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2015 Hiroshima Commemoration

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COMMEMORATION

70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE U.S

ATOMIC BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA

Great Neck SANE/Peace Action, Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives

and Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation

at Shelter Rock invite you to join us for an

EVENING OF REMEMBRANCE, RESISTANCE and ENGAGEMENT

Thursday, AUGUST 6, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.

Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock

48 Shelter Rock Road, Manhasset NY 11030

 Special Guest Speaker: AMY GOODMAN,

Award –winning Journalist, Author and Host of DemocracyNow

Music by WILLOW, Women’s Acapella Group, Conducted by Farah Chandu

Everyone welcome. Contributions voluntary.

Refreshments & Hospitality

For info: Great Neck Sane/Peace Action, 516-487-3786

LI Alliance, 516-741-4360 or UUCSR 472-2980

www.longislandpeace.orgEmail: longislandpeace@gmail.com

June 2015 Funding Letter

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Dear Friends of the Long Island Alliance,

2015 marks the 30th Anniversary of the Long Island Alliance and our work together to build a world without war, a world free of nuclear weapons, a world where all can live in peace with dignity.

The LI Alliance, with Professor Michael D’Innocenzo and our Peace Fellows, do a visioning session – in which students imagine the world they want to see in ten years. We do this in classes and in the Center Civic Engagement’s programs on Day of Dialogue in the fall and Earth and Globalization Days in the spring semester. In some sessions, we examine the U.S. role in the world.
We especially want to thank you for your ongoing support of our efforts to involve the next generation in peacemaking, social justice and citizen activism.
The LI Alliance Peace Fellows Program, in collaboration with Hofstra University’s Center for Civic Engagement, has been a priority focus of the Alliance for the last three years. The Peace Fellows Program is a mini-peace studies introduction to students on the issues of nonviolence, militarism, disarmament and human security. Students also receive training in deliberative dialogue techniques and issue advocacy.

We ask you to contribute to this unique ten-week program (funded by the LI Alliance) with Hofstra faculty participation. It is offered each spring semester. Peace Fellows meet monthly in the fall to continue their dialogue on global issues and to discuss ways of promoting peace on campus and in the community. We have a matching grant for the Peace Fellows Program. So please be as generous as you can be.

It is up to us to carry the next generation into the future, to a world free of the scourge of war. It is up to us to teach them peace.
Thank you again for your strong support and commitment. Your contribution is so very important to building the world we wish for ourselves and for the next generation.
Peace,
Margaret Melkonian, Executive Director

Andrea Libresco, President, LI Alliance Board
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LET’S TEACH OUR CHILDREN PEACE!

Here’s my contribution!
Make checks payable to LI Alliance and mail to: LI Alliance, PO Box 301, Garden City NY 11530

Please circle one or indicate another contribution:
$25    $75    $1,000    $ _____Other

Phone:

Margaret’s Letter in the NY Times!

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See the original post from the New York Times here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/opinion/us-weapons-in-ukraine-and-eastern-europe.html?_r=0

 

To the Editor:

Re “U.S. Poised to Put Heavy Weaponry in East Europe” (front page, June 14):

What is astounding about the United States’ proposal to put heavy weaponry in Eastern Europe is that it would also entail spending our tax dollars on upgrading railroads and building new warehouses and storage facilities there.

What is outrageous is not only that we are going back to the Cold War but also that we are using resources so vitally needed at home to rebuild our infrastructure, our railroads and our water and electric systems. We need to invest in our children’s future.

This move of weapons to Eastern Europe ignores the fact that cooperation between the United States and Russia is vitally necessary if we are to solve the challenges of global climate change, terrorism and economic security.

MARGARET MELKONIAN

Uniondale, N.Y.

The writer is executive director of L.I. Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives.

Memorial Day Vigil 2015 at Jones Beach

News, Upcoming Events

 

MEMORIAL DAY VIGIL 2015

JUST SAY NO TO ENDLESS WAR!

10 A. M. Saturday, May 23

JONES BEACH

(Rain date on Sunday) 

Memorial Day 2015

“There is no glory in battle worth the blood it costs.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower

On May 23 of Memorial Day weekend, thousands of Long Islanders will flock to Jones Beach for the Bethpage Air Show which demonstrates military airpower and weapons.

