Bernie Sanders Welcomes Pope Francis (9/22/2015)

Mainstream Media Undermines Bernie Sanders!

Peace Action

  Manhattan

P.O. Box 10 Planetarium Station, New York, NY  10024  Phone: 212-580-1504  
Email:  peaceactionmanhattan@gmail.com

On the Web:  www.panys.org/PAM/ and 
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/PeaceActionManhattan

☮☮☮☮☮☮☮☮☮NEWSLETTER Autumn 2014 ☮☮☮☮☮☮☮☮☮☮

Institute for Policy Studies presents Post-War Economic Plan at PANYS Annual Meeting:
New Student Chapters Attend

Members of the four Peace Action New York State (PANYS) student chapters joined with other members from chapters statewide on March 29, 2014 for the PANYS annual meeting, held this year at Goddard Riverside Community Center in Manhattan. The attending groups conducted some organizational business, and heard presentations from Alicia Godsberg; Miriam Pemberton of the Institute for Policy Studies  (ISP); and Paul Martin, Executive Director of Peace-Action National.

The Student chapters represent SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Albany, SUNY Geneseo, and Canisius College.  Just one year before, two student groups attended the annual meeting.  But due to the dedication of former PANYS Student Coordinator Lindsay Monin and the hard work of the students, Canisius and Albany both developed viable student groups and attended the meeting this year.

Syracuse and Stony Brook are adding chapters this year.  Coordination of all the PANYS student groups is now the job of Natia Bueno, who is headquartered in the PANYS downtown Manhattan office.

This annual meeting began with the election of statewide officers over coffee and bagels.  Before lunch, Alicia Godsberg addressed the membership about salient issues in the organization, particularly fundraising and membership.

Then Miriam Pemberton laid out her thoughtful and interesting proposals for Transitioning the Economy.  The main idea is that the war in Iraq is over and the war in Afghanistan is winding down, so there will be a reduction in overall Defense spending.  Such a reduction will entail cutbacks in Defense spending in the states, with a subsequent loss of jobs.

The Transition Plan is to prepare for this change by having the state legislature resolutely seek and develop alternative, peaceful economic developments and jobs.

The Office of Economic Adjustment is a unit in the Pentagon that can provide grants to towns, regions, or states, to develop post-defense economic projects.

Pemberton’s office at the ISP is prepared to work with groups from PANYS who choose to submit grant applications to the Office of Economic Adjustment.

Anyone interested in being part of such an effort should contact Jim Anderson nrcjim@aol.com or Florindo Troncelliti flotron9@gmail.com.

Campaign To Ban Fracking In New York

With the fossil fuel boom sweeping the country – partly thanks to President Obama’s “All of the Above” energy policy-- most states allow Big Energy to practice extreme extraction methods for the oil and natural gas beneath the surface.

Foremost among these extraction techniques is hydraulic fracturing (fracking), using a pressurized combination of chemicals and millions of gallons of water to break up subsurface shale deposits in order to free the natural gas trapped there, capturing it at wellheads on the surface.

Fracking has brought an energy boom to states like Pennsylvania, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.  Along with the boom has come a rising tide of nondisclosure agreements, gag orders, cash settlements and squashed environmental impact studies over the toxic effects of fracking on families, communities, and regional water supplies.

Politicians love it because fracking brings jobs and energy lobbyist funds to their states.  But public pressure has so far held a fracking moratorium in place in New York State.

New Yorkers Against Fracking (NYAF) is a large coalition of grassroots environmental, peace and sustainability organizations, including Food and Water Watch.  NYAF is led by the courageous Dr. Sandra Steingraber, who has tirelessly pushed the people of New York state, from Buffalo to Montauk, to rally and lobby their government to implement a permanent ban on fracking in New York.

Eric Weltmann of Food and Water Watch spoke in April at the PAM Monthly Community Forum at Goddard Riverside.  He explained that the moratorium on fracking in New York could end any time at the behest of Governor Cuomo.  The Governor has said he’ll let the science determine the issue, and like Penelope keeping the suitors waiting in Ithaca while she endlessly wove and re-wove her garment at the loom, Cuomo keeps holding off on a final judgment about fracking.  He’s not weaving a wedding dress, though.  He’s ostensibly waiting for the completion of an environmental impact study by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Despite fierce lobbying by big energy and promises of riches, the grass roots lobbying against fracking has succeeded in keeping the moratorium in place.  But the people want a total ban.

