Tag: Peace

U.S. Atomic Secrets Shared Exclusively, Solidarnos’c’ Banned; in Peace & Justice History for 10/8

October 8, 1945
President Harry S. Truman announced that the secret of the atomic bomb would be shared only with Great Britain and Canada.
October 8, 1982
The Polish Parliament overwhelmingly approved a law banning
Solidarnos´c´ (Solidarity), the independent trade union that had captured the imagination and allegiance of nearly 10 million Poles.

Solidarnosc leader Lech Walesa, 1982
The law abolished all existing labor organizations, including Solidarity, whose 15 months of existence brought hope to people in Poland and around the world but drew the anger of the Soviet and other Eastern-bloc (Warsaw Pact) governments.
The parliament created a new set of unions with severely restricted rights.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october8

It’s Satisfying.

A Sad Anniversary This Date In Peace & Justice History

October 7, 1989
Tens of thousands (estimates ranged from 40,000 to 150,000) from all over the country marched on Washington, lobbied Congress and Housing Secretary Jack Kemp to provide affordable housing for the homeless. Some of the signs read, “Build Houses, Not Bombs.”
Kemp signed a letter committing the George H.W. Bush administration to several steps to help the homeless, including setting aside about 5000 government-owned single-family houses for them.
October 7, 1998

Matthew Shepard
Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, was beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside Laramie, Wyoming; he died five days later. His death helped awaken the nation to the persecution of homosexuals and their victimization as objects of hate crimes.
A play about the incident, and later an HBO movie, “The Laramie Project,” has been performed all over the country.
Watch a preview 
MatthewShepard.org 
Matthew’s Place 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october7

Redirecting Human Evolution:

“Every day that you choose inclusivity over segregation, you redirect evolution.” ― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Every day that you choose inclusivity over segregation, you actively redirect evolution from a human-looking species to human species.

Grown adults never try to fit into childhood clothes, then why should grown humans try to fit into tribal customs!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Sonnets From The Mountaintop

“Howl”ing Peace & Justice History for 10/6

I’m so glad the newsletter is back! I’d missed it in my Inbox. Although, we can see all of it anytime we want to, at The Year In Peace & Justice History. That’s where I got them for a few months before I took a break on them. I figure it’s a sign I should pick it back up, that I’m getting newsletters again.

October 6, 1683
Thirteen Mennonite families from the German town of Krefeld arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Concord. Having endured religious warfare in Europe, the Mennonites were pacifists, similar to the Society of Friends (often known as Quakers) who opposed all forms of violence. The first Germans in North America, they established Germantown which still exists as part of Philadelphia.
Modern Mennonite peace activism:  (The page is from Quaker History.)
More about the Mennonites in America 
October 6, 1955
Poet Allen Ginsberg read his poem “Howl” for the first time at Six Gallery in San Francisco. The poem was an immediate success that rocked the Beat literary world and set the tone for confessional poetry of the 1960s and later.
“Howl and Other Poems” was printed in England, but its second edition was seized by customs officials as it entered the U.S. City Lights, a San Francisco bookstore, published the book itself to avoid customs problems, and storeowner (and poet) Lawrence Ferlinghetti was arrested and tried for obscenity, but defended by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Working on Howl in San Francisco, circa June, 1956
Following testimony from nine literary experts on the merits of the book, Ferlinghetti was found not guilty.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti outside City Lights 
More about City Lights 
Read Howl 
Read more about Allen Ginsberg
October 6, 1976
An airliner, Cubana Airlines Flight 455, exploded in midair, killing 73 mostly young passengers including the entire Cuban youth fencing team. The plot was engineered by Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban former CIA agent, who was based in Venezuela at the time.
The Posada Carriles file from the National Security Archive  (It’s still there!)
October 6, 1978
346 protestors were arrested at the site of the proposed Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant in Inola, Oklahoma.
In 1973 Public Service of Oklahoma announced plans to build the Black Fox plant about 15 miles from Tulsa.
It was also near Carrie Barefoot Dickerson’s family farm. She became concerned, as a nurse and a citizen, about the potential health hazards.

Carrie Barefoot Dickerson
Through her group, Citizens’ Action for Safe Energy (CASE), and the consistent opposition of informed and persistent allies, the project was canceled in 1982. There are no nuclear plants in the state of Oklahoma, and no nuclear plant has been built in the U.S. since then.
Carrie Dickerson Foundation 
October 6, 1979

Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant protest – late 1970s
Over 1400 were arrested at Seabrook, New Hampshire, the construction site of two new nuclear power plants. The occupation was organized by the Clamshell Alliance.
Clamshell history 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october6

Republicans In Other Times, & Demos Against Use of Cassini in Peace & Justice History for 10/4

October 4, 1976
Earl Butz resigned as President Gerald Ford’s agriculture secretary with an apology for what he called the “gross indiscretion” of uttering a racist remark.
October 4, 1997
Demonstrations across the country occurred protesting the scheduled launch of the space probe Cassini because its power source was three plutonium-fueled Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators.The probe carried 72.3 pounds of plutonium, the most ever put on a device to be launched into space. The concern was for an accidental release in the event of a launch mishap. Plutonium is the most toxic substance known.

