BRANDYWINE PEACE COMMUNITY - P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA, 19081--(610)544-1818BRANDYWINE PEACE COMMUNITY - P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA, 19081--(610)544-1818
Declaring Independence from War, Oil, & Corporate Power, July 3, 2010, Independence Mall, Phila., PA
View Melissa Elliott's Photos here
Over the past decade, the Brandywine Peace Community has organized alternate observances of Independence Day in the historic section of Philadelphia, at and around the sites of Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the National Constitution Center, evoking the vision of the Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776. In past years, these demonstrations have taken multiple forms: observances of the death toll in Iraq; hundreds participating in robust parades – with puppets and loudly lead by bag pipes and drums through the Olde City section of Philadelphia – declaring peace in protest of the U.S. policy of endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and demonstrations drawing the connection between domestic violence and U.S. global militarism, calling for an end to the violence: handgun to H-Bomb.
July 4, 2010, marked day number 75 of the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, the 65th anniversary (July 4, 1945) of the presidential authorization to use atomic bombs on Japan, and was a month after the announcement that the U.S. has expended $1 Trillion since 2001 for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. War, empire, weapons economy and military-industrial complex, the U.S. addiction to oil and its enabling wars, all share the same root – the ascendancy of corporate power and state and our subjugation to the power of the war profiteers and multi-national oil corporations.
Just before Independence Day a group of scientists reported that they had found a change Thomas Jefferson made in an early draft of the Declaration of Independence. Library of Congress called the adjustment a "Freudian slip". Through a procedure called hyperspectral imaging, which takes multiple images to highlight layers of a document, it was discovered that Jefferson had made a word change while penning the text. When drafting the Declaration Jefferson originally used the word “subjects” instead of the word that appears in the final draft. After writing “subjects”, Jefferson wiped the word away while the ink was still wet and replaced it with the word “citizens”.
Jefferson it seemed was still trying to get the monarchy out of his head just as now, we, as citizens, need to get empire and corporate greed out of our minds and spirits.
On July 3, 2010, a new Declaration of Independence was declared and a new meaning of citizenry. About fifty people gathered on the lawn next to the Independence Visitors Center, facing the Independence Hall and just steps from the Liberty Bell. Music by Tom Mullian, speakers (see below) including “Tom Paine” in the person of historical actor Steve Gulick, readings from activist-historian Howard Zinn, bell-tolling, and a large banner draped from a canopy reading DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE followed by large signs reading: from WAR, from OIL, from CORPORATE POWER, on July 3, 2010, we declared our independence not as subjects to empire but as citizens and guardians of the earth.
...We hold these truths to be self-evident...: justice, democracy, peace, the earth! Our country and our earth are held in the grip of war profiteers and multinational oil companies that keep us bound to a future of oil addiction and war. Declare your independence from the tyranny of war and oil.
$1 trillion has been spent since 2001 on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The human and financial cost of the war in Afghanistan is escalating. The annual U.S. military budget has reached $680 billion, not including the cost of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest war profiteer, receives more than $42 billion a year from the Pentagon while whole communities are devastated by the economic impact of endless war and corporate war profiteering.
The disaster caused by the continued gushing of anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico underscores the profit-driven recklessness of the big five oil companies — not just BP, but Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell — at the expense of lives and the environment. Just before the catastrophe in the Gulf began, BP announced first quarter profits of $5.6 billion, a 135% increase over the first quarter of 2010.
The Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776, here in Philadelphia, gave the world another vision of liberty and freedom. We implore you this Independence Day to reclaim our society and our children’s future from corporate plunder. Instead, make a commitment to peace, and to a clean, safe, green energy future.
Sign the Declaration of Independence from Corporate Dominance at the Shalom Center http://www.theshalomcenter.org/node/1722
america, america by tom mullian
i left my guns in the desert terrain
and i threw my bullets into the pouring rain
at the edge of the plains, let the horses run free
and i went looking for liberty...
well, i walked all the trails that i could find
and i rode all the rails to the end of the line
then i called to the brakeman 'take me to the heartland,
i'm looking for my country', but he did not understand
america, america, i'm looking for you urgently
america, america, ole glory won't you hear my plea?
wagons roll on into the dust
wheels get buried in centuries of rust
can you build a country on the backs of slaves?
can you grow a nation on a sacred native grave?
in the drift of the ages, in the rifts of time
the jewels of our wisdom were sold for a crime
now riverboats run down waters they can't cross
searching for something that the gamblers lost
america....
