OMNI WAR WATCH
WEDNESDAYS, #169, MARCH 20, 2024. Compiled by Dick Bennett.
Veterans for Peace and 350.org Resisting the
Convergence of War and Warming.
Ground Zero and the convergence of warming climate, rise in authoritarianism, and wars.
OMNI'S Mission: a peaceful, equal, and just world.
Save
the Date: March 26, 2024, How to Fight the Climate Crisis and Militarism
Webinar. Veterans For Peace Climate Crisis Working Group. March 13, 2024. | | | |
to me ![]()
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Join Veterans For Peace and 350.org for a training on taking action on climate and militarism |
On
Tuesday, March 26, noon ET/9 am PT, Veterans For Peace Climate Crisis and
Militarism Project will present
a webinar, “How to Fight the Climate Crisis and Militarism”,
with one of the largest climate organizations, 350.org US.
The presentation will focus on how US militarism and wars worsen the
climate crisis, and how peace and climate activists can take action
together, especially by participating in the No MAS (No Military Air
Shows) campaign. Please click here to register: bit.ly/protest-airshows Speakers
include: Taylor
Smith-Hams, US Senior Organizer for 350.org; Gary
Butterfield, Past President of VFP San Diego, lead organizer of the
No MAS campaign and San Diego 350 member; James Janko,
member of VFP Albuquerque, author and environmentalist; Janet
Weil, VFP Lifetime Associate member and activist with Extinction
Rebellion. Why and How to
Fight the Climate Crisis & Militarism As Twin Existential Threats UN
Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez calls the increasing severity of
the global climate crisis “Code Red for
Humanity.” The environmental destruction, including vast
greenhouse gas emissions, caused by two ongoing “hot” wars in Europe
and the Mideast makes a mockery of national climate plans. The threat
of nuclear annihilation is ever-present, and an escalating
international arms race is stealing precious resources from pressing
social needs. How do we move from “overwhelmed” to “connected”? Topics
covered include the climate/enviro impacts of the Russia-Ukraine War
and the Israeli assault on Gaza, as well as the urgent need to reduce
the military budget, and more. It is our first-ever webinar
co-presented with a major climate organization, and we are
delighted to have national organizer Taylor Smith-Hams join us! It will
be interactive with plenty of time for your questions and
comments. Register here for this free webinar: bit.ly/protest-airshows Veterans
For Peace CCMP focuses on the pollution caused bymilitary
air shows– put on by the Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force
Thunderbirds. These expensive, entertainment- and recruitment-focused
performances produce prodigious amounts of visible air pollution, noise
pollution, and metric tons of invisible greenhouse gas emissions.
Protesting these wasteful air shows serves as a powerful public
education action about the military’s overall role in worsening the
climate crisis. Over 60 military air shows in the US are
scheduled for 2024. Veterans For Peace and 350.org have
teamed up to organize opportunities to protest these military air shows
(No MAS – no Military Air Shows).
Join us on March 26: bit.ly/protest-airshows |
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Give now to help us in the ongoing fight! |
Check out our
social media to see more great photos and videos of VFP taking action! |
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The January 2024 number of Ground Zerotypically contains some of the most urgently important information needed
to preserve our civilization. Leonard
Eiger, a regular writer, has two articles.
“Reflections on Challenges We Face in 2024” concentrates on the convergence
of the warming climate, the rise in authoritarianism, and wars that could
“cause the end of civilization” in nuclear war, the “ultimate expression
of violence.” He quotes father Richard
McSorley: “The taproot of violence …is our intent to use nuclear weapons.:” Nonviolence offers a saving
alternative in valuing justice above all in bringing peace. And we must remember the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki destruction by the US in their full hideousness, if we are to reject
totally the Bush administration’saffirmation of the first use of
nuclear weapons, which has not been rejected by any subsequent
administration.
Eiger’s second essay, “A New
Year’s Resolution RESIST TRIDENT!
[Look ahead to OMNI’s annual August Remembrance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
bombings with the intent to abolish nuclear weapons. –D]
OMNI’s original mission, don’t forget:
OMNI’S MISSION
We seek a world free of war and the
threat of war.
“We seek a
society with equity and justice for all. ...”
The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is a national,
nonpartisan Quaker organization that lobbies Congress for peace, justice, and
environmental stewardship. The Quaker’s
sister org.—the AFSC—has the same mission statement. AFSC Quaker Mission Statement: “The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) promotes
a world free of violence, inequality, and oppression.” OMNI was based on their mission. --Dick
