You Can No More Win a War Than You Can Win an Earthquake

“You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”

– Jeannette Rankin

Memorial Daycame out of the Civil War, about laying wreaths on the Union soldiers graves, per a plaque we saw today, May 9th, 2012 at Jefferson City in the Museum at the Capitol.

Here is what else came out of the Civil War:

Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic to inspire the soldiers to fight the Civil War was so disgusted with war afterwards including the Franco-Prussian war that she issued a call to the women of the world to unite to stop all wars. This was one origin of one “Mother's Day”.

Mother'sDayProclamation

Laura Kacere, Op-Ed:"Mother's Day began in America in 1870 when Julia Ward Howe wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation. Written in response to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, her proclamation called on women to use their position as mothers to influence society in fighting for an end to all wars. She called for women to stand up against the unjust violence of war through their roles as wife and mother, to protest the futility of their sons killing other mothers' sons."

RadicalHistoryofMother'sDay

The modern Mother’s Day also is connected to the civil war and to Anne Marie Reaves Jarvis work even before:

MoreThanOneWomanPromotedMother'sDayintheUS

Emily Elizabeth Parsons, who worked as a nurse from 1862 to 1864 in New York, Vicksburg, and St. Louis (including Benton Barracks Hospital), developed a method of training nurses that continued to be used long after her death in 1880. She opened the Cambridge Hospital for Women and Children as a charity. Her father published the war journal she kept under the title Memoir of Emily Elizabeth Parsons.

GoogleBooks: EmilyElizabethParsons

ST. LOUIS GROUPS

St. Louis Branch of the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom brings together women from around the world to unite in working for peace by non-violent means, promoting political, economic and social justice for all. Founded in In April 1915, Jane Addams, Carrie Chapman Catt and 1300 women from Europe and North America, from countries at war against each other and neutral ones, came together in a Congress of Women, in the Hague, the Netherlands, by to protest the killing and destruction of the war then raging in Europe.

Veterans for Peace

Founded by military veterans working for nonviolence, with national office and local chapter in St Louis.

Veterans For Peace

216 South Meramec Ave

St. Louis MO 63105

(314) 725-6005(office)

(314) 725-7103 (fax)

Peace Economy Project

Researches military spending, educates about the hazards of an unchecked military-industrial complex and advocates for conversion from a military to a more stable peace-based economy. Based at the World Community Center in St. Louis.

438 N. Skinker Blvd.

St. Louis, MO 63130

phone: 314.726.6406

email:

Instead of War Coalition

The St Louis Instead of War Coalition works to end war and oppression. Based at the World Community Center in St. Louis.

438 N. Skinker

St. Louis, MO 63130

The Institute for Peace and Justice

The Institute for Peace and Justice focuses on alternatives to war and violence and on racial and economic justice. Based in St. Louis.

475 East Lockwood Ave.

St. Louis, MO 63119

Friends Peace Teams

Friends Peace Teams is a Spirit-run organization working around the world to develop long-term relationships with communities in conflict, to create programs for peace building, healing, and reconciliation. FPT's programs build on extensive Quaker experience, combining practical and spritual aspects of conflict resolution.

1001 Park Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104

314-588-1122

Chuc Smith, Office Administrator

Friends Peace Teams - African Great Lakes Initiative

1001 Park Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104

314-647-1287

David Zarembka, Coordinator

African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams

P. O. Box 189, Kipkarren River 50241 Kenya

254.726.590.783

Dawn Rubbert, Program Manager

314.647.1287

Friends Peace Teams in Asia West Pacific

Formerly Indonesia Initiative

1001 Park Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104 USA

314.621.7262

Nadine Hoover, Program Coordinator

607.587.9111

Peacebuilding en las Americas

1001 Park Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104 USA

314.621.7262

Val Liveoak, Program Coordinator

210.532.8762

Friends Peace Teams newsletter is “Peaceways”

ARCHIVES, ACADEMIC PROGRAMS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES

Peace and Conflict Studies

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

The National Archives and Records Administration contains records of military service.

Swarthmore Library: Peace Resources

Resources of/or links to peace organizations & groups or individuals.

Inner Peace/World Peace Bibliography

Oak Park Coalition for Truth & Justice

This bibliography is excellent and has many books and other categories of resources.

