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Veterans for Peace

US Veterans Sail Historic Peace Boat To Cuba

January 19, 2023 Gerry Condon, Popular Resistance. , , ,
The Golden Rule anti-nuclear sailboat, crewed by US veterans and friends, has successfully completed an historic voyage to Cuba. The 34-foot wooden ketch, which in 1958 was sailed toward the Marshall Islands to interfere with US nuclear testing, is owned by Veterans For Peace, and carries out an important part of its mission, “to end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons.” Five crew, including several members of Veterans For Peace, sailed the Golden Rule from Key West, Florida and, after 22 hours at sea, arrived at Havana’s Marina Hemingway on December 31, just in time to celebrate New Years and the 62nd anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. The Golden Rule was sailed to Havana under a General License issued by the US Treasury Dept. that allows US residents to travel to Cuba for educational and people-to-people purposes.

Veterans For Peace Golden Rule In Havana, Cuba

January 6, 2023 Gerry Condon, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Thank you to the many Cuban people who have welcomed us to their beautiful country.  Thank you to ICAP for hosting our press conference.  And thank you to the members of the media who are here today to listen to our message of peace, love and solidarity. We are a diverse group of people from the United States and Hawai’i.  We are from the US states of California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, Minnesota, New York and Rhode Island.  And several of us are from the island nation of Hawai’i.  We are the crew and supporters of the historic anti-nuclear sailboat Golden Rule. Many of us are members of Veterans For Peace, an organization of former soldiers who are dedicated to abolishing nuclear weapons, and to abolishing war.

US Veterans Call for Holiday Truce, Ceasefire, And Negotiations To End War

December 22, 2022 Gerry Condon, Popular Resistance. , , , , ,
Winter's arrival in the northern hemisphere brings increased concern about the war in Ukraine--now in its tenth month. Concern about the suffering of civilians under siege, and the fate of millions of refugees. Concern about the energy crisis and militarization in Europe. Concern about war-related food shortages in Africa. And concern about the possibility of a civilization-ending nuclear war. In the face of these compounding disasters, the world's people are confronted by the apparent readiness of Russia, Ukraine, the U.S., and NATO to dig in for a long war in which there will be no winners. Veterans For Peace (VFP) shares all of these concerns. As far back as 2015, we called for the withdrawal of all NATO forces from Ukraine's borders with Russia.

Veterans Arrested Condemning US Military’s Role In Climate Crisis

August 4, 2022 Jake Johnson, Common Dreams. , , , ,
Several U.S. veterans and their allies were arrested outside the nation's Capitol building on Wednesday as they protested the military's role in driving the climate crisis, from its massive greenhouse gas emissions to its large-scale release of toxic chemicals overseas and at home. Veterans for Peace (VFP), a national anti-war group that organized the demonstration, said that at least seven veterans and supporters were arrested at the Capitol Hill protest, where advocates demanded cuts to the Pentagon budget, transparency from the military on its carbon emissions, an end to all U.S.-led wars, and a climate emergency declaration from President Joe Biden. "The military has done next to nothing to reduce their carbon footprint, either ignoring the climate mandate completely or just focusing on creating more advanced weapons systems that can continue to operate under worsening climate conditions," said VFP executive director Garett Reppenhagen, a U.S. Army veteran.

Are There Veterans For Peace In Colombia?

June 15, 2022 James Patrick Jordan, Alliance For Global Justice. , ,
I once asked a prominent social movement leader and former Colombian Senator if there was any organization or movement in her country similar to the US groups Veterans for Peace or Iraqi Veterans Against the War (now About Face). It was in 2011, and I was there with a delegation sponsored by the Alliance for Global Justice and the National Lawyers Guild. She looked at me a moment and then said, “We have veterans, but they are not for peace.” Her answer confirmed my own limited experience. Of course, this was Colombia in 2011, a country that had recently learned about the “false positive” scandal, with details still being revealed. That scandal refers to the ongoing practice of members of the Colombian Armed Forces to lure poor and unemployed youth to remote areas with promises of jobs, killing them, and dressing their bodies in uniforms of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) and claiming them as enemy combatants.

Protesters Highlight Warren’s Hypocrisy On The War In Yemen

February 16, 2022 Ana Milosavljevic, AntiWar.com. , , , ,
On Friday, February 11th antiwar groups United Against War and Militarism, Veterans for Peace, and Massachusetts Peace Action protested at Elizabeth Warren’s office in Boston to demand that she invoke a War Powers Resolution to end US involvement in the nearly 7 year-long proxy war in Yemen. While Warren has expressed nominal opposition to US involvement and voted for a War Powers Resolution while Trump was in office, she has refused to take any concrete action since Biden was elected. All the while, the US and regional and global powers continue to treat Yemen as a battleground in which to contend for power, profits, and influence. During the Trump administration, some Congressional representatives put forward legislation to block US arm sales to Saudi Arabia and to invoke the War Powers Act, both of which were vetoed by Trump.

Small Boat On Big Mission Docks In San Diego

February 11, 2022 Diane Bell, San Diego Union Tribune. , ,
Protests have taken to the high seas for years. Greenpeace ships patrol international waters to expose environmental injustice. The Sea Shepherd fleet plies the oceans to protect marine wildlife. Then there’s the tiny, but mighty, Golden Rule peace boat. Unlike its more visible protest cohorts, the Golden Rule is a 34-foot wooden ketch that embarked on its first anti-nuclear arms protest in 1958. The boat was turned away, and its crew of four Quaker peace advocates was arrested when they attempted to sail from Hawaii to the Marshall Islands to dispute nuclear bomb testing there. On Friday afternoon, the Golden Rule sailed purposefully into San Diego Bay in observance of the one-year anniversary of the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The treaty took effect Jan. 22, 2021.

