Squatters on their Own Lands: The Bedouin of the Negev

As the "peace talks" Theater of the Absurd was taking place in Annapolis, aggression and land grabbing continued in the colonized areas of Israel. The Jewish National Fund is in the process of planning to remove thousands of Bedouin Arabs, who also happen to hold Israeli citizenship, from their ancestral homelands in the Negev Desert to settle Jewish colonists.


Israel’s quiet war
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3490720,00.html
YNet News.

Bedouin lands in south confiscated to make room for more Jewish communities

Fred Schlomka

Published:

01.06.08, 09:06 / Israel Opinion

While Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas were wheeling and dealing at Annapolis, several Israeli government ministries and security agencies were deploying their combined resources in a massive operation aimed at Israel’s southern Negev Desert. While the eyes of the world are on the West Bank and Gaza, Israel is in the middle of a campaign to complete the displacement of Palestinian Arabs who are also Israeli citizens.

The indigenous Bedouin are the target, and their lands are required by the state in order to complete the implementation a master plan for the Negev. The plan relegates the Bedouin to ghetto enclaves while allocating huge swathes of territory for Jewish suburban development and agricultural communities. The Negev is the final frontier inside Israel, the last tract of largely undeveloped land in the state. Israel has virtually completed the dismemberment of Palestinian lands in the center and north of the country, and now is consolidating the “Jewish redemption” of the southern desert.

These Bedouin lands are coveted by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) which has published plans to move large numbers of Jews to the Negev. To make way for new JNF communities, the “unrecognized” villages of A-Tir, Um Al-Hiran, and Twail Abu Jarwal were destroyed during 2007 in military-style operations involving large forces of police and soldiers, displacing hundreds of families. The Interior ministry has also sent airborne crop dusters to poison the Bedouin fields with broad-spectrum herbicides. The feared Green Patrol, a paramilitary unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, conducts these operations.

There are over 150,000 Bedouin in the Negev desert, with well-established territorial rights dating back to the Ottoman Era. However, immediately after the founding of the state in 1948, the government began to confiscate land and move the Bedouin to ever decreasing areas, while allocating state resources for the development of new Jewish-only towns and agricultural settlements. Although the Bedouin were eventually granted citizenship of Israel, they were under military rule until 1966.

The cost might be high

Through legislation and various legal mechanisms the state has decreed the Bedouin to be squatters on their own land and thus the courts support the demolition of homes and expulsion of the inhabitants. The JNF, through its “Blueprint Negev” plan, intends to create 25 new towns in the Negev over the coming years, bringing 250,000 new Jewish residents to the region according to its website. The JNF is also planting forests on Bedouin land, such as the Ambassador Forest on the lands of the Elokbi Tribe north of Be’er Sheva.

Such measures would never be taken against Jewish citizens of Israel, who enjoy the right to live almost anywhere in the country in relative luxury, while the Bedouin are relegated to a pitiful remnant of their patrimony. This institutional racism is supported by tax-deductible donations from the USA.

The Bedouin have a long and proud tradition as a people. During the first decades of the state, they gave allegiance to Israel, sent their sons to the army and expected the respect they deserve. They received none. Instead the state as continued its mission to serve only the interests of Jewish citizens, and as a result few Bedouin serve in the IDF today. The cost might be high. Bedouin leaders have warned that the anger simmering under the surface may erupt, and Israel may face a Bedouin uprising, an Intifada within the state. Perhaps it’s time for the State of Israel to become a democracy for the benefit of all its citizens, before it’s too late.

Fred Schlomka is an Israeli businessman and a board member of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). He is a 2003 Fellow of the Echoing Green Foundation and the founder of Mosaic Communities in Israel.

Americans are NOT Stupid - Someone Went to Find Out

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

On Veterans' Day - By Veterans

A disabled Navy veteran from California tackles Snowmass Mountain on a mono-ski during the 20th National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. He called it "the best day of [his] year." 2006

Iraq War Veteran

Beirut, Lebanon, Veterans

THE THINGS THEY CARRIED

They carried P-38 can openers and heat tabs, watches and dog tags, insect repellent, gum, cigarettes, Zippo lighters, salt tablets, compress bandages, ponchos, Kool-Aid, two or three canteens of water, iodine tablets, sterno, LRRP- rations, and C-rations stuffed in socks.

They carried standard fatigues, jungle boots, bush hats, flak jackets and steel pots.

They carried the M-16 assault rifle.

