OMNI NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT NEWSLETTER #1. By Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace. 2-28-12.
My blog: War Department/Peace Department
Newsletters:
Index:
Peace, Justice, Ecology Birthdays
Here is the link to all OMNI newsletters:
http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/ For a knowledge-based peace, justice, and ecology movement and an informed citizenry as the foundation for change.
NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT
Dick Bennett
A central tenet of behavioral psychology is that people are what they do. Publics therefore can be conditioned to behave in certain ways by having them act in those ways. We are nurtured by our family and church and school to accept or reject the options we encounter. Gradually by repetition we become the persons we are Indoctrination is so successful a method of training that it works even in short periods if intense enough.
The most obvious example is military basic training, where recruits are transformed in a short time from their family and religious values to warrior values, including killing. Reinforcement by group repetition of actions is fundamental to this psychology. Have the recruits march, sing, salute, shoot together and soon they will be changed into warriors.
But that success would be more difficult had it not been prepared for. The nation prepares its youth for war in many ways. Year after year, the nation memorializes its wars and warriors. The national anthem is played and sung, the US
A task of the peace movement is to jam the promotion of armed force without ourselves possessing the mountains of Pentagon wealth.
One way is to focus on National and International Days. Thanks largely to the United Nations, our nation recognizes the many Days devoted to nonviolent peace and justice—International Women’s Day, Nuclear Victims Day, World Water Day, Political Prisoner Day. These Days are already celebrated by the peace and justice movement, and their affirmation should be increased. But many of the National Days—such as Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day—uncritically celebrate the military as an institution and all of its soldiers. We must try to reverse this practice. We must redefine these martial days.
Step by step. We can change the rituals that reinforce the patriotism of armed force or are complicit in violence. We can do that. In fact, it is already being done. Groups have called for a re-naming of Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day and Memorial Day as a Day of Mourning. We can re-name and re-envision all of the National Days that encourage nationalism, violence, and wars. Here’s how it is done:
Feb. 14: Standing on the Side of Love Day (formerly Valentine’s Day)
May, 2nd Sunday: Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace (Mother’s Day)
3rd Sat. in May: Peace Movement Day (Armed Forces Day)
May, last Monday: Day of Mourning for Victims of Wars (Memorial Day)
June 14: Liberty
June, 3rdSunday: Father’s Day for Peace (Father’s Day)
September 11 (9-11): Peaceful Tomorrows Day (Patriot Day)
Oct., 2nd Monday: Indigenous Peoples Day (Columbus Day):
Nov. 11: World Unity Day (Veterans Day) (Or back to Armistice Day in 1918 when WWI ended).
November: Fourth Thursday: National Day of Gratitude and Atonement (Thanksgiving)
December 7: Pacific Colonial War Day (Pearl Harbor Day)
December 25: Love and Peacemaking Day (Christmas)
It’s a two pronged structural approach to peace and justice: promoting the Days of peace and justice; reconstituting those that justify armed force.
The National Days Project is an activity of the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology located in Fayetteville , Arkansas
and the Blog, “It's the War Department,” http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/, scroll down to the latest Index).
Other actions are under way and being added. Of course, we celebrate all Days that support people of our planet—World Refugees Day, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Days, International Justice Day (ICC), International Day of Peace--, for which we make available chronological and topical lists. And for several of these Days we have arranged public actions. For example, our annual Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance began in the 1970s. For International Day of Peace, in cooperation with the City we display national flags around the city square. The essential point is the persistent repetition. And at very little financial cost.
But particularly important are the Days re-envisioned and reversed. Here, for example, Columbus Day is challenged by Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Day activities on the campus of the University of Arkansas
Engage in the revisioning with us. Join the National Days Project.
Dick Bennett, Founder
Home: 2582 Jimmie Ave.
jbennet@uark.edu; 479-442-4600
National interest in the NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT
Dick was invited twice to Montgomery College Washington , D. C. to tell about the project. They were already celebrating the UN International Day for Peace, and were keenly interested in the idea of converting some of the national days from support for wars to advocacy for peace.
Praise for the NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT
“The reason I've contacted you is because Barbara Harmony, one of my good friends, has sent me the OMNI newsletter that has your article about ways of turning normally-celebrated American holidays into holidays to celebrate PEACE. This is a wonderful idea. Being an artist, my suggestion, naturally enough, is to use art to promote your peace-holidays theme. I actually have a brand new painting that might work well for whatever Flag Day celebration people are doing. It is titled "Green America
END NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT NEWSLETTER #1
Sent to Web Site
OMNI NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT NEWSLETTER #2, SEPTEMBER 26, 2012. By Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace. (#1 2-28-12).
