MORAL MONDAY AND THE FORWARD TOGETHER MOVEMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA

The Wake County Chapter of LPF has actively participated in the Moral Monday and Forward Together Movement which began in North Carolina on April 29, 2013. They have attended the weekly demonstrations and will continue their weekly involvement when the movement resumes in April.  Two members did civil disobedience and were arrested in 2013 and one member was a presenter at one of the events.

The movement was in response to several actions that a newly elected conservative legislative majority was doing to a tradition of caring for the least fortunate. The movement was grounded in a yearning for social justice that enlisted many thousands of people to protest those choices. The protesters were a wide range of citizens, with many religious progressive movements represented. On that first Monday, 17 protesters were arrested. Each Monday, multitudes of protesters gathered at the state legislature building while the general assembly was in session. The protests were characterized by engaging in civil disobedience by entering the state legislature building and then being peacefully arrested. As the movement built momentum, 924 people were arrested in 2013.

The movement encompasses a broad coalition, including advocates for immigrant rights, LGBT rights, criminal justice, worker’s rights, environmental issues and others. They were responding to the conservative faction within the General Assembly who chose to deny emergency unemployment benefits to 170,000 hard-working people; refused to expand Medicaid and give affordable health care to 500,000 North Carolinians; revised the tax code to raise the burden on poor and working class families while easing it for the wealthiest 11 percent and corporations; drastically cut funding from public education; repealed the Racial Justice Act; and passed a voter suppression law that makes it harder for people of color, the elderly and students to cast ballots.

The movement was formed under the leadership of Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and the North Carolina NAACP. Rev. Barber often says: “We’re not asking people to go left or right. We’re asking them to go deeper.” North Carolinians suffer as a result of legislative changes he calls extremist, and this suffering should worry everyone, regardless of political party. The movement is about the moral fabric of our entire society. People are advocating for the type of democracy that places the common good at the center of public policy. They demand that we must have a society that articulates the connection between the moral call for justice and the constitutional call for the common good. The movement continues to go FORWARD TOGETHER NOT ONE STEP BACK.

In 2014 people from the movement met with their congressional leaders and they continued to gather weekly while the legislature was in session. On February 8th 80,000 people participated in an annual march called HKonJ (Historic Thousands on Jones Street). It was reported to be the largest Civil Rights protest in the South since the Selma-to-Montgomery marches in 1965. On February 14, 2015 the Moral Monday Movement participated again in the HKonJ Assembly. The movement will begin to gather weekly at the legislative building weekly beginning in April.

The Moral Mondays Movement has spread to Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Missouri. Rev. Barber has also gone on to do training across the country in how other organizers can learn lessons from North Carolina's Moral Monday movement, including advising in the civil protests surrounding the police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri.

read more . . . Can Moral Mondays Produce Victorious Tuesdays?

Thanks to Sue Woodling for submitting this article.

From Ferguson to Real Change

There has been a deluge of reporting and commentary on the killing of an unarmed black teen in the Ferguson suburb of St Louis, and on the protests that followed.  Yet the way forward has been clouded by inadequate attention to at least four important issues:

1. Militarization of Police – A growing problem, visible to activists for years, has finally broken through to the media and the public.  Police have been purchasing (and receiving free from a major Pentagon program) large quantities of military style weapons. It’s gear that looks more like a Transformers movie than legitimate police equipment. It ranges from body armor and armored personnel carriers, to sniper rifles and 2nd generation tear gas.  (What Military Gear Your Police Department Bought) 

Such gear separates police from protesters, undercuts legitimate “protect and serve” orientation and programs, and often makes confrontations more lethal. It also equips, emboldens, and legitimizes the Rambo-style officers in most police depts.  Most people are shocked to learn that “roughly 137 times a day, a SWAT team assaults a home and plunges its inhabitants and the surrounding community into terror.”  (One Nation Under SWAT.)

2. Racism – Like minority communities in scores of other cities, Ferguson protests build on the frustration of people of color who have faced decades of poor education, lack of jobs and resources, and discriminatory policies that have been the root of unrest since the 1960's. (See an activist’s view of Unresolved Race and Economic Issues, or the views of this pastor or another activist.) 

One example: Blacks are pulled over by police in far greater numbers and received larger tickets than whites, and are a key reason why US incarceration rates are the highest in the world. (See the middle section of In Ferguson or Exposing the Toolbox of Racist Repression.)

3. Budget Priorities – The huge expense of race- and class-skewed policies cited above siphon money from sorely needed programs that would address underlying problems of prejudice and inequality. The list is familiar and includes greatly expanded jobs, social service, and community-building programs.

Funding for such programs must come from reducing military spending – which like all too many police and urban spending efforts emphasizes violent, 11th hour interventions that are ultimately ineffective, instead of major (but ultimately cheaper) programs to address underlying causes…. Moreover, those problems are at the heart of the ability of radical groups to find recruits.  (See From Gaza to Ferguson or Ferguson, Gaza and Luhansk, or 90-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Arrested in St. Louis.  For clear data on spending, see tables 2 or 7 or use the full LPF Budget Priorities computer-based activity.)

