Afghanistan — Aug. 20, 2021 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet
War & Military Occupations are
Terrorism!
2021 US created chaos and desperation in Afghanistan
When Will We Ever Learn — From Vietnam to Afghanistan, etc.?
Millions of lives lost, Trillions of $ wasted on war!
Twenty years ago after 9-11 Malu Aina held its first of 20 years of weekly peace vigils at the downtown Hilo Post Office. A new peace leaflet is prepared each week. The first leaflet included the words: “We hope that cool heads prevail, producing actions of restraint not revenge. Violent retaliation will only escalate the cycle of violence that is making the whole world blind to our need to live together on this planet. This tragedy underscores the urgent need to embrace policies of international cooperation, a more just distribution of the world’s resources, and a direction that moves away from militarism and violence as methods of solving problems.” We continue to have the same hope today, 20 years later, despite the growing US march to war with China and Russia and escalating global climate catastrophe. We grieve with all who have lost loved ones and homes in wars, fires and floods.
Military interventions, untold numbers of bombs dropped, and occupations do NOT bring peace. They bring only death and suffering to humanity, but big profits to the Military-Industrial Complex. Will anyone in these two decades and four administrations (two Republican and 2 Democrat) of American war and occupation be held accountable? What about all the Generals who kept calling for more war? What about the CIA and the State Department? And the corporate war profiteers? The U.S. should never have invaded Afghanistan. Instead of lashing out with bombs in a terrorist response to a terrorist attack, the US should have been asking and seeking answers to the question – Why do people hate the US so much? Contrary to George W. Bush’s claims that people “hate us for our freedoms,” the reality is much different. People hate the U.S. because it is a global empire, a military superpower that exploits people and resources around the world. The US believes it has a God given right to go anywhere and do anything it wants, a belief that’s called “American Exceptionalism.”
The anti-war movement was right about Vietnam and right about Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. Afghanistan has long been called the “Graveyard of Empires” – like the Romans, British, etc. before the U.S. All Empire military occupations need to end. When will the US illegal occupation of Hawaii end? And will the US clean up its mess and repair the damage done on its way out?
Never Again War &
U.S. Military Occupations!
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, 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), Hawaii 96760 Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information www.malu-aina.org
August 20, 2021 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1038– Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office