My blog: War Department/Peace Department
Newsletters:
Index:
Peace, Justice, Ecology Birthdays
See INMOtion
Here is the link to all OMNI newsletters:
http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/ For a critical, knowledge-based peace, justice, and ecology movement and an informed, independently thinking citizenry as the foundation for change.
NATIONAL and INTERNATIONAL DAYS, WEEKS AND MONTHS
Nations are composed, sustained, and controlled symbol and myth systems and sub-systems. US
The country’s national and international days are one more conditioning mechanism for national unity. Naturally and properly the peace, justice, and ecology movement endeavors to ensure the presence of its values in these, and all, national structures. This is concrete action to preserve or change national direction and choice.
*Items distinguished by an asterisk are dubiously celebrated days, calling for analysis and perhaps even alternative days.
(Items in parenthesis are important days but not national days.)
The list is incomplete and should be considered as a work in progress. Let me know of additional National Days and Months.
RE-ENVISIONED, RENAMED DAYS,
Feb. 14 Standing on the Side of Love Day (formerly Valentine’s Day) (from UUSC, turning VD into a Day for social justice)
May, 2nd Sunday: Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace (formerly Mother’s Day)
May 21, 2011: Peace Movement Day (Armed Forces Day) (3rdSat. in May)
May, last Monday: Day of Mourning for Victims of Wars (Memorial Day)
June 14: Liberty
June, 3rdSunday: Father’s Day for Peace (Father’s Day)
September 11 (9-11): Peaceful Tomorrows Day (Patriot Day)
Oct. 2nd Monday: Indigenous Peoples Day (Columbus Day):
Nov. 11: Unity Day: (Veterans Day)
November: Fourth Thursday: National Day of Gratitude and Atonement (Thanksgiving)
December 7: Pacific Colonial World War II Day (Pearl Harbor Day)
December 25: Love and Peacemaking Day (Christmas)
ALL DAYS CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Aug. 29: International Day Against Nuclear Testing
February: Black History Month
February 2: UN World Wetlands Day
Feb. 4: UN Torture Abolition Day
Feb. 14: Standing on the Side of Love Day (Valentine’s Day)
March: Women’s History Month
March 1: Nuclear Victims Day, Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Day, Marshall
March 8: UN International Women’s Day (see: Aug. 26)
Mid March; Sunshine Week (coincides with Nat’l Freedom o f Information Day on March 16, birthday of James Madison)
3rd Monday in March (in Arkansas
March 19: US Invaded Iraq
Mar. 22: UN World Water Day
March 30: Global BDS Day and Palestinian Land
April: Asian Awareness Month
April 16-20: National End Racial Profiling Week
April 17: Equal Pay Day (for women; see August 26)
April 17: Political Prisoner Day (Palestinian: Prisoner Day)
April 18: Tax Day protest corporate tax evasion
April 22: Earth Day, Springfest; UN International Mother Earth Day
April 26: International Day of Action for a Nuclear-Free Future (2011 25thChernobyl
May 1: May Day, International Workers Day
Law Day
May every first Thursday: National Day of Prayer (see: June 15)
May 3: World Press Freedom Day
May, 2nd Sunday: Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace (Mother’s Day)
May 3? 5?: National Day of Reason
May 15: International Conscientious Objectors Day
May 21, 2011(3rdSat. in May): Peace Movement Day (Armed Forces Day)
May, last Monday: Day of Mourning for All Victims of Wars (Memorial Day)
June: Torture Awareness Month
June 2: Nuclear Abolition Day
June 4: UN International Day for Children Victims of Aggression
June 8: UN World Oceans Day
June 14: Liberty
June 15: International Peace Prayer Day
June, 3rd Sunday: Fathers Day for Peace (Father’s Day)
June 17: UN International Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
June 19th: Juneteenth
June 20: UN World Refugees Day
June 26: UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims
Fourth of July: July 4, Independence Day
July 17: UN International Justice Day (ICC)
July 18: Mandela Day
August: Nuclear Free Future Month (NuclearFreeFuture.org)
August 1: Ramadan Begins
Aug. 6 & 9: Hiroshima Nagasaki
