12-13-2009, 12:00 AM
Note: I don't see anything mystical about Obama. He's just well embedded in rational, technocratic society; a decent man generally, and a masterful
politician. He is doing what he said he would do. It's just that some thought it was only talk, or there could be a push for ending Bush's wars. The
truth is, for Afghanistan at least, is that the USA has stirring that pot for 30 years now. Maybe we're stuck cleaning up our own mess. Makes me think of
don Juan telling Carlos to just leave things be, to their own fate.
12/11: US Peace Activist Responds to Obama's Nobel "Peace" Prize
December 9, 2009
An Open Letter to The Norwegian Nobel Committee.
On December 10, you will award the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama, citing "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international
diplomacy and cooperation between people." We the undersigned are distressed that President Obama, so close upon his receipt of this honor, has opted to
escalate the U.S. war in Afghanistan with the deployment of 30,000 additional troops. We regret that he could not be guided by the example of a previous Nobel
Peace Laureate, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who identified his peace prize as "profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial
political and moral question of our time -- the need for man [sic] to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."
President Obama has insisted that his troop escalation is a necessary response to dangerous instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but we reject the notion
that military action will advance the region's stability, or our own national security. In his peace prize acceptance speech, Dr. King observed that
"Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts...man [sic] must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and
retaliation. " As people committed to end the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, we are filled with remorse by this new decision of our president, for it
will not bring peace.
Declaring his opposition to the Vietnam War, Dr. King insisted that "no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the
present war...We must continue to raise our voices and our lives if our nation persists in its perverse ways... We are at the moment when our lives must be
placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man [sic] of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions,
but we must all protest."
We pledge ourselves to mobilize our constituencies in the spirit of Dr. King's nonviolent and committed example. His prophetic words will guide us as we
assemble in the halls of Congress, in local offices of elected representatives, and in the streets of our cities and towns, protesting every proposal that will
continue funding war. We will actively and publicly oppose the war funding which President Obama will soon seek from Congress and re-commit ourselves to the
protracted struggle against U.S. war-making in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We assume that the Nobel Committee chose to award President Obama the peace prize in full awareness of the vision offered by Dr. King's acceptance speech.
We also understand that the Nobel committee may now regret that decision in light of recent developments, as we believe that the committee should be reluctant
to present an Orwellian message equating peace with war. When introducing the President, the Committee should, at the very least, exhibit a level of compassion
and humility by drawing attention to this distressing ambiguity.
We will do all we can to ensure that popular pressure will soon bring President Obama to an acceptance of the duties which this prize, and even more his
electoral mandate to be a figure of change, impose upon him. He must end the catastrophic policies of occupation and war that have caused so much destruction,
so many deaths and displacements, and so much injury to our own democratic traditions.
This prize is not a meaningless honor. We pledge, ourselves obeying its call to nonviolent action, to make our President worthy of it.
Sincerely,
Jack Amoureux - Board of Directors
Military Families Speak Out
Medea Benjamin - Co-Founder,
Global Exchange
Frida Berrigan - Witness Against Torture
Elaine Brower - World Can't Wait
Leslie Cagan - Co-Founder
United for Peace and Justice
Bob Cooke - Regional Coordinator
Pax Christi USA, Pax Christi Metro, DC and Baltimore
Tom Cornell - Catholic Peace Fellowship
Matt Daloisio - War Resisters League
Marie Dennis - Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Laurie Dobson - Director,
End US Wars
Mike Ferner - National President
Veterans For Peace
Joy First- Convener
National Campaign for Non-Violent Resistance
Sara Flounders - International Action Center
Diana Gibson - Christian Peace Witness
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb - Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence
David Hartsough - Peaceworkers, San Francisco
Mike Hearington - Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition
Kimber J. Heinz - Organizing Coordinator
War Resisters League
Mark Johnson - Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Kathy Kelly - Co-coordinator
Voices for Creative Non-Violence
Leslie Kielson - Co-Chair
United for Peace and Justice
Malachy Kilbride - National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
Kevin Martin - Executive Director
Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund
Linda LeTendre - Saratoga [New York] Peace Alliance
Michael T. McPhearson - National Executive Director,
Veterans For Peace
Gael Murphy - Co-Founder,
Code Pink
Sheila Musaji - The American Muslim
Michael Nagler - Founder
Metta Center for Nonviolence
Max Obuszewski - Pledge of Resistance Baltimore and Baltimore Nonviolence Center
Pete Perry - Peace of the Action
Dave Robinson, Executive Director
Pax Christi
David Swanson - AfterDowningStreet. org
Terry Rockefeller - Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Samina Sundas - Founding Executive Director
The American Muslim Voice
Nancy Tsou - Coordinator,
Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice
Diane Turco - Cape Codders for Peace and Justice
Marge Van Cleef - Womens International League for Peace and Freedom
Jose Vasquez - Executive Director
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Craig Wiesner
Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice
Scott Wright - Pax Christi Metro DC - Baltimore
Kevin Zeese - Executive Director
Voters for Peace
Along with delivering this open letter to the Nobel Peace Committee, activists will present it at a rally in Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. on Saturday,
December 12th, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., www.enduswar. org
politician. He is doing what he said he would do. It's just that some thought it was only talk, or there could be a push for ending Bush's wars. The
truth is, for Afghanistan at least, is that the USA has stirring that pot for 30 years now. Maybe we're stuck cleaning up our own mess. Makes me think of
don Juan telling Carlos to just leave things be, to their own fate.
