Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice has long worked for public access to the Senate Intelligence Committee's Report on the CIA's detention and interrogation program.  On Tuesday, December 9, the eve of the United Nation's Human Rights Day, a 500 page summary of that six year investigation was released. 

Please call or email Senator Dianne Feinstein and thank her for her courageous leadership on the investigation and the release of the report! (Click here for her contact information and an easy email form.)

To read more about the report and further discussion go to the National Religious Campaign Against Torture's page on this issue. NRCAT has been a strong partner with MVPJ in keeping us up to date and educated about this issue.

25 years ago, six Jesuit priests, a housekeeper and her daughter were murdered by the Salvadoran military. On the anniversary of that massacre thousands of people will join a vigil at Fort Benning Georgia, home of the school formerly known as the School of the Americas, where Salvadoran and other Central and Latin American military have for years been trained by the US.

School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch) is organizing this gathering and invites you to join them.

Click here to learn more about that vigil.

They are also urging all of us to contact our representatives in Congress and ask them to support legislation to investigate and close the SOA and review the United States' training of Central and Latin American military, as well as another resolution to stop militarizing our own police forces. Rev. Eileen Altman, a member of the MVPJ steering committee reports that local Representative Anna Eshoo is a co-sponsor of HR 2989, The Latin America Military Training Review Act, and Representative Jackie Speier is a co-sponsor of HR 5478, the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act.  

Click here for ways to support these members of Congress in these decisions and urge other members of Congress to support those bills.

Craig Wiesner, a member of the MVPJ steering committee, has written about the School of the Americas in two posts. He invites you to read those two posts to learn more about SOA, now known as WHINSEC, especially as the anniversary of the massacre approaches.

• A School by Any Other Name Still Stinks
• A Conversation with the Public Affairs Director of WHINSEC

Rev. Katie Goetz, former member of the MVPJ steering committee, is working on concerns around the militarization of the Redwood City police, where Katie currently resides.  We will soon be posting more information about that effort and how you can get involved.

American Muslim Voice invites you to share in a community EID festival,
and discover how Muslims celebrate their holiday.
Friday, December 12, 7-9pm
Stern Ballroom, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, 94301

All great religions encourage their followers to love their neighbors, but to love our neighbors, we must know our neighbors!

Click here for more information.

Two winters ago in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported the deaths of at least 22 children in refugee camps in Kabul:  Driven Away by a War, Now Stalked by Winter Cold.  After 13 years of U.S./NATO intervention in Afghanistan and US$1.172 trillion dollars spent on the Afghan war between 2001 and 2012, the basic needs of ordinary Afghans constantly caught in the crossfire are still poorly met.

The following winter the Afghan Peace Volunteers (APV) organized the making and distributing of duvets (blankets) to poor families in Kabul and in the refugee camps.  Thanks to international peacebuilders who raised money from ordinary people around the globe, the APVs were able to distribute more than 2000 duvets, and the Afghan ladies who sewed the blankets were paid a living wage to supplement their families' income.  In the winter of 2013/2014, 60 Afghan seamstresses were paid a living wage for sewing a total of 3000 duvets, again delivered free to poor Afghan families, street kids in Kabul, recovering drug addicts, widows, disabled, and to the refugee camps.

This year, you can help them do it again!

On July 1, 2014 the Redwood City Police Department received a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle from the Department of Defense's “1033 program.” This program distributes excess military equipment to civilian police departments. The range of material is wide, including medical equipment, tractors, MRAPs, and weapons. Many people do not think that vehicles and weapons designed for war belong with civilian police departments, believing instead that officers in Redwood City and beyond are first and foremost peace officers.

There is already a movement to end part of the 1033 program. Congresswoman Jackie Speier is a co-sponsor of Representative Hank Johnson’s Stop Militarizing of Law Enforcement Act (HR 5478). This act would, among other things, “end the transfer of certain weapons grade military equipment to local law enforcement,” according to a letter from the Congresswoman in early October. Rep. Speier also writes that she is, “deeply troubled that the Pentagon has billions of dollars in excess inventory to give away in the first place.”  

Redwood City officials refer to the MRAP Redwood City received as a rescue vehicle, and state that this vehicle would only be used in extreme circumstances -- citing the tragic movie theater, school, and shopping mall shootings we have seen unfold in recent years. It is difficult to imagine how one would effectively navigate a MRAP inside a movie theater, however.

Read more to find out how you can do something about this issue. 

Saturday, November 1, 10am-12noon
Trinity Episcopal Church, 330 Ravenswood, Menlo Park, 94025

Speakers:
The Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Thistle Farms
Carissa Phelps, author of Runaway Girl
David Batstone, founder of Not for Sale
followed by book sale and shared trade market place

Sunday, November 2, 2014
7-8:30pm
Friends Meeting House
957 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto

Our nation seems to be committed to another war in Iraq, in the air if not (yet) on the ground. At the same time we remain militarily engaged in Afghanistan, while we send armed drones into Pakistan and other countries of the Middle East. What convinces our leaders that these actions will result in a just and lasting peace?  What alternatives to military action exist, and why is it so difficult to employ them effectively?

Come meet with fellow citizens who are concerned about these issues. The evening will begin with short prepared statements from a variety of points of view about the current status and history of American involvement in the Middle East. The major part of the evening will be a conversation in the form of a "Quaker dialogue" in which everyone present is given a chance to speak.

Click here to download the flyer with more information

Dennis Kucinich on
Redefining National Security
Sunday, Oct. 19, 7pm
Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto
505 E. Charleston Road, Palo Alto

Hear Dennis Kucinich, one of our nation's leading advocates for peace, speak about the need to redefine "national security" to include food security, health security, water security, economic security, education security, environmental security -- and peace! 

Kucinich will also address America's latest escalation of war in Iraq and Syria. "ISIS is a western creation to ensure a continuation of perpetual war. We are losing our country to wars based on lies. The Constitution is being destroyed. We need to build a viable, informed and politically aware national movement." -- Dennis Kucinich

Please note: Doors open at 6:30pm.  There is no reserved seating, so arriving early will ensure you get a seat. 

What a great follow-up to our Campaign Nonviolence Week of Action!  When Kucinich heard about Campaign Nonviolence he personally called John Dear, one of CNV's founders, and said, "This is great! What can I do to help?" Read more here.

Carry the Vision Conference
Sunday, Oct. 19, 10am-4pm
Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center
14855 Oka Road
Los Gatos, CA

Keynote Speaker: Fr. Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries and author of Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion.

The conference includes inspiration from community leaders, interactive workshops and panels, community dialogue, youth leadership summit (high school age), and a lunch provided by Jain Center of Northern California and San Jose Sikh Gurdwara.

Click here to download a flyer with more information.  To purchase Boyle's book (it is great!) from Reach and Teach, one of our local, independent bookstores, click here.

Tickets: $15 for students; $30 for adults