Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day: The Long Arc of FCNL Advocacy

Posted on October 16, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Oct. 23, 6:30 p.m. EDT | Quaker Welcome Center or Online

Columbus Day overlooks a painful colonial history and minimizes the important contributions made by Indigenous peoples throughout this continent’s history. That’s why FCNL has chosen to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead.

Following Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Oct. 14th, we will come together on Oct. 23 at 6:30 p.m. EDT to discuss the importance of the holiday and highlight FCNL’s history of witness on Native American concerns.

We invite you to join us for an evening of dialogue, education, and advocacy, as our Quaker Change Maker series continues. Attend in-person at FCNL’s Quaker Welcome Center, or join the conversation online via Zoom.

There is no charge to attend, but an RSVP is encouraged for planning purposes. If you sign up to watch from home, we will send instructions for viewing.

RSVP to attend in person at the Quaker Welcome Center  ›

RSVP to watch from home via Zoom  ›

Legislative Ask: Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act with Strong Provisions for Native Women

Goals for VAWA 2019 Reauthorization: Expanding Victim Protections

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) addresses violence and sexual assault by providing the resources and services necessary for public safety. This bill is especially significant for Native American communities as it restores tribal jurisdiction over non-Indian assailants for crimes of domestic violence.

The House recently passed H.R. 1585, a VAWA reauthorization bill which included strong provisions protecting Native communities. The Senate must now introduce a reauthorization of VAWA with the same strong tribal provisions as H.R. 1585. This reauthorization should expand the current Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction to protect children, tribal law enforcement officers, and victims of all forms of violence including: sexual assault, sex trafficking, stalking, and child abuse.

On November 20, 2018, Shari Hrdnia, Sid Barfot, Christine Nobiss, Shazi and Fox Knight, and Jeff Kisling met with Carol Olson, Senator Chuck Grassley’s State Director at the Federal Building in Des Moines. Two of Senator Grassley’s staff from Washington, DC, joined us via a conference call. The meeting was a chance for us to get to know each other and find ways we can work with Senator Grassley and others to pass legislation to support Native American communities.

Jeff Kisling, Fox and Shazi Knight, Christine Nobiss, Shari Hrdnia, SId Barfoot

During this meeting, Jeff Kisling talked about the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the SURVIVE Act. Christine Nobiss spoke about the racism and violence against Native women and Savanna’s Act. Everyone else then contributed to the discussions.

There were two pieces of legislation in Congress at that time related to Native Affairs. One is the SURVIVE Act which is intended to get more funds from the Victims of Crime Act to Native communities. The second is Savanna’s Act, which allows tribal police forces to have jurisdiction over non-Native people on Native land, access to criminal databases and expanded collection of crime statistics. Senator Grassley was involved in the passage of the Victims of Crime Act.

Posted in Indigenous, Native Americans, Quaker, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Diplomacy Could Have Prevented the Bloodshed in Northeastern Syria

Posted on October 16, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Diplomacy Could Have Prevented the Bloodshed in Northeastern Syria is the title of a statement by Diane Randall, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL).

As a Quaker organization committed to ending all wars, the Friends Committee on National Legislation calls on Turkey to immediately end its assault on northeastern Syria and urges the U.S. government to pursue a diplomatic solution to this quickly-deteriorating situation.

The U.S. military presence in Syria was never authorized by Congress and must come to an end. But the sudden withdrawal of U.S. troops without consulting our allies or our nation’s own military and diplomatic experts – without plans to protect the thousands of civilians and refugees living there, enable the delivery of humanitarian aid, or guard captured ISIS fighters – can only mean a humanitarian and security disaster.

The dire results of this unilateral move by President Trump underscore the importance of securing congressional authorization before engaging U.S. troops in overseas conflicts.

We call on Congress to exercise its responsibilities under the Constitution to debate and vote before allowing the U.S. to be drawn into armed conflict.

