United for Justice with Peace - United for Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and community peace groups in the Greater Boston

Counter-Summit: Say No to NATO!

ujpadmin1 — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:06:12 -0400

There will be more than 50 heads of state participating in the upcoming NATO Summit in Chicago May 20-21.

The NATO Summit's agenda aims to:

Establish support for a US military presence through 2024 in Afghanistan
Commit to spending billions of dollars to arm and support over-sized Afghan security forces that are unsustainable
Reaffirm NATO as a global military alliance and preparations for “New Strategic Concept” wars like the disastrous Libyan military intervention.

The Network for a NATO-Free Future has organized the Counter-Summit for Peace and Economic Justice May 18-19. To push back against this agenda, the counter summit will offer plenary sessions and 28 workshops featuring analysis, trainings, and campaigns designed to bring the troops home, to move the money from the Pentagon to meet real human needs and to create a more peaceful, just and secure world.

If you can’t make it to Chicago, watch the conference plenaries via Livestream available here: http://bit.ly/K5KMjh. Plenaries are scheduled to begin at 9:30 Friday morning, 5:00 Friday afternoon, and 9:45 Saturday morning.

Budget for All Referendum: Let's Send a Message to Washington!

pshannon — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:05:07 -0400

The Afghanistan war grinds on, the Pentagon budget keeps growing, corporations and the 1%'ers are paying lower taxes than their secretaries, Social Security and other benefits are under attack, and next to nothing is being done to create jobs.

Instead of addressing these problems, the House of Representatives showed that it is still gripped by deficit fever when it passed the draconian Ryan budget, and gave only 78 votes to the alternative presented by the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

A coalition of community, labor, and peace groups are organizing to put a public policy question on the November ballot across Massachusetts. We need to collect 200 signatures of registered voters in each State Rep district by July 3. Join us May 6 to go over the issues and learn how to collect signatures!

The wording of the Budget for All public policy question will be:

Shall the state Representative (or Senator) from this district be instructed to vote in favor of a resolution calling upon the Congress and the President to:

1. Prevent cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans benefits, or to housing, food and unemployment assistance;

2. Create and protect jobs by investing in manufacturing, schools, housing, renewable energy, transportation and other public services;

3. Provide new revenues for these purposes and to reduce the long-term federal deficit by closing corporate tax loopholes, ending offshore tax havens, and raising taxes on incomes over $250,000; and

4. Redirect military spending to these domestic needs by reducing the military budget, ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing U.S. troops home safely now.

Free Chicago Bus Trips

ujpadmin1 — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:26:37 -0400

www.99solidarity.com

www.facebook.com/99solidarity Twitter: @99solidarity

99% Solidarity is excited to participate in nonviolent direct actions in Chicago from May 18 to 22, 2012.

We have secured buses to bring people to these actions from Boston, New York City and several other US cities.

To join a bus trip, please complete the sign up form at 99solidarity.com

The bus trip features:

Free roundtrip travel
WiFi & Movies
Meals on the bus
Housing in Chicago
Nonviolent direct action training
Protest sign material

Get ready for an unforgettable, historic weekend in Chicago

Update, May 9: 654 total signups; 51 Boston signups. First Boston bus is full and we have added a second one.

Protest against NATO & the G8

ujpadmin1 — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:06:29 -0400

Start: 2012 May 20 - 12:00pm

President Obama calls for continued war in Afghanistan through 2014 and beyond

Join the Protest against NATO & the G8 in Chicago on May 20

As occupiers, workers and peace activists were taking to the streets for the most wide-spread May Day actions in the United States in decades, President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan where he signed an agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzi to keepU.S. troops in the country till 2014 and beyond. The agreement was signed right before the NATO summit to take place in Chicago on May 20 and 21. The war on Afghanistan is officially a NATO war, so the agreement signaled to the 28 NATO member countries that, despite the international outcry against the Afghanistan War, NATO w

Fatal Flaws in Biolab Report

James Alan Fox — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:05:11 -0400

Originally published on boston.com's Crime and Punishment blog, April 24, 2012

“If you build it, they will come,” a much overused expression for just about any kind of venture, originally referred to a “Field of Dreams” ballpark in an isolated Iowa cornfield that would attract the unsettled spirits of disgraced ballplayers. In the case of the Boston University Biosafety Lab on Albany Street, which has stood for several years awaiting resolution of a controversial risk assessment, it is more like “If you open it, they may come.”

The “they” in this instance are a lot more worrisome than a bunch of ghosts with leather gloves. The “they” include nefarious folks, terrorists and saboteurs who would see the facility as a prime target for their malicious schemes.

UJP Teach-in Aims to Stop a New War in the Middle East

dmcfarland — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:15:25 -0400

UJP, Dorchester People for Peace, and the Boston University Antiwar Coalition cosponsored a teach-in on April 28 hosted by the Suffolk University Government Department at the Suffolk Law School in Boston. Entitled "New War in the Middle East? A Teach-in on Iran," the ambitious program featured two panels with several university professors, students and a public official. Following are some highlights from the afternoon.

Video of the Teach-In

The first panel was entitled, "US tensions with Iran and the possibility of a new war in the Middle East." Prof. Afshin Razani from Berkeley College in NJ provided historical context by pointing out that Western powers have been trying to control Iran at least since the discovery of oil and Iran's Constitutional Revolution over 100 years ago. Razani sees the current US effort to achieve a friendly government in Tehran as part of this long history, and this policy will continue even if the nuclear crisis is resolved. Razani also emphasized the behind the scenes power of the Iranian revolutionary guard.

Elaine Hagopian, professor emerita of Simmons College, pointed out that a defacto alliance of Iran-Syria-Hizbollah has been the main obstacle to US-Israeli expansion of influence and domination in the region, and pressure on Iran (or Syria) is an effort to break that alliance. Hagopian also touched on the importance of understanding Israel's role as a major source of tension and talk of war. Tufts physics professor Gary Goldstein gave a briefing on the technical requirements of building a nuclear bomb: the scientific and engineering expertise, raw materials, sophisticated equipment such as centrifuges, and ability to miniaturize the bomb and deliver on target by guided missiles. He might have added maintaining security from computer virus attacks and preventing assassinations of scientists. Iran's nuclear program is decades old and has made steady but slow progress; but all the evidence says a decision to build a weapon has not been made and would take considerable time to accomplish in any event.