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Rolla Peace News September 10, 2019 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter091019.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 2. SEPTEMBER 20 CLIMATE STRIKE COMES TO ROLLA 3. GREAT RIVERS ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER TO HONOR KATHLEEN HENRY 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Kazakhstan Joins the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons b) Three Strikes and You (Should Be) Out c) Amazon Fires 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until peace is established). Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be around 90. 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. SEPTEMBER 20 CLIMATE STRIKE COMES TO ROLLA The Thursday, September 19 noon vigil for Peace at the Rolla Post Office has been moved to Friday, September 20 to coincide with the world-wide strike for the climate. Our September 20 vigil will be for the Climate and the Environment as well as for Peace 3. GREAT RIVERS ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER TO HONOR KATHLEEN HENRY At their annual awards celebration, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center will honor Kathleen Henry, retiring President of Great Rivers, for her decades of environmental activism. The celebration will be held at the Whittemore House, 6440 Forsyth Blvd. in St. Louis from 5:00pm to 7:30pm on Sunday, September 22. Tickets can be purchased online at Great Rivers' website. Were it not for Kathleen Henry and Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, Rolla would have surely lost Buehler Park years ago. Please join in the celebration if you can. 4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Kazakhstan Joins the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons b) Three Strikes and You (Should Be) Out c) Amazon Fires Kazakhstan Joins the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons On August 29, Kazakhstan became the 26th country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Only 24 more and the treaty becomes international law (but sadly only for those countries which have ratified it). Three Strikes and You (Should Be) Out Donald Trump struck out again! After being unable to dock in Greece or Turkey, the Iranian tanker, Adrian Darya I, has apparently unloaded its cargo of Iranian crude off the coast of Syria. (We still do not know the name of the mystery buyer.) Apparently the Trump administration offered the captain millions of dollars if he would dock the tanker where the US could seize it. When the captain ignored the bribe, the US sanctioned the captain. The Peace Deal with the Taliban that was supposed to end the 18-year-old war against Afghanistan has apparently fallen through. The Taliban's demands are simple: Just get the @#$%#$!! out of our country. They even offered to help the US save face by calling it a peace agreement and allowing the US to withdraw in phases. So brace yourselves for more debilitating years of war against Afghanistan, already our nations longest. Oh, yes. The first strike was North Korea, which, in spite of the high-profile meetings between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, remains unwilling to give up its nuclear weapons, and continues work on its delivery systems. Or maybe it was Venezuela, where the Bolivarian government and president Maduro remain firmly in power. Or maybe Nicaragua, another country where a recent US supported coup failed. Perhaps this is what is meant by “Make America Great Again.” Amazon Fires Many are claiming that the Amazon Rainforest is a world treasure and Brazil has no Right to burn it down to produce more beef and soy beans. I would certainly agree. But shouldn't wealthy countries and international corporations who have in the past benefited from the destruction of the Amazon be willing to reimburse Brazil for the economic value lost by keeping the forest intact? Truthout has published a list of who benefits financially in the short-term from the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. Some of the names may surprise you. In the long-run, all humanity and our planetary life-support are harmed by the loss of the Amazon Rainforest. In addition, if we argue that the Amazon Rainforest is a world treasure and should not be the property of any one country to destroy or degrade as they see fit, then shouldn't we also argue that the world has many, many treasures that should be communally owned by all humanity? For example: Shouldn't we argue that the uranium in the Earth should be owned communally and not be the property of a few powerful countries to make weapons with which to threaten their neighbors? Shouldn't we also argue for open borders, so that those who have been made refugees through war and climate degradation have a Right to settle wherever they feel they can make a new life for themselves? And shouldn't the world's fossil fuels be internationalized so everyone has a say in whether they are mined, burned and allowed to foul our atmosphere? And shouldn't the world's holiest sites like Jerusalem and Mecca be internationalized and not be considered the property of any one country? Yes, the Earth has many great treasures. Let's stop allowing a few to monopolize these treasures and use them for destruction. 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: at the 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 |