Tag Archives: peace

Veterans for Peace: Remembering the Christmas Truce

Fenya – Christmas Truce Music Video Anti-War by Veterans For Peace UK and Firebrand Records.

“A few years ago, VFP UK and Tom Morello’s Firebrand Records released “Christmas Truce” a holiday single and video to promote the ideals behind that truce – soldier-led resistance against war and militarism. Written by Firebrand Records co-founder, folk singer, and longtime anti-war activist Ryan Harvey, “Christmas Truce” is performed by Belgian-born, London-based singer Fenya, an active member of London’s Food Not Bombs. Accompanying the song is a video shot with members of Veterans For Peace UK, featuring former soldiers of conflicts stretching from the Second World War to the present interventions and occupations in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan.”

~ * ~

“Every year, Veterans For Peace celebrates the anniversary of the Christmas Truce. Once again, we urge our leaders to follow the example set by the Christmas Truce soldiers who rejected militarism and the glorification of war. We call on all leaders to honor all those who have died in war by working for peace and the prevention of war.

Who better than veterans who work for peace to tell the story of these soldiers’ celebration of peace in the midst of war? There is no better way to honor the dead than to protect the living from the fear, terror and moral deprivation of war….”

Remembering the Christmas Truce

Statement Calling for a Christmas Truce in Ukraine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Janet Parker, Madison for A World Beyond War
madisonpeacewalk@gmail.com | (608) 228-9096
Contact: Jerry Folk, Interfaith Peace Working Group
jerrylfolk55@gmail.com | (608) 513-3178

[Anyone who would like to support the truce may sign on here. ]

~ Wisconsin Faith Leaders Call for ~

a ~ Christmas Truce ~ in Ukraine

Inspired by the miraculous Christmas truce of 1914, local leaders petition the Biden administration to push for negotiations and will host a walk to involve the public on Sunday, December 18

Madison, WI – A diverse and quickly growing coalition of nearly 1000 faith leaders in the United States have signed onto a Christmas truce statement demanding a ceasefire in the War in Ukraine. Madison, Wisconsin leaders are hosting a walk to call for a Christmas truce on Sunday, December 18th. The public is welcome to participate.

Initiated by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, USA, the National Council of Elders, CODEPINK and the Peace in Ukraine Coalition, the Christmas truce for Ukraine, is inspired by the miraculous Christmas truce of 1914, in which 100,000 German and British soldiers ceased fire and participated in a brief and spontaneous peace along the Western Front. Emerging from their trenches, soldiers ventured into the “no man’s land” where they shared food and drink; they sang Christmas carols and even played soccer together. It was a potent example of how the human spirit can be a powerful force that transcends hate and division in the promotion of peace.

Several Wisconsin leaders and faith organizations that have signed the statement to support the Christmas truce in Ukraine. They include, but are not limited to, Sister Rosalie Lauer (Sisters of St. Dominic), Madison Friends Meeting (Quakers), Interfaith Peace Working Group, Reverend Erica Liu (Pres House), Pastor Valerie Showalter (Madison Mennonite Church), Rabbi Betsy Forester (Beth Israel Center), Nick Utphall (Advent Lutheran Church of Madison Christian Community), Julia Weaver (United Church of Christ), Phil Haslanger (Christ Presbyterian), and Pastor Peter Beeson (St John’s Lutheran), Rev. Jerry Folk (ELCA pastor), Rev. Franz Rigert, (Conference Minister, Wisconsin Conference, UCC), Rev. Frederick Trost (UCC pastor), and Sister Maureen McDonnell (Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa).

For a full list of signers visit this link.

The itinerary for the Sunday, December 18, Madison Christmas Truce Walk is listed below. The public is welcome to attend any part of the event.

• 10:45 am – St John’s Lutheran Church, 322 E Washington Ave. Clergy Rev Peter Beeson and Rev Julia Weaver have signed the call for a Christmas Truce.
• 11:15 am – Walk west, up East Washington and around the Capitol.
• 12:00 – 12:45 pm – Madison Friends Meeting (Quakers), 1704 Roberts Ct. The congregation signed onto the Truce.
• 12:45 pm – Walk to Pres House on Library Mall.
• 1:15 – 1:30 pm – Walk ends with a very brief vigil at Library Mall. Pres House will share their space for warming up at 731 State St.

More info on the walk

Golden Rule Sails Down Mississippi

The Golden Rule is a project of Veterans for Peace that promotes a peaceful world without nuclear weapons.

hat tip to Phil Fransen for many of pictures on this web post.

“The Golden Rule sailboat, the very same boat sailed by four Quaker sailors toward the Marshall Islands in 1958, will arrive at the Riverside Park Levee in La Crosse at 10:30 AM on Wednesday, Oct. 5. Mayor Reynolds will welcome the boat and crew with an official declaration from the City. Representatives from Veterans For Peace, Women in Black, and others will speak… The welcome event will kick off a series of events that day, all with same message as in 1958: Abolish Nuclear Weapons.”
– Wisconsin Public Radio

Newsbreak: ‘Golden Rule’ peace boat makes its way to La Crosse

“Golden Rule schedule in Iowa

● Dubuque: Arrives evening of Sunday, Oct. 9; leaves the morning of Oct. 11

Facebook Video in Dubuque as the boat arrives

● Clinton: Arrives the evening of Oct. 12; leaves the morning of Oct. 14

● Quad Cities: Arrives the evening of Oct. 14; leaves the morning of Oct. 17

● Muscatine: Arrives the afternoon or evening of Oct 17; leaves the morning of Oct. 19

● Burlington: Arrives the morning of Oct. 19; leaves the morning of Oct 21

● Keokuk: Arrives the evening of Oct 21; leaves the morning of Oct. 23.

For more information about the Golden Rule Project and its Great Loop Voyage, visit vfpgoldenrule.org. You can follow the boat’s progress on a map that updates every 10 minutes at http://share.garmin.com/goldenrule

Groups can schedule an educational presentation by Jaccard at vfpgoldenruleproject@gmail.com or (206) 992-6364.

Historic Golden Rule sailboat heading to Iowa – Burlington Hawkeye (newsmemory.com)

September in Minnesota with Golden Rule

VFP Golden Rule Project | Advancing VFP Opposition to Nuclear Weapons and War

Afghan People and the Afghan Papers

Part of the reason for this web post is that the Wisconsin Veterans Museum recently did a program on the Afghan Papers. Wisconsin Veterans Museum – Every Veteran is a Story (wisvetsmuseum.com)

“The Afghanistan Papers are filled with over 300 people detailing the systematic failure of the military to take any responsibility and blaming the “corruption” of the Afghanistan government, all the while revealing the massive corruption and lies that the U.S. is perpetuating. While military commanders bemoaned Afghan leaders enriching themselves off American tax dollars, those self same commanders were climbing government ranks, earning promotions for promoting endless war.”

Veterans Demand Accountability for Afghanistan Papers

Veterans For Peace and About Face: Veterans Against the Wargathered veterans who served in the U.S. War in Afghanistan to write the above statement.

“When the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan kicked into high gear, the U.S. started evacuating at-risk Afghans to the United States on parole, giving them only temporary protections with no pathway to citizenship. Countless others got left behind. A large coalition of Afghan Americans, immigration advocates, and veterans got together to start pushing Congress for legislation that would give Afghans lasting protections and a pathway to citizenship, as well as hold the Biden administration accountable to ensure other vulnerable and at-risk Afghans could find their way to safety in the U.S. This type of large-scale adjustment of status would match historic precedent, as the U.S. has done this previously for Cambodian, Vietnamese, Cuban and Iraqi Kurds.

On August 11th, the Afghan Adjustment Act (AAA) got a bipartisan introduction in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is our hope to ensure passage as Congress reconvenes from its summer recess and find enough support to receive 60 votes in the Senate and a simple majority vote in the House.

The United States made a promise. Now, it must live up to its word. But we need your help to ensure we hold our elected officials accountable.

https://www.weareafghans.org/afghan-adjustment-act

In Solidarity,

Arash Azizzada

Afghan American Community Organizer
& Co-Director of Afghans For A Better Tomorrow

The Afghanistan Papers | Book by Craig Whitlock, The Washington Post | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster (simonandschuster.com)

Call to unfreeze aid to Afghanistan – WORT-FM 89.9 (wortfm.org)

U.S. officials misled the public about the war in Afghanistan, confidential documents reveal – Washington Post

“A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.

The documents were generated by a federal project examining the root failures of the longest armed conflict in U.S. history. They include more than 2,000 pages of previously unpublished notes of interviews with people who played a direct role in the war, from generals and diplomats to aid workers and Afghan officials.

The U.S. government tried to shield the identities of the vast majority of those interviewed for the project and conceal nearly all of their remarks. The Post won release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle.

In the interviews, more than 400 insiders offered unrestrained criticism of what went wrong in Afghanistan and how the United States became mired in nearly two decades of warfare.

With a bluntness rarely expressed in public, the interviews lay bare pent-up complaints, frustrations and confessions, along with second-guessing and backbiting…”