Ethan Vesely-Flad's blog

Over the past four years, increasing amounts of information have emerged about recent efforts of the federal government's intelligence agencies to spy upon and infiltrate peace, environmental, and social justice organizations. Today's Washington Post published an article that provided more evidence of this trend, at a localized level: "Many Groups Spied Upon in Maryland Were Nonviolent."

Today is Veterans Day in the United States, and tributes are being made across the nation to those women and men who have risked their lives on behalf of the principles they feel are represented by our country's armed forces. While I am opposed to our nation's military efforts, I hold great respect for the selfless service of these courageous individuals.

The U.S. military has many faces across our globe. Today's international news reports that the deal being sought between the U.S. and Iraqi governments on security cooperation and transition is in danger because Iraqi officials want more concessions from the U.S. -- especially regarding the immunity that U.S. soldiers have had to crimes committed on Iraqi soil. According to the AP, "The latest U.S. draft also strengthens language regarding Iraqi
sovereignty but does not appear to make significant changes in the
limited legal authority granted to Iraq to prosecute U.S. soldiers."

I spent last weekend in Chicago, attending the annual American Academy of Religion conference, and (unfortunately) left the city on Monday evening, just before Election Day. It would have been amazing to have been there just 24 hours later for the huge celebration at Grant Park, which I walked by each day during the AAR event.

On Wednesday, the Fellowship of Reconciliation received word that women members of our Zimbabwean sister organization (FOR-Zimbabwe) had been arrested and jailed by their government for participating in a peaceful march this Monday, October 27th. The march brought together some 1,000 Zimbabwean women to call on the three major political parties in their nation to resolve their peace talks and move the country forward, but the women were tear-gassed by the police, 100 were reported to have been beaten, and four dozen were arrested. Yesterday, we received a positive update, indicating that this group of jailed women had been released by the police. However, the overall situation is still very bad.

The front page of the web site of The New York Times this evening (and potentially of Thursday’s print edition) features the following story: “Colombia Killings Cast Doubt on War Against Insurgents.” The article follows up on a lead editorial published two months ago by the Los Angeles Times which also focused on documentation done by FOR’s Colombia program and Amnesty International.

This evening, Troy Anthony Davis was scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia (not the country) for the 1989 murder of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail. This weekend, Davis received a reprieve for the scheduled execution, his third in the past year, all part of a long process of attempting to have his 1991 conviction overturned.

It has been a rollercoaster of a month for Davis and all of us who have sought to prevent his execution and gain him a new trial. Two weeks ago, I began writing a piece for this blog arguing that his second stay of execution was a sign of hope for the peace and justice community. Then came the devastating news that the U.S. Supreme Court had refused the request to hear Davis's case. We were despondent -- it didn't appear there was any way that his execution could be prevented.

There are more than one million people of Iranian descent living in the United States. Approximately one-half of that large diasporic community live in southern California, but the population is spread across the country. Three organizations that represent efforts by Iranian-Americans to prevent war between the U.S. and Iran participated in the September 24th meeting that the Fellowship of Reconciliation hosted between President Ahmadinejad and members of the U.S. peace and anti-war community: the American Iranian Friendship Council (based in Portland, OR); the American Iranian Council (based in Princeton, NJ); and the American-Iranian Friendship Committee (based in Armonk, NY). Other Iranian-Americans were in attendance, and other such organizations had been invited but did not attend (including the National Iranian American Council and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran).

The Fellowship of Reconciliation has just finished preparing the transcription of the English translation of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks to the U.S. peace and anti-war community, delivered at the meeting hosted by FOR on September 24, 2008 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City. That transcription follows. We thank everyone for their patience.

FOR & CRC Support LAONFI spoke yesterday with Terry Rockefeller, who is one of the founders and ongoing volunteer coordinators of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. Over the past couple months, FOR has partnered with Peaceful Tomorrows (an organization that FOR fiscally sponsored, when it began in late 2001) in a campaign to support a growing community of groups in Iraq that are making a deep commitment to nonviolent resistance.

Tomorrow, Mahatma Gandhi's birthday will be observed and honored across the globe through the International Day of Nonviolence, as initiated by the United Nations. Just a few months before his assassination, which occurred exactly 60 years ago (January 30, 1948), Gandhi delivered a rare speech in English that was recorded. It is one of only two of his speeches delivered in English which is known to have been preserved in audio form (many of his public speeches were given in Hindi or regional Indian dialects), and until recently was basically unknown. Click here to read about that speech and to find a link to listen to it.