12/11: US Peace Activist Responds to Obama's Nobel "Peace" Prize
December 9, 2009
An Open Letter to The Norwegian Nobel Committee.
On December 10, you will award the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama, citing "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international
diplomacy and cooperation between people." We the undersigned are distressed that President Obama, so close upon his receipt of this honor, has opted to
escalate the U.S. war in Afghanistan with the deployment of 30,000 additional troops. We regret that he could not be guided by the example of a previous Nobel
Peace Laureate, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who identified his peace prize as "profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial
political and moral question of our time -- the need for man [sic] to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."
President Obama has insisted that his troop escalation is a necessary response to dangerous instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but we reject the notion
that military action will advance the region's stability, or our own national security. In his peace prize acceptance speech, Dr. King observed that
"Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts...man [sic] must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and
retaliation. " As people committed to end the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, we are filled with remorse by this new decision of our president, for it
will not bring peace.
Declaring his opposition to the Vietnam War, Dr. King insisted that "no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the
present war...We must continue to raise our voices and our lives if our nation persists in its perverse ways... We are at the moment when our lives must be
placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man [sic] of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions,
but we must all protest."
We pledge ourselves to mobilize our constituencies in the spirit of Dr. King's nonviolent and committed example. His prophetic words will guide us as we
assemble in the halls of Congress, in local offices of elected representatives, and in the streets of our cities and towns, protesting every proposal that will
continue funding war. We will actively and publicly oppose the war funding which President Obama will soon seek from Congress and re-commit ourselves to the
protracted struggle against U.S. war-making in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We assume that the Nobel Committee chose to award President Obama the peace prize in full awareness of the vision offered by Dr. King's acceptance speech.
We also understand that the Nobel committee may now regret that decision in light of recent developments, as we believe that the committee should be reluctant
to present an Orwellian message equating peace with war. When introducing the President, the Committee should, at the very least, exhibit a level of compassion
and humility by drawing attention to this distressing ambiguity.
We will do all we can to ensure that popular pressure will soon bring President Obama to an acceptance of the duties which this prize, and even more his
electoral mandate to be a figure of change, impose upon him. He must end the catastrophic policies of occupation and war that have caused so much destruction,
so many deaths and displacements, and so much injury to our own democratic traditions.
This prize is not a meaningless honor. We pledge, ourselves obeying its call to nonviolent action, to make our President worthy of it.
Sincerely,
Jack Amoureux - Board of Directors
Military Families Speak Out
Medea Benjamin - Co-Founder,
Global Exchange
Frida Berrigan - Witness Against Torture
Elaine Brower - World Can't Wait
Leslie Cagan - Co-Founder
United for Peace and Justice
Bob Cooke - Regional Coordinator
Pax Christi USA, Pax Christi Metro, DC and Baltimore
Tom Cornell - Catholic Peace Fellowship
Matt Daloisio - War Resisters League
Marie Dennis - Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Laurie Dobson - Director,
End US Wars
Mike Ferner - National President
Veterans For Peace
Joy First- Convener
National Campaign for Non-Violent Resistance
Sara Flounders - International Action Center
Diana Gibson - Christian Peace Witness
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb - Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence
David Hartsough - Peaceworkers, San Francisco
Mike Hearington - Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition
Kimber J. Heinz - Organizing Coordinator
War Resisters League
Mark Johnson - Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Kathy Kelly - Co-coordinator
Voices for Creative Non-Violence
Leslie Kielson - Co-Chair
United for Peace and Justice
Malachy Kilbride - National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
Kevin Martin - Executive Director
Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund
Linda LeTendre - Saratoga [New York] Peace Alliance
Michael T. McPhearson - National Executive Director,
Veterans For Peace
Gael Murphy - Co-Founder,
Code Pink
Sheila Musaji - The American Muslim
Michael Nagler - Founder
Metta Center for Nonviolence
Max Obuszewski - Pledge of Resistance Baltimore and Baltimore Nonviolence Center
Pete Perry - Peace of the Action
Dave Robinson, Executive Director
Pax Christi
David Swanson - AfterDowningStreet. org
Terry Rockefeller - Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Samina Sundas - Founding Executive Director
The American Muslim Voice
Nancy Tsou - Coordinator,
Rockland Coalition for Peace and Justice
Diane Turco - Cape Codders for Peace and Justice
Marge Van Cleef - Womens International League for Peace and Freedom
Jose Vasquez - Executive Director
Iraq Veterans Against the War
Craig Wiesner
Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice
Scott Wright - Pax Christi Metro DC - Baltimore
Kevin Zeese - Executive Director
Voters for Peace
Along with delivering this open letter to the Nobel Peace Committee, activists will present it at a rally in Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. on Saturday,
December 12th, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., www.enduswar. org