This page contains copies of all CPA Newsletters, Updates, and Event Announcements, most recent first.
Peace Alliance Newsletter
May 24, 2023--Text only Version
War and Militarism Group Holds Potluck
On May 18, Chico Peace Alliance's War & Militarism Working Group gathered for a potluck and discussion of the culture of militarism and the military-industrial complex. Thirteen of us—some new to our working group meetings but all with wide peace and justice experience—sat together around a table, ate delicious food, and got to know each other, sharing different personal experiences and perspectives.
Our discussion was animated and wide ranging: Ukraine and Russia, the role of NATO, risks of escalation and nuclear war, the suffering of civilians and soldiers alike, unipolar vs multipolar global frameworks, racism, economic drivers of war (arms industry, fossil fuels, etc.), our country's tendency to respond to conflict with military action, and the urgent need for diplomatic efforts to end this war and prevent the next.
We also talked about the impactful full-page ad in the New York Times on May 16, "The U.S. Should be a Force for Peace in the World": https://original.antiwar.com/eisenhower_media_network/2023/05/16/the-us-should-be-a-force-for-peace-in-the-world/ or go to www.EisenhowerMediaNetwork.org to know more.
Our next War & Militarism gathering is Thursday, June 15, 5-7 pm. For more information, contact Janet Leslie (janleschico@gmail.com)
Peace Alliance Endorses
Concerned Citizens for Justice (CC4J)
In the spring of 2017, people concerned about officer-involved shooting deaths in our community formed the group Concerned Community for Justice, or CC4J. Their intention is to work together with law enforcement for the benefit of Chico, Butte County, and California. Recently, founding member Diane Suzuki sent a request to CPA to sign on as a supporter of their work. The Steering Committee discussed their work and agreed on the following:
Chico Peace Alliance Steering Committee supports the efforts of CC4J to engage with our police department to create practices that achieve community safety and peaceful relations, transparency and accountability, and the necessary support and training to achieve these ends.
For more information about CC4J go to: https://www.cc4jchico.org
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Chico Advocacy Team
Report by Laurel Yorks
Ending the war in Ukraine, stopping suffering and deaths due to the blockade of supplies to Yemen, or preventing full on civil war and genocide in the Sudan seem like impossible tasks to the concerned grassroots. How can we make a difference in daunting issues such as these?
When the Chico Peace Alliance began meeting last year, it formed working groups of people interested in issues of War and Militarism and Peace Education. And several activists began working with the Friends Committee on National Legislation to make specific changes by lobbying national legislators on issues of peace.
Established in 1943, the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is a national, nonpartisan Quaker organization that lobbies Congress and the administration to advance peace, justice, and environmental stewardship. FCNL fields a team of lobbyists on Capitol Hill, and it trains grassroots advocates to advance the policies and priorities established by a General Committee.
FCNL has 136 grassroots advocacy teams with over two thousand members across forty-five states and the District of Columbia. Chico’s advocacy team was formed just over a year ago and includes many members of the Chico Peace Alliance.
On April 24, as the Chico Advocacy Team’s Congressional Liaison, I teamed up with the leader of the Sacramento Advocacy Team, Cindy Fowler, to organize and host a lobbying Zoom call with Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Legislative Correspondent, Jenna Goosen. The Northern California teams were asked to take the lead, so that there were 53 advocacy team members from all over California on the call, including five from the Chico team. This was the largest lobbying group statewide that the advocacy teams have fielded so far, and the success of the lobbying call gave inspiration to all who had participated.
We asked Senator Feinstein, who is a long-time leading member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, to support investments in peacebuilding, specifically modest increases in the following programs:
1. Complex Crisis Fund, to enable the U.S. to respond to early warning signs and escalating conflicts with the aim of preventing mass violence. It is the only account of its kind and is used to fill immediate, short term funding gaps during emergent crises quickly.
2. Reconciliation Programs, which enable the Center for Conflict and Violence Prevention to conduct people-to-people programs to advance reconciliation efforts between different ethnic, racial, religious or political groups in areas of civil trouble and war.
3. Money for the Department of State to implement the 2022 U.S. Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent, and Respond to Atrocities, aimed at preventing mass atrocities and genocide.
All three of these programs have been previously funded, currently are operational, and have proven effective in the past. We asked for small increases to these three funds as an investment in peacebuilding. (Learn more about FCNL and its numerous projects and programs at https://www.fcnl.org/)
I believe that lobbying our legislators to invest in these effective peacebuilding programs is a powerful way to work for peace. It has the potential to save lives, end suffering, and save taxpayer expenditures on wars. As peace activists, we sometimes have difficulty knowing how to make a difference on global issues. I believe this is an effective way to support and complement traditional peace-making activities like educational presentations, carrying signs and vigiling on Saturdays downtown, letter-writing, and marching.
“The best time to end war is 10 years ago,” says Jim Anderson, who, along with others on the Chico Advocacy Team, previously volunteered at the Chico Peace and Justice Center. Jim points out the importance of working now to de-escalate the conditions of poverty, hunger, suffering and conflict that precede and can lead to full-blown violence and war.
The Chico Advocacy Team plans to lobby Congressman Doug LaMalfa this summer. The team met with his local staff in Chico last summer to begin the communication that is vital to the plan of FCNL nationwide communication with legislators.
Gayle Matson, local Advocacy Team Leader says, “I really appreciate the unique lobby training that FCNL provides. They emphasize non-partisanship and building a relationship with legislators and their staff members and keeping the lines of communication open. It’s not always easy, but we have too much to lose if we stop trying,”
The Advocacy Team meets once a month in Chico, and there are training materials and excellent support on Zoom calls from the FCNL national trainers and state advocates, who are experienced and skilled at the lobbying methods of the FCNL.
People who are interested in joining the work of the Chico Advocacy Team can contact the Chico Peace Alliance at chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com. You do not have to be a Quaker to be on the Advocacy Team. The teams welcome all people who want a way to work for peace.
A Poem for Our Time
Wage Peace
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble, breathe out whole buildings and flocks of red-wing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening: hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools: flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing
raspberries,
imagine grief as the outbreak of beauty or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
Poem by Mary Oliver, submitted by Janet Leslie and Jim Anderson
Update: Peace Education Team
May 4, 2023Peace Education Team Presents at General Meeting
At the April 29 Chico Peace Alliance General meeting, participants heard a crisp and detailed presentation of its work by the Peace Education Working Group (which prefers to be called a “Team”). Laurel Yorks spoke of the formation of the group following the Uvalde, Texas school shootings and introduced the members of the team: Cindy Carlson, Jasper Lerch, Anthony Porter, Sue Griffin, Chris Nelson, and herself. Laurel also mentioned the invaluable contributions of Steve Tadeo, the Chico High School teacher who was tragically killed in an automobile accident.
Cindy Carlson is a long-time educator with the Paradise School District, where she is active with the Social Justice Committee. Cindy received the Peace Endeavor Award from CPJC some fifteen years ago for her work in opening a school based on the principles of Nonviolent Communication. Cindy has been very active in Paradise bringing about peace culture in the schools. She spoke of her personal response to the Columbine shooting (now a quarter century in past) and the value of such publications as Mark Folmon’s Trigger Points: How to Stop Mass Shootings and a Time magazine issue on The Violence Project. The effect is to recognize the importance of empathy: Often potential shooters are a balloon ready to pop, and empathy can help to release the pressure. “Shooters are not ‘them’,” Cindy noted; “They are us, and we need to be empathetic.” [References and resources to school nonviolence projects will be found on the CPA website resources page https://www.chicopeacealliance.net/resources.html.]
Cindy also described the exemplary work of the Paradise School District, which has formed a Social Justice Committee that includes teachers, students, parents, and even the superintendent to work on bullying and other issues in the district.
Laurel Yorks, longtime peace activist and a member of the CPA Steering Committee, noted that last fall, the “parental rights” movement gained steam as it was hyped by MAGA political forces statewide and nationwide, stoking parental anger and frustration over school closures due to Covid and extending that momentum to politically weaponize false issues, like Critical Race Theory and teachers’ allegedly “grooming” students into LGBTQ + lifestyles.
She emphasized the role of the School Boards in promoting equity on campus and protecting the rights of LGBTQ and other vulnerable students who are being targeted for political purposes by the same forces that are curtailing free speech and instituting book bans. It is important to recruit board members who can stand up to the MAGA gang and fight for policies that promote equity, inclusiveness, and social-emotional or empathy training. She specifically noted that letters to the editor are needed to counter LaMalfa’s recent newsletter that parrots conservative thoughts without evidence.
Jasper Lerch is a long-time Chicoan … coming here in 1969. He is working on resources for the team’s original goal of peace art on campuses. Jasper has extensive work in NVC. He too reminisced about his responses to violence in the 1970s when he started an informal men’s group to talk about nonviolent communication as “a way of life.” He cited psychologist Carl Roger’s observation, “When I am heard, clear flowing stems.” He shared multiple strategies for NVC including avoiding toxic words and vague pronouns as well as learning how to look below the surface of hurtful language to determine what people’s responses and needs may be.
Kathy Faith is an artist, teacher and ubiquitous community volunteer. She is chair of the board of Chico Natural Foods and active in AquAlliance, working on water issues. Her recent focus with the Peace Education Team has been on banned books in schools and public libraries and how these on-the-ground issues transfer up to school boards and political leaders. She had dramatic and frightening statistics on the number of banned books this year (some 2500 with 1600 unique titles), many of them dealing with racial, ethnic and LGBTQIA+ issues. This effort to ban books is a concerted and well-planned attack on these marginalized groups, with groups like Moms of Liberty leading the charge. There are, Kathy noted, very creative responses to book banning to make it possible and easier for readers to locate and hopefully read those books. For instance, posting the titles of banned books in libraries and classrooms along with a bar code that takes the reader to lists of and access to banned books. Libraries have created free library cards for online access to banned books titles. Students forming banned books book clubs give alternate views of the importance of these books to students' lives, learning and entry into the after-school world they must navigate. Little Free Libraries and giveaways are another way to get banned books into the hands of young people.
Sue Griffin is an immigration attorney raising a grandchild who attends Chico schools and has been visiting schools to supply them with materials regarding life options for students with few or no resources after they graduate. Despite the free access of the military to recruiting and propagandizing in the schools, counter-recruitment can generally not be anti-military but must and should focus on “life alternatives,” educational and career opportunities that are productive options other than military service. She cited a number of groups that offer such alternatives: Brethren Volunteer Service, worldwide internships on organic farms, Americorps, Mercy Volunteers, and the Civilian Conservation Corps, which offers training leading to a high school diploma as well as skill and hireability in forestry, trail construction, and fire fighting.
This is a vigorous Chico Peace Alliance working group (a.k.a. working team) and new members are welcomed. For full information on coming meetings and group projects, contact Laurel Yorks (chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com) and/or Cindy Carlson (cindyloucarlson@gmail.com)
--from notes by Laurel Yorks and Stephen Tchudi
Founded in 2022, the Chico Peace Alliance extends the work of the Chico Peace and Justice Center (1982-2021) and the Weekly Peace Vigil (1962-present).
Join the Peace Vigil at the corner of 3rd and Broadway, Saturdays, 12:30
Contact us: Chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
Visit our website: www.chicopeacealliance.net
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.l
Chico Peace Alliance News
February 2023
Coming Events
Sunday, February 5
Thursday, February 9, 5-6:30 pm. War and Militarism Working Group. Contact Janet Leslie for details janleschico@gmail.com Also see the Working Group report below.