August 10: Victims of Agent Orange Commemoration Day
(This is a Vietnam National Day, but the US should mark the Day too, for it reminds us of US
August 16: International Homeless Animals Day, Mexican Independence Day
August 26: Women’s Equality Day (women win vote, 19th Amendment Ratified), 19th Amendment Day
August 28: Trail of Tears Day (1838)
August 29: UN International Day Against Nuclear Tests
September: Hunger Action Month
September, 1stMonday: Labor Day
September 5, National Jury Rights Day (FIJA.org)
September 11 (9-11): 9-11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Day (Patriot Day)
September 12: International Interdependence Day
September 15, 17 (1821): Central America Independence Day
Sept. 17: Constitution Day
Sept. 21: UN International Day of Peace
Sept., Last week: Banned Books Week
October: National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Vegetarian Awareness Month
October. First week: Keep Space For Peace Week
Oct. 1: Vegetarian Day
Oct., 4thSaturday: Make a Difference Day
Oct. 2nd Monday: Indigenous Peoples Day (Columbus Day):
Oct. 11: National Coming Out Day
Oct. 12: World Hunger Day
Oct. 13: World Sight Day
Oct. 16: World Food Day
Oct. 20: International Credit Union Day
Oct. 24: UN Day
Oct. 28: National Immigrant’s Day/Statue of Liberty Birthday (1886)
Oct. 31: UNICEF Day
Nov. 9-16: International Week against the Israeli Wall in the West Bank (see Nov. 29)
Nov. 11: Unity Day (Veterans Day), People’s Charter for Nonviolence
November: Fourth Thursday: Day of Gratitude and Atonement (Thanksgiving)
Nov. 20: UN Universal Children’s Day (Bill of Rights for Children)
November 25, Day after Thanksgiving: Buy Nothing Day
Nov. 25: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
Nov. 29: (UN) International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
December 1: Nobel Peace Prize Awarded
December 1: UN World AIDS Day
December 7: Pacific Colonial WWII (Pearl Harbor Day)
December 10: Human Rights Day
Dec. 15: Bill of Rights Day
Dec. 20, 2011: Hanukkah (changes every year)
Dec. 25: Love and Peacemaking Day (Christmas)
Dec. 26: Kwanzaa
NATIONAL DAYS, WEEKS, MONTH PROPOSED
ALPHABETICAL ORDER
[Entries in boldhave been or will be given an alternative. Items with asterisk under consideration for alternative day.]
Arbor Day (Arkansas
Armed Forces Day (Peace Movement Day) : May 21
Asian Awareness Month: April
(Beginning of Sit-ins-Civil Rights: Feb. 1, 1960)
Bill of Rights Day: Dec. 15
Black History Month: Feb.
Banned Books Week: Last week in Sept.
Buy Nothing Day: Nov., 4thFriday
Christmas (Love and Peacemaking Day): Dec. 25
Columbus Day (Indigenous People of the Americas
Constitution Day: Sept. 17
Domestic Violence Month: Oct.
Earth Day: April 22
*Father’s Day: June, 3rdSunday
Flag Day: May 26
*Fourth of July: July 4
Freedom of Information Day, March 16 (birthday of James Madison) (see World Press Freedom Day)
(Gandhi’s Birthday: Oct. 2)
Genocide and Human Rights Awareness Month: April (Florida Holocaust Museum
Global Day Against Military Spending: April 12
Hanukkah: Dec. or November. 2011: Dec. 20; 2012: Dec. 8; 2013: Nov. 27; 2014: Dec. 16
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Days: Aug. 6 and 9
Human Rights Day: Dec. 10
Indigenous People’s Day: Oct, 2nd Monday (alternative to Columbus Day)
UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women: Nov. 25
UN International Day of Peace: Sept. 21
UN International Justice Day: July 17
International Peace Prayer Day: June 15
UN International Day Against Nuclear Testing: Aug. 29
UN International Women’s Day: March 8
(these Internat. Days need checking, and more probably exist)
Israeli Apartheid Week: March 7-20
Juneteenth: June 19
Kwanzaa: Dec. 26
Labor Day: Sept., First Monday
Law Day: May 1
May Day: May 1
Mother’s Day, Julia Ward Howe’s MD for Peace: May, 2nd Sunday
Mourning Day (last Monday of May) (Memorial Day, formerly Armistice Day)
National Coming Out Day: Oct. 11
*National Day of Prayer: May, 1st Thursday (inter-faith)
National Freedom of Information Day March 16th (see: Sunshine Week)
National Immigrants Day;
Nuclear Victims Day: Mar. 1
Make a Difference Day: October, 4th Sat.
