DEMOCRATIC WORLD FEDERALISTS
PEACEFUL | JUST | SUSTAINABLE | WORLD
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Articles for this Issue:
Vision of the Future
Hank Stone
Litany for Peace in Ukraine
Prof. W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz
Are the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia gangster nations?
War with Iran
Chris Hedges
Is NATO/AFRICOM used by US to control African nations?
NATO and Africa
Djibo Sobukw
The Arming Teachers Op-Ed
Ralph Knudson, M.D.
Einstein on Peace: "...I have become a kind of enfant terrible in my new homeland, due to my inability to keep silent and to swallow everything that happens there." "Unfortunately, the most farsighted among the people in this country have been so intimidated by the pseudo-patriotic pressures to which they have been exposed that their scope for effective action has been greatly reduced."
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Editor's note: In a few brief words, "Visions of the Future" manages to capture strong subconscious ideas and assumptions which hold us back from seeing a far better future world. We are challenged to create a new, better vision of the future. I immediately thought of the EARTH CONSTITUTION movement for a "new UN" with inspiring goals (such as world peace) while also providing a concrete blueprint as to how to get there. ~ Roger Kotila, PhD
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Vision of the Future
Hank Stone
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A successful future for humanity
Must be built
But building requires a blueprint
And a blueprint requires a VISION.
And what is our vision of the future?
What is our vision when we build nuclear bombs?
What is our vision when we pollute the water, land and sky?
What is our vision when we desecrate Creation
Overpopulating, overconsuming, spoiling?
This positive vision, this precious vision—
How shall we create it?
How shall we grow it, shape it, protect it?
Where can we keep it safe?
The government says
What use is a vision to me?
I must stand for reelection, so I need money.
Corporations pay me to share their vision;
Cheap labor, low inflation, low-interest rates.
The corporations say
We have a vision of business growth.
Free from governmental interference, markets open,
Profits maximized; labor costs minimized.
The media say
We like excitement!
A war, a shooting, a scandal, an earthquake
Punctuate the dull lives of our customers.
The military says
We don’t need a vision but weapons.
If we are fearsome, no aggressor will attack us.
We will win the future with futuristic weapons.
The rich countries say
Our vision is prosperity.
Our standard of living is the envy of the world.
There may not be enough for everyone
But we can always buy what we want.
The Church says
We have a vision for the spirit, not for this world.
If the soul is healthy, should we mourn lost wilderness, lost species, lost beauty?
Our vision is for eternity, not the future.
Trust in the Lord.
The people say
We have no time for a vision
We work hard just to get by, and our problems of the moment are enough.
We hope for a better future, but must accept what
The government
The corporations
The media
The military
The rich countries
The Church
Give us.
A successful future for humanity
Must be built
But building requires a blueprint
And a blueprint requires a VISION.
This positive vision, this precious vision—
How shall we create it?
How shall we grow it, protect it, shape it?
Where can we keep it safe?
We shall think new thoughts, and dream new dreams
We shall share our thoughts and choose the best dreams
This positive vision will not come from the government
Or corporations or militaries
But from us.
We must tell the people what we want
We must tell our children what we see
We must share our best VISION.
Let the institutions reflect it, and build the future we want.
But the VISION is in us.
A successful future for humanity
Is in our VISION
In us.
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Litany for Peace in Ukraine
Prof. W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz
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We, who are gathered here want peace for Ukraine, Russia, Poland and the whole world!
We want to stop the war that is destroying Ukraine, Europe and our European civilization.
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President Vladimir Putin,
war is a huge tragedy. Every day, people on both sides die:
they take their dreams and the personal potential they represent with them irretrievably.
War evokes the worst instincts, releases layers of hostility and hatred.
Remember that God teaches us to replace hatred with love!
Stop the river of tears and blood!
Stop the war!
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President Volodymyr Zelensky,
You promised in the Ukrainian parliament, after winning your elections, that you
would give people a smile and that there would be no more tears in Ukraine.
Keep your promise!
Stop the river of tears and blood!
Stop the war!
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President Joe Biden,
In God we trust. As long as you trust in God, let your private interests
and the interests of the corporations that sell arms to Ukraine stand
- along with the whole of America - in humility before God's omnipotence.
God says to us: do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Listen to God's voice!
