By: Luke Clausen
The Des Moines Public Schools has launched its Reimagining Education initiative starting this school year, 2024-2025. One aspect of this initiative is the “Diploma+” program, designed to help students prepare for their post-secondary future, whether that be college, the trades, language learning, or other paths. Military enlistment is, by federal mandate, required to be placed on equal footing with all other options.
No More
War
There’s
not enough love in the world,
And
there’s way too much hate.
Love,
respect, and acceptance
Can make
it all go away.
By Jess Hoffert
Three years ago, I became penpals with Franklin Davis, an
inmate on death row in Livingston, Texas. We were matched through the Death Row
Support Project, a Church of the Brethren organization that has connected
thousands of inmates with writers like myself.
By Edward Hasbrouck; reprinted with permission by author; also available here: https://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/002751.html
[Also published on Antiwar.com. Portions of this article were first published by Responsible Statecraft and are reprinted by permission.]
Of men in the U.S. who turned 18 in 2023, fewer than 40% signed up for the draft – down from more than 60% in 2020 before the start of the war in Ukraine.
This eye-popping and previously undisclosed admission, as well as other revelations equally damning to plans to increase readiness to activate a draft, was included in documents released recently by the Selective Service System (SSS) in response to a Freedom Of Information Act request.
By Christine Sheller
The birthplace of Iowa Peace Network, William Penn University, (a Friends university) recently held it’s Worldview Forum, cosponsored by the William Penn University Campus Ministry. It was entitled “Pacifism and Just War: Pathways to Peace?” It was held September 25, 2024, and began at 6:30 pm, going to 8:30 pm in the George Daily Auditorium, at the Oskaloosa High School.
By Michael Merryman-Lotze; reprinted with permission; originally written for AFSC (American Friends Service Committee) https://afsc.org/news/5-things-know-about-escalation-middle-east; Also, see AFSC's Gaza page: https://afsc.org/crisis-gaza
Updated Sep 25, 2024
By Michael George; reprinted with permission; first
published in the Menno PIN newsletter (Mennonite Palestine Israel Network
newsletter), July 28, 2024. Originally Published
as “Gaza Twinning Update.”
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It has been a privilege and blessing to help coordinate MennoPIN’s “Twinning with Gaza” Initiative over the last four years. Three Mennonite Church USA congregations have built relationships with non-profit groups in Gaza doing wonderful and life-giving work in their communities. Representatives of these dynamic organizations and small groups from congregations met via Zoom regularly to share stories, life experiences, hopes, and challenges. As a result of this consistent and open communication, close friendships have been developed between the “twinning” participants in Gaza and the United States. It has been a gift to get to know our friends in Gaza and we will continue to walk alongside them during this horrific and catastrophic time.
By Christine Sheller
Approximately 50 persons gathered for the annual Hiroshima/
Nagasaki observance on the anniversary of the bombings August 9, 2024 . “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” was the theme
for the evening, a quote by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. August 9 is the anniversary date of the Nagasaki
bombing.
by Michael Gillespie
7.28.2024; reprinted with permission
About 50 Iowa peace and social justice activists gathered in front of the Federal Building in Des Moines at 3 in the afternoon on Wednesday, July 24, in protest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's presentation in Washington, DC, before many members of the U.S. Congress earlier in the day.
By Edward Hasbrouck
[Stages of mobilization for war. Image from CNAS report based on Department of Defense mobilization plan. Note the absence of a Congressional declaration of war at any stage up to and including total military mobilization.]
[I’m often asked, “Why should we care about draft registration if there isn’t going to be a draft?”