*Patriot Day: 9-11 (see: Peaceful Tomorrows)
Peaceful Tomorrows Day: 9-11 (Patriot Day)
*Pearl Harbor Day: Dec. 7 (Pacific Colonial WWII Day)
(Remembering Dresden
Space for Peace Week: October, first week
Springfest: April
Standing on the Side of Love Day: Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day)
Sunshine Week: March (see Nat. Freedom of Info. Day 3-16 and World Press Freedom Day May 3)
Tax Day: April 18
*Thanksgiving: Nov: 4thThursday
Torture Awareness Month: June
United Nations Day: Oct. 24
UNICEF Day: Oct. 31
*(Valentine’s Day: Feb. 14) see: Standing on the Side of Love Day
Vegetarian Day: Oct. 1
*VE Day
*VJ Day
*Veterans Day: November, 4thweek
Women’s History Month: March (see: Internat. Women’s Day)
(UN) World Environment Day, June 5
(UN) World Food Day: Oct. 16
(UN) World Hunger Day: Oct. 12
(UN) World Press Freedom Day: May 3 (see Freedom of Information Day, March 16)
(UN) World Vegetarian Week May 18-24
(UN) World Water Day: March 22
Other Special Days (virtually endless of course)
Robert Kennedy assassinated June 5, 1968
NATIONAL DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS
ALPHABETICAL ORDER: ANNOTATED
The Pentagon, with its $600 billion, hundreds of billions more for wars, and tens of billions for nuclear weapons, relentlessly drives its agenda of militarism and empire. Against it, the peace movement is like the Chinese dissident confronting the tank in Tiananmen Square (1989). We have that power. But we can be better. We can be more consistently persistent in reinforcing the institutions for peace and justice and rejecting the structures of the warfare state. One way is to consistently strengthen those national and international Days, Weeks, and Months that affirm life through nonviolence, and to refuse those that support killing, oppression, and exploitation.
Fortunately, greatly thanks to the United Nations, many DAYS celebrate and sustain life. Scan down this list to see this good news quickly. These DAYS shore up people’s nonviolent opposition to the corporate-military-congressional-executive-imperial complex. In contrast, some days serve militarism and empire. Our task here is to mobilize a campaign of counter-values until the hold of the warfare/security obsession becomes negligible. Our ultimate goal is to eliminate violent values by replacing their social structures each with a new name and set of values. Thus, Columbus Day becomes Indigenous People’s Day, Mother’s Day becomes Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace, Veteran’s Day becomes Unity Day, and Patriot’s Day becomes Peaceful Tomorrows, each accompanied by historical analysis of the old and a rationale for the new. These Days are printed in bold. Several other days, indicated by an asterisk, are old days now called into question.
The NATIONAL DAYS PROJECT welcomes your suggestions and comment, and we seek a new coordinator. (Latest revision 4-12-11.) Dick
Asian Awareness Month: April
A time to become informed about US alliances with autocracies and with democracies.
Bill of Rights Day: Dec. 15
Celebration of the liberties which are asserted there and are frequently under attack.
Black History Month: Feb.
Includes birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Celebrates the gains in civil rights of blacks and reaffirmation of the struggle.
Banned Books Week: Last week in Sept.
Freedom to Read as essential to an informed citizenry as a cornerstone of a democracy.
Buy Nothing Day: Nov., 4thFriday
Protest against the commodification of everything by US
Christmas: Dec. 25
Time to reflect upon the meaning of Jesus as peacemaker.
Constitution Day: Sept. 17
A day to learn about the Constitution, its Bill of Rights, its government by laws, including treaties.
(Demonstrate for Peace: March 19, invasion of Iraq 2003. This day of infamy remembered.)
Domestic Violence Month: Oct.
National self-examination of its violence in its homes and its foreign wars.
Earth Day: April 22
Earth Daywas founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 to celebrate the land and all species.
Father’s Day: June, 3rdSunday
True masculinity is explored, the importance of caring fathers and of a society that supports families.
*Flag Day: May 26
A day to study the true meaning of nationalism and patriotism.
*Fourth of July: July 4
What should the 4thof July signify? What does it lead to? What should be our national song? A pledge of allegiance of a peaceful nation?
Freedom of Information Day, March 16 (birthday of James Madison)
(Gandhi’s Birthday: Oct. 2: Special day to focus on nonviolent resistance. All birthdays of great peace and justice heroes are part of our National Days. See HEROES on our web site.)
