Peace Vigil 9/13/06

Peace Vigil 9/06/06
Peace Vigil 9/06/06
Peace Vigil 8/16/06
Peace Vigil 8/9/06
Peace Vigil 8/2/06

I share these photographs of the faces of those opposed to war and the Bush Administration because you will not see or hear of them on the news. They are your neighbors, your co-workers, your teachers, your students, your bus drivers. I want to share that they are you and I.

I hope to capture the energy of these peace vigils and more importantly the passion of the people. I hope to empower others to find their local vigils or create their own. To at least know that they are not alone.  


Washington County Peace Vigil 56th Week.
Beaverton, Oregon, 6:30 to 7:30
Cold, windy and getting dark
Celebrating their 20th Wedding Anniversary…


So we sang to them…

And the band played on

and on…


Danni and Wesley with the Peace Cranes

Peace Vigil 9/06/06

Peace Vigil 9/06/06
Peace Vigil 8/16/06
Peace Vigil 8/9/06
Peace Vigil 8/2/06

I share these photographs of the faces of those opposed to war and the Bush Administration because you will not see or hear of them on the news. They are your neighbors, your co-workers, your teachers, your students, your bus drivers. I want to share that they are you and I.

I hope to capture the energy of these peace vigils and more importantly the passion of the people. I hope to empower others to find their local vigils or create their own. To at least know that they are not alone.  


Washington County Peace Vigil 55th Week.
Beaverton, Oregon, 6:30 to 7:30

Peace Vigil 8/23/06

Peace Vigil 8/16/06
Peace Vigil 8/9/06
Peace Vigil 8/2/06

I share these photographs of the faces of those opposed to war and the Bush Administration because you will not see or hear of them on the news. They are your neighbors, your co-workers, your teachers, your students, your bus drivers. I want to share that they are you and I.

I hope to capture the energy of these peace vigils and more importantly the passion of the people. I hope to empower others to find their local vigils or create their own. To at least know that they are not alone.  


Washington County Peace Vigil 53rd Week.
Beaverton, Oregon, 6:30 to 7:30

Iraqi Delegate Relief Fund [UPDATE]

Update [2006-9-18 16:25:23 by Damnit Janet]:

Thanks to BoomanTribune and MyLeftWing, this diary generated (to date) $225 to be sent to a dear Iraqi Delegate Refugee. We had hoped to raised $1,500 but instead – surpassed $2,000. The collecting will continue so that we can aid more Iraqi Delegate Refugees through Collateral Repair Project and CodePink Portland.

With all my heart – thank you.

CODEPINK brought a delegation of Iraqi women to the U.S. for March 8, International Women’s Day, as part of the Women Say No to War campaign. Some of these women toured parts of the US and participated in several anti-war protests marking the anniversary of the war during March 18-19, 2006.

These brave women need our help. They are all now refugees who had to flee their beloved country. They  stayed in their homeland as long as they could. Now they can never return.

Many of these fine women are too proud to ask for help. But we know that they are hurting, scared and we know what they need. Please help us help them.
Our lives are forever changed and linked to these brave women.


Cristy of CodePink Portland with Eman our time with her (link)

Bios of Iraqi Women’s Delegation:

  1. Nadje Al-Ali is a writer/researcher specializing in women in the Middle East. She is a founding member of Act Together: Women’s Action on Iraq and mother of a 3-year-old daughter.
  2. Faiza Al-Araji is a civil engineer, a blogger (afamilyinbaghdad.blogspot.com), a religious Shia with a Sunni husband, and a mother of three. After one son was recently held as a political prisoner by the Ministry of the Interior, the family fled to Jordan.
  3. Souad Al-Jazairy -Writer, journalist and TV producer, Souad is a very active member in the Iraqi Women’s League. At the last minute Souad is not able to be with us because of urgent work she has been called to do in regarding the Constitution and ensuring better rights for women. We are sorry but we hope that she can come to the U.S. in the near future when she has more time.
  4. Eman Ahmad Khamas is a human rights advocate who has documented abuses by the occupation forces. She is a member of Women’s Will, and is married with two daughters.
  5. Dr Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist at the Yarmook Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, has documented the deteriorating health system. She is.married with 5 children
  6. Vivian Salim Mati is a widow who lost her husband and three children when they were fired on by U.S. tank fire as they attempted to flee the bombing of their neighborhood in Baghdad in April 2003 .We are sorry that her visa application was denied by the U.S. government. As a result she will not be able to join us for March 8 activities.
  7. Kadhim Jawad (Anwar) is a widow whose husband and three children were killed by US soldiers at an unmarked checkpoint. We are sorry that her visa application was denied by the U.S. government. As a result she will not be able to join us for March 8 activities.
  8. Dr. Rashad Zidan, a pharmacist, works in Baghdad and Fallujah with Women and Knowledge Society to aid victims of war, especially orphans.
  9. Sureya Sayadi, a Kurdish woman born in Kirkuk in 1960, is an activist for human rights in the Middle East, particularly for the Kurdish people. Her family participated in the uprising against Saddam in 1974, then became refugees in Iran. Sueya later came to the United States as political refugee, but her family is dispersed in Iraq, Iran and Turkey.

