It’s a good, engaging read, with motivating info.
A Reblog From Nan Mykel
It’s a good, engaging read, with motivating info.
Tag: Peace
Freedom To Marry, and More, in Peace & Justice History for 6/12
June 12, 1963 In the driveway outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was shot to death by white supremacist Byron De la Beckwith, who was not convicted until 1994 after an extensive investigation by Jackson, Mississippi’s Clarion-Ledger newspaper. He was tried and acquitted twice by with all-white juries, members of which had been influenced by the Ku Klux Klan. Following one of the trials, then-Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett stood by Beckwith’s side and shook his hand. The whole sad story The role of the Clarion-Ledger |
| June 12, 1964 Nelson Mandela, a 46-year-old lawyer and a leader of the opposition to South Africa’s racially separatist apartheid system, was convicted of sabotage in the Rivonia Trial and sentenced to life imprisonment.  Nelson Mandela, 1963 From Mandela’s statement to the court prior to sentencing: “ I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” The trial of Mandela and seven other African National Congress compatriots |
| June 12, 1967 The U.S. Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia struck down state miscegenation laws, those that prohibited interracial marriage, as violations of a person’s right to equal protection under the law, as guaranteed under the 14th amendment.  Mildred and Richard Loving In June of 1958, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter, a white man and an African-American woman, had married in Washington, D.C. Upon return to their home state of Virginia, the couple was arrested, convicted of a felony, and sentenced to a year in prison. The appeal of their conviction led to the decision. Contemporary thoughts on the case “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.” From Chief Justice Earl Warren’s majority opinion in Loving v. Virginia Watch trailer for the movie “Loving” (recommended) |
June 12, 1982 In the world’s largest-ever peace demonstration (until the U.S. invasion of Iraq), one million rallied in New York City’s Central Park to support the newly formed Nuclear Freeze Campaign which called for a halt to all nuclear weapons testing worldwide.  The biggest demonstration on earth (until the global anti-Iraq war march of Feb 15 2003) took place in New York on June 12, 1982, when one million people gathered in support of the second UN Special Session on Disarmament and to protest nuclear weapons. The origins of the Nuclear Freeze Campaign The demonstration |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june12
From The Smart Ones:
Snippet:
“There is a free printable PDF or PNG at their KoFi, along with a pre-order for stickers and tshirts, which will ship later in June.
More than 1800 NO KINGS rallies are planned for this Saturday, June 14, as counter programming to the most embarrassing example of fascist onanism ever.
And, since June is Pride month, there are a lot of Pride activities going on that date, too. Perhaps yours also overlap, and this sign will work for you, too!
Thanks to Chris for permission to share – this design is so great, I had to share it.
Stay safe out there, and wherever you are, please know that you are loved exactly as you are. Whether you can live your life openly or keep parts of yourself hidden, you’re seen and welcomed and loved.”
The Port Huron Statement & More in Peace & Justice History for 6/11
June 11, 1962 Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held its founding convention in Michigan and issued The Port Huron Statement, laying out its principles and program. “In social change or interchange, we find violence to be abhorrent because it requires generally the transformation of the target, be it a human being or a community of people, into a depersonalized object of hate. It is imperative that the means of violence be abolished and the institutions—local, national, international—that encourage non-violence as a condition of conflict be developed.” Complete text of the Port Huron Statement (it’s a .pdf, in case you’re on a phone) Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History: Paul Buhle, Editor |
| June 11, 1963 Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death (self-immolation) in front of the U.S. embassy in downtown Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) to protest the the South Vietnamese regime the U.S. supported, and the war the Americans were waging.  A painting of the scene on the street as Thich Quang Duc self-immolates in protest of the government and war in Vietnam |
June 11, 1963 Vivian Malone (later Jones) preparing to enroll at Alabama with Deputy Attorney Gen, Nicholas Katzenbach (L) at her side. Alabama Governor George C. Wallace stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama in order to prevent the admission of two negro students in a failed attempt to maintain segregation in educational opportunities. He was forced to step aside later in the day when Vivian Malone and James Hood were registered as students. |