Friday, February 10
Peace and Justice Program on www.kzfr.org streaming or at 90.1FM
noon Maya Danek, Stage Manage,r and Elise Deadwiler, Creative Director,Vagina Monologues at Chico State. February 10th and 11th at PAC-134 (Rowland-Taylor Recital Hall). Tickets are available for purchase online, via phone call (530-898-6333), and in-person at the CSU Chico University Box Office located at the corner of Chestnut and W Third Street.
This will be the first production of Vagina Monologues since before the pandemic and the first since Roe was over-turned! Each year, the production changes form since originally performed in 1996 in New York. Directors come and go, leaving their own mark on the local history of the episodic play, based upon author Eve Ensler's interviews with 200 women. Many take place across the world each year in honor of activist movement V-day, which aims to end violence against women and girls.
12:30 Worth Fighting For, an Army Ranger's Journey Out of the Military and Across America, a discussion with author and peace activist Rory Fanning, nineteen years after he left the military and walked across America for a fallen comrade and found his voice as a war resister.
Thursday, February 16. Occupy Beale. Join a hearty group of military base protesters at our closest Air Force Base. 3-5pm. Theme- Love one another. Chris Nelson for directions and details. chris4pax@gmail.com
Friday, February 24 Peace and Justice Program www.kzfr.org and 90.1FM
Noon- Friends Committee on National legislation's Sara Avery is the Regional Anchor for the South-west, on the Peacekeeper Advocacy Team.
The focus for the 2023 Advocacy campaign is Investing in peace. Despite key increases in funding for peacebuilding last year, total appropriations for critical peacebuilding accounts came out to just 0.5% of the Pentagon budget. That means that we spend one dollar on peacebuilding for every 200 dollars we spend on war.) We will be discussing the elements of the Peacebuilding focus and what Advocacy teams across the country, including Chico, willl be working on.
12:30 Nicky Fox, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Sacramento State University, author of After Genocide, Memory and Reconciliation in Rwanda, is conducting a Books for Prisoners Program and Book Group. We'll discuss her work in the field of atrocities understanding and prevention and in supporting incarcerated people.
Friday, February. 24 4:30-5:30 Peace Activists are invited to gather to Call for Negotiation in Ukraine on the One year Anniversary of the Russian Invasion and start of this devastating and escalating war, in solidarity with peace groups around the US in Front of Philadelphia Square (Independence Circle and the Esplanade) and the office of Congressman Doug LaMalfa. Contact Chris: chris4pax@gmail.com.
Saturday, February 25. Chico Peace Alliance General Gathering 10:30 am. Location TBA
Coordinating Committee Update
Sunday, January 29 via Zoom
Topics:
--We discussed having more people join in on ideas for agenda-setting for the Coordinating Committee meetings and how to bring more people into leadership roles to chair those meetings.
--The General Gathering on Saturday, Jan 28 was valuable; the speakers from CC4J were very informative and organized and we would like to have speakers at future meetings as well.
--We liked the Alternatives to Violence concentric circle exercise at the December meeting and thought we should explore doing more with AVP in the future. Laurel will contact Anthony to see if he is interested in helping us with that.
--We agreed to start future winter General Gatherings a bit later (10:30 am) to avoid the early cold. The next General Gathering has been set for Saturday, February 25th with an hour meeting and open discussions and socializing afterward. Laurel will contact possible speakers on local housing issues for that meeting.
--We discussed the approaching one-year anniversary of the invasion and war in Ukraine on February 24. We agreed to share our proposed concise statements that we can adopt as a short, clear position statement from CPA on the Ukraine war, emphasizing negotiations and desire for the war to stop immediately. Jim Anderson will start the process and we can comment via email. We will agree upon a statement well before February 24th this year.
--Chris Nelson is organizing a demonstration in front of Congressman Doug LaMalfa’s office at Philadelphia Square on the Esplanade on Friday, February 24th starting at 4:30 pm. Signs urging negotiations and immediate cease-fire and end to the war are encouraged. The new banner, unveiled at the General Gathering, will be in use at the demonstration on Feb 24th.
From notes by Laurel Yorks
Working Group Report:
WAR AND MILITARISM
Military Equipment, Chico Police Department, and Chico Community for Justice:
Those of us present at the Chico Peace Alliance general meeting on January 28 were impressed by Ann Polivka and Diane Suzuki's presentation of CC4J's work to monitor Chico Police Department's use of "surplus" military equipment made available to local law enforcement agencies by the Department of Defense. Recent California law (AB481) has established guidelines for the approval, acquisition and reporting of military equipment. In April 2023, Chico City Council must review CPD's "Military Equipment Policy 709" and the CPD annual report on military equipment and, before there's further acquisition or use of military equipment, decide in a meeting open to the public if the Policy shall be renewed or amended.
According to AB481, "The public has the right to know...(and)...participate in any government agency's decision to fund, acquire, or use such equipment...Legally-enforceable safeguards, including transparency, oversight, and accountability measures must be in place to protect the public's welfare, safety, civil rights, and civil liberties before military equipment is funded, acquired or used."
Chico Police Department's Policy 709 needs significant improvement in clarity and completeness to comply with the law, in CC4J's view, and so there are plans to meet with CPD members, Chico City Council members to ensure that the Policy meets with legal standards before approving it this May. Our War and Militarism Working Group plans to discuss how we might support this effort when we meet in February at a not-yet scheduled meeting.
"Dismantling Racism and Militarism in U.S Foreign Policy:
Our study group continues to have thoughtful, wide-ranging, and enthusiastic discussions each month, using a discussion paper and guide from the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker lobby in Washington, D.C. Readings and discussion questions are online at www.fcnl.org/DRM.
Our next meeting is Thursday February 9, 5:00-6:30 pm (on zoom and in person).
The reading this month is "A New Paradigm for the U.S. Role in the World" (Section 2 in FCNL's Discussion Paper). The writers note that our "current national security paradigm robs us of economic resources, corrupts our political system, endangers our lives, and offends our more fundamental moral values". What would our alternative foreign policy vision be for equality, rights and dignity? For justice and peace? For shared wealth and sustainability?
See Module B in the Discussion Guide for suggested questions for discussion, which include: What motivated you to get involved in civic and political life, and which issue(s) do you care most deeply about? Which parts of the vision have you found most compelling, and which parts do you think are most difficult to achieve politically? Can you point to any examples of progress made in recent years toward achieving this vision?
Everyone is welcome even if you haven't joined in before. Please contact Janet Leslie (530-345-3429 or janleschico@gmail.com) for more information and zoom link.
Peace Education Working Group
Educators have a role in ending discipline that criminalizes youth. Reforms, including trauma-informed and restorative practices, can disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.
Anthony Conwright, in "Decarceration Begins with School Discipline Reform.", Southern Poverty Law Center: https://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do. Learning For Justice (LEARNINGFORJUSTICE.ORG) Fall 2022
https://www.learningforjustice.org/sites/default/files/2022-10/Learning-for-Justice-Magazine-Issue-3-Fall-2022-Web-10202022.pdf
Summary:
Punitive school discipline practices, which disproportionately affect Black and Brown children, contribute to the flow of young people into the criminal legal system and the prison industry.
To address the problem requires rethinking discipline and considering the rights of children.
Trauma-informed and restorative justice practices are among the beginning models of an equity process to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline. And while systemic change is essential, educators have an immediate responsibility to prioritize the mental health and well-being of students.
If the U.S. education system is to become equitable, its reproduction of historical oppression must be eliminated. The current system―born of the same DNA as a country that rendered the humanity of Black people invalid―is intertwined in a tradition that had the purpose of moving Black people into enslavement through incarceration.
No structure in the U.S. educational system is immune to the nation’s legacy as an anti-Black, enslaver country, and that legacy is present in harsh discipline practices that disproportionally affect Black, Indigenous and other youth of color.
Please read MORE for information and resources for your classrooms and schools.
Commentaries
from CPA Members
An Ounce of Prevention
Jim Anderson
Yes, our parents taught us this old adage, about how a pound of cure isn’t as good as that ounce of prevention. We thought it had to do with health, mainly, and what we ate or wore to avoid colds. Now we see it has a larger wisdom about it.
Take Ukraine, for example. Many saw early on that a bundle of cold war assumptions, negotiation assurances broken, and internal political conflicts in Ukraine were pushing things towards war. Attending to them in honest appreciation of all parties’ real interests and fears might have prevented war. After the “invasion,” these early red flags were left behind as the war drums brought their good and evil divisions and self-righteous posturings. There were then many reasons and passions that led to billions spent, thousands killed, and a sense in the majority that, well, what else can we do when someone invades?
Too late for the ounce of prevention, but the point here is that this war, like others, arose from a number of causes more complicated than good guys and bad guys. The precursor’s stage-- that’s where peacebuilding is most effective and needs work. That’s the ounce of prevention I’m talking about.
Palestine. We might well be in the precursor’s stage in Palestine now. The most extreme government Israel has elected in many decades is moving to complete its shared interest in the annexation of the Palestinian territories and the subjection or “cleansing” of the remaining Palestinian people. There is no more talk of two states, and racist language is now shared overtly among leaders in power. Here are a few examples of recent actions and events that can only lead to resistance and likely large scale violence in Palestine if steps are not taken, particularly by the US, to turn back the tide.
--- Late January: ten Palestinians killed in a single Israeli incursion- A member of the Israeli Parliament tweeted “Nice and professional work by the fighters in Jenin. Keep killing them.”
---New minister Bezalel Smodrich now controls outposts and settlements—he will support new outposts considered illegal even by Israeli law, and increase destruction of Palestinian buildings. Many call this “defacto annexation.”
--- a “deal” is developing that gives Israel power over all “archeological” sites, throughout Palestine, on private land or any other. This is further absorption of land by settler interests.
--- Israel is increasing the size and number of drones that fly freely over the West bank and Gaza, mapping Palestinian areas and releasing tear gas when Palestinian homes are demolished.
--- Ben Gvir, the most powerful and dangerous of the new ministers, previously called for the Palestinians to be expelled from the occupied territories. Now he is raising a “national guard” specifically for a war with Hamas in Gaza, a war he says is “imminent.”
Alternatives to conflict. Many forms of peacemaking exist, almost two hundred by Gene Sharp’s cataloguing in his great study.* But the most effective are the early ones that defuse, clarify, and soften tensions and help people to avoid the fighting that nobody really wants. A group of us associated with the Quaker lobbying group Friends Committee on National Legislation are working this year—along with small groups across the country—on this early peacebuilding. We’ll lobby for increased attention to and funding for three US funds in place: the complex crisis fund, the reconciliation programs fund, and the atrocities prevention fund. An ounce of prevention. We must work, certainly, to bring the Ukraine war to an end, and to pressure Israel to honor international law. But this early peacebuilding work is also important in many parts of the world. Contact the war and militarism working group of the Chico Peace Alliance for more information if you would like to join in our lobbying work.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Sharp
Kissinger on "Friendship"
Linda Furr
The Wall Street Journal attributes this quote to Henry Kissinger: “To be an enemy of the United States is dangerous. To be a friend is fatal.” I don’t know the context of this quote, but it seems to characterize US right now almost perfectly. In its God-like wisdom last week, Washington DC voted to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine to “protect” Ukraine from Russia’s “unprovoked” attack on them.
Abrams tanks shoot depleted uranium missiles. Abrams tanks, themselves, are sheathed in depleted uranium-enforced armor. That’s what the US left on Iraq’s soil in 1991 after our first Gulf War under General Norman Schwarzkopf. Iraq still suffers elevated birth death/deformity rates from lingering depleted uranium.
As the US would to protect its homeland, Russia most assuredly will attack those Abrams tanks on the spot in Ukraine - leaving lasting misery the US should never have inflicted on human beings - let alone its friends.
When is Silence Complicity?
Janet Leslie
Watching DemocracyNow! a few days ago, I was struck by a clip of Joe Biden saying "Silence is complicity." He was speaking in response to the horrific string of recent mass shootings. In spite of my wholehearted agreement that we must limit access to military-grade assault weapons, overcome the resistance of the gun lobby and end the profiteering of the arms industry, I felt deep disappointment and anger at our government, which makes us (U.S. citizens) complicit in the targeted and random killings, dispossession, ethnic cleansing, home demolitions, and constant persecution of Palestinian people in Israel and the rest of Palestine ruled by the nation-state of Israel. Because it's our government that supports and protects that apartheid system and its crimes against humanity, perpetuating this hundred-year war against Palestine.
What nourishes my soul and gives me hope is all the people who are steadfast in refusing to be complicit, who take personal risks and speak out against these crimes--Christian, Jewish, Muslim, non-religious people whom I've come to know in person and online, in so many organizations and faith communities in Palestine and here in the U.S., resisting non-violently and working to end the brutal violence leveled against people because there's power and geo-political advantage to be gained and money to be made, and because those invisible people can be made "the other". We can speak out, help others' voices be heard and this injustice be seen.
Several friends and I would like to form an Israel-Palestine study-support-solidarity-action group, within or outside of Chico Peace Alliance, to work together, raise our voices, make known what is happening in this on-going and worsening catastrophe, and refuse complicity. Please let me know of your interest. Janet Leslie (530-345-3429 or janleschico@gmail.com)
Commentaries Welcome
The Chico Peace Alliance Newsletter is intended to provide an expanding forum for discussion of issues and topics of importance to peace workers. Send your commentaries (500 words is the preferred length) to CPA News at chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com. Deadline for the next issue is February 28.
Founded in 2022, the Chico Peace Alliance extends the work of the Chico Peace and Justice Center (1982-2021) and the Weekly Peace Vigil (1962-present).
Join the Peace Vigil at the corner of 3rd and Broadway, Saturdays, 12:30
Contact us: Chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
Visit our website: www.chicopeacealliance.net
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
Chico Peace Alliance News
January 2023
This is a plain text version with no graphic material
Happy New Year
Join with the Chico Peace Alliance
as we continue to campaign for peace in our time.
chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
From the Chico Enterprise Record
January 1, 2023
Peace Vigil continues its effort that began in 1960,
while affiliated group gets going
Chico Peace Alliance seeks to address issues to increase unity
The new year dawned with an outstanding front-page article in the Enterprise Record featuring the Peace Vigil and the Chico Peace Alliance. Retelling the history of the Peace Vigil for the past 62 years, the article noted that the 3rd and Main Saturday gathering is “the longest continuously operating peace vigil anywhere in the United States.” It added, “Peace Vigil attendees seek to calm tensions in the nation while recognizing the rights and dignities of all citizens."
Reporter Michael Weber also described the formation of the Chico Peace Alliance after the closure of the Chico Peace and Justice Center. He quoted Jim Anderson, who said, “We work actively with concerns in our community, and we want to reach beyond Chico and out into the world. There are a lot of committed people who want to find a better way.”
Other CPA members quoted in the article included Linda Furr, Bob Van Fleet, and Janet Leslie.
This “must read” article places the Chico Peace Alliance front and center among activist organizations seeking a better world—locally, regionally, and globally. Read the full article at https://www.chicoer.com/2023/01/01/peace-vigil-continues-its-effort-that-began-in-1960-while-affiliated-group-gets-going/
CPA Observes 75th Anniversary
United Nations Universal Declaration
of Human Rights
Following the December 10 Peace Vigil at the corner of 3rd and Broadway, CPA held a vigil for the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Led by Chris Nelson, the group read a summary of the 30 elements of the Declaration and reflected on the urgent need for human rights actions in the world today. In a KZFR Ecotopia broadcast, Chris explained in depth these needs. You can access her comments at https://www.ecotopiakzfr.com/2022-archives.html
An excerpted version of the Declaration can be found here: https://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/verve/_resources/FQ2_Simplified_Version_Dec.pdf
Peace Vigil Hears About Salah Hamouri
From Janet Leslie: Please have a look at the story of Salah Hamouri shared by Friends of Sabeel North America (Sabeel is a Palestinian Christian liberation theology movement). As Jim Anderson shared in that serious and joyful time after the December 10 Peace Vigil, the story of Salah Hamouri is important. "Administrative detentions" of Palestinians on secret evidence have been going on for years, and now, with the new Israeli government, the threats of deportation are becoming ever more common.
The pattern is this: The Israeli government/military targets one or two who resist the occupation (even if completely nonviolently), and then, if there are no repercussions, a few more, and then it is becomes standard practice. This will be applied to Arab citizens of Israel as well as those with Jerusalem or West Bank residency, and most likely increasing silencing of Jewish Israelis and those in the Diaspora as well. I'm happy to share other new sources and organizations that I find helpful in understanding what is happening in the Middle East and responding actively for peace with justice.
Janet Leslie
Peace Education Group
Promotes Empathy Training
The Peace Education group has a goal to promote Empathy Training, Restorative Justice and Trauma-Informed practices in interested local schools in the Butte County area. In the December CPA Newsletter, we introduced a model program currently in practice in the Paradise Unified School District. The Social Justice Committee in Paradise is made up of students, parents, teachers, administrators, board members and the superintendent. The committee was formed as a response to requests made by previous graduates and put into practice by district administration, two teachers, and a classified employee, all of whom volunteer their time.
The long-term goal of both the CPA Peace Education Work group and the PUSD Social Justice Committee is to shift the paradigm of traditional punitive discipline toward one that incorporates restorative/trauma-informed practices.
This month the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is our resource for pulling lots of things together we have been discussing for our next actions. There is an outstanding aritcle on "decarceration" in the publication: Learning for Justice. We highly recommend reading the entire article. The specific cases and young people's stories illustrate the research and realities that help to guide our work.
Dismantling Racism and Militarism
in U.S. Foreign Policy
Our War and Militarism Working Group is leading a series of discussions of a policy paper with the above title and discussion guide, and our next meeting is Thursday January 12, 5-6:30 pm by Zoom.
For more information and the link, please contact Janet Leslie at janleschico@gmail.com or 530-345-3429. Everyone is welcome, this is an open group.
The authors, Salih Booker (Center for International Policy) and Diane Ohlbaum (Friends Committee on National Legislation), drew on the work of a diverse group exploring the nature of the system by which U.S. foreign policy is developed and legitimized, and proposing a strategy for making that system more democratic and just.
The "Dismantling Racism and Militarism in U.S. Foreign Policy" discussion paper and guide can be downloaded from www.fcnl.org/DRM. The discussion guide has 5 modules with questions and activities for each section of the paper and provides optional readings. At our first meeting 12/8/2022, we had a general discussion of Section 1: "What is the Problem?" along with getting to know each other a bit, and it will be helpful, I think, to look at those three pages again for clarity as to how we each see the problem--What is the "Racism-Militarism Paradigm" that is such a major problem in our country's foreign policy and national security system? The authors propose that our history of imperial expansion, structural racism, and economic and military domination results from a widely-shared way of looking at the world that they describe as the "Racism-Militarism Paradigm". What is our experience?
Please read or review the 7 pages of "What is the Problem" so that we can discuss it further and do the writing and sharing bit that we didn't have time for last time. There are also links to optional readings in the discussion guide that also look useful.
Janet Leslie, for the War & Militarism Working Group, Chico Peace Alliance.
Commentary
Laurel Yorks
I am a CPA member and am speaking for myself, except I am sure that all of our CPA members are deeply concerned about the number of deaths in our community of unsheltered people during the past few months.
With January already starting out cold, wet and windy, it is imperative to me to focus creatively and with compassion on issues of truly affordable housing, preservation of existing low-income housing units, eviction protections, low or no-barrier shelter options, and sanctioned, safe campgrounds with toilets, water, and garbage disposable at a minimum. I would love to work with other interested people on issues of housing as an economic justice issue. If you are interested, please contact me at chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
However, for the month of January and into the first two or so weeks of February I will also be concentrating on working with the Save Our Hometown group, which will be filing a referendum in the coming days to object to the city leadership focus on supporting an immense housing project that will take up to 20 years to completely build out and will provide less than 2% of housing which might be considered "affordable," at the same time, incurring environmental concerns about water availability, wildfire exposure, and protection of open spaces for all (not just the people who can afford to live there.) If you are interested in signing the petition or in circulating a petition, contact me at laurelavalon@yahoo.com.
In the meantime, contributions of food and/or money to groups like Safe Space, CHAT, Torres Shelter, Jesus Center, Friends on the Street, and other groups dealing with pressing issues of shelter and amelioration of suffering are encouraged. It might save lives this winter.
The CPA Newsletter welcomes commentaries and letters about the contents of any issue or about the peace movement generally. Send comments to chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com.
Coordinating Committee Update
December 5, 2022
The Coordinating Committee received updates from the War and Militarism, Communication and Coalition Building, and Peace Education working groups. In addition, there was a lively discussion of choosing more specific foci for the working groups based on Chris Nelson's excellent KZFR interview with George Lakey. The next coordinating committee meeting is set for Sunday, January 8. Click the Read More link for the full minutes.
City Council Passes
Valley's Edge Resolutions
Sadly, but not surprisingly, on Tuesday, January 3, the Chico City Council passed two resolutions allowing the Valley's Edge project to move forward. Smart Growth Advocates has been leading the opposition to this trophy home project, and Chico Peace Alliance members have joined in, particularly thinking of Economic Justice Issues. On Friday, SGA held a press conference reviewing the flaws in the VE proposal and announcing plans for a referendum that would allow Chico citizens, rather than the Council to make the decision. To read SGA's comments, find a link to the resolutions, and learn how to get involved, go to smartgrowthchico.org.
Writers Wanted
for the CPA Newsletter
You're receiving this newsletter because you've expressed interest in the peace movement in Chico. We'd like to hear what you have to say on peace issues from local to global. Letters and articles from short to long are welcome (long defined as about 500 words or so). Send your thoughts to chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com.
Write on!
January 2023
This is a plain text version with no graphic material
Happy New Year
Join with the Chico Peace Alliance
as we continue to campaign for peace in our time.
chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
From the Chico Enterprise Record
January 1, 2023
Peace Vigil continues its effort that began in 1960,
while affiliated group gets going
Chico Peace Alliance seeks to address issues to increase unity
The new year dawned with an outstanding front-page article in the Enterprise Record featuring the Peace Vigil and the Chico Peace Alliance. Retelling the history of the Peace Vigil for the past 62 years, the article noted that the 3rd and Main Saturday gathering is “the longest continuously operating peace vigil anywhere in the United States.” It added, “Peace Vigil attendees seek to calm tensions in the nation while recognizing the rights and dignities of all citizens."
Reporter Michael Weber also described the formation of the Chico Peace Alliance after the closure of the Chico Peace and Justice Center. He quoted Jim Anderson, who said, “We work actively with concerns in our community, and we want to reach beyond Chico and out into the world. There are a lot of committed people who want to find a better way.”
Other CPA members quoted in the article included Linda Furr, Bob Van Fleet, and Janet Leslie.