Global Day Against Military Spending: April 12
With the Pentagon budget $600 billion, not including the wars and nuclear weapons development, this day reminds us to demand conversion from the wars and the militarized economy to an economy for human needs.
World Sight Day: Oct. 13
Over 35 million people are affected by river blindness, the world's second leading infectious cause of blindness, throughout the developing world. On World Sight Day this Thursday, October 13, support Sightsavers -- an international organization working with partners in developing countries to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. Just last year they supported the training of over 20,000 community volunteers to distribute the medication that protects people from river blindness and successfully treated over 23 million people.
Hanukkah: Dec. or November. 2011: Dec. 20; 2012: Dec. 8; 2013: Nov. 27; 2014: Dec. 16. How might this day best be celebrated for peace?
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Days: Aug. 6 and 9, 1945
To remember the victims of the bombs, and the consequences of the nuclear arms race that began that week.
Human Rights Day: Dec. 10
Celebration of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
*Indigenous People’s Day: Oct, 2nd Monday
An alternative to the hemispheric genocide that began with Columbus
(UN) International Conscientious Objector’s Day: May 15
(UN) International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women: Nov. 25. A day to reaffirm our struggle to defend women against their abusers and the social structures that permit them.
(UN) International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression: June 4
The purpose of the day is to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. This day affirms the UN's commitment to protect the rights of children.
(UN) International Justice Day: July 17
To educate populations and governments about the International Criminal Court.
(UN)International Day of Peace: Sept. 21
A UN sponsored celebration of a world without wars.
(UN) International Peace Prayer Day: June 15
For the religious, a day to focus spirituality to strengthen peace.
(UN) International Day Against Nuclear Testing: Aug. 29
The goal is the elimination of nuclear weapons, but in the meantime we must restrain their development.
(UN)International Day of the Disappeared: August 30
(UN)International Day of Interdependence: September 12
(UN)International Justice Day: July 17
(UN)International Migrants Day: December 18
(UN)International Women’s Day: March 8
Celebration of equity for women, the foundation of the feminist movement..
Israeli Apartheid Week: March 7-20
Commitment to a separate Palestinian West Bank/Gaza
Juneteenth: June 19
Celebrating the end of the Civil War and legal slavery.
Kwanzaa: Dec. 26
Harvest festival Dec. 26-Jan. 1 celebrated by some African-Americans.
Labor Day: Sept., First Monday
Labor unions now represent less than 10% of working people in US, leaving each worker to fend for herself/himself. Join a union!
Law Day: May 1
To celebrate the US
Make a Difference Day: October, 4th Sat.
This Day has focused on local, small good deeds. It needs more emphasis upon the significant matters—corporate crime, militarization, onrushing climate change. Make a difference on national problems.
MI suffered from over 60 hydrogen bomb tests.
May Day: May 1
International workers’ day.
*Memorial Day: Last Monday in May
Decoration Day to remember relatives and loved ones dead, a beneficial practice surely. It has also become a Day especially to remember members of the armed forces killed in war, not beneficial if it overlooks the injustice of most US
Military Toxics Week (see Human Costs….)
Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day for Peace: May, 2nd Sunday
A return to the purpose of the original Mother’s Day.
National Coming Out Day: Oct. 11
The GLBTQ Movement for equity, like the Civil Rights and Women’s Rights movements, is one of the great achievements of our democracy.
*National Day of Inter-Faith Prayer: May, 1st Thursday
Originally a Christian event, the day is becoming more inclusive, recognizing the many faiths that constitute the USA
National Freedom of Information Day March. 16th (see: Sunshine Week)
The Freedom of Information Act (and acts in individual states) is another major achievement by and for our democracy, for secrecy is anathema to government by the people.
National Immigrants Day, October 28
A nation of immigrants commemorates all immigrants who have made significant contributions to our country
Human Costs of Military Toxics WEEK 6/15-6/23
Nuclear Victims Day
This Day, to draw attention to nuclear weapons and energy, is not firmly established. Perhaps the first test date would be appropriate. See google.
*Peaceful Tomorrows: 9-11
Naming 9-11 Patriot Day is unacceptable, since it 9-11 resulted in significantly diminished domestic liberties and the illegal invasion of several countries. We have replaced it with “Peaceful Tomorrows,” in honor of September Eleventh Families for a PeacefulTomorrows, a compassionate advocacy organization founded by family members ofmen and women killed by the destruction of the NYC towers
*Pearl Harbor Day: Dec. 7
Considerable scholarship explains WWII in the Pacific as a colonial, racist war with divided guilt. Let the peace and justice movement remember it thusly.
