In
this issue:
Responding to Violence: Global,
Domestic, Within
Peace
and Justice Center Mission Statement
The Tragedy of Sept. 11: How Do
We Respond?
Collect Petition Signatures
Some links to information from
alternative sources regarding the attacks of 9/11
Domestic Violence
Militarization of Space
Soul of a Citizen
Tough Guise
In Memoriam: Portrait of a Peacemaker
What you can do -- collect signatures on a printable
petition
"President Bush and Elected Representatives:
In considering responses to the terrorist attacks, we urge you to:
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Responding to Violence: Global, Domestic, Within
By Charlotte Herbold, Editor
We can depend on October to arrive, and with it Maine's lovely harvest season. October also brings Domestic Violence Awareness Month and a bitter harvest of fear, anger, sorrow and loneliness in the aftermath of September's savage attacks on our nation. Some of us have experienced for the first time what battered family members live with always. Alone, we can’t know what to do.
Fortunately, we have friends dedicated to helping us share our sense of outrage and to converting the fires within us to healing energy. As members of the peace and justice community, we can harvest together the work we’ve done, transforming our anger into hope, our fear into courage, and our sorrow into greater effort. We can invite new friends to join us in confronting rash cries for revenge with wise words that call for a just and peaceful resolution to this conflict in the human family. Together, we can practice peacemaking.
Peace and Justice Center Mission Statement
... to support as well as link individuals and groups
concerned with, peace social justice, and environmental issues. Center
services promote cooperation, awareness, explore connections, and encourage
community involvement in working toward a peaceful and just society.
The center also develops programs in response to those community concerns
not being adequately addressed by existing social change organizations.
The Tragedy of Sept. 11: How Do We Respond?
By Doug Allen
Education Coordinator, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine
In the September issue of News and Views, Charlotte Herbold invited members of the peace and justice community to submit essays responding to the important question of the relationship between peace and justice. Several weeks ago, Charlotte asked me to formulate the first submission. As I was about to compose my article, news broke of the tragic events of September 11. Although an essay on the relationship of peace and justice is clearly relevant to recent developments, I've decided to delay a more general formulation and focus instead on our specific responses to these tragic events and their very dangerous aftermath.
It is extremely difficult to know how best to respond. We must be aware of rapidly changing developments and contexts that shape our messages and actions. What may be inappropriate, counterproductive, and even reactionary at one time may be appropriate, productive, and progressive at a later time. With this in mind, I helped to formulate the following peace and justice statement, which was signed by 50 leading activists in Maine and appeared as an OpEd in the September 15 issue of the Bangor Daily News.
We feel great sorrow at the horrific loss of life and tremendous suffering caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11. We are angry at the disregard for human life shown by those who used civilians in airplanes to kill other innocent civilians. We fear the escalating cycle of violence that will result if our leaders respond vengefully and kill other innocent civilians in the process. We need time for a measured response, not a rush to judgment and war rhetoric. Times of crisis often bring out the best in us, as we express care, compassion, love, and solidarity and as we are forced to reflect on our everyday priorities and on what is really important in life.
In the coming weeks, it is imperative that we reflect on our personal and national priorities and on the following essential questions. As we take steps to bring those responsible for these violent acts to justice and as we take steps to increase our security, how do we preserve and even increase our commitment to freedom and democratic rights? How do we avoid destructive anger that leads to repression, scapegoating of Muslims at home and abroad, and more horrific acts of mass destruction of innocent lives? Why is it that hundreds of millions of people around the world feel such anger and hatred toward the United States? What constructive steps can be taken to change the conditions that produce such anti-U.S. reactions? What do we really mean by security--economic, social, cultural, political, psychological, personal, as well as military security--and how can we increase our real security? What are our highest ethical, spiritual, and political values and ideals, and how do we change our lives and our national priorities so that they reflect what is best in humankind?
Let us use our sorrow and our anger to build a more just and peaceful world by seeking understanding, healing, and working for greater justice, equality, and a spirit of solidarity with people in our personal lives, our local communities, our state and nation, and throughout the world. Let us send the following message to the President:
President Bush, in considering responses to the terrorist attacks, we urge you to:
The last part of the above statement, addressed to President Bush,
has been circulated as a petition by the Peace &
Justice Center and others.
