House Repeal of AUMF and Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) Advocacy

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee voted for an amendment from Representative Barbara Lee (CA) to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). If repeal of the 2001 AUMF is passed, Congress would need to pass a new AUMF or the Administration would need to remove American military personnel from current wars during an eight month period after approval.

Congresswomen Barbara Lee (D-CA), was the only person to vote against the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which granted the President the authority to use all “necessary and appropriate force” against those whom he determined “planned, authorized, committed or aided” the September 11th attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups. The AUMF was signed by President George W. Bush on September 18, 2001.

“A nearly 18-year-old, all but limitless authorization for war is neither a responsible nor a sustainable foundation for our national security or national security policy,” said FCNL Executive Secretary Diane Randall. “Repealing the 2001 AUMF would serve as a significant step forward toward reining in never-ending war and militarism abroad. It also makes certain that our elected leaders are on record for which wars they support and which wars they do not.”

Diane Randall, Executive Secretary for Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

The United States has conducted counterterrorism operations in 80 countries since 2001—including combat in 14. During that same period of time, some 7,000 American service members have been killed. Representative Lee’s amendment would help bring to an end nearly 18 years of never-ending war.
“For going on 18 years, three presidents have used the 2001 AUMF as a blank check for endless war around the globe. These wars have cost $5.9 trillion and resulted in the deaths of approximately 500,000 people,” explained Heather Brandon-Smith, FCNL’s Militarism and Human Rights Legislative Director. “This over-militarized approach to terrorism has clearly failed. In fact, there are now more terrorist groups than on 9/11 and the Afghan Taliban controls more territory than at any time since 2001.”
The 2001 AUMF has no geographic restrictions, no time limit, and no constraints on which kinds of force may be used. It does not clearly name the groups with whom the U.S is at war. Each administration since it passed has cited the AUMF as the legal basis for military operations abroad without congressional approval.

AUMF Repeal A Step Forward for Peace by Timothy McHugh, May 21, 2019, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)

The House Appropriations Committee voted to advance an amendment to a defense spending package on Tuesday that would sunset the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) issued after the 9/11 attacks. The bipartisan legislation would provide Congress with new tools for containing the Trump administration as it meddles in foreign conflicts and stokes military tensions with Iran.
Rep. Barbara Lee and other House Democrats are expected to announce a new push to repeal the 2001 AUMF on Wednesday. The latest effort in Congress to scrap the longstanding authorization comes as lawmakers react to the escalating tensions between Iran and the unpredictable Trump administration, which boiled over on Twitter over the weekend after President Trump warned that Iran would face its “official end” if Tehran provokes the U.S. military.
Lee has already introduced the legislation as a standalone bill. Both bills would sunset the AUMF eight months after passing, giving Congress time to review current areas of military deployment that require congressional authorization, according to Heather Brandon-Smith, the legislative director for militarism and human rights at the pro-peace Friends Committee on National Legislation.
“The eight-month sunset is to give Congress time to properly examine current conflicts and figure out whether to authorize continued participation in any of them,” Brandon-Smith told Truthout in an email. “This would require that the White House be more transparent and give Congress the necessary information to make this decision.”
Administration officials are reportedly building a case to declare Iran a terrorist threat in order to circumvent Congress and launch military strikes under AUMF authority.
The standalone legislation, H.R.1274, briefly declares that the 2001 AUMF has been used to justify “broad and open-ended” authorizations for military deployment across the world, and this interpretation is “inconsistent” with Congress’s war-making authority under the Constitution and its original intent in issuing the AUMF within days of the 9/11 terror attacks.

As Iran Tensions Rise, Congress Moves to Curb Trump’s War Powers by Mike Ludwig, Truthout, Published May 21, 2019

The idea of FCNL Advocacy Teams is to have a coordinated campaign of people all across the country speaking with their Congressional representatives about one specific topic. FCNL Advocacy Teams, more than fifteen hundred constituents in roughly 100 teams throughout the country, have been working on AUMF repeal since January. Their advocacy has been focused on building co-sponsorship of the amendment and will continue to do so as momentum for its full passage grows. You can find more information about AUMF here: https://www.fcnl.org/updates/what-we-re-reading-on-aumf-repeal-2088

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,
Deborah Dakin, clerk
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) Religious Society of Friends
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Atmospheric Convulsion / #ChangeTheDebate

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

As wave after wave of severe storms with heavy rains, causing more flooding, and dozens of tornados sweep across the country, we still hear almost no mention of climate change. This week’s storms were predicted last week after extreme heat over the poles pushed cold air away from the polar regions. These extreme weather conditions are the result of atmospheric convulsion, a term I haven’t heard before.