i dreamwalked sands where the white bones gleam
and i crossed red rivers on the smoke of a dream
and i feel that a change is coming here soon
searching for freedom at the edge of doom
up on the coast where the warships dock
by pounding waters by black diamond rocks
i sang of billy yank to the men that have failed
with a tombstone prayer for this ship of fools that sails
america...
would you hold my brothers in the arms of the light?
would you tell my sisters we'll make it through the night?
we'll cut all the chains of our false beliefs
with a sword of truth on a fiery street
in the corridors of power, in the hallways of might
the men of the hour, believe their might makes right
but i'll never die drowning in my grief
we have the strength to struggle
in this i still believe
america, america...
i left my guns in the desert terrain
and i threw my bullets into the pouring rain
at the edge of the plains, let the horses run free
and i went looking for liberty...
america, america, i'm looking for you urgently
america, america, ole glory won't you hear my plea?
america
america
america...
words & music by tom mullian
copyright 2008
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July 3, 2010, Celeste Zappala
Thank you for being here, thank you Bob [Bob Smith, Brandywine Peace Community staff organizer] and Arthur [Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center and drafter of the Declaration of Independence from Corporate Domination] for calling us together, and thanks to each of you for standing up for what you believe in.
I have stood with many of you many times before; you know that my son Sgt Sherwood Baker was killed in Baghdad on a futile mission to find the weapons of mass destruction in 2004. He was the 720th soldier killed in Iraq, and the first from the PA National Guard.
He is dead now six years two months and 6 days-
Sher was not a perfect person, but he was good and kind hearted. He was our hero not for his death, but how fully he lived. One of the hardest things to think of is that he was the oldest of my three boys, and now they have grown past him, he will always be 30 years old.
On that first 4th of July after his death, I stood here and spoke at the Eyes Wide Open tribute- a display of the boots of soldiers killed in Iraq, seven soldiers died during the days that display was up- we left that weekend with the number at 865.
Six years later there are 4411 Americans who have been killed in Iraq- the display of boots can no longer be trucked around the country, it has grown far to large- and that is a pity – now the numbers are more easily hidden more easily forgotten
The families who loved them never forget, their beloveds are in the dawn of every day, in the passing of every celebration and in the quiet assaults of anger and grief that always come. It does not really matter any more if their families supported the war then or now, the hope held for those lives has been extinguished.
Some things to consider as we stand here in the birth place of American democracy- the 5th graders who watched the invasion of Baghdad are now graduated from high school, and some will take their place in outposts of Iraqi roads.- and some will add to the numbers of the dead- Many of the soldiers now in Iraq will pack their gear and head to the wide open theater of Afghanistan- Americas longest war now approaching its 9th birthday. Will the nine year olds you know still be fighting this war when they graduate from high school?
Even though promises were made to remove the soldiers from Iraq by August, 50,000 will remain as the name of the war changes from combat operations to stability operations- but some things seem to be the same- no one can give a coherent answer as to why the United States went to war with Iraq. Does any one give a coherent answer as to what success will look like in Afghanistan?
This year 41 American soldiers have died in Iraq more from suicide than combat. In Afghanistan the numbers are grimmer still, 203 this year, and there too suicide takes many. Injuries, PTSD, dismemberment, shattered bones and minds, the legacy of these wars without reason will go on forever.
No one can ignore the enormous cost in lives and future of the Iraqis and Afghans- hundreds of thousands of lives- blown up, burned up, all hopes hollowed out- the legacy of wars with no reason.
I would never say that conflict is easily solved. And I cannot deny that there are many in the world who have great hatred for the United States- but if hundreds of thousands of lives lost, and 1 trillion 6 billion dollars have not brought conflict to an end then I am sure there must be another path to follow to find a road to peace that could be sustained.
So tonight we are declaring our independence- and I would ask that as a nation we declare our independence from those who profit from the endless war, who manufacture weapons to arm anybody, who create ever more seductive ways to kill other human beings and who wrap their intentions and motives in patriotic flags, of one nation or another, Their flag is global greed and perpetual conflict to sustain the business- lets be free of it.
The other request is much more personal, I ask you to declare your independence from the protective apathy that allows us every day to ignore the agonies of war -that allows us to send 1% of our fellow citizens to carry the weight of our collective military decisions.
The decisions that seem to have no basis in reason, no predictable conclusion, no real goal of peace.
