Peace

Hola, Nuestro Amigos!! Nos sentimos honrados de trabajar en solidaridad con las comunidades Latinas! While the WNY Peace Center (WNYPC) was one of the first chapters (in 1967) of Rev. Dr. King’s Clergy & Laity Concerned, the needs and rights of Latinx people were soon part of its agenda. The WNYPC started the Latin American Solidarity Committee (LASC) in the 1980s, in response to the terrible aggression perpetuated by the U.S. government on the peoples of Central (and South) America. Affinity groups were created to defend the rights of immigrants and refugees at risk of incarceration and/or deportation. Those efforts were tied to the creation of “Vive La Casa”, now part of the courageous and inspiring Jericho Road Community Health Center; and those efforts are still going on, including through LASC and its allies.  LASC holds monthly Peace Coffeehouses, usually on the 4th Monday of the month at the Canisius University Science Hall Lounge. Great speakers and activists – local, national, and international, from South and Central America, and the Caribbean – come to inform, connect, and collaborate with others in solidarity.  The LASC Coffeehouses scheduled (both at the Science Hall Lounge of Canisius University) currently include February 26th, Monday. 7-9 pm, Reports from along the southern border will be provided by Howard Henry & and Lee Ann Grace, who will have just gotten back from their work with the Migrant Resource Center in Agua Prieta, Sonora Mexico. They also help with a Mexican coffee cooperative and will bring us up to date about the situations of refugees and immigrants at our southern border, on: March 25th, Monday. 7-9 pm, Solidarity with farmworkers in WNY. Wilmer Jimenez, originally from Guatemala, is now the WNY Regional Coordinator for Rural Migrant Ministry, a wonderful group, long-standing allies with LASC and the WNYPC. He’ll talk about the Rural Migrant Ministry’s work to welcome strangers and asylum-seekers, support farmworkers and families, and focus on youth empowerment. In the January coffeehouse, we were blessed to hear from Flor Saldivar Silvestre, Community Engagement Coordinator for Justice for Migrant Families, learning how we can help immigrants in WNY. Previous speakers included Rocco Anastasio,  Christian Parra, Talia Rodriguez, Nadya Pizarro, and more – leaders in our local community; as well as international speakers from sister organizations including: IFCO/Pastors for Peace, Alliance for Global Justice, Rights Action, Maya Educational Foundation, NISGUA  (Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala), CISPES  (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador), Sophia’s Circle (assisting a Chiapas weaving cooperative) http://weaving-for-justice.org, and more. LASC is dedicated to education and advocacy for our Latin American neighbors and brings speakers with first-hand knowledge to assist ongoing struggles for social justice and human rights throughout the Western hemisphere. We hope for your input! LASC’s monthly planning meeting(s) are on the first Monday of the month, 7 pm-9 pm, at Canisius College Science Hall. Puerto Rico is an area of special interest. And/or please contact Terry Bisson (bisson@canisius.edu; 716-838-2962). Note: You’re also welcome to WNYPC’s Annual Meeting on Monday, 2/19 @3pm, 1272 Delaware (Carriagehouse)! Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Column Community Community News Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Media Military & Veterans Music Peace People Politics Sports WNY Peace Center’s Latin American Solidarity persists with LASC  February 5, 2024/No Comments Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Read More… Read More MERCHANTS OF DEATH TRIBUNAL — PUTTING WAR PROFITEERS ON  TRIAL January 1, 2024/2 Comments Hola, Nos Amigos!! Como el héroe César Chávez dijo, “La historia juzgará a las sociedades y a los gobiernos, y… Read More THERE IS NO VIOLENT SOLUTION – CEASEFIRE NOW!!! December 18, 2023/16 Comments Nuestro Amigos – que lastima!! Nuestro familia en el Medio Oriente ha sufrido mucho, verdadamente mucho!! We grieve for their… Read More Load More End of Content.

Hola, Nos Amigos!! Como el héroe César Chávez dijo, “La historia juzgará a las sociedades y a los gobiernos, y a sus instituciones, no por su tamaño o por lo bien que sirven a los ricos y poderosos, sino por la eficacia con la que responden a las necesidades de los pobres y los indefensos” (“History will judge societies and governments – and their institutions – not by how big they are or how well they serve the rich and the powerful, but by how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor and the helpless.”)   The U.S. government is failing.  One basic way U.S. society and government fail to support the poor and helpless relates to weapons. Of the world’s nations, the U.S. is the #1 weapons supplier/arms manufacturer, responsible for 38.6% of world arms sales from 2017 to 2021. The U.S. also spends more than the next nine countries put together on arms and the military – all money that is not used for people’s needs. To keep an industry going, products produced must be consumed, so that the consumer will need to buy more. Otherwise, the “market” would be saturated, and the industry would dry up and fade away. If only that’d happen to weapons manufacturers!  The weapons we’re talking about are designed for mass destruction and have been used for war crimes. That’s illegal. International law declares:  military responses must be proportional  (not stronger and fiercer than the event responded to); civilians must be left out of it’s hospitals, medical facilities, and schools must be left undisturbed. an occupier is not permitted to bomb the occupied. war is illegal (see Kelloggs-Briand Pact of 1927/8). Moreover, the Leahy Amendment is a U.S. law that requires our government to stop weapons manufacturers from supplying weapons to a country credibly accused of war crimes. As noted in the above map, local companies are supplying weapons in violation of the Leahy Law, and our government – rather than shutting it down – is fostering and even paying for munitions (so-called “foreign aid”). Please be on the lookout for the next steps as we trumpet these crimes and attempt civil resistance, efforts to get our government and associated parties to follow the law.  Children and innocent civilians are dying in war zones and through war crimes – in Gaza, Ukraine, Congo, and Sudan.  This must stop. The Merchants of Death Tribunal is putting arms manufacturers on trial before a tribunal of international law professors and other experts. Sign up at merchantsofdeath.org and start receiving weekly videos presenting evidence. There are also monthly meetups on Zoom and a backlog of videos already released that you can access through Rumble. Illuminating the crimes of these “Merchants of Death” can help shut them down. That would thwart the slaughter of innocents and enable spending your tax dollars on meeting crucial needs rather than on massacres and state terrorism. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books & Poems Business Community Education Entertainment español Food & Culture Health Interviews Media Military & Veterans Music Peace People Politics Sports THERE IS NO VIOLENT SOLUTION – CEASEFIRE NOW!!! December 18, 2023/14 Comments Nuestro Amigos – que lastima!! Nuestro familia en el Medio Oriente ha sufrido mucho, verdadamente mucho!! We grieve for their… Read More WE NEED PEACE IN UKRAINE WE’RE ALL AFFECTED!! October 2, 2023/1 Comment “Que lastima que tengamos esta gran Guerra en Ucrania!! And we are all affected by it!” We are afflicted by the… Read More A TRAGEDY July 4, 2023/No Comments LEADING TO AN ANTI-BULLYING CAMPAIGN (a Community Responders Pilot and a Peace Ship for a Nuclear-Free Future) Hola, mis Amigos!! … Read More Load More End of Content.