Nuclear weapons and their legacy are not as far in the past as I grew up believing. I learned this a few weekends ago after attending a workshop put on by Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility about nuclear weapons and their history in Washington State. The Marshall Islands, where the U.S. conducted 67 nuclear weapons tests between 1948 to 1956, is among the communities that continues to feel the impacts of Cold War-era military action. Learning about U.S. involvement in the Marshall Islands made me realize how many interconnections there are between nuclear war and social justice issues. The reproductive health outcomes of Marshallese women are still poor, even 62 years after the last bomb was tested. Cancer is the number two cause of death, with thyroid, cervical, and breast cancer being most prominent amongst women. Yet there are no permanent oncologists anywhere on the Marshall Islands. Pregnancies often end in stillbirths, miscarriages, and birth defects commonly referred to as “jellyfish babies.” Along with poor health outcomes, there are also many barriers to accessing healthcare for the Marshallese. Under a treaty known as a Compact of Free Association, COFA, Marshallese citizens are allowed to work and live in the United States without a visa. However, despite paying taxes, Marshallese citizens are barred from accessing Medicaid and Medicare under current federal law. Only those who receive health insurance through their workplace have access to care, and only very few have that opportunity. States can pass legislation that adds immigrants under COFA back into state Medicaid and Medicare programs. As of March 2018, only Oregon, Hawaii, and Washington State had passed any such legislation. As someone interested in reproductive health, it has been deeply troubling to learn about this through my participation in the workshop and subsequent research. It has become clear to me that more emphasis needs to be put on the cultural history and legacy of a population when serving in the healthcare field. The folks that tend to slip through the cracks of systems are the ones professionals have the least cultural knowledge of. Written by Hannah PetersHannah is a Western Washington University student and current militarism research intern at WPJC Local diversity, cultural and bias awareness trainer Kim Harris, M.Ed., is conducting a workshop at the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center titled, “The Mind/Society Connection: How Starbucks, Yale, Fresh Kitchen and Police incidences are symptomatic of society’s biases.” The five learning objectives for this workshop are: to comprehend the definition of bias, analyze and discuss recent incidences of bias as evidenced by the news and on social media, understand racial bias research based on industry specialists, analyze and discuss participants' own biases (based on a pre-workshop assignment) and to learn de-biasing tools and resources for further growth and exploration.
The workshop will be held on Tuesday, July 17 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center located at 1220 Bay Street, Bellingham. The cost is $10 per entry and space is limited so make your online reservation today at the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center website here: http://www.whatcompjc.org/working-toward-racial-equity.html Kim Harris, M.Ed., is a professional Whatcom County cultural, bias-awareness and diversity trainer. She has a master’s degree in education from Western Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in humanities from the University of California at Berkeley. For more information on diversity, cultural and bias awareness training for your organization visit: http://DistinctiveVoiceConsulting.blogspot.com Letter sent to Washington State Congressional delegation on May 8:
We are Washington residents and Washington organizations joining with Washington Freedom to Boycott because of our grave concerns about the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, S. 720 and H.R. 1697. These bills are part of a concerted campaign to suppress criticism of Israeli policies and to condemn the grassroots Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement. Even in their amended forms, these bills would have a chilling impact and possible serious consequences for our freedoms of speech and action. Whatever your views on Israel, Palestine, or the BDS movement, we urge you not to support or vote for any anti-boycott measure that threatens our right to take collective action against injustice. The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that boycotts are a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. From the boycott of British tea in 1773 to the boycott of segregated buses in 1956 and beyond, boycott campaigns have a long and proud history in social justice and civil rights movements in the U.S. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement is a grassroots campaign to gain equal rights for Palestinians and to pressure Israel to abide by international humanitarian law. While BDS is modeled after the South African boycott and thus calls for broad boycotts against Israeli institutions, nothing in it calls for discrimination against individuals solely because of their national origin, religion, or ethnicity. S. 720 seeks to prohibit boycotts called by foreign governments or government entities. BDS is not a governmental entity. It is a call to action issued by a group of individuals and civilian associations. However, S.720 specifically defines the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) as a governmental organization. As a result, anyone who boycotts any of the Israeli products the UNHCR has listed could be subject to the penalties delineated in the 1979 Export Administration Act as referenced by S. 720. Despite arguments to the contrary, S. 720 and H.R. 1697 can be used to target individuals. Their terminology of “domestic concern” can be interpreted to mean a corporation, a church, a sole proprietorship, or even an individual participating in an organization. Although the amended version of S. 720 has removed the possibility of a prison sentence, the bill still threatens a fine for noncompliance and therefore