While current events suggest that events are spinning out of our control, we take heart in remembering the power of individuals to change the course of history. In February, we celebrated the second anniversary of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, which has grown to include 122 family members and thousands of supporters. In March, we asked presidential candidates to refrain from using 9/11 imagery in their campaign ads, and joined vigils for the unseen casualties of the "war on terrorism" in Iraq and Guantanamo. This month, we traveled to South Africa for 10th anniversary commemorations of the end of apartheid. Every day, we continue to seek effective, nonviolent solutions to terrorism, while acknowledging our common experience with people similarly affected by violence all over the world. And in so doing, we celebrate the power we share as individuals to change the course of history.
IN THIS ISSUE:
RETURN TO AFGHANISTAN
• Derrill Bodley retraces his January, 2002 journey two years later
• Firefighter's mom Adele Welty visits Afghanistan
• Afghan victims legislation projects underway
PEACEFUL TOMORROWS' SECOND ANNIVERSARY
• Our Valentine's Day message to President Bush
• Peaceful Tomorrows salon in Brooklyn
• Turning Our Grief into Action for Peace" is released in Japan and Italy
DOVER TO DC
• We march and vigil to recognize the unseen casualties of the Iraq war
MARCH 20th COMMEMORATIONS OF THE IRAQ WAR
• Peaceful Tomorrows speeches from New York, San Francisco, Fayetteville, NC and Keene, NH
• Student-to-Student project links kids in Iraq with kids in New York
PEACEFUL TOMORROWS IN SOUTH AFRICA
• Andrew Rice participates in "Journey Towards Healing and Wholeness Conference" marking 10th anniversary of end of apartheid
• Peaceful Tomorrows' letter of condolence to Rwandan families on the tenth anniversary of the genocide there
CONCERTS FOR PEACEFUL TOMORROWS
•Ongoing North Carolina concert series features old-time, Americana, cajun, jazz, rock and "dueling shoes."
RETURN TO AFGHANISTAN
As our group was being created in January of 2002, members of Peaceful Tomorrows visited Afghanistan to meet with family members of civilians killed or injured by the US-led bombing campaign. The delegation, including Rita Lasar, Kelly Campbell, Eva Rupp and Derrill Bodley, was organized by Global Exchange, and resulted in the first significant US media coverage of civilian casualties there. Peaceful Tomorows also began lobbying Congress for the creation of an Afghan Victims Fund.
Two years later, in January of 2004, Derrill Bodley retraced his steps to see what had transpired since his original trip. Two months later, Adele Welty visited Afghanistan for the first time. Each shared their experiences about their journeys.
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Afghanistan Then and Now
By Derrill Bodley
January 22, 2004
In January, 2002, I joined other family members of September 11th victims in making a trip to Afghanistan, the nation which had been bombed by the United States for harboring the terrorists allegedly responsible for the 9/11 attacks and the murder of my daughter aboard Flight 93. Two years later, I retraced my steps, as part of another delegation sponsored by Global Exchange.
In making both trips, I was compelled to see, first hand, the situation among the civilians in Afghanistan who had lost loved ones to the US bombing campaign as a response to my daughter's death. Now, as then, Afghanistan is still suffering the ravages of violence as a vehicle of foreign policy of both Russia and the United States, as well as the vehicle of domestic political struggle among the mujahadin warlords. The psyche of the nation is marked by the numbness and unrelenting shock to generations of its citizens living under the conditions of seemingly "never-ending" war. And while the U.S. has been bombing Afghanistan since October 7th, 2001, there was (and still is) no inclination by the U.S. government to assess the damage to innocent civilian lives and property caused by the actions of the U.S. military there, much less to compensate these innocent victims.
When I came to Afghanistan the first time in January, 2002, I had some personal experiences which I will never forget: meeting families who had lost loved ones when their houses were accidentally bombed by U.S. planes, and visiting a school where street children were learning skills which would hopefully raise their lives above the level of begging. Two years later, I visited Gulmaky, the mother whose 20-year-old son was killed by a U.S. bomb that was accidentally dropped on her house. Though it was two years later, I saw the same loss in her eyes, the same "disconnect" created by losing her husband in the mujahadin wars and losing her son to a U.S. bomb. Her other children are growing up without the support of proper medical care or education. I was able to give her $200, enough to support her family for a few months.
The United Nations is playing several roles in Afghanistan. We saw the efforts they have undertaken to rid the country of mines and unexploded ordinance. They have instituted programs along models they have used in other parts of the world, including mine awareness education and demining teams. The U.N. also is involved in other programs, such as refugee location, which we observed in Herat. Although they are hampered by security considerations, they are doing work that no one else could do. It is a shame that the U.N. is not afforded a bigger role in similar situations before they get out of hand, as we have seen, sadly, in Iraq.
We also saw the efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross, particularly their prosthesis program, which follows models in place in other areas of the world. Victims of land mines, as well as victims of debilitating disease such as polio, are fitted with artificial legs which enable them to regain some semblance of a normal life and to continue earning a living. The Red Cross enters into their work with a selflessness and abandon that is hard for groups such as the U.N. to match.
The reconstruction role of government in Afghanistan is hampered by its own instability and artificiality. We landed in Afghanistan on the last night of the Constitutional Loya Jurga. Opinions across Afghanistan were very mixed as to the people's faith in the process of imposing elections, first of a president in six months and then of a parliament in a year. It is a gamble that is being forced upon the Afghan people, creating an artifical "top-down" structure that may or may not be accepted by all levels of society, including the warlords and provincial governors who continue to control local areas and the various peoples of the different regions of the country. It is the same gamble that the American occupiers are facing on an even greater scale in Iraq.
Other players in the reconstruction of Afghanistan include corporations which have acquired contracts to rebuild large infrastructure systems like roads, water systems, and communications systems. Louis Borges, for example, plays the role performed by Halliburton and others in Iraq, building roads and providing equipment water and electricity systems. Every corporation involved in reconstruction practices a "cost-benefit analysis", making judgements as to whether it is worthwhile (with respect to their bottom line) to be there.
Still other players are the returning Afghans themselves. Some have come back to live in their homeland and to help rebuild the country, some with an eye for an opportunity to make some money, and some just for the sake of helping. Some Afghan-Americans have come to Afghanistan as employees of American or other foreign corporations, and will not be staying there. Not as many Afghan expatriates have returned as expected, partly out of concern for security and a resulting lack of economic opportunity.