“It is so toxic,” says Helen Caldicott, president emeritus of Physicians for Social Responsibility, “that less than one-millionth of a gram is a carcinogenic dose. One pound, if uniformly distributed, could hypothetically induce lung cancer in every person on Earth.”

The Risk of Cassini Probe Plutonium 
An interview with Dr. Caldicott 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october4

We Are The Ones

Checking In; Love Is The Ultimate Resistance!

🫶 💖 🌻 ☮

Hi, there. I bet everyone who reads and writes here, is unhappy and at least a little apprehensive about the state of the USA. Everywhere we turn, there is another story of an illegal and outrageous action that our current administration has ordered our government to perform. So, I’m also certain I’m not the only one who feels the USA is in living nightmare territory. And then, we being who we are, we are also informed as to how the entire planet is undergoing increasing violence to itself and to people everywhere. Meanwhile, all that could be dissonant with our immediate surroundings, which increases the anxiety and/or whichever symptom/s we may have going.

For instance, while Ollie and I were outside playing this evening, we heard a great deal of “show-offy” driving in our area. Tonight’s high school game is Homecoming, which is celebrated by the town for a couple of days prior to the game, then the students get their celebration during half-time and after the game. Some of those students I had when they were kindergarteners and up, in the after-schools where I worked. Also, many alumnae have their reunions over Homecoming weekend. Fall Fest happens tomorrow and Sunday morning. Among other things, there are apple cider slushies at Fall Fest! So there is more traffic, and the younger people drive as if they’re Masters of the Universe (some of the old guys, if they have a muscle car to show off, drive just like that, too!) A person can almost forget about everything negative except hoping that no one is injured in the game, and that no one drives impaired tonight. A nice, relaxing evening, going into the night.

Then the other reality comes that some of the people who are here will not have a job to work on Monday, or a student won’t have a para, a nurse’s aide will be overworked and underpaid, and so on. Some of it due to the federal shutdown, or shutdown “related” cuts, some due to cuts that have been ongoing since January. Prices are still high; my own city has not cut services but has not replaced personnel who have moved on, so services are affected negatively for people who live here; more cities than not have done the same. It’s always something, everywhere. It’s a lot, and it’s overwhelming. And there are still the good and nice things happening within miles of us, or next door, or our own homes, too. It’s enough to explode a head!

So I thought I’d write in. None of us is alone. Everyone is at least stressed, so first, I want to check on people, see how you’re doing, see if you want to vent in comments, or ask questions, or share whatever you care to share. I know it’s a little late, at least on the East coast, but, well, this’ll be here all weekend.

I’ll share a little bit of a way to maybe work with/around what’s happening in everyone’s world. There is a saying: “Do small things with great love.” It may sound too easy, but it’s really not-it’s exactly what we all need: to show love and show how to show love so that everyone catches a ripple and does it, too. Most of us can do little if anything about the world-wide violence, but waving at our neighbor, offering a hello at the store or someplace, and simply smiling at people while looking at them will make a difference. And doing these things is actually being part of the resistance. Love is the ultimate resistance!

Finally, interestingly, when we do small things with great love, it’s almost as if someone did that for us, too, even if they really didn’t! It’s amazing how it works, but it does.

So, I hope everyone rests easily tonight, and gets some early sunshine when we get up. Enjoy the view at a local river side, and some chalk art I did during the pandemic.

Flowers & The Military

Maybe we all live in red states, and this won’t be a thing with which we deal (just maybe.) But, just in case, here is a pointer for coping. Pass it along!

As the Military Occupies your Town, Give them Flowers and a Note

Arnold Oliver 10/02/2025

An anti-Vietnam demonstration. Arlington, Virginia, USA. By S.Sgt. Albert R. Simpson. Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. – This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 594360. Public Domain. Via Picryl.

Tiffin, Ohio (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – During some of the large anti-war demonstrations during the 1960’s some of the protesters gave flowers to the troops faced off against them. In the 1967 March on the Pentagon it was the 503rd Military Police Battalion, and elsewhere the National Guard was deployed. An iconic photo from 1967 shows a young man placing a flower into a soldier’s gun barrel during the protest. Let’s bring that custom back when the US military occupies your town in 2025, but this time let’s include a note along with the flower.  

Allow me to explain.

