India, United States, integrity

I apologize for the long delay between posts the last few months have been demanding. In December I had a reaction to typhoid vaccine. Then, in January my trip to India was blocked when I arrived at Chennai. India Immigration would not allow me in due to visa issue. They sent me back on the same plane I flew in on. Almost 50 hours in the air is not something I rec commend. After three days resting, I hustled to see if I could put together funds and get a visa.

I returned to India in time for the War Resisters International triennial conference in Ahmedabad on January 22ND. The theme of linking movements for justice and peace brought organizers from many places in the world. Some of them were involved in trying circumstances from Venezuela to Eastern India. After a week at Gujarat Vedjapeeth, the University founded by Gandhi in 1920, I went to the World Peace Center in Pune for the Round Table Conference on democracy in today's violent context. A different level of activists participated in this event which addressed a range of issues from holistic health to global climate change. The trip concluded with the Third Training Camp for nonviolence based upon Preksha Meditation at the Children's Peace Palace in Rajsamand. Again, I mixed with people from various backgrounds, but mostly connected with the Jain philosophy. This collage of events and viewpoints represent efforts to address the violence and disintegration that is happening. Not everyone thinks there is disintegration, but it seems that all agree that we face troubling times. In each event I portrayed Gzndhi bringing both the views and experiences of the historic Gandhi, as well as my own applications to cureent issues as the "American Gandhi."

As on the last trip in October, I came upon a book that filled in many blanks about my experiences. GOODBYE TO GANDHI, TRAVELS IN THE NEW INDIA, by Bernard Imhasly covers the territory between Gujarat in Western India where Gandhi was born and where Hindu-Muslim tensions are prominent to Eastern India where tribal and village peoples face the exploits of the corporate/government powers to appropriate land and resources. Imhasly interviews a very representative cross section of persons on all sides of issues. India does not have an easy row to hoe!

Neither does the United States of America have an easy row. As I traveled, I was aware of many events in the US, including health care reform. It appears that significant health care for all is not in the cards. Obama seemed to admit that in a comment I saw on the Internet. Then, Obama's military budget was submitted: 7.04 billion dollars. The figure does not include military related expenses in other parts of the budget. And, the sum is more than the rest of the world spends on the military. I ask: where is the national internal integrity that the military is trying to defend going to be as the richest nation in the world disintegrates?

Am I being too negative? As I regroup from this trip and reassess my situation and the world situation, I will see what I can see.

Journey to Smile

For the last two months a group of us has been communicating with Afghanistan boys who are vigiling for peace. They have been requesting President Barak Obama to bring peace to Afghanistan and the world. They were hoping to have him acknowledge them and their efforts when he gave his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on December 10th. Naturally, they were disappointed when he announced the escalation of war making efforts and did not mention the boys vigil. (Ambassador Eichenberry, a former commander of the US led Afghanistan military forces, did visit them in October.)

Last night (December 10th) I gave a message to the boys through a Gandhi portrayal. I encouraged them to continue their Journey to Smile as they have been by following Gandhi's philosophy and principles. "Cling to Truth," as the meaning of Satyagraha. Live by love. Be courageous. Cast off all fears. War makers use fear to move people to war and to kill. Gandhi: "In nonviolence, courage is in dying, not in killing." These words are the essence of my message to them.

This is a strong challenge to boys who have lost fathers, grandfathers, uncles during the fighting. I thought: What do they face in the near future as the US and NATO add 40,000 more troops and continues to use unmanned drone planes like the Predators to bomb suspected targets? Following Gandhi's path of nonviolence in these circumstances is a call to powerful love. Yet, I know that people in Iraq and other conflict areas are doint the same. Some heartwarming stories have emerged here in Olympia as we have been vigiling in support of these boys and their peacemaking.

I feel too that my words to the Afghanistan boys are also words for me. Have courage to love and to live by truth everywhere and in all circumstances.

The boys website is: http://OurJourneyToSmile.com. See their beautiful videos and messages.

Disarm Now Plowshares

"I will purify you from the taint of all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and make you conform to my statutes." Ez. 36:25-27 introduces the DISARM NOW PLOWHARES statement.

