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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

[haw-info] October 21-22 conference on "Peace in Asia and the Pacific, " co-sponsored by Historians Against the War

The following is a save-the-date announcement written by Joe Gerson of the American Friends Service Committee for a conference in Washington, DC, which HAW is co-sponsoring along with the AFSC and several other groups.  It will take place at American University on Friday evening October 21 and Saturday October 22.


SAVE THE DATE!

 

October 21 & 22, 2011

 

"Peace in Asia and the Pacific: Alternatives to Militarization"

 

A U.S. peace movement capacity building conference

 

American University, October 21 & 22, 2011

 

Sponsored by: American Friends Service Committee, American University's Nuclear Studies Institute, Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament, Historians Against the War, Korean Policy Institute, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Nodutol, Peace Action, (initial listing)

 

Keynotes by Madame Yan Junqi, Vice President of the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament and the Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress and by Jae-Jung Suh, Associate Professor and Director of the Korea Studies Program at John Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.*  Background and Campaigning Panels and Workshops.

 

Additional information, including registration, will soon be accessible at www.afsc.org/pes.

 

Please join us and consider having your organization co-sponsor this uniquely important conference.

 

Even as the Pentagon has been pursuing its Long War across the Middle East and Central Asia, the campaign to contain China has been driving U.S. strategic war planning and military spending.

 

Our movements to prevent war and to address the impacts of the militarization of the federal budget are not prepared to the long term designs of the Pentagon, right-wing and the Military-Industrial-Complex to reinforce and deepen U.S. militarism across the Asia-Pacific.

 

As former U.S. Ambassador to China R. Stapleton Roy put it, "we poked China in the eye" by sending the nuclear powered and nuclear capable aircraft carrier the U.S.S. George Washington into the East China Sea "because we could."

 

The U.S. still has more than 100 military bases and installations across Japan. In Korea, activists have engaged in hunger strikes and been jailed for opposing the decimation of their communities with new U.S. military bases. The U.S. now has tacit military alliances with Vietnam and India and is exploring the return of military bases to the Philippines. The National Military Strategy issued in 2010 also calls for expanded military cooperation with Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Singapore.

 

While the US economy stagnates under the tremendous burden of its military expenditures, China has poured resources into becoming the world's workshop and building 21st century infrastructures and technologies. As the world's financial centers tilt towards Beijing, new military spending in the region has increased the complexities of its territorial disputes with Japan and ASEAN nations with competing claims to South China Sea islands. A growing number of militarized "incidents" and violent conflict have also occurred on the Korean Peninsula.

 

            The conference goals are:

·         Build our movements' capacities to understand and respond to these

developments

·         Identify and promote campaigns that challenge Asia-Pacific militarism and that advocate meaningful alternatives.

·         Facilitate solidarity between U.S. and Asia-Pacific peace movements, advocates and campaigns

 

 

In addition to our keynote speakers, panels will be devoted to Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and peace movement campaigns

 

·         Workshops to include:

Asia-Pacific Peace Movements

Southeast Asia [JT1] 

Central/South Asia

Economic Realities & Dynamics of the Asia-Pacific

Global Costs of Miliarism

History 101: U.S. in Asia-Pacific

Human Rights

Korea

Nuclear Weapons Abolition

U.S.-China relations

      Other workshops to be developed

 

For more information contact: JGerson@afsc.org or phone: 617-661-6130.

 

*Madame Yan is confirmed. Professor Suh has been invited. This conference will also serve as the 4th Peace Forum organized by The American Friends Service Committee and the Chinese People's Association for Peace and Disarmament.

 




Tuesday, June 21, 2011

[haw-info] Historians Can Support Mayors on War Dollars...TIME SENSITIVE

Historians Can Support Mayors on War Dollars...TIME SENSITIVE
 
Yesterday the U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution urging a speedy end to the wars and the redirection of all that money to meet urgent domestic needs. This is the first time the mayors have taken such action since the Vietnam War.
 
Meanwhile the House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on the FY 2012 Defense Appropriations bill, which would provide $530 billion for non-emergency funding to the Department of Defense and another $119 for the wars. If this bill passes, the military will be fully funded through September 2012, unless the White House initiates another war in which case it will want even more moeny.
 
The conflict over national priorities has become acute, as acknowledged by a growing number of Representatives and Senators. However, If members of Congress are serious about changing these priorities, they need to vote that way now.
 
Historians can help in two simple ways:
 
Please call your representative in their Washington office with a simple message; We want you to bring our war dollars home!  VOTE AGAINST THE 2012 DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS  BILL !  Capitol Switchboard  is 202-224-3121
 
Also consider a direct message to friends and colleagues, urging them to make the call.
 