Will Governor Cuomo in the post election environment ease the moratorium and open the floodgates for big energy to plunder the resources of the Empire State?  Not if Peace Action, Food and Water Watch, and all the groups in New Yorkers Against Fracking can continue to exert enough pressure on our government to keep the moratorium against fracking in place, and compel a ruling in favor of an outright ban on fracking across the state.

Coming Up: Rally and Petition Delivery at Gov. Cuomo's office, 633 Third Avenue, Wednesday, December 3, 12 Noon; and

"Not One Well" Ban Fracking Rally at the State of the State Address, Wednesday, January 7, the Capitol. This is an indoor rally, and Peace Action urges our members and friends to get on the bus on January 7, and attend this protest.

For more information and the latest updates, go to New Yorkers Against Fracking, Food and Water Watch, and Peace Action Manhattan.



New PANYS Executive Director Introduces Jeremy Scahill at William Sloane Coffin Peacemaker Award Ceremony.

PANYS Student Coordinator Natia Bueno poses with Scahill at the Awards Ceremony(L);

So does Liz Turchi, New PANYS Executive Director (R)

.

 

On Monday, October 6, 2014, a clear yet unfamiliar voice spoke to the auditorium of peace activists at the Scholastic Building, 557 Broadway.

Liz Turchi, the new Executive Director of PANYS, was at the podium explaining some of her recent work as a war crimes prosecutor at the Hague. She was also in Soho that night to introduce the 2014 winner of the William Sloane Coffin Peacemaker Award: journalist Jeremy Scahill.

Turchi referred to Scahill as a "human rights hero" for his relentless pursuit of the truth.

Jeremy Scahill is founding editor of The Intercept, contributing editor to The Nation magazine and author of the international bestseller Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, for which he received the George Polk Book Award. His newest book and documentary, Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield, has been nominated for an Academy Award.

Alternatives to Endless War: A Sustainable, Effective Response to ISIS

From Judith LeBlanc

It's not too late to stop an endless war in Iraq and Syria. We’ve spent over $1.1 billion bombing Iraq and Syria since August 2014, yet Congress has not debated or authorized our latest war.

It will take grassroots pressure to move Congress. We can start by popularizing the possible steps towards a political solution. Instead of another endless war, members of Congress should stand up in support of effective alternatives. Below are possible ways for the U.S. government to take action.

Beginning the week of November 11-16, and continuing afterward through the end of the legislative session at the end of December, over twenty national peace and justice groups will join together to press Congress in their offices, online, and in the streets to take action.

The United States Congress can:

• Insist that President Obama seek congressional authorization for continued military intervention, and then vote to oppose our latest war in Iraq and Syria
• Cosponsor measures like H. Con. Res. 114, offered by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to require Congress to debate, vote, and constrain U.S. military intervention
• Support measures to prohibit U.S. ground troops, sunset the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (the bills that authorized U.S. military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan), and bolster the alternatives listed below

The United States can take immediate unilateral action to:

• Tighten loopholes in existing sanctions to help cut off ISIS’s funding streams
• Condition U.S. support for the Iraqi government on success in stopping sectarian violence
• Cut off U.S. government contracts with anyone doing business with ISIS
• Stop channeling weapons into the war. U.S. weapons have ended up in the hands of ISIS
• Support civil society efforts to build peace and reconciliation at the community level

The United States can support multilateral efforts to:

•  Build regional stability and security through aid for refugee host nation communities to reinforce stressed health, education, and housing infrastructure and to encourage job creation
• Keep the conflict from spreading to Jordan, Turkey or Lebanon etc. by encouraging a global effort to share responsibility for resettling refugees from Iraq and Syria
• Restrict ISIS’s access to the international financial system
•  Support a political solution to Syria’s civil war

The United States can work with regional states and organizations to:

• Engage in strategic outreach to Sunni communities to address political grievances
• Work to impose an arms embargo against all armed actors in Iraq and Syria
• Institute a “no-go zone” between ISIS territory and that of friendly nations
• Conduct a social media campaign that exposes the grotesque nature of ISIS ideology

Call, write, and visit your Senators and members of Congress to share these ideas and urge their adoption in Washington.  Encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same.  Elections are only one small step in the democratic process.  The work of education, lobbying, and activism is what really engages the population in forging meaningful change.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:   202-224-4451          Representative Charles Rangel 202-225-4365 Senator Charles Schumer      202-224-6542          Representative Carolyn Maloney 202-235-7944 Representative Jerrold Nadler (202) 225-5635     Representative Nydia Velazquez 202-235-2361

****VOLUNTEER WITH PEACE ACTION MANHATTAN****

We have lots of work in events, education, membership, and making phone calls!!

Monthly Forum Continues to Provide Platform for Activists

The second Monday of every month[1], Peace Action Manhattan hosts a free Community Forum.  The Forum features an activist guest speaker from one of our local allied grassroots organizations.  Alternatively, there are occasional film screenings.

It’s a much-needed platform for local activists to present their mission and work to the community, and it provides a unique opportunity for the public to learn about what’s going on, and how an interested person could get involved in supporting local grassroots peace action.

In 2014 the Forum hosted such groups as Food and Water Watch, Trade Justice Metro, the International Action Center, and the Granny Peace Brigade.

On December 8th, 2014, we’re anticipating a visit from Natia Bueno, Student Coordinator at Peace Action New York State.  PANYS is lighting a fire for peace activism on college campuses around New York State, and we look forward with excitement to hearing about this successful and promising organizing work.

On January 5th, the first Monday of the new year, Tom Gogon of US Labor Against War will fill us in on their mission, their work, and their goals for the coming year.

Please mark your calendars.  You want to be certain to come to these special presentations by seasoned activists who strive on behalf of all of us for a peaceful world.

Later in the Spring we plan visits from Veterans For Peace, Liz Turchi: PANYS Executive Director, Michael O'Neil: Green Party NYS, Brooklyn for Peace, and others.  We’re hoping to book staff from the offices of some of our local politicians, including State Senator Bill Perkins, Congressman Nadler, and City Council Member Helen Rosenthal.

Please check our website for details:  www.panys.org/PAM/ and join our Google group:  pamanhattan@googlegroups.com.

Peace Action Manhattan Community Forum       Save the Dates! Monday December 8:  Natia Bueno, PANYS student coordinator Monday, January 5:  Tom Gogon, Director, US Labor Against War.

Peace Action Manhattan PO Box 10 Planetarium Station, New York, NY 10024 President              Jerry Moss                  Telephone:  212-580-1504 Vice President       Florindo Troncelliti Secretary/Treasurer   Shirley Hyman Email: peaceactionmanhattan@gmail.com

Join our Google group!  pamanhattan@googlegroups.com

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[1] US Labor Against War will be presenting on January 5, 2015.

Need We Say More?

By  Dr. Shirley Hyman, Treasurer

The newspapers and television have done their best to report the military chaos which has enveloped every continent on the planet for the past decade.  The rise of guns in theaters, school houses, and on the street by troubled individuals has captured countless front pages.

Now, at last, Peace is being given a chance.  The recent visit of Pope Francis to the Middle East has added a political impact to what was his spiritual journey.  He has already scheduled a meeting between Israel and the Palestinians with the intent of fostering Peace to their lands.  Also, the newly-elected President of Ukraine, Mr. Poroshenko has announced that the first step of his team is “to put an end to war.”  In Colombia, S.A., President Juan Manuel Santos has urged the current voters for the new President “to put an end to five decades of guerilla war.”

We Americans have departed from Iraq hoping that Peace would ensue.  However, upon our exit, American contractors sold $3 Billion worth of military equipment to that country. Moreover, at present there is little sign of democracy and justice in Iraq.

It is necessary, that all American Peace groups must now unite to ensure an end to wars and the birth of transglobal Peace.

****************************************************************Please support Peace Action!  We are an all-volunteer group, mobilizing the local grass roots for Peace.  We need to make our voices heard in the halls of power!  Please join us with a donation of any size!

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