Diplomacy Could Have Prevented the Bloodshed in Northeastern Syria, Diane Randall, Executive Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation, Oct 10, 2019

You can download FCNL’s full statement on the Turkish Invasion of Syria here: https://www.fcnl.org/documents/1096

As people of faith, we are committed to peace–and our commitment tells us it’s time to end endless war.

Since 9/11, three different administrations have used the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to bypass the constitutional power of Congress to wage war across the world. To bring about the peaceful world we seek, we must repeal the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs.

With Friends’ help, we had two critical successes this year. We must ensure these provisions remain in the final bills:

(1) The House approved an amendment in the annual defense spending bill to repeal the 2001 AUMF, which has been used to justify 41 military operations in 19 countries.

(2) The House version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a provision to repeal the 2002 Iraq AUMF.

Bobby Trice, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

For years the Authorization for the use of military force has been a concern of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Quakers. In 2014 the following letter was approved, to be sent to our Congressional delegations.

As members of the Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative), we continue to oppose the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF).

There are grave constitutional concerns about the AUMF, as it erodes the separation of powers and prevents adequate, effective checks and balances between the branches of U. S. government. The brief 60 words of the AUMF do not contain geographical or temporal limits, dangerously leaving open the door for this and future presidents to claim the authority to wage war against anyone at any time.

The Congressional Research Service report last year revealed that Presidents Bush and Obama publicly invoked the AUMF over 30 times, to justify military action in Djibouti, Georgia, Ethiopia, Yemen, and elsewhere.

It also poses significant threats to human rights, civil liberties, and the fulfillment of moral obligations. It has been used as part of the legal justification for indefinite detentions, acts of torture, mass surveillance, and an expansive drone war that has killed thousands of people far from any battlefield. These policies harden extremist sentiments, diminish the rule of law, and weaken American security and integrity.

The President has at his disposal adequate means to counter violent extremism, and if he believes at any time he lacks necessary authority, he can petition Congress, which can debate and decide that question. This is infinitely preferable to living in a permanent state of war.

In the Light of God’s Love,
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Religious Society of Friends, 2014

At the annual sessions of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) this summer, the following was approved as part of the Peace and Social Concerns Committee Report:

Quakers abhor all war. Congress needs to reclaim from the Executive branch its power to declare war. Representative Barbara Lee successfully offered and passed an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act that would repeal the 2001 AUMF (Authorization to Use Military Force). Designed to take effect after eight months, the Congress would need to pass a new AUMF or the Administration would need to remove American military personnel from current wars and conflicts during that timeframe. We thank the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) and their Advocacy Teams for their work on this issue. We recognize that Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) exists in the United States’ wider secular world, where transformation into a peaceful, harmonious society without violence is unlikely to occur in the near future. We acknowledge the ongoing creative tension between working to end the occasion of all war and working to reduce harm through meaningful, achievable goals.

Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) 2019

Following is a template from FCNL you can use to send a letter to your Congressional Representatives and Senators.

I am pleased that the House of Representatives approved provisions to repeal the 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs). As a person of faith, I implore you to ensure that these provisions remain in the final defense spending bill and the NDAA.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war and to conduct oversight of wars. Yet the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) has been used by three presidents as a blank check for endless war without congressional approval. The 2001 AUMF has enabled 41 military operations in 19 countries, which is far beyond the scope of the original intent of the authorization. The 2002 Iraq AUMF is no longer relevant yet holds the potential to be abused as another statutory justification for endless U.S. wars.

(add your story here to make the letter more impactful)

As a long-standing member of your community, I believe we need Congress to reassert its constitutional authority over war and peace. Repealing the 2001 and 2002 AUM.Fs is a first step in that direction.

Sincerely,

Name
Physical Address
Phone
Email

Posted in peace, Quaker, Quaker Meetings, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Need for Chaos

Posted on October 15, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

I follow the blog of Sheila Kennedy who taught at the Indiana University School of Law. In this mornings post she explores yet again how to explain the president and his base. The post can be found here: Voting for Chaos.

She says the president’s goal with all his tweets and actions is not to support any particular goal, but rather to create chaos, which in turn causes fear in those who are susceptible; fear of change and fear of “others”.