The atmosphere had a convulsion at the end of April in the transition from winter to summer. The cold polar vortex in the stratosphere did not go gently into summer. Instead of fading slowly into a dome of warm air the whole atmosphere from the surface to the top of the stratosphere convulsed with wave energy driven upwards by an atmospheric dome over Scandinavia. Extraordinary atmospheric heating took place in the over the pole and cold air was pushed towards the temperate latitudes especially over the Pacific ocean. A dome of hot sinking air formed at very high levels over the Arctic pushing cold air and the jet stream south causing unseasonable storms to track across the Pacific ocean into California in mid May.

Atmospheric Convulsion Will Cause Historic Disasters of Arctic Melt & U.S. Storms Next Week, Daily Kos, May 15, 2019
A heat dome over the Arctic caused by an atmospheric short circuit will create a catastrophic collision between cold air pushed out of the Arctic into the mountain west with Gulf of Mexico air over the midcontinent over the next ten days. While the Arctic sea ice melts at extraordinary rates under the heat dome a series of tornado outbreaks will ravage the plains and farm belt from Texas to Ohio. This map shows temperature departures from normal at about 85% of sea level pressure – about 5000ft elevation.
This animation shows 8 days of forecast atmospheric circulation at the level of 50% of surface pressure. Extremely intense waves on the jet stream will cause severe storms to track from Texas to the Canadian border in the midcontinent region while an extraordinary meltdown hits Arctic sea ice at the worst possible time early in the melt season when it will cause maximum “Arctic amplification” by increasing adsorption of heat by dark open water.

How do we get people’s attention to the fact that we can no longer delay the need to do the multiple, drastic things that will have to be done if we want our children to have a future?

I’m proud of the creativity Bold Iowa brings to bird dogging the presidential candidates who come to Iowa. The following is from an article in the Des Moines, Register, Penguins plus presidential candidate Andrew Yang equals climate change talk, Robin Opsahl, Des Moines Register, 4/29/2019

But half a dozen people dressed as penguins to ask Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang about climate change Sunday in Des Moines at a Franklin Junior High town hall event.
The penguin outfits were a response to a Yang quote from another campaign event where he said “people with financial struggles have the attitude that the penguins can wait in line.” Activists asked Yang to make climate change his top priority.
Yang responded that climate change is important but helping people with financial needs, through his plan to give all citizens a basic income, is the way to start fixing it.
“Climate change is an existential threat to our way of life, humans and penguins alike,” Yang said.

Penguins plus presidential candidate Andrew Yang equals climate change talk, Robin Opsahl, Des Moines Register, 4/29/2019

You can join these bird dogging efforts. For more information: http://boldiowa.com/climate-bird-dogs/

Another way to bring attention to national politics will be to #ChangeTheDebate, organized by the Sunrise Movement. More information here: https://www.sunrisemovement.org/changethedebate

Last November, we challenged Democratic leadership with a simple question: What is your plan? That question shook the world.
Since then, presidential candidates have been racing to back the Green New Deal, the first plan to treat climate change like the emergency it is.
But others have doubled down on the same corporate-driven policies that have failed for decades. This approach is a death sentence for our generation.
On July 30-31, 20 candidates will walk onstage in Detroit. They’ll ask for our votes. We’ll ask them to give a damn about our lives.
Join us in Detroit to turn the tide of history together. For our future. For justice. For humanity. Let’s #ChangeTheDebate.

#ChangeTheDebate

There are presidential candidates that do not support a Green New Deal. Many have weak plans for small, incremental changes. Joe Biden says his climate plan is to defeat the current president. Many people believe that is an acceptable position. But no, that is simply unacceptable to me and my friends in the Sunrise Movement. I know this is a controversial position. But if a Democrat wins the election, who will not be committed to the dramatic changes required to address climate change, who will not commit to a Green New Deal, then climate catastrophe is assured.

Posted in #NDAPL, civil disobedience, climate change, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Green New Deal, Indigenous, Sunrise Movement, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Being and becoming

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

“I know that the ones who love us will miss us.”

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves’ answer to Stephen Colbert’s question, “what happens when we die?” (above) reminds me of a collection of things I’ve read, or heard (Justin Bieber’s “Purpose”) or written myself.

I love the term Nahko uses, human beings and becomings.

Arrive at our gathering this fall with whatever shape your heart is in. Full, broken, in pieces, strong, hopeful, hurting, overflowing, all of it. We’ll help best we can. The more time we spend together in this way, the more whole we can become. The Medicine Tribe is a community, a village, a movement of human beings and becomings. We are many colors and creeds, sharing that breath of life. We are the music, a common language. It’s our way out of the maze. It’s that missing puzzle piece. It’s us. Together.
So here’s to expanding beyond our initial beliefs. To opening our minds to higher reasoning, to fields of toroidal blossoms where we can lay in stacks of dimensional light and turn off the oppressive broadcasting station of the patriarch and tune our dials to the matriarchal podcast within nature, human and non-human. Here’s to taking our power back.