Veterans For Peace Releases Nuclear Posture Review

January 20, 2022 Veterans For Peace, Popular Resistance. , , ,
The U.S.-based international organization Veterans For Peace has released its own assessment of the current global threat of nuclear war, ahead of the anticipated release of the Biden Administration’s Nuclear Posture Review. The Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review warns that the danger of nuclear war is greater than ever and that nuclear disarmament must be vigorously pursued.  Veterans For Peace plans to deliver their Nuclear Posture Review to the President and Vice President, to every member of Congress, and to the Pentagon. With the first anniversary of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) on January 22, the Veterans For Peace Nuclear Posture Review calls on the U.S. government to sign the treaty and to work with other nuclear-armed states to eliminate all the world’s nuclear weapons. 

Veterans To President Biden: Just Say No To Nuclear War!

September 23, 2021 Veterans For Peace. , , ,
To mark the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, September 26, Veterans For Peace is publishing an Open Letter to President Biden: Just Say NO to Nuclear War! The letter calls on President Biden to step back from the brink of nuclear war by declaring and implementing a policy of No First Use and by taking nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert. VFP also urges President Biden to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to provide global leadership for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. The full letter will be published on the VFP website and offered to mainstream newspapers and alternative news sites. A shorter version is being shared with VFP chapters and members who may wish to publish it in local newspapers, possibly as a letter-to-the-editor.

Celebrate Armistice Day – Wage Peace With Renewed Energy!

November 7, 2020 Gerry Condon, Popular Resistance. , , ,
November 11 is Armistice Day, marking the 1918 armistice that ended the First World War, on the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.” Horrified by the industrial slaughter of millions of soldiers and civilians, the people of the U.S. and the world initiated campaigns to outlaw war once and for all.  In 1928 the U.S. Secretary of State and the French Foreign Minister were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for co-sponsoring the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which declared war-making illegal and called upon nations to settle their differences by peaceful means.

Irish President Confronted In New York By Veteran’s Families Over Neutrality Violation

October 6, 2019 Ellen Davidson, Stop These Wars. , , ,
New York City - Irish President Michael D. Higgins was on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show this morning. He spoke compassionately at length about immigration and migration and refugees. The last caller, who was included because she was calling from Dublin (audio below), asked him why the Irish government allowed the U.S. to violate its neutrality with its military flights through Shannon to the very wars that were creating those refugees. And she also asked about the case of two U.S. military veterans who had been held in Ireland since March after nonviolently protesting those flights. While he ducked around the neutrality question, he said that he was “familiar with the case” of the veterans and, although he could not interfere, he would “bring it to Government’s attention.”

US Veterans Held In Ireland For Protesting US’ Violations of Neutrality

September 16, 2019 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
Ireland has been a neutral nation since the 1930s, meaning it doesn't join military alliances and under numerous treaties is not supposed to assist other countries in military endeavors. However, the United States regularly violates Irish neutrality by flying troops, weapons and military supplies through Shannon Airport. We speak with Tarak Kauff, Ken Mayers and Ellen Davidson, all members of Veterans for Peace, about an action Tarak and Ken took in March to protest the US' violations. They were arrested and held in jail for 12 days for a minor offense and since then have had their passports seized and are not allowed to leave Ireland. It could be many years before they face trial. Listen to their story and what their current walk across Ireland to raise awareness of Ireland's participation in wars.

95-Year Old Woman Veteran On Hunger Strike

June 20, 2019 Ann Wright, Op Ed News. , , ,
Sally Alice Thompson is 95 years old and she is on a hunger strike for the children, children who are victims of the U.S. government's sanctions and war mongering on the countries where they live -- Yemen, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. She is a World War II Navy veteran, an anti-war activist and member of Veterans for Peace in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ms. Thompson has been involved in peace, and anti-nuclear issues for decades. In 1986, she walked across the United States in the Great American Peace Walk and a year later joined 200 other Americans who walked for peace from Moscow to St. Petersburg in the US-Soviet International Peace Walk. Five years ago at age 90 she walked from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, New Mexico to Get Money Out of Politics.

US Veterans Attacked, Arlington West Memorial Desecrated On Memorial Day

May 27, 2019 By Frank Dorrel, Popular Resistance , ,
In the early morning hours of Memorial Day on Monday, May 27, 2019, the Arlington West Memorial Santa Monica was desecrated and its veteran volunteers attacked.   The intrusion took place around 4:00 AM. The memorial was up overnight in recognition of Memorial Day. Veteran volunteers were there to monitor it throughout the evening & into the morning.  A lone male attacker was swearing at and verbally abusing the veterans as he knocked down large memorial signs. Two complete rows of crosses were demolished by him, with the crosses being strewn around the memorial site.

‘Turnkey Tyranny’ On The Streets Of Washington

May 10, 2019 Ray McGovern, Consortiumnews.com , , ,
Gerry Condon, President of Veterans For Peace, was bloodied and “taken to ground,” on Wednesday night for trying to get food to people inside the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington. The activists inside, some of whom have lived in the embassy for weeks with permission from the Venezuelan government, are protecting the premises from protestors who support the self-declared president Juan Guaido. With the acquiescence of Washington police and the Secret Service, the protestors have been able to block food from entering the embassy.  On Wednesday night electricity was cut to the building.
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