Stop the river of tears and blood!
Stop the war!
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NATO leaders,
you deliver weapons to Ukraine, including offensive weapons,
but this war cannot be won this way. The more weapons, the more destruction.
Give up unnecessary combat!
Stop the river of tears and blood!
Stop the war!
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You, who govern Poland,
you are masters in Russophobia. You are being hostile to Russia.
But foreign policy is not built on hostile relations with any nation,
and the Christian's path is the path of love.
Russia and Ukraine, like Poland, are Christian and Slavic nations,
and only our enemies can quarrel and divide us.
Stop the fratricidal fight!
Stop the river of tears and blood!
Stop the war!
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And now all of us who are gathered here listening to us.
Keep repeating:
Let the spark of peace and justice come out from Poland to the whole world!
Stop the river of tears and blood!
We will stop this war!
May there be peace!
So help us God.
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O great and all-powerful God, help us, Son, Redeemer of the world,
God, hear us, Holy Spirit, God, feed us and enlighten us,
crush hardened minds, enlighten our minds and fill our hearts with love!
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Let us stop this and all other and future wars!
Save us from disease, hunger and wars!
Stop the river of tears and blood!
May there be peace!
Kyrie eleison, Chryste eleison, Kyrie eleison.
Peace be with You.
July 11, 2022 - I wrote a Litany for Peace in Ukraine in Polish, English, and Russian. Let us pray to God and send this Litany to everyone in the world!
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Are the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia
really gangster nations?
"War with Iran"
Chris Hedges
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The United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, responsible for military fiascos, hundreds of thousands of deaths, and innumerable war crimes in the Middle East are now plotting to attack Iran.
EXCERPTS:
Why shouldn’t Joe Biden be feted by the murderous regime of Saudi Arabia and the apartheid state of Israel? He and the U.S. have as much blood on their hands as they do. Yes, in 2018 the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the assassination
and dismemberment of my friend and colleague Jamal Khashoggi. Yes, Israel assassinated Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. But Washington has more than matched the crimes carried out by Israel and the Saudis, including against journalists.
In 1991, a U.S.-led coalition destroyed much of Iraq’s civilian infrastructure, including water treatment facilities resulting in sewage contaminating the country’s drinking water. Then followed years of U.S., the U.K., and French airstrikes enforcing a “No Fly Zone” along with crushing sanctions they imposed via the U.N. From 1991 to 1998, these sanctions alone were estimated to have killed 100,000 to 227,000 Iraqi children under the age of five, although the exact figures have been the subject of much dispute. The U.S. “Shock and Awe” bombing campaign of Iraqi urban centers during its subsequent invasion of Iraq in 2003 dropped
By one estimate, the U.S. has been responsible for directly or indirectly killing nearly 20 million people since the end of the Second World War.
Israel and Saudi Arabia are gangster states. But so is the United States.
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Is NATO/AFRICOM used by the US to control African nations?
NATO and Africa
Djibo Sobukw
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(Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images) |
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Djibo Sobukwe participated in a Canadian Foreign Policy Institute panel, "NATO and Global Empire " on June 30, 2022. These are his remarks on NATO and Africa.
Greetings everyone,
I want to thank the organizers for this timely webinar, and for inviting me to make a contribution.
It is timely not only because NATO is concluding its meeting in Madrid as we speak, but also AFRICOM as one of the many arms of NATO is conducting its yearly military exercises called “African Lion” on the African continent at this time.
Many people on this webinar probably know the background of NATO so I won’t repeat the history.
Today, NATO has become a huge global axle in the wheel of the military-industrial complex which includes more than 800 US military bases around the world and bases or relationships with almost all African countries, all controlled by the US empire for the purpose of full spectrum dominance, driven by the ferocious appetites of corporate capital.
Full spectrum dominance means US military control over land, sea, air, and space which is the so-called fourth dimension of warfare “to protect US interests and investment.” READ MORE...
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Editor Note: "If Your Only Tool Is a Hammer Then Every Problem Looks Like a Nail"
Writing in the 15th century about the empire of Mali in West Africa, Leo Africans gives some measure of the empire's intellectual life: "In Timbuktu," he says, "there are numerous judges, doctors, and clerics, all receiving good salaries from the king.