I became involved with an NGO called the SHARE Institute, an organization that identifies individuals in Afghanistan and other countries who are capable of creating and managing small projects for families and widows, projects which produce self-sustaining or educational results. Examples are literacy projects for young girls, and leather-sewing and chicken-raising projects for families. These are grass-roots, people-to-people projects that are proposed and managed by local citizens of Kabul, and which cannot be accomplished by any other means or by any large organization. As a person who will receive some money from the Victims Compensation Fund process connected with September 11th, I found it very rewarding to contribute to the funding of three small projects.
Another NGO process operates at a larger level. I saw examples of this in Kandahar, where we visited Ms. Sarah Chayes, who has worked for NPR as a correspondent and is now working for Afghans for a Civil Society, a group based in Kandahar with U.S. contacts in Massachusetts. Ms. Chayes was personally responsible for obtaining funding from some people in Massachusetts ($25,000) to rebuild a village near Kandahar which had been destroyed by the military activity there since September 11th. Projects such as these require massive fundraising campaigns and more wealthy donors.
Mine clearance, prostheses, and road rebuilding are necessities after a conflict, particularly after the US-led bombing campaign which began on October 7, 2001. Organizations such as the U.N. and the International Red Cross understand the need to prevent the institution of violence as a means toward achieving any end, even if that professed end is peace. It is the sad fact that the U.S. does not subscribe to that philosophy, instead relying on policies based on brute force and the supposed advantages of such policies, including control and exploitation of economic and political conditions, to achieve whatever ends it chooses to.
There is so little attention paid, particularly by the U.S. government, to addressing the pre-existing conditions in places such as Afghanistan which would prevent wars and terrorist violence from occurring in the first instance. True humanitarian involvement, on a scale not even considered by the U.S. government and without the involvement of corporate greed and political exploitation connected with government contracts would create a world which would soon give up the idea of "war without end" for a world at "peace without end" instead. People-to-people efforts organized and reaching across at the grass-roots level, preventing the causes of violence in the first place are the most effective tools toward achieving these ends.
This is the role that NGO's and organizations such as September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows are positioned to fill. Those of us who have seen the ravages of war first-hand, and who have the moral conscience and obligation to act on our knowledge, must continue to engage any and all who will listen to our stories what we have felt and what we have seen, what we know in our hearts to be true that better chisels can be used to carve out the peaceful tomorrows we so desperately need.
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Afghanistan Diary
By Adele Welty
March 3-13, 2004
We spent two nights and one day in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates enroute to Kabul and about 13 hours on the way back. Dubai has the most spectacular modern, skyscrapers I have ever seen, a futuristic city standing in stark contrast to the traditional Mosques and Minarets, which symbolize the diametrically opposed life styles of devout Muslims and the life styles of the very rich and decadent. Dubai may be the Sodom and Gomorrrah of the Middle East. It is also the shopping capital of the world. Interestingly, two of the buildings, which stand beside each other, look exactly like the pictures I've seen of the prospective "Freedom Tower", to be built on Ground Zero. Enough said about that.
Kabul is a busy city, most of the downtown area has been rebuilt and the traffic is usually heavy, especially during rush hour. Although there are no working traffic lights, (electricity is provided only by generator), there are traffic police at major intersections with signs about ten inches in diameter which say STOP. They hold them up occasionally, and there is pretty good compliance among those drivers who actually see them. Drivers on average do not take prisoners and every turn is a game of chicken. I mentioned to our guide, Najibullah, that Afghans drive the way they fight, very aggressively. His response, in his quiet, almost breathless voice was, "If you do not drive that way you will arrive where you are going very late."
We had two guides. Wahid, a professor of French at the University of Colorado in Denver who was on sabbatical and teaching at the University of Kabul (the university has 17,000 students.) Najib, our local guide, was trained as a nurse and now works for Global Exchange, the agency that arranged the trip. Our drivers were Daud and his uncle, both of whom drove very fast. But we always got where we were going.
We were carefully transported everywhere we went, never allowed out of the house without an escort or even out of the van unless Najib or Wahid, were standing by the door. Despite or maybe because of this care, we were always treated with the utmost courtesy, never once experienced hostility of any kind. Even domestic security forces with automatic weapons, who are everywhere, smiled broadly and posed for pictures for us, often calling us to photograph them if we passed them by. The International Security forces did not want pictures, although some of the American Reservists in civilian affairs, did pose with us. Most of the security forces we saw were Canadian or German. Seeing a tank suddenly come out of a side street can be very unsettling. We were told to always wear scarves over our heads, although after a few days our compliance was sporadic. No one seemed to care.
Most Afghan women, especially the poor, wear complete burkas, in light blue, which completely cover their faces. We saw few burkas in other colors and were told the color reflects tribal identification. The burkas are pleated with lovely embroidery around the face covering. The men wear little pill box hats, (most are beautifully embroidered or beaded), suit jackets with collarless shirts and wide pantaloons and usually sandals. Despite our head scarves, we were the objects of attention everywhere, and were treated courteously and greeted with big smiles or just looks of wonder.
Kabul is ringed by mountains, with very little visible snow, at least this time of year. There were once ski resorts in the mountains that attracted vacationers from all over Europe. That would have been over thirty years ago, before the country was ravaged by wars. The city is very busy, with bumper-to-bumper cars and trucks. Shops and stalls line the streets selling fruits and vegetables as well as meat. Butcher stalls have meat hanging out in the open, and there appeared to be plenty of fruit and vegetables. There are no fuel emmission standards, and pollution from diesel fuel is rampant. There is always thick smog in the air that obscures the beauty of the surrounding mountains. The city is a dust bowl, and within minutes, shoes are covered with a fine, almost white dirt. We all succumbed to "Kabul cough". The weather is very dry and there is an enormous amount of construction all over the city.
Young shoe shine boys wander the streets and charge five afghanis (about ten cents) to shine shoes. We gave them ten afghanis per shoe, to spread the change around evenly. They looked like street urchins and the group that was always by the gate to our guest house were at first very competitive until they realized we would be fair in distributing goodies. We gave them fruit and crackers and let them shine our shoes each morning. We grew quite fond of them. We saw children playing in parks, although we also saw children picking through mounds of garbage. Women completely hidden in their burkas boldly demand money in the streets and become very physical. There is a wide disparity between rich and poor and we saw more than one Mercedes. There seems to be enough food in the city, but despite the quantity, the nutritional needs of most children are not being met. The doctors claim to see a lot of malnutrition, not the kind one sees in Africa with thin, sunken cheeks and distended bellies, but pale skin and low resistance to infection
The guest house was comfortable, with three bathrooms for the eleven women in our delegation. I had a private room and the other women shared, two to a room. There was a large dining/sitting room where we ate breakfast and dinner and had meetings in the evening to discuss our day. There was also a yard with chairs around an empty pool. The property was surrounded by a high wall, as are all Afghan homes. We were in a completely reconstructed section of the city, had hot and cold running water every day for showers, diesel heating units in each room (which were very smelly). It was quite comfortable. Fortunately, the weather was extremely warm and most of us did not use the heaters at all.