Nahko Bear

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.

Nahko Bear

ALL THAT WE ARE IS STORY. From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey, we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here. It is what we arrive with. It is all we leave behind. We are not the things we accumulate. We are not the things we deem important. We are story. All of us. What comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story we can while we’re here; you, me, us, together. When we can do that and we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship — we change the world one story at a time.

Richard Wagamese (October 14, 1955-March 10, 2017)
Ojibwe from Wabeseemoong Independent Nations, Canada

Lorene and Albert Standing led truly exemplary lives. I think the greatest accomplishment of one’s life would be to set an example that others would like to follow, and they most certainly did that. Over the years there have been any number of times I’ve stopped and asked myself, “What would Grandma and Grandpa (and/or Mom and Dad) do in this situation?”
Although they seemed old to us when we were growing up, they didn’t act that way. I remember both of them up on stilts when we had a picnic in the park in Logan.
Grandma was a master of living in the moment. She enjoyed wherever she was, whoever she was with. She would always try to talk about something she thought would interest you, not her. She was one of the few people brave enough to ask me about my work. Since I am in medicine, she would always share her interest in homeopathic medicine, which I did find interesting.
One of Grandma’s great concerns was passing on the oral family history. Her knowledge of the family’s genealogy was amazing and fascinating.
We don’t know what happens after we die, but one aspect of life after death we do know about is the influence someone like Lorene and Albert continue to exert on the lives of those who knew and loved them. Not only do memories of them continue to comfort us, but what they said, how they lived, things they did with and for us remain with us always.
No one will be surprised to hear that when I told my godchildren about Grandma’s death, Brandon said, “I remember the quilt she made for you when I was little.”

Jeff Kisling at my grandmother, Lorene Standing’s Memorial
Albert and Lorene Standing and grandson Jeff Kisling

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life? Where in spite of all you can do, there is no way out, no way back, there is no other way but through? Then wait on the Lord, with a trust serene, till the night of your fear is gone. He will send the winds, He will heap the floods, when He says to your soul, “Go on!”

Celia Ann Smith (Quaker)

Justin Bieber recounts a time that he was at the end of his rope, but God blessed him with purpose, “the best gift that I’ve ever known.” Patrick Ryan, USA Today, November 13, 2015.

The song sounds like a hymn to me.

Feeling like I’m breathing my last breath
Feeling like I’m walking my last steps
Look at all of these tears I’ve wept
Look at all the promises that I’ve kept
I put my all into your hands
Here’s my soul to keep
I let you in with all that I can
You’re not hard to reach
And you bless me with the best gift
That I’ve ever known
You give me purpose
Yeah, you’ve given me purpose
Thinking my journey’s come to an end
Sending out a farewell to my friends, for inner peace
Ask you to forgive me for my sins, oh would you please?
I’m more than grateful for the time we spent, my spirit’s at ease
I put my heart into your hands
Learn the lessons you teach
No matter when, wherever I am
You’re not hard to reach

Purpose, Justin Bieber

I have been thinking about what a spiritual warrior might be, and if people can be trained to be spiritual warriors ever since I received the following message from my friend Joshua Taflinger. https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/?s=spiritual+warrior

I am inspired to share with you all more directly a post I wrote (below), because I consider you an established & effective nature/spiritual warrior, and believe that there is a need for the perspectives shared in the attached post to be more common thought in the minds of the many.
If you feel truth from this writing, and are inspired, I highly encourage you to re-write your own version, in your own words/perspectives, and post to your network.
With the intention of helping us all wake up, with awareness, clarity, and direction.
..spreading and weaving reality back into the world…

What has risen to the surface at Standing Rock is a physical/spiritual movement. Learn how to quiet your mind. To find the silent receptive space to receive guidance. To learn to adapt and follow the pull of synchronicity to guide you to where you will find your greatest support and strength.
What I have found in my time praying in the indigenous earth based ways, is that it’s not about putting your hands together and talking to god…. It’s about quieting and connecting with the baseline of creation, of nature. Tuning into the frequency and vibration of the natural world, the nature spirits. The beings and entities that have been in existence, for all of existence, the examples and realities of sustainability and harmony.
It’s about becoming receptive to these things. Being open and flowing with them. The spirit guides us, but we have to make ourselves receptive to feel, sense, and respond to this guidance..

my friend Joshua Taflinger, #NoDAPL organizer
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The Sacred Tree

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

How I look at social justice and spirituality has been profoundly affected by my recent experiences with Native Americans. These things are difficult to put into words, but similar to Quaker meetings for worship, there was a palpable sense of spiritual connection I immediately shared when I joined groups of Native Americans, initially when we gathered together in downtown Indianapolis for prayers and to raise awareness about the dangers of the Dakota Access Pipeline. And then much more fully when I was blessed to spend significant time and experiences with people, who became my friends, on the First Nation-Climate Unity March in September, 2018.