How do we respond in the future? Thus far, through September 17, I have been encouraged by the overall response. Considering the objective nature of what happened on September 11, one might have expected much more rage, blind reactionary patriotism, warmongering, and calls for vengeance. To a large extent, U.S. citizens have been shocked, dazed, and in a state of disbelief. In large measure, the USA has previously been spared the devastation experienced by most other nations. We have also spent much of our time since the tragic events attempting to rescue survivors, comfort those who are suffering, and expressing grief. Tragedy can bring out the best in us, and there is much of evidence of that in our responses.
However, I have no doubt that as citizens get over their initial disbelief and their expressions of compassion and grief, we shall face increasingly difficult and dangerous times. There will be calls for retaliation, revenge, striking out and making others suffer, even if this means that hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings will suffer and be killed. There will be calls for racist stereotyping, suspension of civil liberties, repressive measures in the name of national unity and security, and an atmosphere in which many peace and justice voices will be silenced or intimidated. There will be an understandable anger and rage that will be exploited by demagogues, politicians, militarists, and corporate spokespersons intent on restoring a business as usual in which they can define and dominate life at home and abroad.
How will we respond in these increasingly dangerous times? Already many of us are involved in the initial stages of difficult and complex discussions in which we struggle with working out appropriate responses. We must be very aware of changing developments and contexts that will shape our responses. While being proactive and taking risks, we must avoid steps that are counterproductive. We must have courage, support each other, and identify ourselves as integral parts of a peace and justice community. We must work to build an effective peace and justice movement, realizing that we need determination and perseverance in what will be a lengthy, world-defining struggle.
Some links to information from alternative sources regarding
the attacks of 9/11
By Mary Dolan
There are better ways of dealing with this crisis than war, vengence, and the restriction of our civil rights. The more information we carefully consider, the more informed our positions and actions will be. To learn more about issues surrounding the current crisis from alternative viewpoints, including writers from around the world, consider these sites as a start:
www.zmag.org/Znet.htm
www.salon.com
www.thenation.com
www.TomPaine.com
www.commondreams.org
www.alternet.org
www.pfaw.org
Domestic Violence: The Causes and the Cures
By Francine Stark
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month throughout the United States. It is an opportunity for all of us to reflect on the experiences of women who have courageously stepped forward to seek an end to emotional and physical abuse at the hands of their intimate partners. People who have been subjected to such abuse ask us for refuge, justice, protection, understanding, and practical assistance. At the same time, we must ask ourselves why abusers, the vast majority of whom are men, perpetrate this ongoing siege of power and control over so many women and children.
For too long, when we have paid attention to abuse, we have blamed the victims for what has been done to them as if through some personal flaw, poor choice-making, or bad behavior they have invited the abuse that pervades their daily life. We make excuses for men who are abusive, as if we believe that they are not intentional about their abuse, but somehow driven to bad behavior by stress, anger, alcohol, childhood trauma, frustration, jealousy, or poor communication skills. In fact, perpetrators of domestic violence are motivated to intimidate, threaten, insult, and rape their partners by a belief that they have the right to do it and will pay no significant price for the harm that they cause.
To create a society in which men do not subject women and other men to physical and psychological violence, we must work diligently to promote the belief that no one has the right to harm or exploit another. On October 1st there will be a vigil and speak out in Westmarket Square in downtown Bangor at 5:30. On October 6th, domestic violence projects throughout the region are holding a Run/Walk at 9am to raise funds and public awareness. Volunteer training for hotline workers begins in early September at Spruce Run. For more information about these events, call 945-5102.
International Day of Protest to Stop the Militarization
of Space
By George Kehoe Ostensen
On October 13th at noon, we will gather at the administration building at Bath Iron Works (off Route 1 in Bath) to say no to our government’s plans to militarize outer space. Bath Iron Works builds Aegis guided missile destroyers, which carry an assortment of weapons including cruise missiles. They have been used extensively in Iraq, Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo in the last few years, causing much destruction and loss of life.
Cruise missiles use the global positioning satellite network and an array of computer systems to hit their targets. The latest plan is for Raytheon to upgrade the weapons so that the standard version will be able to shoot down enemy missiles; this is part of what the Pentagon calls the Theatre Missile Defense. In theory, Aegis ships can be sent to any place on earth to deter rogue states from launching hostile missiles at us. In practice, this is an aggressive plan, giving us first strike capability against any country that opposes us. A test of the new technology is planned for September.
Theatre Missile Defense is part of what the Pentagon is calling the Vision for 2020. The Ballistic Missile Defense System and the Theatre Missile Defense System clearly violate vital arms control treaties, including the ABM treaty. By developing, and producing new and more powerful weapons systems, we are creating a more dangerous world by, as the Pentagon puts it, “dominating the space dimension of military operations to protect US interests and investments.” In other words, we are trying to control space and thus the world, by adopting an aggressive, first-strike capability. Please make a sign and join us at noon for an hour on Saturday, October 13th at Bath Iron Works. Call George and Maureen Kehoe Ostensen at 338-4776 for more information.
Paul Loeb to Speak on Soul of a Citizen for Peace Week
2001 in Conjunction with a Citizen Action Fair at UMaine, Orono
By Barbara Blazej
Paul Rogat Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time, will be the keynote speaker for Peace Week 2001 at the University of Maine, Orono. On October 22, 2001, at 7:00 p.m. in the Maine Center for the Arts, Loeb will explore how each of us can gain the moral, political, and intellectual tools to take responsibility for the future. He will look at how ordinary citizens of all ages learn to take committed stands, at what leads some people to get involved in larger issues while others feel overwhelmed or uncertain, at what it takes to maintain commitment for the long haul, and at how all of us can live with greater courage and integrity. For Loeb, civic involvement can give us a sense of connection and purpose rarely found in purely personal life.
An investigative reporter and associated scholar at Seattle’s Center for Ethical Leadership, Paul Loeb has spent 30 years researching and writing about citizen responsibility and empowerment. In addition to Soul of a Citizen and numerous articles, he is also the author of Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on the American Campus, Nuclear Culture, and Hope in Hard Times.
Also on October 22, in conjunction with Loeb's talk, the Peace and Justice Center and UM Peace Studies Program will present a Citizen Action Fair in the Maine Center for the Arts lobby. Running from 6-10 p.m., before and after Loeb's talk, this event will enable many social action organizations from the central Maine area and UMaine to raise awareness of their efforts and offer opportunities for community action to attendees. For more information on this Citizen Action Fair, contact the Peace and Justice Center at 942-9343. For more information on Paul Loeb or Peace Week 2001, contact Peace Studies at 581-2609.
Tough Guise at P & J Center
By Ilze Petersens
As we recover from the shock of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, as we hear talk of revenge and war and search for ways to make voices for peace heard, we can be together to watch the film “Tough Guise” and to explore the connections between domestic violence, school shootings, and war.
To be shown as part of the Peace & Justice film series on Friday, October 26th at 7:00 p.m., the movie and its producer, Jackson Katz, draw connections between the loss of the Vietnam War and lost masculine pride. He presents John Wayne as the icon of the tough, gun-toting, rugged individualist whom Ronald Reagan used to appeal for increased military spending. Katz further argues that the widespread violence in American society is part of an on-going crisis in the meaning of masculinity. Young men subjected to such predatory images of maleness as Rambo and Raging Bull adopt heroes for whom “masculinity is a pose, a performance of power, control and violence.” Such talk-show reactionaries as Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh push the message, threatening progressive movements that promote civil rights for women, people of color, and gay citizens. Katz urges viewers to challenge this backlash and to provide men with kinder, more intelligent models.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As we all face our own vulnerability in this troubled time, let’s come together to watch the film and to raise our voices for peace & justice.
Portrait of a Peacemaker
By Peter Robbins
Mabel Dennison, of Temple, Maine, died while hiking in Cape Breton,
on September Sept. 6th, 2001.
Mabel worked actively all her life for social justice, economic parity, and a nuclear-free world; she went to prison for demonstrating for disarmament. More recently she participated in protests against WTO globalization in Seattle and against FTAA in Quebec City. She opened her home in Temple to many activist groups and individuals, housing forty members of Let Cuba Live and Pastors for Peace on their way to deliver medical supplies to Cuba this summer. For thirty-five years, Mabel was an active member of the Bread and Puppet Theater.
Karen Saum spoke powerfully of Mabel's life among us. “When I think of Mabel, a solid, somewhat uninteresting word keeps coming to mind: integrated. Mabel has always seemed to me to be the most integrated person I have ever known. Most of us act kindly, or do generous things, but Mabel was kind and she was generous. Most of us hold back a few trumps in the game of life, but Mabel always committed all her resources. Everything she did was whole hearted, but she was always realistic, never sentimental. Her friendships and her projects were made with full knowledge of the frailty of the people she loved and the fragility of the endeavors she supported. She had such faith.”
Mabel was a force, perhaps a saint. Her active presence in Maine's peace and justice community will be sadly missed. But her authentic loving spirit still inspires and informs the lives that she touched. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Maine Chapter of Alliance for Democracy, P.O. Box 538, Temple, ME 04984.
October
1: Vigil and Speak Out Against Domestic Violence. 5:30 at Westmarket Square, Bangor.
2: Industrious Lives: Acadian Women and Household Manufacture in the 18th and 19th Centuries, by Judith Rygiel, Ph.D. candidate in history, Carleton University, part of the Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies Program Fall Lunch Series, 12:30-1:45 p.m. 237, North Stevens Hall, UM. 581-1228.
3: Radicalism at the University of Maine, by Larry Moskowitz, 1970 UMaine graduate and former student leader of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), now labor coordinator of the Working Families Party of New York; part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Luncheon Series, 12:30-1:45 p.m., 313, Shibles Hall, UM
4: Socialist and Marxist Study Series, Location: 206 Rogers Hall. Topics TBA. Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy. Call 581-3860 for more information. 12:30-2 p.m., 206, Rogers Hall, UM. 581-2030.
5: Ice Core Contributions to the Understanding of Climate Change and Change in Atmospheric Chemistry: A Visit to the Three Poles, by Paul Mayewski, part of the School of Marine Sciences Seminar Series, 11 a.m. 100, Edward Bryand Global Sciences Center, UM. 581-4381.
6: Domestic Violence Projects will hold a Run/Walk throughout the region at 9 a.m. to raise funds and awareness.
9: Strengthening Women's Leadership Capacity Project, a nine-month educational series offered through Cooperative Extension. Become part of a local network of women actively exploring their female authority: 5:30-8 p.m., October 9, Cooperative Extension, 27 Exchange Building, Bangor. Admission Fee. 581-3188/581-2832. For more information, contact Louise Cyr, 581-3317
10: Development of a Concentration in GLBTS, a Brown Bag Discussion. This discussion is the result of a Learning Circles 2001 grant and will be led by Sandy Caron and members of her Learning Circle from across the UM campus. Sponsored by the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Allies Council and the Center for Teaching Excellence. 12-1 p.m., Private Dining Room, Memorial Union, UM. 581-3472.
10: Women at Risk: Protecting Yourself from the Contamination of Maine's Waterways the Contamination of Maine's Waterways, by Emily Fisher, Intern, and Amanda Sears, Outreach Coordinator, both with the Natural Resources Council of Maine, part of the Women in the Curriculum and Women’s Studies Program Fall Lunch Series, 12:30-1:45 p.m. 237, North Stevens Hall, UM. 581-1228.
11: Coming Out Week, October 11-13: Campus Wide, UM 581-1596.
11: Reclaiming Democracy, Creating Alternatives: Toward a Strategy for the Anti-Corporate Globalization Movement in Maine, by Matt Schlobohm and Ethan Miller, activist organizers of the Maine Global Action Network and the Maine Youth Campfire Collective who are creating the Maine Center for Justice, Ecology and Democracy; part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Luncheon Series, 12:30-1:45 p.m., 206, Rogers Hall, UM 581-3860.
11: Rape Aggression Defense, a free women's self-defense workshop taught on Thursdays until Oct. 18, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Doris Twitchell Allen Community Building, UM
13: 13th Annual Peace & Justice Center Harvest Supper, potluck,
UU Church at 6:00.
13: Annual Solar Home Tour, Maine Solar Energy Association. Call Richard Kemp: 497-2204
17: Alma Rosé: Music, Survival, and Heroism at Auschwitz, by Phillip Silver; part of the Women in the Curriculum and Women's Studies Program Fall Lunch Series, 12:30-1:45 pomp, 237 North Stevens Hall, UM. 581-1228.
18: Marx After Marxism: The Humanistic Marx, by Kevin Brien, professor of philosophy and religion at Washington College, Md., and author of "Marx, Reason and the Art of Freedom"; part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Luncheon Series, 12:30-1:45 p.m., Coe Lounge, Memorial Union, UM 581-3860.
20: 2001 Penobscot Bay Conference, Conference for citizens, policy-makers and organizational representatives, focusing on the Penobscot Bay region and economic, environmental and community choices about its future. Chellie Pingree, U.S. Senate candidate, will be the featured speaker. 8:30-5, Camden Hills Regional High School. Pre-registration via Sea Grant Website requested because of limited space. For more information, contact Ron Beard, 667-8212, or 581-3472.
23: Latino/Hispanic Heritage Week, Events TBA. Call 581-1425 for more information.
Events:
22: Teaching for Social Involvement, a workshop presented by Paul Rogat
Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical
Time. Sponsored by Peace Studies and the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Registration required by October 10. Call x3472 to register. 3-5 p.m.,
Main Dining Room, Wells Commons and Conference Center. 581-3472.
22: Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time, a Peace Week keynote address by Paul Rogat Loeb, writer and an associated scholar at Seattle's Center for Ethical Leadership, 7 p.m., Hutchins Concert Hall, Maine Center for the Arts. 581-2609.
22: Citizen Action Fair: Maine Center for the Arts Lobby. A gathering of social action organizations from central Maine and UMaine. 6-10p.m. Call P&J Center at 942-9343 for information.
24: Student Peacemaker Panel with UM students who have been active in peacebuilding locally and globally. 2:30-4, 202 Shibles Hall, UM.
24: Peace & Justice Book Sale: October 22-24; Memorial Union Lobby, UM.
24: Views from Another Side: Women's Studies Students Go Abroad, Women's Studies Students Go Abroad, by Satyam Barakoti, Sally Curran and Sarah Lund, part of the Women in the Curriculum and Women's Studies Program Fall Lunch Series, 12:30-1:45 p.m., 237, North Stevens Hall, UM. 581-1228.
25: Knox Greens Regular Meeting: 6-8, Rockland Rec Center at corner of Union &Limerock.594-9575.
26: Transformation of the Hudson River Ecosystem by an Invasive Bivalve, the Zebra Mussel, by Dave Strayer, Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Cary Arboretum, Millbrook, N.Y., part of the Biological Sciences Seminar Series, 3:10 p.m. 102, Murray Hall, UM. 581-2970.
29: The Howard B. Schonberger Peace and Social Justice Lecture, by Michael Johnson, Pennsylvania State University associate professor of sociology, women's studies, and African-American Studies, 7:30 p.m., Devino Auditorium, Donald P. Corbett Business Building, UM
November
1: An Environmentally Sustainable Campus: What Would It Take? by Marquita Hill, Matt Young, Resser Manley, Scott Wilkerson, Paul Van Steenberghe and Emily Markides; part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Luncheon Series, 12:15-1:30 p.m., Coe Lounge, Memorial Union, UM 581-3860.
2: 9-4, Mason Auditorium at EMMC, a conference entitled "Domestic Abuse: the Employer's Role and Responsibility." Call Spruce Run, 945-5102 for more information.
Farmer's Market: Every Saturday 8-1 through November 17th and every
Tuesday 2-5:30 through October 30th: University of Maine Dock and Picnic
Area.
Call 827-225 for information.
The Greater Bangor NOW Chapter meets 6-8 p.m. every third Monday. Beginning in April 2001, GBNOW will meet at the Mabel Wadsworth Women's Health Center, 362 Harlow Street, Bangor. For more information, call JoAnne at 989-3306(evenings) or Deanna at 947-5337 (days).
PICA Meetings, 170 Park Street, Bangor, 947-4203:
YOUTH ADELANTANDO, 5:15 - 7:30 Mondays
BANGOR CLEAN CLOTHES CAMPAIGN 6 - 8, 1st Monday of the month
(Except September: meets Tue Sept 12, 6-8)
BANGOR - EL SALVADOR SISTER CITY Normally 2nd and 4th Wednesday of
the month, 5:30 - 7:30.
Please call PICA 947-4203 to confirm for September
SPRUCE RUN VOLUNTEER NEEDS-Domestic Violence Project Serving Penobscot
County HOTLINE: 43-hour training. Mid-September training includes
presentations on the dynamics of domestic violence and crises intervention
skill development. Work from home on nights and weekends or from
Spruce Run's Resource Center during the day.
CHILDREN'S WORKER - 24-hour training
RECEPTIONISTS: M-F at Resource Ctr. Work Study and Continuing Education
Units available. FMI: Maureen Flagg, 945-5102
The Guerilla Theater Project, a creative, public and politically-based theater performed by activists in order to education the public and gain media exposure around issue of peace & social justice, wants you! If you are interested in using comedy, costumes, songs, banner, and other means of getting attention for a wide range of social issues call Peace Action Maine at 772-0680.