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While the ‘fog of war' swirls around this earth, this truth remains
on a candlestick giving light to all, ‘For God so loved the world'.
No exceptions. ~LHN [top] MCC U.S. immigration training set for May– MCC U.S. is offering a 40-Hour Immigration Training from May 20 to May 24, 2003, at the MCC Welcoming Place in Akron, Pa. This intensive five-day training is designed to provide immigration case workers employed at not-for-profit agencies the foundation to gain accreditation from the Board of Immigration Appeals. Based on materials from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the course will cover basic topics including family visa eligibility, asylum law and immigrants' rights. Cost is $400 U.S. for registration and materials, due April 28. Register online at http://www.mcc.org/us/immigration, or contact Tina Hartman, (717) 859-1152 ext. 370, tkh@mccus.org. When the Saints Go Marchin'; Peace Gathering, July 1-3, 2003 in
Taccoa Falls, GA. A peace gathering for everyone interested in peace and
justice! Held in conjunction with Atlanta 2003 at the Georgia Baptist
Conference Center. Mennonite Conciliation Services, Mennonite Central Committee Office on Crime and Justice and Eastern University are sponsoring a Summer Mediation and Restorative Justice Training Institute, July 13-18, 2003 at the National Christian Conference Center in Valley Forge, PA. The cost is $450 ($500 for registrations received after June 13); some scholarship assistance is available. For more information, contact Tina Hartman. [top] Worship Resource for these times: Please follow the link below to find
the MCC's worship resources for March 30. The Web pages contain images
for use with worship, suggested readings as well as a prayer. Issues
for Action: Pipeline Protection in Arauca: One of the controversial aspects of the policy is being implemented in the northeastern department (state) of Araucasite of the Cano Limon Pipeline. Congress approved USD $88 million to guard the pipeline, owned in part by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum, and train the Colombian military. Congress jump-started the pipeline protection project with $6 million in early 2002. The official reports claim that 150 U.S. military advisors have arrived in Arauca and are training the Colombian army. Approximately half of them are located in the Saravena, the battered town where 17 politically motivated deaths occurred during the last week of February alone. But these soldiers are just a portion of the growing U.S. military presence in Colombia. Alarming Increase of U.S. Military Presence: On February 13, 2003, a military plane reportedly crashed in southern Colombia. The Revolutionary Armed Group of Colombia, the guerrilla group better known as the FARC, killed one and captured three U.S. Americans contracted by the Pentagon. By law, a maximum of 400 U.S. military personnel and 400 private contractors can be present in Colombia at a given time, except in cases of special rescue missions, such as this one. Official news reports put the number of U.S. military personnel currently in Colombia at 411, supposedly the highest number ever stationed here. Colombian editorials, however, speculate the number of combined military and private contractors could be up to 3,000. The reality is likely somewhere in between, representing an unprecedented and alarming increase in U.S. military related presence, U.S. Americans who could become directly engaged in Colombia`s war. The well-used slippery slope metaphor, first employed to articulate concern over increasing U.S. involvement in Vietnam, looks increasingly appropriate in Colombia. Last year the United States government expanded its mission beyond counter narcotics to include the war on terrorwhich by and large translates into counter-insurgency. We continue to support a negotiated solution to the armed conflict. For U.S. citizens, we implore our own government to stop militarizing the Andean Region under the false pretense of fighting drugs and terror and, instead, channel our tax dollars toward the creation of life-giving,-- rather than death-dealing --relationships with Colombia. Presidential Request for 2004 Budget: President Bush released his budget request for FY 2004 in February. The 2004 request continues the disturbing trend articulated by the U.S. embassy official more fuel for the fire. The request includes about the same amount of military aid as requested in 2003 and less money for social and humanitarian assistance. About 80 percent of the total money proposed for the Andean region in '04 would go to the military and police. The majority of the aid would be used for counter-drug activities, but there is also additional funding to protect the oil pipeline in Arauca and for general military activities. What You Can Do: Congress will begin to take action on
the President's budget request in May or June of this year, and it is
critical that they hear from you, their constituents, who are opposed
to sending more military aid to the Andean region. Initiating a correspondence with a person under sentence of death requires a special calling and a serious commitment. Some individuals have been on death row for over twenty years. Many have been abandoned by family and friends, and are reluctant to trust a new friend. A person must be willing and able to write letters regularly for the foreseeable future. To participate in and learn more about this project, go to: http://www.brethren.org/genbd/witness/drsp.htm,
or contact Rachel Gross, PO Box 600, Liberty Mills IN 46946, 260-982-7480.