The house had a TV in the sitting room, and we watched BBC news in the mornings. Electricity is by generators and not all homes have running water. There are new wells in most neighborhoods, and boys and girls fetch the water and carry it in two containers attached to a stick across their shoulders. We ate a diet of rice, fresh baked flat bread, mutton and squash. We always had fresh bread and eggs in the morning as well as delicious juicy tangerines and apples. In the evening we had rice with currents, mutton stew and a vegetable dish. We ate at different restaurants for lunch each day and only drank bottled water or tea. Rice and flat bread are the staples.
Our first day in Kabul, the airport was a mob scene with no lines, just a rush of people, passports in hand crowding through a single opening next to the booth for passport control. I was informed that Hamid Karzai was too busy to meet with us, as I had requested. I really was not expecting to actually meet him, but thought I'd ask anyway. I had thought Karzai was an engineer who had been a consultant to UNOCAL, but he evidently has a degree in literature and developed a reputation as a negotiator between the west and various tribal factions in earlier years. He may well have been involved in negotiations between UNOCAL and the Taliban at some point, but no confirmation of that came from anyone I met. We went to change USDs to local currency after lunch. This is done in the street with money changers and our guides bargained for the best rate. The local security guard asked for and was given a cut of the service charge. Corruption is rampant in Afghanistan because no one gets paid a living wage except drug dealers. Teachers and bureaucrats make an average $30 a month.
Day two: Visit to United Nations Mine Action Training Camp. This is where both men and dogs are trained to detect land mines. Some mines have so little metal that they must be detected by dogs who are trained to sniff them out. There are tens of thousands of land mines in Afghanistan that are often found by farmers plowing their fields or children playing. Puppies are trained for 10 months to form a relationship with the trainer and obey commands instantly. All are German shepherds which are donated from countries in Europe, mostly Germany, which funds the project. Unexploded land mines and cluster bombs kill between 12 and 15 people a day in Afghanistan. (The same is true in Cambodia.) The center has sophisticated veterinary surgery for the dogs who are sick or injured.
From the Mine Action Camp we went to the Red Cross Clinic for land mine victims headed by an Italian doctor and which employs almost solely handicapped staff. Victims are fitted for artificial limbs and then receive intensive rehabilitation therapy. All limbs are made on the premises from unstructured materials to finished arms and legs. Many children are victims of cluster bombs which lay above ground and are brightly colored. The Geneva Convention now mandates that all bombs must detonate within 24 hours or must be cleaned up by the offensive army. There were many patients, not victims of land mines. Children with polio, which resurfaced during the war after it was thought to be eradicated 30 years ago. There were also many automobile accident victims.
Went to the airline to confirm return our flight to Dubai in ten days and were told there was no flight on the day we were scheduled to leave. After much negotiation, we got our confirmation. We were later told that all bureaucrats try to elicit bribes and only after we found the airline schedule with our flight listed on it were we able to have our tickets confirmed. There no computers, everything was done with pen and ink.
We then went to the King Babur Garden, which is no longer much of a garden, having been bombed during the war. There were, however, a team of gardners planting for the spring.
Day three: In the morning Najib and I visited the acute trauma hospital, Emergency, funded and run by Italians. The chief administrator is Italian as are the two primary surgeons. Each Italian surgeon rotates anywhere from four months to six months in Afghanistan then goes home for six months and the other surgeon comes back. There are four Afghan surgeons as well. Najib had worked there as a nurse for three years until he could no longer tolerate the emotional trauma. The hospital has 100 beds which are always filled. It is beautifully equipped, modern, and clean and the pharmacy is fully stocked. The patients were all surgical patients and there were many children with missing limbs, not only from land mines but from traffic accidents and gunshot wounds.
I was escorted around the hospital by Dr. Marco, (his first name), and all the children adored him. As we entered each ward they would shout out, "Hey, Marco!" and he greeted each child warmly, shook hands with each child and tousled his hair. He said that he is often harassed by government officials who want bribes and has had many a fight with them. I asked if he is seeing much domestic violence and he reacted strongly, saying it had increased 1000% since the end of the Taliban. I'm sure that is hyperbole, but there were many children and women who were victims of gunshot wounds who would not say who had shot them. One was a seven month old baby and her mother. Guns are endemic in the city, everyone has one. Marco said the extreme poverty and inability to meet even their most basic needs leads to the frustration that so often ends in violence.
In the afternoon, we had lunch with Dr. Masuda Jalal, who is running for president against Hamid Karzai, with as much chance of winning as Carol Moseley Braun. Dr. Jalal's life has been threatened as a result of her campaign for womens' rights. She told me that in some villages, a woman can still be killed for leaving her husband. Women are bought and sold and can be given to another family to settle her own family's debts. There is a saying that a woman should have her first period in her husband's house, not her father's. Girls are often given to older men for marriage as early as ages nine to fourteen. Women who refuse can be put in prison. Although women can now go to school and work outside the home, they have almost no rights under the new constitution and are only a little better off than they were under the Taliban. Women who are from wealthy families and well educated have far more freedom than illiterate women from the villages, but if they are married, must still have their husbands' permission to work or be seen without a burka.
In the afternoon, Najib took me to visit five families that lost loved ones in the bombing after 9/11. The first was Arifa who lost her husband, her son and four daughters. She is trying to support herself and two surviving sons and four daughters by weaving rugs. Her home was destroyed and she now rents a place which makes it difficult to make ends meet. We then visited Rayela who lost her son and daughter. She, her husband and two other children survived. Gul Maky lost her husband and her son. She has a surviving son and daughter. Hanifa, lost her husband and her mother. She now lives with her father, her daughter and her brother, who is 15 years old. I told him I hoped that he would grow up in a peaceful world and be able to raise a family without war. He replied that in Afghanistan there is always war. We were told that all the victims have applied to the American Embassy for compensation for the bombing of their homes and have been turned away. To everyone with whom we spoke, Najib explained who I was and what had happened to Timmy. They all responded with compassion for me and stated that they had heard about 9/11 or seen it on television. No one seemed to connect the attacks with anything that had happened in Afghanistan. It was simply an event, like so many others, they had heard about.
