Fellowship of Reconciliation: for a World of Peace, Justice and Nonviolence
Mid-Missouri Fellowship of Reconciliation
The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) is a group composed of people from many faiths, and no particular faith --
all coming together to support nonviolence and justice.
Offering people of conscience an action response to a morally-impaired U.S. foreign policy.

Newsletter | Capital Punishment | War & Peace | Links | Who We Are


A Report on the Injustice in the Application of the Death Penalty in Missouri (1978-1996)(Microsoft Word document)
Researchers from Missouri and New York found that about one of every 100 homicides in Missouri resulted in a death sentence during that 18-year period. Race of the victim and race plus socio-economic status of the defendant were found to be great indicators of who ultimately received a death sentence.


News

Common Dreams
Al-Jazeera
Electronic Iraq
Indy Media
AlterNet
BuzzFlash
www.WhatReallyHappened.com
Yahoo! News


Background

Background on Syria

Iraq Crisis Issue Guide by Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies

U.S. History with Iraq, 1980 - 2 August 1990
An American Soldier on the March 21 episode of This American Life challenged those against the war to "learn the history".


Commentary
Common Dreams News Center

April 12, 2003
God is on our side?
Non Sequiter comic

April 8, 2003
The U.S. Betrays Its Core Values
by Gunter Grass

March 30, 2003
Bush and Blair do not know what they are doing or why they are doing it

March 29, 2003
A cartoon

March 25, 2003
What is the Geneva Convention?
A primer on the treaty dealing with treatment of POWs and Who’s violating the Geneva Convention?

March 24, 2003
It's Patriotic to Protest
op-ed by Jill Nelson

U.S. steps up secret surveillance
FBI, Justice Dept. increase use of wiretaps, records searches

March 23, 2003
Why are we in Iraq -- and Who's Next?
an Op-Ed piece by Richard Reeves.

March 22, 2003
Whose interests at heart?
The invasion and occupation of Iraq cannot give the Iraqi people their freedom

March 20, 2003
Senator Byrd Deplores Iraq War: "Today I weep for my country"

Familiar, Haunting Words

Bush's Lies and the War on Iraq (a gift to the extremist theocrats)

Demonstrations Flare Worldwide

It's Not About Terrorism, WMD or Liberation: Myths and facts about the war

    Local News and Announcements...

    Don't miss anything...please scroll down

    Dr. Rashad Zidan to speak 2 times in Columbia, 3/21/2006

    I just wanted to alert you to an opportunity to hear Dr. Rashad Zidan, a pharmacist from Baghdad, who will sharing her perspectives of life these past three years under the occupation of US military forces in her homeland of Iraq. She founded an organization that focuses on assisting surviving victims of the war, primarily orphans and widows.
     
    She will be speaking later today in two public forums:
    1) Tuesday, today 3:30-4:30 Rock Bridge High School Planetarium, open to the public. Co-sponsored by RB and Hickman High School Amnesty International groups.
    2) Tuesday, today, 8:15 pm. 113 A & S, University of Missouri-Columbia campus, Insights on the occupation from an Iraq health-care giver . Sponsored by the Muslim Student Organization.
     
    If you can’t attend either of these events, there will also be three talk shows in the next two days when she will be appearing….
    Tuesday, today…
    5:20-5:45 Talk Show with Amy Miller, KSSZ-FM 93.9 FM "The Eagle"
    6:05-7:00 Talk show. "Evening Edition" with Mark Haim, KOPN 89.5 FM.
     
    Wednesday, March 22 
     8:30 am, Talk show on KFRU- 1400 AM

     

     


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    FOR Newsletter Mailing on Thursday & other volunteer chances--Care to Help?

    We hope you and your loved ones are faring well these days, and that you bore the humbling power of Mama Nature’s storms this weekend, in good shape.

     

    We wanted to let you know that your help would be most appreciated in any of the following activities with the Mid-MO Fellowship of Reconciliation…

     

    1) FOR Newsletter

    -- Please share briefs on upcoming events you want us to publish word of and/or brief articles/poetry on peace, alternatives to the death penalty and/or social or earth-justice issues (possibly for the newsletter—last chance before going to press in a few days-- or at least we’d be glad to pass it along for e-mailing and the FOR website—space allowing and content appropriate). E-mail material ASAP or call;

     

    -- Please join us for a mailing party—putting together the FOR newsletter for a mass mailing:

    anytime from 7:00- 11:00 pm, (it will be a shorter span for all if you help us and lighten the load!)

