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invitation from Cleveland Catholic Worker

WarPlanes are Not Entertainment.

The public is invited to join the Cleveland Catholic Worker this Labor Day weekend for the annual peace witness to end the militarization of the Cleveland National Air Show. We hope that our witness encourages nonviolent resolutions to conflict and war. May we turn around from the path of destruction.

FRI SEP 4, 6:30-8:30pm

Meditation walk

War Planes  Plaza (aka Marjorie Rosenbaum Plaza)

1501 N Marginal  Rd (next to the entrance to Burke Lakefront Airport)

We gather to share reflections, thoughts, silence—and meditative walk outside the gates of the Air Show. As we gather adjacent to the shore of Lake Erie, we are reminded of Earth’s basic elements: land, water, air. We breathe in the air coming from this great lake and ground ourselves in a commitment to transformation and nonviolence.

SAT-MON, SEP 5-7 (10am-5pm each day)

WarPlanes are Not Entertainment. Nonviolence Works, War Doesn’t

3-day Peace Witness to End Militarism at the Cleveland National Air Show

All are welcome to join for whatever hours they can.

Fast and witness

Members of the Cleveland Catholic Worker will stand near the entrance to the Air Show with banners, handing out information leaflets to attendees. Some will be fasting all three days. All are invited to join in the fast (even one day) in solidarity with people around the globe impacted by US militarism and climate catastrophes fueled by US militarism.

Handouts:

War Resisters League Federal Budget pie chart.

Could we use any of the $3.5 trillion US military budget to meet human needs?

Could we use the $1.3 million cost for the Blue Angels three-day show to pursue nonviolent resolutions to conflict & war?

We are squandering fossil fuels and boosting deadly carbon emissions for our own amusement: https://duluthreader.com/articles/2019/07/11/113123-a-short-history-of-the-high-costs-of-military-air   

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BACKGROUND:

The Cleveland Catholic Worker has been leading this witness for the last 40 years because the Cleveland National Air Show functions as a War Show.

Initially, Salvadoran refugees, who were being provided sanctuary in Cleveland at Casa San Jose in the 1980s, expressed alarm at the sounds of the Air Show fighter jets, describing how the fighter jets reminded them of the warplanes that flew over El Salvador in fighter strafing runs. So the following year,  the Salvadorans together with Catholic Workers began the witness.  What are presented as sounds of entertainment in Cleveland are the sounds of war and fear in other countries.  The sheer volume of the planes is actually intimidating and violent, despite being billed as family entertainment.                                                                  

While there are several non-defense aircraft providing entertainment at the Air Show, the US military has a large presence. And military recruiting is a major focus at the event. “It’s our No. 1 recruiting tool,” said retired Air Force Col. Pete McCaffrey, a pilot with the Thunderbirds from 1992 to 1995.

https://www.clevelandairshow.com/on-the-ground/

CLIMATE SHOCKS/CLIMATE CHANGE

Eight decades after the US detonated the first A-bombs in Japan, the US military continues to wreak incredible destruction across the globe. The US military is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter—and it causes other long-term environmental devastation like burn pits, landmines, and pollution from other weapons and ammunition (and other military ordnance).

The Environmental Cost of War and Armed Conflict | Friends Committee On National Legislation 

MILITARISM IS THE MACHINE BEHIND US IMPERIALISM & FORCED MIGRATION

For the past 200 years, the US military has been a primary tool for implementing US imperialism across the globe, especially in this hemisphere. In recent years, tens of thousands of migrants have been fleeing Latin America and the Caribbean largely because of the militarism the US has built up in their countries, dating back to the Spanish-American War. They are increasingly climate refugees, at a loss for how to continue farming or fishing amidst catastrophic climate shocks. 

WHY DO WE OPPOSE THE AIR SHOW?

It is warplanes as entertainment (& military recruitment of your youth) that the Catholic Worker witness opposes.

We live in Cleveland, OH, one of the poorest large cities in the US with a legacy of racialized poverty. Cleveland has the highest child poverty rate of any large city in the US, with 51% of kids living in poverty.  How could even a small portion of the  Pentagon’s bloated budget be redirected to address REAL security: housing, education, child care, health care, and many other anti-poverty programs that would also bolster the middle class?