I have been studying The Sacred Tree: Reflections on Native American Spirituality.  (that link includes both paperback and Kindle versions).

“The Sacred Tree was created by the Four Worlds Development Project, a native American inter-tribal group, as a handbook of Native Spirituality for indigenous peoples all over the Americas and the world. Through the guidance of the tribal elders, native values and traditions are being taught as the primary key to unlocking the force that will move native peoples on the path of their own development. The elders have prophesied that by returning to traditional values, native societies can be transformed. This transformation would then have a healing effect on our entire planet. This handbook is being used by the Four Worlds Development Project to eliminate widespread drug and alcohol abuse in tribal communities. It is now being shared for the first time with all members of the human family desiring personal growth.”

“The ancient ones taught us that the life of the Tree is the life of the people. If the people wander far away from the protective shadow of the Tree, if they forget to seek the nourishment of its fruit, or if they should turn against the Tree and attempt to destroy it, great sorrow will fall upon the people. Many will become sick at heart. The people will lose their power. They will cease to dream dreams and see visions. They will begin to quarrel among themselves over worthless trifles. They will become unable to tell the truth and to deal with each other honestly. They will forget how to survive in their own land. Their lives will become filled with anger and gloom. Little by little they will poison themselves and all they touch.”
“It was foretold that these things would come to pass, but that the Tree would never die. And as long as the Tree lives, the people live. It was also foretold that the day would come when the people would awaken, as if from a long, drugged sleep; that they would begin, timidly at first but then with great urgency, to search again for the Sacred Tree.”

The Sacred Tree: Reflections on Native American Spirituality.

As I was reading this I recognized the Sacred Tree growing in the circle at Scattergood Friends School. The photos below were taken over the years at annual session of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), showing the protection the tree offers. You can tell these photos are from the shelter of the Sacred Tree, because of the wooden floor and benches the people are sitting on.

Posted in #NDAPL, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Quaker, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Is Trump Yet Another U.S. President Provoking a War?

Posted on May 18, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

That is the title of an article by Robin Wright, New Yorker, May 13, 2019. “Today, the question in Washington—and surely in Tehran—is whether Donald Trump will drag the United States into an armed conflict with Iran.“

I wrote about this on May 8, “Stop the March to War”. This article in the New Yorker provides more examples of the history of the U.S. beginning wars based on highly questionable justifications.

The United States has a long history of provoking, instigating, or launching wars based on dubious, flimsy, or manufactured threats. In 1986, the Reagan Administration plotted to use U.S. military maneuvers off Libya’s coast to provoke Muammar Qaddafi into a showdown. The planning for Operation Prairie Fire, which deployed three aircraft carriers and thirty other warships, was months in the making. Before the Navy’s arrival, U.S. warplanes conducted missions skirting Libyan shore and air defenses—“poking them in the ribs” to “keep them on edge,” a U.S. military source told the Los Angeles Times that year. One official involved in the mission explained, “It was provocation, if you want to use that word. While everything we did was perfectly legitimate, we were not going to pass up the opportunity to strike.”

Qaddafi took the bait. Libya fired at least six surface-to-air missiles at U.S. planes. Citing the “aggressive and unlawful nature of Colonel Qaddafi’s regime,” the U.S. responded by opening fire at a Libyan patrol boat. “The ship is dead in the water, burning, and appears to be sinking. There are no official survivors,” the White House reported. In the course of two days, the U.S. destroyed two more naval vessels and a missile site in Sirte, Qaddafi’s home town. It also put Libya on general notice. “We now consider all approaching Libyan forces to have hostile intent,” the White House said.

The most egregious case was the U.S. invasion of Iraq, in 2003, which was based on bad intelligence that Baghdad had active weapons-of-mass-destruction programs. The repercussions are still playing out sixteen years (and more than four thousand American deaths) later. The beginning of the Vietnam War was authorized by two now disputed incidents involving U.S. warships in the Gulf of Tonkin. In response, Congress authorized President Johnson, in 1964, to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” The war dragged on for a decade, claiming the lives of fifty-seven thousand Americans and as many as a million Vietnamese fighters and civilians.

Is Trump Yet Another U.S. President Provoking a War? Robin Wright, New Yorker, May 13, 2019

It is clear the Republican administration has been creating the conditions to declare a war with Iran. There is no reasonable explanation for withdrawing from the Iran Nuclear Deal, which had been very successful in monitoring Iran’s nuclear program by providing international observers access to monitor that.