On that same day, peace activists from Long Island will gather for their Eleventh Annual Peace Vigil to remind beach-goers that Memorial Day is a sacred day dedicated by our nation to mourn the loss of American lives killed in war. Remember all who have died. End War.

  • ·      Come to distribute flyers explaining the true meaning of Memorial Day.
  • ·      Come to reflect upon the victims of wars, still suffering in mind and spirit.
  • ·      Come to honor the fallen.
  • ·      Come to call for an end to all wars.

 

Park at Field 4 – Come early for best parking space!!!  Fee $10

Assemble by the plaza near the “needle” tower.

Weather alert May 23 7 AM www.paxchristilongisland.org

Further details: Email paxchristili@aol.com

To help distribute, please arrive by 9 a.m.

PLEASE WEAR A BLACK T SHIRT OR TOP

The 11th Annual Memorial Day Peace Vigil is organized by Pax Christi LI, the Catholic peace organization, in partnership with Dominican Sisters of Amityville –Justice & Peace Committee; LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives; LI Code Pink Women for Peace; LI Food not Bombs; LI Move- On; LI School of Americas Watch;LI Veterans for Peace; LI Women in Black; North Country Peace Group; Round Table for the Common Good Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal RC Church Wyandanch; Peace Action NY; Sisters of St. Joseph NY-Social Justice and Non-violence Committees; South Country Peace Group
For further information, email paxchristili@aol.com

Mobilization to Ban Nukes in NYC 2015

News, Upcoming Events

 

MOBILIZATION FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE, PEACEFUL, JUST AND SUSTAINABLE WOLRD. BAN NUKES!

Please join us on Sunday, April 26 to call for abolition of nuclear weapons. Bring signs that say Long Island supports nuclear abolition. BAN NUKES!

 

Meet us at 1 p.m. at Union Square.

 

March to Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47th St.& 2nd Ave.) begins at 2 p.m.

 

Schedule for April 26 Mobilization, New York City 11-12:30: Interfaith Convocation for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (Tillman Chapel of the Church Center at the United Nations, 777 First Avenue)
1pm: Rally at Union Square North (East 17th St, between Park Avenue South and Broadway New York, NY 10003)
1:20: Launch the Global Wave from the Rally at Union Square. The Wave will then move westward to cities and capitals around the world. More information on the rally speakers is available here.
2pm: March (Beginning at Union Square North, arriving at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at around 3pm)
3pm-6pm: Peace Festival at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (East 47th Street, 2nd Ave New York, NY 10017)
4pm: Together with Genuikyo (Japan Council Against A- and H-Bombs), we will present millions of petition signatures calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons to Ambassador Taous Feroukhi and UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Angela Kane. Performers will be listed soon!


 

Wrong About Iraq, Wrong About Iran – R. Greenwald

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This post was originally on CommonDreams and reposted here.

The framework agreement that the U.S. and its international partners reached with Iran that blocks Tehran’s pathways to building a nuclear bomb is barely a week old, yet the usual suspects have already denounced it as a “bad deal.”

Former George W. Bush administration official John Bolton called the agreement “a surrender of classic proportions,” and for Bolton, war is the only answer.

“The inconvenient truth is that only military action … can accomplish what is required,” Bolton wrote in The New York Times last month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes it too. “I think this is a bad deal,” he said on Sunday, adding, “I think there is still time to reach a good deal, a better deal.”

How do we get a “better deal”? Netanyahu doesn’t have an answer.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) also criticized the agreement on Sunday, but he went a bit further than Netanyahu. “I don’t want a war, but…,” Graham said. But what? The South Carolina Republican said that Iran would have to completely capitulate and agree to dismantle its entire nuclear program and address other issues that weren’t part of the nuclear talks or face war.

What do Bolton, Netanyahu, Graham and a whole host of others in Washington opposing this deal have in common? They were passionate supporters of the Iraq war and continue to hold that view today.

Here’s what Netanyahu told Congress in September 2002, five months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq: “If you take out Saddam … I guarantee you that it will have enormous positive reverberations on the region.”

And here’s what the Israeli Prime Minister told Congress just last month: “The agreement … would all but guarantee that Iran gets nuclear weapons.”