Peace, Justice & Conflict Studies

Bing Internet search on “Peace Bibliography”:

ORGANIZATIONS AND INFORMATIONAL WEBSITES

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace, and humanitarian service.

Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

Founded in 1943 by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) fields the largest team of registered peace lobbyists in Washington, DC.

Friends Committee on Legislation in California (FCLCA)

A non-profit action group established by Quakers in 1952 that works to bring more compassion and social justice into government by influencing law-making in Sacramento, the State Capitol of California.

The Gray Panthers

Supports strategies of cooperation and non-violence.

Veteran Feminists of America (VFA)

World Can't Wait

World Can't Wait is a national movement formed to halt and reverse the terrible program of war, repression and theocracy that was initiated by the Bush / Cheney regime.

Rabbis for Human Rights (RHRNA)

Rabbis for Human Rights is an organization of rabbis from all streams of Judaism that acts on the Jewish imperative to respect and protect the human rights of all people.

The Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center (MTDPC)

The Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center is crafting an opportunity to connect more deeply with the needs and values of the people in Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Pleasant Hill and Concord to build a culture of peace. Their excellent email newsletter is called The Peace Activist Calendar.

Footprints for Peace

Born from the participation of many Native American Sacred Runs and Walks from 1993, Footprints for Peace aims to inspire, empower and mobilise people to take action and express their opinions not only through walking, running or bike riding but also through creative campaigning in street theatre, music, art, public meetings, petitioning, letter writing and non violent direct actions.

Intertribal Friendship House and International Indian Treaty Council

The Bay Area American Indian community is multi-tribal, made of Native people and their descendants—those who originate here and those who have come to the Bay region from all over the United States and from other parts of this hemisphere. It is a community center and service organization.

Tikkun

Dedicated to healing and transforming the world, through writing that gives us insight on how to make that utopian vision a reality. Tikkun builds bridges between religious and secular progressives by delivering a forceful critique of all forms of exploitation, oppression, and domination while nurturing an interfaith vision of a caring society.

Highlander Center

Highlander serves as a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the South. This is where Rosa Parks was trained before she refused to move.

RESIST

RESIST funds activist organizing and education work within movements for social change.

War Resisters League

The United States' oldest secular pacifist organization, the War Resisters League has been resisting war at home and war abroad since 1923. (Editor’s note: WILPF is older, founded in 1915, but this is what WRL says on their website.)

Courage to Resist

Supports war objectors in the military, including Bradley Manning.

Code Pink

A women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end U.S. funded wars and occupations, to challenge militarism globally, and to redirect resources into health care, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities.

Iraq Veterans Against the War

Iraq Veterans Against the War gives a voice to the large number of active duty service people and veterans who are against this war, but are under various pressures to remain silent.

Gold Star Families for Peace

Gold Star Familes for Peace consists of people who lost a member of their family in the Iraq War.

Cindy Sheehan’s Blog

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan's blog.

TomDispatch

Tomdispatch is intended to introduce readers to voices and perspectives from

elsewhere (even when the elsewhere is here). Its mission is to connect some

of the global dots regularly left unconnected by the mainstream media and to

offer a clearer sense of how this imperial globe of ours actually works.

Space4Peace

A blog by Bruce Gagnon, offering his own reflections on organizing and the

state of America's declining empire.

Antiwar.org

Devoted to the cause of non-interventionism and is read by libertarians,

pacifists, leftists, "greens," and independents alike, as well as many on

the Right who oppose imperialism.

Information Clearinghouse

An independent media source that attempts to correct the distorted

perceptions provided by commercial media.

Citizens for Legitimate Government

A multi-partisan activist group established to expose and resist US

imperialism, corpora-terrorism, and the New World Order.

“WORLD PEACE BEGINS AT HOME”

(T-shirt slogan, by Yolanda Bako of the New York State Domestic Violence Coalition http://www.nyscadv.org/nyscadv/ )

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

TheNationalNetworktoEndDomesticViolence (NNEDV)

Dedicated to creating a social, political and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline

Creates access by providing 24-hour support through advocacy, safety planning, resources and hope to everyone affected by domestic violence.

National Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network

PEOPLE

Albert Einstein

Blase and Theresa Bonpane

OfficeoftheAmericas

Lewis Hill, pacifist and conscientious objector, in addition to co-founding the Pacifica Foundation.

Madeleine Duckles, peace activist

Eleanor Roosevelt (among many other peace activities) chaired the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Kenneth Cloke

Mediator/Arbitrator, Center for Dispute Resolution

Michael Nagler co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, and founded the Metta Center for Nonviolence.

Politicians for Peace

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich

Gloria Steinem during her commencement speech on May 18th, 2012 for the George and Betsy Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis:

“Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme said, ‘gender roles are the deepest cause of violence on earth and therefore it was the job of every government to humanize those roles.’ I always quote him because I don’t know of another statesman who said that.”

“I've learned from the histories of the original cultures (indigenous) in which the paradigm was and is the circle, not the triangle, not the hierarchy...And we as movements are a full circle ourselves, and all the movements are connected.”

“I've also learned that change doesn't grow from the top; like a tree it grows from the bottom.”

“Among one of the oldest tribes in Ghana, when someone acts in a clearly damaging way to the community, they do indeed isolate him or her. We are communal creatures, so isolation is probably a pretty universal punishment. But when that person is brought back, there's a ritual amount of time when everyone who knows that person tells them every good thing they've ever done, in order to knit them back into society, encourage good behavior. Wouldn't that be nice here, with so much of the population in prison?”

Military people who became Conscientious Objectors, or equivalent:

Yolanda Huet-Vaughn

Aimee Allison

Bradley Manning

Note: Below are the people on the Wiki-Lists of pacifists and anti-war activists, which were painstakingly merged by Jeanmarie Simpson, playwright (see below in the playwright section). Jeanmarie also added ‘Laura X’. :)

A
●
●PatchAdams
●JaneAddams
●RobertBakerAitken
●WarderClydeAllee
●AimeeAllison
●RandallAmster
●JoelAndreas
●AnthonyArnove
●BrianAvery
●BillAyers
●VictorAgosto
●RobertBakerAitken
●MichaelAlbert

B

●JoanBaez
●RogerNashBaldwin
●NatalieCliffordBarney
●LarryBensky
●MichaelBerg
●KarlBissinger
●SandraBoynton
●ElihuBurritt
●FridaBerrigan
●DaveBlalock
●MurrayBookchin
●TaraBrach
●ScottBraley
●FredBranfman
●CarolBrouillet
●HarryBrowne
●JamesB. Burkholder
●SmedleyButler
●EmilyGreeneBalch
●RogerNashBaldwin
●HarryBelafonte
●MedeaBenjamin
●LarryBensky
●MichaelBerg
●AlexanderBerkman
●DanielBerrigan

C

●LeslieCagan
●JamesP. Cannon
●WalterCapps
●GraceCarlson
●JenniferCasolo
●EricChester
●ToddChretien
●GordonClark (activist)
●RamseyClark
●RosaClemente
●VoltairinedeCleyre
●DavidCline
●AlexanderCockburn
●FrankCordaro
●TomCornell
●RachelCorrie
●DavidCortright
●HenryCadbury
●MarisCakars
●KikiCarter
●JulienDaviesCornell
●PeterCoyote
●AbrahamCronbach
●FrancesCrowe
●NormanCousins
●FrancesCrowe

D

●EdwinT. Dahlberg
●EugeneV. Debs
●DavidDellinger
●BarbaraDeming
●DorothyDetzer
●RalphDiGia
●StephenDonaldson
●ConstanceDrexel
●B. D. Dykstra
●D.C. Nine
●HamidDabashi
●DocCorbinDart
●GarryDavis
●DorothyDay
●ZackdelaRocha
●EugeneV. Debs
●DorothyDetzer
●RalphDiGia
●AaronDixon
●FrankDorrel
●JamesW. Douglass
●LloydJ. Dumas
●

E

●CrystalEastman
●AlbertEinstein
●EveEnsler
●MarieEqui
●SteveEarle
●CrystalEastman
●EileenEgan
●BarbaraEhrenreich
●IraEinhorn
●MarieEqui
●JodieEvans