unconstitutionally threatens protected boycott actions. These anti-boycott measures are not standing up to legal and other scrutiny. In Dickinson, Texas, the City Council had to reverse its position on aid to individual hurricane victims after a national outcry about how a Texas anti-BDS law was being applied. The ACLU has mounted lawsuits on behalf of a Kansas teacher and an Arizona lawyer who have been negatively impacted by anti-BDS legislation in their respective states. On January 30, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the Kansas anti-BDS law that calls for contractors to certify that they are not engaged in boycotting Israel, saying that “the Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment protects the right to participate in a boycott like the one punished by the Kansas law.” Brian Hauss, ACLU attorney, stated, “The court has rightly recognized the serious First Amendment harms being inflicted by this misguided law...This ruling should serve as a warning to government officials around the country that the First Amendment prohibits the government from suppressing participation in political boycotts.” We ask that you refuse to sign, sponsor, endorse or vote for any form of anti-BDS or anti-boycott legislation. Please stand firm in support of our constitutional rights and freedoms. Respectfully, Washington Freedom to Boycott Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites Council on American-Islamic Relations of Washington State (CAIR) Episcopal Bishop’s Committee for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land (Diocese of Olympia) Evergreen Students for Justice in Palestine Freedom Socialist Party International Trauma Treatment Program Jewish Voice for Peace – Seattle Jewish Voice for Peace - Tacoma Kairos Puget Sound Coalition Northwest Detention Center Resistance Northwest Regional BDS Coalition Occupation Free Seattle Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace Pacific Rim Solidarity Network (PARISOL) Palestine Solidarity Committee - Seattle Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane Peace Justice and Healing - Tacoma Race & Climate Justice – Seattle Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice Radical Women Rising Tide - Seattle Seattle Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (Seattle CISPES) Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SeaMAC) Stop Veolia – Seattle Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Antioch University – Seattle Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights - University of Washington (SUPER-UW) United for Peace of Pierce County Vancouver for Peace Veterans for Peace - Greater Seattle Chapter 92 Veterans for Peace – Rachel Corrie Chapter 109 Voices for Palestine Washington Fair Trade Coalition Whatcom Human Rights Task Force Whatcom Peace and Justice Center The Whatcom Peace & Justice Center is now accepting applications for summer interns. We have three positions: nonviolence, communications, and militarism research. Interns will be expected to put in an average of 4-7 hours per week through September 2018 and attend a weekly intern meeting, though scheduling is flexible. Internships are unpaid.
Interns will gain experience in nonprofit management and community organizing, will learn about local and international issues, and may get to know Bellingham and Whatcom County through new eyes. There will be ample opportunity to shape your internship experience. Background experience in living/studying critical race theory, legal work, social inequality, community organizing, media, fundraising, and/or event planning will be helpful, as will a growth mindset. Please email office@whatcompjc.org to request an application. About WPJC: The Whatcom Peace & Justice Center works to create a voice for peace and social justice in Whatcom County through partnerships with local community and religious organizations, direct action, public witness, and education on alternatives to violence and war. We call on our government and society to disavow policies of violence and seek a culture of peace. By Matteo Tamburini, WPJC Board Member In the midst of horrible news from Gaza, the ongoing tensions with North Korea, the rise of neo-fascist and anti-immigrant movements throughout Europe (especially in my other home country, Italy), and the ongoing string of racist incidents, including the epidemic of police officers killing unarmed Black people, in this country, I would like to focus on John Oliver, darling of a certain subset of Progressives. His TV show, “Last Week Tonight,” which often offers insightful analysis on commentary on recent events, had a piece on Venezuela on May 13 (watch below) dedicated to mocking the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, and apparently absolving the United States of any responsibility for the current crisis in Venezuela. Around 14 minutes into the segment, Oliver says: “America has undoubtedly done some awful things in Central and South America. We backed coup attempts, juntas and atrocities in Chile, Argentina and Guatemala but refreshingly, what is happening in Venezuela is actually not our fault.” As any even casual observer of history knows, the United States has done a lot more, and much worse throughout its history. Since Mr. Oliver and his famously thorough research team apparently don’t know hardly anything about U.S. involvement in Latin America, I will offer a very incomplete syllabus for further investigation below. Let’s start from Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), a United States Marine Corps major general, who at the time of his death was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. He is famously quoted as saying: "I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. " Let’s follow up on a list of U.S. interventions after World War 2. Nicaragua: The United States supported the Somoza dictatorship until 1979, then funded the Contras to attack the Sandinista government, along the way selling cocaine in the United States while the CIA and DEA looked the other way. This also conveniently provided President Reagan with a pretext to wage a disastrous “war on drugs” against Black people in the United States. Our support for the Contras was condemned