VetSpeak Newsletter re New Look & Fall Offensive

Common Sense...

                                                      VetSpeak.org Newsletter - Fall 2012                                                                                                           

"VetSpeak.org exists to publish and distribute the crucial voices and perspectives of America's military veterans, families, and supporters; in print, online, and on disc..." (VetSpeak, 2005).

 NEW LOOK - SAME MISSION

VetSpeak.org is changing it's look, but not its mission. As part of the New Look, I have moved the VetSpeak Mission Statement & Policy, from the bottom of the page sidebar, to the top.  The reason for this is; I believe that who you are and what you are about should always be up front, whether you are a journalist or an activist. Both of these capacities can directly shape the American public's perceptions of Truth. Perceptions, which have been proven to be easily distorted and manipulated by corporate media, politicians, and political opportunists with hidden agendas; all of whom practice the art of political spin and hide Objective Truth from an electorate dying of thirst from lack of it. The way that they manage these re-writes, is with the tried and true practice of re-framing the political and social argument of the moment.  They spin Objective Truth in an attempt to somehow reflect their politically altered truth (Lakoff, 2004). VetSpeak.org Speaks only Objective Truth to Power.

Our New Look is the result of Google buying out Blogger and transforming everything over to their formats.  The sales pitch is that it makes things easier to manage, and also allows updated interactive technologies for social medias, and on 4G internet media in general, thereby expanding outreach and distribution opportunities.  We will see.  As a publication, VetSpeak grew up on Blogger.  Blogger was like a community; neophyte commentators and techie nerds, all working together in a symbiotic publishing relationship through the user friendly medium of the Blogger platform. Now, when you see Blogger, think Google; a distant, sterile, and for all intents and purposes, inaccessible ring master, for those of us trying to blaze the trail from print media to digital multi-media publishing.   No biggie...as the ol' Gunny used to say; "...when all else fails, improvise!..."

I have tried to keep the Look as much like the old one as possible, changing the banner to reflect the theme established on VetSpeak letterheads and business cards...kinda like an old Marine Corps green footlocker, with yellow stenciled identifiers...the main page background represents the desert sand of America's campaigns, since 9-11.  The outer background and font color are throwbacks to the old page look, that of parchment. Parchment was the medium used by Tom Paine and other Sons of Liberty pamphleteers to write their commentary and political treatises, such as Paine's Common Sense, and upon which they ultimately wrote the US Constitution on.  The image suggests VetSpeak coming off the parchment of Blogger into the 21st century medium of Google, but not abandoning the principles or ideals of Paine and the other Sons of Liberty..

Something else I learned is that while our look is an identifier, our content is our heart and soul.  Critical to successfully carrying out our above stated mission is our distribution of that content to an involved activist readership, rather than unfocused shotgun messaging, political pandering, or advertising. We don't spend any time or money for services that "guarantee" readership hits for a fee. We don't try and drive readers to our site; instead; we literally "deliver the news" to our readership. We do this in the hopes that they in turn will share it to their own lists and with friends, FB and otherwise. Our downline distribution is to select closed lists and/or groups and list serves that are made up of veterans, families, and supporters, to include the informational and activist list serves of activist organizations. 

REINFORCING THE MISSION

As you can see, we now have two of the four critical elements to success already in place; a new 4g capable platform with updated desktop publishing technology and support, and a 7 year history as a credible and effective medium for publishing the perspectives of veterans, current service members, families, and supporters, and actively reporting on their events, actions, and legislative initiatives that address their particular peace and social justice issues. 

However, there are two other elements critical to carrying out the mission that still need to be addressed, and those are; funding and content. These two elements are directly tied to one another. Our VetSpeak business model sets our journalistic standard as; First Hand, Timely, and Well Documented. Much of our content is composed of live blogging or after-action reports, which requires that we be present for the event and/or action to fulfill the First Hand and Timely part of that standard. Without being there, due to the prolonged economic downturn, we have diminished our content capability by becoming dependent on second hand reporting which in turn directly impacts our timeliness.   

With a stagnate economy and rising costs for travel, increased funding is the key to securing content that is relevant to our reader base, and true to our journalistic standards.  Sadly, we can no longer carry the load out of pocket and with spot donations. As we continue to improve the site, we will be exploring the possibilities of some grants, appeals for perpetual endowments, and serial donation pledges. We have already designed the page for our online store, The PX, and with our new capabilities and increased background space will soon have it on-line. But, for now, we still need to appeal directly to our readers for support, from time to time...and, this is one of those times.