On November 2nd, 2009 five persons entered the Trident Sub Base Bangor on the Hood Canal in the State of Washington, 20 miles from Seattle. The Base houses nine Trident submarines which carry 24 missiles each, which in turn carry multiple nuclear warheads. This is a first strike weapon, in other words it has the capability of wiping out any opposition without retaliation. Nuclear weapons are prohibited by International Law according to a decision of the United Nations International Court in 1996. I believe the weapons are immoral.
The five entered the base at night by cutting through chain linked fenses and walked around the base for four hours before cutting through the third fence which alerted the Marines who proceded to arrest them, putting hoods over their faces and making them lie on the ground for four hours before taking them to booking and questioning by the FBI. But, they poured their own blood on the ground to symbolize the terrorism of nuclear weapons and they carried hamers to symbolically destroy the weapons which were in bunkers a short distance away.
The five were Lynne Greenwald, 60, local member of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Ann Montgomery, 83, member of religious order, Bill Bischel, 81, Tacoma Jesuit priest, Steve Kelly, 60, Jesuit from Oakland, California, and Susan Crane, 65, from Jonah House in Baltimore. They were booked and released, pending further charges by the Federal Prosecutors.
The Plowshares movement began in 1980 and has grown into an international effort. The Plowshares name is from Isaiah 2:4, "God will judge between the nations and will settle disputes of many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."

More information can be acquired from the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action: www.gzcenter.org.

My 2009 India trip: Gandhi facing the 21st Century

I traveled to India from September 23rd to October 14Th and want to report a sense of India from this trip. The trip has two general levels of experience: my itinerary to five cities portraying Gandhi and my observations about the radical changes in India happening at this time.

I was invited to the Youth Peace Festival in Chandigarh from September 27Th to October 1. Here, 500 youth from 10 countries, including Pakistan, Shri Lanka, the Philippines, UK, US, and India, participated in the Festival. I gave the "Inaugural Address" as the American Gandhi and presented the youth with the opportunity to be the change that the world demands today in the light of resource depletion, climate change, nuclear weapons, poverty, and violence. As Gandhi, so they can change themselves to face courageously the realities of today's world.

After the Festival, I traveled to Delhi to participate in first "All India Rally" against nuclear power on October 2ND, Gandhi's 140Th birthday. My Gandhi appearance fit right into the occasion to lead the rally at Raj Ghat (memorial site of Gandhi's cremation) and walk through the streets of Delhi. I connected my anti-nuclear work in the US and UK with that of India.

From October 5Th to 8Th I presented Gandhi in the Rajsamand area under the sponsorship of ANUVRAT at the Children's Peace Palace. We visited numerous schools, universities, and teachers' educational institutions.

On October 10Th and 11Th, I presented Gandhi in Aurangabad with the aide of Dr. Chavan who had invited me originally to India in 2005 to portray Gandhi. Among the appearances was a lively discussion among activists, doctors, scientists about the serious needs of the day. As at the Children's Peace Festival, the escalating shrinkage of water was the dominant topic. Chavan picked up on the "American Gandhi seeking 79 truth seekers" flyer from my book, THE AMERICAN GANDHI, My Seeking Truth With Humanity at the Crossroads." Chavan promised more to come from the encounter.

On October 12Th and 13Th I presented at a university co-initiated by Gandhi in 1920, Gujerat Vijapeeth, which includes a Gandhi Studies Program. Also, I visited for the first time the Sabermati Ashram, Gandhi's second ashram in India and the site of the initiation of the Salt March. My host took me to a village where I experienced a traditional village undergoing changes due to modern developments.

The trip included 23 Gandhi presentations, two public demonstrations: the Anti-nuclear rally and a disarmament walk in Chandigarh; and numerous media interviews among all the interactions with people along the way.

My second level of experience and observation is about the developments within India as she seeks to take her place as a nation and power (superpower). The new creation of superstructure in roads and airports is most obvious everywhere. What is not obvious is the social upheaval to the peoples. Gandhi's India is disappearing, the India of the 700,000 villages. Creations of dams, roads, cities, and superstructure of all forms as India joins the world market economy is pushing the villagers to the cities. On top to this the rampant grabbing of natural resources (water, uranium, bauxite, etc) is taking place in the tribal and village rural areas. I had two personal encounters with persons and groups facing these daunting challenges. Upon entering Delhi at the airport I discovered Arundhati Roy's new book, LISTENING TO GRASSHOPPERS, FIELD NOTES ON DEMOCRACY. Here, she presents a poetic, passionate account of the effects of these developments on the peoples of India, emphasizing the "terrorist" actions of the first decade of the 21st Century. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for those interested in India and the world today. Her sense is that India's options are boiling down to social justice or civil war.

Citizens' Actions for nuclear disarmament

We at Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action have just completed one more citizens' action at Sub Base Bangor on the Hood Canal to commemorate the 64Th anniversary of the Atom bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I have been participating in actions with GZ since 1978. We yearn for the end of nuclear weapons, a nuclear free world without the threat of ending life on earth. We must take the threat away. And yet ... And yet.