    Thursday, 16 March 13, 2006

    112 Spring Valley Rd.

    In Columbia (Spring Valley turns south off Broadway, about two blocks west of the B’way and West Blvd. junction)

    Call Jeff at 449-4585 for more info or other directions, if you need for a ride, and/or with other questions, etc. 

     

    2) Can’t make it then? Friend, if you still want to help out (hey, you can even help out both times if you’d. Whatever the case, we’d love it!), you could also volunteer to help volunteering in other ways….

     

    *Office organizing

    --Helping back-up computer files, making copies of files onto discs.

    --Organizing/updating e-mail lists and phone tree

    --Bookkeeping

    --Filing

    --Assisting/writing Thank You notes

     

    *Make “FOR” sign for tabling events

     

    *Creating productions/Acting in “Guerilla”: Theater skits/plays

    on pacifism, the death penalty, military recruiting, militarism, and other possible peace-oriented topics.

     

    *What do you think FOR needs to be doing? What special talents would you like lend to our efforts for peace with justice?

     

    Call me at 573-449-4585 if you can help out and/or to share your visions with others via the FOR e-mail network or other means.

    Take care and peace be with all,

    Jeff Stack

    Mid-MO FOR coordinator


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    FOR volunteer help needed; Social justice & environmental stewardship-- activities & meetings in Mid-Missouri

    We wanted to pass along news of several worthwhile endeavors under way
    in
    mid-Missouri, some of which you may well wish to join in. Thanks to Sr.
    Mary
    Jo Polock, Mark Haim and Mary Hussman for passing along to us some of
    the
    information.

    1) FOR Volunteer opportunities & needs;
    2) Saturday Prayer day, March 4, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. "PEACE AND
    SIMPLICITY."
    Our Lady of Peace Monastery, 3710 W. Broadway, Columbia
    3) GRO - Grass Roots Organizing is seeking volunteers to help put
    Medicaid
    Reform onto the November 2006 ballot.
    4) Missourians for Safe Energy is kicking off a campaign to stop the
    proposed Callaway II nuclear power plant, 6-7 p.m., Monday, March 13,
    Peace
    Nook, in the basement 804C E. Broadway.
    5) Students for a Democratic Society is organizing at MU, Sunday, March
    5,
    12 noon in Middlebush 308 (9th & University)

    1) FOR Volunteer opportunities & needs-- we'd be thrilled to get help in
    any
    of the following....

    In the next week or so, we hope to put together a newsletter and will be
    in
    need of help:
    --writing brief articles; briefs on upcoming events, penning artwork;
    --editing;
    --assistance with preparing it for a mass-mailing

    Office organizing
    --Bookkeeping
    --Filing
    --Assisting/writing Thank You notes

    Helping back-up computer files, making copies of files onto discs.

    Make "FOR" sign for tabling events

    Creating productions/Acting in "Guerilla": Theater skits/plays
    on pacifism, the death penalty, military recruiting, militarism, and
    other
    possible peace-oriented topics.

    What do you think FOR needs to be doing? What special talents would you
    like
    lend to our efforts for peace with justice?

    Call Jeff at 573-449-4585 if you can help out and/or to share your
    visions.

    2) You are invited to a prayer day is planned entitled PEACE AND
    SIMPLICITY.

    March 4, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., lunch included. Suggested donation is
    $35,
    but is not required. Our Lady of Peace Monastery, 3710 W. Broadway,
    Columbia, MO 65203. Call 446-2300. (our apologies on the short notice)
    Ask
    for Sister Maggie.

    The facilitators for this event are Jim and Kathy McGinnis from the
    Institute for Peace and Justice, authors and national workshop leaders
    in
    the area of spirituality, family, and peace and justice.

    The presentation will be built around Micah 4: 6 "What is it that God
    wants
    of you? To act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your
    God"
    We will wrestle with the question of how to apply Micah's guidelines to
    our
    everyday lives, especially in our families as we work to be peacemakers
    and
    faithful stewards in the midst of a consumer culture. We will be
    interactive and very practical.