Social media platforms provide easy ways to widely spread this type of misinformation. The recent violent video of the president performing acts of violence against his perceived enemies is one example. The recent change in Facebook’s policies suggesting they won’t provide any censorship or regulation of content feeds right into this.

The common element in all of these studies and theories is the extent to which fear–fear of change, fear of the “other,” fear of the unknown–feeds hostility to “the system” and to the “elites” that supposedly benefit from that system.

There are clearly a lot of disaffected people out there, and the Internet facilitates their expression of rage.

Voting for Chaos, Sheila Kennedy, Oct. 15, 2019

The circulation of hostile political rumors (including but not limited to false news and conspiracy theories) has gained prominence in public debates across advanced democracies. Here, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of the psychological syndrome that elicits motivations to share hostile political rumors among citizens of democratic societies. Against the notion that sharing occurs to help one mainstream political actor in the increasingly polarized electoral competition against other mainstream actors, we demonstrate that sharing motivations are associated with ‘chaotic’ motivations to “burn down” the entire established democratic ‘cosmos’. We show that this extreme discontent is associated with motivations to share hostile political rumors, not because such rumors are viewed to be true but because they are believed to mobilize the audience against disliked elites. We introduce an individual difference measure, the “Need for Chaos”, to measure these motivations and illuminate their social causes, linked to frustrated status-seeking. Finally, we show that chaotic motivations are surprisingly widespread within advanced democracies, having some hold in up to 40 percent of the American national population.

A “Need for Chaos” and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies by Petersen, M., Osmundsen, M., & Arceneaux, K., American Political Science Association, 2018 https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6m4ts

The authors describe “chaos incitement” as a “strategy of last resort by marginalized status-seekers,” willing to adopt disruptive tactics. Trump, in turn, has consistently sought to strengthen the perception that America is in chaos, a perception that has enhanced his support while seeming to reinforce his claim that his predecessors, especially President Barack Obama, were failures.

Petersen, Osmundsen and Arceneaux find that those who meet their definition of having a “need for chaos” express that need by willingly spreading disinformation. Their goal is not to advance their own ideology but to undermine political elites, left and right, and to “mobilize others against politicians in general.” These disrupters do not “share rumors because they believe them to be true. For the core group, hostile political rumors are simply a tool to create havoc.”

The Trump Voters Whose ‘Need for Chaos’ Obliterates Everything Else, Political nihilism is one of the president’s strongest weapons by Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times, Sept 4, 2019
Posted in social media, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Will I Ever Understand?

Posted on October 14, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

There are so many things I wonder if I will ever understand.

All day I’ve felt like I’ve been enshrouded in a cloud of anger and confusion. How was it possible to think Columbus discovered America? Even more confusing, how did that myth continue to be perpetuated for all the intervening years? Even now?

How could White people feel they could take Native land and kill the Native people?

This is personal now that I have Native friends. I see the trauma of forced assimilation has been passed from generation to generation. Quakers were involved in the Indian Boarding Schools.

I have friends who have lost loved ones in the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

It is hard to understand how, despite these traumas, my friends have extended their friendship to me. I really admire that strength and am grateful for that gift.

Posted in First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Indigenous | Tagged | Leave a comment

Now That the Buffalo’s Gone

Posted on October 13, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

I have a couple of books of daily readings I occasionally look at. I like the title “The Native American Path to Leading a Spiritual Life Every Day,” which Quakers also seek to do.

I’ve recently been thinking about spirituality in terms of sharing with others. I’ve been asked to speak to a group of people who have a long history of social justice work but also a variety of faith backgrounds, if any. My justice experiences have reinforced my belief that such work needs be based on a spiritual foundation.

