Author: nancykivette

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Giovanni Lo Porto Kidnapped by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan

Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, Minister for Foreign Affairs
gabinetto.ministro@cert.esteri.it

To Minister Terzi di Sant’Agata:

I’ve learned through the Hiroshima City University in Japan that Giovanni Lo Porto from Palermo, a student in the Hiroshima and Peace (H&P) program, was abducted earlier this year in Pakistan where he was working on the construction of emergency lodging in southern Punjab.

I am gravely concerned for his safety and am requesting your urgent intervention in his case.

According to the H&P Organizing Committee members, Giovanni made many positive contributions to his class, demonstrating a strong commitment to building peace and understanding as proven by his goodwill and peace work in Pakistan despite great personal risk.

Please take immediate action on behalf of Giovanni Lo Porto to ensure his safe and swift return home. If you feel additional action by the international community would be helpful in gaining Giovanni’s release, I welcome your recommendation.

Thank you

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Swords to Plowshares

Michael Blecker, Executive Director

Dear Michael,

The other night I was reading some of the fine articles posted on the Swords to Plowshares website when I came across “Post 9/11 Veterans: Our turn to answer the call.” Some statistics from the article’s sidebar:

• An estimated 300,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression
• Over 810,000 servicemembers have been deployed more than once to combat theaters
• An estimated 320,000 veterans may have experienced TBI (traumatic brain injury)

I didn’t realize the tremendous strides your organization is making to support U.S. veterans, changing lives for the better, in many cases saving lives altogether. I was impressed by the stories of the Profiles in Courage honorees. I thought, what if the honorees could have served without suffering PTSD?

If the United States could reduce the need to deploy servicemembers to combat in the first place by reducing our zones of conflict in the world, we’d see fewer deployments, fewer cases of PTSD and TBI, and a welcome reduction in the painful fallout from combat and trauma.

In 2011, Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio reintroduced H.R. 808 (with 37 co-sponsors so far) to create an executive-level Department of Peace. Right now, Department of Peace grassroots activist groups exist in about 300 congressional districts in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. Working in tandem with the U.S. Military, the Department of Peace would conduct research and training on causal issues of violence, actively engage in dismantling violence, and build peace at the domestic and international levels.

The Department of Peace could be a veteran’s greatest defense against PTSD and TBI.

I hope you’ll accept this invitation to endorse the United States Department of Peace; Swords to Plowshares would be joining organizations such as Veterans for Peace, Amnesty International, and most recently the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

Wishing Swords to Plowshares a Happy New Year of the Water Dragon—wisdom, good fortune, and flexibility.

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Marin County Board of Supervisors endorses H.R. 808

Kathrin Sears, Supervisor District 3
Marin County Board of Supervisors
3501 Civic Center Drive
San Rafael, CA 94903
415.499.7331 tel
415.499.3645 fax
ksears@co.marin.ca.us

February 7, 2012

Dear Ms. Sears,

Congratulations to you and the Board of Supervisors for endorsing H.R. 808, the Department of Peace.

Your decision is especially meaningful for my mother, a Mill Valley resident who still lives in the same house she and my father bought in 1961, two years after she arrived from Yokosuka, Japan.

I’d like to share with you what peace means to her.

My mother grew up in northern Japan during the second Sino-Japanese war and World War II. She told me about air raids and how she and her family hid in basements and caves for weeks at a time, sharing insufficient rations of soap and lamp oil and scavenging tiny fish, raw seaweed, anything.

She read about Santa Claus and a golden bridge in San Francisco. She watched cousins and friends and strangers die of simple things like dysentery for lack of proper food, clean water and medicine.

In nursing school the air raids began in earnest. By the time she was working in a hospital, starving circus animals were performing on abandoned grounds, pawing the air and jumping through imaginary hoops for food that had run out while people streamed into the hospital.

One young man pushed a wheelbarrow carrying his wife into the hospital after walking for days to find help, but his wife was already dead.

Another man walked into the hospital holding his stomach. When he saw my mother his arms dropped to his sides and his intestines spilled out.

My grandfather, Commander of the Western Sea Frontier, retired the year I was born. He used to say war is a dirty business. My mother always agreed with him and often said the people of Japan did not go to war with the people of the United States; it was a matter between our governments and the soldiers they sent. The citizens participated only in the air raids and blackouts, rations and hunger, disease, despair and fear.

As if to weed out the persistent memories of war, my mother has carved out a place of peace in her garden where she cultivates orchids and tends to stray and injured animals. As a surgical nurse she helped save many lives, but she told me it would be better not to risk them in the first place.

My mother is 87 years old and delights in the prospect of a Department of Peace.

Thank you.