4. The Essential Contribution of Nonviolence – Ferguson also exposes the still rampant illusion that nonviolent responses to conflict are nice but don’t ultimately work: “Real” problems require “real” (violent) responses.  But as Desmond Tutu put it, nonviolence is “a force more powerful” than military  – or militarized police – responses to conflict, as history repeatedly shows in both arenas.  (See LPF Nonviolence resources  from a Shalom discussion essay to an AV-rich Nonviolence Forum.)

But Ferguson also reveals inadequacies of efforts to organize and deploy nonviolence campaigns.  Activist groups have been too complacent and isolated from younger generations who lack experience with the power of nonviolent responses to conflict.  Ferguson must be a wake-up call to activist groups as well as police forces, urban planners, state and federal budget officials. (See In Ferguson, young demonstrators are finding it’s not their grandparents’ protest  and Nonviolent Protest and Accountability in Ferguson.  All this points to the importance of efforts like Campaign Nonviolence - LPF is a member - which is highlighting over 125 nonviolent actions around the US in the week following Sept. 21, the ”International Day of Prayer for Peace” – see our next blog post.  And consider participating! )

Climate change ‘makes violence likelier’

Scientists say there is a direct link between changing climate and an increase in violence. As the food supply dwindles, the poor will be hit hardest, but we'll all be affected as the world becomes more unstable.

Hundreds of the world’s top climate scientists are in agreement: climate change is happening, we’re already feeling its effects and it’s only going to get worse. The newest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gives “the starkest warning yet” of global warming’s impacts that will worsen societal problems that we’re already facing....

learn more:


Climate change ‘makes violence likelier’

Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come

“The polar bear is us”: New U.N. report warns that the effects of global warming are already being felt

GLOBAL WARMING DIALS UP OUR RISKS, UN REPORT SAYS

IPCC report: 5 ways climate change threatens life as we know it

Climate Change is About…Water: A Resource for Teachers, Learners and Activists

Fast Tracking of the TPP

The little known Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) threatens to surrender our national, state and local sovereignty to corporate interests. This past Friday, legislation for Trade Promotion Authority, known as Fast Track, for the TPP was introduced in the House and Senate.  The Executive branch has negotiated the TPP in meetings that have been secret to the general public and even most members of Congress, but open to transnational corporations who are deeply crafting it with an eye to increase their profits and protect their interests.

The Fast Track legislation being debated eliminates the time needed for Congress to fully discuss the agreement and their freedom to amend in any way. Fast Track forces Congress to merely rubber stamp the TPP unread, and also takes away citizen and advocacy groups' opportunity to engage in the decision making.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is currently being negotiated between 12 countries around the Pacific Ocean including several of the world's largest economies. The TPP has the potential to extend the negative consequences of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to nearly 40% of the world's economy. Despite promises of the 90's that NAFTA would improve the economy and provide jobs, history reveals that it forced more people in Mexico to migrate North as it destroyed small-scale farmers' ability to survive, had massively negative effects on labor rights everywhere, and removed environmental regulations deemed to be inconvenient impediments to free trade. Today the Obama administration is reportedly preparing to undermine strong environmental safeguards and critical regulations in order to secure the TPP deal. These include legally binding requirements for pollution limits, logging, and fishing standards.

The TPP is known as "NAFTA on steroids" because it goes much further than trade issues by threatening democratic decisions on laws governing  food safety, financial regulation, energy and climate policy, and establishes new powers for corporations. It is also known as "SOPA on steroids"  because of its threat to internet freedom.

If you are concerned about how any of our laws governing the environment, health and safety, workers rights, etc. could be altered outside the democratic process, then we need to act. In fact, we have every reason to be alarmed about allowing big corporations to use a non-public process to overturn or change democratically-decided rulings and safeguards based on their assertion that it must be done to protect their trade interests, e.g. competitiveness... And it is particularly offensive to allow this to happen with so little public discussion and involvement. We all need to contact our representatives in Congress and let them know that Fast Tracking the TPP is outrageous, especially given its potential impact and all the ways it subverts democratic process. And please consider sharing this with others who can join us in acting soon, before it’s too late. Together we can do something!

Learn more:

Secretive Corporate Deal in the Works Could Establish Special Closed Door Courts for Big Business

http://democracyctr.org/news/getting-action-strangling-democracy/

TPP--the 1% solution to democracy--government by corporate dictates

http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/78-78/18154-tpp-the-1-solution-to-democracy-government-by-corporate-dictates

If You Thought What ALEC and the Koch Brothers Are Doing Was Bad ...

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/18438-if-you-thought-what-alec-and-the-koch-brothers-are-doing-was-bad

TPP: A BAD DEAL FOR THE 99%

http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/212-212/17883-tpp-a-bad-deal-for-the-99

TPP: A Worldwide Corporate Power Grab of Enormous Proportions

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/13444-tpp-a-worldwide-corporate-power-grab-of-enormous-proportions

Monsanto, the TPP and Global Food Dominance

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/20644-monsanto-the-tpp-and-global-food-dominance

TPP coverage on Democracy Now

http://www.democracynow.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=Trans-Pacific+Partnership+&commit=Search

Congressional budget compromise . . .

