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Anti-Militarism: News & Updates
Event
November 30, 2024
Gather for solidarity to overcome our violent nation and build nonviolence together. There will be an unveiling of a peace & justice poster by a local artist. Vendors will offer their wares. Presentations to be made regarding nonviolent struggles.
Our esteemed speaker: Larry Clark is a United Methodist pastor and a sociologist. He has a Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in Christian Education from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology of Conflict from Bowling Green State University. In retirement he has been filling in a various churches who are without pastors. He is the project director for Bluff Street Village – a tiny home community for low income persons. Larry has facilitated a weekly clergy study for twenty years and has taught Sociology at the University of Toledo. For forty years he has been studying and leading groups in the Holy Land of Israel/Palestine/Jordan
Event
November 29, 2024
12-2pm: The Walk & Fast for Humanity will convene at the Fountain of Eternal Life at 120 Public Square on "Black Friday," November 29, 2024, Noon - 2pm. This is to name four world famines and food insecurity in Cleveland, Ohio. We emphasize the huge Pentagon budget and campaigns that foment poverty and famine in proxy war zones of our government. Famine in Gaza, Haiti, Sudan, and Yemen are our focus. We ask that participants everywhere fast from food, fuel and consumerism on "Black Friday." Readings and songs will be offered. From there we will walk to a public building to address our legislators. We invite you to join us and, if you wish, assist with a reading or song. Please reply to this email maria.smith9907@gmail.com if you'd like to be part of the program, or call Don Bryant at 216.255.1576
News Article
November 7, 2024
IRTF is grateful to the 200 supporters who gathered on October 27 at Pilgrim Church in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood for IRTF’s annual Commemoration of the Martyrs. In addition to marking the 44th anniversary of the martyrdom of Cleveland’s missioners in El Salvador (Jean Donovan and Sister Dorothy Kazel, alongside Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke), we commemorated 36 human rights defenders killed in Central America and Colombia this past year because they dared to speak truth to power.
Our keynote speaker, Lorena Araujo of the largest campesino organization in El Salvador (CRIPDES), held the crowd’s attention with horrific stories of mass arrests, detentions and deaths currently happening under their government’s State of Exception, now in its third year. With more 88,000 imprisoned (and more than 300 deaths in prison), El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate in the world—surpassing the astronomical rate of incarceration in the United States.
As the people of El Salvador face the greatest challenge to their democracy since the end of the civil war in 1992, they invite us to renew and deepen our solidarity.
If you would still like to make a donation:
https://bit.ly/3YDmETj via Zeffy platform
irtfcleveland.org/donate via Network for Good
Event
September 20, 2024 to September 22, 2024
Register for #NoWar2024 - World BEYOND War
A global 3-day conference, streamed virtually, with in-person events in Sydney, Australia; Wanfried, Germany; Bogotá, Colombia; and Washington, DC, U.S.
Ending all wars means closing all military bases. The United States of America, unlike any other nation, maintains a massive network of foreign military bases around the world, over 900 bases in more than 90 countries and territories.
These bases are costly in a number of ways: financially, politically, socially, and environmentally. U.S. bases in foreign lands often raise geopolitical tensions, support undemocratic regimes, and serve as a recruiting tool for militant groups opposed to the U.S. presence and the governments its presence bolsters.
Event
September 3, 2024
source: Cleveland Nonviolence Network
The Untold Dangers of Nukes
Learn about the long-term effects of nuclear testing in the U.S.
Attend a one-time screening of the documentary fim Downwind. (2023, 93 minutes)
News Article
August 21, 2024
The article by Efren Lemus in El Faro on August 19, 2024, highlights severe issues within El Salvador's Bureau of Prisons under the state of exception. It documents cases where court-ordered releases were ignored, leading to deaths and continued unjust detainment. Families like that of Luis Armando Rodríguez faced repeated bureaucratic obstacles after his release was ordered, ultimately resulting in his death in prison. The Bureau of Prisons, accused of crimes and secrecy, has failed to comply with court orders, perpetuating a pattern of human rights abuses and institutional impunity despite international scrutiny.