This “must read” article places the Chico Peace Alliance front and center among activist organizations seeking a better world—locally, regionally, and globally. Read the full article at https://www.chicoer.com/2023/01/01/peace-vigil-continues-its-effort-that-began-in-1960-while-affiliated-group-gets-going/
CPA Observes 75th Anniversary
United Nations Universal Declaration
of Human Rights
Following the December 10 Peace Vigil at the corner of 3rd and Broadway, CPA held a vigil for the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Led by Chris Nelson, the group read a summary of the 30 elements of the Declaration and reflected on the urgent need for human rights actions in the world today. In a KZFR Ecotopia broadcast, Chris explained in depth these needs. You can access her comments at https://www.ecotopiakzfr.com/2022-archives.html
An excerpted version of the Declaration can be found here: https://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/verve/_resources/FQ2_Simplified_Version_Dec.pdf
Peace Vigil Hears About Salah Hamouri
From Janet Leslie: Please have a look at the story of Salah Hamouri shared by Friends of Sabeel North America (Sabeel is a Palestinian Christian liberation theology movement). As Jim Anderson shared in that serious and joyful time after the December 10 Peace Vigil, the story of Salah Hamouri is important. "Administrative detentions" of Palestinians on secret evidence have been going on for years, and now, with the new Israeli government, the threats of deportation are becoming ever more common.
The pattern is this: The Israeli government/military targets one or two who resist the occupation (even if completely nonviolently), and then, if there are no repercussions, a few more, and then it is becomes standard practice. This will be applied to Arab citizens of Israel as well as those with Jerusalem or West Bank residency, and most likely increasing silencing of Jewish Israelis and those in the Diaspora as well. I'm happy to share other new sources and organizations that I find helpful in understanding what is happening in the Middle East and responding actively for peace with justice.
Janet Leslie
Peace Education Group
Promotes Empathy Training
The Peace Education group has a goal to promote Empathy Training, Restorative Justice and Trauma-Informed practices in interested local schools in the Butte County area. In the December CPA Newsletter, we introduced a model program currently in practice in the Paradise Unified School District. The Social Justice Committee in Paradise is made up of students, parents, teachers, administrators, board members and the superintendent. The committee was formed as a response to requests made by previous graduates and put into practice by district administration, two teachers, and a classified employee, all of whom volunteer their time.
The long-term goal of both the CPA Peace Education Work group and the PUSD Social Justice Committee is to shift the paradigm of traditional punitive discipline toward one that incorporates restorative/trauma-informed practices.
This month the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is our resource for pulling lots of things together we have been discussing for our next actions. There is an outstanding aritcle on "decarceration" in the publication: Learning for Justice. We highly recommend reading the entire article. The specific cases and young people's stories illustrate the research and realities that help to guide our work.
Dismantling Racism and Militarism
in U.S. Foreign Policy
Our War and Militarism Working Group is leading a series of discussions of a policy paper with the above title and discussion guide, and our next meeting is Thursday January 12, 5-6:30 pm by Zoom.
For more information and the link, please contact Janet Leslie at janleschico@gmail.com or 530-345-3429. Everyone is welcome, this is an open group.
The authors, Salih Booker (Center for International Policy) and Diane Ohlbaum (Friends Committee on National Legislation), drew on the work of a diverse group exploring the nature of the system by which U.S. foreign policy is developed and legitimized, and proposing a strategy for making that system more democratic and just.
The "Dismantling Racism and Militarism in U.S. Foreign Policy" discussion paper and guide can be downloaded from www.fcnl.org/DRM. The discussion guide has 5 modules with questions and activities for each section of the paper and provides optional readings. At our first meeting 12/8/2022, we had a general discussion of Section 1: "What is the Problem?" along with getting to know each other a bit, and it will be helpful, I think, to look at those three pages again for clarity as to how we each see the problem--What is the "Racism-Militarism Paradigm" that is such a major problem in our country's foreign policy and national security system? The authors propose that our history of imperial expansion, structural racism, and economic and military domination results from a widely-shared way of looking at the world that they describe as the "Racism-Militarism Paradigm". What is our experience?
Please read or review the 7 pages of "What is the Problem" so that we can discuss it further and do the writing and sharing bit that we didn't have time for last time. There are also links to optional readings in the discussion guide that also look useful.
Janet Leslie, for the War & Militarism Working Group, Chico Peace Alliance.
Commentary
Laurel Yorks
I am a CPA member and am speaking for myself, except I am sure that all of our CPA members are deeply concerned about the number of deaths in our community of unsheltered people during the past few months.
With January already starting out cold, wet and windy, it is imperative to me to focus creatively and with compassion on issues of truly affordable housing, preservation of existing low-income housing units, eviction protections, low or no-barrier shelter options, and sanctioned, safe campgrounds with toilets, water, and garbage disposable at a minimum. I would love to work with other interested people on issues of housing as an economic justice issue. If you are interested, please contact me at chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
However, for the month of January and into the first two or so weeks of February I will also be concentrating on working with the Save Our Hometown group, which will be filing a referendum in the coming days to object to the city leadership focus on supporting an immense housing project that will take up to 20 years to completely build out and will provide less than 2% of housing which might be considered "affordable," at the same time, incurring environmental concerns about water availability, wildfire exposure, and protection of open spaces for all (not just the people who can afford to live there.) If you are interested in signing the petition or in circulating a petition, contact me at laurelavalon@yahoo.com.
In the meantime, contributions of food and/or money to groups like Safe Space, CHAT, Torres Shelter, Jesus Center, Friends on the Street, and other groups dealing with pressing issues of shelter and amelioration of suffering are encouraged. It might save lives this winter.
The CPA Newsletter welcomes commentaries and letters about the contents of any issue or about the peace movement generally. Send comments to chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com.
Coordinating Committee Update
December 5, 2022
The Coordinating Committee received updates from the War and Militarism, Communication and Coalition Building, and Peace Education working groups. In addition, there was a lively discussion of choosing more specific foci for the working groups based on Chris Nelson's excellent KZFR interview with George Lakey. The next coordinating committee meeting is set for Sunday, January 8. Click the Read More link for the full minutes.
City Council Passes
Valley's Edge Resolutions
Sadly, but not surprisingly, on Tuesday, January 3, the Chico City Council passed two resolutions allowing the Valley's Edge project to move forward. Smart Growth Advocates has been leading the opposition to this trophy home project, and Chico Peace Alliance members have joined in, particularly thinking of Economic Justice Issues. On Friday, SGA held a press conference reviewing the flaws in the VE proposal and announcing plans for a referendum that would allow Chico citizens, rather than the Council to make the decision. To read SGA's comments, find a link to the resolutions, and learn how to get involved, go to smartgrowthchico.org.
Writers Wanted
for the CPA Newsletter
You're receiving this newsletter because you've expressed interest in the peace movement in Chico. We'd like to hear what you have to say on peace issues from local to global. Letters and articles from short to long are welcome (long defined as about 500 words or so). Send your thoughts to chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com.
Write on!
Chico Peace Alliance News
December 2022
Coming Events
Saturday, December 3, 9 am Eastern, 6 am Pacific, via Zoom. "Facing Our Challengs in Dangerous Times," sponsored by the Massacusetts Peace Action Chapter and others with a goal of exploring how to address enormous obstacles in difficult times to achieve the progressive vision. Great lineup of speakers, starting with John Nichols of The Nation. Information and registration at (http:// https://actionnetwork.org/events/facing-our-challenges-in-dangerous-times) https://actionnetwork.org/events/facing-our-challenges-in-dangerous-times
CPA Event . Thursday, December 8, 5-7 on Zoom : "Dismantling Racism and Militarism in U.S. Foreign Policy" The War & Militarism Working Group is offering a discussion series, probably continuing monthly on second Thursdays. We'll be using the "Dismantling Racism and Militarism in U.S. Foreign Policy" discussion paper and group discussion guide prepared by Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). We'll start with the first section, "What is the problem?" The discussion paper and study guide can be downloaded from the FCNL website at www.fcnl.org/dismantling-racism-and-militarism-us-foreign-policy (or FCNL.org/DRM). Everyone interested in this is welcome. To know more, please contact Janet Leslie ( (mailto:janleschico@gmail.com?subject=Dismantling%20Racism%20and%20Militarism) janleschico@gmail.com (mailto:janleschico@gmail.com) ) or Chris Nelson (chris4pax@gmail.com (mailto:chris4pax@gmail.com) ).
CPA Event: Saturday, December 10, 12:30 pm, Peace Vigil at 3rd and Main. Focus: Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On December 10, 2022, immediately following the Vigil, we will observe the 75th anniversary of the declaration, which grants rights for all Humankind, and we will read the 30 Articles of Declaration. We invite All to join us! We urge everyone to follow the United Nations efforts to promote Human Rights and Peace and to support international law.
The Chico Peace Alliance joins the world community in "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal an inalienable rights of all members of the human family (which) is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.
Here are some resources: (http:// https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/campaign/human-rights-day https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/un-75th-anniversary-recommit-human-rights)
https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/campaign/human-rights-day (http:// https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/campaign/human-rights-day https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/un-75th-anniversary-recommit-human-rights) https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/un-75th-anniversary-recommit-human-rights
Every Saturday, 12:30 pm, Peace Vigil at 3rd and Main. Join us for one of the nation's longest running vigils, initiated by Willa Taggart in 1960.
Public Affairs Programming on KZFR 90.1 FM
Tuesdays, 5-6 pm. Ecotopia: Exploring Ecosystems--Environmental, Social, Technological with Stephen and Susan Tchudi.
Wednesdays, 6-7 pm. The Real Issue with Sue Hilderbrand.
Fridays, 11:30 am - 1 pm. The Peace and Justice Program, with Chris Nelson, Robert Jones, or Himp C.
In Memory: Bill "Guillermo " Mash
KZFR is deeply saddened to announce the passing of programmer Guillermo Mash. l (mailto:leah@kzfr.org?subject=Guillermo%20Mash) The station is establishing a memorial page, and thoughts, memories, and photos can be sent to Leah McKean .
A fund for support of his family has been established at https://www.gofundme.com/f/guillermo-bill-mash-needs-help?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet (https://www.gofundme.com/f/guillermo-bill-mash-needs-help?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet)
Steering Committee Update
The CPA Steering Committee met via Zoom on Sunday, November 20, with Laurel Yorks, Bob Van Fleet, Sheldon Praiser, Lucy Gould, Stephen Tchudi, Jim Anderson, Chris Nelson, and Janet Leslie participating.
Work Group reports
--Peace Education, Laurel Yorks: This group is working on helping young people see alternatives to military recruitment (counter recruitment). They wil go to Paradise HS in the spring to participate as an alternative group to the military recruiters for a recruitment meeting in the spring. The fall issue of Learning for Justice (https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/fall-2022) magazine is filled with good ideas is a magazine with abundant good ideas. The Learning for Justice site includes numerous teaching and curriculum ideas. (See more details in a separate article.)
--Economic Justice, Lucy Gould. The group is in haitus at the moment but hopes to resume work soon and interest is high. Economic Justice is topic is so huge that we may need to find a different way of organizing our efforts. This might be the place to work on low income housing--and housing generally.
-- War and Militarism. Janet Leslie. This group will have the first session of its group discussion of the Dismantling Racism booklet and its study guide via Zoom: December 8 (Thursday), 5-7 pm. Contact Jane (mailto:janleschico@gmail.com?subject=War%20and%20Militarism%20Zoom) t for the link. Documents can be downloaded from www/ncls/drm. This group will focus on US foreign policy as well as domestic issues, such as policing.