Most of the country seems relieved that Congress will depart from DC with a budget deal. Their recess is actually an ideal time for them to hear a holiday message from constituents who care about the gospel call for us to be justice seekers and peacemakers. 

Indeed, There is a lot to celebrate about Congress negotiating its way out of yet another painful budget standoff. But the details are pretty sobering as well. Here’s a brief summary of the budget deal: 

The plus side: It doesn't cut Social Security, Medicare, Medi- caid, etc. And it backs away from over two years of destructive actions: Fiscal cliff, debt limit, sequester, government shutdown... all very damaging to many programs -- and with the threat of default, they put both the U.S. and the global economy at risk.

On the negative side: The budget deal does nothing to reduce defense spending (or call for even the most obvious tax increases; or close tax loopholes). We are thus denied the resources needed to address the nation’s #1 priority: putting people back to work, esp. to help us take serious steps toward forstalling climate change, to expand renewable energy, to build infrastructure, to enhance rather than cut the safety net even further… 

Yet the budget deal allows unemployment benefits to expire for 1.3 million long-term unemployed workers. It leaves the sequester cuts largely in place -- which consigns most safety net programs to reduced levels and vulnerable to further cuts. The budget agreement is more a cease-fire than a solution to our budget dilemmas. 

What makes this especially unfortunate is that cutting the military budget offers a way out. It has huge programs that are wasteful. Others are unneeded in the new global security environment. A few notable programs are larger than even the Pentagon requested! This doesn’t point to thoughtful decision-making by Congress. Rather it’s evidence of the enormous influence of defense contractor lobbying. 

Our priority this month is experiencing the real meaning of Advent and Christmas. Spending time with family, congregation, and friends... 

Let’s also agree to share this information in our church groups and among friends. Let's use the Congressional recess to speak with our elected officials about bloated defense spending; and stingy levels to protect and serve the most vulnerable in our society. That's a holiday message our members of Congress need to hear!

Peacemakers Wanted!

In next few months we face an important set of public dis-

cussions and votes in Congress. The good news: the subject

 is both straightforward and familiar,  federal budget priorities.

  The bad news:  crucial safety net programs are again under

 threat,  while more reasonable solutions are again being

 ignored, like long overdue cuts in military spending. 

And much of the media isn’t very helpful in clarifying
even the most basic issues.  One could easily believe the
only question is deciding how much to cut Social Security. . .
or Medicare. . .  or food stamps. . .  Pres. Obama is portrayed
as a big spender; yet he has increased the deficit less than
any president in 50 years.  So what is missing here? 

Here’s how one commentator responded:  “No mention of the 

bloated ‘Defense’ budget… or the obscene tax breaks for wealthy 

people and corporations… or the Wall St. criminals who stole our 

future…  Nope, it's Grandma and her Social Security checks that 

are to blame.” (William Rivers Pitt, Truthout)  It isn’t likely we’ll
have the serious discussion we need concerning the real issues.

The ELCA, LPF, and hundreds of other faith based groups are 

calling for a “Circle of Protection” around key safety net programs 

like food stamps and WIC. We at LPF have a crucial contribution 

to make: despite big changes in the world, US defense spending 

hasn’t been reduced in ages – compared to major rivals, it is 4 

times what China and over 7 times what Russia allocate!  Cuts 

there could solve our budget problems, create more jobs, fund 

clean energy, support efforts to prevent wars… all of which 

would make us stronger and safer.  Members of Congress 

who share that view need our support; those locked in 

the status quo need our solid, sustained advocacy.

Download a copy of this advocacy update. Please contact us for more information and links on these issues:  For example, you might want to check out our newly updated computer-based activity on budget priorities which has received rave reviews from adult forum leaders across the country. It has worked equally well as a community event.  The computer activity is on our website or available from us on a CD – both have a leaders guide offering discussion options, handouts, tips. . .

Lutheran Peace Fellowship, 1710 11th Ave., Seattle 98122
 lpf@ecunet.org 206.349.2501, www.lutheranpeace.org

---

December 1. 2013

This year's theme is: 

"WORKING FOR YOUR RIGHTS."

"Where we come from does not determine who we can become. What we look like places no limits on what we can achieve. We should all have the right to express ourselves, all have the right to be heard, all have the right to be what we can be: To reach for the sky and touch the stars. No matter who we are, no matter whether we are man or woman, or rich or poor:
My voice, my right. My voice counts."

—Desmond Tutu, a key figure in the defeat of apartheid in South Africa, Nobel Prize Laureate, first black Archbishop of South Africa.

Links:
In honour of Human Rights Day this year, OUP have put together a selection of human rights related content ranging from journal and books articles across several disciplines to online products content from Oxford Bibliographies and University Press Scholarship Online.