Day four: Visited a school and vocational training center for girls who had not had an opportunity to go to school under the Taliban and are now too old to go to government schools and start in first grade. They ranged in age from 12 to 23. The school is funded by Afghans 4 Tomorrow and Wahid is the coordinator. Several of the girls want to be doctors, one wants to be a lawyer and one wants to be a journalist. The future journalist was very outspoken, clearly very intelligent and determined. She asked us to please get the school some computers and some furniture, as it is difficult to work on the floor. We were told that these girls and young women complete a year of school every six months. They were all very shy at first but became very sociable when we began taking pictures. Some of the girls did not want their pictures taken, as is common among women in Afghanistan. (Men on the other hand, will run a block when they see a camera and often stood in front of us and pointed at the camera and then at themselves. We all have pictures of strangers we will never see again.) It would have been worthwhile to bring a polaroid camera to give them their pictures. Next time.
We visited the Afghan Commission for Human Rights, in the afternoon, where the staff told us they are always in danger and have received many threats against their lives for educating women about their rights. There is a new constitution which clearly states that Afghanistan is an Islamic state and must follow the laws of Islam. However, the teachings of the Koran are not codified and can be interpreted by each Mullah differently. Women are subject to their fathers and husbands and even those educated before the Taliban cannot work or vote without permission.
In the evening came a visit from Quari Barakatullah, the blind Mullah who is well known in the Muslim world as an interpreter of the Koran. The Mullah assured us that September 11th was a blasphemy against Islam and that wanton killing is forbidden in the Koran. However, he was evasive on many of our questions only saying that our interview did not leave time to answer our questions in depth. He made general statements about Islam, including the statement that if someone cuts off your arm it is then acceptable to cut off his arm. He said that he knows the teaching of Jesus Christ who was a great prophet as well as the teaching of Mohammed. Najib translated. Najib speaks Dari and the Mullah is Pashtu. Maybe something got lost in the translation. We did not feel we learned anything.
Day five: we visited Women for Women International, a vocational training center for women from the villages as well as from Kabul. Most of the women are illiterate and widows who have no means of support. The classes teach stone cutting and polishing, bead work, sewing and tailoring. Women for Women International is based in Washington, D.C. Anyone can sponsor a woman for a year at $25 a month. The woman gets $10 a month, and $5 per month is put aside for her after graduation to buy equipment and supplies to start a business, like her own sewing machine or stone cutting machine. The rest is spent on administrative costs and salary for the teachers. We all bought jewelry made by the women. Some of the women in our delegation already had sponsored a woman through the office in Washington and were due to meet "their Afghan sisters" while we were there.
In the afternoon we visited the Omar Mine Museum to view de-fused bombs and other weapons. Really depressing.
We then visited the National Art Gallery, vandalized by the Taliban, where half of the art work was destroyed or stolen. Most of what is left is awful and some is for sale. I bought a new watercolor from the artist who said that art should never be sold. He felt that selling his art is like cutting off one of his limbs, but that one has to live.
In the evening at the guest house we had music by a trio of musicians who played traditional Afghan music. We all followed Najib and danced a traditional Afghan dance.
Day six: International Women's Day. We attended a conference at the Kabul University School of Engineering. Security was heavy with Armed International Security Forces everywhere. Met a Reserve soldier, a colonel I think, doing civilian affairs work, whose daughter is in law school in San Diego at the same school where Lillia, one of our delegation members, teaches. The captain had seen Lilia in a video he uses for training on human rights issues for his staff. Lillia is an immigration lawyer and very active in the human rights movement. The conference was, of course, all in Afghan. President Karzai came and spoke to the assembly of mostly women. Members of the audience were able to ask him questions without censorship and he answered – on several occasions, humorously. The translation that we got was that some of his ministers' wives had not yet registered to vote in the upcoming election and he pointed out that there was registration going on in the back of the tent and he was ordering his ministers to allow their wives to register. Then some children in native costumes sang. We left at the break.
In the afternoon we visited the Afghan Widow's Project, a school for widows that teaches handicrafts, (called PARSA) and run by an American woman named Mary McMacken. Mary has been living and teaching in Afghanistan for many years and is known and revered by everyone in Kabul. They were celebrating Women's Day and all the women were crowded into a small room and and took turns dancing traditional folk dances while two teenage boys played folk music. Men and women dance, but never together.
Day seven: Visited Kabul University where students were taking exams for the end of last semester. They were late because there is no heat at the university and it was too cold after the last semester to take exams. Wahid was giving oral exams in French and showed a student a picture of a woodcutter, asking him what you call someone who chops down trees. The student, who could not think of the word for woodcutter in French said, "The Taliban". It seems that, indeed, the Taliban cut down most of the trees in Kabul for firewood. We met an English professor from the U.K. who chatted with us about the dreadful conditions at the University after the Taliban had vandalized the school and destroyed most of the books.
Several countries have taken on the renovation and restoration of various departments such as the French Embassy which has decorated the French department, painted the walls and donated furniture to each faculty office as well as books for the department library. The British have funded a large reading room in the university library which was painted by the International Security Forces and furnished by the Brits with beautiful oak tables and chairs. We were told the U.S. has donated funds for the school of engineering, but we did not go inside during the conference. The students who were there were scattered around the campus grounds in small groups, sitting on the grass, studying, They all spoke English and were dressed pretty much as one would expect of students, in the 1950's, slacks, shirts and sweaters. What we referred to then as "Joe College". The girls wear long skirts or dresses and scarves on their heads. We did not see burkas on campus.
In the evening we had a discussion about the cruelties of the Taliban and whether or not the American bombing was justified. Wahid was of the opinion that bombing was the only way to get rid of the Taliban. We spoke to other people who disagreed, saying that had the U.S. put economic and diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to stop their support of al Qaeda and the Taliban, bombing would not have been necessary.
Day eight: Visited Kabul prison or female detention center. It's called a prostitute rehabilitation center because it houses women who refused to enter into marriages arranged by their families and ran away with their boy friends instead. Girls are put in prison by their own families unless each girl's family and the boy's family can come to an arrangement a financial arrangement, that is. There were 32 women, each had a different story. Several were imprisoned because their husband's were accused of murder and then acquitted but the family of the victim wanted retribution. Others were awaiting arrangements for marriage to their boy friends. One woman was a midwife who had given a pregnant woman medicine for pain and sent her to the hospital where she died. The midwife was accused by the woman's family of murder. There is no real justice system, no due process even under the new constitution. The German government provides lawyers to represent these women, but there are only six lawyers on staff. I told the women about Timmy and many of them came and hugged me with tears in their eyes. The woman in charge, the warden I guess, said she had seen me on television. We distributed a little money to each of the inmates and the staff demanded a piece of the action. We complied.
The prison itself was not as bad as we had imagined. It was relatively clean and made of cement. There were heaters in each room. There were two to four women to a room, they had beds and chairs with carpets on the floor. Several of the women had infants with them. There was a sewing room where they learned to sew on brand new machines that they are able to take with them when they leave the prison. The machines were provided by the German government.