RALLYING MISSION SUPPORT

We realize that finances are a challenge for all hands, so I think its important to point out that there are other ways that you can show your support besides donating money. We think of VetSpeak as a family operation, including our readership.  Each member contributes what they can to sustain and/or improve the quality of life of the family.  Some write, some organize, some read and share, some read and take action, and some always come through to make it possible for us to make it to an important action or event.  If everyone who reads this were to choose just one of the following ways to support our efforts, you would greatly improve the VetSpeak family quality of life, and thereby enable increased relevant content and upgrade distribution capability:

• WRITE FOR US - submit any poetry, personal insight, articles, essays, commentary, and group/organization event notices to willie.hager@vetspeak.org, attached in Word.doc format and with Attn: Editor in the Subject field. Attach any pictures you want to use in the piece, in the order you wish them displayed. Also, please use the Post A Comment option to join the topic discussion, or to tell us your thoughts on a topic, or our presentation of it.
• FOLLOW US - show your support to others and go to Followers header in sidebar, and click on Join This Site. You may run in to someone there that you know, or that you might like to meet. We will add you to the VetSpeakNet list serve when you choose to follow us.
• SHARE US - share postings that you receive from us on FB, other social media, and on any relevant list serves that you might administer.
• DONATE - to make either a one time or a perpetual cash donation; go to Join The Fight header in sidebar, and click on Donate button for PayPal. Be sure to type in VetSpeak Donation in memo line, for 501 (c) deduction credit.  We are currently on a drive to raise $8,000 to cover anticipated travel and expenses and site improvement software through the spring of 2013. A $25.00 donation from each person on our lists, and from all those who read this elsewhere and support our  mission, would put us over the top in short order.
• MOBILIZE US - last, but not least, help to put VetSpeak on the road; we are seeking a tax deductible donation of a serviceable, road ready, 4 sleeper RV to use for travel and event support. If you know of a dealer or an individual who might support our mission, and donate one for a tax deduction, please ask them to contact me at willie.hager@vetspeak.org, with Re RV in the Subject field.x

FALL OFFENSIVE

As we move towards the new year, we will be focusing our pages on the plight of the GI and other Resisters resulting from the continued US involvement in Afghanistan, to include the issue of multiple forced deployments of our troops to that theatre of operations. This in spite of pending clinical evaluations regarding the severity of diagnosis of PTSD and TBI.  Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) already has instituted a campaign, Operation Recovery, to address this practice. 

To deal with the devastating human fall-out of GI Resistance, Vietnam Veterans Against The War/Old School Sappers (VVAW/OSS) has initiated Amnesty for Resisters Campaign 2.0. VVAW/OSS has developed this initiative from working with a group of Toronto Resisters who call themselves the "49ers" (pertaining to the 49th Parallel that separates Canada from the US).  

In the coming months, VetSpeak.org will be following up on both of these campaigns and publishing personal essays, advocacy information, and by-lines and blogs from those actively involved in these symbiotic issues. We hope that we can count on y'all to do your part for the mission; read, act on, and share.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good concience to remain silent."

Thomas Jefferson

 www.Vetspeak.org

VVAW/OSS Launches Amnesty For Resisters Campaign

Vietnam Veterans Against The War

Old School Sapper Caucus

Honor The warrior ~ Not The War

Photo: Marcia Milam Westbrook

PLEASE ALLOW US TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES…

Who We Are

VVAW/OSS is a 41 member strong caucus of Old School VVAW types, most of whom, following the VVAW 40^th Reunion in 2007, were listed as VVAW Regional Contacts in the VVAW‘s “The Veteran” newspaper. Many were members of the Veterans Advisory & Resource Group, a committee appointed by the VVAW National Steering Committee to review organizational policy and operations and make recommendations for reform. 

We came together as an active caucus of VVAW at the Kent State 40^th anniversary because we believed that after a yearlong review, and input from VVAW members past and present and who hailed from throughout the U.S., that VVAW needed to be more focused on an anti-war agenda, and more actively outspoken regarding U.S. involvement in the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and in the affairs of other nations, under the guise of “building democracy”.  A concept and policy which our caucus believes is simply continuing U.S. and multi-national corporate imperialism, and must be brought to an end, just as we brought the war in Vietnam to an end; by taking our Truth, to the streets and winning the hearts and minds of the American people. 

What We Do

Since May of 2010, we have been active in two national gatherings at the White House, we held a caucus at the 2011 VFP convention in Portland,, Ore., we have been active with IVAW, attending two South East Regional Retreats regarding movement building,  and participating with IVAW in the recent March for Justice and Reconciliation during the NATO Summit, where VVAW/OSS represented the Toronto Resisters and one of our OSS members who had tossed his medals at Dewey Canyon III, stood in for the Toronto Resisters and tossed their medals back to NATO, for them.

