OMNI NEWSLETTER: EVENTS AND ACTIONS MARCH 24, 2004 OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, AND ECOLOGY Corner of Maple and Storer in Fayetteville in Presbyterian and Disciples Student Center OMNI contact Dick Bennett (omni@uark.edu, 442-4600)(website: ww.omnicenter.org) Changing Society for a Culture of Peace. Peace is not the absence of war; peace is the active presence of justice and compassion. U. S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121. If each local peace organization created a Culture of Peace in its town, county, and area, it would create an electorate and therefore representatives who challenge the U.S. War System and seek peace and justice instead of violence and war. MARCH 25, 26, JAN JUDY FOR CONGRESS State Representative Jan Judy will make her official announcement for our Third Congressional District seat tomorrow, Thursday, March 25, at ll:30 a.m. by the old Post Office on the Fayetteville Square downtown. Ms. Judy will also hold a fundraiser at Ozark Mt. Smokehouse FRIDAY the 26th 5 TO 7. Cong. Boozman has supported the Bush War Presidency 100%, so OMNI should support his opposition. But we must also educate Judy about the U.S. War System. Reminder: MARCH 26, 6:30 OMNI Friday Night Video Underground Video Presentation "School of the Americas: An Insider Speaks Out!" will be shown at the OMNI Center, 902 W. Maple corner of Storer, United Campus Ministry Bldg., Fayetteville at 6:30pm on Friday, Mar. 26th. School of the Americas or School of Assasins? Major Blair was an instructor at the SOA for three years. After this 16 min. video, a local veteran and SOA protester will present more information, and grass roots legislative action to close this terrible school. All UV films begin at 6:30pm and are shown the second and fourth Fridays of each month. Suggested donation is $2. Healthy refreshments are available. For further info. call one of OMNI's video coordinators at (479)521-4706 or 582-5141. MARCH 29 On Monday evening, March 29, at 7:30 PM, there will be a public lecture: "Israel: The Quest for Peace" by Dana Kursh, the vice-consul of Israel from the Houston consulate. The talk will be in the new auditorium in the John Tyson Center for Poultry Science, also known as POSC Room 211. The Center is on the north side of Maple Street, directly across the street from the parking lot for the football stadium. When you enter the building, go up to the second floor. MARCH 29 AND 30 SHORT TAKES AT CAT Film your thoughts or read something for 5 minutes about peace, justice, or ecology. Go to CAT Mon. nights 5:30, Tuesdays noon. Contact Dick. MARCH 29, MONDAY, CELEBRATE WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH DINNER TO HONOR FOUR FAYETTEVILLE WOMEN PIONEERS Clarion Inn, Fayetteville March 29, 2004, 6:00 pm . Reservations by mailing check, payable to AAUW, for $15 per person (include names), to arrive by Mar 24, to Othelia Paul 2753 E Par Court Fayetteville, AR 72703 MARCH 30, TUESDAY, COMMEMORATION OF VICTIMS OF HYDROGEN BOMB TESTS IN MARSHALL ISLANDS Sponsored by NWA Marshallese community, OMNI, and Multicultural Center, at OMNI 6p.m. in Sanctuary of United Campus Ministry on Maple St. in Fayetteville, followed by meal provided by the Marshall Islanders. This is a most significant event, for the US held the Islands in trust, yet nuclear bombed the country repeatedly. The occasion reminds us to continue the struggle to eliminate nuclear weapons, and especially from the one country that has used them to kill people and that started the nuclear arms race. ECOLOGY: MARCH 30, TUESDAY, West Fork - White River Watershed Community Meeting Time: 7:00 @ the West Fork Community Building (222 Webber St. in West Fork) Audubon Arkansas invites you to participate in a hands-on water quality discussion at our 3rd in a series of West Fork White River Watershed community meetings. For more information: Audubon Arkansas 44 N. School Ave. Fayetteville, AR 72701 527.0700 www.audubon.org CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MARCH, RALLY, AND TABLERS MARCH 20 To Natalie and to all who made our March 20 protest such a success, warm thanks. The Morning News gave us Page One coverage with fine photos and report. It was a significant moment in our campaign to create a Culture of Peace in Northwest Arkansas. The peace movement has sometimes responded convulsively to crisis after crisis, reacting to this or that stimulus from the makers of the war/violence system, and then collapsing back into life as usual. But OMNI is not spasmodic in either philosophy or behavior, but pursues long-range, steady peacemaking, because the perpetrators of the war system—the individuals who command corporations, the Pentagon, the White House, mainstream media—never relax but are unceasing and relentless, and enormously well-financed for their depredations. If grass roots peace and justice advocates are to create Cultures of Peace in their communities, out of which peace and justice economic and political leaders can emerge, then we must be as steadfast as the war makers, and our march and rally (and the contents of this newsletter) demonstrates that we are. OMNI SOCIAL JUSTICE REPORT 3/21/04 by Greg Moore (a new feature of our newsletter) Suffering Continues through Boom and Bust "As a group, [Fortune] 500 companies bounced back from 2 years of profit declines," says the Associated Press (1). Unfortunately, this "recovery" has not had much effect on the job market as the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted early this month, announcing that only 21,000 jobs