JUNE/JULY 2013
June is Torture Awareness Month
PEACE ACTIVISM
PT’s longtime friend and supporter, Cora Weiss, has organized a special program at the UN on June 6, 2013:
“Determined to Save Succeeding Generations from the Scourge of War”
Click HERE to find the live webcast. You can also post questions and comments during the session via THIS facebook page.
The NY Daily News printed Terry Rockefeller’s op-ed piece “Move to Shutter Guantanamo Now.” Click HERE.
PEACE CAMPAIGNS
Islamophobia & Intolerance:
Robyn Bernstein reports that soon after the Boston Marathon Bombing, she went to a monthly interfaith book club meeting in Wayland. This meeting was very soon after the attack and there were many new members. The book club is made up of people from Jewish, Christian or Muslim backgrounds. People were upset that the event happened and worried for different reasons. From listening to people, it seemed like the voices in support of moderate Muslims were not being heard or given publicity. Different faith groups had tried to publish letters in the media, but the Islamic groups in the region were too afraid to speak out. Working with members of the interfaith book group and the Steering Committee, two letters were sent (one to The Boston Globe and one to Gov. Duval Patrick) in support of our Muslim friends. After this, a lovely letter was received from some of the groups PT had supported:
Dear Members of Peaceful Tomorrows,
As leaders of the Muslim community in Boston and the New England area at large, we write to express our deep gratitude to you for your unsolicited and unconditional support on our behalf. At a time when the Muslim community is so misunderstood, stereotyped with such nonchalance by the media, at best sidelined by government, and at worst demonized with such raw vitriol by a cabal of Islamophobes, it is so heartening to us to have friends like you who articulate that which we ourselves have been silenced from doing.
Your spirit of altruism in reaching out with goodwill and encouragement to us, and challenging those in authority for their short-sightedness if not high-handedness reflects the highest level of ecumenical outreach. While we very much echo the sentiments you express, our invidious position constrains us from vocalizing these concerns on our own behalf.
We ask our Creator to bless each and everyone of you who has spoken out on our behalf as we have prayed to Him to grant His Beneficence on all those who continue to suffer torment from those days of infamy on 9/11 and 4/15.
May the Peace and the Blessings of Almighty God be with you!
N.A.,A.A., S.A.
Partners of the Month
Steering Committee
The SC welcomes comments and suggestions. To reach us, please e-mail Robyn, Barbara or Gloria directly at:
pianogal.bernstein@gmail.com
barbpt@frontier.com
atlast100@hotmail.com
Both, Nelson Mandela and Arun Gandhi have friended September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows on facebook!
INP chair, Jo Berry, received a standing ovation after her TEDxExeter talk last month!
