Never Again!

Vietnam My Lai Massacre – 50th Anniversary

        The My Lai Massacre was the deliberate murder by U.S. troops of 504 innocent civilians, including women, children and grandparents in the Vietnam village of My Lai on March 16, 1968.

      More would have died but for the heroic intervention of a US helicopter crew led by Hugh Thompson. The Pentagon tried to hide the massacre story until exposed more than a year later by Ron Ridenhour and Seymour Hersh. Only Lt. William Calley was ultimately held responsible by court martial, but he was pardoned by President Nixon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre

      The 50th anniversary of the My Lai massacre is an appropriate time not only to honor the victims and those who challenged that infamous event, but also to bring to light less known or still unknown war atrocities. It is an occasion for U.S. citizens to acknowledge the millions of innocent civilians killed during the wars in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and the many wars since, and to take responsibility for such human slaughter conducted in our names. Together let us say “No More Wars! War Never Again! Stop the Killing!”

      The gunman who recently killed three people and himself at a California veterans home was a decorated soldier of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and had been stationed in Hawaii at Schofield Barracks. 22 U.S. veterans commit suicide every day. U.S. Veterans for Peace President, Gerry Condon says: “Tragically, the extreme violence of U.S. wars — from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq — continues to destroy lives here at home. In order to stem gun violence in the U.S., we must stop killing people in other countries.” In 1968, Hawaii was the training ground for troops before going to My Lai and today Hawaii is the training ground for global wars, including catastrophic nuclear war. B-52 and B-2 strategic bombers fly non stop training missions from Air Force bases in Louisiana, Missouri and Guam to bomb Pohakuloa on Hawaii island as training for a global nuclear massacre. It is up to all of us to stand up, speak up, and stop this madness before it is too late. Silence is complicity.  It’s been said many times “Prevention is the only solution.”

Wage Peace NOT War! 

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/

March 16, 2018 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet 860th week – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Aloha friends,

     This is an appeal that wherever you are on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 stand in solidarity with students all over Hawaii and the U.S. who will be walking out of school at 10AM for 17 minutes in protest of gun violence. 17 minutes for the 17 lives lost in the recent Parkland, Florida school shooting.

     Here in Hawaii, I will be joining with friends to stand outside the Kea’au High school in solidarity with hundreds of students there expected to walk out in protest of gun violence.  We will be standing on the Keaau/Pahoa 130 highway across from the traffic light near the school.  We will stand from 9:50 until 10:30AM.  Others are welcome to join us or stand with students walking out of a school near where you live.  (Below is a peace leaflet I wrote 2 weeks ago “End U.S. Addiction to Killing” that speaks to American violence at home and abroad.)

      Solidarity,

      Jim Albertini

End U.S. Addiction to Killing!

      The latest school shooting in Parkland, Florida is not unrelated to U.S. ongoing wars in multiple countries and the increasing threat of global nuclear annihilation. The U.S. is a killing society that glamorizes violence and appears to put more value on the right to own an assault weapon than the lives of children.

NO MORE

      The U.S. empire has become a culture of mass violence that has been building layer upon layer, from the massacres of Native Americans, the killing of unarmed African Americans, to the millions killed in wars for resources disguised as freedom and democracy. Now the chickens are coming home to roost with the killing of our own children. More killing and more weapons of war are put forward as the solution to killing. The U.S. has become a completely militarized society. Look at the size of the U.S. military budget. Look at our militarized police forces. Look at U.S. gun ownership compared to the rest of the world. Signs of military worship are everywhere – at every sporting event, special discounts at stores, even in places of worship and prayer. All of this reflects a very deep societal mental illness – an addiction to killing.

      It’s time that we adults listen to the grieving children of Parkland and the world. They are showing us a way forward. Together, we need to join our voices to stop the killing, at home and abroad. Never underestimate the power of nonviolent action. Draw from movements for social change all over the world. Stand with our youth and give each other encouragement to continue and never give up. That’s how we build a world of justice, peace, and security for all. Stand up and keep standing!

Love One Another!

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/

March 2, 2018 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet — 858th week – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

U.S. & Israel War Plans!

With Syria, Lebanon, and Iran, possibly triggering WWIII

      Both U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are on the ropes, under criminal corruption investigations. What better way to take the focus away from themselves than by waging war, creating national emergencies to solidify their power, and have the finger pointed at someone else rather than themselves.

      According to Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and currently, a professor at the College of William and Mary, it all goes back to the chaos created by the U.S. ill advised and illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney administration. Wilkerson says that U.S. invasion “destroyed the balance of power in the Gulf.” Besides destabilizing Iraq and producing ISIS, it set Persian against Arab, Sunni against Shia, etc. and escalated conflict throughout the region. The U.S. is responsible for creating the mess in the Persian Gulf and now it wants to add to the mess.

      Americans need to remember that the CIA has publicly admitted it was behind the notorious 1953 coup against Iran’s democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq. Like the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it was all about oil, power and U.S. empire building. Today, Iran has established itself in a new position of power in the Persian Gulf. Lebanon and Syria are allies of Iran. French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “The current rhetoric of the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel is pushing the region toward conflict with Iran.” Israel defense minister Avigdor Lieberman will speak in April in New York City at the annual conference of the Jerusalem Post. The title is, “The New War with Iran.” Syria or Lebanon could be flashpoints for war with Iran. Beware of possible ‘False Flag” triggering events. The escalation could be very swift toward global war. Colonel Wilkerson concludes that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “is willing to do whatever he needs to do to get rid of whomever he thinks is threatening Israel to the last dead American.” For other motivating factors see these links:

Lebanon has an oil and gas bonanza and Israel wants it. http://www.newsweek.com/next-middle-east-oil-war-israel-and-lebanon-threaten-spark-next-conflict-797668

Israel Preps for Syrian War with Golan Heights Oil and Water in its Sights https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-preps-for-syrian-war…golans-oil…/237566/

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=21174

Wage Justice & Peace, Not War!  

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/

March 9, 2018 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet 859th week – Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office