They've made select content freely available for a limited time. Browse below and start reading immediately. http://www.oxfordjournals.org/page/5570/8

UN sites:

Human Rights (UN website)

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Human Rights Day 2013

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

60 human rights instruments which together constitute an international standard of human rights.

Related sites:

Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

Defence for Children International

World Day of Prayer and Action for Children

Lutheran resources:

Addressing Racism: Challenge for Peacemakers

Goodsoil

Lutheran Human Relations Association

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

Reconciling Works

ELCA:

ELCA Ethnic Specific and Multicultural Ministries

Human Dignity and Human Rights

Human Rights and Family  - Journal of Lutheran Ethics - February 2009 issue

Human Rights - CSR program

videos:

>

New Opportunities . . . Dangerous Politics

updated Oct 5th

Just when citizen input might do some good, 

the political process seems consumed by all the 

partisan drama in Washington, DC.   And indeed, 

there are a remarkable number of new opportunities 

for peacemaking and justice seeking.  We should 

not stop encouraging our elected officials to: 

*Support international efforts to remove Syria's
chemical weapons, end the fighting, and provide aid
for civilians impacted by this war – especially refugees.

*Find ways to address the role of Syria's worst 

drought in 70 years in aggravating the humanitarian

impact of the war; these problems aren't separate.

*Pursue new openings for diplomacy with Iran.

*Pass a U.S. budget with significant and long- 

overdue cuts in defense spending.

*Push through sensible gun control legislation in 

the wake of the horrific Navy Yard mass shooting.

Now is the time to encourage our friends and

congregation members to join us in advocating

for movement on whichever of these issues 

they feel strongly about . . .

And, of course, we and our nation
are confronted by another problem
with huge peace and justice impact:

Our voice is also needed urging Congress to act 

now to end the government shutdown that has cut so
many vital services, and threatens an even more damaging
default.  And Congress needs know we strongly oppose ending
the shutdown at the expense of key service programs, especially 

for the most vulnerable.  As the default deadline approaches, 

careful reflection on America’s needs can be undercut by 

last minute – and often back-room – negotiations. The 

House voted to defund Obamacare without such open

discussion. And it has voted for a $40 billion cut to

SNAP (food stamps), one of the most effective – 

and efficient – programs serving those in need.

While we should trim spending where we can 

(and the Pentagon is one place!), many program cuts 

being considered would seriously hurt many Americans, 

especially the most vulnerable, and actually endanger the 

economic recovery. The focus should be on jobs, not 

cuts to programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social 

Security, and vital safety net programs.

The U.S. is at a critical moment. Our friends 

and members of our congregations probably need 

encouragement to set aside all the inducements to

just “zone out” on these issues. We can support 

and inspire one another as we each contact 

our elected officials and share our sense 

of where their focus might be, e.g.: 

new opportunities for 

peacemaking... justice

for the poor... jobs....
 

download this advocacy update as a pdf

---

"At heaven's door, St. Peter is probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small. But he is going to ask you what you did for the poor."  E.J. Dionne quoting John Kasich, Republican Gov. of Ohio, and a top lieutenant in Newt Gingrich's revolution in the 1990s.

A few especially helpful sources:

“Why the Government Shutdown Is Unbiblical”
by Jim Wallis, Sojourners, http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/10/03/why-government-shutdown-unbiblical

“8 Reasons Democrats Should Refuse a Shutdown ‘Grand Bargain’ ”
by Richard Eskow, Campaign for America's Future blog, Oct. 4, 2013
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/04-3

"Lasting Damage From the Budget Fight,"
editorial, NY Times, 9-26-13
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/opinion/lasting-damage-from-the-budget-fight.html?src=recg

"A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning"
by Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Mike McIntire, NY Times, 10-6-13 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/a-federal-budget-crisis-months-in-the-planning.html

"Obamacare's strange bedfellows"
by E.J. Dionne, Jr., Washington Post, 9-22-13
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-22/opinions/42299449_1_medicaid-expansion-bill-john-kasich-medicaid-issue

"Free to Be Hungry"
by Paul Krugman, NY Times, 9-23-13
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/23/opinion/krugman-free-to-be-hungry.html?_r=0

"US-Iran: Breakthrough After Decades of Silence,"
ABC News, 9-28-13 http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/us-iran-leaders-talk-time-1979-20401912

"The UN Needs a Larger 'War on Poverty'"
by Ralph Nader, 9-27-13
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ralph-nader/united-nations-poverty_b_4005364.html

Other useful links:  www.billmoyers.com - http://robertreich.org/ - www.yesmagazine.org - www.truth-out.org - www.democracynow.org - www.thenation.com

Please share with others. . .    To see previous LPF blog posts . . . Further resources: www.lutheranpeace.org

Book Review: Courage to Think Differently

Signed copies of this remarkable book are available from LPF (as supplies last), $10 including postage and handling, or free with a contribution of $75 or more. lpf@ecunet.org.

