War, Peace, and Propaganda: the U.S. in the Middle East – Peace@ThePUBlicLibrary, with Oliver Boyd-Barrett
Tuesday, September 14, 2021 – view program on YouTube
This hybrid program, on Zoom and at Parma Public Library, should not be missed. It powerfully deconstructs the seemingly unwitting way the U.S. keeps waging wars.
Mainstream media narratives of Middle East conflicts are often false or incomplete. Even as the U.S. “withdraws” from the region, the extent and depth of its Middle East presence and influence is profound. Our presenter Oliver Boyd-Barrett will discuss how U.S. military and covert presence in the region (with particular reference to Syria and Iran) continues to seriously damage both the region and U.S. long-term interests.
Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Professor Emeritus at Bowling Green University, is an expert on communications, media, and U.S. foreign policy and how taxpayers, Congress, and other world leaders are manipulated into supporting war and occupation around the world. Boyd-Barrett has written or edited some 25 books and 150 scholarly articles. Here’s his bio
Reserve your spot and join the discussion in the large meeting room at the Parma Public Library. Room seats 100: a limit of 40-50 reservations will ensure physical distancing. Get your free ticket here
OR join on Zoom, wherever you are. Register here
Never Again: A Solemn Remembrance on the 76th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On Friday, August 6th, as the Tokyo Olympics come to a close, we will gather at the Rockefeller Lagoon, Rev. M.L. King Drive, near E. 105th St.
Speakers include Karen Jiobu, who was confined in a Japanese-American internment camp during WWII. Music by Charlie Mosbrook, poetry by Clarissa Jakobsons and the late Daniel Thompson. Paper crane folding, Japanese lantern decoration, and a lantern float at sunset.
7:00 pm – Gathering to decorate lanterns and fold paper cranes
7:30 pm – Program
8:40 pm – Sunset lantern float on the lagoon
Please bring your own chair. Make sure any valuables in your car are not visible.
Nuclear war! How can the unthinkable be thinkable? The U.S. government is now modernizing its nuclear arsenal at a cost of over $1 Trillion*. While our tax dollars support unthinkable war, remedying economic and racial inequity or rebuilding infrastructure go begging.
On August 6th, 1945, a small nuclear weapon was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, a second bomb exploded over Nagasaki. At least 129,000 to 226,000 people were killed, with half dying slow deaths from burns, radiation, other injuries, and malnutrition**. Hibakusha, the remaining survivors, still suffer the effects. Targeting Asian civilians in 1945 echoes today as racism still plagues our nation.
- We understand the grave and existential threat of nuclear war.
- We declare that nuclear weapons must never again be used.
- We resolve to rid the world of the threat of nuclear war.
- We will pressure our elected representatives to de-fund nuclear weapons and use those funds to make life better for all.
It’s up to us! Join us to say “Never Again!”
Cleveland Peace Action has been working for a nuclear weapons-free world since 1981. We welcome co-sponsors Cleveland Non-violence Network, InterReligious Task Force on Central America (IRTF), and Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland.
Russia Against the World: Understanding the Russian Worldview
Peace@ThePub HOME
Tuesday, July 13th, 2021
Speaker: Todd Nelson, PhD
Russia Against the World: Understanding the Russian Worldview will look at the Putin government’s perception of Russia’s role in the world. This includes Russian military interventionism, cyber interference and why Putin is willing to engage in such practices when he knows that Russian participation will be obvious. His discussion will also focus more broadly on Russian aggression in Ukraine and the history which ties this together since World War II, which still plays such an important role in Russian society.
Todd Nelson is an assistant professor in the Political Science Department at Cleveland State University. He has done extensive research in the areas of Russian Politics, Memory Politics, Human Rights, Genocide and Mass Killings.
Free and open to the public.
We’ll do our virtual best to provide “interesting conversation and camaraderie,” as always. As for food and drink, it’s BYO. Grab a brew or whatever is your cup of tea. Curl up at home and join us via laptop or phone. You can actively participate with or without video.
Al-Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine
Join CAIR-Cleveland and Cleveland Peace Action for a panel discussion about the documentary Al-Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine, a Clarity Films production
Saturday, May 22 ⋅ 6:00 – 7:00 pm
On Zoom – REGISTER HERE
PANELISTS: Connie Field, Director of Al-Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine and Fadi Quran, Palestinian Activist
View the film: On Friday, May 21, registered attendees will receive a code to access the film on Vimeo. Please watch the film before attending the panel discussion on Saturday, May 22, 2021.
Synopsis
An African American gospel choir is the Greek chorus for a Palestinian play on Martin Luther King which tours the West Bank preaching nonviolence. The choir is apprehensive about working with Palestinians whose American media image is that of angry, violent terrorist. For the Palestinians actors, Americans are unconditional supporters of their occupiers. It is a personal and cultural exchange where, over the course of the journey, their ideas about each other are radically transformed. Happy to finally visit the Holy Land, the choir witnesses life in the occupied territories, perform in a unique theater inside a refugee camp run by Juliano Mer-Khamis using art as an alternative to violence, and meet Fadi Quran, a young leader of a nonviolent movement for justice. At the end of their tour reality will astonishingly mirror the play on MLK, a man who died for his beliefs. On the very day of the anniversary of MLK’s murder, Juliano Mer-Khamis is assassinated, sending shock-waves throughout the country and the world. The very next day is the final night of the play where the actors perform in the shadow of his death, articulating their lines with a new and heartrending immediacy. As the choir leaves, King’s legacy lives on, as Fadi Quran and other young Palestinians board ‘settler only’ buses in an act of civil disobedience.
See the film trailer/promo at: www.clarityfilms.org/mlk
For more information, contact Areege Hammad at [email protected].
Cleveland Peace Action stands with Sheikh Jarrah Families in Palestine
By Mark Weber
Cleveland Peace Action unequivocally condemns the evictions of Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah and the accompanying violence by Israeli soldiers, police, and settlers, as well as Israel’s latest bombardment of Gaza. We stand in full solidarity with the Palestinian struggle against apartheid, colonialism, and military occupation; and for equality, human rights, and self-determination.
At least 36 Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and in two other neighborhoods in East Jerusalem are facing abrupt and brutal evictions from their homes as part of Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. In addition, armed Israelis have raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, and Israeli missiles have slammed into civilian neighborhoods in Gaza killing scores of people including children.
These latest attacks in East Jerusalem follow violent attacks in April which were led by racist Zionist gangs shouting “death to the Arabs.” Israeli terrorism against Palestinians is almost always ignored by the Israeli and U.S. governments and is partially funded by right-wing donors in the United States. Cleveland Peace Action demands that the U.S. Government cut off the almost $4 billion in military aid given to Israel annually; the end of the occupation, the right of return for all refugees; and the dismantling of Israeli apartheid.
We stand with Palestinian Arabs in their struggle to retain their land and homes.