Letter to Barack Obama

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June 27, 2011

President of the United States, Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

If I sit silently, I have sinned. Mohammad Mossadegh

Dear President Obama:

Looking back to 2009 with its daily news broadcasts reporting international turmoil, global economic collapse and personal tragedies worldwide, I recall you saying the world is getting smaller every day. I can still see your hands shaping a very small Earth in the air in front of the TV camera.

About that time I also read an article stating that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would consider meeting with you if the United States would apologize for its past actions in Iran. Considering the destructive impact of the CIA and corporate oil interests in Iran, it’s a reasonable position and one I believe warrants renewed consideration. With concerns for human rights and nuclear armament on the table, an apology seems long overdue.

The world is getting smaller every day, I agree. State actions can no longer be contained by curtains, partitions, embargoes and walls. Correspondence from me arrives instantly in your inbox just as it does in President Ahmadinejad’s. Where communication is concerned, we are nearly face to face. Yet the U.S. seems farther from Iran than ever.

As a citizen with no presidential agenda to satisfy, I can say that I deeply regret the actions of the United States government in 1953 and how much a coup by so few has taken so much from the people of Iran and the people of the United States to this day. I shared my sadness in a letter to President Ahmadinejad. I hope you’ll read it as well.

I’m sure you agree that continuing hostilities and redacted histories, with no foreseeable end in sight, trace back in part to the actions of the United States and England nearly 60 years ago. Neither you nor I would be born for another 8 years yet we have inherited the dreams and mistakes of previous generations.

When we were children, Tehran still welcomed Western students and international influences. A rich fabric of languages, music, cultures and people woven in modernity revealed resilient threads of ancient Islam. I think it’s important that you and President Ahmadinejad and citizens in both countries remember this fact: we were friends.

My mother, who remembers B-29s flying over Yokosuka, to this day says the Japanese people never went to war with America, that the war was between our governments and the soldiers they sent. The citizens participated only in the air raids and blackouts, meager rations and hunger, disease, despair and fear.

It’s time for us to begin again, by talking and listening and behaving with transparency. You and President Ahmadinejad may not agree, but that’s the nature of your presidential agendas; we, the millions of people in both countries, have the most to lose by your stalemate.

In this smaller world with its rogue diplomacy and audacious hope, my voice is one among many I hope you will hear. I hope President Ahmadinejad will, too.

U.S. Department of Peace and Senator Mark Leno

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March 27, 2011

Re: State Democratic Committee Resolution for a U.S. Dept. of Peace (HR 808)

Dear Senator Leno,

At the Multi-Ethnic Movement of Love Against Violence Rally held on a very rainy day last October, you eloquently underscored the importance of reducing neighborhood and family violence and the need to lay a foundation of peace and purpose, on which our communities and each of us living in them can thrive—I recall the overwhelming applause and cheer for your words. Thank you for joining us despite the downpour.

Since that rally, enthusiasm for an executive-level U.S. Department of Peace (HR 808) has gained more momentum and now eight California counties (with more expected) actively support a state democratic committee resolution for a Department of Peace. Would you join me, a San Francisco native, and many other Californians in supporting this resolution (from Nevada County) for a Department of Peace to be submitted at the state democratic convention in Sacramento this April?

It would be a natural next step for our City as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has already passed a resolution for the Department of Peace, an action that dovetails with California’s emerging position as a “global force” (to quote the senate Office of International Relations) not only in technologies (high-tech, bio-tech, green industries), but also in peacebuilding.

Homegrown groups like H.O.M.E.Y. are effectively combating gang violence in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Beacon Centers and 826 Valencia promote youth development, and hundreds of other organizations like the Peace Alliance are working at a grassroots level to ensure healthier, more peaceful communities. “Beyond the Number of the School to Prison Pipeline,” the event you and Fiona Ma will be presenting in April, comes back to the same thing we’re all working to remedy, the violence corroding our communities.

Californians want a U.S. Department of Peace.

By supporting Nevada County’s resolution for a Department of Peace, you will assure that “California’s rich history…innovative spirit and democratic values, continue to intrigue global visitors” and continue to serve the people of California. Can we count on your support?
(On May 1, 2011, at the California State Democratic Convention in Sacramento, Senator Mark Leno signed the resolution petition for a United States Department of Peace.)

No Drinkable Water in Roma Settlements

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March 27, 2011

Office of the Prime Minister, Borut Pahor
Gregorčičeva 20, 25
1000 Ljubljana
SLOVENIA
gp.kpv@gov.si

Dear Prime Minister:

I’ve learned that Silvana Hudorovac and her family live in a Roma settlement near Ponova vas, with no water or sanitation while nearly 100% of Europeans, like Americans, enjoy free water anytime.