Day nine: Woke up with a bad cold and stayed in bed all day. The rest of the group went to a women's hospital then to talk with a woman who is a judge trained in the U.S. and then to an orphanage and then a project for street children. They were all depressed when they returned.
Day ten: Drove to a village north of Kabul, about 2 1/2 hours drive through dry, barren land with mountains in the background. We stopped at a guard station and picked up an armed guard who accompanied us the rest of the way. The village, Wardak, is the site of a new school, being built by Afghans 4 Tomorrow. So far, the building is finished but only part of the roof is in place. There is a storage room filled with used furniture Wahid collected as donations, children's desks and chairs and other school supplies, all shipped from the U.S. We stayed at Wardak for lunch and met a woman internist who travels from village to village to treat women patients. All the women in the village wore full burkas and seemed to stare at us the entire time we were there. After lunch we toured the village, then began the long drive home. Daud, in the car with Wahid, drove very slowly over the bumpy dirt roads. I mentioned to Wahid that we would never get back to Kabul before dark, I had an interview scheduled, and he suggested I ride with Daud's uncle if I was in a hurry. After I changed vehicles, Uncle took off like a bat out of hell and soon lost the other van in the dust. I sat next to the driver and there was no seat belt. Talk about living on the edge.
Day eleven: Left Kabul for Dubai with a 13 hour layover. Got a room at the Ramada, took a long walk, ate some dinner, took a shower and went to the airport at 12 midnight. Dubai airport may be the most beautiful I have ever seen, and we were quite comfortable during the three hour wait for the flight home.
Glad to be home.
Thoughts: There is so much to be done, so much need in terms of education and supplies (computers, furniture), health care, decent living conditions, replacement of homes destroyed, it is difficult to know where to begin. Corruption is rampant becuase no one makes a living wage and there are no reliable banks. All transactions are done in cash. No easy answers. Perhaps working with an established group, such as Afghans 4 Tomorrow or Women for Women International is the only solution at present. They have built up networks over the past few years and have projects already in the works.
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Afghan Victims' Legislation Projects Underway
On our visits to Afghanistan, we have encountered many civilians whose homes were mistakenly bombed and family members killed by the US military campaign. In January, 2002, Peaceful Tomorrows began lobbying for aid to Afghan civilian victims of the US military campaign. We began lobbying for the US government to both document civilian casualties and to provide compensation to innocent Afghans affected. We believed that this was important, not only because it was the right thing to do, but also because it would help to prevent future terrorist attacks against the United States by showing the world that the US was concerned about the loss of innocent civilians. Unfortunately, we were unable to enlist enough support in Congress to pass legislation, and the White House refused to meet with us on the issue.
We then turned our efforts to lobbying for general aid to Afghan communities affected by the war, and are pleased to report that we have helped to secure $4.5 million from USAID to provide assistance to families and communities affected by the US military campaign in Afghanistan. This assistance was allocated in the 2002 and 2003 appropriations bills at the initiative of Senator Patrick Leahy. The funds are being used for quick impact projects for war-affected communities in southern and eastern Afghanistan, in areas that were especially hard-hit by the US military actions. Presently twenty-eight projects, worth an estimated $1,727,622, are near completion in Khost and Paktika provinces. [View Spreadsheet PDF]. We are pleased that these efforts are being undertaken but recognize that they are not nearly enough to address the massive problems that Afghan civilians continue to face in the aftermath of 20+ years of war.
TWO YEARS OF SEEKING PEACEFUL TOMORROWS
February 14, 2004 marked the second anniversary of the creation of Peaceful Tomorrows. What began with 12 people has grown to 122 family members of September 11th victims and thousands of supporters around the world. With your help, we've participated in more than 300 speaking events across the United States and in nine foreign countries, and were nominated for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.
We were also pleased to see our book, "September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows: Turning Our Grief into Action for Peace" translated into Japanese and Italian, with a Spanish translation expected in the future. Thanks to Akashic Books, co-publisher (with RDV Books) of the Peaceful Tomorrows book, for hosting a fundraising salon in Brooklyn, NY as part of our second anniversary commemorations.
On March 5th, Peaceful Tomorrows' Bob McIlvaine and Rita Lasar represented our group at a New York City press conference called to make two requests: that President Bush withdraw a campaign ad using imagery from the post-9/11 World Trade Center site, and that all candidates pledge to refrain from using similar 9/11 imagery in their ads. It was the largest attended press event ever held by Peaceful Tomorrows, with journalists from more than 50 media outlets on hand. On March 10, USA Today released a survey showing that 66% of Americans agreed with our position that political candidates should not use 9/11 imagery in their campaign advertising.
Within hours of our March 5th press conference, we became aware of a story claiming that Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of the democratic presidential candidate, had given "millions" of dollars to the Tides Foundation, ostensibly to fund Peaceful Tomorrows in making political attacks on the President. The claims of a political link between Heinz and the Tides Foundation had actually begun in December of 2003, and gained steam because of Peaceful Tomorrows' association with the Tides Center, to which we pay a percentage of our income for office services.
Days later, the alleged "Kerry connection" and our alleged status as a "front group for the democratic party" were circulated in an orchestrated campaign by the New York Post, Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, The Weekly Standard, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and other right-leaning media outlets virtually none of which agreed to run our corrections. Meanwhile, an online site called GOP Team Leader began using the charges to fundraise for republican candidates.
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows has never received funding from the Howard Heinz Endowment, the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, Teresa Heinz Kerry or John Kerry. we have no connection with the Heinz or Kerry families through Tides Foundation, the Tides Center or any other entity. Nor does Peaceful Tomorrows endorse any candidate for any political office. Peaceful Tomorrows has been a not-for-profit project of the Tides Center since July of 2002. As our fiscal sponsor, the Tides Center provides administrative and financial services that allow the staff and membership of Peaceful Tomorrows to focus on work related to our mission. We raise money for our own work and we pay Tides Center 9% of those funds in exchange for vital services such as invoice payment, tax services, and insurance.
