The Afghan Peace Volunteers invite us to join
#Enough! A campaign to abolish war and build a green and equal world
Join them TODAY!

Join the Afghan Peace Volunteers and Kabul street kids Zarghuna, Muheb, Barath, Mursal, Inam, Deeba and Zahra, to say #Enough!

On Sept. 21st, the International Day of Peace and beginning of the Campaign Nonviolence Week of Action, 100 Afghan street kids will cook and serve a meal for 100 Afghan labourers to launch #Enough!

TODAY you can join the Afghan Peace Volunteers, a grassroots group started by youth in Kabul, Afghanistan, by signing "The People's Agreement to Abolish War."  Help generate the critical mass of friends needed to build a better world.

Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Prof. Noam Chomsky have already endorsed this campaign.  You can join them by http://enough.ourjourneytosmile.com/ signing the Agreement TODAY! 

The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers (now Afghan Peace Volunteers) was started by youth living in Kabul, Afghanistan. Having lived in the midst of war their entire lives, these young people insist that "war has not worked," and ask for international friendship and solidarity. The group has worked together for several years now. They create videos and blogs to expose both the hopes and pains of life in Afghanistan, host "Global Listening Days" for skype or phone conversations with anyone around the world, partner with youth in other war-torn places, organize the Duvet (Blanket) Peace project which gave Afghan women employment to make much needed blankets for Afghan refugees in the winter, and have founded the Borderfree Center for Nonviolence which sponsors programs on nonviolence, environment, social economic issues and international issues, language and math classes for local "street kids."  

Click here to download a copy of The People's Agreement to Abolish War. 

The New York Times, on August 8, reported that 29 of the nation's top scientists wrote a letter to President Obama in support of the Iran Nuclear Deal.  Among the signatures were Dr. Martin Hellman, who spoke last year in Los Altos on this issue during our Campaign Nonviolence Week of Action.  Click here to read the full letter.

Be sure to call your Senator and Congressperson to urge them to support this agreement with Iran!

Tuesday, April 4, 7pm
Community Media Center, 900 San Antonio Rd., Palo Alto
70 years after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 9 countries in the world possess 15,695 nuclear weapons.  Didn't we learn anything?  Join a conversation with Jackie Cabasso, nuclear disarmament activist and Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation.  Cabasso will report on the recent Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at the United Nations, which she attended.  She will also discuss the state of the disarmament movement, including the impact of the recent Iran deal.

Free and open to the public. Wheelchair accessible.

Sponsored by the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center.

Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab Witness and Action
August 6, 8am.  Vasco Road at Patterson Pass Road, Livermore
Daniel Ellsberg, Country Joe McDonald, Taiko drumming, Japanese Bon Dance, Nonviolent Action

Today, after 70 years, nearly 16,000 nuclear weapons - 94% of them held by the USA and Russia - continue to pose an intolerable threat to humanity and creation.  It is time to speak out!

Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice is excited to be a part of the Raise the Wage Campaign! You can join us by signing the Raise the Wage petition and by asking your congregation or organization to become an endorser of the campaign.

Questions about the impact of raising the minimum? Click here for a handy "Myth vs Fact" sheet.  

No matter what town you come from, click here to sign the petition online and it will be delivered to YOUR city council members. Take it a step further and download and print a copy of the petition and circulate it among your friends, congregation, and community. (Be sure to return the petition to the Peninsula Peace & Justice Center at the address on the bottom of the sheet.)

Watch this page for more information about campaigns in specific cities around the bay area.  And be sure to sign the petition today!

On January 22, 2015 The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the hands of its Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight.*  It's 3 minutes to midnight!

Sign the petition today to eliminate nuclear weapons!

The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference, with representatives from the 189 member nations, will meet at the United Nations in New York City from April 27-May 22. It is a crucial opportunity to press the nuclear powers to fulfill their commitment to engage in good faith negotiations for a complete elimination of their nuclear arsenals.

How can you help?  First, sign the petition from Peace & Planet calling on the parties to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to immediately, without delay, develop a time table to ban and eliminate all nuclear weapons.  Click here to sign!  The goal is to have 20,000 signatures by April 17.  Get started now by adding your name!

Second, ask your congregation or organization to endorse Peace & Planet's April 24-26 Mobilization for a Nuclear-Free Peaceful Just and Sustainable World.  Click here to learn about organizational endorsement.

April 15th is just around the corner, the deadline for paying income taxes.  It is a good time to remember that a large part of our federal taxes will be allocated to military expenditures.  Of course, this means that programs that promote life and human flourishing - education, health care, economic development and diplomacy - are underfunded. 

What to do about this?  How about making April 15th a day to call your Senators and tell them that you are concerned about the priorities reflected in our federal budget, and that you are not happy with how your tax dollars will be used.  Let's "choose life" and work for a budget that makes life available - and good - for everyone. Click here to find your Senators' and Representative's website and contact information.

The War Resisters League has done extensive research to produce their 2016 federal budget pie chart, pictured with this article.  Click here to view the complete flyer and understand better how our taxes are allocated.

The Friends Committee on National Legistlation offers good background on this subject.  Click here to learn more from them.  Click here to download their 2013 tax chart. Sadly, not much has changed.

"Don't Say We Didn't Know"
benefit dinner for
Rebuilding Alliance's
Backpacks for Gaza's Children Campaign
Saturday, April 18, 6-9pm
First Congregational Church of Palo Alto

Speaker Amos Gvirtz is an Israeli peace activist, author and member of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Help send 500 backpacks with new school supplies to children in Gaza.

Dinner is free, but donations for backpacks will be requested, and reservations are required.

President Obama has just sent a new Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) to Congress that perpetuates the endless war of the last 13 years. It is imperative that we urge our members of Congress to oppose the president's proposal and repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force.  Click here to read the background from our colleagues at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, and click here to go directly to their Action Center and send an email to your Senators and Representatives.

Our friends at Peninsula Peace & Justice Center have an Urgent Action page with a petition you can sign, background information, and websites to access emails and phone numbers for all of our local Congresspeople.  A telephone call or a personal email or letter is always worth while and the best way to get your Congressperson's attention.  If you are a person of faith, briefly include how your faith informs your understanding of justice, peace and compassion.

Too many lives have been lost.  Too many dreams have been destroyed.  We need to look to political, economic and diplomatic avenues to end the senseless violence on all sides and begin the long road of restoration, healing and justice.