In that same and continuing spirit of activism, and again initially on behalf of the Toronto Resisters, we have as a caucus set out for ourselves the task of initiating a grass-roots campaign for Amnesty for Resisters.   VVAW/OSS has developed this initiative from working with the current Toronto Resisters, upon hearing that they wanted to come home. We believe that they never should have had to leave in the first place.  In 1973, VVAW, after attending an International Amnesty Conference in Toronto, initiated its original Amnesty  for Vietnam Resisters that same year.  Amnesty was enacted incrementally, but successfully by both President Ford, 1974, and President Carter, 1977.  Carter’s Amnesty went further than did Ford’s, and met more of the demands of the Left, regarding the topic. We wish to do the same for today’s Resisters…we hope y’all will join with us in this important effort.

We will be attending the 2012 Veterans For Peace  Convention in Miami, where will launch our Amnesty initiative by presenting our case to VFP for support for our Amnesty for our campaign.  We will be seeking not only the support of  VFP as an national organization, but of its chapters and individual members from out in the grass-roots as well, as we begin to build a coalition of organizations and individuals who wish to actively work with us in bringing about Amnesty for the current generation of Resisters living abroad.

How You Can Help 

In support of furthering our initiative, we are attempting to raise the funds to bring our Toronto VVAW/OSS member, who many of you on FB know as Nick Velvet, down to Miami to speak for the Resisters. Nick knows these folks personally and works closely with them there in Toronto. Nick, who returned his own medals to the government at Operation Dewey Canyon III in 1971, represented the Toronto Resisters at the IVAW March for Justice & Reconciliation during the NATO Summit held there 20 May 2012.  Nick marched with the IVAW troops who were to return their medals to NATO, and at the medal toss he threw back the Toronto Resisters’ medals to NATO on their behalf, becoming the only two time medal toss Veteran in history. 

Photo: Ward Reilly

If you would  like to join us in launching the VVAW/OSS Amnesty for Resisters campaign, and get Nick to Miami, please donate whatever you are able to; no donation is too small…we will need at least $500.00…your donation is tax deductible, so print and save your receipt with Purpose annotated…if you are unable to donate, at least please share this letter with a friend…

If you able to donate, please simply click on the DONATE button located under "Join The Fight..." in left side bar of this page.

Unity - Struggle - Victory

Willie Hager

Operations Coordinator

VVAW/OSS

willie.hager@vetspeak.org

www.VetSpeak.org

NATO Summit, Chicago, 05/20/2012 - IVAW Medal and Awards Return

MARCH FOR JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION
posted to:
Chicago

Sunday May 20th supported by thousands of people Afghanistan and Iraq veterans will march to NATO Summit to ceremoniously return their military service medals.
Join the event and share with friends on facebook                                  
10AM - Music at Petrillo Music Shell (E. Jackson Dr. & S Columbus Dr.)
1030AM - Musical Guest Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman
2PM - Step off from Petrillo Music Shell (E. Jackson Dr. & S. Columbus Dr.)
3PM - Ceremony to return military service medals (Michigan Ave. & E. Cermak Rd.)
5PM - Post event hang out with musical guest Watermellon Slim at Simones 960 W. 18th St.
IVAW Members register today to March and return your medals.

We, Afghanistan and Iraq veterans, from around the country have united with CANG8 Coalition aginst NATO/G8 war and poverty agenda  to converge in Chicago on May 20th for a unity march to the NATO summit and ceremoniously return our service medals to NATO generals. We were awarded these medals for serving in the Global War on Terror, a war based on lies and failed polices. This endless war has killed hundreds of thousands, stripped the humanity of all involved, and drained our communities of trillions of dollars, diverting funds from schools, clinics, libraries, and other public goods.

Iraq Veterans Against the War calls on fellow service members, veterans, Chicagoans, and everyone who believes in justice, dignity, and respect for all peoples to join us in the streets on May 20th. On this day, we will hold a nonviolent march to the site of the NATO summit where we will ceremoniously return our military service medals. We will demand that NATO immediately end the occupation of Afghanistan and relating economic and social injustices, bring U.S. war dollars home to fund our communities, and acknowledge the rights and humanity of all who are affected by these wars. We wish to begin a process of justice and reconciliation with the people of Afghanistan and other affected nations, fellow service members, veterans, and the American people.

The city of Chicago will host the NATO summit from May 20th-21st. NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is an organization of western military superpowers whose combined military might is the world's largest and most powerful military force. The NATO mission in Afghanistan has dragged on for over a decade, to the detriment of the people of Afghanistan, military service members and their families, and our communities.