The main event this year, the Blue Angels Jet Demonstration team, fly the F/A-18 Horner fighter jets of the US Air Force.  Originally created by McDonnell-Douglas in the 1970s, the F/A-18 is deployed throughout the world at 877 US military bases in 95 countries at $80 billion for US military operations and wars. The cost of the F/A Hornet is $30-70 million per plane. The US regularly sells military equipment and weaponry to countries around the world. The US sold a record high $331 billion in weapons worldwide in 2025, up from $319 billion in 2024, and $207b in 2023.

 WHAT WILL WE DO OUTSIDE THE GATES OF THE AIR SHOW

As many people walk to the Air Show gates, members of the Catholic Worker will be just outside the gates at Marjorie Rosenbaum Plaza (aka WarPlanes Plaza), where two planes are mounted as gods of war & metal, at Burke Lakefront Airport (1501 N Marginal Road, along the Shoreway Rt 2).

CALL OUT COMPLICITY IN THE WAR MACHINE

Every year, the Air Show witness gives us an opportunity to reflect on our own complicity in a war economy and what we, as people of conscience, are called to do while living in this violent US culture that is rooted in surveillance, militarized policing, war, and imperialism. We call on the Spirit to transform us into peacemakers.  May we turn around from the path of destruction.

--Cleveland Catholic Worker

source: Cleveland Peace Action

"Ira Helfand offers the clearest and most concise explanation I've ever heard, of the threat of nuclear holocaust and what we can do about it......Francis Chiappa (Cleveland Peace Action Board of Trustees)

Back from the Brink: Preventing a Nuclear Holocaust

Presenter: Dr Ira Helfand, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, past president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

As the world faces an out-of-control diversion of energy and human resources into war-making, and with the US planning a large and costly upgrade to its nuclear arsenal, Dr. Helfand will outline the work of Back from the Brink. This organization brings communities together to prevent the growing threat that nuclear weapons pose to human health, environment, and all that we hold dear. May we transmute our fears and anxieties over the threat of nuclear annihilation into meaningful action.

Location: Pilgrim Congregational Church, 2592 W 14th St., Cleveland. This is a watch party (Dr. Helfand will be presenting virtually)

Online option: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/chwImmyRSF6BgTS6laWPUg#/registration

More about Dr. Ira Helfand:

-Past president, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize

-Co-founder and past president, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), the US affiliate of IPPNW

-Member, International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

-Dr. Helfand has represented ICAN at historic intergovernmental meetings to address the humanitarian impacts of nuclear war and at key United Nations assemblies that led to the successful negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

-The recipient of numerous leadership awards, Dr. Helfand has published studies on the medical consequences of nuclear war in the New England Journal of Medicine, the British Medical Journal, the Lancet and the World Medical Journal, and has delivered countless lectures around the world on the health effects of nuclear weapons. He represented PSR and IPPNW at the Nobel ceremonies in Oslo in December 2009 honoring President Obama, and presented their new report, Nuclear Famine: One Billion People at Risk, at the Nobel Peace Laureates Summit in Chicago in April of 2012.

-Dr. Helfand was educated at Harvard College and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is a former chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and president of the medical staff at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. He is a retired internist and urgent care physician at the Family Care Medical Center in western Massachusetts.

More info:

clevelandpeaceaction@gmail.com

440.703.0215

As Immigration and Custom's Enforcement (ICE) continues to terrorize communities, separate families, and even kill citizens and non-citizens alike as part of this administration’s mass deportation campaign, there is also increased public scrutiny of this country’s detention center system for migrants.  In 2025 alone, ICE broke records for the number of people who have died in detention, most often due to the horrific conditions and lack of proper medical care. Since this administration's inauguration in 2025, 52 people have died in detention according to Human Rights Watch—four times that of the previous administration. Join us to learn from UCC pastors and lay leaders as they share how they've taken action and learn what we can do as people of faith to stop detention and continue to resist this deadly system.

to register click here

SOURCE and MORE INFORMATION: https://waronterror25.org/

Dear Friends,

I hope you have been taking care as we continue to grieve the violence and disregard for life by the state. In the face of this violence, MCL remains committed to organizing across local, national, and international struggles. We hold everyone who is grieving, resisting, and surviving close and we know that together we can strengthen our movements, and cultivate communities rooted in solidarity, care, and collective liberation.