--Coalition Building and Communication (Bob VanFleet). This group is working on contacts with allies and sister organizations. There is a need for us to describe who we are and how other groups can ally, possibly a mission and vision statement. A starting point will be just letting them know what we are doing and including updates from allied groups in the newsletter.
Additional items:
* There is general agreement that the working group structure is effective.
* Thank you's are extended to Lucy Gould and Anthony Peyton Porter for providing an introduction to Alternatives to Violence Training (see below).
* UN Human Rights Day is Saturday, December 10. Chris Nelson reviewed past observances: meeting at the Hands, standing on a soapbox, etc. Plans are underway to recognize this event at the Peace Vigil.
Report from Palestine
Jim and Janet Leslie
We two traveled to Palestine and Israel in October. Here we some offer some observations and reflections from our two-and-a-half weeks there.
First, some “echoes”:
--We in the U.S. live in a country taken by Europeans at the expense of indigenous communities, and the European claim continues in the face of this history. Palestine is a land that European Jews settled in and took possession of in the early twentieth century, and the Jewish claim dominates there to this day. Both Jewish and Palestinian histories are complicated and cannot be erased. Some Palestinians are citizens of Israel; most live in occupied territory or refugee camps.
--In our country, there are “gated” communities, private residential areas that outsiders cannot enter without permission and whose residents are privileged by their wealth. In the ‘West Bank’” [along with Gaza, the “Occupied Palestinian Territories,”-- called Judea and Samaria by the Israelis], much Palestinian land has been taken over by Israel to create “gated” towns—“settlements”-- where Jewish Israelis live in comfort, vote in Israeli elections, and are protected by the Israeli army. They are connected to Israel by Israeli-only highways that carry them swiftly to work in Israel.
--In our town, there are many houseless persons who cannot feel secure in sleeping places or with their possessions. In Palestine, building permits are almost always denied to Palestinians in Jerusalem, and if they decide to build on their lot for a growing family, their house is liable to be demolished at their expense. In Area “C”, the 60% of the West Bank that Israel completely controls, entire villages may be demolished when land is declared a firing zone or nature preserve.
--In our country we are afraid that voter suppression is putting our democracy at risk; West Bank and Gaza Palestinians cannot vote in or effect politically the occupying country that controls their lives. The “Palestinian Authority” that administers the main towns in the West Bank, does so subject to the policies and practices of the State of Israel and its occupying army.
Then, some experiences:
--Jifna, a village in the West Bank north of Ramallah, was our home base for a week. The hillside we viewed the first night from the roof patio of our family-run guest house was dotted with small white houses--a Christmas postcard. That night, though, there were sounds of gunshots and a snaking line of car headlights moving down that hillside to the valley floor. Our host told us that three young people in a car had been shot some days back by Israeli soldiers, and the one surviving had perhaps died or was being taken to the hospital. In fact, the day before in the town to our north there had been fighting, some young men were killed, and the major towns in the West Bank had all gone on strike for a day. In the following days, there was more violence there, the town was blockaded, and one of the young fighters was shot near a checkpoint. A video of him circulated widely—he was seen dressed in black, with a pistol, brought to the ground by initial Israeli bullets, continuing to shoot with
his pistol while he sustained further shots and eventually lay still.
---The eleven of us in our Quaker group went the next morning to help a family harvest their olives. Perhaps a dozen in the family of all ages converged; we worked, ate, sang, danced, learned the skills, and sacked up the fruit. A wonderful time, warm and friendly even without much language in common. The smallest child carried a tiny rake and found things needing to be raked; adolescent boys went up the trees, older women sat on tarps and sorted. All gathered into this activity which for centuries has been common work in this land. We had planned the next day to help at another family orchard, situated next to a settlement, where owners had asked for international volunteers because they feared the settlers nearby would harm them [unfortunately common during the harvest time]. In fact, overnight rain made the steep road impassable so we returned to the first family. We discovered a few days later that the second orchard had been attacked by settlers, and one international took and
circulated a video showing the settlers moving through the trees and throwing large stones to break the windshields of Palestinian cars.
--We visited a Quaker-established school in Ramallah and felt the energy and enthusiasm of the diverse student body—by far mostly Muslim--and enjoyed talking with them. One of their classmates had been arrested, beaten, and carried off from his home two nights previously by Israeli police. His parents did not know why or where he had been taken [a common situation in the military occupation] and his classmates were concerned, angry and uncertain about what would happen. A week later we learned he was still in custody, without as yet a charge, and only a few days ago, 40 days after the arrest, was he returned home to remain under house arrest. Under the occupation, anyone can be held in “administrative detention” for months without charge, lawyer, or explanation, and this detention can be renewed indefinitely.
-- The settlement of Tekoa. A group of us rode south to visit a settler, imagining we would encounter perhaps one of the nationalistic religious Jews who aggressively engage with Palestinians in an effort to drive them from the land. Instead, we met Eduardo, an aging Italian lawyer who came to this settlement early in his life, having suffered under Mussolini and much antisemitism. He said, “At last I became free and safe.” He claimed no ill will toward Palestinians, and believed they were better off for the arrival of the Jews, who he said created a modern, wealthy country from which Palestinians benefitted. In his aging, he was a difficult partner in conversation, but seemed warmhearted, welcoming, and glad to talk with us. Tekoa sits on 250 acres of land confiscated from a nearby Palestinian village in the mid 1970’s.
Finally, some reflections:
We’ve been to Palestine now six times in the past 12 years. The situation has only worsened and there are few encouraging signs at this point. There is no “peace process” and Israel is gradually taking fuller control – a “soft” annexation”— of the Palestinian territory. There are now over 700,000 settlers in occupied Palestine. The recent elections reflect an increasing Israeli consensus, it seems, that there will be no Palestinian state, and that the Palestinians are an alien presence in a land that should rightly be Jewish. And peace? To the Israelis peace mainly has to do with controlling the resistance that occupation naturally creates. Every occupying power has faced this problem and the resulting revolutions have in most parts of the world led to independence of former colonies. Israel’s power advantage is so great that it seems that without international support and the enforcement of international law, the Palestinians will not move beyond being a subject people. And our country is
the main supporter and enabler of Israel in the face of international efforts to remedy injustices there.
At the same time, there are some signs of hope, and there is work for us to do. There is a rising awareness in our country--particularly among young people, including young Jews--of the need for justice in Palestine and of the reality the we are the crucial outside player in Israel-Palestine affairs. The road is long, but we believe there is a force at work sustaining a movement toward justice. Both peoples will be served by this-- neither subjection nor occupation brings harmony and peace. And what can we do?
--We can: Accompany. Stay in touch with and support people and organizations, here and in Palestine, working for peace and justice.
--We can: Educate. Write letters, inform friends, neighbors, and legislators. Make it visible and comprehensible to people, what is going on there. Misinformation is one of the main obstacles to peace.
--We can: Work together. Find a group, an existing organization, of people who share this view, who can be a source of mutual support, strength, and effective action.
Janet Leslie and Jim Anderson with Ramallah Friends Meeting Students, Shadi Khouri's classmates, October 2022
Peace Education Working Group
Working with Paradise Unified School District Committee
CPA’s Peace Education Working Group leader Cindy Carlson has written about how Paradise Unified School District responded to complaints of racial discrimination from former students in that district. Here's their report.
Paradise Unified School District Social Justice Committee
The Paradise Unified School District’s Social Justice Committee is currently in its third year of operation. It was formed in response to a letter sent to the Superintendent and School Board by eight former Paradise High School graduates. While the letter emphasized the students’ experiences of racial discrimination and the negative affect it had on their self-respect, it also expressed the students’ affinity for their beloved home town and wish to see positive changes made for the future.
The authors made four requests that they believed would increase support for current and future students of color within the district:
1. Hire teachers and administrators of color.
2. Provide consistent professional development focused on racial and social justice for every teacher, administrator and board member in the district.
3. Educators should incorporate a multicultural-based curriculum and use materials by people of color.
4. Promote diverse spaces for the exploration of identity by establishing a Diversity element within the district.
The committee includes current students and graduates, parents, staff and regular attendance by PHS and district office administrators, school board members and the superintendent. Our meetings are held on the first Friday of each month from 3:30-5:00. For more information, contact Cindy Carlson at ccarlson@pusdk12.org or Matt Sutter at Msutter@pusdk12.org.
See below for more ideas on how social justice committees and groups of students, teacher and community members have been addressing these issues across the country. If you are doing something in your school, classroom or group that you would like to share with us, please send it to us. chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
** Social Justice: A Whole-School Approach from Edutopia
------------------------------------------------------------
Read about a social justice-based school that addresses larger issues as a learning community, builds curriculum around service learning, and regularly involves families.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-justice-whole-school-approach-jeanine-harmon
Why Social Justice in School Matters from the National Education Association
Meet five educators who are determined to help young people realize their value and power.
https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/why-social-justice-school-matters
Alternatives to Violence Project:
An Introduction for the Peace Alliance
Anthony Payton Porter and Lucy Gould recently provided an overview of the Alternatives to Violence Project, where both have worked for several years. The meeting was open to all CPA members.
Anthony explained that AVP started after the Attica prison riots in 1971 with impetus from inmates and help help from the Quakers. The workshops use the shared experience of both participants and facilitators to examine how injustice, prejudice, frustration and anger can lead to aggressive behavior and violence. Focusing primarily but not exclusively on prison populations, AVP explores people's innate power to respond to anger and violence in new and creative ways. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riot
Lucy and Anthony had participants choose an alliterative name that represents one of their personal traits or positive aspirations. e.g. Peaceful Paula. We then formed two concentric circles with participants facing one another. Given suggested topics such as "dealing with anger," one participant would listen to the other without judgement and commentary, affirming the positive points. Then the other participant would speak as hisher partner listened. In these sessions there are no put downs, no negative responses. We rotated left or right to meet with new participants and to discuss additional topics. All of the discussions are confidential, and participants found this to be a very powerful and uplifting experience.
Anthony and Lucy explained that the full AVP experience is much longer and carefully structured. There was strong agreement that conducting AVP workshops is something in which the Chico Peace Alliance may want to sponsor.
My Hero Award Goes to
North State Shelter Shower Project Film
Myhero.com has awarded a MY HERO Film Festival Humanitarian Award. to Gerard Ungerman and Stacy Wear documenting the efforts of the North State Shelter Team and its president, Charles Withuhn, to create a mobile shower trailer for the city's homeless. The announcement article by Deborah Neff reads:
Imagine not being able to take a shower for... a year...?!? If you're a backpacker, you know the feeling... for a short, controlled amount of time. Well, hundreds of thousands in the U.S., millions around the world, are permanently in this predicament for lack of a roof over their heads. Not being able to shower brings endless consequences for both the health and the morale but you'd think we probably could do something to address this dire public health crisis today. YES, we can. And it doesn't take monumental budgets either. In this video meet a gentle man, his friends and mind-blowingly generous businesses in Chico, CA that made it happen on a budget... OF LOVE (including many local donations).
Houseless people need a charger for their cell phone and a way to take a shower,” filmmaker Gerard Ungerman told MY HERO, quoting Charles Withuhn of North State Shelter Team. “Some of these people have not had a shower for five years.”
The film documents the project of building the shower trailer from beginning to end, where, led by the passion and fervor of Charles Withuhn, residents of the town of Chico joined together to take responsibility for their homeless people and work to solve Chico’s public health and shelter crisis. All the labor for the shower trailer was donated—including the plumbing, carpentry--everything. The community plans to publish its drawings and plans so that the project can be widely replicated in other locations.