To read their incredible stories and speeches (link)

These women are now refugees.

Many of these fine women are too proud to ask for help. But we know that they are hurting, scared and we know what some of them need.

“It’s the least we can do” said my dear Pink Sister, Cristy (pictured above) when she told us of one delegate’s plight. This is grassroots. This is us asking our friends, family, blog buddies.

CodePink Portland is seeking to raise $1,500 for one of the delegates who needs are immediate – payment for housing and educational placement for her children by September. We hope that the fund will grow so we can help as many as we can.

I have no paypal, my address is a street address. Please email me at web@codepinkportland.org and I will give you my address. I will give the checks to Cristy who can get the money to the Iraqi women via Collateral Repair Project.  

If you can help, checks are to be made out to Collateral Repair Project It is not a 501c3 so donations are not deductable. Thank you so very much!

Washington County Peace Vigil 8/16/06

Peace Vigil 8/9/06
Peace Vigil 8/2/06

“”There isn’t anyone here who doesn’t support the troops,” says Ben Fain, one of the vigil organizers.

The weekly gatherings began a year ago this week to support the efforts of Cindy Sheehan, who set up camp outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. Sheehan, the mother of a solider killed in Iraq, became the public face of Americans grieving over a loved one taken in war.

Since then, the Beaverton group has never missed a Wednesday, gathering at 6:30 p.m. through blistering heat, numbing cold and Oregon rain. ” Oregonian Article: A vigil for the dead . . . and for peace

The Vigilers also showed support for Lt. Watada and raised over $400 for his defense fund


My son.

Ben, one of the wonderful Vigil Organizers


Most wore black to show mourning for a sad anniversary.


My family and our hockey buddy (his first vigil)


Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie & The Youngbloods


New friends. My husband, in VFP shirt, today was his birthday. He met another USN ET Vet. Both Veterans for Peace. One from Viet Nam, one from Gulf War… both standing for Peace.  

 

Arlington NORTHWEST Memorial

Almost a year ago… I saw the Memorial EAST in DC.

UW Hub, Seattle, WA – August 2006 @ Veterans for Peace National Convention.


This is the area where Clousing came to announce his resistance.


Voter Registration… the irony…


Does Oil Addiction Triump Empathy?
are THEY the ENEMY? Stop the VIOLENCE!

Oh the people you meet…


My new family member, Mike from VFP. Camp Casey Crawford Chapter his shirt reads.

Middle East Peace Trip Action Alert

CODEPINK women Medea Benjamin, Gael Murphy and Diane Wilson are risking their lives to bring aid to Southern Lebanon and to expose the atrocities, please help protect them in their passage.

Contact the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC and the Israeli Consulate in New York today to let them know that there is international attention on the Humanitarian Aid Convoy composed of Lebanese and U.S. citizens as well as other Internationals that plans to bring much needed aid to the thousands of civilians that are dying in Southern Lebanon from thirst, hunger and disease brought about by the bombing.

Let them know that we expect safe passage for this convoy – they must know the whole world is watching!

CALL TODAY!

Amir Maimon – Minister-Counselor and Head of Department
Eynat Shlein-Michael – Counselor for Middle Eastern Affairs
Reuven Azar – Counselor for Political Affairs

Israel Embassy Washington DC Political Department
Tel: (202) 364-5581/2
Fax: (202) 364-5490

New York Israel Consulate General
Tel: (212) 499-5000

After 28 days of fasting, anti-war hunger strikers received a breakthrough victory for their sacrifice: Leading members of the Iraqi Parliament invited fasters to join them to discuss their plans for peace in Iraq. On Wednesday, August 2, hunger strikers will travel to Amman, Jordan to meet with these Iraqi MPs and break their fast.

The delegation includes: Peace mom Cindy Sheehan, Retired Colonel Ann Wright, Iraq war veteran Geoffrey Millard, Politician/Writer Tom Hayden, and CODEPINK co-founders Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans, Gael Murphy and Diane Wilson. Click here for the full list of delegates and their bios.