As many of you may know, this year marks two anniversaries: 25 years on the Global War on Terror as well as 250 years of the American empire. We can never truly quantify or unearth all the levels of harm that have been inflicted. However, we know that memorializing and gathering as a collective is one way we can grapple with how this War on Terror apparatus has reshaped the lives of Muslims, Arabs and other targeted communities in the U.S. and across the globe

In response, Muslim Counterpublics Lab is marking this anniversary through our convening: “When Will This War End: Lessons and Legacies of the War on Terror,” on Thursday and Friday, September 17-18, 2026 in Washington D.C. The conference will be held at the Elliott School of International Affairs in partnership with 25+ organizations.

We invite all of our partners, allies, organizations and community members to join us for this conference that will feature 12 plenaries and workshops with over 35 speakers over two days. Details such as speakers, session descriptions, the overall schedule and registration can be found on our website: WarOnTerror25.org

The goal of this conference is to confront the quarter-century of structural violence that has operated under problematic, violent policies that claim to battle “terrorism” by bringing together scholars, organizers, advocates, survivors, journalists, and community members to examine lessons from the War on Terror, explore what resistance to this framework of state violence has looked like, and ask how we can imagine a future where infrastructure of the War on Terror is finally abolished. Finally, this conference will hold space to mourn and remember survivors and the millions of victims of the War on Terror, as we continue to demand accountability, justice and reparations.

If your organization is interested in sponsorship, please fill out this form.  Also, please be on the lookout on @MuslimCounterpublicsLab on socials and our website as we continue to share exciting updates and details of the conference! For any other questions or concerns, please reach out to gwotconference@muslimcounterpublicslab.org.

We would also greatly love your support in sharing this far and wide, with your listservs, social media team, partners, community members, staff and all that can benefit from this incredible space we are cultivating together!

Join us for our Annual Celebration: Banned Book Bingo in partnership with Red Wine and Blue on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.

Banned Book Bingo features books by Women Authors, Authors of Color, LGBTQ+ Authors, with books about racism, sexuality, gender, and history. Walk away with the knowledge of how you can push back against book banners and stand up and support freedom, democracy, equality, and inclusion! 

Banned Book Bingo features books by Women Authors, Authors of Color, LGBTQ+ Authors, with books about racism, sexuality, gender, and history. Walk away with the knowledge of how you can push back against book banners and stand up and support freedom, democracy, equality, and inclusion!

to register click here

source: Community Peacemaker Teams CPT

Join us for an online gathering celebrating 40 years of peacemaking around the world!

This year CPT marks its 40th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, we’re hosting a special webinar, bringing together stories spanning four decades of transforming violence and oppression.

What does it mean to walk alongside a community in its struggle against oppression? How have we disrupted systems of violence with creative nonviolent action? And what makes our approach to solidarity and accompaniment so unique?

Join CPTers past and present as they share stories that stand out from our journey. Together, we accompanied campesina communities in Colombia facing displacement, stood against state terror in the West Bank, and supported migrants navigating the jail cells and detention camps of the Aegean islands. We have demanded justice alongside Indigenous communities defending their land and resources, kept memory alive with the families of those killed by Turkish strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan, and held vigil for our neighbors whose lives were lost at the US-Mexico border.

Come with us to reflect on four decades of protective presence. Celebrate what we’ve built together, connect with our community, and rise with us into the next 40 years of undoing violence and oppression!

You’ll be able to support our work into the next 40 years through our fundraising auction! Your bid will raise funds that keep our programs going.

to sign up click here

source: Council on American Islamic Relations of Ohio

Asalaamu Alaikum,

We hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Election season is officially underway, and we have hit the ground running with our 3rd Annual Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Masjid Competition. For the past five weeks, our team has been visiting mosques across Northern Ohio to help community members register to vote, verify their voter registration, request absentee ballots, and answer election-related questions.

