On June 5, between 12,000 and 15,000 protesters marched from the Washington, DC, Veterans Memorial Wall to the Pentagon, calling for an end to the bombing of Yugoslavia and nearby areas. But neither the Washington Post nor the New York Times carried a word about it. On the other hand, C-SPAN broadcast everything.

Reaching DC on the evening of June 3, I learned that 25 people had committed civil disobedience (CD) at the White House that day, including Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and Rev. John Dear, executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. I couldn’t be there because I’d been meeting Vermont high school students who, among other things, had eagerly asked my wife Elizabeth and me about the gains that could be made with increased CD. On Friday, June 4, however, I discovered that no CD was planned for the weekend. read more

The International Action Center is pleased to announce that the preparation for the International War Crimes Tribunal is officially underway. We both welcome and encourage all who would like to participate in the research effort.

The initial hearing on the indictment will be held in New York City at Dubinsky Hall at the Fashion Institute of Technology on July 31. Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark is currently preparing a multi-charge complaint, naming William J. Clinton, Madeleine Albright, William Cohen, various US/NATO Generals and others, as defendants for their part in the war against Yugoslavia. read more

On May 25, political Prisoner Leonard Peltier, who is suffering from a severe medical condition which causes his jaw to be frozen open 13 millimeters, requested current x-rays from prison authorities. The x-rays would help Maxillofacial expert, Dr. Eugene Keller of the Mayo Clinic, to determine what can be done to treat him.

Because prison authorities aren’t allowing Peltier to be transferred to the Rochester Medical Facility for federal prisoners, a facility where Keller could examine and treat Peltier, his defense team decided to attempt bringing Keller to Peltier instead. The physician is willing to examine Peltier at Leavenworth Penitentiary, but must have current x-rays before making the trip. read more

The onward march of new communications technologies has a profound impact on the way that warfare is perceived and conducted — and opposed. The US Civil War, the first to be fought with the means for killing produced by the Industrial Revolution, was also the first extensively photographed war. Matthew Brady’s haunting images of corpses piled in front of the guns at Antietam and Gettysburg brought the harsh realities of modern warfare to those at home who previously depended on charcoal sketches and word pictures. The photographs helped to undermine some of the false romantic notions about battlefield combat accepted by many at the time. read more

Years ago I remember a particularly influential professor who required that each student in his class volunteer or perform some community service as part of the course requirement. His explanation was simple: Students are idea-rich but experience-poor.

Now that I am a professor, I’m beginning to question his premise. I find that most of my college students are both idea- and experience-deprived. In fact, if I use a standard text, more often than not an outbreak of MEGO – My-Eyes-Glaze-Over – quickly overtakes the classroom. But one remedy I’ve found to that is the MEOW approach – My-Eyes-Open-Wide. And my most constant companion is alternative media. read more

Many strides have been made since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Promoting and protecting human rights has become a key theme in contemporary international relations. The mass media are more aware of the rights of women, minorities, and cultures. Within the UN itself, a High Commissioner for Human Rights monitors abuses globally.

And yet, as the UN celebrates the golden jubilee of the declaration, one of the most basic human rights – the right to live with dignity – is denied to the vast majority of humans. read more