    3) GRO - Grass Roots Organizing is working to put Medicaid Reform onto
    the
    November 2006 ballot. In order to have this 'restoration of Medicaid
    health
    care' on the ballot, it is necessary to collect 120,000 signatures of
    registered voters; organizers hope to gather 10,000 signatures in Boone
    County. GRO is working to do this with volunteer assistance. GRO is
    offering
    training and all the materials you need.

    If you are interested in volunteering to be a circulator (and collect
    signatures), call the GRO Outreach Office in Columbia at 573-443-4476 or
    the
    GRO Headquarters in Mexico, MO at 573-581-9595.

    4) MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE ENERGY KICKING OFF CAMPAIGN TO STOP CALLAWAY II:

    As you've probably heard, AmerenUE is considering building a second
    nuclear
    power plant at site of Missouri's only nuclear plant in Callaway County.
    We
    at Peaceworks recognize that this would be an expensive, dangerous
    mistake.
    We are therefore asking you to join with us in organizing a public
    awareness
    campaign that will result in sufficient public pressure to nip this in
    the
    bud. The timing of this campaign is critical. As the utility has yet to
    invest either significant money or its prestige in the project, it will
    be
    easier to get them to abandon this disastrous idea now than it will be
    at
    any time in the future, should they decide to move ahead. Please
    consider
    the importance of this issue and join us in this effort in whatever ways
    you
    can.

    Our educational efforts focused on stopping Callaway II and promoting
    safe,
    sustainable alternatives will be conducted by a new Peaceworks project
    with
    a familiar moniker, Missourian for Safe Energy. MSE was the name of the
    leading group working on stopping the two Callaway nukes proposed in the
    1970s. Callaway I was completed, while the original Callaway II was
    cancelled.

    The new MSE will be holding an organizing meeting 6-7 p.m., Monday,
    March 13
    at the Peace Nook. All are invited to attend.

    We also are in the early stages of planning an Activist Teach-In on
    Nuclear
    Power. This is slated for Sunday, April 9. Details TBA, but please save
    the
    date.

    5) STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY ORGANIZING AT MU: Any MU student
    interested in progressive activism is invited to check out the newly
    forming
    MU SDS. Yes, Students for a Democratic Society is back and a chapter is
    being organized here at Mizzou. There will be an organizing meeting this
    Sunday, March 5, 12 noon in Middlebush 308 (9th & University). For more
    info
    on the local effort, contact Dave Overfelt at:
    daveosociologist@gmail.com

    For info on the national effort to rebirth this proud New Left group
    from
    the 1960s, check out the new SDS website at:

    http://www.studentsforademocraticsociety.org/ There is also a good
    piece
    on the announcement of the new national organization at:

    http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid=06/01/17/1758228


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    War Resistance Reports & Mid-Missouri Peace Events, Meetings

    In this posting you will find information about a couple local Mid-Missouri events, plus reports on various nonviolent actions that have taken place, along with some upcoming events across the country—and means you too can undertake, locally-- to protest the ongoing occupation & war upon the Iraqi people, while supporting alternatives to imperialistic, anti-democratic policies of our government and its client states. You will note an outline with a brief of the various items included in this posting, followed in order after the outline by a larger reporting of the items.

     

    1. Monday, March 6, 6 p.m., monthly meeting of Columbia Peace Coalition, Peace Nook. Please join us to add your input and help shape our local efforts; 

     

    2. Tuesday, March 7, “Forum Venezuela,” 7 p.m, Ellis Library Auditorium on the MU Campus, screening of the award-winning documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which offers a first hand look at the aborted coup that attempted to unseat Venezuela's democratically elected president Hugo Chavez, followed by a panel discussion;

     

    3. Monday, March 6, at 7:30 pm, "Colombia--The Other War for Oil". Daniel Kovalik, a labor lawyer for the United Steelworkers who's done extensive legal and human rights work in Colombia, will speak in the Reynolds Alumni Center Ballroom I; 

     

    4. Buy Citgo gas, support Venezuela and democracy in South America. A reminder of the national buy-cott;

     

    5. Sunday, March 19th "Stop the War—Exit Now!", 2 p.m. rally, Courthouse Square, downtown Columbia (rain site: Boone Commission Chambers). Make your commitment today;

    6. Showing appreciation for Noam Chomsky. Our friend Ibtisam Barakat is trying to coordinate expressions of appreciation that can be passed on to Prof. Chomsky, who delivered a compelling critique of U.S. foreign policy and its purported campaign for democracy abroad. You are welcome to share your thoughts of thanks for the work.