DOVER TO DC: REMEMBERING UNSEEN MILITARY CASUALTIES
On March 14-15, Peaceful Tomorrows' Valerie Lucznikowska and Bob Mcilvaine participated in a march and vigil led by Military Families Speak Out to call attention to dead and wounded in Iraq, with a focus on the U.S. military casualties that remain hidden from the public eye. A brief service at Camden Friends Meetinghouse in Dover, Delaware, was followed by a memorial procession to the gates of Dover Air Force Base. Following a ceremony at the base, a caravan continued to a rally in Baltimore, Maryland, and then on to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC, current residence of many U.S. servicemen and women wounded in Iraq. It ended with a memorial procession to White House. The event co-sponsors included American Friends Service Committee, Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, Brandywine Peace Community, Code Pink, Iraq Pledge of Resistance, Military Families Speak Out, Pacem in Terris, Pax Christi USA, Peace Action, The Shalom Center, Student Peace Action Network, United for Peace and Justice, Veterans For Peace, War Resisters League, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
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MARCH 20TH COMMEMORATIONS
Members of Peaceful Tomorrows spoke at events in New York, San Francisco, Fayetteville, North Carolina, and elsewhere around the country to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. The Fayetteville rally was the largest since the Vietnam War and was carried live on the Pacifica Radio Network.
Speech at San Francisco Rally against the war in Iraq 3/20/04
By Kelly Campbell
My name is Kelly Campbell and I am a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. We are a group of more than 120 family members of 9/11 victims that have joined together to turn our grief into action for peace. Our grief is not a cry for war.
We work to promote nonviolent responses to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 based on the belief that no family anywhere on earth deserves to experience the loss of a loved one to senseless violence.
The tragedy of 9/11, our loved ones deaths, has been used by the Bush administration to promote their own agenda, an agenda that is making us less safe from terrorist attacks, an agenda that has resulted in the death of thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of US service people. They have played upon the public's fears of 9/11 to wage this unrelated, illegal and unnecessary war in Iraq. You and I know that Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks of 9/11‹but polling shows that the majority of the American public was taken in by the Administration's carefully calculated innuendos to assert a non-existent link between 9/11 and Iraq. Much of the support for the war that does exist in this country comes from this mistaken idea that the war in Iraq is some sort of retaliation for the events of 9/11. I ask all of you here today to help us to dispel this myth by talking to your families, your co-workers, your neighbors and friends to let them know that there is no connection between 9/11 and Iraq. Our grief is not a cry for war.
When I traveled with other 9/11 family members to Afghanistan in January 2002 in the immediate aftermath of the bombing of that country, the Afghan people turned to me and said "Your loss is our loss, we are all brothers and sisters in this world and we must take care of each other." Finally today, one year after the beginning of the so called "shock and awe" campaign that has rained terror down upon the people of Iraq, I ask you to pause to remember the lives of our Iraqi brothers and sisters and of the American and other service people who have died in the past year. And today I ask you to join me in sending a message to the Iraqi people‹that their loss is our loss and to pledge to work nonviolently for peace and justice for all people in the world.
Read Andrea LeBlanc's Keene, New Hampshire remarks here:
My name is Andrea LeBlanc and I am sorry I am not with you in person today. I AM glad you are gathered together to provide strength to all of us to persevere and to give us hope that a peaceful world is possible.
My husband, Robert LeBlanc, was killed on Sept. 11 when the plane he was in was flown into the second tower. Bob taught Cultural Geography at UNH for 35 yrs. and was on his way to a Geography meeting in Los Angeles. He was one of the people who would have best understood what provoked the Sept. 11 attacks and he would have been one of the first to condemn more violence as a useful response.
Bob was insatiably curious about the world and especially about the ways in which people make their homes on this earth and the cultures they develop as a result . He was interested in understanding all the "whys" ... why people live where they live, eat the food they eat, speak the languages they speak, believe what they believe, and create the art and music that feeds their souls. He believed that we should walk in the markets, eat the food, smell the smells, hear the music, and stand in the holy places where others live out their daily lives. Bob knew that understanding the things people struggle with and the joys they celebrate makes us aware of the undeniability of our common humanity. He also knew that this understanding and the compassion it engenders is a much more useful tool for carving out peaceful tomorrows than is war.
A little over a year ago I had the great good fortune to learn of the existence of a group called Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows whose stated mission is to turn their grief into action for peace. Their name comes from a Martin Luther King quote, " War is a poor chisel for carving out peaceful tomorrows." And so, I found a group of like-minded people who have come together because of individual personal commitments to do whatever we can to put a human face on the suffering that is both the cause of and has become the effect of 9-11. Peaceful Tomorrows goals are:
To promote a safe, open dialogue on alternatives to war.
To provide support and fellowship to others seeking peaceful and just responses to terrorism.
To educate and raise the consciousness of the public on issues surrounding war and peace.
To call attention to threats to civil liberties and other freedoms at home as a consequence of war.
To promote U.S. foreign policy that places a priority on principles of democracy and human rights.
To encourage a multilateral use of sensible and appropriate means to bring those responsible for the September 11th attacks to justice in accordance with the principles of international law.
To recognize our fellowship with people of all nationalities afflicted by violence and war, and to extend to them the same compassion that we received from people around the world.
To demand a full, fair and open investigation into the September 11th attacks that took the lives of our loved ones.
In keeping with these goals, Peaceful Tomorrows opposed the bombing of Afghanistan because innocent people would be killed and the war on Iraq because we do not believe there was a connection between Iraq and the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Members of Peaceful Tomorrows have twice gone to both Afghanistan and Iraq to meet with the civilian victims' families there to express our concern and compassion for their suffering and to try to bring home their very real and very human stories to the American public. Peaceful Tomorrows has sent a letter of support and condolence to Spain in the wake of the Mar. 11 train bombings. It is also important that you should know that the Muslim American Society sent a letter of condolence to Spain as well.
Peaceful Tomorrows members are engaged in educational projects, conversations with Muslim Americans, families in Afghanistan and Iraq like ours who have suffered loss because of 9-11, and with other groups of people who have suffered great loss due to violence and still persist in seeking peace despite their grief.
Peaceful Tomorrows members feel we have a particular responsibility and we are attempting to speak out wherever we can to encourage people to pursue peaceful alternatives to war and to promote resolution of conflict through peaceful means. We are attempting to partner with other groups with similar goals to increase understanding between people. We believe this begins with a willingness to listen to the suffering and to see the pain of others to better understand what we have done (or not done) and what we can now do to help make this a kinder, saner, more compassionate world. We know that aggression and violence never lead to peaceful outcomes, but rather to the smoldering resentments that create desperation and hate among the disenfranchised and to victimization of innocent people. We know that fear, our own included, compels us to decisions and actions that do not lead to useful or peaceful outcomes.
Despite the fact that Peaceful Tomorrows has come under recent fire from Rush Limbaugh and various newspapers which apparently do not check their sources, l can assure you that Peaceful Tomorrows has NEVER received any funding from Teresa Heinz-Kerry, does not support ANY particular presidential candidate, and would object to ANY candidate using images of 9-11 for political gain. Enough said on that subject!