Those who decide they want to write to someone will receive a letter that
has been written by someone on death row, along with general suggestions
for correspondence. If you are in Indiana please consider connecting with the Indiana Citizens to Abolish Capital Punishment. They want to improve on their statewide participation. You can learn about their work at http://www.icacp.org. The effort concerned with the death penalty and gun violence continues to need people who can commit time to educating themselves and others. Who do you know that may be interested? Pass this opportunity along to others. Iraq- Thirty-two academicians from twenty-eight US universities traveled to Iraq January 11-17, 2003 to meet their Iraqi academic colleagues in various disciplines and to attend a conference at Baghdad University. The report emanating from this conference demonstrates how much many of us have yet to learn about Iraq's history, culture, communications, and various aspects of the current situation in Iraq. The report entitled "Iraq on Death Row can be found at: A Status Report" (58 pages long) at: http://www.conscienceinternational.org/Iraq on Death Row.pdf It is filled with carefully researched and well-written material about both the historical and current situation in Iraq. One section from above--the one on "Double Standards-The Paradox of American Policy" includes several paradoxes that puzzled the delegation's Iraqi hosts the most about American policy since the Gulf War, and apparently created a lot of discussion. Here are a few- * The US alleges that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons but overlooks the depleted uranium of American weapons and the water-borne diseases carried by the allied destruction of sanitation facilities and clean water supplies and US opposition to equipment for their repair. * Iraqi engineers, while PhD students in the United States, studied the problem of disposal of spent fuel stored at Rocky Flats, Colorado and now deal with 270 tons of depleted uranium left over from US weapons in Southern Iraq. Those studying the problem feel certain that the US will never admit a link between exposure to depleted uranium and cancers and birth defects even though the research in Iraq could shed light on the Gulf War Syndrome of American service personal. * While the US prepares to attack Iraq for nuclear weapons that UN inspectors have not found, it employs diplomatic measures to resolve the certain nuclear capability of North Korea. * While the US prepares to attack Iraq for nuclear weapons that UN inspectors have not found, it has offered no plans for regional disarmament including the 100 to 400 nuclear weapons that Iraqis estimate that Israel possesses. * While the US demands that the UN enforce its resolutions against Iraq, it blocks resolutions against Israel and offers no similar demands that the resolutions that have been passed be enforced. * The US seeks a democratic Iraq, allegedly, but its sanctions have decimated
the education and socio-economic position of a middle class that is the
surest means to democracy. It is important for us to know about the double standards evident in the U.S. foreign policy. Many time the media sources are dishonest not by telling untruths but rather by not providing all the information that we need. Middle East- Prayer Request, March 18, 2003,
Pray again for the work of the Israeli Committee Against House HONOR RACHEL, END HOUSE DEMOLITIONS, By Jeff Halper Rachel was not the first person killed as a result of Israel's cruel policy of house demolitions. Less than two weeks ago Nuha Makadma Sweidan and her unborn child were also killed in Gaza when Israeli army sappers "accidentally" demolished their home when they blew up another home nearby. A few weeks before that an elderly woman and a disabled man died under the rubble of their Gazan homes when the soldiers "failed to notice" them. These were no mere accidents. Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian houses on top of all the families' possessions, and in their haste do not bother to follow prosaic rules of "safety." The vast majority of demolitions, it must be understood, have nothing
to do with terrorism. According to UN figures, less than 600 of the 10,000
houses demolished since the Occupation began in 1967 involved security So why does Israel pursue such a heartless policy that seems tailor-made
to generating hatred against it? First, the policy of home demolition
confines Palestinians to tiny overcrowded and non-viable islands of land,
allowing Beyond the politics of the Occupation, it is this last reason that motivates us, members of the Israeli peace camp, to resist demolition as Rachel did, to block the bulldozers with our bodies, and to rebuild Palestinian homes when they are demolished. For by doing so we, as Israeli Jews, are saying to the Palestinians: We acknowledge your existence as a people and your right to be in this country. We want to share this country with you, based on the rights of both our peoples. We seek a common future based on a just peace. We refuse to be enemies. Rachel was not an Israeli. She was, as a member of the International
Solidarity Movement, a member of the international civil society, as we
all are. In her actions she affirmed her responsibility for upholding
the The threshold of what is outrageous has reached unimaginable heights
in the Occupied Territories. Little moves us anymore. The demolition of
60 Palestinian homes in the Rafah section of Gaza where Rachel worked
made MCC plans aid for Palestinians- MCC has approved $146,500 Cdn./$100,000
U.S. for food and shelter in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where living
conditions are deteriorating dramatically. Cut off from jobs within Israel
and faced with damages to their homes and businesses from military strikes,
some 75 percent of the population in the occupied territories now lives
below the poverty line (defined as $2 per person per day). Thirty percent
of children under age 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition. More details
on how the funds will be used will be provided as they are available.
An additional $7,350 Cdn./$5,017.50 U.S. MCC grant will purchase emergency
food packages for 225 families in Mawasi, an area in the Gaza Strip surrounded
by 10 Israeli settlements and several Israeli military bases. The 5,000
families in Mawasi are rarely allowed to leave their homes. MCC's contribution
is part of a $44,000 Cdn./$30,000 U.S. food package from the Joint Emergency
Humanitarian Response of the Christian Organizations. Support Gasless Tuesday- While this is not original with me I pass it on with my affirmation that it is a good idea. Whether or not they support the war on Iraq everyone agrees that we need to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. We need to send the message that alternative energy research should be a top priority, along with providing Americans oil efficient alternatives today. To this end we ask that you support GASLESS TUESDAYS. Just as many people in the past had meatless Fridays we feel Americans could easily support a boycott of oil companies on just one day - Tuesdays. The idea is very easy. Simply don't fill your tank on Tuesdays. Many people will ask "How can this help? I will use the same amount of gas, but just put it in my tank on Monday or Wednesday." Please don't underestimate the power of this one simple act! By supporting a growing boycott of oil use one-day a week two things will happen. A strong message will be sent to government and oil company executives that we are not willing to be held hostage to oil. People will also become more aware of what they do to consume excess oil and start to make small changes that will make big differences. One other important effect. Supporting Gasless Tuesday helps show our
children that we are not powerless to do something about conditions in
the world we live in. It also allows them to have some measure of power
and control, as they can help think of ways to conserve energy on Tuesdays.
[top] What
You are Doing: Check out www.mcc.org/servicetree for the latest updates. God's peace to you,
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