If you make the call, please email us at hiscze@aol.com
 
Carolyn Eisenberg on behalf of the Historians Against War Steering Committee.
 

Thursday, June 16, 2011

[haw-info] HAW Notes 6/16/11: Links to recent articles of interest

Suggestions for these lists can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.  Thanks to Rosalyn Baxandall, Rusti Eisenberg, Sam Lowe, and Maia Ramnath for suggestions that are included in the following list.


"Ex-Spy Alleges Bush White House Sought to Discredit Critic"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/us/politics/16cole.html
By James Risen, New York Times, posted June 16
The critic in question was University of Michigan historian Juan Cole.  He has posted his take on the Times article at http://www.juancole.com/2011/06/retd-cia-official-alleges-bush-white-house-used-agency-to-get-cole.html

"Andropov Was Right"
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n12/tariq-ali/andropov-was-right?
By Tariq Ali, London Review of Books, June 16 issue
Review of two books on the Soviet experience in Afghanistan

"Congress Members Sue Obama to End Libya War"
http://warisacrime.org/content/congress-members-sue-obama-end-libya-war
By David Swanson, War Is a Crime.org, posted June 15
Includes historical background

"Western Media Fraud in the Middle East"
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/201151882929682601.html
By Nir Rosen, Aljazeera English, posted June 15

"Siamese Twins Sharing the Same Brain: How the Military and the Civilian Are Blurring in Washington"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175404
By William J. Astore, TomDispatch.com, posted June 14

"The Whistle-Blowers of 1777"
http://nytimes.com/2011/06/13/opinion/13kohn.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlinbes&emc=tha212
By Stephen M. Kohn, New York Times op-ed, posted June 12

"Slain Writer's Book Says US-NATO War Served Al-Qaeda Strategy"
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55964
By Gareth Porter, Institute for Policy Studies, posted June 10

"Three Deadly War Myths"
http://consortiumnews.com/2011/06/09/three-deadly-war-myths
By Robert Parry, ConsortiumNews.com, posted June 9
On myths related to the Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libyan wars

"Afghanistan: Obama's Moment of Decision"
http://www.hnn.us/node/139830
By Andrew J. Bacevich, History News Network, from The Daily Beast, posted June 8
The author teaches history and international relations at Boston University

"Daniel Ellsberg: All the Crimes Richard Nixon Committed Against Me Are Now Legal"
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/07/daniel-ellsberg-all-the-crimes-richard-nixon-committed-against-me-are-now-legal
Interview on the CNN blog, posted June 7





Thursday, June 09, 2011

[haw-info] HAW Notes 6/9/11: Links to recent articles of interest

Thanks to Rusti Eisenberg, Sam Lowe, and Maia Ramnath for suggesting articles that are included in the list below.  Suggestions for these usually biweekly lists can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.


"War? Bloodlust? What's a Scholar to Do?"
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/08-4
By William Loren Katz, CommonDreams.org, posted June 8

"With Ollanta Humala's Win, Peru Joins Latin America's Left Turn"
http://www.thenation.com/blog/161180/ollanta-humalas-win-peru-joins-latin-americas-left-turn
By Greg Grandin, The Nation blog, posted June 7
The author teaches Latin American history at New York University

"Netanyahu's Speech and Congressional Democrats' Embrace of Extremism"
http://www.truthout.com/netanyahus-speech-and-congressional-democrats-embrace-extremism/1307128075
By Stephen Zunes, Truthout.com, posted June 3

"Our New Iraq-Afghanistan War National Holiday"
http://warisacrime.org/content/our-new-iraq-afghanistan-war-national-holiday
By David Swanson, War Is a Crime.org, posted May 29

"How America Screws Its Soldiers"
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-28/memorial-day-how-america-screws-its-soldiers
By Andrew J. Bacevich, The Daily Beast, posted May 28
The author teaches history and international relations at Boston University.

"Netanyahu's Border War"
http://truthout.org/netanyahu%E2%80%99s-border-war/1306592212
By Shlomo Ben Ami, Truthout.org, posted May 28
The author is a history PhD and a former Israeli foreign minister.

"Parallel States: A New Vision for Peace"
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/2011528132114104574.html
By Mark LeVine and Mathias Mossberg, Aljazeera, posted May 28
Mark LeVine teaches history at the University of California, Irvine.

"Washington's Weapon of Choice"
http://socialistworker.org/2011/05/24/washingtons-weapon-of-choice
By Sherry Wolff, SocialistWorker.org, posted May 24

"Deception and Diplomacy: The US, Japan, and Okinawa"
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Gavan-McCormack/3532
By Gavan McCormack, Asia-Pacific Journal, posted May 23
Makes extensive use of documents released by Wikileaks