Finally, tickets for our annual banquet on Sunday, September 27 are now available for purchase! We are excited to bring you Dr. Suleiman Hani from Al Maghrib Institute, Dr. Altaf Husain from Yaqeen Institute, and our very own board member, Mohmmad Faraj! We can't wait to see you at our biggest event of the year and to celebrate another year of impact with you, insha'Allah.

Thank you for your continued support of our work. Together, we are building a stronger, more informed, and more engaged community.

With care,

The CAIR-Ohio Team

to register click here

Inspired by Pope Francis’ centering of Indigenous spirituality, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers are hosting “Sacred Border Experience: Indigenous Spirituality and Mission.” This event will explore what it means to be a missionary disciple in a way that honors, rather than erases, Indigenous cultures. Focused on Indigenous wisdom, border reality, reflection, and missionary discipleship, this experience will be October 9-11 at the Columban Center in El Paso, Texas.
Featured presenters include Dr. Yolanda Chávez Leyva, a Chicana/fronteriza historian and writer of Rarámuri descent and Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at El Paso, and Monsignor Arturo J. Bañuelas, the founder of the Tepeyac Institute and Hope Border Institute, both in El Paso.

Immediately after, Maryknoll is offering an immersion trip at the El Paso/Juarez Border from October 11-16. Spend a week on a transformative pilgrimage retreat to El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico, which will delve into the complex realities of life for migrants. Experience the human side of migration by engaging directly with immigrants seeking refuge —sharing meals, hearing their powerful stories, and witnessing their resilience. Learn from Church workers and advocates who navigate these critical issues daily.

Rooted in the principles of social justice and spirituality, this journey offers moments of prayer, liturgy, and faith-sharing. Reflect on the Gospel and your beliefs while exploring the impact of U.S. immigration policies, the intricacies of migration, and your role in responding with compassion and action. This is more than a trip—it’s a call to deepen your faith, broaden your understanding, and return home as an advocate for justice. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to witness, learn, and grow.

to register for the border uimmersion trip click here

source: World Beyond Wars 

This October 23-25, World BEYOND War's “#NoWar2026: Beyond Borders” Conference will unpack how the war system drives mass displacement and fuels the militarization of borders worldwide. Sliding-scale tickets start at $5 USD, which covers all 3 days of online sessions. Get your ticket.

Why "Beyond Borders" is this year's conference theme:

✱ Conflict & war fuel displacement. At the end of 2025, the number of people displaced by war and violence was estimated at 117.8 million.1

✱ The weapons industry profits twice...from arming conflict to militarizing borders, blocking the movement of people fleeing violence. Lockheed Martin — the world’s biggest weapons company — has received more than $1 billion in U.S. Customs & Border Protection contracts. RTX (formerly Raytheon) has deployed border surveillance & militarization in 24+ countries.2 

✱ Meanwhile, xenophobia and violent crackdowns on migrants are on the rise globally. Earlier this year, the UN Human Rights Chief decried the dehumanizing and unlawful immigration policies enacted by the Trump administration.3 And the EU is ramping up deportations under a new law that mirrors U.S. ICE-style brutal tactics.4

tor register click here

http://tiny.cc/OhioFairTrade

We invite you to show your support for just, alternative trade by becoming a co-sponsor of the  annual Ohio Fair Trade Teach-In & Expo 2026, to be held Saturday, October 24, 2026 at John Carroll University.

Click here to make your contribution, or mail your check payable to IRTF, 3606 Bridge Ave., Cleveland OH 44113.

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/2026-ohio-fair-trade-expo-tickets-and-sponsorship-2

See the Facebook event here

ABOUT

This annual in-person event at John Carroll University is expected to bring together hundreds of fair trade supporters, advocates, retailers, and vendors from across the state.  The Expo is an opportunity to continue building energy around the already vibrant Ohio fair trade movement and previous Expos.  In addition to the Global Marketplace of fair-trade vendors, we’ll host educational presentations and our Fair Trade Around the World program for kids.