Today we have the best opportunity to begin the disarmament process, since President Barack Obama has stated that he wants their abolition and has begun a process with Russia aimed at taking the next step in that direction. Both countries have thousands of the weapons on hair trigger alert, although the Cold War ended twenty years ago. Both countries have been involved in the Start Treaty process which have taken thousands of nuclear weapons out of commission. This process was severely stalled by the Bush administration. Now, Obama must hustle just to keep the disarmament protocols in place until new treaties can be negotiated. The protocols are scheduled to cease in December, 2009. While this opportunity beckons us with hope and expectation, several factors hamper the will to do so.

First, the health insurance reform is diverting energy and political capital from disarmament. Second, while the US led administration is stating the intent to disarm, it is also assisting India with nuclear deals which enable India to develop its own nuclear weapons and submarines. Other countries are being tempted to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. Third, the Nonproliferation Treaty has its next meeting in May, 2010. Without serious US leadership that Treaty is threatened by India's and other nations arming. Fourth, the US nuclear weapons establishment has careers on the line with disarmament and true believers in nuclear weapons. This is a formidable force for keeping the weapons in place, not only in place, but also creating new and more diverse nuclear weapons. Fifth, a recent poll showed that a more than 50% majority of Americans support the possession of nuclear weapons. To continue down the road to disarmament the Obama administration needs to take a very proactive posture. The activists and American people must put greater energy in support of US leadership.

This is the situation as I see it. Our best opportunity for nuclear abolition. Our daunting challenge to take advantage of it.

A denier becomes an agreer!

For several years now I have been waving the flag trying to catch activists and citizens attention about the serious connection between peak oil, global warming and war making, especially nuclear war. Well, a significant development by a conservative source has now underlined this message. In its 2009 report the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has joined ranks with peak oil folks in its "International Energy Outlook." The report is a radical turnaround, one issuing "gloom and doom" according to one analyst.

In 2007 the EIA report projected the projection of conventional oil to be 107.2 million barrels per day by world sources by 2030. Now, in 2009, the projection for 2030 is 93.1 MB/D, a drop of 14%. The EIA has gone from rosy to cloudy, dark clouds due to compounding factors. The first compounding factor is the surging increase in Asian oil demand expected to resume with the economic turn about in 2010. The second compounding factor are the technical, environmental, and energy demands to produce unconventional liquid fuels. These changes will have huge effects on economic, military, and human issues affecting all nations, beginning with the United States and China.

In 1990 Asia and the Middle East consumed 17% of the world's oil. They are projected to consume 41% by 2030. China is expected to pass the US consumption in the next five years. How will this competition between the US and China play out?

At present, unconventional fuels (syn fuels) account for 4% of liquid fuel production. The report estimates that this will be 13% by 2030. Don't look now but demand is racing ahead of supply with these slippery projections. Canada's oil sands, Venezuela's extra heavy oil, Brazil's deep off shore oil and biofuels, Arctic oil and natural gas, Colorado's oil shale, every body's coal to liquids (CTL) offer some relief from conventional oil limitations, but at the costs to the environment and energy demands. Think about the changes in international relations implied here. Think about the billions of poor living, existing, fading implied here.

Then, there is global climate change.

You can obtain Michael Klare's full analysis by going to Truthout.com: "It's Official - The Era of Cheap Oil is Over -- Energy Department Changes Its Tune on Peak Oil."

Yesterday, I read an insightful piece by Chris Hedges, who said we need to resurrect our emotion and put it behind our rational understanding. Amen.

The United States has been found guilty of war crimes.

The following article was submitted for the summer Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action newsletter.

The War That Refuses To Go Away

By Bernie Meyer

June 3, 2009

What weapon of war causes widespread destruction to the environment?
What weapon of war causes massive and horrendous death to all in its path?
What weapon of war marks its victims with a lethal dose for future generations?
Is the use of the above weapon forbidden by International Law?

Of course, nuclear weapons are a correct answer. But, it is not the only one. Agent Orange with dioxin is another.

Agent Orange with dioxin was used in Vietnam between 1961 and 1971. The United States used it to defoliate wide areas of South Vietnam, thus creating the most extensive use of chemical weapons in history. The environmental effects remain in the land, in agricultural soils, where forests were, in waters, in fish and animals for the foreseeable future. Estimates of human deaths run into the three to four million range in 2009, abstracting from the past loss of life, and ignoring the ravages to the “monsters’ born from the womb. Internalized dioxins are claiming the third and fourth generations in Vietnam. Not only in Vietnam. But United States, Korea, New Zealand, and Australia also claim victims who were troops during the war or are children of troops. The Geneva Conventions outlaw targeting civilians.