Far too often I’ve seen or heard about social justice efforts that have actually done significant harm rather than good. A specific example I have been studying lately was the disaster of the Indian Boarding Schools. Quakers and others in those times believed it would be in the best interest of Native peoples to forcibly assimilate their children into White culture. Instead those children and their families suffered greatly, in many ways. A number of the children died from disease or exposure when they ran away from the schools. Native peoples are to this day experiencing significant multigenerational trauma from that. As the song below says, “Oh it’s all in the past you can say, but it’s still going on here today“. More information can be found here: https://www.friendsjournal.org/quaker-indian-boarding-schools/

Thomas Weber, head of Scattergood Friends School, Introduces Paula Palmer’s presentation at the school.

I don’t believe those good intentions could have come from spiritual guidance. As for speaking to this secular group I guess the best I can do is express my experiences and beliefs about the importance of spiritual guidance for this work.

October 13 A Native to Know

Cree musician Buffy Sainte-Marie was raised by a Micmac couple in Canada. She was world-famous by the 1970s for her singing and songwriting especially protest songs like “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone.”

“We may misunderstand, but we do not misexperience.” Vine Deloria Jr., Lakota, Standing Rock Sioux.

365 Days of Walking the Red Road, The Native American Path to Leading a Spiritual Life Every Day, Terri Jean.

October 13

I traveled thousands of miles along our winding trails, the unbroken solitudes of the wild forest, listening to the songs of the woodland birds. –Pokagon, Potawatomi Chief, 1833

A Cherokee Feast of Days, Volume Two, Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Can you remember the times
That you have held your head high
and told all your friends of your Indian claim
Proud good lady and proud good man
Some great great grandfather from Indian blood came
and you feel in your heart for these ones

Oh it’s written in books and in song
that we’ve been mistreated and wronged
Well over and over I hear those same words
from you good lady and you good man
Well listen to me if you care where we stand
and you feel you’re a part of these ones

When a war between nations is lost
the loser we know pays the cost
but even when Germany fell to your hands
consider dear lady, consider dear man
you left them their pride and you left them their land
and what have you done to these ones

Has a change come about my dear man
or are you still taking our lands
A treaty forever your senators sign
They do dear lady, they do dear man
and the treaties are broken again and again
and what will you do for these ones

Oh it’s all in the past you can say
but it’s still going on here today
The governments now want the Navaho land
that of the Inuit and the Cheyenne
It’s here and it’s now you can help us dear man
Now that the buffalo’s gone.

NOW THAT THE BUFFALO’S GONE
Buffy Sainte-Marie – 1964
Posted in Indigenous, Native Americans, Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Do All the Good You Can

Posted on October 12, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

This summer I was blessed to attend the first National Network Assembly which was held at the Des Moines YMCA Camp near Boone, Iowa. It was a wonderful experience and successful in attaining its goal of providing opportunities for community organizers across the country to connect with, and learn from, each other.

The sign above, “do all the good you can”, is what you see as you leave the YMCA Camp. I don’t think I’ve heard that expression before, but it crystalized what I have strived to do with my life. I hadn’t planned to do a deep dive into the meaning of life this morning, but as I’ve said many times, sitting in silence before my laptop, I wait to see what I will be led to share. This morning’s focus might be in part because my friend Reza recently described a class he is taking, “the meaning of life.”

It might also be because I have become unsettled lately regarding what my next steps should be. Care for Mother Earth has been the consistent thread of my life. Looking back over the past 40 years I wonder what more I could have done to have convinced others we had to stop using fossil fuels. It is unnerving now to see the consequences I knew would result are coming into being–the ferocious wildfires in California, massive flooding of the Missouri River, the loss of ice and melting permafrost in the Arctic, the death of sea life as the oceans warm and become acidified, early blizzards in the Dakotas, powerful hurricanes like Dorian and the Tycoon Hagibis hitting Japan now.

What I don’t know is whether we are past the point of no return on the path to environmental collapse. Until recently I thought the answer to that would determine what I should do next.

If there is still time avoid the extinction of ourselves and most other forms of life, then radical efforts to force governments and industries to stop using fossil fuels might be justified. My Quaker faith would require of me that however radical those efforts might be, they need to be based on nonviolence, as exemplified by the Extinction Rebellion, Global Climate Strikes and the Sunrise Movement.

