The important grassroots work of the Whatcom
Peace & Justice
Center is changing the social psychology of Whatcom County. Do you value the work we do? Please make a secure on-line
donation at www.WhatcomPJC.org. Click the
Donate Here button beneath the bumper sticker.
It takes less than three minutes—and it makes
a big difference. Thank you.
UPDATES & ACTIONS:
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE!
Bellingham’s
celebration of International Day of Peace
2008 is 52 days away!! The event is 4-6pm
at First Congregational Church, 2401
Cornwall Avenue, on Sunday, September 21st.
It features The Kulshan Chorus, a keynote
speaker, and The Howard Harris Lifetime Peacemaker
Award. The program is followed by a vibrant,
family peace march to Maritime Heritage Park
for more music. This year’s keynote speaker
is Humanitarian and Educator Kathy Kelly.
Kathy has participated in peacemaking missions
to Lebanon,
Palestine, Haiti,
and Iraq.
She is currently working with refugees in
Amman, Jordan.
She is a powerful speaker and a gracious person.
The supervised Children’s Program takes place
simultaneously. It is led by local artists
who will assist children of all ages in making
peace art which the children will then share
with the general audience at the end of the
program while The Kulshan Chorus sings a song
dedicated to them. Donations to support the
work of WPJC will be requested. IDP is being
generously co-sponsored by over twenty local
community organizations, businesses,
and faith communities.
A CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
WPJC invites nominations for The Howard Harris
Lifetime Peacemaker Award to be presented
at IDP 2008. Would you like to recognize
a person in our community who has demonstrated
a life-long commitment to working for peace
and social justice? If so, please send an
email to WhatcomPJC@fidalgo.net with the person’s
name and a description of the reasons you
admire them. Please share how he/she embraces
an inner commitment to living a life of non-violence;
what organizations the person been a part
of; his/her passion and a list of accomplishments.
In what ways have they been courageous in
facing injustice?
Short biographies of the top four nominees
are presented to WPJC’s Board of Directors
that then discusses the nominees and makes
a decision. Past recipients are Howard Harris,
Dotty and Al Dale, and Nick Mele.
NO WAR AGAINST IRAN!
Victory! Thank you to each of you who signed
the petition, wrote a letter, or made a phone
call to support the Bellingham City Council
in passing Washington’s
first Resolution Opposing Military Intervention
in Iran. If you haven’t already, please email the
city council and say “Thank You!”
CityCouncil@cob.org.
A special Thank You goes out to City Councilmember
Terry Bornemann for sponsoring the resolution,
and to Veterans for Peace member Gene Marx
for his leadership in researching additional
language for the resolution and for assisting
with the community outreach effort. Awesome
job, guys!
UPDATE ON MILITARY
ACTION IN IRAN
An article in today’s LA Times states: “Bush
administration officials reassured Israel's defense minister this week that the United States has not abandoned all possibility
of a military attack on Iran,
despite widespread Israeli concern that Washington
has begun softening its position toward Tehran.
In meetings Monday and Tuesday, administration
officials told Defense Minister Ehud Barak
that the option of attacking Iran
over its nuclear program remains on the table,
though U.S. officials are primarily
seeking a diplomatic solution.
As is stated in Bellingham’s
new anti-war resolution, the U.S. Congress
and Senate are considering resolutions that
would encourage the president to put more
aggressive pressure on Iran,
including a blockage, which could be perceived
as an Act of War. Please contact Rep. Rick
Larsen and Senators Patty Murray and Maria
Cantwell and ask them to VOTE NO on H. Con.
Resolution 362 and S.R. 580, respectively.
You can read the full text of the House Resolution
at: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-hc362/text.
SPEAK YOUR MIND
We need to ramp-up the letters in The Bellingham
Herald. Summer can be slow for editorial
pages, thus it is a good time to send in a
LTE to express your viewpoint on progressive
issues that matter to you. Send to letters@bellinghamherald.com.