were created in February, a figure far below economists' forecasts (2). This puts the unemployment rate at 5.6%, a figure kept deceptively low by the number of workers who give up the job search (and cease to be counted), the increasing numbers of young people who have not been able to enter the job market (3), and the fact that over 2 million Americans are in prison (4). The few jobs that are appearing tend not to be very substantial. According to a recent report issued by Kentucky Youth Advocates, rural Americans are seeing a sharp decline in farm and manufacturing jobs and a growth in service jobs (5). These service industry jobs are low paying, frequently part-time and often lack benefits, making it almost impossible for people to do things like save money, buy homes, buy health insurance and send their kids to college. The KYA report recommends that states pass legislation that would nurture small business and revive "Main Street" to help small town's out of this downward spiral. So what happened to small businesses and "Main street" anyway? Well, that brings us back to the Fortune 500 list, the top slot of which has been occupied by Wal-Mart for 3 years running. Wal-Mart has long been criticized by Unions and Citizen groups for undercutting prices to drive competitors out of business and for buying cheap sweatshop goods from offshore factories. I'm no economist, but it seems to me that the welfare of corporate giants like Wal-Mart and the welfare of the American people are inversely related. Whatever can be said about that, it is clear that while this handful of rich folks may be having a recovery, the constant struggle to survive continues to dog the rest of us Americans through market booms and busts. 1. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Fortune-500.html 2. http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1749011 3. http://www.cdfny.org/News/PressReleases/ 71003TeenJoblessnessNY.pdf 4. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/pressreleases/BJS03114.htm 5. http://www.kyyouth.org/publications/ruralreport2004.pdf KUCINICH (message from Sandie Cloud) I was so glad to meet so many of you on the square at the peace rally on March 20th. Sid Simons at Sid's Emporium on Dickson ST. is the Washington County Campaign Coordinator. Please join our statewide yahoo group at: arkansansforkucinich-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Thanks for wanting to help! With just 15% of the primary vote in District 3 we can send a delegate to the convention to represent Dennis Kucinich! peace & love, Sandie Sandie Cloud, Arkansas State Coordinator, www.kucinich.us http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arkansansforkucinich/ www.ark4kucinich.us AFRICA Moyers’ NOW on PBS recently examined globalization/WTO/IMF in Asia and Africa. The show suggested that Africa was going down via "structural adjustment," or accelerated privatization/commodification of resources with accompanying drastic increase of misery. Zambia now has one million homeless children. OMNI needs an Africa Watch coordinator to help us be better informed, to know the connections between our foundations (the UDHR, The Earth Charter) and world problems, and to recognize the major crises of the world. ECOLOGY: GLOBAL WARMING Audubon magazine 12-03 is entirely about climate change, with much on solutions (e.g. p. 74 "15 Things We Can Do" at home and with local and state governments). OMNI needs a coordinator for Ecological matters. ECOLOGY: ANIMAL ADOPTION, SPAYING, AND NEUTERING I visited Fayetteville’s Animal Shelter today with Meredith Martin-Moats. Here is what she wrote to me afterward: "Getting the word out about the shelter is the best way to increase the adoption rate and thus lower the euthanizations. Not all shelters have an on-site vet like Dr. Moore. Fayetteville is very lucky to have her and the various programs she has helped to create. Here is a link to the Pet Finders web page I was telling you about. http://www.petfinder.org/pet.cgi?action=1&pet.Shelterid=AR47&preview=1 Here is a link to the shelter: http://www.uark.edu/ALADDIN/fayanim/ " PRIORITIES OMNI needs someone to assess what OMNI’s members and friends believe are the chief issues facing Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA, and the world, and how our attention to them can support our efforts to create a Culture of Peace in NWA. CONGRESSMAN BOOZMAN WATCH EDUCATING CONG. BOOZMAN Please contact the Congressman about Colombia and other urgent issues (see Africa, Social Justice, and other issues above). If you wish to be on OMNI’s Boozman Watch mailing list, which focuses on contacting Boozman AND HIS STAFF (they advise him and need equal education) via phone, e-mail, and visits at his office, let me know, OMNI needs a coordinator of Latin American issues and especially of Colombia to help us all keep informed and alert. Dick COLOMBIA OMNI’s Steering Committee endorsed the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which connects our efforts to create a Culture of Peace in NWA and our concern for human rights throughout the world. Curt Wands, now helping the people in a poor rural area in Colombia, sent me a report on Colombia’s human rights atrocities and US deception and immense funding. Curt, a medical specialist, lived in Ft. Smith, attended OMNI rallies, and gave a talk for us on endemic diseases. If you wish to read Curt’s letter: cwands@igc.org You might wish to convey the contents to Cong. Boozman along with a copy of the UDHR or the most relevant sections along with your comments