Imagine more than 30 notable prophetic voices sharing their insights on a wide range of issues that matter for our quality of life and the world's survival. That's the theme of Courage to Think Differently, by author and editor George S. Johnson, former director of the American Lutheran Church's hunger program. He brings together a diverse spectrum of writers including Larry Rasmussen, Frances Moore Lappe, Bill Moyers, Vandana Shiva, Elie Wiesel, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, and David Korten. In the process, Johnson offers us a book so creative, so spiritually compelling that it practically glows in your hands.

"Jesus was constantly encouraging people to think differently…to look at deeper questions that don’t have easy answers," Johnson says. He adds that this book is not about giving pat answers or dispensing guilt; nor is more generosity the answer. A new mindset is called for, that asks questions such as "Am I believing in Christ, or following Christ?"

He also observes that not every person nor everything will change -- or needs to change. The book offers space for the reader to come to conclusions other than the ones presented. The point is to explore in fresh ways the foundations of our thinking and decision-making in the light of our Christian faith. Some of our most creative religious thinkers such as Diana Butler Bass, Walter Bruggemann, Susan Brooks Thistlewaite, Brian McLaren, and Shane Claiborne are all here.

Seven sections offer such creative starting points as "irrelevant religion," "thin democracy," "silence," and more. Teaching aids in the Appendix include "The Shakertown Pledge" (nine declarations for world citizens); and "How to Hang in There for the Long Haul" (21 notes for peace and justice activists). This book is a significant , mind-expanding anthology for every Christian who seeks to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God."

-- Reviewed by Lily Wu, LPF board member and editorial consultant

Johnson, George S. Courage to Think Differently. Cambridge, MN: Adventure Publications, 2013. 304 pp. Also available from www.adventurepublications.net (enter the book title in the search box).

US Budget Plans: Citizen Input Sorely Needed

You’ve heard it said that if you really want to understand anything in politics, you need to “follow the money.” By that standard, Congress is getting down to business as it begins to vote on major Appropriations bills.

For the most crucial programs, the results so far are deeply disturbing.  The House has voted to increase military spending by 5.4%!  And they mean to pay for it by slashing funding on everything else by nearly 20% -- education, health care, emergency food and housing programs, etc.  We need to respond!

Those cuts total 45 billion dollars for domestic and non-defense international programs for the coming fiscal year (which begins Oct. 1).  Appropriations for the Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services and in FY 2014 will be cut 18.6 % from the current year. And that comes on top of the already painful cuts required by the infamous sequester. 

Thus the House intends to further slash funding for many safety net and service programs like meals on wheels for seniors, school meals for low income students, food stamps (SNAP) for families, health care and housing assistance, etc. To be blunt, millions of Americans are in trouble if we don’t act. 

Why such large cuts? For one thing, the House ignored the Budget Control Act requirement that half of the $110 billion decrease it mandated must come from the defense budget.  Cutting defense makes sense: the US spends more on military than the rest of the world combined. (China spends only 17% as much as we do.) So in tight financial times, and as we wind down military involvement in Afghanistan, it is simply unbelievable that the House has voted to increase military spending by 5.4%!  And it's even more astonishing that to do so, it reduces domestic and non-defense expenditures far more than was required. 

We urge you to join us in contacting your members of Congress to express how you feel about the FY 2014 appropriation levels voted on by the House.  LPF has joined a sign-on letter from the Coalition on Human Needs to protest these cuts; we urge you to invite your congregation, advocacy committee or community group to discuss and sign it as well  (and as soon as possible).  The Coalition on Human Needs brings together national organizations committed to serving the most vulnerable in our society. The ELCA, Bread for the World and Lutheran Services in America are among its many members.  To read the letter and to share the simple form for a group to sign on, click here. Also, LPF has just updated a computer activity on Budget Priorities exploring these issues in an engaging and interactive way that is great for group discussion and action (includes a leaders guide with handouts).   

Urgent Advocacy Alert

In the next weeks, many crucial programs that help those most in need will be significantly affected by Washington, DC politics.
Recent ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations did some good: unemployment benefits and tax credits for low income people were extended. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid weren't touched. For now. But many programs like these are in deep trouble as Congress is dominated by renewed deficit-cutting mania and risky political posturing around sequestration – deep, automatic, across the board spending cuts.
Leaders in both parties are skeptical that Congress will be able to come to agreement on a deal that would avert such deep cuts. Economic recovery and a lot of important programs will be at risk if the sequester happens – or if several widely-supported efforts to avoid it are approved. While we should trim spending where we can (the Pentagon is one place!), austerity measures mostly hurt the poor and vulnerable, increase inequality, and slow down economic recovery. What we should be doing is creating jobs and stimulating the economy with needed projects like infrastructure
Sadly, enormous pressure will be on Congress to make big cuts in programs that address hunger and poverty, at home and abroad. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security face the most serious threat since their creation. Please help your friends and congregation members grasp these realities and push for jobs and a Circle of Protection around aid for the poor and vulnerable.