F

●ChuckFager
●BobFass
●LawrenceFerlinghetti
●FrederickVanderbiltField
●PaulComlyFrench
●RichardA. Falk
●LawrenceFerlinghetti
●MichaelFranti
●JohnFroines

G

●FannyGarrisonVillard
●StephenGaskin
●AliceGerard
●YonassanGershom
●PaulGoodman (writer)
●RichardGregg (socialphilosopher)
●NanciGriffith
●AlbertGallatin
●DannyGarcia (activist)
●FredGardner (activist)
●EricGarris
●FawazGerges
●ArthurGish
●DannyGlover
●JimGlover
●MaryLouGoertzen
●EmmaGoldman
●RobertGoldwyn
●MattGonzalez
●TobyGoodshank
●JeromeGrossman /

H

●G. SimonHarak
●LeeHays
●AbrahamJoshuaHeschel
●JohnHaynesHolmes
●PrynceHopkins
●JuliaWardHowe
●JessieWallaceHughan
●DeeDeeHalleck
●JudithHand
●G. SimonHarak
●JamesHarris (politician)
●HubertHarrison
●MarkHatfield
●StanleyHauerwas
●GeorgeHelm
●AmmonHennacy
●EmilHerman
●ForrestHill (politician)
●AbbieHoffman
●JohnHaynesHolmes
●ScottHorton (radiohost)
●H. StuartHughes

I

●ArsalanIftikhar
●PeterH. Irons

J

●PaulJones (bishop)
●WhiteJimmy
●PaulJones (bishop)

K

●TheodoreN. Kaufman
●RandyKehler
●HelenKeller
●FlorenceKelley
●KathyKelly
●MorrisKight
●YolandaKing
●GeorgeRossKirkpatrick
●HelenKeller
●PeterKellman
●KathyKelly
●StephenKelly (priest)
●AlKhalafalla
●MalachyKilbride
●MichaelD. Knox
●JoelKovel
●BrianKraft

L

●JosephLeavitt
●RobertLeFevre
●ArthurLelyveld
●MichaelLerner (rabbi)
●CharlesHerbertLevermore
●SamuelL. Lewis
●ThomasLewis (activist)
●KarlLinn
●ViolaLiuzzo
●LouisP. Lochner
●JuliLoesch
●AlfredH. Love
●PercivalLowell
●StaughtonLynd
●BradfordLyttle
●WilliamLadd
●LyndonLaRouche
●SidneyLens
●ThomasLewis (activist)
●DavidLipscomb
●FrankLittle (unionist)
●NativoLopez
●BernardLown

M

●IanMacKaye
●JessieBelleHardyStubbsMacKaye
●RachelMacNair
●DavidMcReynolds
●JudahLeonMagnes
●JudithMalina
●DaveMatthews
●J. B. Matthews
●ColmanMcCarthy
●W. S. Merwin
●LucretiaMott
●WilliamMoyer
●KateMulgrew
●JesseMacbeth
●GayleMcLaughlin
●BenManski
●JessicaMathews
●ColmanMcCarthy
●GeraldMcCarthy (poet)
●SeymourMelman
●ThomasMerton
●RossMirkarimi
●FredMoore (activist)
●MichaelMoore
●MacyMorse
●PegMullen
●EdMurphy (activist)
●GaelMurphy
●
N
●JuanitaMorrowNelson
●GeraldNye
●MaudNathan

O

●PhilOchs
●YokoOno
●MaryWhiteOvington
●KateRichardsO'Hare
●KennethO'Keefe
●YokoOno
●AbrahamOsheroff
●KateRichardsO'Hare
●KennethO'Keefe
●YokoOno
●AbrahamOsheroff

P

●GlennD. Paige
●ShailjaPatel
●LinusPauling
●UtahPhillips
●ConcepcionPicciotto
●MargePiercy
●PeacePilgrim
●RonaldPodrow
●EliPariser
●LinusPauling
●StephenPearcy (activist)
●PetePerry
●UtahPhillips
●RobertPickus
●JosephPolowski
●MidgePotts

Q

●WilliamP. Quigley /

R

●JeannetteRankin
●TheodoreRoszak
●JustinRaimondo
●DonnaReed
●Retortcollective
●EarleL. Reynolds
●AdrienneRich
●LillianRobinson
●JoseRodriguez (activist)
●JohnRoss (activist)
●MurrayRothbard
●DavidRovics
●JohnRunnings
●BayardRustin
●KenRutherford (politicalscientist)
●MarlaRuzicka