NPR INTERVIEW WITH LOCAL IRAQ VET
Local Iraq Veteran Ash Woolson was featured
on KUOW, National Public Radio’s Seattle
station on July 29th. In this interview he shares how his protesting radically changed after
a thousand mile Peace Walk through Japan. Listen:
http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=15456
CALENDAR:
Friday August 1: Come to the “DESSERTER”!
The campaign to make Bellingham
a Sanctuary City for War Resisters is hosting
a fundraising dessert party at 6:30pm at the
Old Foundry building, 100
E. Maple Street. There will be live music,
friends, dessert, info and more! The Sanctuary City organizers would like to thank
those of you who came to the July 16th
solidarity vigil to support resister Robin
Long. He is currently being held in the El
Paso County Jail in Colorado
awaiting Court Martial. He would be glad
to receive letters of support from folks.
Send to Robin Long, CJC; 2739 East Las Vegas;
Colorado Springs CO 80906.
Saturday August 2: Open House at Whatcom
Peace & Justice
Center 10-2pm during the Farmer’s Market. Stop by to find out how
you can get involved in working for peace.
Coffee, lemonade, petitions, letter writing.
Wednesday August 6: From Hiroshima to Hope:
Toro Nagashi Lantern floating event commemorating
the 63rd anniversary of the U.S.
bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan,
and all victims of war and violence. Green Lake in North Seattle.
6:30pm crane folding and lantern preparation;
7:30pm music; 8pm family program; 9pm lantern
ceremony.
Wednesday August 13: Palestinian Episcopal
Priest Fr. Diab will speak 6-8pm at St.
Paul's Episcopal Church in Bellingham.
Fr. Diab is from St. Metthew's Episcopal Church
and the Penman Clinic in Zebabdeh, West Bank.
He is one of two Palestinian priests invited
by the Episcopal Bishop's Committee for Israel/Palestine
to visit the Diocese of Olympia. The public
is invited to this gathering to meet Fr. Diab.
Monday August 18: Prayer Vigil for Peace
in the Middle East at 5:30pm at Assumption
Catholic Church, 2116 Cornwall Ave., Bellingham,
360.733.1380.
ONGOING MEETINGS & ACTIVITIES:
Rainbow Coalition meets the first Saturday
of every at 10am at the ReStore. For more
info call Dotty at 733-4146.
Amnesty International meeting
at the Public Market on Cornwall
and York
the last Thursday of every month 6:30 PM.
Peace Vigil gathers every Friday afternoon
in front of the Federal
Building at Cornwall and Magnolia from 4-5pm. Join the Peace Zone afterwards for
announcements and discussion at The Mount
Bakery Restaurant, 308
W. Champion Street.
Veterans for Peace meets
every third Friday at 6:00 PM, 1220
N. Forest Street. Veterans and non-Veterans
invited. Call (360) 961-4999 for details.
FUTURE EVENTS:
Thursday September 4: Sustainable Communities
and Land Use Conference: Making Best Use of
a Limited Resource, hosted by Sustainable
Connections, 8am-5pm at the Bellingham Cruise
Terminal. A packed day from key stakeholders
working with model development of Brownfields,
urban waterfronts, urban villages, urban growth
areas and rural development in balance with
working farms/forest lands. This event will
attract world-class presenters, the most dedicated
and knowledgeable local professionals and
key opinion makers in the community.
Saturday October 4: Rethinking Our Classrooms,
Organizing for Better Schools: 1st Annual
Northwest Conference on Teaching Social Justice.
Meany Middle School in Seattle, 9-4pm. $25 registration,
$5 for HS students. Lunch provided,
clock and credit hours available. Examples
of Workshops: Teaching Math and Science for
Social Justice; Parent-Teacher Alliances for
Better Schools; Rethinking Special Education;
First Year 101; Anti-bias Curriculum for English
Language Learners; Teaching About Japanese-American
Internment. Information, to sign up to lead
a workshop, to table, or to register to attend,
please visit www.nwtsj.org.
Co-Sponsors Puget Sound
Rethinking Schools, Tacoma
Friday Club, Olympia Educators
for Social Justice, Portland
Area Rethinking Schools, Rethinking Schools
Magazine.
