OMNI Blog

Dear friends of Harmonia

 in Current Events

On Sunday, July 19th we are presenting a Healing Song Circle, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, around the Labyrinth in the Parish Hall. Our 1st event in that format since March 2020 ! It’s a time to listen, contemplate, and be soothed by healing music. We’ll be including some new songs!  (There will be no applause until the end). Where: 224 N. East Ave, Fayetteville When: Sunday 7/19 Doors open 6:45, music starts at 7pm. Admission is free, and there will also be a basket for donations to support St. Paul’s assistance to homeless folks in Fayetteville.

ISRAEL AND US Attack on IRAN ANTHOLOGY #10, June 18, 2026

 in Dick's Newsletter 2026

Compiled by Dick Bennett https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2026/06/omni-israel-and-us-attack-on-iran.html What’s at Stake:  Preventing a war, and then if that fails, stopping it, are the paramount values of the UN Charter and the foundation of all of OMNI’s anthologies on the Culture of War.   See the opening two articles. CONTENTS CONTEXTS OF IRAN WAR What’s at Stake:Historians for Peace and Democracy  Art Hobson. Trump’s 2018 Action:  “Will Iran Build a Nuclear Bomb? History:RICK STEVES’ TRAVEL DOCUMENTARIES:  IRAN Walt Zlotow.    “Tortured US history with Iran goes back 73 years, not 47.”Scott Anderson.  King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution, A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation. Ludis.  […]

US LAWLESSNESS ANTHOLOGY #3, June 15, 2026

 in Dick's Newsletter 2026

COMPILED BY DICK BENNETT FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE, JUSTICE, ECOLOGY and DEMOCRACY (#1, 4-24-17; #2, 9-11-22) https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2026/06/omni-us-lawlessness-anthology-3-june-15.html http://omnicenter.org/donate/ #1 http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2017/04/us-lawlessness.html#2 https://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2022/09/omni-us-lawlessness-anthology-2.html What’s at Stake: See Caitlin Johnstone’s list in “If you think our rulers do bad things in secret, wait ‘til you see what they do out in the open.”   [These three anthologies offer merely an introduction to the outpouring scholarship opposing US imperial overreach that taints all aspects of international relations.  See my anthologies on each of the major US wars, on US continental and Pacific expansion, on the Israel-US Gaza genocide, on  Soviet/Russophobiae and the Ukraine […]

Flag Day Protest

 in Current Events

New Iteration of No Kings Flag Day Protest Sunday June 14 – 11:00 am-12:30 pm – It’s a birthday party against Donald Trump. Sunday is his 80th birthday, and while he fritters away watching wrestlers as the world burns, people all over the country will be joining Indivisible in the streets celebrating the 250th anniversary of the democratic republic and protesting his brutal and corrupt reign. You’re invited!

Help AJRC change lives and systems

 in Current Events

11:30-3:00 pm TODAY June 13 – at AJRC Community HUB Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition is hard at work changing a mass incarceration system that destroys lives and fails to keep communities safe. Meet some of these good folks today, rain or shine!

Resistance is only half the equation

 in Current Events

When movements are at their most powerful, they not only withdraw cooperation from unjust systems, but build the capacity to live without them. Barbara Peterson June 1, 2026 This moment demands more than opposition. What is needed is not just resistance against corrupt centralized systems, but to create new, local systems that restructure power so it is dispersed throughout society. Because the problem is not only that those in power abuse it. The problem is that power is concentrated in the first place. https://wagingnonviolence.org/2026/06/resistance-is-only-half-the-equation

Every Spring Tastes of its Own Ground

 in Current Events

Every Spring Tastes of its Own Ground Scott Nakagawa – the spring and river metaphor. It could be a tale of Arkansas This is something too beautiful not to share. Scott Nakagawa has a great Substack for posting very wise assessments of dealing with the authoritarian dilemma we face. This post in particular is critical for peacemakers and change advocates everywhere because he’s sharing a metaphor that illustrates how we get past an individualist trap many Americans are caught up in — distrust of working together. That fear of people we may disagree with. Thank you #ScottNakagawa for this image […]

Pilgrims Progress for century 21

 in Current Events

I’m not sure how many people still remember the ancient story of Pilgrims Progress. It’s so old it was one of the early books printed on a Gutenberg printing press in the 1670s. It’s one of history’s best-selling books and has never been out of print. It’s been published in more than 200 languages and at least 1,500 editions. It’s an allegory of life that has resonance for our times, even though the language is very different from our modern tongue. The entire human race is working its way through a pilgrimage from who and what we think we are, […]