Archive for November, 2017

23 Nov

Monthly Potluck and Discussion, 24 Nov 2017

Posted by Alan Batten in News, Uncategorized.

Divest from the War Machine!

DivestWarMachine2017Join us for this month’s Alaska Peace Center potluck on Friday, 24 November 2017 at the APC office. The potluck will begin at 6 pm and the program will begin at 7 pm. The Alaska Peace Center is upstairs (Suite 203) in the College Mall building, 3535 College Road, above the Fuji Steakhouse. The stairs are at the west end of the building, adjacent to and sharing a common entrance with the Fuji Steakhouse.

The program will be to view and discuss the video of the Divest from the War Machine Summit, sponsored by Code Pink and held last month in Washington DC.  This short (35 minute), engaging video is an impressive presentation by Lawrence Wilkerson, retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. The summit examines the current state of the war machine (surprise- it’s thriving!) and explicates the skills and knowledge necessary to use divestment as a tool to shine a critical light on the weapons producers that supply and profit from deadly hyper-militarism both at home and abroad.

Who Lies?, Who Dies?, Who Pays?, Who Profits?

All are welcome!

18 Nov

Coming Soon: The Drones Quilt Project

Posted by Alan Batten in News.

The Drones Quilt Project is Coming to Fairbanks

Two of the twelve quilts will hang in the Noel Wien Library Display Case throughout the month of December

One of the quilts of the Drones Quilt Project. Squares honor individuals killed in drone attacks.

The Drones Quilt Project was created as a way to remember the thousands of people who have been murdered by missiles launched from American combat drones. The use of combat drones is immoral, illegal and ineffective, yet the U.S. continues to use them, killing countless people whose names they don’t know, and don’t want to know.

Combat drones were first used by President Bush, then expanded rapidly during the Obama administration. Recently President Trump gave carte blanch to the CIA to target and kill people with drones.

The idea for a Drones Quilt came from some women in the UK who started the project as a way to memorialize the victims of U.S. combat drones. Anti-drone activists in the U.S. wanted to make their own version of a Drones Quilt, and so the idea traveled across the Atlantic. The idea is to collectively create a piece of artwork which connects the names of activists with those killed. The names humanize the victims and point out the connectivity between human beings.

As long as people continue to be murdered by drones, the Drones Quilt Project will continue in an effort to educate the public, and to remember the victims, named and unnamed.  In addition to the two quilts that will hang in the Library, there will be a quilt on display at the Friends (Quakers) meeting house and another at the Unitarian Fellowship Hall.

The Alaska Peace Center and North Star Veterans for Peace are sponsoring the display.  Thanks to John Spitzberg, Veterans for Peace, Wasilla for initiating the idea.  The flyer for this display is here.

7 Nov

Ring in Peace on Armistice Day

Posted by Alan Batten in News, Uncategorized.

Saturday, November 11 at 11:00 am

Veterans Memorial Park, 700 Cushman Street

Bell and dovesWriter Kurt Vonnegut, a WWII Prisoner of war wrote: “…November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy all the people of all nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.”

“It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.” (Breakfast of Champions, 1973)

In remembrance of the universal sense of joy felt around the world when World War One ended, and in renewal of the call for world peace, a world-wide tradition of ringing bells on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month was observed for over 35 years.

Congress declared November 11 a holiday in 1938, “ …a day to be dedicated to the
cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day’.”

On June 1, 1954, Congress amended the Act of 1938 by deleting the word “Armistice” and
inserting the word “Veterans”.

With rhetoric and patriotic symbolism have we been distracting ourselves from recognizing the majority of war’s victims?

Can we envision a world without war and still appreciate friends, family, and neighbors who have made great sacrifice?

Maybe the best way we can honor our veterans is to stop making them. In the meantime, can we honor the original meaning of this holiday?

Please consider joining us in ringing bells for peace. You have no bell to ring? Come
anyway or be creative and make your own. This could be a great art project for children.

Download the flyer