Declaring Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization is generally seen as another provocation toward conflict.

On May 5th, a Sunday, the White House issued an unusual communiqué—from the national-security adviser, John Bolton, not the Pentagon—announcing that a battleship-carrier strike group, led by the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, and a bomber task force, including B-52s, were deploying off Iran’s coast. The Lincoln was headed to the Middle East anyway, but its deployment was fast-tracked, U.S. officials told me. Bolton claimed that the Islamic Republic was engaged in “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings,” but did not provide specifics. The Administration’s goal, he said, was “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.” Bolton, who was a key player behind the U.S. war in Iraq, advocated bombing Iran before he joined the Trump White House.

Five days later, on May 10th, the Pentagon announced a second display of force: the U.S.S. Arlington and a battery of Patriot missile systems would join the Abraham Lincoln. The Arlington carries U.S. Marines and an array of aircraft, landing craft, and weapons systems to support amphibious assault, special-operations teams, and “expeditionary warfare.” A Patriot battery defends against ballistic missiles and aircraft. Both are meant to respond to “indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against U.S. forces and our interests,” the Pentagon said.

Is Trump Yet Another U.S. President Provoking a War? Robin Wright, New Yorker, May 13, 2019

I recently wrote about tools you can use to write your members of Congress, telling them to oppose the U.S. getting into a war with Iran. Tools to Help You Ask to Stop the March to War with Iran.

Bottom line: Trump is perfectly capable of starting a war if he thinks a war will help him win re-election.
If he moves in that direction, every single sane American needs to take to the streets. We need to mount demonstrations so massive they will make the Women’s Marches look like lightly attended tea parties.

“Wag the Dog?”, Sheila Kennedy, May 8, 2019
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Green New Deal Strategy Planning for Iowa

Posted on May 17, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

Last night I attended the Green New Deal Strategy Session: Fighting On Iowa’s Frontlines at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI). I have heard good things about ICCI for years. My aunt and uncle have reported to our Quaker meeting about ICCI’s work to protect Iowa’s water from the waste from factory farms.

I have been really excited about the Green New Deal and the Sunrise Movement ever since I saw the Sunrise youth engage in nonviolent direct action by sitting in at Nancy Pelosi’s’ office last November.

On February 26 this year, Iowa Citizen for Community Improvement (ICCI) hosted a meeting with Senator Joni Ernst’s state director, Clarke Scanlon, to talk about the urgent need for a Green New Deal. A number of ICCI staff and members were at the event, including Adam Mason, state policy director, and Matt Ohloff, senior campaign organizer. Also there were Ed Fallon (Bold Iowa) and Peter Clay, a member of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative). Virginia Wadsley, who I met while working with the Poor People’s Campaign in Iowa was also there.

ICCI is a Sunrise Movement Hub, and was the Iowa organization that sponsored the Green New Deal Tour at Drake University on March 22, 2019. Bold Iowa also wants to work with ICCI and the Sunrise Movement. I was really glad to see my friends Trisha and Lakasha, who walked on the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March with me last September, on the program, talking about the importance of the Green New Deal being Indigenous led. Also there that night were Kathy Byrnes, Ed Fallon, Jon Krieg, Patti McKee, and Samantha Kuhn.

At the planning session last night were Samantha Kuhn, Virginia Wadsley, Jon Krieg and Patti McKee. Matt Ohloff, ICCI, was one of the speakers. I mention these names of who comes to various events to show how activist communities work. The same people tend to show up at a variety of events. This was definitely my experience in Indianapolis, too. The same people participated in the Keystone Pledge of Resistance, Stop Dakota Access Pipeline, Kheprw Institute, Indiana Moral Mondays, Environmental Science Fair, Homelessness in Indianapolis, and related events.

As successful organizing campaigns do, the evening program began by asking each person present to give their name, pronouns, and why they were attending. Even though there were just around 50 of us, this took about 20 minutes to do. But this is a crucial step in creating social justice campaigns. It is the relationships that are created that make people feel included, and continue to participate and support each other. And creates a network to connect with for new campaigns.

Shawn Sebastian did an excellent job of laying out the principles of a Green New Deal. He said if you believe the scientific consensus, you know we have just 11 years of intense work to do if we are going to avoid climate catastrophe. You know there is no time for incremental measures. Politicians who talk about a gradual approach can not be supported.

The Green New Deal will include:

  • 100% clean and renewable energy and net zero emissions by 2030
  • Job Guarantee to get it done
  • Prioritizing front line communities for a just transition

Shawn went on to talk about the New Deal that the Green New Deal’s ideas come from. Not only was the Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal designed to pull the country out of the Great Depression, but also to help those whose livelihood had been wiped out by the Dust Bowl, an environmental catastrophe.

