July 8, 2010
Next Action Page to be published: July 20, 2010
Dear Sisters, Associates, and Friends of the Adrian Dominican Sisters,
We invite you take action with the following organizations working for justice in our world.
In Peace,
The ADS Justice and Peace Team
justiceandpeace@adriandominicans.org
Victories! (from Code Pink)
It's easy to get discouraged by the news. A seemingly endless oil spill. Seemingly endless wars. But there is reason to hope--even reason to celebrate--the power of grassroots organizing. This month has been chock full of victories for those who hunger for (and work for) peace. Read about the successes and then move that energy into taking action, telling Sen. Reid and Speaker Pelosi to step up and lift the liability cap for BP and other oil companies, put an end to offshore drilling and pass a clean energy bill!
On the domestic front, we have also seen the power of grassroots activism. After an 18-month protest by CODEPINK and other peace activists, the
U.S. military decided to shut down its Army Experience Center at the Franklin Mills Mall in Northern PA! This glorification of violence was a prototype designed to be rolled out to malls across the country. Great work, CODEPINK PA, Coalition for Peace Action, and allies, for shielding our children from one more shameful attempt to lure them into war.
We also want to applaud the parents, students and peace activists in Maryland who pushed for--and won--a statewide law that stops the information about high school students from being automatically sent to military recruiters.
Maryland is the first state to pass such a law, and their victory is inspiring activists around the country.
In the midst of the Gulf oil disaster, we can celebrate one victory for the environment. Thanks to the thousands of you who called and emailed, the U.S. Senate voted down a measure from Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to gut the Clean Air Act by weakening regulations that keep harmful pollution out of the air we all breathe.
A Thing of Beauty is a Joy for Life
Environment/ Energy/ Climate/ Water
Live Video streaming by Ustream
If you would like to get a sense of proportion of the size of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, there is a website that can help bring it home. If It Was My Home offers an interactive map where you can center the spill on your home city, and see the geography that it encompasses. To try it out: Click Here
Human Trafficking
Read the latest issue of stop trafficking: Click Here
Death Penalty
Please Pray For, Victims, Families, Communities and Those Sentenced to Die in July
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1
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Michael Perry
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TX
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13
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William Garner
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OH
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20
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Derrick Jackson
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TX
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20
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Jeffrey Matthews
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OK
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Human Rights
On May 14, 2009, Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, and two of her assistants were taken from her home to Insein Prison following an incident in which an American man allegedly swam across a lake to her house and stayed there for two days. Suu Kyi was subsequently put on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest, and was sentenced to an additional 18 months under house arrest on August 11, 2009. These charges and punishment are politically motivated and fail to meet international and national legal standards. The only issue here is her immediate and unconditional release. Call on Than Shwe, the head of the military junta, to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Myanmar.
To take action: Click Here
War: Afghanistan
Afghanistan – Did You Know…?
Effects of occupation (general):
Decades of war – going back to the United States’ Cold War-era covert involvement in Afghans’ war against the Soviets - have contributed to the fragmentation of Afghanistan and its unimaginable poverty as the world’s fourth poorest country on the UN Human Development Index.
The failure to build the country back up after driving the Taliban out has created a ‘stateless’ situation, a governmental vacuum that resurgent Taliban are now filling all over the country.
In fact, the Taliban has not been weakened but is stronger than ever and more sophisticated, largely thanks to widespread anger against U.S. presence helping to boost recruitment and increase financial support.
Troops cannot defeat an ideology: a RAND Corporation study last year found that only seven percent of terrorist organizations gave up their violent activities as a result of military defeat.
The mentality of “occupation” justifies the current US. military take-over of most development and ‘state-building’ as well as humanitarian aid, endangering neutral aid organizations and botching the job. Military occupation cannot build a state. Development must come from the bottom up. Desperately-needed aid should not be bartered with villagers for “intelligence” and “cooperation.”
The war will lead to more civilian deaths - a United Nations report released earlier this year found the Afghan civilian death toll nearly doubled in 2008 under U.S. and NATO presence, with the U.S. responsible for almost half the deaths.
All points are from Code Pink: http://www.womensaynotowar.org/article.php?id=4721
Hunger
To those concerned about world hunger,
We are coming to the end of a long process in Congress to develop needed financial reforms. A committee of 12 Senators and 31 Representatives has been formed to iron out the differences between the House and Senate reform bills.
Wall Street lobbyists are working hard to weaken the language in the derivatives reform section of the bill. It is essential that this section be strong if we are to avoid future food and energy bubbles like happened in 2008.
Wall Street has unleashed an army of over 1400 former federal employees to lobby for weaker financial reform. That is why it is so important that you write to Congress today. They need to hear from more than just Wall Street lobbyists.
Click Here
Hunger
Over the weekend, President Obama joined the world leaders at the annual G-20 summit. But leaders didn't do enough to help the 1 billion who are going hungry in our world.
They must do more. When President Obama steps onto the dais at the UN, he needs to call on the world community to end the hunger scandal and to take specific action to cut hunger in half by the 2015 deadline.
Fill out the form and sign our petition today to President Obama, asking him to be a true hunger hero!
Click Here