The invitation from the Iraqi MPs comes after fasters were rebuffed in numerous attempts to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during his visit to Washington last week, including setting up “Camp Al-Maliki” across from the Iraqi Embassy and publishing an open letter to him in one of the largest Iraqi newspapers. Faster and CODEPINK cofounder Medea Benjamin was arrested for disrupting al-Maliki’s address to Congress last Wednesday, saying loudly and repeatedly, “Iraqis want the troops to leave, bring them home now!” The parliamentarians, who expressed concern for fasters’ health and dismay at the Prime Minister’s dismissal of their repeated requests for a meeting, will travel to meet with the US delegation in Jordan on August 3. The Iraqi elected officials will brief the Americans on the Reconciliation Plan they have been working on at the Reconciliation Conference held in Cairo last week. With the increased violence between Israel and Lebanon, a part of the U.S. delegation will go on to Syria and Lebanon to bear witness to the suffering of innocent victims of war in the region.

Peace Vigil 8/9/06


Every Wednesday, 6:30 – 7:30
Across from the Beaverton Public Library, Oregon


Poodles for Peace!


The Peace Vigil Organizer!


Petitions for Troops Home Fast!


Me and Wes

Remembering Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Follow up

The world still has 27,000 nuclear weapons, many still on hair trigger alert and more than enough to destroy the human race.

Although 187 nations, including our own, agreed at the 2000 UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Conference to take Thirteen Practical Steps toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, the US Administration now says that these steps are not in our national intererst.
The World Court in 1996 declared both the use and the threat of use of nuclear weapons illegal.

The US refused to let other nations even set an agenda at the NPT treaty Conference in 2005. This is identified as the major reason for the Conference’s collapse and lack of forward progress.  

1,403 Mayors around the world have joined the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, including Mayors of Portland, Ashland, Eugene, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, Salt Lake City, Cleveland, Atlanta and more.

Support demonstrations at the Trident Submarine Base in Bangor, WA which reportedly now has 1,998 nuclear weapons, almost certainly the largest concentration in the world.

Stop Bechtel and other corporations involved in nuclear war profiteering, Go to www.august6.org for a fact sheet and a list of ways to protest against Bechtel.

Join efforts to stop funding for new nuclear weapons. Join an organization working for the abolition of nuclear weapons such as www.disarm.org.

Most importantly, talk to your kids. Encourage them to question authority, empower their lives with action, encourage and educate while realizing they have much to teach us as well.

But most of all remember…

Hiroshima Day & Shadow Project

Hiroshima, August 6 – 1945

Human shadows were burnt into sidewalks and walls in the first nuclear war.

The Shadow Project – 2006

61 years later, we chalk shadows on the streets of Portland, so that the blinding light of nuclear war is never seen again.

Hiroshima Day marks the anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, 1945. Over 200,000 people were killed by those two bombs. Since then, nuclear weapons have posed the single greatest threat to the survival of our species.

I’ll be attending with my two kids and will return with photographs from the event.
The Administration has plans for increasing U.S. nuclear weapons programs and so we urgently need to remind Oregonians and our lawmakers of the horrific consequences of nuclear weapons. We cannot let the memory of Hiroshima fade and allow our leaders to make this grave mistake again.

The Shadow Project is political art, by the people, for the world. People all over the world will make chalk shadows on the streets of our cities, remembering the human shadows burnt into the streets of Hiroshima by nuclear bombs.  We do this the week before Hiroshima Day, August 6th, with the hope of preventing nuclear shadows from ever being cast again.

Come to a Chalking the Sidewalk Session: materials, permits, techniques, and others to chalk with.

August 6 – Japanese-American Plaza – 4:30 pm – NW Couch & Naito. The half hour training will be followed by chalking shadows near the training site.

“The Shadow Project began in 1982 and was organized as an International Shadow Project from Portland in 1985 in 426 cities worldwide. The Cold War may be over, but with the lapse of treaties and nuclear oversight, and research to build new atomic bombs, the threat of nuclear disaster is closer than most people think. Recently our fears  have been focused on terrorism, but the old terrors have not gone away.” For information on the Shadow Project – www.ShadowProjectHome.org

Program:

Joel Iwanaga, Channel 6 News, emcee Reverend Alcena Boozer, president of the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon Polo Ronault Catalani, civil rights attorney and columnist for The Asian Reporter Chisao Hata, dancer/choreographer Dr. Martin Donohoe, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility Reverend Jack Takayanagi, United Church of Christ. Music by Toki Taiko drums and Aurora Chorus.

Co-Sponsors: Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility, Japanese American Citizens League, Portland Branch of WILPF – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Hiroshima Club,

American Friends Service Committee, Code Pink Portland, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Friends of Sabeel – North America, the Military and Draft Counseling Project, Oregon Buddhist Temple, Oregon PeaceWorks, Rural Organizing Project, WAND – Women’s Action for New Directions, Wasco County Citizens for Human Dignity, Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group, Veterans for Peace Chapter 72, Church of Scientology of Portland, Multnomah Friends Meeting, Soka Gakkai International (SGI)-USA