They carried trip flares and Claymore mines, M-60 machine-guns, the M-70 grenade launcher, M-14's, CAR-15's, Stoners, Swedish K's, 66mm Laws, shotguns, .45 caliber pistols, silencers, the sound of bullets, rockets, and choppers, and sometimes the sound of silence.

They carried C-4plastic explosives, an assortment of hand grenades, PRC-25 radios, knives and machetes. Some carried napalm, CBU's and large bombs; some risked their lives to rescue others. Some escaped the fear, but dealt with the death and damage. Some made very hard decisions, and some just tried to survive.

They carried malaria, dysentery, ringworm's and leaches. They carried the land itself as it hardened on their boots. They carried stationery, pencils, and pictures of their loved ones - real and imagined. They carried love for people in the real world and love for one another. And sometimes they disguised that love: "Don't mean nothin'!" They carried memories and, for the most part they carried themselves with poise and a kind of dignity.

Now and then, there were times when panic set in, and people squealed or wanted to, but couldn't; when they twitched and made moaning sounds and covered their heads and said "Dear God" and hugged the earth and fired their weapons blindly and cringed and begged for the noise to stop and went wild and made stupid promises to themselves and God and their parents, hoping not to die. They carried the traditions of the United States military, and memories and images of those who served before them.

They carried grief, terror, longing and their reputations. They carried the soldier's greatest fear: the embarrassment of dishonor. They crawled into tunnels, walked point, and advanced under fire, so as not to die of embarrassment. They were afraid of dying, but too afraid to show it. They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment. They carried the weight of the world.

THEY CARRIED EACH OTHER

©Copyright 1990 by Tim O'Brien

from his book, "The Things They Carried"
First Broadway Books trade paperback edition published 1998

AWAKENING

I'm afraid but cannot run
Inside me beats the Celt and Hun
Inside me Turk and Viking too
I have a duty I must do.

Afraid of each other
These different tribes
But, we're all brothers
Claim the scribes.

I see him clear now, he's a Man
coming closer, gun in hand
He sees me hiding, it's too late
With one swift round, I've sealed his fate

He could not run, despite his fears.
I could not run, my eyes run tears.
I killed my brother on that day.
At war the Huns and Vikings play...

©Copyright 2006 by Edward M. McGuire

LIVING WITH ONESELF

How can I forget the look of surprise on her face as my bullets cut her young body in to pieces?

By the time the shooting stopped all innocence had been lost, as we baptised ourselves with the blood of women and children, all in the name of democracy.

The single order to open fire that has led to the loss of so much innocence on the battlefields of war, now robs me of mine also.

Knowing that an eight year old girl is not the enemy, yet obeying the order to kill her anyway.

My conscience seared in order to bury the feelings of remorse even deeper and to hide my guilt from my memory.

What have I done?
Selling my soul to the demonic master of obedience.

©Copyright July 29, 1995 by Richard J. O'Brien

TO MOTHER

Before the battle's started
I think of them departed
But do not dwell as time will tell
If I'm with them soon parted.

Into the shadow of a shadow I crawl
Body wet from putrid earth
I'm wishing as a child I cannot be seen.
The dreaded beast of battle now raises its ugly head
The wounded scream
Have I been seen
Oh God.......................
Mother where are you!

©Copyright 2005 by Ed Orr

A WARRIOR SOUL

She steps out of a dream, stands dark blue cloak, beside my bed
calls me by a name I do not know
Who are you I ask
This lady with hair of flaming red
A smile but answer not
She holds her hand out instead
It seems we must go, but why I ask
A question you asked, she said, so now I show
The fields of battle, you have often walked
and seen and felt the fear of man
Cursed with a warrior soul you are
curse or perhaps for you a blessing it may be
She took me to see the dead on the fields of Gall
picked clean by the women, battle followers there
Baskets full with treasures these men left behind
treasures mean nothing now, the warrior soul has gone away
She said you have walked though many times
returning each time to learn your way

At the hand of battle many a death I have died
still the battle lust runs deep and clear
Memories of blood, the sword as it rings metal to metal
the Gatling as the chopper comes in low
With the hunter's moon, memories of the soul cry out
within shadows we can hide

Forever lonesome is the warrior soul
Then a lesson I did learn
It is I the warrior soul that must reach out
to touch those who care
My own feelings my thoughts my lonesomeness
is a making of but my own
For if I wait for others
I will but find the darkness of my own pity and despair