WHAT:     Ohio Fair Trade Teach-In & Expo 2026

WHERE:  John Carroll University, Dolan Science Center; University Heights (Cleveland), OH

WHEN:    Saturday, October 24, 2026

TIME:      10am-3pm (attendees are welcome to come and go)

2026 THEME: Building Capacity

This core principle of fair trade emphasizes valuable long-term relationships in order to promote fair trade business growth and sustainable supply chains and markets. Fair trade networks seek to increase positive developmental impacts for small, marginalized producers. Developing the skills and capabilities of owner-members or employees is key. Organizations working directly with small producers develop specific activities to help these producers improve their management skills, production capabilities and access to markets—local, regional, national, and international. Their products are often available not only through fair trade organizations but in national mainstream markets.  Organizations that purchase products through fair trade brokers (or intermediaries like cooperative associations) help to develop their capacity to support the marginalized producer groups. 

Mutual commitment, long-term relationships: these traits are counter to capitalist structures. Capitalism is often presented as an indisputable system where unfair working conditions, exploitive environmental practices, and growing monopolies are inherent for a functioning economy. But there is a way for artisans and farmers to escape many of the abuses of the dominant global capitalist system. Fair trade networks (or other alternative trade organizations) can help small producers develop sustainable supply chains. Because of the long-term mutual commitment, small producers can develop the technical capacity to create sustainable supply chains and markets.

GOALS

With the fair trade principle of building capacity in mind, the Ohio Fair Trade Teach-In and Expo strives to:

 -Present high quality educational forums to increase attendees’ understanding of fair trade

-Provide resources and active campaigns for fair trade supporters to join

-Create a larger network of socially conscious consumers committed to Fair Trade

-Offer opportunities for networking amongst vendors, advocates, and supporters from across Ohio

-Raise tens of thousands of dollars in vital income for fair trade artisans and farmers around the world

CO-SPONSORS (list in formation)

Thank you to our co-sponsors, including several in-kind donors. (list in formation)

Church of the Gesu

InterReligious Task Force on Central America & Colombia (IRTF)

John Carroll University–Campus Ministry

The Market Path

CO-SPONSORSHIP LEVELS

Click here to make a donation, or reach out to OhioFairTrade@irtfcleveland.org. You can also mail a check payable to IRTF, 3606 Bridge Ave., Cleveland OH 44113.

$1,000 - Goodie Bag Co-Sponsor

Includes recognition on website, printed materials, event program book, prominent on slide show, and recognized in the fair trade goodie bag

$500 - Presenting Co-Sponsor

Includes recognition on website, printed materials, event program book, prominent on slide show

$250 - Market Co-Sponsor

Recognition on website, printed materials, event program book, slide show

$100 - General Co-Sponsor

Recognition on website, printed materials, event program book, small logo on slide show

GLOBAL FAIR TRADE MARKETPLACE

We are filling the atrium at the Dolan Science Center with more than a dozen fair trade vendors.

COMMUNITY PARTNER OUTREACH TABLES

Info/outreach tables from community groups promoting justice, equity and human rights are welcome.

KIDS’ ACTIVITIES

Kids (ages 6-12) are invited to participate in our Fair Trade Around the World. As kids travel around the auditorium, they will learn about different countries, cultures, languages, climate and habitats—as well as personal stories about the farmers and artisans—from the vendors. Stopping at each station, kids can participate in a 5-10 minute activity and have their fair trade travel booklet stamped to be entered into the kiddie raffle.

EQUAL EXCHANGE COFFEE & TEA

Complimentary refreshments (chocolate, tea, and coffee) by Equal Exchange, staffed by sales reps from their warehouse in Bedford, OH.

GOODIE BAGS

The first 200 attendees will receive a sturdy canvas tote bag decorated with the Ohio Fair Trade Network logo (and inside will find some fair trade sample products, compliments of our in-kind donors). 

LOCATION

Dolan Science Center at John Carroll University, 1 John Carroll Blvd, University Heights, OH 44118

HOURS

Come and go anytime between 10am and 3pm. Programs are scheduled for 11am and 12noon. Free-will donations accepted at the door.

OFTN: Ohio Fair Trade Network proudly organizes the annual Ohio Fair Trade Teach-In & Expo each October at John Carroll University, in conjunction with: InterReligious Task Force on Central America & Colombia (IRTF), John Carroll University- Campus Ministry

SREAD THE WORD!

See the Facebook event here

https://www.facebook.com/share/1913p3Qauv/