Hope and Courage Trump Fear

Dear Friend for Peace,

As history unfolds in Egypt, we are in awe of the courage of ordinary citizens. The people of Egypt deserve to have their voices heard and to organize peacefully. They deserve human rights.

The situation is very fluid, and there could still be a major bloodbath. Here are some things you can do:

Call the White House: Encourage President Obama to take the side of Egypt's people. Say that you want the U.S. to stop funding the Mubarak regime now, to call on Mubarak to resign, and to urge the Egyptian military to refuse illegal orders to attack civilians: 202-456-1414.
Call the Egyptian embassy and say, "Please tell the Egyptian government to respect human rights, rein in the security forces, and restore access to all communications in Egypt": 202-895-5400, then dial "1" to speak to a real person.
Contact your members of Congress and tell them to immediately end U.S. military aid to Egypt, which pays for weapons that are being used against protesters.

The brave women and men of Egypt, many of them young people, are going up against a brutal regime and risking their lives for a better future. They are fighting for basic rights and economic security.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government continues to prop up this vicious regime, to the tune of $1.3 billion of our tax dollars annually. As a result, courageous Egyptian citizens are being bombarded with U.S. tear gas and other made-in-the-U.S.A. weapons.

As people living here in the U.S. who care about what happens beyond our borders, you and I can play a supporting role at this historic moment. We must say: enough!

Please take action.

Update on MD General Assembly Letter to Cut the Military Budget

If you contacted your senator and delegates in Annapolis last week, asking them to sign the letter to Maryland's congressional delegation to cut the military budget--thank you!

Twenty-eight General Assembly members have signed the letter. However, that's not enough! So, we need you to call your delegates and senators and urge them to sign the Raskin-Hixson letter to Congress to cut the military budget and use the money saved for needs at home. To identify your representatives in Annapolis, click here. From there, you can easily find phone numbers.

This is an important step that you can take to show that we want our tax money used at home, not to attack other people around the world.

Thank you for all that you do!

In peace,

Jean, Pat, Pam, Alex, Dave, Nik, Steve, Tim, Bahram, Karen, Melinda, Fran, Josh, Mike, Shelley

P.S. Read these remarks from Nobel Peace Prize winner and Egyptian democracy activist Mohamed ElBaradei--and then make two phone calls and contact Congress via an on-line link:

"The international community must understand we are being denied every human right day by day. Egypt today is one big prison. We are fighting for universal values here. If the west is not going to speak out now, then when?"

www.PeaceActionMC.org

Today's Quote

"Beware of the people's rain of tears, for the drops, when joined together, create a flood."

Sa'di

Calendar

Wed., Feb. 7: 7 p.m., Peace Action Montgomery meeting, 2305 Gold Mine Road, Brookeville.*

Thurs., Feb. 3: 7 p.m. Progressive Cheverly forum, "The Militarization of America: At What Cost?" presented by Jean Athey. Judith Hoyer Montessori School, 2300 Belleview, Cheverly.*

Sun., Feb. 6: 2 - 4 p.m. Rep. Donna Edwards speaks at a meeting of the Clean and Fair Elections Coalition, of which Peace Action Montgomery is a member, on the topic of a constitutional amendment to address corporate money in elections. Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church, 3215 Powder Mill Rd., Adelphi.*

Wed., Feb. 16 - Fri., Feb. 18: Montgomery College, Germantown campus, Globe Hall, art exhibit: Transforming the Human Spirit, examining the culture of violence. Opening events Feb. 16, 3 - 5 p.m.

Thurs., Feb. 17: Peace Action Montgomery meeting. Location TBD. Contact us for more info.*

Sun., Feb. 20: 2 - 5 p.m. Community-wide conference on Teaching Peace at Friends Meeting School, 3232 Green Valley Road, Ijamsville, MD (about 20 miles north of Rockville, just into Frederick County). Colman McCarthy will be the keynote speaker. Free to all. For further information, contact Pat Elder or 202-210-3467.

Every Saturday: Join the Olney Peace Witness, corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave., 10:30-11:30 a.m.*

Every Friday: Vigil at Walter Reed, in the open plaza between Dahlia and Elder streets, 7 to 9 p.m., come for any amount of time during that period.*

*Events that Peace Action Montgomery has discussed and formally endorsed.

www.PeaceActionMC.org

MD General Assembly: Sign the Raskin-Hixson Letter!

These are the Maryland General Assembly members who have signed the letter to our Congressional delegation, asking for a cut in military spending:

Senators: Ulysses Currie - D25; Brian Frosh -D16; Delores Kelley - D10;Paul Pinsky - D22; Catherine Pugh - D40; Ronald Young - D3

Delegates: Sam Arora - D19; Elizabeth Bobo - D12B; Alfred Carr - D18;Bonnie Cullison - D19; Steven DeBoy, D-12; Cheryl Glen - D45; Ana Sol Gutierrez - D18; Hattie Harrison - D45; Anne Kaiser - D14; Ariana Kelly - D16; Benjamin Kramer - D19; Susan Lee - D16; Mary Ann Love - D32; Eric Luedtke - D14; Aruna Miller - D15; Dan Morhaim - D11; Peter Murphy - D28; Doyle Niemann - D10; Kirill Reznik - D39; Samuel Rosenberg - D41; Joseph Vallario - D27A; Mary Washington - D43

Dead-Enders on the Potomac

A Protester in Cairo
An excellent editorial from Middle East Report Online:

With one US-backed Arab despot dislodged and dodging Interpol, and another facing an intifada of historic proportions, many eyes looked to Washington, hopeful that President Barack Obama might reprise his ballyhooed Cairo speech of June 2009, showing the restive Arab masses that he felt and, perhaps, really understood their pain. Instead, Arab populations have heard a variation on Washington's long-standing theme: "The Obama administration seeks to encourage political reforms without destabilizing the region." That sentence, taken from the National Security Network's January 27 press release, says it all: Democracy is great in theory, but if it will cause any disruption to business as usual, Washington prefers dictatorship.

And so it was no surprise, though a deep and indelible blot upon Obama and his "progressive" entourage, when the president took a White House lectern on the evening of January 28 -- Egypt's "Friday of Rage" -- and announced his continued backing for the indefensible regime of President Husni Mubarak. In so doing, he ensured that the Arab fury of the winter of 2011 would be directed increasingly toward the United States as well as its regional vassals.

Read more here.

TO DO THIS WEEK

Call the White House about the situation in Egypt: 202-456-1414

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Call the Egyptian embassy and demand safety for the people: 202-895-5400, ext. 1.

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Contact Congress and express your support for the people of Egypt and in opposition to continued U.S. support for the Mubarak regime.

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Call your delegates and senator in the Maryland General Assembly: ask them to sign the Raskin-Hixson letter to cut the military budget.

Commentary

From a press release by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, on the State of the Union speech:

There is a sensible way to jumpstart the economy and reduce the deficit, and that does not include cutting critical social safety net programs while rewarding the super wealthy.

The President did express support for the modest military spending cuts proposed by Secretary Gates, and while this is a positive step, we should do more.

We must reign in out-of-control defense spending that now sends nearly 60 percent of all discretionary dollars into a black hole at the Pentagon with no oversight, no accountability, and no consequences.

We can make meaningful and safe cuts to the defense budget, safely end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and close loopholes for millionaires that will immediately save billions of dollars and allow us to make vital investments for our nation's future.

Unfortunately, despite growing calls from Members of Congress and the American public, we did not hear the President announce a clear and urgent roadmap to peace in Afghanistan.