I have seen death of battle from Gall to Scotland to Asia
I have listened to men cry out as they died
I have seen bodies ripped by sword and gun
And held a friend as his blood bled to the ground
On every field of battle there is beauty
If one but opens their eye's to see
At Gall the wild yellow rose
a promise of life continuing and love and hope
Scotland, a missing arm and eye, I stopped to smell the honeysuckle
I am lucky many will never come this way again
Viet Nam the warrior stops to help a child
beauty is found in the warrior's heart and the smile of the child

This life I think has passed the warrior stage
but was I not meant to die along the way
Some lessons I must have learned
to find gray hair now upon my head
Look at your body, the cloaked lady said
see the marks of battle long past
The place the skin is white and the hair won't grow
It's just a reminder of the African desert campaign
The red mole shaped like a saber wound
just something that came from Scotland long past
You are learning to be humble (not the warrior's lot)
So now remember Russia and the party of the Czar

An officer, blue and red uniform all pressed and proper
To a Lady I did brag, I would kill then all
And in short order be home to her before next year's fall
A brag, then a bullet in my knee I did receive
I lay there in the Russian winter and froze to death
I hope the Lady shed a tear
The Alps I have a small home and family
I walk home after the battle lost, my only treasure my family waiting there
Gone is my home, gone as is my family; to where I do not know
I sit on the rocks of my yard and cry
The warrior soul learns many things
Battle being only one, also how to shed many a tear

I have seen the young in battle fall and return too soon
to but another battle they come, no lessons have they learned
Her red hair flashes as she talks of the dark rain that falls on the field of battle
the rain is but the tears of the warrior whose lesson has been lost
The hunter's moon is in the sky my blood it does make run wild
The streets of Berlin I find myself; it's 1941
The Lady I meet is of the moment a single night but for to spend
The lure of the moon the lust of the night does a passion make to bloom
A quick kind of love does blossom, for tomorrow I am battle bound
An officer of the SS and to Africa I am being sent
A kiss, a wave and off I go, with a promise
thought's of my wife and child, it is to them I must return
I sit upon the sandy hill, to look upon death below
I walk down to help the poor souls there
Before me do I lay, dead not dying
the shell exploded and took us all, no more to live today
Hold to love with all you can
for it may soon be taken away
Grasp and hold every second for
what moment in time do we have but now
Yesterday is gone with tomorrow yet to come
Today could be the last day we are allowed to stay

Many times have come and gone, my warriors memories are near
The body that I dwell in now, not a sword battle has it seen
But the hands love the feel of the hilt, the smell of powder
these make the heart a battle rhythm beat
The warrior soul is challenged now with new wondrous ways
Come now my warrior soul, the new challenge me must meet
I sit and think of many things, many questions do arise
Many times I have returned with old friends soon at my side
Must we all come to learn over and over again
or is it to help a brother or sister warrior soul in need
These questions I cannot answer only God knows for sure
Could it be we need to drop the warrior from our name and just be souls all one and the same

©Copyright June 2007 by James H. Smith

Author's Note: This is the first poem I wrote after returning home from Vietnam. I think it was on an old yellow tablet about ten pages long. Over the years whenever I stumbled upon it, I've rewritten, cleaned it up, and thinned it down. I'm sure I still need to work on it more and will at some later date. Right now I can no longer see what I'm reading when I read it. This is the latest rewrite and I thought I would share. This is based somewhat around a dream. I have no idea what or where the fields of Gall are. Warning! For me it's a long poem.

International War Veterans' Poetry Archives

Judge Allows Torture Lawsuit Against CACI

As public attention is belatedly turned to the abuses by Blackwater, another private contracting company is under scrutiny, this time for alleged prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. The company is California Analysis Center, Inc. (CACI). There is strong evidence to suggest that CACI and another contracting company, TITAN, through an employee by the name of John Israel, have had a hand in the techniques used in the "interrogation" of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Both CACI and TITAN have strong business ties to the Israeli military and all have used similar physical and psychological torture techniques usually seen used on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.

Recently, a federal judge allowed a lawsuit to proceed against CACI, for torture crimes by its interrogators. CACI had extensive oversight over its employees during the interrogations.

Burning Conscience: Israeli Soldiers Speak Out

A searing interview with Avichai Sharon and Noam Chayut, both veterans of the Israeli Defense Forces and members of Breaking the Silence. Sharon and Chayut served during the second intifada, an on-going bloodbath that has claimed the lives of over three thousand Palestinians and nine-hundred-fifty Israelis. After thorough introspection, these young men have chosen to speak out about their experiences as self-described "brutal occupiers of a disputed land." Producer: Sat Gwin.

