Peace Action

Thank you for voting and supporting Peace Action’s unique Peace Voter work!

We, along with our affiliates, helped thousands of voters get to the polls and educated them about how candidates stood on peace issues. 16 out of 25 candidates that Peace Action endorsed or supported won their elections. Our network raised, donated or spent over $100,000 to get peace candidates elected. Peace champions like Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA 3rd), Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA 3rd) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) stood strong against the wave election.

Paid for by Peace Action PAC and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

On October 2, Peace Action’s table on The Mall was a center of lively discussion and handing out thousands of stickers, pieces of literature and posters.

The call for ending the wars and moving the money from weapons and wars to fund human needs was carried on homemade signs as well as by rally speakers.

The October 2 One Nation Working Together (ONWT) rally set the stage for the elections and opened new organizing opportunities to cut the bloated military budget and end the wars to meet the needs in our communities.

Peace Action (PA) mobilized peace activists and joined in new alliances with community and labor to bring hundreds of thousands to Washington, DC.

In North Carolina, New York, NJ and Maryland, we joined the state wide ONWT committees. We filled buses from Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, Staten Island, Manhattan, Bronx, Albany, Buffalo. PA activists came from many states including Hawaii.

On October 2, PA’s table was a lively center of discussion, greeting old friends and handing out thousands of pieces of literature and posters.

The Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives (a chapter of Peace Action New York State) worked with Long Island Jobs with Justice to fill a bus with peace activists, students and union members. What a potent combination!

Charlene Obernauer of LI Jobs with Justice said, “ We are working with LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives in hopes of doing more strategic peace work with rank and file workers to make the connections between the money spent on militarism and the need for jobs creation.”

Jean Athey, PA national board member from Montgomery County MD, says, "Our new campaign in Montgomery County, Fund Our Communities, Bring the War Dollars Home, can only be successful if we engage with unions and social justice groups-- the October 2 mobilization helped jump-start this campaign by enabling us to forge the relationships necessary for a strong, powerful coalition."

Cleveland PA’s Nina McLellan says, “We're developing relationships with labor unions, the NAACP, Urban league, the LGBT community and others. Already, Cleveland Jobs with Justice and the NAACP are partnering with Cleveland PA in planning a "bring the war dollars home" action and conference on tax day in 2011.”

Watch for new ideas for building on the tremendous success of the ONWT rally. PA along with allies in the economic and racial justice movements are mapping out plans for a national campaign to change Federal government spending priorities to fund our communities instead of more money for the Pentagon.

Raed Jarrar speaks to RT today about the Iraq pullout American troops are continuing to pull out of Iraq but what will happen once the troops are out of the country? Sources have told the Guardian that Al-Qaeda is offering former allies more money than the government, if they rejoin Al-Qaeda's rank. Raed Jarrar says that the same people who the United States has bought off politicians in Iraq are the same people that would be willing to be bought off by Al-Qaeda.

Watch the Countdown to Zero Trailer below. COUNTDOWN TO ZERO traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possess nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. Written and directed by acclaimed documentarian Lucy Walker (Devil’s Playground, Blindsight), the film features an array of important international statesmen, including Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervez Musharraf and Tony Blair. Countdown to Zero makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament, an issue more topical than ever with the Obama administration working to revive this goal today. Stay tuned for more information on how you can see this video with a Peace Action chapter near you.

Take Action to Stop the Afghanistan War Supplemental As President Obama commits more and more troops and resources to this war, the tide of public support for the war is starting to turn. That's why Peace Action members have been ringing the phones in Congress like mad. Now that the war supplemental vote is expected to happen this week, it's critical that we press even harder. Take action now.

Preventing Both an Iranian Nuclear Weapon and War The risk of war with Iran has increased. The US rejection of the nuclear swap arranged by Brazil and Turkey, the recent arrival of Israeli and American nuclear armed submarines in the Persian Gulf, Obama's exclusion of Iran from previous agreements that nuclear states would not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, the impending doubling of US carrier task forces in the Gulf, and the upgrading of an U.S. airbase in Afghanistan 30 km from the Iranian border -- all signal or increase the likelihood of an intentional or unintentional clash. Read more at Common Dreams here.

Cut the Nuclear Pork Action Week Tell Congress to "Cut the Nuclear Pork." You have a crucial role to play because your Senators and Representative will be voting on the nuclear weapons budget. Please call your Members of Congress through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Take action here.

"Groundbreaking Speech by Ban Ki-moon on Eve of NPT Review" In a Huffington Post exclusive, Peace Action organizers of the "Nuclear-Free, Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World" Conference at Riverside Church -- on the Upper West Side of Manhattan -- gave access to the ground breaking, hand-corrected speech of the United Nations Secretary General, the Hon. Ban Ki-moon, minutes after his speech was concluded on the eve of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Read more about it at the Huffington Post.

