Category Archives: Clarence Kailin Chapter 25

Armistice Day Art Pieces for Veterans for Peace

“In everything you do, Let it be like Art.”

Amanda Zehren explains that her art is a tool to be used to spread love and humanity. “I work with many mediums and almost all of my artwork is inspired by nature.”

 

In Milwaukee, Amanda made her chalk drawing on November 10th for a ceremony on November 11th:

Celebrate Peace, Not War, on Armistice Day.

 Veterans for Peace-Milwaukee on Facebook

“Armistice Day, the annual holiday held on Nov. 11, was a day to celebrate the end of a bloody war and promote world peace. But since it became Veterans Day, it often seems to be more of a celebration and display of militarism. This year, the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, is a time to reclaim the day for peace. ..” – Bill Christofferson served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam and is a member of Milwaukee Chapter 102 of Veterans for Peace.

Milwaukee: Celebrate Peace, Not War, on Armistice Day

Speakers at the event: *Reggie Jackson, head griot of America’s Black Holocaust Museum *Janan Najeeb, president of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition *John LaForge, co-director of Nukewatch

Facebook Video of Reggie Jackson

Youtube video of Janan Najeeb

Youtube video of John LaForge

The Grass is Greener-2018-11-03 Amanda Zehren: Art for Armistice Day
Amanda is a professional artist who does competitive sidewalk murals. We talk about her planned recreation of the iconic “Flower Power” photo outside Milwaukee City Hall, which she will be installing the afternoon before.

Riverwest Radio interviewing Amanda about the chalk art in Milwaukee for Artmistice Day

Co-sponsors of the Milwaukee event: Veterans for Peace-Milwaukee Chapter 102, Peace Action-Wisconsin, United Nations Assn. of Greater Milwaukee, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Greater Milwaukee Green Party, Unitarian Universalist Church-West, Progressive Democrats of America, Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, Democratic Socialists of America Milwaukee chapter, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Milwaukee End the Wars Committee, UWM Military and Veterans Resource Center, Milwaukee Turners, Inc., Milwaukee National Lawyers Guild, Wisconsin Poor People’s Campaign, Nukewatch, and Wis. Network for Peace, Justice and Sustainability.

It was a cold, cold windy day but she persisted.

 

“The event is a reminder that Nov. 11 – now a day to honor veterans – was established as a day to promote world peace. World War I, the “war to end all wars” ended on the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Twenty million soldiers and civilians had been killed, and almost an equal number wounded.”

 

 

This chalk art piece is after a famous photograph called “Flower Power.” The photo was taken by Bernie Boston on October 21, 1967 during an antiwar march on the Pentagon. A man is seen placing carnations into the barrels of the rifles of a military police battalion.

Flowers, Guns and an Iconic Snapshot

Makes me wonder if there were chambered rounds in those rifles.

Amanda Zehren Chalk Art Finished piece – Milwaukee Nov10,2018

On November 11th, the Barrymore Theatre in Madison  hosted a live music show

The Greatest War. 

The Greatest War examines why this history is relevant today in a multimedia, live music exploration presenting new music featuring the music and lyrics of The Kissers, Sean Michael Dargan, November Criminals, and The Viper and His Famous Orchestra and graphic art in the background to help tell the story.

The team that produced the event:  Ken Fitzsimmons, John Wedge, Sean Michael Dargan, Jason Fassl, Leslie DeBauche and Yvette Pino.

More music and pictures leading up to the event.

Amanda begins her chalk art drawing in Madison.

“On November 11, 2018 Madison, Wisconsin will join [ed] the world in commemorating the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War One. Presenting new music inspired by the “The War to End War,” this rock ‘n’ roll history show will explore the conflict and the effect it has had on Wisconsinites then and now. 21 songs about the people and events will be performed in front of a giant video wall displaying photographs, film, and newspaper headlines from the time. Songs will often be introduced through readings of letters and diaries from people overseas and at home.” – Greatest War Website

Armistice Day was originally a day to celebrate peace and an end to war. Veterans for Peace sees this as the best way to honor veterans.  The goal of war should be to end war, that especially is the goal of those who serve.

 I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.  – Dwight D. Eisenhower

The 100th Anniversary of the End of All Wars

 

Join Vets for Peace

“We want generations after us to never know the destruction war has wrought on people and the earth.

Veterans For Peace is calling on everyone to stand up for peace this Armistice Day. More than ever, the world faces a critical moment. Tensions are heightened around the world and the U.S. is engaged militarily in multiple countries, without an end in sight.

Here at home we have seen the increasing militarization of our police forces and brutal crackdowns on dissent and people’s uprisings against state power. We must press our government to end reckless military interventions that endanger the entire world. We must build a culture of peace.

This Armistice Day, Veterans For Peace calls on the U.S. public to say no to more war and to demand justice and peace, at home and abroad. We know Peace is Possible and call for an end to all oppressive and violent policies, and for equality for all people.”

 

An American soldier wearing a helmet declaring “peace”, relaxes during the troop’s return to South Vietnam after operations in Cambodia.

Peace Helmet, the finished chalk art piece by Amanda Zehren

You can reach Amanda Zehren

[email protected]

Art by Amanda [Facebook]

Amada explains her story

“My art story starts with my first grade teacher approaching my mother and telling her, “You know Amanda is a wonderful Artist. She puts details in her drawings much more so than all of her classmates.” She showed my mom a picture I drew and stated, ” Look at the eyelashes so beautifully drawn.”

Soon after that encounter with Miss Krein, my mom gave me my first sketch book. I even remember the way that book felt in my hands. I started it at age 6 and finished it at age 12. Every year my pictures getting more and more detailed as I practiced. Creating things with my hands has always come easy to me like a magical power. “Chuckle”, if only everything else about life was so easy. Life on the other hand has been incredibly hard and choosing to see the beauty of the world around me rather than the suffocating doom is what has made my life beautiful and unique.

My family supported me so much growing up. They were always awe struck by what I did, showering me with compliments. It was all of those compliments and encouragement that kept me going, kept me drawing, practicing, wanting more. There was never a time in my life when I wasn’t the Artist. I ate art for breakfast and lived on the high of making people smile. In high school I would skip lunches to go up to another class my Art teacher was instructing. All of my Art teachers welcomed me, taught me and made it so that my creative freedom would be limitless.

My Senior year in high school was made up of all Art classes with the exception of one math class. Art and Earth Science were the only classes I got straight A’s in. As is with anything you love the most, it was what I was best at and most hungry to learn about.

Now here I am as a mother doing my Art right along side my also incredibly artistic family. Hungry to learn, create and spread joy through my Art. In my Art you see all the many things I love. It personifies who I am and what I feel so deeply. My Art is my expression of the world I see in it’s endless and magical God created beauty. I’m beginning to get used to the idea of selling my art, although it’s hard for me. I’ve always gotten so much joy out of giving my art away for free. It’s my favorite way to spread love and humanity. Love and humanity is so desperately needed in this world today.

If I can make the world a better place through art, there is no stopping the art that is inside of me. So here I am and here I strive on to become an artist of the fullest potential fulfilling my destiny the universe has created for me.”

More from Veterans for Peace-National on Armistice Day History

“The Greatest War” Multi-media Event Marks the 100th Anniversary of the Armistice

Andy Moore of the Isthmus : Link to Isthmus article

“On Nov. 11, the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, a battalion of Madison musicians will take the stage at the Barrymore Theatre for an original stage show called “The Greatest War: World War I, Wisconsin, and Why It Still Matters.” The ambitious production is largely the brainchild of local Celt-rocker Ken Fitzsimmons, who approached the project with a level of determination that Sir Douglas Haig himself would approve of.

Co-producers John Wedge and Ken Fitzsimmons trying out a smaller version of a video wall at Blizzard Lighting in Waukesha Pic by Sean Michael Dargan

Fitzsimmons has a life-long interest in WWI starting, he remembers, as a young man who noticed a paltry row of books on the subject in a bookstore compared to the volumes on the Civil War and World War II. He calls the Nov. 11 production “a “live rock ’n’ roll history show.” It’s the result of more than a year of research, composing and rehearsal. Onstage, Fitzsimmons and his band the Kissers will be joined by, among others, Sean Michael Dargan (Get Back Wisconsin) and Milwaukee’s hip-hop polka group November Criminals. While the musicians perform, a large screen will feature photos, film, art and newspaper archives.