For an expanded version of this advocacy alert ready for copying and sharing, go to: http://lutheran_peace.tripod.com/advocacyupdate-2-13.pdf

To learn more, see the following articles and websites:

2013 Sequestration Likely To Happen Despite Ominous GDP Report
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/30/2013-sequestration-gdp-report_n_2584742.html

The Idiocy of Sequestration
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/01/what_is_sequestration_the_budget_cuts_will_slam_government_spending_yet.html

Advocacy Update

In the next weeks, many crucial programs that help those most in need will be significantly affected by Washington, DC politics.

Recent ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations did some good:  unemployment benefits and tax credits for low income people were extended.  Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid weren’t touched.  For now.  But many programs like these are in deep trouble as Congress is dominated by renewed deficit-cutting mania and risky political posturing around raising the debt ceiling.

While we should trim spending where we can (the Pentagon is one place!), austerity measures mostly hurt the poor and vulnerable, increase inequality, and slow down economic recovery.  What we should be doing is creating jobs and stimulating the economy with needed projects like infrastructure       

Sadly, enormous pressure will be on Congress to make big cuts in programs that address hunger and poverty, at home and abroad.  Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security face the most serious threat since their creation.  Please help your friends and congregation members grasp these realities and push for jobs and a Circle of Protection around aid for the poor and vulnerable.  

For an expanded version of this advocacy alert ready for copying and sharing, go to: http://lutheran_peace.tripod.com/advocacyupdate_1-13.pdf

To learn more, see the following articles and websites:
Robert Borosage, Campaign for America's Future, on where we stand now: 
www.alternet.org/ugly-deal-4-reasons-fiscal-cliff-deal-worse-it-looks
 
Three blogs by Paul Krugman, NY Times: "Mostly Solved Deficit Problem"
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/the-mostly-solved-deficit-problem/
"Perspective on the Deal," followed by "Conceder In Chief?" http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/perspective-on-the-deal/
 
Washington Celebrates Solving Totally Unnecessary Crisis They Created: 
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/01/washington-celebrates-solving-totally-unnecessary-crisis-they-created.html
 
Robert Reich on the threat to entitlements:
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/15429-the-hoax-of-entitlement-reform

For updates and advocacy ideas please go to: www.circleofprotection.us  www.sojo.net   www.bread.org    
For links and other help see: www.lutheranpeace.org or write lpf@ecunet.org

LPF Winter Update and Advocacy Alert,

. . . Urgent Advocacy Update

Dear friend of peace with justice,

Please respond to -- and pass on -- this Urgent Alert. We have also created a version that is easy to print/copy formatted 3 to a page for sharing in the congregation. That version is at the end of the Winter Update that explores a few other timely topics. 

Blessings and Peace! Glen Gersmehl national coordinator, Lutheran Peace Fellowship. Please also see the following related links:

• Holy Land
• Hunger Resources
• Development and Foreign Aid

Peace is Knowable!

In her Aeon magazine essay on December 6, "What Is Peace?", anthropologist Margaret Paxson tells how she wanted to study communities that were "resistant to violence, persistent in decency." She asks, what if peace could be "defined within a regular, real kind of social world" rather than milk and honey at the end of time? What if peace was something we could really know?  She tells the rich story of a cluster of villages in France that rescued thousands of Jewish people during WWII.  She went to visit -- and learned that peace is knowable.    

Be a social scientist for a moment.  Read this intriguing, very readable essay and get a "handle" on peace in a new way.  It's just the kind of thinking we love to lift up at Lutheran Peace Fellowship, to inform and inspire us all for action in the name of the Prince of Peace.   See http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/margaret-paxson-peace-conflict/

Thanks to Don Johnson for having found this essay and sharing it as he did.  Don is the director of Project Connect, an initiative of the Eastern Cluster of ELCA Seminaries for young adult vocational discovery. 

A note about the website update:

LPF's website is undergoing a major overhaul aimed at making it easier to find resources and more user friendly. Please bear with us as we finish the process in the coming weeks. Check out these helpful new index pages:

• A Brief Overview of LPF Resources for Leaders
• A Comprehensive List of LPF Resources
• Audiovisual Tools for Peacemakers
• LPF Resources for Youth Leaders
• LPF Topic Index - search our site by keyword
• Peacemaking Discussion and Activity Guides
• Peace Resource Lists - for extensive bibliographies covering a wide range of topics.
• Search our blog for the latest postings by keyword

Bishop Herb Chilstrom´s

Advent Letter to LPF members, supporters, and friends  (pdf, html)

Advocacy Alerts

Calling for a Faithful Budget

"Make Your Voice Heard"

In the face of massive deficits and the daunting task ahead of balancing the federal budget, Congress needs to hear your voice: a moral voice of reason, calling for placing the needs of the most vulnerable at the center of budget policy decisions.

Twelve legislators, known as the "Super Committee," have been given immense power over budget decisions that will impact many years to come. If partisan politics rears its ugly head and the committee fails to reach consensus, then an additional 1.5 trillion in across-the-board cuts will become mandatory, slashing social safety net programs such as WIC, SNAP, Medicaid, Social Security, and others. . . read more & take action

Tell Congress not to cut

life-saving foreign assistance

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus sets a standard for how we should greet those who have been cast on the side of the road by poverty and violence. The famine and drought that continues to devastate the Horn of Africa is just one stark reminder that we must support those in need of life-sustaining food and support. . . read more on p.2 of our advocacy alert

Thoughts While Fasting

by Bonnie Block

I went hungry today,

So I remembered of the men at Guantanamo

who’ve been on hunger strikes protesting their unjust imprisonment.