     

     

    For items 2-9 above, see further details below…..   

     

    2) Forum Venezuela—Tuesday, March 7.  The Columbia Peace Coalition is holding an educational forum on the situation in Venezuela 7 p.m., next Tuesday in Ellis Library Auditorium on the MU Campus. This event will feature a screening of the award-winning documentary "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," which offers a first hand look at the aborted coup that attempted to unseat Venezuela's democratically elected president Hugo Chavez. Following this there will be a panel discussion led by Tony Pecinovsky, Kaveh Razani and Daniel Soetaert who recently attended the World Youth Festival in Venezuela.

     

    Tony Pecinovsky and Kaveh Razani will also be guests on PW Director Mark Haim's Evening Edition from 6-7 p.m. that evening on 89.5 KOPN.

     

    3) Colombia—“The Other War for Oil”:  The MU Peace Studies Program is hosting Daniel Kovalik, a labor lawyer for the United Steelworkers who's done extensive legal and human rights work in Colombia. He will be giving a talk Monday, March 6, at 7:30 pm in the Reynolds Alumni Center Ballroom I. 

     

    More on Colombia and Daniel Kovalik:

    Union lawsuit against Coke marks unusual effort to aid labor in Colombia

    (April 29, 2003, article by Jeffrey Cohan, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Staff Writer)

     

    On Dec. 5, 1996, paramilitary gunmen entered a Coca-Cola bottling plant in northwestern Colombia and asked for 36-year-old Isidro Gil, a labor union leader who was trying to win a contract for the workers there.

     

    They found him. Then they shot him seven times.

     

    Javier Correa, left, president of Colombia's Sinaltrainal labor union, and Daniel Kovalik, an attorney for the United Steelworkers of America, during their meeting earlier this month. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette)

     

    Seven years later, a Pittsburgh labor lawyer is representing Gil's estate and suing two of the Coca-Cola Co.'s Colombian bottlers in an American court seeking redress.

     

    It's a novel attempt to bring the American justice system to bear on human rights violators in Colombia, where more than 1,800 union leaders have been murdered over the past dozen years.

     

    It's also an attention-getting effort to punish Coke, which was dismissed as a defendant March 31, and put multinational corporations on notice that they could be dragged into U.S. courts if they appear to condone violence to break unions in the developing world.

     

    "We view the lawsuit as quite crucial to the struggle to bring peace to Colombia," said Daniel Kovalik, an attorney for the United Steelworkers of America, which has lent his services to the plaintiffs' legal team.

     

    Kovalik and his clients, all affiliated with Colombia's Sinaltrainal labor union, got a taste of both victory and defeat in a March 31 ruling in the case, which is being heard in Miami.

     

    Federal Judge Jose E. Martinez allowed the case to go forward against two Coca-Cola bottlers: Bebidas y Alimentos and Panamerican Beverages, but not against Coke itself, saying the company does not set labor policies at independently owned bottling plants. Kovalik's team has asked Martinez to reconsider. So have the bottlers, who want the case thrown out altogether.

     

    The lawsuit alleges that Bebidas y Alimentos conspired with a right-wing paramilitary army to murder Gil and break the Sinaltrainal union at the company's bottling plant in Carepa, Colombia. It says the plant operates "under the control and authority" of Coca-Cola.

     

    A Coca-Cola spokeswoman declined comment. But the company calls the allegations "false" and "baseless" on its Web site, which goes on to say, "Because Colombia is in such turmoil, the Coca-Cola Co. and its local bottling partners have prioritized the safety and security of all employees and labor union officials."