We are still a democracy even if it does not feel like it – we are still responsible and bear the consequences - of the actions of this Democracy-
So I would ask you tonight as you sign this new declaration to look into the eyes of those around you and commit in the name of all you love for these are indeed, Our lives, Our fortunes, and Our sacred honor"
Celeste Zappala
Mother of Sgt Sherwood Baker, KIA 4/26/04Gold Star Families Speak Out/Military Families Speak Out
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"Declare Your Independence from War, Oil, & Corporate Power"
by Sue Edwards, Delaware County Wage Peace & Justice, Independence Mall - July 3, 2010
I've seen myself as a peace activist for years, since the days of the Vietnam War. But now I want to talk about the necessity of linking that movement with another "world-saving" movement, environmentalism. The BP oil spill, or rather oil catastrophe, in the Gulf of Mexico is now the third largest oil spill ever in the history of the world. It is the equivalent of 12 Exxon Valdezes, and it's still growing in size. I don't need to tell you the tragedy of the 11 workers' lives lost, the spoiled coastlines, the sickened and dying wildlife and the cost to the economies and jobs of people in several states.
We have a problem with the Future of our planet, and I'm sorry I'm going to have to use some "F" words: Fossil Fuels are Finite!
We have passed Peak Oil, which means that we will be harvesting dwindling petroleum reserves. That effort will be increasingly dangerous, it will be at the edge of our technical capabilities, and some of it will never have been done before. Thus BP's stumbling response to their blowout is only the beginning. Now, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to use a "W" word - WARMING. Here's a fact: 9 of 10 warmest years on record were in past 10 yrs. Global warming, which should really by called "Human-Caused Global Climate Change" or "Climate Chaos," will bring us floods, extreme hurricanes, droughts, species extinctions, water shortages, and sea level rise. There are debates about the extent of these repercussions, but most respected scientists do not doubt that we can expect major devastation ahead if we do not get carbon emissions under control.
There is a scientific consensus developing that the planet can tolerate a level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of 350 ppm, way above the 280 ppm that was the norm before the Industrial Revolution, but evidently manageable. The bad news is that neutralizing climate change is going to be expensive, to the tune of $45 trillion worldwide. Compare that to WW II's total cost, $2.5 trillion; or to the total combined cost of the Manhattan Project, the Marshall Plan & the Apollo Project, which was just a quarter of one trillion dollars all together. So dealing with climate change is going to take major resources and cooperation with other nations!
We will need to vastly improve the efficiency of industry, commerce, transportation, home heating, food production, etc. We need to invest in Wind Power, Solar Power, Tidal Power, Geothermal Power, Hydroelectric Power, and whatever other kind of clean, safe power we can invent. We need expanded mass transit, electric cars, and stronger conservation regulations on utilities. We need improved agriculture & forestry practices. But most important, we need to find a way to pay the true cost of fossil fuels, whether through a cap & trade system, or as many thinking people have concluded, a carbon tax with dividends, which would reward those who conserve. To do all this we clearly need increased understanding on the part of the public! The trouble is, the oil industry is trying its best to keep us all uninformed.
There are 4 times more oil lobbyists in Wash. D.C. than Congresspeople! The question is, especially with our economy in the shape it's in now--lots of people needing jobs, and deficits growing—where could we possibly get the money to make the needed changes?
Think about it--the Pentagon controls the biggest pot of money in the federal discretionary budget, more than half of it. Fortunately, a small but growing number of people are starting to say: NO WAR, NO WARMING! The peace movement and the environmental movement will have to link arms. Up until now, the peace movement has tended not to talk about the environment, and the environmental movement has tended not to talk about how we can pay for protecting the planet. The common concept between the two movements is SECURITY. That shouldn't be so hard to persuade the American people about!
Here are some links tying the military to fossil fuel dependency:
(1) The military is used to secure control of petroleum by fighting wars in oil-rich countries like Iraq or countries with potential oil pipelines such as Afghanistan.
(2) Ironically, in doing this, the military uses huge amounts of petroleum! Here's a telling comparison: The blowout in the Gulf is gushing about 2 million gallons of oil per day. But the military uses 12.6 million gallons of oil every day! So cutting the Pentagon budget and its reach will have the added benefit of saving us enormous quantities of oil, and stopping some of that carbon they burn from going into the atmosphere.
Previous generations saw nuclear war as the most threatening doomsday scenario, with the Military Industrial Complex as the target of protests. It now seems likely that climate change is at least as great a danger, with the coal & oil industries as the big impediment. We just need to show the American people that we can no longer afford to have Big Coal and Big Oil running our country and we can no longer afford wars of choice. If the truth is on our side, we will be more powerful than their money!
In Memorium…
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn