THE PEOPLE DEMAND A CEASEFIRE

Upcoming massive protest in Washington DC to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We must stand together united to fight for peace! War is wholly unnecessary and horrific. It must end. Will you be attending the protest?

Saturday November 4, 2023 | 2pm | Freedom Plaza

https://peoplesforum.org/events/national-march-on-washington-free-palestine/

PETITION | END THE WAR IN UKRAINE

Sign the Petition: END THE WAR IN UKRAINE!

Link: https://defusenuclearwar.org/endthewarinukraine/

To Presidents Biden, Putin and Zelensky:

IT’S TIME TO STOP THE KILLING AND DEVASTATION. CEASEFIRE & PEACE NEGOTIATIONS NOW!

The war in Ukraine has taken tens of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian lives, uprooted millions, contaminated land, air and water and worsened the climate crisis.

The longer the war goes on, the greater the danger of spiraling escalation which can lead to a wider war, environmental devastation and nuclear annihilation.

The war diverts billions that could be addressing urgent human needs.

Total military victory cannot be achieved by either Russia or Ukraine. It is time to support the calls by Pope Francis, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres, Presidents Lula de Silva of Brazil, Erdoğan of Turkey, Xi of China, and others for a ceasefire and a negotiated end to this calamitous war.

Stop the killing, agree to a ceasefire and begin negotiations!

NEW ISSUE OF PAX IN TERRA

Here is our latest issue of Pax in Terra - Zine for Peace! Please read and share with your communities. We are always looking for submissions to our zine.

Please send any writing, art, photography, videography, ***WHATEVER you got*** to contact@epaxoc.org and we will add it into our upcoming issues!

End the War in Ukraine

Kathleen Temple, member of EPOC and Shenandoah Valley Anti-War Coalition, wrote a Letter to the Editor for the Daily News-Record

“Our Representative Ben Cline could, along with his House Budget Committee colleagues, shut off the funding spigot to the Biden administration's war against Russia.

Then, our Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner would be forced to support negotiations to end the terrible war in Ukraine.

The Ukraine war, and indeed any U.S. war, need not continue one more day.

I am with The Experiential Peace Organizing Committee and Peace Praxis, Shenandoah.”

Kathleen Temple

Rockingham County

“There Are No Innocent Americans” Caitlin Johnstone

Video video here

“If the logic that "there are no innocent Russians" because the Russian people have a moral obligation to overthrow their warmongering government were evenly applied, it would also apply to Americans. Even more so, really, since their government is vastly more warlike than Moscow. Per the "there are no innocent Russians" argument, Americans should be banned from participating in international events. Americans should be kicked out of foreign universities. Cinemas should stop playing Hollywood movies. Hemingway should be banned from schools. Reading by Tim Foley. Thanks for watching! Subscribe to caitlinjohnstone.com for email updates on all my new stuff.”

REPOST: VIDEO - Caitlin Johnstone

View video here

“Decamp writes that "The lessening concern about Putin resorting to nukes appears to be based only on the fact that he hasn’t used any up to this point." But this is as logical as believing that it is safe and wise to jump even harder on the sleeping bear you've been jumping on just because the bear hasn't woken up yet. The assumption that because a disaster has not happened in the past it will not happen in the future is a type of fallacious reasoning known as normalcy bias. The assumption that because a disaster has not happened in the past it will not happen in the future, even though you keep doing things to make it increasingly likely, is just being a fucking idiot. It's like Wile E Coyote jumping up and down on the land mine until it explodes because it didn't explode when the Roadrunner ran over it.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Article with links: https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com...

Thanks for watching! Subscribe to caitlinjohnstone.com for email updates on all my new stuff.”

Pray For Peace

Letter to the Editor, written by Kathleen Temple, an actively engaged EPOC member!

“When I was a child, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought into sharp focus the extreme danger of nuclear war. “Pray For Peace” was seared into our minds and hearts as it was broadcast into public view every day. Where my family lived, “Pray For Peace” was printed on postage stamps, it was scrawled on abandoned buildings. It was front and center on church publications. “Pray For Peace,” along with other public education about war and peace, made many of us ever more aware that belligerence between Washington, D.C., and Moscow was verging perilously close to nuclear conflagration. The entire society recoiled from what we knew could annihilate all of us.

The risk of nuclear conflagration by intent or by accident, though it is as high right now as it was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, is not much in the public eye. The danger of nuclear escalation is not often discussed. Neither is the population well educated about what post-nuclear destruction would be like.

I suspect that if U.S. Rep. Ben Cline and Sens. Warner and Kaine would give more thought to the chance that belligerence between Washington, D.C., and Moscow, now taking the form of proxy war which is killing Ukrainian people, will lead to nuclear annihilation of the entire world, they would push vigorously, persistently, and loudly for peace talks now, right now.”

Kathleen Temple, Experiential Peace Organizing Committee

Rockingham County

Where's The Money?

Letter to the Editor, written by Kathleen Temple, an actively engaged EPOC member!

“We U.S. taxpayers pay for many things with our taxes, but no department receives nearly as much of our money as the Pentagon. Some estimate that fully half of our federal monies are gobbled up by the war department.

However, according to reports in Responsible Statecraft and many other sources, the Pentagon has once again spectacularly failed its audit. What? The Pentagon is able to account for only a mere 39% of our money? Our legislators shovel more and more of our money into war, yet Sens. Kaine and Warner and Rep. Cline have yet to call publicly for congressional hearings to investigate where all the money is going. If 61% of our household funds were evaporating into thin air, I think my spouse and I would absolutely freak out. We would go find that money!”

Kathleen Temple

Rockingham County

PREPPERS FOR A PEOPLE’S FUTURE

Blacksburg, Virginia’s Future Economy Collective has new merch on sale! The shirts and tote bags read “PREPPERS FOR A PEOPLE’S FUTURE,” which is a phrase we align with here in EPOC. We know that we all deserve to live in peace. We know that war is an abomination which deprives us all of peace. We know that military spending bloats the national budget and we know that as long as weapons and murder is glorified - then we will never have peace. We will never have a people’s future. Peace NOW!

REPOST: VIDEO - Caitlin Johnstone

“2022 is an insane year to be a critic of the empire. People are being censored for disputing official narratives about a war. Those who aren't censored are being mobbed by astroturf trolling operations. A frenetic propaganda push is turning our friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances into brainwashed empire automatons who despise our heretical rejection of official imperial doctrine about Russia and Ukraine. And this is just a quick note to say thank you for holding the line anyway, and to note that your opposition to nuclear brinkmanship, US warmongering and propaganda makes a difference. Reading by Tim Foley. Article version: https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/youre-doing-great-and-your-voice”

RALLY FOR PEACE - Blacksburg, Virginia

JOIN THE PEACE RALLY! This Friday December 2, 2022 in Blacksburg, Virginia at 5pm, there will be a rally for peace outside the downtown post office. Our survival is on the line. We must demand peace NOW! Ceasefire NOW! Defund wars NOW!

JOIN US IN SALEM, VIRGINIA

We are holding a Press conference gathering at the World War I Memorial in Salem, Virginia this coming Monday September 5, 2022 at 11am. Physical address is 331 East 2nd Street Salem, VA United States 24153

We want to stand up for peace, speak the truth on the atrocities of war, and set the record straight on the U.S./NATO's involvement in Russia's vicious war against Ukraine and how prolonging it makes matters worse for all of us. We demand that leaders stop funding wars, prioritize humanitarian aid, and pursue peace efforts.

If anyone needs help with gas money getting to this event please send me an email at marymichaeladesmond@gmail.com. I am so willing to chip in to get folks to this event!

Is our democracy truly serving us?

Is our democracy truly serving us? What weight do we truly hold in influencing our own well-being here in the United States of America? 

For a lot of us, the effects of inflation are emptying our wallets and bank accounts. Gas prices are up 90 percent from last year and grocery costs are rising as high as 35 percent higher than last year. Inflation is weighing heavily on us all. The working class, around the world, is being hit the hardest of all. 

What’s more, current inflation is tied directly to Russia’s abhorrent invasion of Ukraine, so better to help bring it to an end as soon as possible. The United States acting as a hegemon is doing the opposite by not using its vast diplomatic resources and soft power to bring the war to as swift an end as possible. Instead, the United States is exerting hard power to punish and demonize Russia and is funneling billions of dollars of military equipment to Ukraine to continue the violence. 

It’s not certain that ending the war in Ukraine will bring inflation down. It is clear, however, that ending the war will stop the killing of so many lives. All wars end with a diplomatic agreement—that is for sure. The only question is how many living things will have to die before such an agreement is reached between Ukraine and Russia? Strikingly, President Joe Biden has even said that we Americans and Ukrainians must endure whatever for “as long as it takes.”

I don’t know about you but I’d like to live in a peaceful world and be able to fill up my grocery cart. Where’re the politicians working for peace and economic justice? Step forward and run, and I’ll vote for you.

U.S. Empire a heavy burden for American workers

You can learn a lot about what a country values by reviewing its spending priorities. Here, politicians always find money for the military (nearly $800 billion) and give tax breaks to corporations (many of which are defense contractors and fossil fuel companies) while the rest of us have to beg and scrounge for vital resources to maintain even meager living conditions.

What about funding for public works projects, schools, universal prekindergarten and day care; what about universal paid family leave and paid sick time? For the most part, we regular people scrounge for money and ask family members to help us with child care (this work is mostly done by women and largely goes unpaid). We have to drive on potholed roads and across failing bridges and wait for delayed flights and trains. Our children’s schools are crumbling, and college graduates are left paying staggering debts.

All the while, our leaders hand Ukraine, Taiwan and other U.S. client states more missiles and guns. If you need baby formula or need help with child care or are getting gouged at the gas pump, sorry, there’s little to no help for you. “You’ve got to sacrifice,” our leaders tell us.

The ruling class—business leaders and politicians—don’t make sacrifices. You and I sacrifice a lot when we have to forgo medical treatments to pay for groceries—all while living under the threat of species-ending destruction from great power war and climate breakdown.

It isn’t necessary to live this way. One step forward we can take is getting our priorities in order. For me, I’d rather pay for you and me to see a doctor than give cruise missiles to Taiwan.

VIDEO: Democracy Now!

“A bloody stalemate, a struggle for peace.” 6 months into the war, peace is clearly not a priority. Pope Francis calls for peace, yet Washington refuses. Biden announced a new $3billlion dollar military aid package. View the video here (15:30)

U.S. foreign policy endangering us all

The United States is treading perilously close to open and violent confrontation with Russia and China. As Russia and China are two nuclear superpowers, the consequences of the United States’ confrontation with those two countries will have damaging consequences for the rest of the world — indeed a majority of the world’s population.

We should be appalled and angry that our country’s leaders are putting our survival — and the survival of other living things on our planet — in serious jeopardy. Where are the leaders who are calling for de-escalation with Russia and China?

Foreign policy should be a more important issue for us Americans. The United States’ impact on the world is unbalanced and poses great dangers for us here and all life on our planet. Moreover, the United States’ foreign policy decisions impose grave financial costs on us at home. Why can’t we properly fund our schools and public works projects and have universal programs? The answer is, in large part, because we’re funding disastrous foreign policies and horrendous military interventions abroad.

When is all of this going to stop so we cannot only survive but flourish, in peace?

Our first zine issue!

The first issue of our zine “Pax in Terra” is now live! Check it out here.

Organize with us!

Want a more just and peaceful world? Well, we’ve got to organize like our lives depend on it—because it does. We can’t do it alone. Join our committee and help organize for survival, peace and justice. Fill out this form.