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Rolla Peace News February 28, 2017 |
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================================= Dear Friends:In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, March 2, 2017 2. A POSSIBLE UTOPIA 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) People's Climate March Endorses Peace b) Bernie Sanders On Peace
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We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2017, (and all subsequent Thursdays until peace is established) from Noon to 1:00 PM. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 50s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. A POSSIBLE UTOPIA All of us who are working for peace would probably agree that a world civilization that supports the well-being of all is desirable. We will never have peace without it. Most people worldwide would probably also agree. Where we diverge is how to accomplish this, in the face of the extreme polarization and inequities that exist today. This article describes a vision of a social and economic system focused on providing a good life for every human being, including the means of accomplishing same. This blueprint is proposed in a book titled “Journey to Earthland,” authored by Paul Raskin, director of a group called the Great Transition Initiative. In order for anything like this to happen, a fundamental shift has to occur in the way people relate to each other, and to their own identity. I believe this shift is taking place now, as more and more people are realizing their connectedness to each other, and to all life on the planet. Whether it will happen fast enough to save us is anyone's guess. It is good that a million people marched on Washington for women's rights, that perhaps as many will march for the climate, and “for science.” This is progress, but there is something missing in all these movements that are arising in the Western world — and that is any real understanding of the plight of the impoverished citizens of third-world countries, of refugees from wars of aggression initiated by our country or our allies. The very prosperity that allows us the freedom to take the time and energy to protest and organize is built upon the suffering of those others, who labor for starvation wages so we can have cheap consumer goods, whose homes and lives are destroyed by our for-profit wars. Adam Parsons touches on this point in his thoughtful discussion of the possible utopia described in “Journey to Earthland.” He recognizes that the time for “us” and “them” is past. We need all of us together on one side, for there to be any chance of creating a world that works for everyone. The best hope is, as Paul Raskin says, that As connectivity globalizes in the external world, so might empathy globalize in the human heart. May it come to pass! 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) People's Climate March Endorses Peace b) Bernie Sanders On Peace PEOPLE'S CLIMATE MARCH ENDORSES PEACE The People's Climate March slated for April 29 in Washington DC took a great leap forward last week when its steering committee endorsed peace as a specific goal of the Climate March. The March's website now reads: On April 29th, we will march for our families. We will march for our air, our water, and our land. We will march for clean energy jobs and climate justice. We will march for our communities, the people we love, and for peace. This puts the upcoming Climate March way ahead of January's Women's March which refused to endorse a woman's right not to be bombed by a mostly-male military. Still, it falls way short of the mark. There needs to be a recognition that without peace, our efforts to prevent the continued heating of the Earth will surely fail. We can fight perpetual war or we can try to prevent further climate degradation. We can't do both. There is also an upcoming March for Science on Earth Day, April 22. This march doesn't even seem to recognize the responsibility of scientists for giving us nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. While praising Science to the Heavens, the leaders of this march fail to call for an end to scientific research that promotes military aims. I'll probably write more about this in upcoming weeks. BERNIE SANDERS ON PEACE Bernie Sanders appears to have learned a lesson about the importance of peace from his bid for the presidency last year. In his address to J Street yesterday, he uses the word, “Peace”, 14 times . This may be a record. Sadly, this is a lesson that Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and their supporters seem to have failed to learn. The bottom line: Unless We, the People get serious about demanding peace from our leaders, things are only going to continue to get worse. ================== Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: top of rightmost column).If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com ### |