     

    4) . Buy Citgo gas: Support Venezuela and democracy in South America. It’s been several months since the Mid-MO FOR sent out word last about Citgo, so we thought it merited sending out a copy of this reminder, recently forwarded to us…

    Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor.1 The money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela - not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East. "Citgo is not just another oil company," says Citgo CEO Felix Rodriguez. "With Venezuela's state oil company, of which we are a subsidiary, we share a broad social mission."

    And this winter Citgo is helping out less fortunate U.S. citizens too. You already may have seen the headlines about how Citgo, unlike every other oil company in the U.S., is making cut-rate heating oil available to struggling families in the Northeast. The Energy Department predicts a nearly 26 percent jump in heating costs this winter compared with last year,2 and despite a year of record oil company profits, the country's heating oil assistance fund is falling behind.3

    Citgo has stepped in to help out. They're selling heating oil at discounted rates to poorer communities in Massachusetts, Chicago, the Bronx, NY, and working on deals to keep low-income homes in Rhode Island and Vermont warm, too. So while you're out on the road this month, you can help some fellow Americans in this nation and elsewhere by filling your tank with Venezuelan gas. Here's a link to find the nearest one of the 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the U.S.:

    Find the Citgo station closest to your home address.

    Naturally, if you can get where you're going without a car, do so. And we'll continue to work for a country with more renewable energy options. Check out the following for more information…

    1 Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!  

    2 "Poor get chilly federal reception," USA Today, 12/15/2005. 

    3 "OUT IN THE COLD: How Much LIHEAP Funding Will Be Needed to Protect Beneficiaries from Rising Energy Prices?" Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.  

     

    5) "Stop the War—Exit Now!" Rally, 2 p.m., Sunday, March 19th, Courthouse Sq. in downtown Columbia (rain site: Boone Commission Chambers).

     

    The Columbia Peace Coalition is joining peace groups across the nation holding events to mark the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion and call for an end to the war. This is a real opportunity to make a powerful statement by demonstrating the breadth and depth of our opposition to the war. The Peace Coalition has set a goal of getting at least 500 people out to this event. If 1179 tickets to see Noam Chomsky were gone in just two and a half days, it seem like our community has at least this many people who care enough about ending the war to spend an hour or an hour and a half at a rally.

     

    Make your commitment today! We are asking each of you to attend. Moreover, we are asking each of you to become an organizer, inviting friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, etc., to join you in attending. You can either sign up via our website by clicking the link   http://peaceworks.missouri.org/StoptheWarExitNowCommitForm.html

     

    Other Ways to help out.  We are currently working to paint 500 signs, 250 "Stop the War" and 250 "Exit Now." We have stencils, poster board, paint and brushes. We need more volunteers to help. We also have more than 2,000 leaflets inviting folks to come out on 3/19 printed for distribution. We invite you to stop by the Peace Nook and pick up a stack to distribute at your house of worship, at school, at your workplace, to friends, etc. We have plenty to share and will gladly print more if needed. Call the Nook at 875-0539 for more information.

     

     

     6) Showing Appreciation for Noam Chomsky

     

    Our friend Ibtisam Barakat has contacted us looking for expressions of appreciation that can be passed on to Prof. Noam Chomsky. She has asked us to pass this on to all on our list who saw Chomsky or heard his talk on the radio, saying in part:

     

    You can write whatever you like. Some have suggested, however, to tell him a few words about how his words, presence, brave thinking, or his life of activism, has moved, touched, or inspired you.. Perhaps the more personal your words, the better.. from one human being to another.. not from an ordinary person to an icon or anything like that.. just from one person fighting for liberation of our minds and hearts and the healing of the world, to another who does the same..  And please include your first and last names under your paragraph of appreciation.

     

    Please send your Chomsky appreciation to me right away while Chomsky's words are fresh in your memory..... To make this project doable, I would like to set the date of 3/15 as the last day for completing this tiny project. Kindly help me turn this into a reality..

     

    I thank you, and I wish you a beautiful day.   Ibtisam Barakat e-mail to   ibarakat@coin.org

     

     

     


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Mid-Missouri
Fellowship of
Reconciliation
P.O. Box 268
Columbia, Missouri
65205

Questions about the Fellowship of Reconciliation? -- contact Jeff Stack at 573-449-4585 or jstack@no2death.org

An appeal to conscience and purse-strings

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