The recent news that the G8 summit, originally set to take place in Chicago this May, has been moved to Camp David shows that the world's large economies fear the mass mobilization and collective organizing of the people of Chicago. NATO should also be advised that the world's military superpowers, responsible for unjust wars, occupations, and militarism, are also not welcome in our hometown. We are emboldened by the knowledge that Chicagoans' call for popular mobilizations was enough to move the G8 out of our city. We must now harness this same people power to send the message loud and clear to NATO that they too will be met with resistance. Furthermore, even though the G8 and NATO will now be held apart from each other, we know that these two summits, and the interests they represent, are linked. War, austerity, poverty, and economic exploitation by the 1% go hand in hand.

It is time for us to take a stand and make our voices heard. We stand in international solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and all the people of the world who are demanding their right to self-determination, their human rights, and economic justice.

To cosponsor the march or for more information contact chicago@ivaw.org             217-898-9083    

Sponsors:

ADAPT

American Friends Service Committee

CANG8

Chicago Democratic Socialists of America

Chicago Jobs With Justice

Civilian Soldier Alliance

Delaware Valley Veterans for America

Grassroutes Caravan

Michael Moore

Military Families Speak Out

Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild,

Move the Money

National Nurses United

Network for a NATO Free Future

Occupy Chicago

Peace Action

Protest Chaplains of Chicago

Rogers Park Food Not Bombs

Social Justice Council of the First UU Church of Chicago

STOP

UE Western Region

UIUC GEO's Solidarity Committee

United for Peace and Justice

US Labor Against the War

Veterans for Peace

Vietnam Veterans Against the War

Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Old School Sappers

Voices for Creative Nonviolence

WI Network for Peace and Justice


www.VetSpeak.org

IN MEMORIAM

Marv Davidov: My Friend, My Inspiration

Michael Orange, 3/21/12

Ed Note: Michael is a personal friend, fellow Marine and a regular VetSpeak.org contributor. We have been friends since we met at the IVAW Winter Soldier investigation in 2008, at the US Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland.  He and his wife Cynthia have appeared on our pages numerous times since then. Even with his passing we, as a leaderless  Occupy Movement, have a lot to learn from Marv Davidov, as we all try and shake off our winter doldrums, and mount our Occupy Spring Offensive; and that lesson is Leadership by Example & ORGANIZE!. WH

Marv Davidov, the man the noted historian, Howard Zinn, called “the apostle of nonviolent direct action,” died on January 14 at 80 years of age. The litany of Davidov’s life as a devoted advocate matches the turbulent history of the peace, justice, labor, and environmental movements over the last six decades. He was a Freedom Rider and protester on the Peoples March on Washington, a hunger striker in several Southern jails, a union organizer, a protector of family farms and Native American rights, an anti-war activist, and a riveting speaker and teacher.

Best known for founding the Honeywell Project in 1968, a worldwide movement to stop the production of indiscriminate weapons of war, Marv also founded the Minnesota chapter of the War Resisters League and helped found the Minnesota Campaign to Ban Land Mines, which was part of the international organization that was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

With Marv’s life of dedication and unflagging work across the country, it would be hard to find a famous peace and justice worker who didn’t know Marv. He was admired and embraced by the likes of Phil Berrigan, Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Dave Dellinger, and Noam Chomsky, to name a few. In fact, the Justice Studies Association chose Marv for its 2007 Noam Chomsky Award. To honor Marv and his contributions, the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the Minnesota House of Representatives proclaimed March 10 as Marv Davidov Day.

Soon after he died, I was in Marv’s room at a local nursing home helping his closest friend, Barbara Mishler, and my wife, Cynthia, with his possessions. We stepped out of the room when the man from the Cremation Society arrived so he could do his job. A few minutes later, he told us he would now bring out Marv's body. He slowly wheeled the blanket-draped gurney out of the room and paused where the three of us had lined up to offer our deep respect and love for this giant of the peace and justice community. We said our last goodbyes and stood there for a few moments more, almost at attention, as one would do when the body of a dignitary or national hero passes for military review.

Marv and I were both in the service, and I thought of saluting but dismissed the idea even though it always struck me that the story I heard Marv tell repeatedly was about the incident while in the Army that launched his activist vocation. He refused to participate in the brutal beating of another soldier and that act of courage resulted in his own beating. If it wasn’t his Greek fisherman’s cap that covered his head, it was his faded Veterans for Peace hat, and as a fellow member of the organization, I wanted to pay tribute to his bravery.

Although acquaintances for two decades, Marv and I became good friends after he agreed to address the students in a class I co-taught in 2007 about Vietnam and the 60s. Wearing his Honeywell Project T-shirt (as did I), his bushy white hair exploded from under his Vets for Peace cap. “Mine was a breach birth,” he began. “I came out feet first kicking and then screaming and I’ve been doing it ever since.” Then he recounted his Army story, fresh as if it was the first time, complete with his characteristic drawn-out vowels and no-holds-barred-expletives. He finished an hour and a half later only pausing occasionally to breathe. He so transfixed the students that they ranked his presentation as the highlight of the course.

On that Saturday morning with Marv, January 14, Cynthia and I joined Barbara and two other close friends of Marv at his bedside as he lay dying. His breathing was somewhat labored and, for a time, he seemed to try to speak to Barbara who sat close to him on his bed.

Earlier, Barbara described some of the last words Marv spoke the night before he died. “I said to him, ‘Marv, what should I do with the rest of my life?’ He thought for a long, long time; so long that I thought he forgot the question. Finally, he turned to me and said: ‘You must locate your deepest private feelings—philosophical, religious and spiritual—and then decide to live out these beliefs in a commensurate way, in public, as much as possible without compromise.’ It’s no surprise I loved and admired him immensely.”

As we gathered close around Marv, Cynthia sang him the Beetles’ lullaby, Goodnight. He reached up to touch Barbara and she held his hand gently. He relaxed and his breathing grew softer. At about 1:15 p.m., he turned his face and gaze towards the ceiling as if he recognized something (or someone), then shut his eyes and died peacefully moments later.

Over the last months of his life, we started a little ritual when I visited him. I always gave him a little kiss on the top of his bald head as he laid in his bed and we both said I love you. Just before the tall man in the long black-leather coat took Marv for his last trip, I completed my role in our ritual one last time.

About the Author:

Michael Orange, a member of VFP Chapter 27 since 1991, served as a Marine in Vietnam and experienced combat in numerous search-and-destroy missions and patrols during his one-year tour of duty. Afterwards, he returned to his former university campus, Kent State, in May 1970, just before Ohio National Guardsmen shot thirteen of his fellow students, killing four. In 2001, he published a memoir of his service, Fire in the Hole: A Mortarman in Vietnam. Michael teaches a class on the history of the Vietnam War at venues including the University of Minnesota’s Compleat Scholar Program.

www.VetSpeak.org

IVAW Official Statement on Occupy Movement

x

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 28, 2011 9:07 AM

CONTACT: Iraq Veterans Against the War Joseph Carter, Iraq Veterans Against the War 646-723-0989 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            646-723-0989      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, josephcarter@ivaw.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War Board of Directors Releases Official Statement on Occupy Movement

We are the 99%, organization says

NATIONWIDE - November 28 - Veterans are a part of the 99%.  

Most of our military is made up of the 99%.  We join the military for many reasons.  Some join because of family tradition or a sense of patriotism.  Others join for citizenship, education or to escape poverty or violence in our homes and neighborhoods. Many service members realize the wars we fight contribute to poverty and violence in Iraq and Afghanistan communities. We are coming home to a broken economy where veterans have higher unemployment, incarceration, suicide and homelessness than the national average.

The 1% is profiting from of our sacrifices.  

Our nation’s leaders have betrayed us. We have been asked to risk our lives and mental health for the defense of our country and the well being of foreign allies. The causes for military conflict have proven false while corporations profit. The military industrial complex continues to grow in wealth while the rest of the world pays for it in dollars and blood.  Instead of increasing programs to attempt to repair damages, many schools, hospitals, and social services are shutting down.  Programs for veterans are inadequate and are leaving us physically, mentally, and emotionally bankrupt.

Veterans have a history of effective grassroots organizing.  

IVAW has been a voice for veterans and their grievances since our founding in 2004.  We understand that change comes about when people speak up, organize, and demand justice. Veterans and active-duty service members have a history of organizing, from the Bonus March to the Vietnam War. Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have an important contribution to make to this movement. 

As veterans and members of the 99% we stand in solidarity with the Occupy Movement.  

As service members we are told that we fight for human rights and democratic freedoms. However, these rights seem to be continually denied at protests across the nation, often times by police using excessive force and violent tactics.  We support our members, fellow veterans and members of this movement who have been subjected to this gross contradiction, and who have refused to remain silent.

We are the 99%.

###

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) was founded by Iraq war veterans in July 2004 at the annual convention of Veterans for Peace (VFP) in Boston to give a voice to the large number of active duty service people and veterans who are against this war, but are under various pressures to remain silent.

www.VetSpeak.org