Video Screen for Greatest War

The songs tell the stories of Wisconsinites who were caught in the cauldron of war. Not all were in the trenches. “Traitor State” tells the story of how nine of 11 of Wisconsin’s U.S. congressional representatives voted against going to war. Fitzsimmons wrote this song as a conversation between himself (playing the role of Wisconsin) and his band members (who represent the rest of the country). ”

“Music has a direct line into your heart. And in the live setting we can provide a performance without distraction. What I want in this concert more than anything is to foster a sense of connection between the audience and those who lived during this extraordinary time.”
– Ken Fitzsimmons

“One hundred years ago the world celebrated peace as a universal principle. The first World War had just ended and nations mourning their dead collectively called for an end to all wars. Armistice Day was born and was designated as “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated.” After World War II, the U.S. Congress decided to rebrand November 11 as Veterans Day. Honoring the warrior quickly morphed into honoring the military and glorifying war. Armistice Day was flipped from a day for peace into a day for displays of militarism.” – Veterans for Peace

The names of the Wisconsin soldiers who lost their lives.

The War Won

By Ken Fitzsimmons. This uses a melody from Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto written in the aftermath of the war and builds on a quote by WWI poet Edmund Blunden that no one could win the war, “the War Won, and would keep on winning.” Images are taken from the National Archives. This is an example of the video that will be displayed behind the musicians for The Greatest War: World One, Wisconsin, and Why It Still Matters.

WKOW news coverage

“Madisonians helped mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I by holding a number of events. The war affected millions of people, including several soldiers, nurses, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters who came from Wisconsin.

The events have something for everyone, as they honor those who sacrificed and were impacted by the war. There’s art, film screenings, live theater and musical performances.

The centerpiece of the events is a live “Rock and Roll History Show” at the Barrymore Theatre called, “The Greatest War: World War One, Wisconsin and Why It Still Matters.”

“Wisconsin is very much a state known for it’s wide range of politics. It sometimes very conservative and sometimes very liberal at the same time and that was true back then as well,” said Ken Fitzsimmons, the director of the show.” WKOW

Greatest War Youtube Channel

More info on Veterans Day/Armistice Day from Vets for Peace 

Additional pictures from the Greatest War Event, most of which we would like to thank  Jennifer Brown Dargan for.

 

 

John Nichols: The war that turned Wisconsin against war

soldiers landing in ship

On June 26, 1917, the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force deployed to France during World War I landed in St. Nazaire.

World War I was the war that turned Wisconsinites against war.

The conflict was so reckless, so brutal, and so completely unnecessary that for generations after its conclusion on Nov. 11, 1918, the awful memory of “the war to end all wars” has inspired a distrust of militarism and war profiteering that has always run deeper in Wisconsin than most states.

Before World War I, Wisconsinites were justifiably proud of the role our abolitionists and soldiers played in the Civil War struggle to end human bondage. So this was not a pacifist state. But World War I taught thinking Wisconsinites that not all wars were good. And that some could be very bad, indeed. So it is that, as we mark the 100th anniversary of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month — the official ending point of that first global conflict — we honor the long dead sons of Wisconsin. But we also measure the lingering cost of choices that broke faith with an American experiment that began in revolt against empire builders and their imperialist designs.

The thing about World War I is that Wisconsinites knew even before the U.S. entered the conflict of kings and kaisers that it was not our fight. U.S. Sen. Robert M. La Follette, the former governor and eventual independent progressive presidential candidate, led the opposition to President Woodrow Wilson’s rush to war. La Follette raged against the president’s scheme to send the sons of farmers and shopkeepers and factory workers to die in support of George V and British colonial power.

Wilson, who had been re-elected in the fall of 1916 with the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War,” announced in April 1917 that “America is privileged to spend her blood and her might” in “the most terrible and disastrous of all wars.” The Senate was poised to consent to the president’s folly. But La Follette objected, forcing a debate in which he argued: “If it is important for us to speak and vote our convictions in matters of internal policy, though we may unfortunately be in disagreement with the president, it is infinitely more important for us to speak and vote our convictions when the question is one of peace or war, …”

La Follette described opposition to U.S. entry into the European conflict — reading aloud from petitions and the referendum results of Monroe, Wisconsin (954 against war, 95 in favor). He counseled: “The poor, sir, who are the ones called upon to rot in the trenches, have no organized power, have no press to voice their will upon this question of peace or war; but, oh, Mr. President, at some time they will be heard.”

Only a handful of senators joined La Follette in opposing the declaration of war. In the House, of the 50 anti-war votes, nine came from Wisconsinites. They were joined by Socialist Meyer London from New York City and the first woman to serve in the Congress, Jeannette Rankin, who explained: “I want to stand by my country, but I cannot vote for war.”

The war was as awful as Wisconsinites had feared. In less than two years, 117,000 Americans were dead, while more than 200,000 had been wounded. La Follette was initially vilified for his opposition — with only one daily newspaper, The Capital Times, taking his side amid calls for his expulsion from the Senate.

As the war was ending, however, voters in Milwaukee elected as their congressman Socialist Victor Berger, who campaigned on the slogan “For a Speedy and Lasting Peace, Tax the Profiteers.” And when La Follette sought re-election in 1922 — after declaring: “I do not want the vote of a single citizen under any misapprehension of where I stand: I would not change my record on the war for that of any man, living or dead …” — he was re-elected with 80 percent of the vote.

The legacy of La Follette’s courageous opposition to World War I extended across the decades. The two U.S. Senate votes against the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which committed the United States to all-out war in Vietnam, came from Oregon’s Wayne Morse, a Wisconsin native who had imbibed La Follette’s anti-imperialism as a youth, and Alaska’s Ernest Gruening, the spokesman for La Follette’s 1924 presidential campaign. In 1968, Eugene McCarthy brought his anti-Vietnam War presidential campaign to Wisconsin in large part because of the state’s history of opposition to military adventurism. George McGovern did the same in 1972 and, as recently as 2016, Bernie Sanders recalled La Follette as he campaigned in the state.

Former Sen. Gaylord Nelson’s opposition to the war in Southeast Asia and former Sen. William Proxmire’s scrutiny of Pentagon abuse was grounded in lessons learned from the foes of World War I and the profiteers who capitalized upon suffering. Sen. Russ Feingold referenced La Follette when he opposed the USA Patriot Act in 2001 and George W. Bush’s rush to war in Iraq in 2002. So, too, did Tammy Baldwin, who as a House member sided with Feingold and La Follette’s legacy on those critical votes. Congressman Mark Pocan, who holds La Follette’s old House seat, has been a steady critic of militarism and of the “dollar diplomacy” that his predecessor decried. When President Trump nominated ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to serve as secretary of State last year, Pocan warned about those who would “place profit margins ahead of diplomacy.”

That was La Follette’s language, echoing across a century — as true, and necessary, as ever. We have not forgotten World War I. We will garland the graves of the dead, once more, on this Nov. 11. And we well recall the words of the senator who warned before the U.S. entered World War I that “this war is being forced upon our people without their knowing why and without their approval, and that wars are usually forced upon all peoples in the same way.”

John Nichols is associate editor of The Capital Times. [email protected] and @NicholsUprising.  

Link to editorial

LaborFest 2018: Veterans for Peace-Madison

LaborFest crowd

Volunteers from Madison Veterans for Peace Clarence Kailin Chapter 25 joined the South Central Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO (SCFL) in celebrating Labor Day with its annual LaborFest on Monday, September 3, at the Madison Labor Temple grounds on South Park Street.

 

 

Steve Books LaborFest

 

 

 

Bands: the Jimmys and Red Hot Horn Dawgs performed.  There were family-friendly activities: magic shows, face painting, a bounce house, balloon twister, and a caricature artist.