I went hungry today,

So I thought of the people of Gaza and Haiti

who are hungry every day.

I drank only liquids today,

So I was reminded of all the women

who carry their family’s water for miles day after day.

I drank only liquids today,

So I prayed for all the children

who get sick and may die from drinking polluted water.

I had no food today,

So I mourned for the tens of thousands of people in our world

who die from hunger year after year.

I had no food today,

So I considered the families here in Wisconsin

Who have to rely on food pantries that may be empty.

I’ve fasted for twelve days – voluntarily and temporarily

So I know how immensely privileged I am.

Tomorrow thankfully, I’ll eat again

But please oh God,

Keep me hungry for justice,

Make me thirsty for peace.



I wrote this on Jan 21, 2011, the night before the end of a 12 day liquids only Fast for Justice called by Witness Against Torture to get Guantanamo closed, to insure transparency so we know if this monstrous practice continues, and to demand accountability for all those complicit in torture. (www.witnesstorture.org)

Vision and Challenge of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jan. 17, birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King quotes reflecting some of the breadth of Dr. King's thought.

Useful as a bulletin insert.

It boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Trumpet of Conscience

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January 3, 2010

Epiphany

Migrants and Refugees

Now when they had departed, behold,( an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:13-15)

National Migration Week, will be held January 3 - 9, 2010 and January 17 is the 96th World Day of Migrants and Refugees and this year's theme is “Minor migrants and refugees”. As a child, Jesus himself experienced migration when he had to seek refuge in Egypt together with Joseph and Mary in order to flee the threats of Herod.

How we treat migrants, refugees, and undocumented people in the USA is a hot topic today. Pressure to migrate due to global economic problems, conflict, and climate change mean this will remain a hot topic. Here are a list of websites and resources for understanding the issue from a Christian perspective:

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

ELCA Message on Migration

Immigration: It's Our Community - Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Reform Immigration for America

America's Voice

Hunger Awareness

An important part of Hunger Awareness is to learn about and address the underlying causes of hunger in the world. What is unique this year is that our efforts to expand and strengthen U.S. programs to end hunger have a receptive administration. Our advocacy is still urgently needed: lobbyists for every other special interest group will be seeking to pull money away from programs like development aid or food stamps, and fund their own priorities. The good news is that if we do our part, we have a good chance of achieving much or even most of what we seek.

So take a few minutes and email, call, or write a post card or note to your members of Congress. Urge them to:

1. Approve a FY 2010 federal budget with at least the $4.2 billion for hunger and development that the Senate and House recently approved in the budget framework.
2. Place reaching the Millennium Development Goals at the heart of our nation’s efforts to help the poorest of the poor.
3. Take leadership to strengthen U.S. development aid later this year to help poor people lift themselves up out of extreme poverty and hunger -- key underlying causes of conflict in the world today. President Obama was a cosponsor of the Global Poverty Act as a Senator. Urge your elected officials to see that as the minimum of what we achieve this year in Congress.
   

The past few years have shown how modest improvements in aid from countries like ours can make a big difference. For example, 19 million children in Africa are going to school who would not have without changes we helped bring about this decade. The price tag for what we want is about equal to the cost of a week of the Iraq war. And we can help make it happen with 10 minutes of our time this week.

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Tips on contacting an elected official: Many people only rarely write or e-mail their elected officials because they find it intimidating, or wonder if it makes any difference. But if we don’t do so, our point of view will be undercounted. The solution: A simple 4-6 sentence note, email, or postcard, written in 8 to 12 minutes. Begin by thinking about what approach might be most helpful to your particular member of Congress (e.g. thanks for any past leadership). Center your note on what you want your official to do. Add a reason or two and perhaps a statistic. State clearly what you want and ask for a response. If you get inspired and write more, OK. Brief is just fine.

Examples of notes to elected officials.

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Dear Senator Smith,
Members of our church are discussing the economic crisis and ways government might help. I trust you see the importance of moving quickly on these problems.

I would like to see you work to strengthen financial accountability and transparency and ensure relief plans help ordinary people with their mortgages, health care, jobs, retirement and college savings, and everyday bills.

People in other countries are hurting too. Please work to add at least the $4 billion to the Intn’l Affairs budget passed by the Senate for programs addressing hunger and extreme poverty. And begin asking for passage of at least last year’s Global Poverty Act (S. 2433) to better coordinate such efforts. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, Mary L. Public

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Dear Representative Jones,

The continuing Iraq War and fighting in Gaza remind us that military options have grave limits in solving conflicts. Thus, I was dismayed to see budget discussions assuming we must add tens of billions in new funding for the military, but arguing over new money for the International Affairs programs that address extreme poverty and hunger in the world -- key underlying causes of conflict.