Shawn talked about the Civilian Conservation Corp a jobs guarantee program that was part of the New Deal:

The legislation and mobilization of the program occurred quite rapidly. Roosevelt made his request to Congress on March 21, 1933; the legislation was submitted to Congress the same day; Congress passed it by voice vote on March 31; Roosevelt signed it the same day, then issued an executive order on April 5 creating the agency, appointing its director (Fechner), and assigning War Department corps area commanders to begin enrollment. The first CCC enrollee was selected April 8, and subsequent lists of unemployed men were supplied by state and local welfare and relief agencies for immediate enrollment. On April 17, the first camp, NF-1, Camp Roosevelt, was established at George Washington National Forest near Luray, Virginia. On June 18, the first of 161 soil erosion control camps was opened, in Clayton, Alabama. By July 1, 1933 there were 1,463 working camps with 250,000 junior enrollees (18–25 years of age); 28,000 veterans; 14,000 American Indians; and 25,000 Locally Enrolled (or Experienced) Men (LEM).

Civilian Conservation Corps, Wikipedia

That history is really astonishing. In little over 3 months after the introduction of the legislation, there were 1,463 camps with 250,000 men working in them. The U.S. has already done what the Green New Deal proposes, guaranteed work for anyone who wants to work. This time, those jobs will be to build up renewable energy infrastructure and other work to rebuild broken communities, switch to regenerative agriculture, clean up sites of environmental contamination, etc.

Posted in civil disobedience, climate change, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Green New Deal, Indiana Moral Mondays, Indigenous, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Keystone Pledge of Resistance, Kheprw Institute, Poor Peoples Campaign, Quaker, Quaker Meetings, renewable energy, Sunrise Movement, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Planning Next Steps for Sunrise Movement / Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement

Posted on May 16, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

The Iowa CCI / Sunrise Green New Deal Tour Stop in Des Moines was on April 24, 2019. An estimated 450 people and I attended.

One of the next steps listed below is to join us at the Iowa CCI HQ in Des Moines on Thursday, May 16th, (TONIGHT) to strategize on our next steps to build support for the Green New Deal and win our environmental battles here at home. Iowans have unique power to build the future we need, if we unite and get organized:

✔️transform the caucus moment into a movement to demand the #GreenNewDeal
✔️Fight back against attacks against solar in the Iowa State Legislature funded by dark money from Warren Buffet’s Monopoly utility, Mid-American
✔️Join the fight for clean water with rural Iowans across the state trying to protect the health of their families against corporate ag and CAFOs

Following are suggested next steps from Iowa CCI:

Our struggles are all connected, and now is the time to ride the momentum to build a movement big enough to win the changes we need to save the planet. Join us! Sign up for updates from ICCI here: http://iowacci.org/join-our-mailing-list/

Posted in #NDAPL, climate change, Green New Deal, Indigenous, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

A Minute to Repudiate the Doctrine Of Discovery

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

As I’ve been writing, we will be holding several workshops at Scattergood Friends School and Farm, and in Des Moines in early July, related to the topic “toward right relationships with Native peoples.” The workshop leader will be Paula Palmer who has been led to take up this work, which is supported by her Quaker meeting, Boulder Friends, in Colorado.

One of the primary things we will be learning about is the Doctrine of Discovery, which has been used as a justification to take the land from, and kill and oppress, Indigenous Peoples throughout the world. A number of Quaker meetings have approved minutes that repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery. Following is such a minute from Boulder Friend Meeting.

2013: A Minute to Repudiate the Doctrine Of Discovery and to Affirm the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

In solidarity with initiatives led by Indigenous leaders and a growing number of religious organizations, the Boulder Friends Meeting repudiates the “Doctrine Of Discovery.” For centuries, this doctrine of domination has been used to oppress Indigenous Peoples throughout the world and deny them their rights. The Doctrine originated in 15th and 16th century papal bulls that privileged European Christians over all other peoples. The popes authorized European monarchs to
“invade, capture, vanquish, and subdue all…pagans and other enemies of Christ…to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery…and…to take away all their possessions and property,” (Pope Nicholas V). The Doctrine of Discovery violates Christian teachings, from their foundation in the Ten Commandments to their expression in the life of Jesus. It also violates our Quaker testimonies Of equality, peace, integrity, community, and stewardship.

As citizens of Colorado, we occupy lands that were recognized by treaty as the territories Of Indigenous Nations including the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute peoples and then taken from them. Consciously or unconsciously, we benefit from historical and Ongoing injustices committed against the Native peoples Of this land.