Academic Freedom and Overcoming Zionism

'T

''This book is absolutely fundamental for those who reject the unfortunate confusion between Jews, Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel -- a confusion which is the basis for systematic manipulation by the imperialist power system. It convincingly argues in favour of a single secular state for Israelis and Palestinians as the only democratic solution for the region."

Samir Amin, Director of the Third World Forum

Joel Kovel's latest book, Overcoming Zionism, has unleashed the expected systematic attack and repression that academics and politicians have become accustomed to when critiquing Zionist ideology or the Palestinian oppression under a brutal occupation, an occupation that has lasted for over 60 years. Kovel, previously a psychiatrist and psycho-analyst and, currently, Professor of Social Studies at Bard College in New York, is the latest target. But he is not the only one. Pluto Press in London, the United Kingdom, is being targeted by strong Zionist forces.

According to Howard Zinn, historian, playwright, and activist, the University of Michigan Press, after receiving a series of complaining and threatening emails and letters from an ultra-Zionist group called StandWithUs, an offshoot of Campus Watch, a group which monitors Middle East studies in North America under the guise of "improving them," (in reality it acts to censor academic freedoms in areas related to Israel and Zionism) withdrew from distribution Professor Kovel's book, Overcoming Zionism, published by Pluto Press in London, United Kingdom. Since then, following numerous protests by fellow academics and scholars, The University of Michigan Press Executive Board has restored the book to its distribution listings but, ominously, the Board has indicated its intention to reconsider its contract with Pluto Press in mid October.

"The suppression of discussion of Zionism occurs within the context of a broader assault on academic freedom and critical thought; it is a concentrated expression of that assault. We need only look at the tenure battles of Norman Finkelstein (DePaul) and Nadia Abu El-Haj (Barnard), the assault on books written by Mearsheimer and Walt and by former President Jimmy Carter, and the canceling of the play 'My Name is Rachel Corrie' by the New York Theater Workshop."

Professor Kovel's book provides a humanitarian approach to resolving the deadly stalemate that Palestinians and Israelis exist under due to a strongly religious and ideological paradigm cloaked in a guise of quasi-democracy. His argument is that justice for both peoples can only occur under a secular democracy for all the people, unified under one state. That framework is becoming more substantial among many Jews and non-Jews in Israel/Palestine and warrants serious exploration, but strongly ideological forces are resisting even a debate.

Below is the body of the letter sent by Howard Zinn with a request to contact the University of Michigan to encourage them to reconsider terminating their contract with Pluto Press.


Dear Friend:

As you may have heard, in late August of this year, The University of Michigan Press, after receiving a series of complaining and threatening emails and letters from an ultra-Zionist group called StandWithUs, an offshoot of Campus Watch, withdrew from distribution Prof. Joel Kovel's book Overcoming Zionism, published by Pluto Press in London, United Kingdom. Since then, following numerous protests by fellow academics and scholars, The U. of M. Press Executive Board has restored the book to its distribution listings. But, ominously, the Board has indicated its intention to reconsider its contract with Pluto Press in mid October.

Overcoming Zionism is a serious, well researched work espousing a humanistic resolution. It is a valuable addition to the growing debate, in and out of American academia, that is re-examining long held assumptions about the sources of conflict in the Middle East. It should be discussed - supported or refuted ­ but not suppressed.

But even more serious is the University's threat to cancel its distribution contract with Pluto Press. Pluto is a valuable and unique intellectual resource, publishing progressive books of a consistently high quality. It provides an alternative viewpoint essential to discussion and debate of important social issues, such as those concerning Israel/Palestine and the Middle East. The cancellation of Pluto's contract with the University would be a serious blow to the principles of pluralism, academic freedom and free speech.

We urge you to add your voice to those of the many professors and authors that have vigorously protested these actions. We ask that you send a letter or, better yet, an email to U. of M. Press Executive Board Chair Peggy McCracken with copies to University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, Dean Janet A Weiss; and Provost Teresa Sullivan, demanding that the University of Michigan Press continue its contract with Pluto Press. Further, we ask that you forward this request for support and suggested support letter to those on any list that you may maintain or have access to.

We attach a sample letter, below, along with email and postal addressees, for your convenience. Please send this immediately, or feel free to compose your own. Time is of the essence so please act quickly.

Thank you for your kind support.

