Working for a world of peace without war and its weapons.
Learn more“It’s no coincidence we have killed one million people in Iraq, Afghanistan and the region since 2001. We don’t have to accept any of this—it is not inevitable—we still have a choice,” said Mary Hladky in this talk at UMKC Aug. 11, part of KKFI’s “Kicking the Koch Habil.”
“The term ‘perpetual war’ is often used in relation to the War on Terror and the War in Afghanistan. But I want to put our situation into the context of the single greatest crime in human history: the transfer of wealth from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere,” said Chris Overfelt Aug. 11 in a talk at UMKC.
To mourn and to give hope, PeaceWorks held its Hiroshima/Nagasaki Remembrance Aug. 5 at Loose Park Lagoon in Kansas City, Missouri. This annual event seeks to abolish nuclear weapons worldwide.
Saying “the future depends on enough love To counter balance any Hiroshima That promotes mass destruction,” Ron Faust read his poem during the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Remembrance.
Ann Suellentrop of the PeaceWorks-KC Board did several acts of civil resistance against U.S. nuclear weapons in Germany during June and July 2018. She came back home to Kansas City with a bundle of links to activist sites related to fighting nuclear weapons.
Question: What do ancient sorcerers, necromancers, and conjurers have in common with present-day nuclear weapons proponents? Answer: All four pursue the misguided and magical belief that they are conjuring up helpful servants, when in reality they are summoning up destructive demons. Peter Lumsdaine, a researcher and peace activist, shared this analysis, plus threads of hope, during his talk sponsored by PeaceWorks-KC July 6.
At a rally, Mary Hladky asks, for example, “How are we supporting the troops when many military families need public assistance to make ends meet, while defense contractors rake in record profits?”
"Turning the Clock Back from Midnight: How We Can Address the Crisis of 2018 and Renew Eco/Justice/Peace Work for the 21st Century."
"We have to stand and fight this, because if we don’t at the end of the day, it’s not about them, it’s about us." This was a statement by Kansas City Missouri's Mayor Sly James at the "Rally to protest family separation at U.S. borders" June 24, 2018.
Joining passionate peace activists in Germany this summer, Ann Suellentrop, a Board member of PeaceWorks-KC, is helping protest the 20 US nuclear weapons at the Büchel, Germany, Air Force Base. Across the road from the base, the pacifists set up a camp each year and conduct 20 weeks of protests at the base entry—one week for each bomb. Ann gave three talks in June, played “We Shall Overcome” and “When the Saints Go Marching In” on her clarinet, and shared stories of US protests against increased funding for nuclear weapons.
