empire –“progress” and making money, and besides – technology will provide a solution to the problems of technology. As the president says, “Believe me.”

      Oct. 6, 2017 marks the 16th anniversary of the longest foreign war in U.S. history. The U.S. has spent $5 trillion on wars since 9-11. That $5,000,000,000,000 that could have been spent on health care, education, cleaning up the environment, etc. Instead of ending the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Trump has now ordered more U.S. troops sent there. And it’s not only Afghanistan where the U.S. is waging and threatening war. It’s Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, etc. And now threatening war on Iran, Venezuela, the “total destruction of North Korea,” and increasing tensions with Russia and China.

      It’s time to end the wars and the threat of wars and stop the destruction of the earth. It’s also time for meaningful gun control legislation to help stop or at least reduce the number of mass killings. In short, it’s time for the U.S. to stop making excuses and acknowledge its addiction to guns, war, and violence. It’s time for “we the people” to say enough. No more killing.

No more “one for the road.”

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

Contact: Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622. Email: ja@malu-aina.org

Sign up on our website to receive our posts  http://www.malu-aina.org/

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet October 6. 2017– 837th week – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office