I can’t imagine the world she describes, but for Silvana the daily burden of finding drinkable water is a painful reality. She said, “We have to use the water from the stream which is very dirty. Children vomit and get diarrhea. They don’t allow us to take water from the pipe at the cemetery and at the petrol station; they say that Gypsies should go away.”

Silvana’s struggle for clean water, sanitation and electricity is the same plight of all families subsisting in the many isolated Roma settlements throughout Slovenia, all of which fall far below normal European health and sanitation standards. Roma people are denied these vital public services because their homes are in “irregular settlements,” but widespread discrimination in Slovenia forces Roma families out of towns and into these wastelands. Discrimination against Roma people in Slovenia is so entrenched that entire communities and local authorities prohibit Roma families from moving into towns and villages.

The only other option, social or subsidized housing, is extremely scarce.

I know you would agree that housing, water and sanitation are essential human rights and must be accessible to every person in Slovenia. I urge you to:

•  Ensure immediate provision of at least the minimum amount of safe water for personal and domestic use and a basic level of adequate sanitation to all informal settlements;

•  Ensure security of tenure to all residents of informal settlements and offer alternative housing options, in consultation with the affected Roma communities, which do not lead to further segregation;

•  Address the discrimination that the Roma face every day, especially in access to standard housing; and provide effective remedies for Slovenian victims of human rights violations.

(Based on a template for one of 3 cases presented in March 2011 by Amnesty International Freedom Writers Network, a letter-writing campaign on behalf of people facing human rights abuses worldwide.)

Healthcare for Aimee

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August 5, 2009

President of the United States, Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC  20500

Dear President Obama:

I want to tell you about my longtime friend, Aimee Silver. Like millions of Americans, she is fighting debilitating illness yet receiving only a fraction of her required and rightful health insurance coverage.

For the past year and a half, she has spent much of her out-of-bed time fighting for the 30% coverage she receives from her insurance plan of last resort, which has skyrocketed from $180 per month to $450 per month. If Aimee loses her current coverage, which is possible since she’s unable to work, certainly no other insurance company will accept her pre-existing condition, which means her meager coverage will go from 30% to zero.

When I first met Aimee, she was just leaving her position as a well-respected software developer in San Francisco and taking time to travel. She taught me to salsa dance and together we attended the Carnaval festival in the City’s Mission District, where we danced in the streets and enjoyed the colors and rhythms and flavors of “Rio by the Bay.” We were joined by a welcoming crowd of Aimee’s friends, representing several countries and Aimee’s worldwide travels. Delightful, vivacious, well-loved, and glowing with youthful health—that’s how I remember her on that day.

Today, Aimee struggles with a rare condition that requires treatment, rest, and multiple compromises including relocating far from her home, family, and friends.

My friend is in danger of falling through the cracks. Our healthcare system is so full of holes that people who need care and treatment are getting a fraction or none of what each of us pays insurance companies to provide.

No more healthcare holes; enough is enough.

People need and deserve comprehensive coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, regardless of work status, regardless of income.

Please actively support:

  • Health reform with a public option, for real health reform
  • Health coverage independent of employment
  • Healthcare that is realistic and fair and covers pre-existing conditions

Thank you.

A Letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

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February 5, 2009

Your Excellency:

I hope this letter finds you well and looking forward to the election.

Last week I read with great interest an article of the BBC World News, which reported that you would consider negotiations with President Barack Obama if the United States would acknowledge its actions in Iran and apologize for them.

Since reading that article, the days have passed by predictably for me, yet the ordinary rhythm of work and errands, household chores and making dinner is now quickened and complicated by the remarkable possibility of your words.

You and I are fellow citizens in a shared world that once witnessed the hope-filled leadership of Mohammad Mossadegh and the shining trajectory of Iran’s noble fight for independence. However, in the United States all truth about the diversion of Iran’s path to peace and sovereignty was buried for years by a propaganda of silence.

But truth finds a way. We know the U.S. infiltrated Iran after Prime Minister Mossadegh ousted the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, nationalized Iranian oil, and ended 150 years of British imperialist domination. In 1953, the CIA overthrew the man who restored independence to Iran in an intelligence mission unparalleled in its scope of destruction that resounds between us even today.

Your country and mine were once respectful, admiring neighbors mutually intrigued and inspired by each other’s history, arts and culture, social developments, technology and political evolution. A half century later we are less than strangers; we see each other as enemies.

Yet we are still fellow citizens in a shared world. For better or worse you and I are neighbors, and our countries were once friends.

The United States would be taking right action by acknowledging its past actions in Iran and extending a profound apology. But if right action isn’t forthcoming from my country, it is from at least this American. I am deeply sorry for the destruction perpetrated against Iran by the United States.