Space for Peace Week: October, first week
A week of resistance against US
Sunshine Week: March 13-19
A week to celebrate the citizens’ Need to Know, Freedom of Information, Freedom of Information Act. See Nat. Freedom of Info. Day 3-16 and World Press Freedom Day May 3.
Tax Day: April 18
*Thanksgiving: Nov: 4thThursday
The peace, justice, and ecology movement can lift this Day from its traditional family, local dimension to include world families.
United Nations Day: Oct. 24
Celebrating humankind’s greatest imaginative leap for peace and justice, for global caring, and for stopping wars..
UNICEF Day: Oct. 31
One of many UN activities, UNICEF for the children of the world.
*Unity Day: November, 4th week
Originally Armistice Day marking the end of WWI, now as Veterans Day wrongly commemorating all veterans and therefore all wars. The better name is Unity Day, for which there is growing sentiment.
Valentines Day: Feb. 14
This Day to celebrate affection has been largely commodified. The pj movement can and should rescue it with meaningful goals.
Vegetarian Day: Oct. 1 (see May 18)
Opposing killing is the rock bottom of the peace and justice movement. But in addition to this ethical foundation for Veg DAY, we can add health and climate change.
*VE Day, Victory in Europe Day: August 15, 1945.
For many of us in the pj movement this is the only legal war the US
*VJ Day, Victory Over Japan Day (see Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7)
Women’s History Month: March (see: Internat. Women’s Day)
The long struggle for equity and rights for women is celebrated.
(UN) World Aids Day: December 1
(UN) World Food Day: Oct. 16
The need for global, cooperative, sustainable agriculture is signaled today.
(UN) World Hunger Day: Oct. 12
(UN) World Population Day: July 11
(UN) World Poverty Day (see: International Day for the Eradication of)
(UN) World Press Freedom Day: May 3 (see Sunshine Week, March 13)
The Freedom of Information Act and the numerous reporters who have been killed gathering information for their readers give this Day its special importance.
World Vegetarian Week May 18-24 (see Oct. 1)
(UN)World Water Day: March 22
A Day to remember the urgent need for available, safe water throughout the world, and to prevent wars over water. See World Food Day, Oct. 16.
Collate the following list into the preceding
BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE BY AFFIRMING NATIONAL DAYS OF PEACE AND TRANSFORMING NATIONAL DAYS FOR WAR INTO DAYS OF PEACE
Compiled by Dick Bennett 6-8-08
FLAG DAY and FATHER’S DAY are coming soon. What kind of alternative might OMNI offer and that can be accomplished by then? Or start planning for 2009.
THE WEB OF A CULTURE OF PEACE UN Culture of Peace Website http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/ Values, Attitudes, and Behaviors: Culture of War to Culture of Peace http://www.afngeelong06.org/papers/mckeague-peace.pdf There is a UN initiative called the International Culture of Peace Decade (2000-2010) which is attempting to define the Culture of War and the Culture of Peace and move away from a war culture to a peace culture. The second site shows the contrast very clearly. Idealistic, you might say. But think about this: the | |
But we cannot make this change so long as we celebrate the myths represented by the US
George Orwell wrote in 1984: "Everything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth”—that wars are inevitable, that our species is inherently violent. Much of OMNI’s work in building a Culture of Peace involves the struggle to reinforce peaceful values despite the power of innumerable nationalistic myths. In behavioral psychology, we are what we do. Most of the public mindlessly accepts the messages of special Days (Daze?) and holidays that promote military power, because militarism is not only inevitable but necessary, for our security, even though it is we who have attacked other nations, and since the War of 1812 have been attacked by another nation only one more time at Pearl Harbor 1941.
Here is a list of two kinds of Days. Most of them affirm peace (Martin Luther King’s birthday). Others project the US
When people ask, What can I do, whatcan one person do, to change the world from war to peace? Here is one answer: Reinforce a peaceful day or Change a warfare Day!
When scoffers ask, what difference can we make here? We can answer: we are offering a model to the world, and sometimes models grab the world’s imagination.
And we are experimenting. The subtitle of Gandhi’s autobio. Is My Life of Experiments. Few peace organizations adhere to a comprehensive program like ours, based on the assumption that the US
SEE DOC on OMNI BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
The following list is far from being complete. Please help complete it.
JANUARY
BirthDAY Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr., January 19. We had an essay contest, and are now open to alternatives. Please join the committee, and consider being the coordinator.