As Nahko Bear said at the Water Protectors Youth Concert at Standing Rock on September 8, 2016, “Remember that nonviolent direct action is the way to a successful revolution.” As I searched for that quote, I came upon another by Nahko:

Our country is primed for an overthrow of power within rapidly shifting currents. The land has seen devastation over the winter’s long night, but now sings songs of rebirth inside the blossoms of the cherry tree. At least in this hemisphere. The people…well, we’re all a little worn out thanks to a heavy hitting astrological and planetary realignment. Does anyone else feel like they’ve hardly had a moment to process and catch a breath before Mercury went Gatorade? Again? We’re being tested. Within each survivor is a warrior. Can we captain this ship through unknown waters? Are we braver than our fears? Will we earn a seat at the table, our place as a future ancestor? Oh, hell yes.

Nahko Bear

This is an example of how what I write follows unplanned and surprising paths. I hadn’t meant to include that paragraph from Nahko, but it fits. Naho Bear is an Indigenous song writer and performer, who often shares words of wisdom between songs at his concerts. The Youth Concert mentioned above occurred just a few days after praying men, women and children at Standing Rock were attacked by security forces dogs. More of what he said to those youth that night follows:

Remember that nonviolent direct action is the way to a successful revolution. And that is a hard one, because they are so bad (chuckles). When they come at us you just want to hit ’em, you know? Just sit with that. I know it’s tough. They’re going to try to do everything they can to instigate you.

But remember what we’re here for. We’re here to create peace for our Mother. We’re not here to create more violence.

When you’re feeling bad, when you’re feeling frustrated, put all your prayer into your palms, put them to the ground, put them back to the sky, honor the Father, the Mother, just know it will be alright.

Are you guys feeling proud, are you proud of yourselves? Because the whole world is watching. The whole world is watching. So whatcha gonna do? Gonna show love? Are you gonna be smart? You gonna think before you act? Take care of each other? You’re gonna show ‘em what family does. They don’t know what that’s like.

You gotta put down the weight, gotta get out of your way. Get out of your way and just look around the corner at your real self and look at all the potential that this beautiful Earth and love has to offer you.

Nahko Bear at the Water Protectors Youth Concert
Nahko Bear #NODAPL #MniWiconi #RezpectOurWater #AllNationsYouth

As I started to say above, I don’t know whether we are past the point of no return on the path to environmental collapse. Until recently I thought the answer to that would determine what I should do next. What I believe now is whether we are past the point of no return toward mass extinction, or not, is not the question I should be asking myself. Rather, my question now is how can we create Beloved communities? Rather than protest to try to force governments and industries to change, we can, right now, begin to build communities that don’t depend on fossil fuels, aren’t built on capitalistic, resource extractive economies. In this way we empower ourselves, and can empower others to “do all the good you (we) can”.

Posted in #NDAPL, civil disobedience, climate change, Extinction Rebellion, Green New Deal, Indigenous, integral nonviolence, peace, Sunrise Movement, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Protest Against ICE in Iowa

Posted on October 11, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

From my friend Christine Nobiss:

I would like to connect you with Molly Arndt who is running a small group in Iowa City that has protested and will continue to protest against ICE allies and facilities in Iowa. All climate change, environment and anti Big-Ag groups in Iowa should consider helping out if they can as climate change, environmental destruction and economic insatiability is a result of colonial-capitalism which is very evident in the treatment of Indigenous Peoples from south of the border. There is an action 10/11/19 in Cedar Rapids, which can be seen here. https://www.facebook.com/events/672409546501518/

Please share with your networks. 

If you would like to keep in touch with Molly, her email is molly-arndt@uiowa.edu  and her message is below. Please send her a direct email if you are interested so she can start to build a network and/or plug in with your network and help with your actions. 

Christine Nobiss

Hello! I’m part of a group of people organizing protests against local law enforcement and corporations working with ICE and CBP. Our third protest of the year is on Friday, October 11 from 11 am to 3 pm. Our goal with this protest is to pressure Collins Aerospace to end their $55 million dollar contract with ICE and CBP to produce essential communication equipment. 