He pays great respect to men of learning. There is a big demand for books in manuscripts, imported from Barbary. More profit is made from the book trade than from any other line of business" (The Lost Cities of Africa, Basil Davidson, 93).
Conversely, we know that, in the United States, more money is made from the arms trade than from any other line of business - $531 billion in 2020. And, many think that this is civilized behavior in the 21st century. Now some Americans want to arm teachers in America, in the same way, they want to arm teachers and whomever else in Ukraine. Sure, let's add some gas to that fire.
The local reflects the global. The microcosm reflects the macrocosm. The gun industry wants to make money, not protect teachers or students. An American capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with. It's the money stupid! Whether it's weapons for teachers in the United States or in Ukraine. Dr. Knudson's article gets at this in very fundamental and common sense ways.
~ Fritz Pointer, DWF NEWS
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The Arming Teachers Op-Ed
Ralph Knudson, M.D.
The answer to school mass shootings is NOT more guns in schools.
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Apparently, Republican leadership has decided that it’s OK to move beyond prayers after the last school massacre. Robin Vos, Republican House speaker and our area’s Coulee Conservative group have said that the solution for mass shootings in schools should be to “arm teachers”; and not to limit access to assault weapons in any way.
There's actually nothing new about these statements. Republican leaders depend on corporate gun manufacturers’ lobby money and talking points, and simply repeat them without question. So let’s just explore this proposal a bit further, and put some thought into it:
We now know that trained police in Uvalde, Texas were reluctant to actually go into the school classroom to confront the gunman who was armed with an AR-15. Instead, they waited in the hallway for border patrol agents to arrive an hour later, while the gunman continued to murder children in the classroom, even as still alive children called 911 for police help. Why? Did police feel outgunned? Were they aware of the miserable odds of facing an AR-15 with their service revolvers?
So what weapons would “experts” like Mr. Vos and the Coulee Conservatives recommend that teachers arm themselves with to confront the next shooter armed with an assault weapon? A handgun? What caliber? How many rounds? Where should it be kept? On her/his hip? In a desk? Or should each school be required to have its own assault weapons on hand? Where? How about also arming custodians and administrators? Just wondering….can’t be too careful. Writing meaningful laws requires such details…
The assault weapons are out there: 20 million in the US since the assault weapons sale ban was struck down in 2004 during the Bush administration. Before, we “only” had 400,000 assault weapons in civilian hands when the ban was in place. With 120 weapons per 100 people in the USA compared to 20-30 per 100 in other developed countries, we now have 8 times the number of homicides per capita compared to those same developed countries.
Children now die by gun death more than any other cause in our country; mass homicides have tripled since 2004…and the rate is accelerating. But the gun corporations want us to pretend that those numbers don’t mean anything. They simply want to sell more guns.
If teachers would be required by law in Wisconsin to be armed, what type of weapons training would also be required to get and maintain a teaching certificate in Wisconsin? Close combat, moving target training? How would this impact teacher recruitment and retention and teaching quality? Imagine a young college graduate hoping to be a kindergarten teacher under such circumstances. He or she would be expected as part of teaching duties to rapidly and effectively pull out a weapon, without warning, in a classroom of children and bring down an intruder using an AR-15. Such a shoot-out fantasy succeeds only in bad movies…with lots of choreography.
Republicans also tout mental health support but have not supported substantial ongoing state funding for mental health services in our schools for years, cutting funding for school counselors and socio-emotional support staff in past budget proposals. (What little research we have finds that bullying and alienation was often experienced by mass shooters…often in schools) So much for words and prayers without substance by Republican leaders.
Mass shootings have tripled since 2004… and are accelerating. Why is our country the only one plagued by repeated mass killings in schools and public places? Will we become the only state or nation which “protects” our children and schools by suggesting that the only answer is to require more guns and prayers in schools while we make it easier for almost anyone to get assault weapons?
If you give these NRA Republicans your vote, we will soon learn how effective their fear-stoked more-guns fantasies actually play out. All they need is your vote ..or just your decision to stay quiet and to NOT vote. Same difference.
Thoughtful information and discussion to develop multiple interventions against this complex public health crisis are needed; not pray and “return fire” fantasies promoted by gun dealers.
Op-Ed submitted to DWF NEWS by Ralph Knudson, M.D.
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