I hope that you will work to contain military spending and expand programs that reduce violence in the world. Specifically, work for at least the $4 billion increase in poverty-related foreign aid approved by the Senate. Ask for leadership to pass at a minimum the heart of last year’s Global Poverty Act (S. 2433) to strengthen our aid. Thanks for listening. I’d appreciate a reply on what you’re doing about these concerns.

Your constituent, John Q. Citizen

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Make the most of your letter: Send it to other members of Congress. And send it to a local newspaper, too! Newspapers publish letters in part by how many they receive on a particular issue. Even if your letter isn’t chosen it can help another on the issue get printed – encouraging readers to learn more and take action. We’d also love to see a copy: lpf@ecunet.org 1710 11th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122. For more information, see: www.lutheranpeace.org www.lutheranpeace.blogspot.com www.bread.org 1-09 lpf

Advocacy Update

We live in an exceptionally dramatic period calling for renewed and faithful advocacy. Here are nine brief windows on the challenges we face, and on resources that might be of help to individuals and groups seeking to respond to the gospel call of Shalom:

1. A very smart investment
2. Making foreign aid accountable
3. Educational forums
4. Misplaced AIG scandal backlash
5. Roots of economic crisis
6. Hey! This is just gambling!
7. One of ours?
8. More Lutheran sources
9. The impact of the economic crisis on nonprofits

1. LPF’s top current advocacy priority is lobbying Congress and the administration to significantly increase and improve the effectiveness of US development assistance both for humanitarian reasons, and to increase security for the affected regions and for the US. Increased development aid would pay for itself from its security benefits alone! In fact, it’s hard to think of any smarter investment of 6-10 billion dollars in the entire US budget.

Your representatives and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton could very much use supportive letters to help them keep aid at the priority level it needs to be.

Here is how to make yourself heard.

2. The Christian Science Monitor published a useful article yesterday entitled, "How to make US foreign aid work." The subtitle summarizes the thrust of the commentary: "Give recipients a say in where the money goes." To read more, go to: http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0318/p09s02-coop.html

3. We would be happy to help you organize an educational forum or workshop in your congregation or area. Email us at lpf@ecunet.org or call the LPF office at 206-720-0313. How to plan a LPF training gives the basics of organizing a LPF training
in your college or university, congregation or community.

4. The economic crisis continues to dominate the news. Regrettably, many key issues continue to be obscured by careless or opportunistic media coverage. The Washington Post has several useful articles. See the daily news summary (which the WP sends out free): http://view.ed4.net/v/E5QODK/JIV8W/NSSSFOG/4VE0EV/MAILACTION=1

5. An even more important aspect of current misinformation or lack of information is the fact that much media coverage has slighted the deeper structural problems in favor of scare reporting or blaming the victims. Many readers of this e-news have seen one or more versions of an op-ed written by LPF national coordinator, Glen Gersmehl, entitled "Delving deeper, nourishing hope. For more, go to, www.pjrcbooks.org/
Fin_Crisis.html

6. The above article lifts up the core role that’credit default swaps’ played in the crisis. Amazed that you haven’t heard of CDS? The lead editorial in this past Sunday’s NY Times is one of a relative few national or regional commentaries to focus on the role of CDS in the crisis. Here’s a particularly intriguing (and shocking) point:

"In the manic years of this decade, credit default swaps took off as a way to bet on the likelihood of default by a firm or an investment portfolio, without having to own any financial interest in the firm or portfolio. That is definitely not insurance, it is gambling."

For the full NY Times editorial, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/opinion/

7. One of ours? We might add that a superb NY Times business editor, Gretchen Morgenson, has been one of the most consistently useful analysts on the current crisis and its public policy and moral dimensions, for example, a Jan. 25 commentary: Time to Unravel the Knot of Credit-Default Swaps and a March 15 piece: At A.I.G., Good Luck Following the Money. Curious about Morgenson’s rare moral sensibilities, we finally looked up her profile and discovered she’s a St. Olaf grad. Could that be relevant?

8. It has been with some embarrassment that we note that Christian leaders and faith-based groups across the denominational spectrum have been all but invisible in the public debate about the economic crisis. So it is good news to report that’s the focus of the current issue of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics offering a range of views. Check it out at: www.elca.org/jle

9. The upcoming issue of The Nation magazine has a cover story that brings us full circle: the impact of the economic crisis on nonprofits. It explores several examples of that impact and a number of worrisome projections and statistics, for example, that 100,000 nonprofits could close their doors as a result of the crisis. It is a reminder for each of us to support those groups like LPF that we are counting on to help us act on our faith in the world. See: www.thenation.org


Blessings and Peace!

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To contact us by email lpf@ecunet.org or lpfyouth@gmail.com. For links to lpf enewsletters and blogs, additional advocacy information, useful group discussion activities, leader tips, and resources on a wide range of topics, www.lutheranpeace.org

Vision and Challenge of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King quotes reflecting some of the breadth of Dr. King's thought.

Useful as a bulletin insert.

It boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an
inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Trumpet of Conscience