• New Newsletter Issue: March 2024

    6 great new articles compiled and some written by newsletter editor, John M Repp! You can read or download the full Pacific Call March 2024 issue in pdf format by clicking here [full URL https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/March2024PacificCall.pdf ] or go right to the individual articles listed below. CONTENTS and links to individual articles (page numbers refer to the pdf version) Spring Assembly p.1;  Democracy is In our Genes p.1 Democracy in the New World p.2-3;  Dark Money and the Supreme Court p.3-5;  The Annihilation of Gaza. P.5-6;  Testimony on Nuclear Free Bellingham p. 7;  Letters to Editors p.8.

  • Democracy is In Our Genes

    by John M Repp Many people assume that groups of animals follow the lead of dominant individuals called alphas when the group has to make decisions. For example, when a herd needs to move to another area for feeding, how do they decide? That question had never been examined until two scientists decided to take a closer look. Their subjects were herds of red deer, social animals with dominant individuals. Obviously, the deer cannot vote and count votes when they make a collective decision. But what the scientists, Conradt and Roper, observed was nevertheless democratic behavior. As the herd was lying down chewing its cud, when more than half the group stood up, the group was ready to move. Conradt…

  • Democracy in the New World

    by John M Repp Many of our founders, like Franklin, Jefferson, and John Adams had extensive experience with native Americans as boys and young men. Adams in 1813 wrote to Jefferson that when he was a kid he used to go over to a native family’s wigwam where they gave him berries, apples, plums, and peaches. Native leaders visited Adam’s father’s house often. (From Thom Hartmann. The Hidden History of American Democracy: Rediscovering Humanity’s Ancient Way of Living (Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler, 2023, pp10-11) Jefferson’s father was a map maker, and a famous Cherokee Ontassetě often visited his house from the time Thomas was nine until age fourteen when Jefferson’s father died. They conversed long into the evening, and young Thomas…

  • Dark Money and the Supreme Court

    by John M Repp Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was elected to the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island in 2007. He wanted the Senate to act to mitigate climate change. Every month for nine years, when the Senate was in session, he spoke to the empty chamber making two hundred and sixty nine speeches, that are all available on YouTube. Here is the first one: Time to Wake Up | US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse | TEDxProvidence – YouTube where he talks about what is going to happen in Rhode Island as a consequence of climate change, specifically, the flooding of parts of the small state as the sea level rises.  Sadly, the normal condition of the Senate chamber is to be empty…

  • The Annihilation of Gaza.

    by Marjorie Prince When my brother and I were children and arguing about who started it, our mother always said: “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Surely this concept applies to Hamas and Israel. The Hamas October 7 attack on Israeli civilians is deplorable. The Israeli genocide of over 29,000 civilians (as of Feb 19, 2024) including thousands of children as reported by the Hamas Health Ministry is an unwarranted brutal act of revenge. Worse yet, the U.S. government is funding this genocide by supplying Israel with weapons of mass destruction (e.g. two-thousand pound bombs). President Joe Biden can tell Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to limit the revenge assault on Gazans, but words have no effect on Netanyahu. Cutting…

  • Testimony on Nuclear-Free Bellingham Resolution

    Testimony on Nuclear-Free Bellingham Resolution      January 29, 2024 by Nicholas Mele Good evening, my name is Nicholas Mele and I spent most of three decades as a U.S. Foreign Service officer. At times, I held security clearances which gave me access to highly secret information about our nuclear weapons. Currently, I am an adviser on nuclear issues to Pax Christi USA, a faith-based movement dedicated to nonviolence and reconciliation. I also serve on the nuclear disarmament committee of Pax Christi International, which includes roughly 100 member organizations from countries around the world. Why should our city, or any city, pass a resolution on nuclear policy? The national government of this country pays lip service to nuclear disarmament but last year…

  • Members Speak Out! Letters to the Editor

    Letters to the Editors (mainstream press) by WWFOR Members and Friends, Jan & Feb 2024 The Seattle Times Jan 12, 2024 Re:” In Israel-Hamas war, where are the voices of the healing profession?’ [Jan 4, 2024, Opinion] Op-ed author Alice Rothchild described the many examples of when medical colleagues have not spoken up in regard to the war in Gaza. I can’t imagine the reasons for silence given that not only are Palestinians in Gaza experiencing the bombing with no safe place to go but also having virtually no access to food, fuel, medicine and clean water while hospitals and ambulances are targeted. In the meantime, the United States continues to provide Israel with the weaponry that allows this tragedy…

  • New Newsletter Issue January 2024

    9 great new articles compiled and some written by newsletter editor, John M Repp! You can read or download the full Pacific Call January 2024 issue in pdf format by clicking here [full URL https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PacificCallSept2023.pdf ] or go right to the individual articles listed below. CONTENTS and links to individual articles (page numbers refer to the pdf version) WWFOR Fall Retreat 2023  p.1; On the young people’s MYPF projects  p.2; Seattle’s New Drug Bill p.3; Veterans for Peace Convention: on Ukraine  p.4; Massacre in Gaza p.5-6; Op-Ed on Guns p.7; Letter on Haiti p.7; Union Workers Are Winning Contracts  p.8.

  • Workers are Organizing, Striking and Winning Better Contracts

    by John M Repp                                        The United Autoworkers (UAW) strike against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), began on September 15, 2023. The UAW had made some changes to its method of electing leadership in the last few years. Instead of union locals electing delegates and then the delegates electing the leadership at a national convention, they instituted a direct election of leaders.  They also changed how they approach a new contract. In years past, the UAW would strike just one of the big three automakers. This year they struck a single factory belonging to each of the three. As the strike went longer more factories were added to increase the pressure. If one of the big three started to…

  • Do Not Forget Crisis in Haiti

    Bruce Radtke, inspired by the InterReligious Task Force  on Central America, suggests that everyone sends a letter such as the one below to our 3 Congresspeople I ask you to not forget the growing security crisis in Haiti. According to the UN, there have been more than 1,230 killings and 701 kidnappings in Haiti from July 1-September 30 of this year alone. More than half of all Haitians face hunger as a result of the high cost of imported food and a decade of drought. Hunger leads to civil unrest, as people become desperate to feed their families. Kenya is preparing to deploy troops, but this will not address the root of the violence. Here are five, nonviolent steps I…