News Article
August 16, 2024
NISGUA’s press release on the latest updates in the historic Guatemalan case charging ex-general Manuel Benedicto Lucas Garcia with genocide against the Maya Ixil people. On August 12, the accused made a frivolous and malicious attempt to dismiss the case. Yet, the fight continues and elders from the three municipals of the Maya Ixil region who are unable to travel to the capital due to advanced age or health issues are preparing to give their testimonies in Nebaj, Guatemala next week.
In this critical moment, a month before the expected end of the trial, we call upon international media to continue to shine a spotlight on the case and reflect upon the international community’s role in enabling the genocide. In particular, the United States provided training to the Guatemalan police and military, promoted the ‘internal enemy’ doctrine, and taught torture techniques, forced disappearance, and counterinsurgency tactics. Survivors of the genocide of the Maya Ixil people and their families and communities have been awaiting justice for over 40 years, and the fight will continue until justice prevails.
News Article
August 15, 2024
In this monthly newsletter, please read about : 1) ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends, 2) US Government Policy: Some legislators and DHS trying to do more to offer humanitarian relief to migrants, 3) Migration Impacts on Women, 4) At the Border, 5) Beyond Borders: Health and Safety in the Age of Migration in Mexico, 6) Changing Demographics: Migrants to the US Come from Different Corners of the Globe, 7) Danger in the Darién Gap: Human rights abuses and the need for human pathways to safety, 8) Texas Gets Tough on Migrants, 9) Economic Benefits of Immigration – both documented and undocumented migrants, 10) Biden Can Claim Record Numbers of Removals.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Here is what you can do to take action this week and act in solidarity with migrants and their families. (See details at the bottom of this newsletter.)
A) Join a Solidarity Delegation to Southern Mexico: November 11-16, 2024
B) Stop Criminalizing Migrants Traveling through the Darién Gap
C) Volunteer to Assistant Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland: Catholic Charities
D) Volunteer to Assistant Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland: NEO Friends of Immigrants
E) Get Paid to Assist Migrants and Refugees in Cleveland
F) Act Now for Welcoming, Dignified, and Just Immigration
Read the full IRTF Migrant Justice Newsletter each month at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog
Event
August 15, 2024
Join us for a panel discussion - in person or on Zoom - on the risks of nuclear war, which may now exceed Cold War levels. Where are the flashpoints? Israel and Iran? Russia and Ukraine? What are the pathways to reducing risk? To the abolition of nuclear weapons?
View the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Exhibit in person at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 2592 W.14 St, Cleveland, OH 44113 and stay for the panel discussion.
or join the discussion at 7pm via Zoom: register here
Panel discussion with:
Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director, Arms Control Association, Washington, DC
Terry Lodge, Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition and Cleveland Peace Action
Kenneth Mayers, Co-founder, Santa Fe Chapter, Veterans for Peace
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by Cleveland Peace Action Education Fund
News Article
August 12, 2024
Klas Lundström’s article in Jacobin discusses the sentencing of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking and related charges. Hernández, once a US ally, is now in prison due to a shift in political dynamics that led to his chosen successor losing the 2021 elections. Lundström argues that Hernández's involvement in drug trafficking and corruption is a direct result of US foreign policy and the US-backed coup against left-wing President Manuel Zelaya in 2009.
Hernández’s presidency, marked by widespread violence and corruption, was supported by the US, which turned a blind eye to his illegal activities while he assisted in drug interdiction and migration control. His eventual downfall was accelerated by the electoral loss of the National Party and the subsequent administration’s approval of his extradition to the US.
The article highlights that Hernández’s rise and fall are emblematic of broader US interference in Latin American politics, which has historically favored conservative and pro-US governments. The coup against Zelaya, justified by false accusations and supported by the US, led to increased instability and violence in Honduras. The consequences of this interference continue to plague Honduras, with drug trafficking and corruption deeply embedded in the state’s fabric.
Lundström emphasizes that Hernández’s story reflects the disastrous impact of US policies in Central America, where political and economic turmoil often results from interventions aimed at maintaining US influence.