I’m contacting your organization to ask for your help getting the word out and/or possibly help organizing. We believe that our goals are similar enough and our core beliefs align so that you might be interested in helping us. If you’re interested in getting involved or have any questions please email me back so that I can fill you in further. Or you can join our Facebook group End ICE in Iowa to find contact information and more about our group and what we need help with before the protest Friday.

Molly Arndt molly-arndt@uiowa.edu https://www.facebook.com/events/672409546501518/

From: Iowa companies’ contracts with ICE, border patrol earn them millions by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa City Press-Citizen, Aug. 15, 2019

Between Fiscal Year 2008 and 2019, Iowa companies received $73 million from contracts with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and CPB (Customs and Border Protection) — 69% of which came in 2017 after Trump took office.

Four companies have garnered the largest share of the millions made from contracts with the two agencies. While information describing products and services are limited, they do include the short descriptions and amount paid for contracts between federal fiscal years 2008 and 2019:

  • Rockwell Collins Inc. of Cedar Rapids had 115 contracts totaling $55 million. These ranged from contracts for information and engineering services to “search, detection, navigation, guidance, aeronautical and nautical system and instrument manufacturing.”
  • Career Management Associates of Iowa LLC of Ankeny had nine contacts totaling $11 million. These were for temporary help services.
  • The Hon Company LLC (HNI Corporation) of Muscatine had 110 contracts totaling $1.9 million. Each was for the manufacture of wooden office furniture. 
  • AllSteel Inc. (HNI Corporation) of Muscatine had 44 contracts totaling $1.7 million. These were for the manufacture of non-wood furniture. 
Posted in immigration, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Iowa Climate Defenders Five

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Today was supposed to be the date for the trial of the Iowa Climate Defenders Five (Todd Steichen, Martin Monroe, Miriam Kashia, Kathy Byrnes, and Ed Fallon) who were arrested at a GOP rally and fundraiser for President Trump June 11, 2019, while holding a sign reading, “Climate Denier in the White House scare the S#*T outta you? IT DOES US!”

Miriam, Kathy and Ed were among those who I walked with during the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March last September. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=first+nation+farmer

Both the prosecutor and the judge commented that this is an ‘important’ trial. However it was rescheduled for November 12 at 1:00 at the Polk County Justice Center, 222 5th Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Before the trial, the five held a press conference outside the building:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, October 10, 2019, 7:00 p.m. CT
Contact: Miriam Kashia at (319) 459-1154 or miriam.kashia@gmail.com
Contact: Ed Fallon at (515) 238-6404 or ed@boldiowa.com
Website: www.boldiowa.com

Prosecution requests delay for five Iowa climate activists

Dressed in black and wearing adult diapers, Bold Iowa supporters were arrested at a GOP rally and fundraiser for President Trump on June 11, 2019, while holding a sign reading, “Climate Denier in the White House scare the S#*T outta you? IT DOES US!”

DES MOINES, IOWA — The Iowa Climate Defenders Five (Todd Steichen, Martin Monroe, Miriam Kashia, Kathy Byrnes, and Ed Fallon) appeared before a judge today only to have the trial rescheduled for November 12 at 1:00 at the Polk County Justice Center, 222 5th Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. Before the trial, the five held a press conference outside the building (view livestream of that press conference).

On June 11, 2019, President Trump visited Hy-Vee’s Ron Pearson Center in West Des Moines for a GOP rally and fundraiser. Thirty Bold Iowa supporters called out the president’s climate denial to him and the attendees. Initially, protesters blocked one of the entrances to the facility’s parking lot. Later, the five carrying a banner approached the building, hoping to enter and bring their urgent message to the attention of the president and the audience. At that point, they were arrested by West Des Moines police for simple misdemeanor trespass.