As we enter this new Year of the Ox, my country is changing. The president I voted for is proving to be a sincere man dedicated to securing a more peaceful way, a just and honest way not only here at home, but also in our shared world where an absence of threat between us could be our greatest mutual strength. But the United States and Iran are now so thickly mired in the vestigial politics between us that nothing short of our greatest effort can free us from this hateful place.

Each night before I go to sleep I study my world maps and consider the many ancient civilizations and cultures that have swept through the centuries and ever-changing borders of our shared world. Empires, armies, hordes and explorers have persevered against extraordinary conditions in exchange for extraordinary achievements, but none as epic or elusive as peace.

I close my letter to you with one eye toward the past, when men long dead changed the course of our two countries. The other eye is fixed squarely on the present and every possibility for peace between your country and mine.

Sent by postal mail February 9, 2009

Roma Children Forced into Schools for Learning Disabled

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January 4, 2009

Jozef Vook, Director
Košice Regional School Authority
Zádielska 1
040 78 Košice
SLOVAKIA
 
Dear Director Vook:
 
I respectfully request your immediate attention and decisive action on behalf of mentally capable Romani children inappropriately placed in “special schools” for children with mental disabilities in Pavlovce nad Uhom in the Košice region.
 
Your Attention:  I respectfully urge your office of Košice Regional School Authority to ensure the following in Pavlovce nad Uhom and throughout the Košice region:
  •  An independent re-assessment of all students currently attending the special school
  • The swift integration of mentally capable students into the mainstream school
  • The distribution of reparations to students inappropriately placed in the special school
  • Appropriate measures against all employees who participated in the misplacement of capable Romani children

History:  Independent studies suggest that as many as 80% of children placed in special schools in Slovakia are Roma.
 
According to Amnesty International, nearly two-thirds of Romani children attending primary school in Pavlovce nad Uhom are unofficially segregated and placed in the special school.
 
Approximately 99.5% of the students assigned to the special school in Pavlovce nad Uhom are Roma.
   
General Issue:  Schools with learning levels and curricula aimed at children with mental disabilities provide substandard education for mentally capable children. Additionally, mentally capable students who graduate from such special schools are severely and unfairly limited in their pursuit of further education or employment.
 
Segregation of Romani children in special schools, which provide an inferior education to mentally capable children, constitutes discrimination and is prohibited.
 
Incorrectly assessing and denying an appropriate education to Roma children in Pavlovce nad Uhom also underscores the continuing discrimination and segregation faced by Romani people around the world.
 
A strong action by the Regional School Authority on behalf of Romani children in Pavlovce nad Uhom places your office, the region of Košice, and Slovakia in the unique position of leading a long overdue international movement to recognize Romani people everywhere and extend to them the justice and equality that all people deserve.
 
Thank you for your attention. I look forward to your response.
 

(Based on a template for one of 3 cases presented in January 2009 by Amnesty International Freedom Writers Network, a letter-writing campaign on behalf of people facing human rights abuses worldwide.)

Two Egyptian Doctors

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January 4, 2009

King ‘Abdullah Bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court
Riyadh
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA                     fax: 011 966 1 403 1185

Your Majesty:

I am respectfully requesting your intervention in the case of two Egyptian doctors, Raouf Amin al-Arabi and Shawqi Abd Rabbuh, both convicted and sentenced under questionable circumstances and currently detained in Saudi Arabia.

History:
Dr. Raouf Amin al-Arabi was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 1,500 lashes. Dr. Shawqi Abd Rabbuh was sentenced to 20 years and 1,700 lashes.The doctors were alleged to have facilitated the addiction of an unnamed Saudi Arabian patient to morphine after prescribing the medicine for her pain relief following an accident. However, very little information has been made public about their case.

Concern:
1) Amnesty International reports that an unfair trial appears to be the basis for the both the convictions and sentences.

2) Flogging contravenes the following:
-Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”
-Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

I urge you, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to immediately commute the sentences of flogging against Raouf Amin al-Arabi and Shawqi Abd Rabbuh and ensure that their case is reviewed or retried in accordance with international fair trial standards and humane sentencing.

I respectfully request your influence in the Royal Office and Court to move Saudi Arabian laws and practices into accordance with international laws and standards prohibiting torture and other ill-treatment, and to consider abolishing judicial corporal punishments in this new year.

Please know that Americans are requesting our own government to align the United States with the same international laws and standards prohibiting torture and other ill-treatment. Together, the United States and Saudi Arabia united in favor of human rights could herald a new era of leadership that would earn the indelible respect and support of the world.

(Based on a template for one of 3 cases presented in January 2009 by Amnesty International Freedom Writers Network, a letter-writing campaign on behalf of people facing human rights abuses worldwide.)