Senior Fellow Raed Jarrar on RT: "US Withdrawal is not linked to conditions on the ground." Raed Jarrar: "So far the Obama administration and the Iraqi leadership have been against linking the withdrawal to conditions on the ground, but if the Obama administration actually delayed the withdrawal that would be rewarding these acts of terror and it will embolden them further. I think the best way to pull the rug out from under their feet is by continuing with the withdrawal." Watch the whole video below.

Read the ad Peace Action and others put in Politico last week pressuring President Obama to come to the table. Peace Action and our coalition partners the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Just Foreign Policy and ten other groups also sent a letter to President Obama calling on him to say "yes" to negotiations. The ad and letter both coincided with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's four-day trip to Washington, DC last week.

Take part in the final push before the NPT! For months, Peace Action supporters have been working hard towards our goal of submitting 100,000 petition signatures to the NPT. Now the NPT Review Conference is here and it is time for one final push. Ask your friends and family to sign and if you haven't signed the petition yet, sign now. For more information about the Conference, or to stream the opening ceremonies live, please visit www.peaceandjusticenow.org.

Raed Jarrar talks with Dr. James Zogby of Viewpoint Raed Jarrar, Iraq consultant to the American Friends Service Committee and Senior fellow at Peace Action in Washington, DC, spoke about the recent Iraqi elections. Jarrar, a native of Iraq, was present for the elections. Overall, Jarrar explained the election process was free of “massive fraud”, and went fairly well. Jarrar was asked to comment about the implications the elections will have on the country going forward and whether or not the elections indicate a reconciliation of factional differences.

Peace Action Montgomery County Intern Josh Stieber on RT about the "Collateral Damage" WikiLeaks video Josh Stieber talks to RT about the leaked video taken by members of his former unit while serving in Iraq. "We should be slow to judge the people involved, and instead take a step back, and if we do have a problem with this video, that it's an indication of problems with the larger system. If we are uncomfortable or shocked by the nature of this video, we need to be asking bigger questions about the nature of this war because I think this video reflects what it's like.""

Laura Flanders sits down with Raed Jarrar to talk about the recent WikiLeaks video Senior Fellow Raed Jarrar talks to Laura Flanders’ GRITtv below. Watch the whole video also featuring an interview with David Corn about the Nuclear Posture Review or skip ahead to 8:00 minutes and listen to Raed Jarrar and Rick Rowley talk about the controversial video.

Signing New START Treaty is Good; More Needed to Finish “The New START treaty is a modest, but good step toward reducing the threat from nuclear weapons. The Senate should quickly and deliberately advise and consent to its ratification. Fewer nuclear weapons makes Americans safer and sends the right message to the rest of the world." Read the full press release on our blog.

Seven Years Too Many Please take part in Peace Action's week of action to demand the end of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Pick up the phone and help us keep President Obama to his word. Take action now.

Raed Jarrar on Democracy Now! Watch Peace Action Senior Fellow Raed Jarrar talk about recent developments in Iraq on Democracy Now! Watch the video below from the beginning or skip ahead to 31:28. After you watch the video, do your part to improve the situation in Iraq by taking part in our latest week of action here.

Executive Director Kevin Martin guest blogs for Tavis Smiley PBS television and PRI radio host Tavis Smiley has a special on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?s anti-war work toward the end of his life airing on PBS stations next Wednesday, March 31, in advance of the April 4, 1967 anniversary of King?s ?Beyond Vietnam? speech at Riverside Church in New York City Read his whole blog post here.

Peace Action's Raed Jarrar on Iraq's 7th Year Seven years under the US-led occupation, Iraqis have been paying a huge price for this war. Five million Iraqis remain displaced from their homes, half of them inside the country and the other half as refugees in other nations; more than a million Iraqis have been killed, and millions more injured, maimed and traumatized; the country?s infrastructure and services, once among the most developed in the region, remain in shambles; the Iraqi civil society is torn and in conflict; and the Iraqi governmental institutions, including the armed services, are still infiltrated and controlled by political parties and militias. Read more about Iraq's 7th Year from Senior Fellow Raed Jarrar.

The work of Peace Action and the Peace Action Education Fund is made possible thanks to the generous support of our members and the following foundations:

The Paul & Edith Babson Foundation * The Bydale Foundation * Colombe Foundation * Janelia Foundation * The HKH Foundation * The New World Foundation * Peace Development Fund * Ploughshares Fund * Iraq Peace Fund, Underdog Fund, Tides Foundation * The Scherman Foundation, Inc. * Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis * Unitarian Universalist Funding Program * Courtney Knight Gaines Foundation * Sisters of Loretto * Dominican Sisters of Springfield Illinois * Working Assets Long Distance

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