Mother's Day for Peace action on Friday June 2nd

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Coverage in Newark Patch

BREAKING NEWS!

Given the events of today with the US administration withdrawring from the Paris Climate Change accord, the anti-war protest that was already scheduled for Newark, 4:30 pm at the MLK Monument near Old Records Hall on MLK Boulevard will also demand that US rejoin the Paris Climate Change Accord and take genuine action to reverse planetary climate change.

On June 2, 1872, Julia Ward Howe held the first “Mother’s Day” in New York City as an action to speak out about the human cost of war and to plea for peace. All these years later, her call has not yet been answered. Mothers have long been on the forefront of the peace movement; we must honor and continue their efforts to build a world where all of our children are safe and healthy.

Today the struggle is bigger than ever. Though American governments have a long history of violence and imperialism, regardless of the political party, the current administration is particularly concerning, with its instability and lack of care and diplomacy.

• NORTH KOREA: A second - and now a third - carrier is on its way and two nuclear armed submarines - typically each of which have the capability of taking out 240 cities - are among the US war fleet off the Korean peninsula.
• SAUDI ARABIA: The arming of Saudi Arabia with its latest annual round - this year $110 B of armaments including tanks, artillery, helicopters, armored carriers, combat ships, and an assortment of other advanced weapons systems. Saudi Arabia is supporting proxy forces in Syria and pressing for all out war on Iran, while conducting US supported warfare and imposing genocidal hunger on Yemen
• SYRIA: US illegal attack on Syria and its ally forces inside Syria and the attempt of US to declare "no go" zones for Syria and Syria aligned ground forces inside of Syria's borders. Reports that US of late has succeeded in the highest incidence of Syrian civilian casualties inside of Syria.
  

  
• IRAN: Incendiary rallying by Trump with his Saudi counterparts calling for all out war upon Iran and Hezbollah militias. This would effectively lead to abandonment of the Iran Deal, which everyone acknowledges has been upheld by Iran.
• AFGHANISTAN: Civilian casualties in the US-involved war in Afghanistan are at an all-time high due both to air war and unexploded ordinance on the battlefield left by all factions. Afghanistan was also the site of exploding of the $14 M MOAB bomb. The administration is currently planning another surge of US troops into Afghanistan.
• IRAQ: Civilian casualties continue to mount in Iraq with the latest reports of another massacre of over 100 Iraqi civilians from US air strikes.

In response, a coalition of New Jersey activists has been building and we invite all who care about the future of this world to join us. A variety of actions are being planned, the next of which is the “Mother’s Day For Peace” demonstration. We will gather on Friday, June 2 at 4:30 PM at the MLK Statue, MLK Blvd and 13th Ave (Near Old Records Hall) in Newark NJ, in honor of the original purpose of Mother's Day: "a call to action to improve the lives of families through health and peace."

We are gathering to demand the immediate cessation of these threats and actual acts of war escalation and specifically:

• An end to threats against Korea, a withdrawal of all US forces from the region of the Korean peninsula and the restoration of diplomacy toward the formal end of the Korean War
• An immediate end to regime change-driven Syria policy and a restoration of diplomatic pursuits toward ending the conflict there.
• The cancellation of the $110 Billion sale of armaments to Saudi Arabia and an end to US support of the US-Saudi War in Yemen
• An end to threats against Iran
• No increased US troops to Afghanistan
• The withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria
• An end to the use of drone missile strikes and targeted assassination
• Stop US support for destabilization in Venezuela and stop the increased US militarism in Africa and the Philippines

All are welcome to join us. Mothers are particularly encouraged to speak out against war and for the needs of our families and communities, but this is a struggle for people of all ages, ethnicities, abilities, religions, genders, and sexual orientations. This is part of the struggle for LGBTQIA rights, for protection of our environment and climate, for children’s educations, for health care, and for social justice of all kinds. Without peace, we can have none of the things we care about.

In keeping with the Mothers Day theme - we are offering to assist parents and care givers with coverage for their children - the site of the rally has a cul de sac around the Martin Luther King Jr. statue with an area that is a significant distance from the road.  We will have volunteers on stand by that can relieve parents, guardians and caregivers during the event.

The organizers (so far):

NJ Against US War on Syria and the Middle East

Green Party of Essex County

Green Party of Morris, Sussex, and Warren Counties

NJ Peace Action
Occupy Bergen County

Green Party of New Jersey

Rally announced in Memorial Day Op-Ed by NJ Peace Action Director Madelyn Hoffman

Recent Demonstrations Against US War Moves In NJ:

Marshall Plan: Self Delusion of US Exceptionalism

I was asked the following question by a reporter:

Good morning! I really would like to ask your comment. The US Congress published the resolution celebrating the success of the Marshall Plan. It was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, make Europe prosperous once more, and prevent the spread of communism. Modern resolution «calls upon all Americans to rededicate themselves to the ideals that inspired the Marshall Plan: international cooperation, democracy, free enterprise, and universal respect for all».

If you don’t mind I would like to ask you about your attitude to the Marshall Plan. What is your attitude towards this plan? Nowadays is it still necessary for America to promote democracy in the world and to support financially other countries? 

I also may call you if it is more convenient .Thanks in advance for your answer!

And I responded:
When the United States destroys a nation and people like it did in Iraq or in Libya - it owes unconditional reparations to the peoples - who it has slaughtered - also for the infrastructure it has destroyed. It is a debt that is never tallied nor ever paid. Instead US will use aid as a means to attempt to control what kinds of business interests allied with what political forces is put into power - not for democracy but to exert the kinds of power and control that the US intended to impose in the first place with its military might. Democracy is a word the US uses as cover to justify subterfuge, pressures, political support, military support but the real interests pursued by the US include resources, cheap labor market, consumer base, political, strategic and military ends including basing and other means to extend the US imperial reach,

There is nothing wrong with richer nations providing genuine assistance to other peoples and nations in need but it is never without a price when the US is providing such assistance - it is always with ulterior motives.

The US should also provide such assistance domestically to meet the full needs of its own people - including recovery and support for Puerto Rico, restoration of water at FLint and other cities around the nation, full funding for schools, single payer health. These aspects should be universal but should also be domestically provided but instead resources are expended on military extension of power and other means to extend power and maintenance of an imbalance where a very infinitesimal part of the US and world population controls most of the wealth and an overwhelming majority of world must suffer for a bare existence.

Marshall Plan would be ok if it was motivated by peace and well being and a true spirit of world cooperation. It is obvious to most of the people of the world that is not the case.. It is US exceptionalism that allows the powerful in the US to maintain its self delusion that it is with benevolent purpose, as opposed to as a means of extending empire and power - that US aid is provided to other nations and peoples.