I have, on numerous occasions in the past 2 1/2 yrs when asked to speak, felt inadequate to the task, because I felt I did not have enough information about all the nuances of the political situation which precipitated the Sept. 11 attacks and contributes to ongoing conflict around the world. Anything I might say that I felt I KNEW to be true would sound naive and simplistic. However, there are some things I DO know to be true: one being that aggression and violence breed hatred, mistrust and more violence.... that people who do not feel they are being heard, perhaps out of sheer desperation, eventually resort to violence in order to be heard... that as long as the disparity between the haves and have-nots continues to widen, the desperation will get worse.
Perhaps it is naive and simplistic to say, but I also believe that IF we all, in our every action (or in-action), acted out of KINDNESS, what an amazing difference that would make. Think about how it would affect our families, our communities, the way we vote, our immigration policies, our environment, our foreign policy!!!!! It seems so obvious and so simple... AND I don't believe it has been tried yet! It does also seem to be a good time for us to create that Dept. of Peace which might help us focus on the ways and means to achieve a more stable nation and world ... who knows, maybe considerations of caring, compassion, tolerance, and a willingness to listen to and to really HEAR the grievances and suffering of people within and without our national borders might be taken as seriously as the Defense Department's concerns with protecting ourselves and our interests with military might.
I don't know of a single better way toward world peace than for each of us to BE that peace in our every act and with every breath we take.
Thanks for being here. It helps me continue to believe in what is possible.
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Student-to-student, A Peaceful Tomorrows Project Update
By Bruce Wallace
As a result of a Human Rights Day workshop, students at Brooklyn's John Dewey High School have been in email contact with students in two schools in Iraq since March, 2004. Strong connections are being made at an incredible pace by individual children who exchange information about their daily lives, their families, their concerns, and their hopes. These excerpts are a glimpse into a new generation. Here, let them speak for themselves:
Students Write From Brooklyn:
"I stopped being angry and turned that feeling into concern. That is why I'm proud to say that I'm participating in a project by writing letters to students and getting to know them. "
"My name is ( ). I am 15 years old. I am writing to you because I want to know how it is to be living in the middle of a war. I also want you to know that I am against war. If it were up to me I would of never had a war against Iraq. Violence doesn't solve anything. I want to ask you if it is okay for me to ask you personal questions about your life. I hope you will let me and I hope you will write back soon."
"How are you doing? I am doing great. We have something in common we both do not like Math. Yes I do have a computer. I dont really have a favorite meal, it is too hard to choose but I eat almost anything, I dont really like fish. Music I listen to is Rock, I have been listening to that kind of music for years. There is different subdivisions of rock but there are way too many to say now, it would take me years to actually write all of them. You said that your tribe is aljobour which is a sunni tribe. Does you tribe have special traditIons that you guys have to complete? How many tribes are there? Anyway I must be going I have to go clean my room. Talk to you later bye."
Students Write from Iraq:
"Thanks for asking about me and thanks for your delicate feeling. I'm in need for such words today. I'm very sad today, the occupation soldiers came to our Institute, they were so rude and they have no decency. They treated my girls badly. I cant say anything more because I'm so.. so sad."
"my name is ( ). i'm from Baghdad, i'm 14 years old. I'm a student at my lovelly school my hobby is the sport in general and especially football. I like to listen to love songs, especially for khadem al saher the global iraqi singer, and i like his song (every year, you are my sweatheart)"
"I hope that we will know each other more and more i like to get your messages, i want to ask you some questions, do you like my messages? and do you like the Iraqi people? I like your message and I like the people in America. I hope that our friend ship will last"
"...I'm to happy to get your message, and i want to be in touch with you for ever, i want to be a proffessor one day and teach the students in my country in Iraq. Thanks very much, please send your picture if you can."
PEACEFUL TOMORROWS MEET FAMILIES OF GUANTANAMO PRISONERS
On March 7/8, 2004, Peaceful Tomorrows' Colleen Kelly and Bob McIlvaine took part in an interfaith call for due process for Guantanamo detainees, in Washington, DC. "Today the U.S. government is holding hundreds of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who have not been charged with crimes and who have been denied access to U.S. courts..." said National Council of Churches General Secretary, Dr. Bob Edgar, one of the event's organizers. "But we are not here to make any claims about their guilt or innocence. We are here because the principle of due process under the law also is being held prisoner on Guantanamo. We are determined to protect and defend this fundamental right. Without it, no one can be assured of fair treatment under the law. Without it, any one could be arbitrarily stripped of the human dignity that God confers on all people." Read more of Bob Edgar's remarks here
There are hundreds of prisoners at Guantanamo Naval Base, being held indefinitely because of presumptive ties to terrorist activity. Some may be guilty. Some may be innocent. As it now stands, the world may never know this distinction because the Guantanamo prisoners have been denied due process.
On March 7th and 8th, 2004, hundreds gathered in Washington D.C. to call attention to this very problem. The Guantanamo Human Rights Commission, founded by Corin and Vanessa Redgrave, was launched on January 20, 2004, at the House of Commons, London, England. The Commission called on the domestic governments of the European detainees and the European parliament to put pressure on President George Bush and the U.S. government to treat the prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay according to the standards of American and International law.
The Guantanamo Human Rights Commission's visit to the United States raised the issue directly with members of the U.S. Congress, and thereby to the U.S. Administration. Three family members of Guantanamo prisoners participated in the delegation. They included Azmat Begg, father of U.K. detainee Moazzam Begg; Aymen Sassi, brother of French detainee Nizar Sassi; and Rabiye Kurnaz, mother of German detainee Murat Kurnaz. Terry Waite, the British citizen held captive in Beirut for more than 700 days, was also an integral part of the Commission. His stories of detainment offered a rare glimpse into the other side of this tragedy.
The international delegation first met Sunday night with Bob McIlvane and Colleen Kelly from Peaceful Tomorrows. Reverend Bob Edgar, General Secretary for the National Council of Churches USA, helped facilitate the gathering. The families talked about the loss experienced in various shapes and forms because of September 11th; Peaceful Tomorrows spoke of the permanent loss of a loved one, Guantanamo families shared the physical loss and uncertain future of their sons and brothers. The connecting theme was the absence of a loved one, a theme which crossed cultural, racial, religious and language barriers.
On Monday morning, the group reassembled and was joined by scores of others representing various organizations, including the ACLU, Center for Constitutional Rights, Fellowship of Reconciliation, and American Friends Service Committee. We gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court for a press conference. The phrase "Equal Justice Under Law", boldly etched into the marble edifice of the building, served as our backdrop.
Terry Waite began the official press conference. He spoke of his time of captivity in Beirut. He spoke of the need for the rule of law. He feared for the future if the United States placed itself above the standards of international human rights.