Sincerely, Howard Zinn For the Committee for an Open Discussion of Zionism www.CODZ.org

Please send your letters and emails to:

Professor Peggy McCracken, Executive Board Chair
University of Michigan Press
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109
peggymcc@umich. edu

President Susan Coleman University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109
presoff@umich. edu

Janet A. Weiss, Dean of the Rackham Graduate School and Vice Provost
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070
janetw@umich. edu

Teresa A. Sullivan, Provost and Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs
3074 Fleming Building
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1340
tsull@umich. edu

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear Professor McCracken: It has come to my attention that The University of Michigan Press has recently withdrawn its distribution of Prof. Joel Kovel's book, Overcoming Zionism and has indicated its intention to review, and perhaps cancel, its distribution contract with the publisher of Prof. Kovel's book, Pluto Press. It is my understanding that these steps were taken immediately following a barrage of complaints from a group called StandWithUs Michgan, an offshoot of the notorious Campus Watch censorship organization. I have heard that distribution of Prof. Kovel's book has been resumed but that the Pluto Press contract remains under a cloud.

Pluto is a valuable intellectual resource, publishing critical and progressive books of consistently high quality. It is a highly respected alternative academic press. Its discontinuation by the U.of M. Press would directly inhibit people?s access to non-mainstream material and would impede critical thought, discussion and debate on important issues, especially those concerning Israel/Palestine and the Middle East.

Further, the University?s suspension of its distribution contract with Pluto Press under these circumstances would constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech. I strongly protest against any such move. My high regard for the University of Michigan would be seriously diminished if such a suspension took place and it would affect any future relationship I might have with the University.

Sincerely,

[SIGN YOUR NAME]

Blackwater, America's Private Army

Blackwater: Blood for Sale

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace was established by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 and was celebrated on the Third Tuesday in September. In September 2001, and after the efforts of Jeremy Gilley and the Peace One Day organization, the United Nations, with the leadership of Great Britain and Costa Rica, passed another resolution identifying September 21st as the official day of global peace and as Ceasefire Day. The resolution took effect September 21st 2002 amidst a world embroiled in constant war and turmoil. The first anniversary of the new peace day passed without anyone observing a ceasefire. Since then, however, more governments, countries, groups, businesses, and individuals are celebrating the day in their cities and homes.

The vast majority of war victims are women and children and there are currently at least 45 conflicts in progress around the world.

It is thanks to the efforts of Jeremy Gilley and his volunteers, efforts that spanned years and countless hours of travel, work, filming, and meetings with heads of state and United Nations officials that the day is being observed on a designated date.

According to Ahmad Fawzi, the UN Director of News and Media at the time, people should be patient and not feel discouraged that there were no ceasefire observances on the first anniversary of Ceasefire Day. The seed has been planted and it grows slowly through interviews, lectures, books, peace rallies, informational meetings, press releases, and one person and group at a time. Per Fawzi's words, we have to change our global culture from a culture of war to one of peace and that begins with every one of us.

Gilley captures his journey, the challenges, the hopes, and the process in a movie called PEACE ONE DAY. The world today seems more violent since September 11th, 2001, ironically the day that Ceasefire Day was to be announced by Kofi Annan when the two airplanes struck the World Trade Center.

Civilians killed in the clash in Lebanon

Civilian casualties inside Nahr Al-Bared Refugee Camp. Shelled by the Lebanese Army.

Hot Summer in Lebanon

Possible reasons for the fighting in North Lebanon: from Link T.V.

Nahr El-Bared

Fighting in Nahr El-Bared Refugee Camp in North Lebanon: Lebanese Army and Fateh El-Islam, June 2007

Remember the Men

Since the emergence of the Feminist Movement in the twentieth century, much focus has been placed, and rightfully so, on remedying the conditions that contributed to the mistreatment and neglect of women. National and international laws, including affirmative action, have attempted to narrow the gap between the genders.

Society imposes certain roles on men as it does on women. The negative effects of such roles on the men have usually gone unrecognized. While men, as a gender, have generally not been oppressed by women or by society, they have been socialized into roles that have added to their burden and compromised their physical and emotional health.

The primary responsibility of providing for the family and the socio-economic pressures that ensued have led, over time, to an identity stereotype that is based on a strong work ethic, long work hours, and degree of financial success. There are cultural differences, of course, across groups, nations, and families. Traditionally, farming communities relied on the labor of both men and women. In modern times, and in an industrialized and market economy, the “traditional” breadwinning roles between men and women have become more defined, with the men making most of the money and controlling it and the women staying at home and working on the domestic front.