The film is beautifully made, capturing real life, on the ground scenes of homeless people interacting and coming out smiling from the shower trailer: it was amazing to hear people talk about how good they felt after taking a shower, a luxury most of us take for granted.
The film documents how Chico residents joined together for this effort, even making decisions jointly, for example, the decision to go solar. By buying an old car trailer and building the shower trailer from scratch, the cost was one-third what it would have been new. With one month’s work and the large generosity of townsfolk, Chico’s solar shower trailer was ready to roll within a month.
Writers Wanted
for the CPA Newsletter
You're receiving this newsletter because you've expressed interest in the peace movement in Chico. We'd like to hear what you have to say on peace issues from local to global. Letters and articles from short to long are welcome (long defined as about 500 words or so). Send your thoughts to chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com (mailto:chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com?subject=for%20the%20Newsletter) .
Don't be bashful.
Write on!
Recommended Reading
Chris Nelson suggests an article by Andrew Licterman of the Western States Legal Foundation. Here's an excerpt:
"It is time to demand unequivocally that the Russian government end this war. We should do so not to endorse one nationalist or imperial vision over another, but because aggression is the greatest and most dangerous crime. We must first end this war to keep alive the hope that future wars may be prevented, and we must do so by insisting with one voice on the basic principle that any attempt by any government to change the boundaries or governance of any self-governing jurisdiction is unacceptable, illegal, a crime of the most fundamental order. Only then might we find the political space to begin addressing the causes of the endless cycle of wars that the global capitalist and state system generates and that geopolitics portrays as natural and necessary, as the inevitably inhumane side of the human condition."
http://wslfweb.org/docs/Lichterman-A-Divided-Opposition.pdf
============================================================
Founded in 2022, the Chico Peace Alliance extends the work of the Chico Peace and Justice Center (1982-2021) and the Weekly Peace Vigil (1962-present).
Join the Peace Vigil at the corner of 3rd and Broadway, Saturdays, 12:30
Contact us: Chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
Visit our website: ** www.chicopeacealliance.net (http://www.chicopeacealliance.net)
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences (*|UPDATE_PROFILE|*)
or ** unsubscribe from this list (*|UNSUB|*)
.
December 2022
Coming Events
Saturday, December 3, 9 am Eastern, 6 am Pacific, via Zoom. "Facing Our Challengs in Dangerous Times," sponsored by the Massacusetts Peace Action Chapter and others with a goal of exploring how to address enormous obstacles in difficult times to achieve the progressive vision. Great lineup of speakers, starting with John Nichols of The Nation. Information and registration at (http:// https://actionnetwork.org/events/facing-our-challenges-in-dangerous-times) https://actionnetwork.org/events/facing-our-challenges-in-dangerous-times
CPA Event . Thursday, December 8, 5-7 on Zoom : "Dismantling Racism and Militarism in U.S. Foreign Policy" The War & Militarism Working Group is offering a discussion series, probably continuing monthly on second Thursdays. We'll be using the "Dismantling Racism and Militarism in U.S. Foreign Policy" discussion paper and group discussion guide prepared by Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL). We'll start with the first section, "What is the problem?" The discussion paper and study guide can be downloaded from the FCNL website at www.fcnl.org/dismantling-racism-and-militarism-us-foreign-policy (or FCNL.org/DRM). Everyone interested in this is welcome. To know more, please contact Janet Leslie ( (mailto:janleschico@gmail.com?subject=Dismantling%20Racism%20and%20Militarism) janleschico@gmail.com (mailto:janleschico@gmail.com) ) or Chris Nelson (chris4pax@gmail.com (mailto:chris4pax@gmail.com) ).
CPA Event: Saturday, December 10, 12:30 pm, Peace Vigil at 3rd and Main. Focus: Anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
On December 10, 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On December 10, 2022, immediately following the Vigil, we will observe the 75th anniversary of the declaration, which grants rights for all Humankind, and we will read the 30 Articles of Declaration. We invite All to join us! We urge everyone to follow the United Nations efforts to promote Human Rights and Peace and to support international law.
The Chico Peace Alliance joins the world community in "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal an inalienable rights of all members of the human family (which) is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.
Here are some resources: (http:// https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/campaign/human-rights-day https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/un-75th-anniversary-recommit-human-rights)
https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/campaign/human-rights-day (http:// https://www.ohchr.org/en/get-involved/campaign/human-rights-day https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/un-75th-anniversary-recommit-human-rights) https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/un-75th-anniversary-recommit-human-rights
Every Saturday, 12:30 pm, Peace Vigil at 3rd and Main. Join us for one of the nation's longest running vigils, initiated by Willa Taggart in 1960.
Public Affairs Programming on KZFR 90.1 FM
Tuesdays, 5-6 pm. Ecotopia: Exploring Ecosystems--Environmental, Social, Technological with Stephen and Susan Tchudi.
Wednesdays, 6-7 pm. The Real Issue with Sue Hilderbrand.
Fridays, 11:30 am - 1 pm. The Peace and Justice Program, with Chris Nelson, Robert Jones, or Himp C.
In Memory: Bill "Guillermo " Mash
KZFR is deeply saddened to announce the passing of programmer Guillermo Mash. l (mailto:leah@kzfr.org?subject=Guillermo%20Mash) The station is establishing a memorial page, and thoughts, memories, and photos can be sent to Leah McKean .
A fund for support of his family has been established at https://www.gofundme.com/f/guillermo-bill-mash-needs-help?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet (https://www.gofundme.com/f/guillermo-bill-mash-needs-help?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet)
Steering Committee Update
The CPA Steering Committee met via Zoom on Sunday, November 20, with Laurel Yorks, Bob Van Fleet, Sheldon Praiser, Lucy Gould, Stephen Tchudi, Jim Anderson, Chris Nelson, and Janet Leslie participating.
Work Group reports
--Peace Education, Laurel Yorks: This group is working on helping young people see alternatives to military recruitment (counter recruitment). They wil go to Paradise HS in the spring to participate as an alternative group to the military recruiters for a recruitment meeting in the spring. The fall issue of Learning for Justice (https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/fall-2022) magazine is filled with good ideas is a magazine with abundant good ideas. The Learning for Justice site includes numerous teaching and curriculum ideas. (See more details in a separate article.)
--Economic Justice, Lucy Gould. The group is in haitus at the moment but hopes to resume work soon and interest is high. Economic Justice is topic is so huge that we may need to find a different way of organizing our efforts. This might be the place to work on low income housing--and housing generally.
-- War and Militarism. Janet Leslie. This group will have the first session of its group discussion of the Dismantling Racism booklet and its study guide via Zoom: December 8 (Thursday), 5-7 pm. Contact Jane (mailto:janleschico@gmail.com?subject=War%20and%20Militarism%20Zoom) t for the link. Documents can be downloaded from www/ncls/drm. This group will focus on US foreign policy as well as domestic issues, such as policing.
--Coalition Building and Communication (Bob VanFleet). This group is working on contacts with allies and sister organizations. There is a need for us to describe who we are and how other groups can ally, possibly a mission and vision statement. A starting point will be just letting them know what we are doing and including updates from allied groups in the newsletter.
Additional items:
* There is general agreement that the working group structure is effective.
* Thank you's are extended to Lucy Gould and Anthony Peyton Porter for providing an introduction to Alternatives to Violence Training (see below).
* UN Human Rights Day is Saturday, December 10. Chris Nelson reviewed past observances: meeting at the Hands, standing on a soapbox, etc. Plans are underway to recognize this event at the Peace Vigil.
Report from Palestine
Jim and Janet Leslie
We two traveled to Palestine and Israel in October. Here we some offer some observations and reflections from our two-and-a-half weeks there.
First, some “echoes”:
--We in the U.S. live in a country taken by Europeans at the expense of indigenous communities, and the European claim continues in the face of this history. Palestine is a land that European Jews settled in and took possession of in the early twentieth century, and the Jewish claim dominates there to this day. Both Jewish and Palestinian histories are complicated and cannot be erased. Some Palestinians are citizens of Israel; most live in occupied territory or refugee camps.
--In our country, there are “gated” communities, private residential areas that outsiders cannot enter without permission and whose residents are privileged by their wealth. In the ‘West Bank’” [along with Gaza, the “Occupied Palestinian Territories,”-- called Judea and Samaria by the Israelis], much Palestinian land has been taken over by Israel to create “gated” towns—“settlements”-- where Jewish Israelis live in comfort, vote in Israeli elections, and are protected by the Israeli army. They are connected to Israel by Israeli-only highways that carry them swiftly to work in Israel.
--In our town, there are many houseless persons who cannot feel secure in sleeping places or with their possessions. In Palestine, building permits are almost always denied to Palestinians in Jerusalem, and if they decide to build on their lot for a growing family, their house is liable to be demolished at their expense. In Area “C”, the 60% of the West Bank that Israel completely controls, entire villages may be demolished when land is declared a firing zone or nature preserve.
--In our country we are afraid that voter suppression is putting our democracy at risk; West Bank and Gaza Palestinians cannot vote in or effect politically the occupying country that controls their lives. The “Palestinian Authority” that administers the main towns in the West Bank, does so subject to the policies and practices of the State of Israel and its occupying army.
Then, some experiences:
--Jifna, a village in the West Bank north of Ramallah, was our home base for a week. The hillside we viewed the first night from the roof patio of our family-run guest house was dotted with small white houses--a Christmas postcard. That night, though, there were sounds of gunshots and a snaking line of car headlights moving down that hillside to the valley floor. Our host told us that three young people in a car had been shot some days back by Israeli soldiers, and the one surviving had perhaps died or was being taken to the hospital. In fact, the day before in the town to our north there had been fighting, some young men were killed, and the major towns in the West Bank had all gone on strike for a day. In the following days, there was more violence there, the town was blockaded, and one of the young fighters was shot near a checkpoint. A video of him circulated widely—he was seen dressed in black, with a pistol, brought to the ground by initial Israeli bullets, continuing to shoot with
his pistol while he sustained further shots and eventually lay still.
---The eleven of us in our Quaker group went the next morning to help a family harvest their olives. Perhaps a dozen in the family of all ages converged; we worked, ate, sang, danced, learned the skills, and sacked up the fruit. A wonderful time, warm and friendly even without much language in common. The smallest child carried a tiny rake and found things needing to be raked; adolescent boys went up the trees, older women sat on tarps and sorted. All gathered into this activity which for centuries has been common work in this land. We had planned the next day to help at another family orchard, situated next to a settlement, where owners had asked for international volunteers because they feared the settlers nearby would harm them [unfortunately common during the harvest time]. In fact, overnight rain made the steep road impassable so we returned to the first family. We discovered a few days later that the second orchard had been attacked by settlers, and one international took and
circulated a video showing the settlers moving through the trees and throwing large stones to break the windshields of Palestinian cars.
--We visited a Quaker-established school in Ramallah and felt the energy and enthusiasm of the diverse student body—by far mostly Muslim--and enjoyed talking with them. One of their classmates had been arrested, beaten, and carried off from his home two nights previously by Israeli police. His parents did not know why or where he had been taken [a common situation in the military occupation] and his classmates were concerned, angry and uncertain about what would happen. A week later we learned he was still in custody, without as yet a charge, and only a few days ago, 40 days after the arrest, was he returned home to remain under house arrest. Under the occupation, anyone can be held in “administrative detention” for months without charge, lawyer, or explanation, and this detention can be renewed indefinitely.