| June 11, 1968 Daniel Cohn-Bendit, known as Danny the Red, arrived in Britain, stirring up fears of campus unrest. The 23-year-old Paris law student had been given permission to remain in the U.K. just 24 hours, but immediately threatened to defy the authorities and out-stay his official welcome [his visit was later legally extended to 14 days]. Cohn-Bendit, a German citizen, had been expelled from France in May for being an organizer of the French student and worker demonstrations which almost brought that country to a standstill the previous month.  Daniel Cohn-Bendit and a Paris policeman in 1968. “I don’t know how long I will stay. I think it’s a free country” -Daniel Cohn-Bendit He currently sits as a Green Party deputy in the European Parliament. The news at the time Daniel Cohn-Bendit today |
| June 11, 1970 Representative Martha Griffiths (D-Michigan) filed a discharge petition signed by a majority of all members of the U.S. House of Representatives, a seldom used parliamentary move, to bring the Equal Rights amendment to the House floor for consideration. She saw this as the only way to get the constitutional amendment out of the Judiciary Committee where it had been held by its chairman, Emmanuel Cellar (D-New York), who had refused to even hold hearings on the matter. Representative Griffiths had introduced the amendment every year since 1948.  Representative Martha Griffiths from Detroit’s west side |
| June 11, 1988 100,000 marched from United Nations headquarters in New York City to Central Park during the 3rd U.N. Special Session on Disarmament. Though there had been progress in recent years on disarmament, the U.N. meeting yielded nothing but stalemate. Read more |
| June 11, 2010 Scientists studying the scale of the then-ongoing BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico doubled the previous estimate of the scale of the flow of oil into the Gulf. Initially, BP and the government had said that no more than 1000 barrels (42 U.S. gallons per barrel) per day were leaking, later raised to 5000. The fine for oil spills was $4300 per barrel.  The new estimate was between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels per day. If the spill had been stopped that day (the well was not capped until early August), it would have exceeded the Exxon Valdez spill by a factor of eight. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june11
Oliver Willis Explains
There Are No ‘Distractions’ In A War, Only Fronts by Oliver Willis
Fight Them Everywhere Read on Substack
Ever since Donald Trump came down his racist escalator and vaulted himself to become leader of the Republican Party in 2015, a popular theory has taken hold in liberalism and particularly at the highest levels of the Democratic Party: “Distraction.”
The idea goes something like this: Because Trump is a creature of the modern media environment and because we are constantly bombarded with narrative after narrative, Trump and his acolytes within the GOP are regularly setting off distraction bombs, meant to keep us occupied while they’re up to no good behind closed doors.
There were two recent invocations of distraction theory worth noting. First, the fight between Elon Musk and Donald Trump was purportedly a distraction from the harm of the “Big Beautiful Bill” that intends to destroy the social safety net. A few days later, some Democratic leaders argued that the attempted military incursion of Los Angeles over immigration was also a “distraction” from the bill. It was also argued by California Gov. Gavin Newsom – who is directly involved in the Los Angeles “distraction,” ironically – that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador was also a “distraction.”
If it isn’t already clear, I think this theory of the world is very stupid and frankly counterproductive. It operates as if we are still somewhere in the distant past, when only a few narratives could ever operate at one time, usually with a clear “A” story and one or more less important “B” stories. But it is 2025 and that method of operation has long been obsolete.
We are in an ideological war with the American right. They are attacking everything good and right about America and are trying their damnedest to drag us back to the stone age when women, minorities, and LGBTQ people were a subordinate slave class to the whims of wealthy, straight, white men.
These things aren’t distractions. They are fronts. America fought war on two fronts during World War II, taking on the Axis powers in the European and Pacific theaters. There wasn’t any choice in the matter. There were American soldiers island hopping toward Japan and there were soldiers landing on the beaches of France and Italy on their way to Berlin. Leaders like Franklin Roosevelt and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, while they had to prioritize targets and objectives, didn’t have the luxury of saying the war couldn’t be fought on either side of the U.S. It was an existential battle for survival and they were victorious on both sides.
That is the situation we are in now against conservatism and Republicans. Liberals have to make the case, over and over, that these people are unfit to rule and shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the levers of power. Every action that liberals and its representatives within the Democratic Party undertake should underscore that clear goal.
That means war on multiple fronts. Sometimes that means pushing legislation and investigation. Sometimes that means a press conference or media briefing. And yes, sometimes that means childish insults, memes, and trash talk.
All the things.
(snip-MORE, + Kal El photo. Click through.)
