Occupy Wall Street in NYC is celebrating its one year anniversary.
Tonight, occupiers have gathered in Liberty Plaza for a huge, General Assembly.
Mic Check:
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
Live, streaming, video:
www.ustream.tv/occupyeye
Tag Archives: ows
Remembering Ward Morehouse 1929-2012
I have written on this site a great deal about pacifist heroes of the past. Ward Morehouse is a pacifist her owhom I was lucky enough to have worked with.
Even in our corporatized culture, there are still many people to act as guideposts for how to live a life, they are just not publicized. Ward Morehouse is definitely one of those Great people. And I just found out recently that we lost him.
I met Ward in the late 1990’s through The Other Economic Summit North America (TOES). He was the Chair of TOES NA. Before there was Occupy, or even the Battle of Seattle, there was TOES. They would shadow the G8 summit, and put on a conference highlighting a humane vision of the planet’s economy. Ward was so much more than an academic, he was a visionary, leader, teacher, publisher, and activist. The obituary below describes him better than I could.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iWdyH4vWVM] Continue reading Remembering Ward Morehouse 1929-2012
For peace and more democracy: An alternative to the royal, Diamond Jubilee
Our humble thoughts as Americans who are peace and justice activists is below.
For those readers who are subjects of the Queen, and/or understand the monarchy better than we do, you may want to attend the Occupy London event on June 3rd, and/or read these articles from the English press:
from The Newser
Anti-Monarchists Gear Up to Derail Queen’s Jubilee
from The Independent UK
The case for a republic is as strong now as it has always been
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On this Diamond Jubilee weekend, the (whimsical) Duke and Duchess of Peace call for an alternative to monarchy
Peace Couple was born partly out of this idea: In our current culture of war and militarism, institutions such as the monarchy are used to gloss over war, and to co-opt the powerful energy of community story-telling towards a constant background banter for accumulated wealth and constant war.
So, while we wish Queen Elizabeth well as a person, we are not excited to see the English Monarchy — an institution of royalty, power, and privilege descending from the happenstance of birth — still existing in our world. Continue reading For peace and more democracy: An alternative to the royal, Diamond Jubilee
Yeah, I’m the taxman: Peace Song of the Day for Tax Day USA 4/17
A song to meet your worries: Taxman, by The Beatles, is the Peace Song of the Day for 4/17/2012.
More about this song choice: Continue reading Yeah, I’m the taxman: Peace Song of the Day for Tax Day USA 4/17
Did you hear about a Gas Boycott Day for April 15th?
Well, some folks are saying Don’t Buy Gas on April 15th, so we can send the oil companies a message, and lower the price of gas.
And, some of us believe it can work. (See a fun video from April 2012 below).
Some folks are having doubts. Though, I say whenever you can use your own spending power to send a message — however personal or small — you should try. Put your money where your mouth is!
Continue reading Did you hear about a Gas Boycott Day for April 15th?
Camus’ Neither Victims nor Executioners: International Democracy and Dictatorship
The eleventh chapter of The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace contains Albert Camus‘ 1946 essay Neither Victims nor Executioners. This week we discuss the fifth part of the essay, International Democracy and Dictatorship. Camus wrote this 16-page essay as World War II had just ended, and it seemed as if the Soviet Union and the United States were dragging the planet into the horrors of a third world war. Eleven years later, he would win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Camus returns to the theme that the world is interconnected and the national and the personal level:
There is no suffering, no torture anywhere in the world which does not affect our everyday lives.
Continue reading Camus’ Neither Victims nor Executioners: International Democracy and Dictatorship
It was sad when that great ship went down: Peace Song for 1/5/2012
“Ship Titanic”, sometimes know as “The Titanic”, “It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down”, or “Husbands and Wive”, is the Peace Song of the Day for January 5th. (We are doing catch-up!) It is a traditional song, tracing back to around 1915 or 1916. You can find the lyrics and chords to this song in the Rise Up Singing songbook on page 206.
This song is related to peace and justice, because it resonates with the stories of how the rich people died on the Titanic, while black people were not allowed on, and poor people were trapped down below.
I also can’t help but relate the story of how the great ship went down with the story of how the big banks in America failed us. How about new lyrics of, “It was sad when those big banks went down…”? This song is ripe for an occupy version.
Some Lyrics:
Continue reading It was sad when that great ship went down: Peace Song for 1/5/2012