-- The settlement of Tekoa. A group of us rode south to visit a settler, imagining we would encounter perhaps one of the nationalistic religious Jews who aggressively engage with Palestinians in an effort to drive them from the land. Instead, we met Eduardo, an aging Italian lawyer who came to this settlement early in his life, having suffered under Mussolini and much antisemitism. He said, “At last I became free and safe.” He claimed no ill will toward Palestinians, and believed they were better off for the arrival of the Jews, who he said created a modern, wealthy country from which Palestinians benefitted. In his aging, he was a difficult partner in conversation, but seemed warmhearted, welcoming, and glad to talk with us. Tekoa sits on 250 acres of land confiscated from a nearby Palestinian village in the mid 1970’s.
Finally, some reflections:
We’ve been to Palestine now six times in the past 12 years. The situation has only worsened and there are few encouraging signs at this point. There is no “peace process” and Israel is gradually taking fuller control – a “soft” annexation”— of the Palestinian territory. There are now over 700,000 settlers in occupied Palestine. The recent elections reflect an increasing Israeli consensus, it seems, that there will be no Palestinian state, and that the Palestinians are an alien presence in a land that should rightly be Jewish. And peace? To the Israelis peace mainly has to do with controlling the resistance that occupation naturally creates. Every occupying power has faced this problem and the resulting revolutions have in most parts of the world led to independence of former colonies. Israel’s power advantage is so great that it seems that without international support and the enforcement of international law, the Palestinians will not move beyond being a subject people. And our country is
the main supporter and enabler of Israel in the face of international efforts to remedy injustices there.
At the same time, there are some signs of hope, and there is work for us to do. There is a rising awareness in our country--particularly among young people, including young Jews--of the need for justice in Palestine and of the reality the we are the crucial outside player in Israel-Palestine affairs. The road is long, but we believe there is a force at work sustaining a movement toward justice. Both peoples will be served by this-- neither subjection nor occupation brings harmony and peace. And what can we do?
--We can: Accompany. Stay in touch with and support people and organizations, here and in Palestine, working for peace and justice.
--We can: Educate. Write letters, inform friends, neighbors, and legislators. Make it visible and comprehensible to people, what is going on there. Misinformation is one of the main obstacles to peace.
--We can: Work together. Find a group, an existing organization, of people who share this view, who can be a source of mutual support, strength, and effective action.
Janet Leslie and Jim Anderson with Ramallah Friends Meeting Students, Shadi Khouri's classmates, October 2022
Peace Education Working Group
Working with Paradise Unified School District Committee
CPA’s Peace Education Working Group leader Cindy Carlson has written about how Paradise Unified School District responded to complaints of racial discrimination from former students in that district. Here's their report.
Paradise Unified School District Social Justice Committee
The Paradise Unified School District’s Social Justice Committee is currently in its third year of operation. It was formed in response to a letter sent to the Superintendent and School Board by eight former Paradise High School graduates. While the letter emphasized the students’ experiences of racial discrimination and the negative affect it had on their self-respect, it also expressed the students’ affinity for their beloved home town and wish to see positive changes made for the future.
The authors made four requests that they believed would increase support for current and future students of color within the district:
1. Hire teachers and administrators of color.
2. Provide consistent professional development focused on racial and social justice for every teacher, administrator and board member in the district.
3. Educators should incorporate a multicultural-based curriculum and use materials by people of color.
4. Promote diverse spaces for the exploration of identity by establishing a Diversity element within the district.
The committee includes current students and graduates, parents, staff and regular attendance by PHS and district office administrators, school board members and the superintendent. Our meetings are held on the first Friday of each month from 3:30-5:00. For more information, contact Cindy Carlson at ccarlson@pusdk12.org or Matt Sutter at Msutter@pusdk12.org.
See below for more ideas on how social justice committees and groups of students, teacher and community members have been addressing these issues across the country. If you are doing something in your school, classroom or group that you would like to share with us, please send it to us. chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
** Social Justice: A Whole-School Approach from Edutopia
------------------------------------------------------------
Read about a social justice-based school that addresses larger issues as a learning community, builds curriculum around service learning, and regularly involves families.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/social-justice-whole-school-approach-jeanine-harmon
Why Social Justice in School Matters from the National Education Association
Meet five educators who are determined to help young people realize their value and power.
https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/why-social-justice-school-matters
Alternatives to Violence Project:
An Introduction for the Peace Alliance
Anthony Payton Porter and Lucy Gould recently provided an overview of the Alternatives to Violence Project, where both have worked for several years. The meeting was open to all CPA members.
Anthony explained that AVP started after the Attica prison riots in 1971 with impetus from inmates and help help from the Quakers. The workshops use the shared experience of both participants and facilitators to examine how injustice, prejudice, frustration and anger can lead to aggressive behavior and violence. Focusing primarily but not exclusively on prison populations, AVP explores people's innate power to respond to anger and violence in new and creative ways. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riot
Lucy and Anthony had participants choose an alliterative name that represents one of their personal traits or positive aspirations. e.g. Peaceful Paula. We then formed two concentric circles with participants facing one another. Given suggested topics such as "dealing with anger," one participant would listen to the other without judgement and commentary, affirming the positive points. Then the other participant would speak as hisher partner listened. In these sessions there are no put downs, no negative responses. We rotated left or right to meet with new participants and to discuss additional topics. All of the discussions are confidential, and participants found this to be a very powerful and uplifting experience.
Anthony and Lucy explained that the full AVP experience is much longer and carefully structured. There was strong agreement that conducting AVP workshops is something in which the Chico Peace Alliance may want to sponsor.
My Hero Award Goes to
North State Shelter Shower Project Film
Myhero.com has awarded a MY HERO Film Festival Humanitarian Award. to Gerard Ungerman and Stacy Wear documenting the efforts of the North State Shelter Team and its president, Charles Withuhn, to create a mobile shower trailer for the city's homeless. The announcement article by Deborah Neff reads:
Imagine not being able to take a shower for... a year...?!? If you're a backpacker, you know the feeling... for a short, controlled amount of time. Well, hundreds of thousands in the U.S., millions around the world, are permanently in this predicament for lack of a roof over their heads. Not being able to shower brings endless consequences for both the health and the morale but you'd think we probably could do something to address this dire public health crisis today. YES, we can. And it doesn't take monumental budgets either. In this video meet a gentle man, his friends and mind-blowingly generous businesses in Chico, CA that made it happen on a budget... OF LOVE (including many local donations).
Houseless people need a charger for their cell phone and a way to take a shower,” filmmaker Gerard Ungerman told MY HERO, quoting Charles Withuhn of North State Shelter Team. “Some of these people have not had a shower for five years.”
The film documents the project of building the shower trailer from beginning to end, where, led by the passion and fervor of Charles Withuhn, residents of the town of Chico joined together to take responsibility for their homeless people and work to solve Chico’s public health and shelter crisis. All the labor for the shower trailer was donated—including the plumbing, carpentry--everything. The community plans to publish its drawings and plans so that the project can be widely replicated in other locations.
The film is beautifully made, capturing real life, on the ground scenes of homeless people interacting and coming out smiling from the shower trailer: it was amazing to hear people talk about how good they felt after taking a shower, a luxury most of us take for granted.
The film documents how Chico residents joined together for this effort, even making decisions jointly, for example, the decision to go solar. By buying an old car trailer and building the shower trailer from scratch, the cost was one-third what it would have been new. With one month’s work and the large generosity of townsfolk, Chico’s solar shower trailer was ready to roll within a month.
Writers Wanted
for the CPA Newsletter
You're receiving this newsletter because you've expressed interest in the peace movement in Chico. We'd like to hear what you have to say on peace issues from local to global. Letters and articles from short to long are welcome (long defined as about 500 words or so). Send your thoughts to chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com (mailto:chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com?subject=for%20the%20Newsletter) .
Don't be bashful.
Write on!
Recommended Reading
Chris Nelson suggests an article by Andrew Licterman of the Western States Legal Foundation. Here's an excerpt:
"It is time to demand unequivocally that the Russian government end this war. We should do so not to endorse one nationalist or imperial vision over another, but because aggression is the greatest and most dangerous crime. We must first end this war to keep alive the hope that future wars may be prevented, and we must do so by insisting with one voice on the basic principle that any attempt by any government to change the boundaries or governance of any self-governing jurisdiction is unacceptable, illegal, a crime of the most fundamental order. Only then might we find the political space to begin addressing the causes of the endless cycle of wars that the global capitalist and state system generates and that geopolitics portrays as natural and necessary, as the inevitably inhumane side of the human condition."
http://wslfweb.org/docs/Lichterman-A-Divided-Opposition.pdf
============================================================
Founded in 2022, the Chico Peace Alliance extends the work of the Chico Peace and Justice Center (1982-2021) and the Weekly Peace Vigil (1962-present).
Join the Peace Vigil at the corner of 3rd and Broadway, Saturdays, 12:30
Contact us: Chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
Visit our website: ** www.chicopeacealliance.net (http://www.chicopeacealliance.net)
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences (*|UPDATE_PROFILE|*)
or ** unsubscribe from this list (*|UNSUB|*)
.
Peace Alliance News
NOVEMBER 2022
(Note: This version of the newsletter is mostly text only.)
Coming Events:
· Saturday, November 5, 10 am, General Meeting of the Chico Peace Alliance. Quaker Meetinghouse, 16th and Hemlock. We’ll focus on our group’s progress since our June inception. How are we doing, should we grow more or continue at the present pace. Are the Working Groups “working”? Any changes in our path? What is our end goal? All are welcome!
· 11 AM. Alternatives to Violence (AVP) workshop with Anthony Peyton-Porter. The workshop will immediately follow our general meeting at the Quaker Meetinghouse. Anthony is an experienced AVP facilitator who most recently been presenting the program to prisoners in the north state. RSVP for the workshop at chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com.
· Tuesday, November 15. The monthly Beale Air Force Base Protest at Ostrum and South Beale Road during shift change (3-5 pm). Please join us, carpooling is possible. Contact Chris Nelson Chris4pax@gmail.com for more information about Occupy Beale.
· Every Saturday, 12:30 pm. Weekly Peace Vigil at 3rd and Main. (Our 59th Year).
Public Affairs Programming on KZFR 90.1 FM:
· Tuesdays, 5-6 pm. Ecotopia: Exploring Ecosystems--Environmental, Social, Technological with Stephen and Susan Tchudi.
· Wednesdays, 6-7 pm. The Real Issue with Sue Hilderbrand.
· Fridays, 11:30 am - 1 pm. The Peace and Social Justice Program, with Chris Nelson, Robert Jones, and Himp C.
CPA Working Groups
Communication/Coalition Building
Submitted by Doug Fogel
1) To expedite our banner creation and planned use, it was agreed to set aside the creation of an agreed upon logo for now and simply have the banner show our clearly readable name and contact information in dark blue with a space left available for a logo to be added later. Size is 30” x 6’. Kathy to contact Charles with our final idea.
2) Bob’s draft of an official invitation letter to be used to introduce CPA to potential alliance organizations was well liked by the entire group and with some small but meaningful wording and formatting changes was adopted. Bob will complete the revised invitation. Possible groups to first approach with the invitation suggested were: Stonewall Alliance and Justice for Desmond.
3) We need to communicate with the press; radio, television, and print, outlets in order to reach a larger group. Bob Van Fleet volunteered to be our media contact person. We have a list of friendly media contact persons, but it is out of date due to a lots of turnover in media industry. In order to reach a younger segment of the population we also need to be active with internet social media communications.
4) Zooming of events was suggested as particularly useful at speaking events such as the potential upcoming event of having George Lakey, famous sociologist and peace activist, speaking in Chico. We may have the Quakers Zoom account available for CPA use. Someone should write letters to the editor after events to further keep event topics in the public mind.