Gender roles began shifting in the 1960s in a post-industrialized world where the structure and definition of family were changing. Two-parent, male and female, households and extended families are no longer the norm. With such changes, some of the economic burdens have shifted to women, leading many women with small children into the mainstream work force, therefore increasing their level of stress. Most women have, however, entered the work force as a means of independence and self-reliance. Despite that fact, the self esteem of men is still centered on the work place. In a way, the burdens of both have increased in a market economy.

Men have traditionally encountered emotional and physical issues that are peculiar to their gender due to society’s expectations and due to their work burdens. Society tends to be more accepting of less economic achievement and less physical, mental, or emotional “courage” from women than from men. In situations where men have been emotionally, mentally, or even physically, abused by women or other men, society is very harsh in the way it treats the male victim. Men are usually laughed at or asked to just deal with it, actions we would never even contemplate repeating if the woman were the victim.

Some of the jobs that have been held mostly by men include the following: the military (with certain branches being solely theirs), construction and other physically demanding jobs, contractor jobs in war torn areas, rescue workers, presidents, heads of corporations, mining, and critical medicine. Men sometimes bury their sorrows in alcohol or work; they become alcoholics or workaholics. When anger builds up without proper family or community support, they lash out and, sometimes very violently. Suicide is a real issue among men. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

- Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death for all U.S. men;

- Males are four times as likely to die from suicide than females although three times as many women as men attempt suicide (CDC 2004);

- In 2001, suicide took the lives of 30, 622 people, 24, 672 of whom were men (CDC 2004);

- Of the 24,672 male suicide deaths reported in 2001, 60% involved the use of a firearm;

- In 2005, 4 people out of 100,000 in the United States died of injuries at work. Males accounted for 93% of those deaths at a rate 12 times that of women;

- The leading causes of death of men of all races in the United States in 2002 are the following in descending order: heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, suicide, kidney disease, and chronic liver disease.

There is evidence to suggest that more women than men suffer from depression. Men, however, are more reluctant to seek help due to the social stigma of mental difficulties. Men do not report such difficulties because they are afraid of losing their jobs or because of self-esteem considerations. That is one reason why men can feel trapped in a society that does not encourage verbal or emotional expression to release tension and why they are more successful in their suicide attempts.

Suffering in silence is the burden that we, as a society, have encouraged by our neglect of the issues that face men in a world that values appearances and materialism over holistic well-being and in a world that emphasizes our differences versus our commonalities.

Men may have historically had the upper hand as a group in most spheres in life. As individuals, however, they have faced horrendous circumstances in addition to their daily responsibilities with the “understanding” that they should “tough it out” because they are men. This is an inhuman and very detrimental outlook and it devalues the other 48% of our species.

People returning from the war zones of the Middle East are mostly men. They are in need of much emotional and financial support. Are we astute enough to notice what they are going through or do we continue to live by the motto “don’t show and don’t tell?”

June is International Men's Month. This is a good website for resources on men's issues. http://www.menstuff.org/frameindex.html.

The Plight of A Grieving Mother and An Advocate for Life

Cindy Sheehan's decision to take a hiatus and her subsequent letter explaining her decision to resign as the "face of the peace movement" have brought attention to the question of the need for a new political direction within the United States. Sheehan, the symbol of grieving motherhood who transcended ideological and party lines to advocate for what is right versus what is Republican or Democrat, or what is Right or Left, has become the newest victim of a movement that has not fully grasped the meaning of activism. Justice and right to life are not values that we can ignore for politically strategic posturing and campaigning. Sheehan's famous statment: "I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of 'left or right,' but 'right and wrong" continues to be misunderstood and ignored.

Partisanship is a very destructive form of activism because it can place party and ideology, no matter how contradictory or illogical, above human dignity, freedom, and the right to life. The Democrats' inability to take a firm stand on the war and their quick willingness to abuse the woman who carried the peace movement on her grieving shoulders despite ailing health and destroyed marriage, point to the complicity of such a movement in the continuation of this war and the killing. Be it in their support of an ongoing occupation, or their inability to form cohesive policies that encourage human dignity in a corporate/military controlled world, they have shown that they cannot handle criticism nor do they have the ability to reflect upon where the movement has come and ways to strengthen it.

Sheehan represented to many the symbol of conciliation and was a major driving force within different groups in the "peace movement." She was able to do it because she succeeded in transcending the partisan hatred and speaking to the mother within all of us.