Several religious leaders called for the recognition of human dignity: that we all have unalienable human rights. They reiterated we were not here to judge innocence or guilt, but simply to ask that everyone be treated fairly.
The Guantanamo families spoke last. They eloquently described how they were not here to demand the release of their loved ones. Instead, they were here to demand that their loved ones be charged. They found it unconscionable that someone could be imprisoned by a democratic government for more than two years without formal charges or due process. They questioned how the United States public could allow this to happen. Their sincerity struck a nerve in both audience and the assembled press. The delegation then made its way to Capital Hill for appointments with US legislators and media. After lunch, we all walked to the White House to deliver letters to the First Family urging due process for the Guantanamo detainees.
The day concluded with a beautiful Interfaith Prayer/Reflection Service at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Led by the Rev. Roger J. Gench, the church's pastor, and the Rev. Bob W. Edgar, speakers and prayers focused on human dignity and the call from all religions that we, as human beings, be treated equally. Music by Peter Yarrow had the church participants on their feet, clapping hands in unison. The InKlein Quartet traveled from the U.K. to contribute a somber, reflective spirit.
As I traveled home, I considered how much life had changed for so many since 9-11. I felt grateful knowing there are so many people who care so much, still have hope, and are determined that the world can and must be a better place.
PEACEFUL TOMORROWS IN SOUTH AFRICA
We join in journey toward forgiveness and healing
Peaceful Tomorrows marked the 10th anniversary of the successful struggle to bring democracy to South Africa at the "Journey Towards Healing and Wholeness Conference," held on Robben Island from April 14 -18, 2004. The island was the site of Nelson Mandela's 25-year imprisonment before his release and election to the post of African National Congress President.
Andrew Rice represented September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows at the conference, which is being held by the Institute for Healing of Memories, in partnership with the Desmond Tutu Leadership Academy.
Among the workshop's goals are an exploration of "anger, hatred, shame and guilt, and the journeys toward forgiveness, healing and wholeness" topics which resonate with Peaceful Tomorrows' mission to seek effective, nonviolent solutions to terrorism, while acknowledging a common experience with all people similarly affected by violence throughout the world.
"I'm honored to be able to represent Peaceful Tomorrows at this momentous conference, and learn from those who have gone before us in their efforts to reconcile with the perpetrators of violence and injustice," said Rice, who lives in Oklahoma City, OK. "The work of Father Michael Lapsley, director of the Institute of Healing of Memories, is an inspiring example to Americans as we wrestle with our grief and work toward a day where the cycle of violence of terrorism and war will be broken."
Father Lapsley's struggle against apartheid cost him his hands and an eye as the result of a letter bomb in 1990. As director of the Institute for the Healing of Memories, he has held workshops throughout South Africa to provide opportunities for individuals and communities to deal with the burdens of trauma and past guilt. The Institute is a trust which seeks to contribute to the healing journey of individuals, communities and nations.
The South Africa visit has particular significance for Rice, who lost his brother David at the World Trade Center, where he worked for the investment firm Sandler O'Neill. David Rice studied as a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa in 1996.
We will have a longer report on the conference in our next newsletter.
Letter of Condolence to Affected Families on the Tenth Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide
The members of Sept 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows stand with the families of Rwanda as you mark this 10th year since your people's great suffering.
We stand with you as you inspire the world to search for peace and justice by your courageous examination of the government-sanctioned evil that was unleashed in hundreds of thousands of horrific individual acts of violence.
We stand with you as you inspire the governments of all nations to examine the part their own inattention and lack of action contributed to this consuming genocide and to all ethnic cleansings and genocides.
We stand with you to demand that all the nations of the world accept their responsibility to respond with preventive non-violent action whenever any government attempts the genocidal killing of people within or outside a nation's borders.
We stand with you as you inspire the peoples of the world to reject the revenge that only spawns more death, more violence in its wake, and instead to seek long-term solutions that will protect the futures of the generations to come rather than ensuring future slaughters of future generations.
We stand with you in recognizing our own failures to prevent and to remedy the evils that kill and oppress our sisters and brothers wherever they are in this world.
We stand with you to open ourselves to the embrace of all who will stand with us to turn away from senseless revenge and retaliation in order to become a force for peace and justice, a force that will not be defeated in the belief that we end killing by not killing.
We reach our hearts, minds and spirits across all political, social, economic, racial, religious, temporal, and geographic divisions to stand with you, in your hope that the beautiful green hills and misty mountains of Rwanda will never again know the agony of genocide, and will become for all the nations a symbol of a people's triumph over the evil of destructive hatred as all your families find healing ways to live together.
BENEFIT CONCERTS FOR PEACEFUL TOMORROWS
April 2 marked the beginning of a "rolling series" of concerts in central North Carolina to benefit Peaceful Tomorrows. "Through this series of concerts, we join with Triangle area musicians in recognizing the power of music to touch us in a special way, reminding us of our mutual need to laugh, sing, and dance," said David Potorti, Peaceful Tomorrows' co-director, who lives in Cary. "The best way to respond to the inhumanity of terrorism and war is by becoming more fully human, and we thank the musicians whose unique talents help us accomplish this goal."
The concerts featured Old-time and Americana music with the Stillhouse Bottom Band, Janet Place and Jeff Hart (of the Brown Mountain Lights), and Hooverville; Old-time and Cajun music with Roger and Isaac Akers & Friends, Dueling Feet and Allons Danser; Jazz music with Frankie Alexander & Friends, Shelly Higgins & Tony Godwin, and Kevin Van Sant; and Rock music with Milagro Saints, Frosted Sugar Bombs, and People You Know, featuring ex-Reuben's Train members.
The concert series is being produced by Gerry Williams and Sally Council. Graphic design services are donated by Janet Place. We offer special thanks to the venues which generously supplied their space and technical support: the Community Church of Chapel Hill, Weaver Street Market, the ArtsCenter and Temple Ball, Carrboro.
We give our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Peaceful Tomorrows co-founder Kelly Campbell, who is leaving her staff position with our group but will remain with us as a member of our steering committee. Kelly's unstoppable commitment, drive and dedication to our mission were essential to our creation, to the ongoing effectiveness of our work, and to our ability to grow and thrive as a non-profit organization in challenging times. We wish her well and look forward to the benefit of her wisdom and counsel in her new role with Peaceful Tomorrows.
PLEASE DONATE TO PEACEFUL TOMORROWS
Peaceful Tomorrows does not receive disbursements or funds from 9/11 charities. We depend on your support to continue our work. Please visit our website to make a tax-deductible donation online, or send your check made out to "Peaceful Tomorrows/Tides Center" to:
Peaceful Tomorrows
PO Box 1818
Peter Stuyvesant Station
New York, NY 10009