FEBRUARY
Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14
President’s Day, Feb. 15
MARCH
International Women’s DAY, March 8: We have focused on celebrating peace, justice, ecology women heroes, locally, nationally, internationally. Coordinator needed.
APRIL
Martin Luther King, Jr., Assassinated, April 4, 1968. 2009?
Earth DAY, April: for three years we had out of town distinguished speakers. Then we merged with SpringFest: Donna and Kelly, Jamie and others organized displays and music at WAC’s Rose Garden.
Earth DAY at World Peace Wetland Prairie: A new OMNI tradition for Earth DAY is the celebration at WPWP on the Saturday preceding SpringFest.
Fayetteville’s Annual SpringFest, April.
MAY
May 1, May DAY, the international workers holiday. (Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, among many others, were Wobblies, members of the International Workers of the World, IWW. An opportunity for great music.) Our neglect of this DAY should end.
May 1, Law DAY
National DAY of Prayer, first Thursday. Our alternative should be DAY of Prayer by people of all faiths? Will you coordinate it?
Mother’s DAY for Peace, 2nd Sunday of May: 2008 marked the 4th anniversary of our Julia Ward Howe Mother’s Day for Peace Celebration, usually a luncheon, but we are open to different event.
May 10,International Migratory Bird Day.
May 15, International Conscientious Objectors’ DAY
Arbor Day
World Vegetarian WEEK: Dan Dean agreed to coord. a monthly Veg Potluck in 2009 and by Feb. 2010 we are well-established. Vegetarianism is at the heart of resistance to both wars and warming.
Memorial DAY, last Monday in May, formerly Decoration Day, a US
JUNE
June 4,Wednesday, UN International DAY of Innocent Children, Victims of Aggression June 5, Thursday, Anniversary of the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968
June 5, Thursday, UN World Environment DAY
June 14, Flag DAY. Traditionally a day of patriotic drumming. We can offer an alternative for world peace.
June 15, Father’s DAY. Like we are doing with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day regarding the role of women in the world, we could help redefine masculinity on this day for peace and justice.
International Peace Prayer DAY, June 15.
Protest the Human Costs of Military Toxics WEEK, June 15-23.
Juneteenth, June 19. A day to celebrate not only freedom from slavery for U.S. African-Americans, but for all people.
Gay Pride WEEK.
JULY
July 4, Independence
AUGUST
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Remembrance of Victims/Celebration of Peace Heroes, August 6-9: our oldest activity, begun in the 1970s by our predecessor Peace Organizing Committee.
SEPTEMBER
Labor DAY, Sept. 1, for jobs, fair wages, health benefits, right to organize.
9/11 DAY, Alternative needed against retaliation and revenge and for reconciliation.
Interdependent DAY, September 12 (www.civworld.org)
International DAY of Peace, Celebration of Peacemakers, September 21: 2008 marked our 4th anniversary: during those years we have emphasized the international outlook of OMNI by flying flags from diverse countries around the Fayetteville Square
Banned Books/Freedom to Read WEEK, Sept. : OMNI has initiated activities and participated in others for a decade or more as of 2008. Coordinator needed.
Keep Space for Peace WEEK, Sept. 25- Oct. 2: For perhaps half a decade as of 2008 OMNI has sponsored a variety of programs, including bringing Bruce Gagnon here to speak.
OCTOBER
October, Domestic Violence Awareness MONTH
Gandhi’s BirthDAY, Oct. 2, International DAY of Nonviolence
Universal Children’s DAY, Oct. 4
Fayetteville’s Annual AutumnFest, October (Oct. 9-10, 2004): OMNI has had a table on the Fayetteville Square
Indigenous People’s DAY (Columbus Day), 2nd Monday in October: As of 2010 OMNI will have sponsored this event for six years in conjunction with UofA’s Native American Symposium Committee.
World Hunger Day, Oct. 12.
World Food DAY, Oct. 16
United Nations DAY, October 24 (UN Charter became binding treaty): OMNI has celebrated this day for five years as of 2008 by sponsoring notable speakers, including the president of the Central Ark. Chapter of UN/USA.
Make a Difference DAY, October 25
NOVEMBER
November, American Indian Heritage MONTH
Veterans’ DAY, Nov. 11
International DAY for Tolerance, Nov. 16
International DAY to End Violence Against Women, Nov. 25
Buy Nothing DAY, Nov. 26
International DAY of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Nov. 29
DECEMBER
Human Rights DAY, Dec. 10: Ever since OMNI’s beginning we have celebrated this DAY, with events of various kinds, including music/readings at the local bookstore.