Graham said in 2003 that Saddam Hussein “is lying … when he says he doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction.”

And here’s Bolton in late 2002: “The Iraqi people would be unique in history if they didn’t welcome the overthrow of this dictatorial regime.”

Of course, we all know how this played out: no WMDs, tens of thousands of Americans killed or wounded, countless Iraqi civilians dead, nearly $4 trillion spent, and ISIS on a rampage throughout the Middle East.

Why should we listen to these people again?

The reality is that there is no better Iran deal, and those calling for one never offer a viable plan on how to get there. In fact, the real alternative is war, which will come at tremendous cost.

“After you’ve dropped those bombs on those hardened facilities, what happens next?” former commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Anthony Zinni (ret.) once wondered. “[I]f you follow this all the way down, eventually I’m putting boots on the ground somewhere. And like I tell my friends, if you like Iraq and Afghanistan, you’ll love Iran.”

 

Endorse Peace & Planet Mobilization

News

We are fast approaching the Peace & Planet Mobilization, which will open with an International Conference April 24-25, and culminate in the streets of New York for a mass Rally, March, and Festival on April 26. While the largest numbers will be turning out in NYC, we hope your organization – large or small, near or far – will support this Mobilization, helping us to garner and demonstrate broad and deep international support as we use the 2015 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference to demand:

  • The abolition of nuclear weapons
  • Economic justice, including Moving the Money from the Pentagon to meet human needs
  • Racial equity and the demilitarization of policing
  • Environmental justice and urgent responses to climate crises
  • A just and peaceful approach to global wars and confrontations

Our International Planning Group represents over 65 organizations, and the Mobilization is endorsed by an additional 150 organizations and counting. Our goals are two-fold: to demand immediate negotiations for total nuclear disarmament, and to use this Mobilization to strengthen and connect our movements. Your endorsement will help us do just that.

Expectations of endorsers will of course vary depending on your group’s capacity. If your organization is based locally, we hope first and foremost that you’ll mobilize your members to participate in our events in NYC. If you’re farther away, you can plug in by coordinating a local action for the Global Wave, which will start in NYC on April 26 and make its way around the globe (going west), with actions at 1pm in each time zone, or by organizing a viewing session of the Interntaional Conference’s plenary sessions (April 24-25), which will be livestreamed. We also ask that you engage with us on social media to help us spread the word about this Mobilization, and help as we do email blasts so more and more people are aware of the work being done to connect between peace, justice, and environmental struggles and to abolish nuclear weapons.

The work of the Peace & Planet Mobilization is built on and largely inspired by the breadth of organizing done by supporting organizations. Once you’ve endorsed, it would be helpful if you would email us some photos or videos (along with a caption – what, where, and when) that demonstrate the work you’re doing so that we can lift them up in our online outreach. 

Recognizing the interconnected human and moral imperatives of abolishing nuclear weapons, ending and preventing wars, ensuring economic and social justice, achieving racial equity and the demilitarization of police, and addressing climate change and environmental degradation, we are committed to exploring the linkages in order to build broader, more issue-integrated movements for the long term. Thank you so much for considering endorsing this effort, and please share this email widely! 

On behalf of the International Planning Group, and in solidarity and peace,

 Sofia Wolman
 Disarmament Associate, American Friends Service CommitteeEn

Please support Alliance Peace Fellows Program 2015

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       Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives

http://www.facebook.com/LIAllianceforPeacefulAlternatives

       Nonviolence is a gentle way to shake the world!

December 2014                                                           

Dear Friends of the LI Alliance,

Thirteen years of U.S war in Afghanistan has claimed thousands of lives. When the U.S.  withdraws,  the military is planning to keep a force of 10,000 soldiers or more. And now, the U.S. is back at war in Iraq with airstrikes and training missions and has also announced airstrikes in Afghanistan. In addition, the President with Congressional approval is funding the training and arming of “some” rebels in Syria to fight against ISIS. Have we learned nothing? Violence begets violence. Once again we are embarking on another war without end.

It is hard to believe that in the 21st century, war and the use of military force continue to be the primary tools of U.S. foreign policy and power. It is up to people like us to change the direction of our country and to make our voices heard in Washington and in the public square.