“Today was our fourth trial continuance,” said Miriam Kashia. “It’s disappointing to have to gear up once again for another court date on November 12, but I think it means we have them on the defensive. This trial needs to get the attention it deserves because — THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS AN EMERGENCY! Everything is at stake! Both the prosecutor and the judge commented that this is an ‘important’ trial. As Greta Thunberg said in Iowa City last Friday, ‘NEVER GIVE UP!’”

“We risked arrest because it’s urgent that we capture the attention of politicians, the press, and the public in this unprecedented moment where saving human life and the planet is on the line,” said Bold Iowa director Ed Fallon. “We wanted to emphasize to those gathered at the rally and fundraiser that climate change threatens our very survival, and a president who denies the problem — whose policies in fact greatly exacerbate the threat — must be called out and challenged.”

On a lighter note, Martin Monroe quipped, “Maybe the prosecution got scared off by a bunch of adults in diapers.”

Because of the worsening climate emergency, the Iowa Climate Defenders Five feel called to act in the interest of present and future generations and the planet. Similar cases across the country have seen judges responding more sympathetically to the climate necessity defense.

The urgency of climate change is also shared by Iowa scientists in the Iowa Climate Statement and in a report by the Iowa DNR. Both warn about the harm being done because of our dependence on fossil fuels.

Furthermore, earlier this year, the Iowa Supreme Court stated in its ruling in Puntenney vs the Iowa Utilities Board (the Dakota Access Pipeline case), page 37, “We recognize that a serious and warranted concern about climate change underlies some of the opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline.”

Bold Iowa’s mission is to build rural-urban coalitions to (1) fight climate change, (2) prevent the abuse of eminent domain, (3) protect Iowa’s soil, air, and water, (4) defend the rights of farmers, landowners, and Indigenous communities, and (5) promote non-industrial renewable energy.

Posted in #NDAPL, civil disobedience, climate change, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

War Today

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

It was perhaps unfortunately prescient to have written about the Richmond Declaration on the Draft recently, in light of the situation in Syria today.

We call on Friends everywhere to recognize the oppressive burden of militarism and conscription. We acknowledge our complicity in these evils in ways sometimes silent and subtle, at times painfully apparent. We are under obligation as Children of God and members of the Religious Society of Friends to break the yoke of that complicity.

We recognize the evil nature of all forms of conscription, and its inconsistency with the teachings and example of Christ. Military conscription in the United States today undergirds the aggressive foreign policies and oppressive domestic policies which rely on easy availability of military manpower.

Richmond Declaration on the Draft [1968]

What has changed since 1968 is that now a “volunteer” army, rather than conscription, “undergirds the aggressive foreign policies and oppresive domestic policies which rely on easy availability of military manpower.” Volunteer is a euphemism, since many turn to military service when they haven’t been able to find other means of employment. Changing to a volunteer army was a brilliant move on the part of the military, making it easy for us to forget about armed service when youth no longer have to fear being inducted into it.

Also making it easier to forget about armed conflict is the use of remotely controlled drones for military operations. Additionally, just the sound of a drone flying overhead creates feelings of terror in the people below.

What has also changed is military equipment and techniques, rather than conscription, now undergird oppressive domestic policies and civilian law enforcement agencies.

While we can agree with the president’s statements to end endless wars, what is happening to the Syrian Kurdish people is horrifying and obviously not the way to end our military operations there. It would be additionally tragic if the president’s economic conflicts of interest related to Turkey were behind this.

Every so often over the past several decades I’ve heard the question, “where is the antiwar movement?”

We can be grateful for, and continue to support the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and local peace organizations. I have the impression that doing so is the extent of many Friends’ peace efforts.

The reasons Friends made working for peace such a priority included the belief that there is that of God in everyone (and everything). Thus it could never be right to take another’s life. We could also see the terrible toll killing took on the person who did the killing.

One of my peace efforts was to resist the draft back in the days when there was a draft. Since those days my peace work has been led to work to protect Mother Earth. Our war on our environment has caused, and will increasingly cause the deaths of millions of people, and the ruin of our land, air and water.

In 2016 my friends at Sustainable Indiana published their book, “Explore Sustainable Indiana, Celebrating Hoosier Solutions to Our Climate Crisis”. They were kind enough to include my story  Cars as Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Transportation chapter. Part of that story follows.