Catherine Sagan and I visited the victims of Agent Orange and their caregivers from December 23rd until January 10th 2009 in Vietnam to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the DC Nine action of 1969. We were part of the group that went into the Dow Chemical lobbying office in Washington DC to protest the profiting from weapons in an unjust war. Napalmed children and adults were our focus with photos, blood, smashed office equipment, and files thrown out the 4th story windows. Catherine and I pleaded “no contest,” when these photos were not allowed to be shown to the jury and when Vietnam was not permitted to be mentioned, sending us to prison with a felony in 1970.

We were aware of napalm and defoliants, but not of the dioxin component. A post action speaking tour led me to be “educated” by Vietnam students in Boston about the effects of the defoliation with dioxin. I still have the written story which they shared with me. It is only with the last few years that I have been made aware of the extent of the suffering. It is only recently that I have learned about the fact that Dow and other chemical companies, along with certain military personnel knew about the effects of dioxin in the late 1960’s. Only when the Environmental Protection Agency limited the defoliants in the United States did the military end the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam in 1971. (Of course, it still was used by troops when other agents were short in supply.)

When one of the Nine suggested a 40th reunion, I said, “We should do it in Vietnam.” Catherine and I visited The Friendship Village outside Ha Noi where veterans from the North Vietnam Army and the U.S. Army joined together with an international coalition to treat veterans and children suffering from Agent Orange/dioxin in a beautiful community. The Friendship Village witnesses a heart warming reconciliation, highlighted by the story of US Vet, George Mizo, and the General who were opponents during the Tet Offensive. George’s platoon was totally wiped out. George had been evacuated due to wounding. He died in 2002 as a result of Agent Orange effects upon him.

We visited facilities of Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) in Ha Noi, Hue, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City. Through these and other sites we saw the many victims and their families. Can you imagine yourself caring for one, two, three, four children with any number of effects? Some are bedridden from birth to death. Most are among the poorest. Most are receiving a minimal assistance, if any. “They live with missing and malformed limbs, mental retardation, without eyes, two sets of elbows and knees, cerebral palsy, spinal bifida and internal organs growing on the outside of their bodies. … This book is a tribute to their fortitude.” (my emphasis) Philip Jones Griffiths, AGENT ORANGE, “COLLATERAL DAMAGE” IN VIET NAM. Also, each hospital has a closed room of the “monsters” in formaldehyde bottles. Would that this article was long enough to share Catherine’s and my welcoming experiences!

“So, while Operation Ranch Hand provided no one or short-term military benefits, it also provided neither long nor short-term psychological benefits. If anything, it embittered the civilian population of Viet Nam and drove it closer to the Viet Cong and NVA. And no one yet was sure what eventually would be the effect on the health of those exposed to the chemicals. Operation Ranch Hand was shown by late 1968 to be a bankrupt strategy, one devoid of good sense, good planning or good military strategy.” (Griffiths, 168)

The US Government has not acknowledged the “mistake.” Nor, has the government offered to assist the victims. It took decades before the government made assistance available to US veterans. In March of this year the US Supreme Court rejected VAVA’a suit against 29chemical companies on behalf of the victims after a New York District Court and Appeals Court denied the law suit.

It was an interesting coincidence that The International People’s Tribunal of Conscience in Paris concluded “that the use of dioxin by the US military in Viet Nam from 1961 to 1971 was a war crime against humanity,” on March 18th, the same date as the DC Nine reunion. (I was unable to attend due to eye surgery. But, I was present through my Vietnam power point about the trip and about the causes of human victimization and through my book!) According to the Viet Nam News, the Tribunal conducted this process:

“After examining evidence and the testimonies of 27 victims and experts, the tribunal found that the US Government and chemical manufacturers were well aware of the fact that dioxin is one of the most dangerous chemicals known to man, capable of causing prolonged serious consequences not only to humans and the environment but also to the Vietnamese economy.

“The tribunal concluded that the US Government was guilty of using dioxin and damaging the environment, defined as ‘ecocide’. The chemical companies were also found guilty of colluding with the US Government’s actions.

“The tribunal asked the US Government and the chemical companies who manufactured and supplied Agent Orange, to fully compensate victims and their families. The tribunal also demanded they rehabilitate the environment and eradicate any dioxin from Viet Nam and its waters, especially hot spots around former US bases.”

The story goes on: Every US resident has dioxin within their bodies causing lethal effects. This should be the topic for another article for action. Peace.

My Vietnam Power Point: “Paradigm of War” can be accessed on my web site, www.oly-wa.us/berniemeyer/ or have me over to share it.

Bernie Meyer has been active with Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action since 1978.