S

●CarlSagan
●JohnNevinSayre
●StevenSchwarzschild
●PeteSeeger
●JoelSegal
●CindySheehan
●HerbertM. Shelton
●WilliamJamesSidis
●JeanmarieSimpson
●JoanSlonczewski
●JoffreStewart
●LothropStoddard
●GeneStoltzfus
●AnnaLouiseStrong
●NicolaSacco
●VincentSaintJohn
●BenSalmon
●MarkSanchez (politician)
●SoniaSanchez
●JohnNevinSayre
●FloydSchmoe
●JimScott (musician)
●PeteSeeger
●AliShakeri
●AhmedShawki (socialist)
●MartinSheen
●HerbertShughart
●DavidDeanShulman
●WilliamJamesSidis
●JeanmarieSimpson
●SamanthaSmith
●StephenSoldz
●LysanderSpooner
●C. MaxwellStanley
●JohnStauber
●MollieSteimer
●JillStein
●JohnStockwell
●GeneStoltzfus
●PaulStreet (journalist)
●AnnaLouiseStrong
●KatSwift
●JoeSzwaja

T

●EveTetaz
●RiniTempleton
●EveTetaz
●EllenThomas
●Thomas (activist)
●A. C. Townley
●TreeofPeaceSociety
●ChuckTurner
●SarahTurner

V

●SudhirAlladiVenkatesh
●OswaldGarrisonVillard
●KurtVonnegut
●BartolomeoVanzetti
●WilliamF. Vendley
●LouieVitale

W

●ArthurWaskow
●WavyGravy
●DanWest
●MelWhite
●NorbertWiener
●AnitaParkhurstWillcox
●WilliamP. Merrill
●MaryWilhelmineWilliams
●BrianWillson
●NoahWorcester
●HarveyWasserman
●AlfredWebre
●JerryWhite (activist)
●JodyWilliams
●BrianWillson
●LawrenceS. Wittner
●JohnWallach
●DahliaWasfi
X
●LauraX

Y

●SolYurick

Z

●DavidZeiger
●HelenZia
●HowardZinn

If you want to have a lot of fun looking to see if your ancestry or ethnic heritage has a pacifist, do as Laura did as a cultural anthropology grad/history buff and pacifist. The history is richer than she knew. Enjoy!

ANTI-NUCLEAR ACTIVITIES

Ann Fagan Ginger

Basically invented Peace Law.

Nuclear Weapons are Illegal: The Historic Opinion of the World Court and How It Will Be Enforced. Complete decision of the Court, separate and dissenting opinions. Essays placing the decision in its broader political and legal context, describing how governments and NGOs brought the issue to the Court and how the opinion is being enforced. Questions for discussion, a glossary of terms, and a complete index. Edited by Ann Fagan Ginger. Apex Press, 1998. See her work at

Kay Drey is an anti-nuclear activist based in St. Louis.

Ava and Linus Pauling

Editor’s Note: Linus Pauling is the only person in history to earn two nobel peace prizes on his own, although he always credited Ava with his peace prize.

Working for the abolition of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction.

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world.

Peace Action was formed from the merger of The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy and the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign.

"Nuclear Famine Letter." Petition.

"Help Ban Nuclear Test Explosions!" Petition.

"Shut Down Nuclear Power." Petition.

"Senators Boxer and Feinstein: Investigate the ongoing danger from the Fukushima nuclear reactors." Petition.

"Nuclear Power: Too dangerous. Too expensive. Not worth it." Petition.

"The President of the United States: Urgent Request on UN Intervention to Stabilize the Fukushima Reactor Unit 4." Petition.

"Mr. President, US Senate, Congress, --Tell Us Where Our Food Is From!!" Petition.

"Washington Post calls Fukushima 'non-catastrophic'! The editorial board needs to hear from you!" Petition.

Provides latest information pertaining to the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

"Bob Burnett - Two Meltdowns: Fukushima and the US Economy." Web.

"Fukushima Primed For Worldwide Disaster." Web.

Educates and activates the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both.