But the damages from this ill considered mass accumulation of personal automobiles extend far beyond the pollution of our air, land and water. Death and mortality from respiratory illnesses and cancers are widespread. And the assumption that most people have access to personal automobiles has lead to the paving of so much of the earth’s surface, parking lots and garages, and bridges.

Also, the assumption of personal transportation has created very poorly designed cities and neighborhoods, and fractured communities, which has led to violence and contributed to poverty.

The insatiable demand for oil also led to the first United States invasion of another country, and continuous war and terrorism on our part. George Fox admonished us to look for the seeds of war in our own lives. Is there any doubt about what he would say about personal automobiles?

Cars as Weapons of Mass Destruction
  • SONY DSC
Posted in climate change, Ethical Transportation, Quaker, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Planned Power Outages in California

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

The rapid warming of the arctic changes the jet stream, which leads to more extreme weather.

Greenhouse gases are increasingly disrupting the jet stream, a powerful river of winds that steers weather systems in the Northern Hemisphere. That’s causing more frequent summer droughts, floods and wildfires, a new study says.

Global Warming Is Messing with the Jet Stream. That Means More Extreme Weather.
A new study links the buildup of greenhouse gas emissions to more frequent heat waves, floods and droughts in the Northern Hemisphere. BY BOB BERWYN, INSIDECLIMATE NEWS, OCT 31, 2018
The speed and waviness of the northern jet stream, a river of wind across the Northern Hemisphere, is affected by the temperature difference between the Arctic and mid-latitudes. Credit: NASA

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) said Thursday that its equipment had probably caused the Camp Fire, the catastrophic November blaze that destroyed thousands of homes in Paradise, Calif., and killed at least 86 people.

Though the cause of the fire is still under official investigation by California officials, PG&E said it “believes it is probable that its equipment will be determined to be an ignition point of the 2018 Camp Fire.” Attempts to determine the fire’s cause center on the 56-mile Caribou-Palermo electric transmission line.

PG&E Says It Probably Caused the Fire That Destroyed Paradise, Calif. by By Peter Eavis. The New York Times, Feb. 28, 2019

Being aware of the dangers of the PG&E equipment causing more fires, the company is for the first time shutting off power in areas which are dry, and where severe storms and high winds are expected.

California’s wildfire crisis will enter an unprecedented new stage Wednesday as PG&E plans to begin cutting power to about 800,000 customers, shutting down the electric lines that have sparked many of the state’s worst blazes and setting off a chaotic scramble of people preparing for an outage that could last a week in some places.

As word spread Tuesday of the preemptive shut-off — which is set to hit the Bay Area at noon — those in the locations expected to go dark stockpiled water and canned food and emptied store shelves of batteries for flashlights and cell phones. They made a run on gas pumps, causing lines that sometimes extended for blocks. And they hurried to help loved ones whose medical needs require electricity.

Transportation officials worked, mostly successfully, to keep open roads, bridges and tunnels, including the eight-lane Caldecott Tunnel that links Oakland and Berkeley to the suburbs to the east. Meanwhile, firefighting agencies staffed up. And school leaders canceled classes Wednesday on dozens of campuses, including UC Berkeley.

PG&E: Massive power shut-off to hit 800,000 customers, could extend nearly a week by J.D. Morris and Michael Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 8, 2019

LIVE: 186,000 without power in North Bay as PG&E begins planned power outages

At least 186,000 PG&E customers are currently without power in the North Bay as the utility company starts its Public Safety Power Shutoffs across several regions of the San Francisco Bay Area early this morning.

As of 4 a.m., the shutdowns have left 185,000 PG&E customers without power in Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
PG&E confirmed that they had begun phase one of the outages that could impact approximately 513,000 customers.

Live reports, ABC News, https://abc7news.com/weather/185000-without-power-in-north-bay-as-pg-e-begins-power-outages/5604876/

Posted in climate change, Uncategorized | Leave a comment