Bill of Rights DAY, Dec. 15: OMNI has cooperated with the local chapter of the ACLU to celebrate this DAY, sometimes at the home of member for a talk and dinner.
Additional comment on NATIONAL DAYS
Law Day is another National Day. Potentially from a justice organization like OMNI, it could be celebrated for example as National Justice Day: laws should be just. We could work with the Law School
Another: 5/1 May Day - International Workers holiday. In an oligarchical country that has reduced unions to less than 10% of the working people, this day deserves attention by all peace and justice orgs. We do have unions in Fayetteville
And another: National Day of Prayer (1st Thu of May). This day was established as a Christian event, but under pressure is recognizing our diversity, I think we all should hope.
Since all of these days are structures of contestation, for people disagree about their meaning, how they are defined is crucial.. How they are defined conditions the populace one direction or another. So the pje movement must attempt to define them for pje. It's not just talk, but actual structural change.
Nuts and bolts: a National Days button on our home page and keeping permanent records in our web site for reflection and future guidance are important. We can change days that promote undemocratic, unjust, unpeaceful behavior; and reinforce those that promote peace, justice, and democracy.
Please give them your strong support. A general coordinator is needed to take my place, and additional individuals to produce the annual notices.
Dick
NATIONAL DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS II
DAYS THAT PROMOTE THE US WARFARE STATE
OMNI’s Culture of Peace program (derived from the UN, and shared with Peaceful Tomorrows, the AFSC and FCNL, and surely all peace organizations) offers an alternative, and a plan. It is long-range, and it is multifarious, but it is nonetheless clear, composed of critiques of the structures of violence and of specific alternatives to the pervasive warfare state. In 2009 when you look around Fayetteville
And of course if we do nothing the militarists and totalitarians will win. So we are affirming DAYS that support nonviolent peace, compassion, social and economic justice, human rights, and the environment, and offering alternatives to Days that do not (instead of the genocide of Columbus Day, we celebrate Indigenous People’s Day). Join OMNI and choose DAYS for peaceful tomorrows.
Dick Bennett
OMNI has Presented Critiques of These Structures of the US Security State:
Flag Day
4th of July
Memorial Day
Mother’s Day (Julia Ward Howe’s Mothers’ Day of Peace)
National Day of Prayer
Patriot Day (Peaceful Tomorrows)
Thanksgiving
VE Day
VJ Day
Veterans Day
Examples:
Memorial Day
We have published two newsletters on Memorial Day, formerly Decoration Day. Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May to remember members of the armed forces killed in war.
(Veterans Day, formerly, Armistice Day: Nov. 11, a legal holiday in the US
CONTENTS OF #2
Veterans for Peace, Arlington
American Friends Service Committee
US Media and US Wars
War Resisters League Military Expenditures Pie Chart
Historians Against the Wars: Afghanistan
Veterans for Peace 2009
OMNI Memorial Day Newsletter 2009
Patriot Day
Officially commemorates the 9-11 attacks on the Twin Towers
In 2009 we reported on the ACLU’s efforts to curtail the USA “Patriot” Act; presented an essay on the 9-11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which opposed the vengeful invasion of Afghanistan
Contents
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Schurz, Patriotism
Klein, Shock Doctrine
Johnson, Liquidate the Empire
Blum, Anti-Empire
Bill Williams, Peaceful Tomorrows
Nancy Goliff, Peaceful Tomorrows
Church-State
March 1, 2011 I sent the following to Ryan Bancroft, Marc Quigley, and Ex Com.]
Ryan,
Law Day is another National Day. Potentially from a justice organization like OMNI, it could be celebrated for example as National Justice Day: laws should be just. We could work with the Law School
Another: 5/1 May Day - International Workers holiday. In an oligarchical country that has reduced unions to less than 10% of the working people, this day deserves attention by all peace and justice orgs. We do have unions in Fayetteville
And another: National Day of Prayer (1st Thu of May). This day was established as a Christian event, but under pressure is recognizing our diversity, I think we all should hope. All of these days are structures of contestation, for people in power use them as modes of social control. How they are defined conditions the populace one direction or another. So the pje movement must attempt to define them for pje. It's not just talk, but actual structural change.
Does this help make clear why a National Days button and why keeping permanent records for reflection and future guidance are important? We can change days that promote undemocratic, unjust, unpeaceful behavior; and reinforce those that promote peace, justice, and democracy.
Please give them your strong support.
Thanks, Dick