Because the Doctrine of Discovery was embedded in the legal foundations of the United States and Other countries, it continues to be cited as a precedent. Even today it is used to deny Indigenous Peoples their rights. For this reason, we urge our government and all governments to dismantle the legal Structures and revoke the laws and policies that are based on the Doctrine of Discovery. We accept our own responsibility to work to dismantle the economic, social, cultural, and educational structures of privilege that are rooted in the Doctrine.

In order to build relationships with Indigenous Peoples founded in equity and justice. we affirm and support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights Of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration seeks to ensure that Indigenous Peoples collectively and individually enjoy all the human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and international human rights law. The Declaration recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination and establishes a framework for political and social relationships based on equity and mutual respect. Just as Quakers played a role in promoting the passage of the Declaration by the UN General Assembly in 2007, we acknowledge that we must also labor to implement it.


BOULDER MONTHLY MEETING
  • KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
  • Bear Creek Friends Meetinghouse
  • Midyear Meeting Bear Creek
  • Bear Creek Friends
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Posted on May 14, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

As I have shared my love of Nahko Bear and Medicine for the People, I have found few in my circles, at least, have heard of him and the band. I love the music and the lyrics, and the stories Nahko often tells between songs. I’m sharing the following message from Nahko announcing an upcoming new album and tour, so you can see for yourself.

Greetings Relatives,

Spring is in full swing and before Thanos can snap his fingers, it’ll be summer on Turtle Island. 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.

The band and I took a well-deserved break this winter. It was our first 6 months off in a row in like 5 years! We’ve been going pretty non-stop since 2013, so it was a long time coming. Some of the fellas have been off touring their own music, or back in their cities and forests doing their works, raising their families. Each tilling his garden in his unique way. There has been a lot of ‘life’ things we have all been addressing on the home and family fronts. This job we have is no easy task, albeit may appear like a festive adventure to many it is also a sacrifice of our time, energy, and mana. The practice of giving and receiving in equal parts is imperative to survival and a healthy lifestyle. Longevity only exists if we participate in practicing that sustaining balance. It is an athlete’s stage, where we stand and cast our frequencies like farmers spreading seed. We must train at home and on the road to stay physically, mentally, and spiritually fit in order to face the shadows of each city, the distance from our nests.

I, for one, was running on empty for too many years. I masked it with subtle addictions and destructive personalities that served my escapism. The songs became a shield. The Tribe became an enabler. I had become overwhelmed with anxiety and unconscious depression. In order to not lose myself, I had to rediscover ( the hard way, per usual ) what it means to love myself, love the little boy spirit within me. This is something we all must do, in time. These are rites of passage. This is a step in taking your power back.

As a storyteller, I turn experience into something shared. This trick can play itself in a manipulative way on the teller, as well, if you’re not careful. Many times over I have lost myself in the falsities of some of the stories I have circulated within my psyche. Multiple personalities creating art and chaos and war and peace. Who’s really in charge? What is reality and what is a narrative my mind made up? I began to envision a whole version of me, the bear and the cub, working in tandem to ascend the inner heavens, traverse the endless forests. Taking the power back, beginning at conception, the source level, and working from there. The songs in this new body of work encapsulate so much of what I have been carrying on my shoulders, on my heart, in my bones. Thousands of years of karma and the scars of so many people I never knew. Every single one of those ancestors went through stages of awakening, fulfilling their own version of answering that fateful call to action. I like to think they learned to wade through what was theirs and what was inherited. It gives me hope.

The songs came to me in waves. I think land has a lot to do with what comes through you, in writing. Being back in Cascadia, the Mt. Hood National Forest, has been really grounding for a guy without any Earth in his chart. For the first time, I wrote to a record. I doubted myself. The songs. The process. The melody. The message. There’s so much weird math and science in song writing. Naturally, the nerd in me found courage in the folds of that mystical tapestry. This fall, I’m going to wrap you all up in those nurturing wisdoms, offerings in a woven basket, filled with sweetgrass and cedar.

It won’t be long now till we are taking to that great road again to bring our praise and worship to you. It’s uncertain of the full length album will be out, but we’re crossing our fingers and allowing the music to guide us and take all the time it needs to marinate. We’ll definitely be sharing a few new tunes, regardless. Enough to warm the soul till the next round. Naming this tour the ‘Take Your Power Back Tour’ felt entirely appropriate given the state of the planet and all Her creatures great and small…given the state of your loyal narrator.

Women of wonder and potent poetry will join us on that fall road. Ayla Nereo brings her big medicine to half of this tour and Nattali Rize brings her big power to the other half. Two huge matriarchal spirits, I’m really excited to witness the way they set the stage and open the gates. I can already feel the high vibe container, a congregation cultivating a safe space for transmission and reconciliation. Tears and laughter. Movement and medicine.