by the International Court of Justice in 1986, and then our government vetoed two UN Security Council resolutions calling for the ICJ decision to be upheld. Guatemala: After orchestrating the overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz (on behalf of the United Fruit Company), the United States then supported a genocidal campaign that claimed the lives of well over 200,000 indigenous people. https://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/migrate/uploads/mos_en.pdf Bolivia: The United States was the major foreign backer of the dictatorial regime of René Barrientos, who seized power in a 1964 military coup. The CIA and U.S. Special Forces played a key role in suppressing a leftist peasant uprising that followed, including the 1967 murder of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, a key leader in the movement. El Salvador: The United States funded and supported the slaughter of thousands during the Salvadoran Civil War, including many catholic priests and nuns, most prominent among them the archbishop Oscar Romero (killed in 1980), victims of people trained at the “School of the Americas” (look it up). Brasil: The United States supported the 1964 coup that overthrew Joao Goulart and led to a 20-year military dictatorship. Haiti: Don’t get me started. Let’s just leave it at the forcible removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. And then read up on how white elites in the United States have always been terrified of a country that arose from a successful revolt of African people who had been enslaved. Cuba: Our embargo has been denounced at the United Nations General Assembly every year almost unanimously. Dominican Republic: The United States government supported Rafael Trujillo, whose 31 years in power are considered one of the bloodiest eras ever in the Americas. Honduras: The Obama administration supported the coup in Honduras that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya in 2009 Venezuela: Perhaps not irrelevant context for the rest of his story, Oliver failed to mention that the United States supported the coup in Venezuela that temporarily overthrew Hugo Chavez in 2002. Given the United States’ record (of which the list above is a woefully incomplete snapshot, and certainly does not come close to properly accounting for the atrocities and horrors visited on millions of innocent men women and children), and the role that the media have historically played in demonizing foreign leaders when their agendas run afoul of the economic interests of our domestic elites, I would like to suggest that at the very least John Oliver and his researchers owe themselves and their viewers a second history lesson. On Monday, May 21, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center (1220 Bay Street) will host a presentation by three Fairhaven College students who each spent last school year traveling and learning internationally. Their projects focused on refugee communities in Greece, farming practices in the Andes mountains, and skateboard cultures in Guangzhou, China, Cape Town, and Seoul. The three presenters, Alia Taqieddin, Zi Zhang, and Grace Coffey, are students at Western Washington University. They were recipients of Fairhaven College’s Adventure Learning Grant in 2016-2017. This grant allows three students annually to challenge their perspectives, enrich their education, expose themselves to intellectual risk, and help embody challenge and adventure as integral to a Fairhaven education. Grantees receive a $20,000 stipend to travel internationally. Alia Taqieddin is in her final quarter at WWU. She is a student of Community Health, and is currently completing an interdisciplinary concentration at Fairhaven College. This quarter, she is student-teaching a Fairhaven course entitled “The Syrian Refugee Crisis.” Alia was awarded the Adventure Learning Grant for the 2016-2017 school year to explore community health and resistance to occupation in the West Bank of Palestine. After having to change her plans unexpectedly, she lived and worked in central Athens alongside an international community during what has come to be known as the European Refugee Crisis. Despite being in a geographically different location than her original proposal, Alia found that resistance, home, and memory still emerged as central themes throughout her months in Greece. Zi Zhang’s interdisciplinary concentration is called “Urban Sustainability” and focuses on Urban Planning, Design, and Global Issues. He engaged in participant observation of skateboard cultures in Cape Town, South Africa, Guangzhou, China, and Seoul, South Korea. Grace Coffey is a Fairhaven and Huxley student studying agriculture and Urban Planning (but not urban agriculture). She has devoted much of her life in Bellingham battling blackberries in the Outback Farm and has journeyed through some corners of the world volunteering on farms. Her other very varied interests include bread baking, ceramics, blues dancing, housing issues, Harry Potter, trees, and climate justice. Over the course of a year, Grace traveled down through the Andes Mountains. In Medellin, Colombia, she experienced the city’s innovative urban planning while volunteering in informal settlements. She lived in a rural isolated community on the border of Ecuador and Colombia for three months, teaching English and learning about rural economies and agriculture. In Chile, she experienced urban planning and life in Valparaiso, then lived and worked on a small dairy farm. Finally, in the high mountains of Peru, she was welcomed into indigenous Quechua farming life. The presentation is open to the public. For language interpretation and disability accommodations, please contact: office@whatcompjc.org or 360-734-0217. The Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, located at 1220 Bay Street in downtown Bellingham, works to create a voice for peace and social justice in Whatcom County through partnerships with local community and religious organizations, direct action, public witness, and education on alternatives to violence and war. We call on our government and society to disavow policies of violence and seek a culture of peace. |
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