We did not finalize a next meeting date or location since there are a number of factors at play including weather. Meeting outside in the morning in particular, will likely become difficult soon.
Peace Education
Submittted by Kathy Faith, Sue Griffin, and Cindy Carlson
Prior to the Camp Fire in 2018, the Ridge Coalition for Peace and Justice had an active program to inform students at Paradise High School about the many alternatives to the military that are available. Then, as now, the military aggressively tries to recruit seniors and juniors into the Service. We lost all our materials in the Camp Fire but we are in the process of recreating them so that we can return to Paradise High School to give young people the information they need to make alternative choices and still accomplish their goals. The School District and the Administrators at the High School appear to be supportive of this effort.
Some of the comments we got from students back then: "Thanks for this information. I thought the only way to 'see the world' was to join the military." "I can't afford to pay for college and I thought the military was the only way I could do it." "It's nice to know what all the options are."
These options include:
AMERICORPS americorps.gov
CALIFORNIA CONSERVATION CORPS http://www.ccc.ca.gov
WORLDWIDE OPPORTUNITIES ON ORGANIC FARMS http://www.wwoofusa.org
BRETHREN VOLUNTEER SERVICES Brethren Volunteer Service – A full-time volunteer program since 1948
-ooOoo-
Chico Friends Committee Advocacy Team
Submitted by Laurel Yorks
The Chico Friends Committee Advocacy Team is a new, small team of local peace advocates working together to more effectively lobby for legislative change. All advocates for peace are invited to join the team. We are enthusiastic about the resources, updates, and encouragement we have from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) staff in Washington D.C. and from other advocacy teams in California and throughout the nation.
The FCNL advocacy teams all focus on legislative changes on one major issue at a time. Throughout this last year, FCNL advocacy teams in the U.S. have been focusing on ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. A truce was established last May, but unfortunately expired on October 2nd. Since 2015, Saudi blockades and delays have prevented adequate food, water, medical supplies, fuel and other essential goods from reaching millions of Yemenis in need, resulting in an urgent humanitarian crisis. This crisis has remained mostly low-profile from public scrutiny or even knowledge here in the U.S.
In 2018, Save the Children estimated that 85,000 children died due to starvation in the three years prior. Earlier this year, the U.N. reported that more than 17 million Yemenis were experiencing high levels of food insecurity.
To know more about being an advocacy team member, you can check out the website page www.fcnl.org/act/join-advocacy-team and talk with advocacy team members. You can also contact team members at chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
FCNL’s non-partisan, relationship-building approach to lobbying has provided good grounding for our work.
Attached are responses we’ve received from two legislators this year: Senator Alex Padilla and Congressman Doug
LaMalfa:
From Congressman LaMalfa's District Representative
Good afternoon Laurel and FCNL team,
We wanted to follow up with an update regarding your request of the Congressman in relation to his vote on H.J. Res 87.
The Congressman decided he is not going to sign onto H.J. Res 87. While he is sympathetic to and aware of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen, he doesn’t want to make life easier on Iran, and doesn’t believe invoking the War Powers Resolution on this particular military engagement is wise, or effective. He also doesn’t want to harm our relationship with Saudi Arabia at a time when they are finally looking amenable towards Israel, and potentially open up the Saudis to Russia and China. The Congressman wants to keep looking for opportunities to support the Yemeni civilians and appreciates the work of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL).
Again, we would like to thank you for coming to our office. It was a pleasure meeting you all and listening to your concerns and request.
Sincerely,
Teri DuBose - District Representative
Congressman Doug LaMalfa CA/D1
120 Independence Circle, Suite B
Chico, CA 95973
530.343.1000 phone
530.343.0240 fax
www.lamalfa.house.gov
NOVEMBER 2022
(Note: This version of the newsletter is mostly text only.)
Coming Events:
· Saturday, November 5, 10 am, General Meeting of the Chico Peace Alliance. Quaker Meetinghouse, 16th and Hemlock. We’ll focus on our group’s progress since our June inception. How are we doing, should we grow more or continue at the present pace. Are the Working Groups “working”? Any changes in our path? What is our end goal? All are welcome!
· 11 AM. Alternatives to Violence (AVP) workshop with Anthony Peyton-Porter. The workshop will immediately follow our general meeting at the Quaker Meetinghouse. Anthony is an experienced AVP facilitator who most recently been presenting the program to prisoners in the north state. RSVP for the workshop at chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com.
· Tuesday, November 15. The monthly Beale Air Force Base Protest at Ostrum and South Beale Road during shift change (3-5 pm). Please join us, carpooling is possible. Contact Chris Nelson Chris4pax@gmail.com for more information about Occupy Beale.
· Every Saturday, 12:30 pm. Weekly Peace Vigil at 3rd and Main. (Our 59th Year).
Public Affairs Programming on KZFR 90.1 FM:
· Tuesdays, 5-6 pm. Ecotopia: Exploring Ecosystems--Environmental, Social, Technological with Stephen and Susan Tchudi.
· Wednesdays, 6-7 pm. The Real Issue with Sue Hilderbrand.
· Fridays, 11:30 am - 1 pm. The Peace and Social Justice Program, with Chris Nelson, Robert Jones, and Himp C.
CPA Working Groups
Communication/Coalition Building
Submitted by Doug Fogel
1) To expedite our banner creation and planned use, it was agreed to set aside the creation of an agreed upon logo for now and simply have the banner show our clearly readable name and contact information in dark blue with a space left available for a logo to be added later. Size is 30” x 6’. Kathy to contact Charles with our final idea.
2) Bob’s draft of an official invitation letter to be used to introduce CPA to potential alliance organizations was well liked by the entire group and with some small but meaningful wording and formatting changes was adopted. Bob will complete the revised invitation. Possible groups to first approach with the invitation suggested were: Stonewall Alliance and Justice for Desmond.
3) We need to communicate with the press; radio, television, and print, outlets in order to reach a larger group. Bob Van Fleet volunteered to be our media contact person. We have a list of friendly media contact persons, but it is out of date due to a lots of turnover in media industry. In order to reach a younger segment of the population we also need to be active with internet social media communications.
4) Zooming of events was suggested as particularly useful at speaking events such as the potential upcoming event of having George Lakey, famous sociologist and peace activist, speaking in Chico. We may have the Quakers Zoom account available for CPA use. Someone should write letters to the editor after events to further keep event topics in the public mind.
We did not finalize a next meeting date or location since there are a number of factors at play including weather. Meeting outside in the morning in particular, will likely become difficult soon.
Peace Education
Submittted by Kathy Faith, Sue Griffin, and Cindy Carlson
Prior to the Camp Fire in 2018, the Ridge Coalition for Peace and Justice had an active program to inform students at Paradise High School about the many alternatives to the military that are available. Then, as now, the military aggressively tries to recruit seniors and juniors into the Service. We lost all our materials in the Camp Fire but we are in the process of recreating them so that we can return to Paradise High School to give young people the information they need to make alternative choices and still accomplish their goals. The School District and the Administrators at the High School appear to be supportive of this effort.
Some of the comments we got from students back then: "Thanks for this information. I thought the only way to 'see the world' was to join the military." "I can't afford to pay for college and I thought the military was the only way I could do it." "It's nice to know what all the options are."
These options include:
AMERICORPS americorps.gov
CALIFORNIA CONSERVATION CORPS http://www.ccc.ca.gov
WORLDWIDE OPPORTUNITIES ON ORGANIC FARMS http://www.wwoofusa.org
BRETHREN VOLUNTEER SERVICES Brethren Volunteer Service – A full-time volunteer program since 1948
-ooOoo-
Chico Friends Committee Advocacy Team
Submitted by Laurel Yorks
The Chico Friends Committee Advocacy Team is a new, small team of local peace advocates working together to more effectively lobby for legislative change. All advocates for peace are invited to join the team. We are enthusiastic about the resources, updates, and encouragement we have from the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) staff in Washington D.C. and from other advocacy teams in California and throughout the nation.
The FCNL advocacy teams all focus on legislative changes on one major issue at a time. Throughout this last year, FCNL advocacy teams in the U.S. have been focusing on ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. A truce was established last May, but unfortunately expired on October 2nd. Since 2015, Saudi blockades and delays have prevented adequate food, water, medical supplies, fuel and other essential goods from reaching millions of Yemenis in need, resulting in an urgent humanitarian crisis. This crisis has remained mostly low-profile from public scrutiny or even knowledge here in the U.S.
In 2018, Save the Children estimated that 85,000 children died due to starvation in the three years prior. Earlier this year, the U.N. reported that more than 17 million Yemenis were experiencing high levels of food insecurity.
To know more about being an advocacy team member, you can check out the website page www.fcnl.org/act/join-advocacy-team and talk with advocacy team members. You can also contact team members at chicopeacealliance@yahoo.com
FCNL’s non-partisan, relationship-building approach to lobbying has provided good grounding for our work.
Attached are responses we’ve received from two legislators this year: Senator Alex Padilla and Congressman Doug
LaMalfa:
From Congressman LaMalfa's District Representative
Good afternoon Laurel and FCNL team,
We wanted to follow up with an update regarding your request of the Congressman in relation to his vote on H.J. Res 87.
The Congressman decided he is not going to sign onto H.J. Res 87. While he is sympathetic to and aware of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen, he doesn’t want to make life easier on Iran, and doesn’t believe invoking the War Powers Resolution on this particular military engagement is wise, or effective. He also doesn’t want to harm our relationship with Saudi Arabia at a time when they are finally looking amenable towards Israel, and potentially open up the Saudis to Russia and China. The Congressman wants to keep looking for opportunities to support the Yemeni civilians and appreciates the work of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL).
Again, we would like to thank you for coming to our office. It was a pleasure meeting you all and listening to your concerns and request.
Sincerely,
Teri DuBose - District Representative
Congressman Doug LaMalfa CA/D1
120 Independence Circle, Suite B
Chico, CA 95973
530.343.1000 phone
530.343.0240 fax
www.lamalfa.house.gov
Defuse Nuclear War
Chris Nelson
When I heard that Peace Action affiliates were doing informational pickets all over the US to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a member of the Chico Peace Alliance War and Militarism Working Group, I wanted to plan a picket in Chico. (About 25 people showed up, which was good for a Friday evening! Photos above.)
When I was a kid in N.J. We had a fully supplied bunker in our basement in the case of nuclear war, plus food and blankets, etc.in the trunk of the car during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the 1980s I was active in the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign which brought a million people into the streets of NYC in 1982 and definitely influenced Reagan and Gorbachev in signing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.
The threat of nuclear war never went away but concern about it was displaced. Now we see that treaties have been left to languish and the US has embarked on a modernization policy which encourages a new arms race. The world has 12,700 nuclear weapons in readiness right now and the President of Russia has threatened to use a nuclear weapon in the War with Ukraine.
We who live here in the U.S. and love our children, planet, etc. have responsibility to keep trying to stop the use of these weapons of annihilation and it does seem like the Defuse Nuclear War campaign has brought together all the Peace and Disarmament groups. The question is, can we have any effect before there is the use of one or more nuclear weapons over the war in Ukraine? We can not foresee the future but we know from expert historical perspective that luck was the deciding factor in the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is not a legitimate basis for a national foreign policy but the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is. Nuclear Weapons are already illegal, read about it here (www.icanw.org) and please join the Chico Peace Alliance in the effort to Defuse Nuclear War (www.defusenuclearwar.org) with a growing number of people around the world.