In 2015, the LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives will mark its 30th Anniversary of peacemaking and citizen action in determining national and global priorities. Together with all of you, we have demonstrated, called and visited NY Senators and LI representatives, and have educated ourselves, the media and the LI community about peace and the alternatives to war and violence. We have been a visible peace presence on Long Island. This has only been possible because you have been with us in our shared efforts to “shake the world.”

With your active support, the LI Alliance has engaged the next generation in the pursuit of a world without war – a world based on justice and peace and human dignity for everyone. With your contributions, we have developed a Peace Fellows Program at Hofstra University in collaboration with the Center for Civic Engagement. The ten-week program brings students together in briefing sessions to examine the U.S. role in the world and issues of war and peace, nonviolence, human rights, nuclear disarmament, militarism and global climate change. In addition, there are sessions on facilitating deliberative discussion, issue advocacy skills and media literacy.

The Peace Fellows Program began in 2013 and it is offered in the spring semester. One outcome of the program is that Peace Fellow students have established a PeaceMatters@Hofstra group to continue their conversation and to explore ways to promote peace issues on campus and involve more students in the work of the LI Alliance.

The LI Alliance has decided to forgo this year’s Kairos Dinner and will mark our 30th anniversary next year. Instead, we are asking for your financial support for the Peace Fellows Program and the Alliance’s efforts to educate and train the next generations of peace makers and social justice advocates. Please give as much as you can and know that your contribution will be used to engage students in the work to change the world and our country’s policies.

This fall, LI Alliance speakers presented programs on Alternatives to Bombing Iraq and Syria at Nassau Community College and a deliberative discussion on the U.S. role in the world at Adelphi University. Peace Fellows Program Coordinator and Hofstra student, Denisse Giron spoke as part of a panel at Hofstra’s Day of Dialogue. Denisse also helped to organize the LI Alliance and Hofstra Center for Civic Engagement’s annual commemoration of Gandhi and his legacy of nonviolence. The program featured The PeacePoets and Professor Michael D’Innocenzo on nonviolence and resistance.

Thank you so much for your commitment and your activism for a peaceful and just community at home and abroad. TOGETHER LET’S SHAKE THE WORLD!

Thank you for your support.

Peace,

Margaret Melkonian                       Andrea Libresco

Executive Director                           President, LI Alliance Board

P.0. Box 301, Garden City NY 11530

516-741-4360 – Email: longislandpeace@gmail.com   

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LET’S SHAKE THE WORLD!

Here’s my contribution! 

Make checks payable to LI Alliance and mail to: LI Alliance, PO Box 301, Garden City NY 11530

$100     $200        $500      $50        $25        $75        $1,000                  $ _____Other

Thank you!

 

Name

Address

Email:                                                 Phone:

 

PEACE FELLOWS PROGRAM 2015

 

 

 

Back to Iraq Is a Deadly Mistake, Déjà Vu

Blog Posts, News
Re: 1500 more troops to Iraq
 
November 8, 2014
 
Letters Editor (submitted to Newsday)
Newsday
 
Dear Editor:
 
Last time, when the Bush administration sent U.S troops to Iraq, we now know it was based on a lie and had deadly consequences.
 
This time, the public is being told we must stop ISIS  because it is an imminent threat. 
 
Back in June,  the President sent 275 troops and more in August with another 1100 in September. Now he is doubling down sending another 1500 to Iraq as advisers and trainers. Remembering Vietnam, we know all too well about mission creep. We also know that these advisers, trainers and pilots flying airstrikes are already boots on the ground. The generals are telling us that we will need boots on the ground to win.
 
Back in August, the President said there was no military solution to the conflict in Iraq. There are alternatives. What is needed is a political solution among all the factions and negotiations that address their grievances. What is needed is an arms embargo.
 
Instead of airstrikes, the United States should be providing humanitarian assistance with food, shelter and healthcare. Bombing will result in more civilian casualties and will be a recruitment tool for ISIS. 
 
The U.S. is once again embarking on a disastrous path that claimed over 4,000 American and over 100,000 Iraqi lives. Why do we think military force is the solution this time?
 
The American people need to weigh in on this decision and make their voices heard. We cannot afford another decade of war.
 
Sincerely,
Margaret Melkonian
Executive Director 
Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives