Tools For Building
Local Peace
Talk by Richard Ford, March 22, 2009
Review by
Phoebe Hoss
On
Sunday, March 22, a member of our congregation, Richard Ford, gave a
truly inspiring talk on his many years of work helping the impoverished
villages of developing countries resolve conflict and become
productive. Professor Ford, now a research professor at Clark
University, has worked in about twenty-five African countries and eight
nations in Asia and Eastern Europe. His talk was sponsored by the Peace
and Justice Task Force, the UU-United Nations Office Group, and Green
Souls.
To read the article, click here.
Change The
World Before The Other Guys Do
Talk by Bruce Knotts, March 8, 2009
Review by
Phoebe Hoss
Peggy
Montgomery opened by reminding us that this was International Women’s
Day, which was established in 1909 in the United States and is now an
official holiday in fifteen countries. She noted that the Charter of
the United Nations in 1945 constituted the first international
recognition of the equality of women and men. Now in 2009, the
Secretary General of the U.N. is determined to raise public awareness
of violence against women and girls–the least punished crime in the
world. Peggy was followed by Marilyn Mehr, current board president of
UU-UNO, who introduced Bruce Knotts. This event was co-sponsored by All
Souls UU-UNO and the Peace and Justice Task Force.
To read the article, click here.
Iran (Is
Not the Problem) - Film
February 8, 2009
Review by
Phoebe Hoss
On Sunday, February 8, at
1:00, the Peace Task Force presented the documentary film entitled Iran
(Is Not the Problem). This film was made by Aaron Newman of the San
Francisco Bay Area and featured local activists from a variety of peace
organizations: Majid Baradar, Sahar Driver (the narrator), Larry
Everest, David Glick, Robert Gould, Jim Haber, Antonia Juhasz, Shahab
Layeghi, Mitchel Plotnick, and Michael Veiluva.
The film’s aim was to
refute the misinformation that our government disseminates, and that is
not carefully examined and criticized by the mainstream media. As
the journalist I. F. Stone said once, “Governments lie”; ours is no
exception. The film focuses on the U.S. government’s lies in connection
with Iran – a nation with whom at the time the film was made the Bush
Administration seemed bent on fomenting war, as it had with Iraq.
To read the article, click here.
THE GAZA
WAR CRIME
A Talk by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti
February 12, 2009
Review by
Phoebe Hoss
It was a privilege, on the
afternoon of February 12, to hear a talk by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti. This
distinguished Palestinian was speaking at Columbia University’s School
of International and Public Affairs under the auspices of the Arab
Student Association. In 2005, Dr. Barghouti was a candidate for
president of the Palestinian National Authority and finished second to
Mahmoud Abbas, the current president. He was elected to the Palestinian
Legislative Council in January 2006 and served as minister of
information in the short-lived Palestinian Unity government of
2007.
Neither a
moderate nor an extremist, Dr. Barghouti is firmly committed to a
nonviolent agenda. In his opening remarks, he recalled the Columbia
professor and literary critic Edward Said, who was an ardent
Palestinian, and wished to speak in his spirit. As head of the
Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, Dr. Barghouti recently visited
Gaza and was deeply shocked, he told us, by the extreme devastation
that Israel’s massive air strikes–between December 27, 2008, and
January 8, 2009–had caused both to the people and to the property of
Gaza.
To read the article, click here.
Therapeutic
Healing Of Vets With PTSD
November 9, 2008
Review by
Phoebe Hoss
On
November 9, 2008, at 1:00 p.m., the Peace and Justice Task Force
presented a moving program on a revolutionary therapeutic approach to
the post-traumatic stress disorder that is afflicting all too many
veterans of the Iraq war. This approach to PTSD, called EMDR – for Eye
Movement, Desensitization, and Reprocessing – was developed in 1989 by
Dr. Francine Shapiro, who is now a senior research fellow at the Mental
Research Institute in Palo Alto, California.
To read the article, click here.
U.S.-Sponsored
Torture, Prisoners’ Rights, And Survivor Care (Panel Discussion)
October 15, 2008
Review by
Phoebe Hoss
On
Wednesday evening, October 15, 2008, the Peace and Justice Task Force
and the Adult Education Committee co-sponsored a panel on the
expansion, since the 2001 World Trade Center attack, of executive power
to exercise torture and deny certain prisoners rights long established
under international law. Two of the panelists were physicians who had
appeared at an earlier event this fall: Dr. Stephen Xenaxis, a
psychiatrist and retired brigadier-general in the U. S. Army; and Dr.
Allen Keller, associate professor of medicine and director of the
Torture Survivors Program at Bellevue/NYU. The other panelists were
lawyers: Jonathan Hayfetz, J.D., of New York University’s Brennan
Center for Social Justice; and Gita Gutierrez, J.D., of the Center for
Constitutional Rights.
To read the article, click here.
Peace and
Justice Task Force Teach-in on Torture
September 14, 2008
Review by Phoebe Hoss
This
teach-in on torture was presented by the Peace Task Force of All Souls
and conducted by Susan Cushman and Linda Rousseau of PTF, Mark
Hallinan, S.J., of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and
Dr. Allen Keller, director of the Bellevue/NYU Torture Survivors
Program. At the start of the program, a packet on torture was given out
to all the audience members, and Susan Cushman opened by explaining it
and noting that All Souls is one of over 200 religious organizations
across the nation involved in the campaign against torture. We are
involved in this effort to restore our country’s moral voice in
accordance with the sixth Unitarian-Universalist principle: the goal of
world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
To read the article, click here.
The Cost Of Counterterrorism
Talk by Laura K. Donohue
Sunday, September 7, at 1:00 p.m.
Review by Phoebe Hoss
We
all know that shortly after the horrendous attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the Bush administration
met the crisis by getting Congress to swiftly pass the Patriot Act. Few
of us, however, have any real idea of the provisions in that act or of
other executive measures taken in the fall of 2001. Nor are most of us
aware of how these measures have not only seriously eroded our civil
liberties but also “radically” increased executive power in
respect to the other two branches of our government.
To read the article, click here.
Weapons Or Windmills?
A Coming Together to Convert the
Permanent War Economy
Tuesday,
August 5th at 6:30 p.m.
All Souls Church – Reidy Friendship Hall
On this 63rd Anniversary of
the United States' bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, our wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan continue to destroy millions of lives with no end in
sight. Our leaders provide limitless funds for the "war on
terror," while budgets for education, health care, housing and social
services are mercilessly slashed. What can we possibly do?
Mary Beth Sullivan, Outreach Coordinator for the Global
Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, speaks about this
critical issue where she proposes that we convert our permanent war
economy into one that promotes peace and sustainability. We invite you to a presentation by this
knowledgeable former social worker who speaks passionately and
practically about the need for anti-war, labor, social justice,
religious, environmental and community groups to come together to
challenge the militarism so ingrained in our society.
Free event – donations appreciated.
Doors open at 6:30 for light refreshments, program begins at 7:00.
Co-sponsors include: Peace Action New York State, CODEPINK Women
for Peace / NYC, Campaign for Peace and Democracy, the Ethical
Humanist Society, the Peace and Justice Task Force of All Souls
Church, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and the Raging Grannies.
Ted Glick: The Clean Energy Revolution
All Souls
Church Reidy Friendship Hall
Tuesday, March 4 7:00 p.m.
Ted
Glick, who has been a progressive social activist since the late 1960s,
became a climate activist in the summer of 2003 after the extreme heat
wave in Western Europe aroused him to the ongoing danger of such
extreme climate events (droughts, monsoons, etc.) to the earth and our way of life. He is a co-founder of the Climate Crisis
Coalition and a
coordinator for the U.S. Climate Emergency Council; his twice-monthly
column, "Future Hope" is available at: http://www.ippn.org. His talk
was sponsored by the All Souls Peace Task Force, and he was introduced
by Lawrene Groobart.
To read the article, click here.
Monthly Film Series Event: "God
Grew Tired of Us" (2007)
Sunday, February 24, 1:00 p.m.
Review by
Phoebe Hoss
The
documentary God Grew Tired of Us was presented by the All Souls Peace
Task Force. This film, made by Christopher Quinn and Tommy Walker and
narrated by Nicole Kidman, won both the Grand Jury Prize and the
Audience Award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. It recounts the
moving story of three of the Lost Boys of Sudan who came to the United
States, and is based on the book of that name written by one of the
Lost Boys, John Bul Dau, with Michael S. Sweeney.