Women’s Peace Crusade in Scotland, and More in Peace & Justice History for 6/10
| June 10, 1917 The Women’s Peace Crusade in Scotland launched a three-week campaign of street meetings and demonstrations in dozens of towns to build support for peace in the midst of what was then called The Great War (now known as World War I). More about the Womens’s Peace Crusade |
| June 10, 1937 The mayor of Monroe, Michigan, organized a citizens’ posse of some 1400 vigilantes, armed with baseball bats and tear gas, to combat the union organizing drive at local Newton Steel. The mob threw a dozen of the picketers’ cars into the River Raisin.  Steelworkers’ cars were rolled into Monroe, Michigan’s River Raisin by strike breakers recruited by the mayor. The 120 striking steelworkers and their supporters were working to form unions in the “Little Steel” companies which, unlike U.S. Steel, continued to resist unionization. Newton had just been purchased by Republic Steel [see Chicago’s Memorial Day Massacre [May 30, 1937]. The whole story (Note from Ali: the link in the newsletter was no longer functional. Doing a search of cars going into the River Raisin is really interesting, even simply in modern times! I had to search the specific date to get this report. Seems like an “active” place, there in Monroe!) |
| June 10, 1963 The “Equal Pay Act of 1963” was passed and signed into law; it guaranteed women equal pay for equal work. The legislation was a result of the recommendations of President John F. Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women.  The law itself |
| June 10, 1980 Nelson Mandela’s first writings, and those of other imprisoned anti-apartheid leaders, were smuggled out and made public while they were imprisoned on South Africa’s Robben Island.  “As I read these fascinating essays, I was struck so forcibly by the importance of memory, of history, for both the individual and the community. . . . I pray that our people and especially our children will, by reading this collection of essays, remember the very high price that has been paid to achieve our freedom.” – Desmond Tutu, from the foreword  Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, where he spent 17 years Review of Reflections in Prison Portions of the book |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june10
I’m Pleased That ICT has PRIDE
So many old friends in Wichita deplore the conservatism, and yes, there are more voters voting Republican than Dem (though their Dem party is healthy.) Yet, Wichita loves everyone, and I love that! If you’re lucky the little video player on the page will work, and you can watch the broadcast. https://www.ksn.com/video/ict-big-gay-market-hosts-event-for-3rd-year/9749633
ICT Big Gay Market not going anywhere, hosts event for 3 years
by: Stephanie Nutt
Posted: Jun 2, 2024 / 07:19 PM CDT Updated: Jun 3, 2024 / 06:54 AM CDT
The event celebrated businesses in the LGBTQIA2S+ community.
The event included shopping, art, music, resources and in-person opportunities to help the community.
“When we have celebrations such as the Big Gay Market, it’s another place to show that we’re here and we’re not going anywhere,” said George Ibarra.
The event was from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, the second day of pride month.
Those Harvard Classes We Read About-
some more info!
Julia Ward Howe, Women in Black, & More, in Peace & Justice History for 6/9
| June 9, 1872 Julia Ward Howe, an abolitionist and the composer of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” tried to establish the Mothers’ Peace Day Observance on the second Sunday in June. In 1872 the first such celebration was held and the meetings continued for several years. Her idea was widely accepted, but she was never able to get the day recognized as an official holiday. Mothers’ Peace Day was the predecessor of the Mothers’ Day holiday in the United States now celebrated on the third Sunday of May.  Julia Ward Howe ca.1898 Her proclamation read in part: “As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, Let women now leave all that may be left of home For a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace….” |
| June 9, 1954 Special Counsel for the U.S. Army Joseph N. Welch confronted Senator Joseph P. McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) during hearings into alleged communist infiltration of the Army Signal Corps.McCarthy had attacked a member of Welch’s law firm, Frederick G. Fischer, among many others, as a communist. This was alleged due to Fischer’s prior membership in the National Lawyers Guild. The Guild was the nation’s first racially integrated bar association.  Army counsel Joseph N. Welch (l) confronts Senator Joseph McCarthy (r) Welch was outraged by the attempt to destroy the reputation and career of someone of whose integrity he had no doubt: “Until this moment, senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness . . . . Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?” The entire hearings and this encounter were seen live on television, the first congressional committee hearings ever to be broadcast. McCarthy’s ability to make such accusations was soon greatly diminished. Watch the confrontation National Lawyers Guild, since 1937 and today |
| June 9, 1984 150,000 marched in London, England, for nuclear disarmament, protesting the presence of U.S. cruise missiles on British soil. |
| June 9, 1993 Police banned a vigil by Women in Black (Zene u Crnom) in Belgrade, Serbia. Who are the Women in Black?  Women in Black demonstrations combine art & politics |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june9
Intersectionality
“Her insistence that the rights of women, people in poverty, people of color, and immigrants all be upheld within the political Left, as well as without it, left a legacy of intersectionality that was ahead of its time.”
Scottie's Playtime 