We’re rounding the bend to 20/20, ya’ll. Arrive at our gathering this fall with whatever shape your heart is in. Full, broken, in pieces, strong, hopeful, hurting, overflowing, all of it. We’ll help best we can. The more time we spend together in this way, the more whole we can become. The Medicine Tribe is a community, a village, a movement of human beings and becomings. We are many colors and creeds, sharing that breath of life. We are the music, a common language. It’s our way out of the maze. It’s that missing puzzle piece. It’s us. Together.

So here’s to expanding beyond our initial beliefs. To opening our minds to higher reasoning, to fields of toroidal blossoms where we can lay in stacks of dimensional light and turn off the oppressive broadcasting station of the patriarch and tune our dials to the matriarchal podcast within nature, human and non-human. Here’s to taking our power back. And to getting your tickets fast. This circus, this church, this ceremony is filling rooms in a city near you and not to be missed. We’ll see you there, familia.

In love and service,
Bear

Nahko Bear
http://nahko.com/

Following are words and a video of Nahko talking to the water protector youth during his concert at Standing Rock last September 8, 2016.  This is an example of what he often says between songs.  To put this in context, this was just 5 days after security forces used attack dogs against the water protectors He was speaking to these young people while they were in the middle of their nonviolent resistance.

“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.

It’s crazy being out in front of you guys.  I had a moment there.  I was like, I like started spacing out and I’m like oh god they’re looking at me aren’t they?  I was thinking about how much happened before any of us were here.  You know?  There is a lot of history here.   We gotta hold that when we’re standing out there.  You gotta hold that when you’re on that line out there, too.  You’re here for a lot more than just this pipeline.
It’s about rejoicing, it’s about laughter right now.  We’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow folks.  So, I just want to say I’m so grateful and I’m really proud of you guys.  I’m really proud of you.  (and then he turned away with obvious emotion).

Nahko speaks at Water Protectors Youth Concert, September 8, 2016
Posted in Arts, Indigenous, Uncategorized | Tagged | 3 Comments

A Letter to Faith Communities

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Jeff Kisling

This July, Paula Palmer will lead several workshops related to developing right relationships with Native peoples. Following is a letter to faith communities that introduces the history and topics related to the relationships between settler colonialists and Native people, relationships that were definitely not right.

Dear Friends in Faith Communities,

A call to faith communities has been issued by two very different organizations: the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and the World Council of Churches. Indigenous and religious leaders are urging all people Of faith to take a deep look at the Doctrine of Discovery, the 15th century papal edict that authorized European Christian nations to “invade, capture, vanquish, and subdue all.. .pagans and other enemies of Christ.. .to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery …and.. .to take away all their possessions and property”
(Pope Nicholas V)

Why do we need to dredge up the Doctrine of Discovery now, more than 500 years later? Because over the centuries, the Doctrine has been embedded in a world view of European superiority and domination and in the legal codes of the lands the Europeans colonized. It continues to be cited by courts in our country and others as justification for denying Indigenous Peoples their rights. The notion of European superiority and domination has been perpetuated by our schools and other institutions. The consequences can be seen in the disproportionate poverty and ill health of Native American people today. How much has it influenced our own thoughts and actions?

At the Boulder, Colorado, Quaker meeting, the Indigenous Peoples Concerns (IPC) Committee responded to the call from Indigenous and religious leaders by undertaking a study of the Doctrine of Discovery and of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration, approved by the UN General Assembly in 2007, is an effective antidote to the Doctrine of Discovery because it defines Indigenous Peoples’ inalienable rights, which the Doctrine of Discovery systematically violates. Boulder’s IPC committee asked itself, “How can we help educate Friends and other faith communities about these issues and encourage them to answer the call to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery and support implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples?”

With the guidance and encouragement of Native American educators, we developed a 2-hour participatory workshop and a Resource Kit, and we presented these to the Boulder Friends meeting. Our meeting was led to approve a minute repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery and endorsing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Our minute now stands with similar statements that have been issued by various church bodies in Canada and the U.S.

In October 2013, the Boulder Friends Meeting established the Toward Right Relationship project to carry this work to the wider community. By now, we have presented our workshops more than 80 times in 16 states, at the invitation Of churches, schools, colleges, universities, and civic organizations. Our goal IS to raise awareness and concern about our broken relationships with the Indigenous peoples Of our land, and to set our feet on a path toward right relationship.

https://www.boulderfriendsmeeting.org/wp-content/friends9x4Q/2013/06/Letter-to-Faith-Communities-about-Workshop1.pdf

More information about the upcoming workshops in Iowa can be found here:
https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/2019/05/04/save-the-date/
https://kislingjeff.wordpress.com/2019/05/07/iowa-yearly-meeting-conservative-friends-and-indigenous-peoples/

Posted in Indigenous, Quaker, Quaker Meetings, Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, Uncategorized | Leave a comment