The demonstrators of the 1960’s understood that the soldiers faced off against him were not the enemy. Nearly all of the soldiers were young and patriotic and trying to do the right thing. Many of them were under economic hardship and wanted help paying for their education. The flower symbolized the protesters’ belief that the soldiers were not their enemies, and they did not wish to be theirs. And in fact, as the almost entirely peaceful protests grew, many soldiers came to sympathize and began to actively oppose the war as well.  

Now we have federalized Guard troops being called out by President Trump in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Portland with other cities soon to follow. Chicago is likely next. The authority for this is said to be Title Ten of the US Code which says that the president may federalize the National Guard if the US “is invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation; there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion . . or the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” 

Legitimate grounds for a US military or National Guard deployment do not exist. The claim that crime is spiraling out of control is false, and those pushing for the deployments know it. There is zero credible proof that crime is increasing. According to a recent FBI report (August, 2025)  robbery, assault, rape and murder all continued a decline that began post-covid.  We are not being invaded, there is no rebellion, and the laws are being enforced about as well as ever. 

A second reason against deploying the military on our streets is that the Posse Comitatus act of 1878 forbids the use of US military forces within the country for active law enforcement except in exceptional circumstances such as insurrection, and explicitly approved by Congress. The military is forbidden from making arrests, conducting searches, issuing warrants, or interfering with local law enforcement. The law also applies to National Guard forces unless approved by state governors. No governors this year have made any requests for federalized National Guard troops. 

And it is worth noting that Trump’s military forays into cities are only being used in areas run by Democratic officials. High crime in red state cities is ignored. And the Trump administration refuses to realize the obvious danger of political violence and threats from MAGA and the American right which are much higher than those from the left, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and others. Antifa is officially (and improperly) designated as domestic terrorists while violent right wing groups get a pass from the administration. 

The President’s rhetoric seems aimed at inflaming and dividing. The “enemy from within”, “full force”, “thugs”, “vermin”, and much more. And there is hardly a peep of protest from the Republican party. 

So this time around, how about if we give the troops a note along with the flower?  You could use wording such as this: 

Dear US soldier – 

Your service oath included a pledge to uphold the US constitution, and your training taught you to disobey illegal orders.The orders sending you here (insert name of your city or town) are unlawful and unjust. You have a legal obligation to disobey.

We encourage you to go home, and we will support you in that decision.

About the Author

Arnold Oliver is an emeritus professor of political science at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio. A Vietnam veteran, he belongs to Veterans For Peace, and can be reached at soliver@heidelberg.edu.

Chief John Ross Writes U.S. Congress, Wobblies Indicted, Danish Jews Moving To Safety, Constance Baker Motley Passes; In Peace & Justice History for 9/28

September 28, 1836
Cherokee Chief John Ross wrote a letter to both houses of the U.S. Congress stating that the Treaty of New Echota was not negotiated by any legitimate representatives of his nation.
Its terms required the Cherokees to relinquish all lands east of the Mississippi River for a payment of $5 million. Ross was the democratically chosen leader of a nation with its own language, its own newspaper, a bi-cameral legislature and a republican form of government.


Cherokee Chief John Ross
The Cherokee Nation celebrated its own arts and sports, and produced a wide variety of agricultural and commercial goods. It had twelve political units ranging from northern Alabama to western North Carolina.Writing from north Georgia, Ross said:“The makers of it [the treaty] sustain no office nor appointment in our Nation, under the designation of Chiefs, Head men, or any other title, by which they hold, or could acquire, authority to assume the reins of Government, and to make bargain and sale of our rights, our possessions, and our common country . . . .
“ We are despoiled of our private possessions, the indefeasible property of individuals. We are stripped of every attribute of freedom and eligibility for legal self-defence. Our property may be plundered before our eyes; violence may be committed on our persons; even our lives may be taken away, and there is none to regard our complaints. We are denationalized; we are disfranchised. We are deprived of membership in the human family!”
Full text of the letter 
More on the Treaty and the Cherokee nation 
September 28, 1917
166 people who were (or had been) active in the I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World, whose members were also known as Wobblies) were indicted for protesting World War I.They were accused of trying to “cause insubordination, disloyalty, and refusal of duty in the military and naval forces” in violation of the Espionage Act. One hundred and one defendants were found guilty, and received prison sentences ranging from days to twenty years, with accompanying fines of $10,000-$20,000. This was part of a successful U.S. government campaign to cripple the radical union movement.

The I.W.W. – A Brief History (U.S.)
I.W.W. home
September 28, 1943
In Denmark, underground anti-Nazi activists began systematic smuggling of Jews to Sweden. In just three weeks, all but 481 of Denmark’s 8000 Jews had been moved to safety.

Kim Malthe-Bruun, a 21-year-old Danish resistance fighter. Unfortunately one of the ones who did not make it.

A Danish Jewish family ready to go
Read more about Kim 
September 28, 2005
The lawyer who wrote the original legal complaint in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, Constance Baker Motley, died in New York City. She had led a remarkable career which began at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) where she was their first female attorney. The first black woman to argue before the Supreme Court, she was successful in nine of her ten cases. Motley went on to achieve three more firsts as an African American woman: being elected to the New York State Senate and shortly thereafter to the Manhattan Borough presidency. Finally, Pres. Lyndon Johnson appointed her to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1966 where she served until her passing.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryseptember.htm#september28

Some News In Kansas

This story came first, then the second article. It’s interesting, because it’s not a protest, or anything, it’s simple local ordinance. (Ordinances = the law here.)

Federal government accuses Kansas town of ‘aggressive and unlawful’ interference with CoreCivic

By:Morgan Chilson-September 23, 20255:39 pm

TOPEKA — The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday joined a private prison company in its legal fight with Leavenworth city officials, accusing the city of “aggressive and unlawful” interference with immigration enforcement.

The DOJ filed a statement of interest in the case in U.S. District Court, signed by the assistant U.S. attorney general’s office.

“The United States has a strong interest in countering state and local efforts to harass federal contractors, in the proper application of the Constitution and its Supremacy Clause, and in the foundational principles that protect the Federal Government from unconstitutional state and local interference,” the filing said.

A statement of interest authorizes the U.S. attorney general to become a non-party in a suit pending in any court in the country, the filing said.

CoreCivic and the city of Leavenworth have been fighting in court for months over the city’s requirement that CoreCivic go through its development process to receive a special use permit before reopening its prison facility at 100 Highway Terrace.

Nashville-based CoreCivic announced in March that it would reopen the prison facility, which closed in 2021, to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.

CoreCivic and the city have a hearing scheduled Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Topeka as part of an appeal of a Kansas court’s decision barring CoreCivic from housing ICE detainees while the case about the development permit is being heard.

CoreCivic has alleged in multiple filings that Leavenworth officials are violating the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and interfering with the operations of the federal government. That clause sets federal laws as supreme over state laws.

The U.S. government’s statement Tuesday pushed that argument forward, saying that it is “especially true” in relationship to immigration. 

“Defendants have violated the Supremacy Clause by attempting to stymie the Federal Government’s immigration-related operations at 100 Highway Terrace,” the federal filing said, citing multiple cases to support its arguments that federal contractors are free from state control.

“This well-settled principle has been consistently applied to invalidate state and local laws that impose requirements on federal contractors,” the filing said. 

The city’s efforts to prevent CoreCivic from housing immigration detainees at its prison, recently renamed the Midwest Regional Reception Center, is an attempt to regulate the federal government’s efforts to house detainees at that facility and violates the supremacy clause, the filing said.

=====

Kansas town to continue legal push against CoreCivic, despite federal involvement

By:Morgan Chilson-September 24, 20254:45 pm

TOPEKA — Leavenworth officials aren’t backing down from holding private prison company CoreCivic accountable to development regulations even after the U.S. Department of Justice jumped into the case Tuesday.

The DOJ filed a statement of interest in the U.S. District Court case between Nashville-based CoreCivic and Leavenworth, arguing the city was violating the supremacy clause in the U.S. Constitution.

“The federal government’s filing does not change our view of the case or the approach we plan to take,” said W. Joseph Hatley, a Kansas City, Missouri, attorney representing the city of Leavenworth. “The arguments in that filing mirror arguments CoreCivic has previously made, without success.”

The clause says federal laws are supreme over state laws, and in its filing, the DOJ said Leavenworth is interfering in the federal government’s immigration enforcement efforts.

Leavenworth Mayor Holly Pittman has said the city’s fight over reopening CoreCivic’s prison isn’t driven by politics, despite repeated outcry from Leavenworth residents against housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees. 

She said the city is concerned about holding businesses accountable to their development regulations, which would require CoreCivic to apply for a special use permit.

Earlier this year, CoreCivic announced it planned to reopen its prison facility in Leavenworth to fulfill an ICE contract that would pay the company $4.2 million per month. But Leavenworth officials contend the company must follow the city’s revised development process and apply for a special use permit.

In court filings, the city’s attorneys highlighted issues with CoreCivic’s operation of its previous prison, which closed in 2021, including failing to cooperate with Leavenworth police and failure to report the death of an inmate for six days. Leavenworth officials have said a special use permit would allow them to address such problems.  

U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse on Wednesday set a hearing on a CoreCivic motion for a preliminary injunction for 3 p.m. Nov. 25, Hatley said.  

CoreCivic is appealing a Kansas district court decision to stop the company from housing ICE detainees as the legal disagreement with Leavenworth goes through the courts.