To read
the article, click here.
The Human Face of Iran
January 27, 2008
Review by Phoebe Hoss
At 1:00 p.m., in Reidy Friendship Hall, the Peace Task Force
hosted a slide show in continuation of the effort to enhance our
understanding of Iran and its culture. This event was presented
by Ann and Ahmad Shirazi, who had appeared two weeks before in
connection with the film Children of Heaven, and Ellie Ommani.
Mr. Shirazi is a film editor who grew up in Iran. He came
to the United States in the early 1960s and is the only one of his
family of 150 to 200 members to come here. Ann Shirazi has worked
as a social worker and is now a full-time peace activist. Ms
Ommani and her husband, Ardeshir, who was unable to attend, are both
retired school teachers and founded the American-Iranian Friendship
Committee, whose mission is to promote "trust, mutual understanding,
and peace between Americans, on one hand, and Iranians living in Iran
and abroad, on the other."
To read the article, click
here.
Human Trafficing Talk by Beatrice Fernando
November 11, 2007
Review by Phoebe Hoss
Human trafficking is the crime of coercing
people, via physical force or false promises of jobs or marriage, to
work as slaves – either at labor or for sexual purposes –
within a country or across international borders. Today human
trafficking enslaves some 27 million people around the world; moreover,
by depriving them of their human rights, it may subject them to rape,
injury, even death.
To read the article, click
here.
Ann Wright Talks About Her Forthcoming Book
"Dissent: Voices of Conscience"
October 23, 2007
Review by Phoebe Hoss
"Peace cannot be made through occupation." This
is the forthright statement Ann Wright reported making recently to Ryan
Crocker, our present ambassador to Iraq.
Ms Wright -- a distinguished career diplomat and retired colonel in the
U.S. army -- resigned from the U.S. Foreign Service on March 19,
2003, in protest over the Bush administration's policies at home and
abroad. Her second appearance at All Souls on the evening of October 23
was sponsored by our Peace Task Force, Resistance Cinema, and Action of
Justice of Community Church of New York.
To read the article, click
here.
The Oaxaca Political Crisis And The Roots Of Migration
October 16, 2007
Review by Phoebe Hoss
On Tuesday, October 16, 2007, in All Souls
Reidy Hall, Miguel Ángel Vásquez de la Rosa spoke on how
NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, has further
impoverished the people of Mexico and, thereby, increased migration to
the United States. This program was sponsored by the Peace Task
Force and Witness for Peace. Mr. Vásquez de la Rosa is one
of the founders of EDUCA (from the Spanish initials for Services for an
Alternative Education), a nongovernmental organization that advocates
for indigenous peoples in the state of Oaxaca, helping small farmers
and women to have fair elections and cope with the judicial system.
He was introduced by Ben Beachy, regional organizer for the
mid-Atlantic region of Educa, which was sponsoring Mr. Vásquez
de la Rosa's tour.
To read the article, click
here.
Fair Trade And The Film "Black Gold"
September 30, 2007
Review by Phoebe Hoss
Fair trade is a movement that seeks to diminish
the vast disparity between the huge profits that multinational
corporations make from certain common products, on which we all depend
in our daily lives, and the meager – often not enough to live on
– income the actual producers of those products receive for their
labor. This issue was dramatized in respect to coffee by the film Black
Gold, which was shown at All Souls Church on Sunday, September 30,
2007, at 1:00 p.m. The film was introduced by Scott Codey from the New
York Fair Trade Organization.
To read the article, click
here.
The Threat of Weapons and Nuclear Power in
Space
Bruce Gagnon at All Souls
August 5, 2007
Review by Phoebe Hoss
On August 5, 2007, at 1:00 p.m., Bruce
Gagnon spoke at All Souls about "The Threat of Weapons and Nuclear
Power in Space." Mr. Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network
Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and author of Come Together
Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire. In 2003, he was
appointed by Dr. Helen Caldicott as a senior fellow of the Nuclear
Policy Research Institute, where he also serves on the advisory board.
This event – held in remembrance of the August 6, 1945, bombing
of Hiroshima, the world's first nuclear attack – was sponsored by
All Souls Adult Education, the Peace Task Force, and the Nuclear
Disarmament Task Force.
To read the article, click
here.
