[Nonviolenza] Telegrammi. 5417

[Centro di ricerca per la pace Centro di ricerca per la pace <centropacevt at gmail.com>]

TELEGRAMMI DELLA NONVIOLENZA IN CAMMINO
Numero 5417 del 17 dicembre 2024
Telegrammi quotidiani della nonviolenza in cammino proposti dal "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo a tutte le persone amiche della nonviolenza (anno XXV)
Direttore responsabile: Peppe Sini. Redazione: strada S. Barbara 9/E, 01100 Viterbo, e-mail: centropacevt at gmail.com, sito: https://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/

Sommario di questo numero:
1. "Native News online": 34 Members of Congress Urge President Biden to Pardon Leonard Peltier
2. La lettera a Biden dei 34 membri del Congresso che chiedono la grazia per Leonard Peltier
3. "Peoples Dispatch": Biden commutes sentences of roughly 1,500 and pardons 39...
4. Water Protector Legal Collective: Biden Ignores Indian Country and Clemency for Leonard Peltier When Granting Clemency to 1,500 Individuals
5. A Civitavecchia, Grosseto, Perugia, Terni e Viterbo diffuso un appello per la grazia a Leonard Peltier
6. Desiree Hellegers: 'Tis the Season to Talk Cimate Collapse, Nuclear Colonialism, and Freeing Leonard Peltier
7. Movimento Nonviolento: Obiezione alla guerra, scriviamolo su tutti i muri
8. Segnalazioni librarie
9. La "Carta" del Movimento Nonviolento
10. Per saperne di piu'

1. DOCUMENTAZIONE. "NATIVE NEWS ONLINE": 34 MEMBERS OF ONGRESS URGE PRESIDENT BIDEN TO PERDON LEONARD PELTIER
[Dal sito https://nativenewsonline.net/ riprendiamo e diffondiamo il seguente articolo del 13 dicembre 2024]

WASHINGTON - U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman Brian Schatz (D-HI) spearheaded a letter urging President Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier, the renowned Native American rights activist. The letter was dated Thursday, December 12, 2024, the same day the president commuted sentences of 1,500 individuals and pardoned 39, a record by a president in a single day.
The letter, signed by 34 Members of Congress, was sent during the final weeks of Biden's term, calling for a pardon for Peltier, who has been incarcerated since 1977 following a controversial trial and conviction for the murder of two FBI agents during a standoff on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
The lawmakers highlighted the long-standing legal and moral concerns surrounding Peltier's conviction, citing the case's flaws, including what many view as an unjust investigation and trial. The U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case has also called the trial problematic. In their appeal, the Members of Congress emphasized Peltier's advanced age and declining health, making the argument that a presidential pardon is his last chance for freedom. The case of Leonard Peltier remains a focal point of discussions about justice, Native American rights, and the U.S. legal system, with many advocates urging for his release on the grounds of humanitarian and legal concerns.
"Despite the grave concerns surrounding the continued imprisonment of Mr. Peltier, who is now 80 years old and suffering from severe health conditions, including increasing vision loss, the Bureau of Prisons denied Mr. Peltier a compassionate release or reduction in sentence in April of this year; and in July 2024, the U.S. Parole Commission denied him parole. These recent denials mean only you have the unique ability to grant him clemency and rectify this grave injustice that has long troubled human rights advocates and Native Peoples across the globe," the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers highlight the Biden-Harris administration's unprecedented record of addressing the country's history of injustices against Indigenous communities and urge President Biden to cement this legacy by commuting Mr. Peltier's sentence.
The letter was also signed by Representatives Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia (D-Ill.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Summer Lee (D-Ohio), Erica Lee Carter (D-Texas), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-Va.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawai'i), and Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), as well as U.S. Senators Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai'i), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and former U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

2. DOCUMENTAZIONE. LA LETTERA A BIDEN DEI 34 MEMBRI DEL CONGRESSO CHE CHIEDONO LA GRAZIA PER LEONARD PELTIER
[Dal sito https://nativenewsonline.net/ riprendiamo e diffondiamo il testo integrale della lettera dei 34 membri del Congresso che chiedono la grazia per Leonard Peltier]

December 12, 2024
President Joseph R. Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden:
We write to you with renewed urgency regarding the case of Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier.
The power to exercise mercy in this case lies solely within your discretion, and we urge you to grant Mr. Peltier clemency, allowing him to return home and live out his remaining days among his own people.
Nearly 50 years ago, Mr. Peltier, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, was arrested and later convicted for his alleged involvement in the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Since that time, Mr. Peltier has maintained his innocence, and serious concerns have been raised regarding the fairness of his trial and incarceration. Calls for his release have also received sweeping support from civil liberties and human rights organizations – including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch; faith leaders and other respected voices – including Pope Francis, Saint Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Coretta Scott King; and even those previously involved in his prosecution. James Reynolds, the former U.S. Attorney whose office oversaw Mr. Peltier's prosecution and appeal, has argued that Mr. Peltier has served his sentence "on the basis of minimal evidence, a result that [he] strongly doubt[s] would be upheld in any court today." (1)
Despite the grave concerns surrounding the continued imprisonment of Mr. Peltier, who is now 80 years old and suffering from severe health conditions, including increasing vision loss, the Bureau of Prisons denied Mr. Peltier a compassionate release or reduction in sentence in April of this year; and in July 2024, the U.S. Parole Commission denied him parole. These recent denials mean only you have the unique ability to grant him clemency and rectify this grave injustice that has long troubled human rights advocates and Native Peoples across the globe.
We commend the steps that your Administration has taken to right past wrongs of our federal government's treatment of Native Americans, and the steps you have taken to uphold the American values of liberty and justice, including rectifying inequities in our nation's criminal justice system. In keeping with these principles, we strongly urge you to commute Mr. Peltier's sentence.
Sincerely,
Seguono le firme dei 34 membri del Congresso
*
Nota
1. Letter from James Reynolds, Former U.S. Attorney, to President Joseph R. Biden (Jul. 9, 2021),
https://www.amnestyusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/From-US-Attorney-James-Reynolds.pdf.

3. DOCUMENTAZIONE. "PEOPLES DISPATCH": BIDEN COMMUTES SENTENCES OF ROUGHLY 1,500 AND PARDONS 39...
[Dal sito https://peoplesdispatch.org/ riprendiamo e diffondiamo il seguente articolo del 12 dicembre 2024]

Biden commutes sentences of roughly 1,500 and pardons 39, as human rights organizations demand death penalty pardons
Biden commutes sentences of roughly 1,500 and pardons 39, but includes no current political prisoners who continue to languish behind bars
*
US President Joe Biden is using his final days in office to grant a sweeping act of clemency to over 1,000 US prisoners. On December 12, Biden commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who have already been released from US prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic and are currently in home confinement. Biden also pardoned 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes. However, Biden has left unaddressed the demands of human rights organizations to pardon those with federal death sentences.
Groups organizing against the US's vast system of mass incarceration are demanding that Biden do more with his presidential powers. Organizations such as the Innocence Project, the ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, issued a call on December 9 for Biden to commute all federal death sentences before his term ends. These organizations cite the racial bias and arbitrariness that exists in sentences of death in the US, as well as the failure of the death penalty to increase public safety.
Biden has not used his presidential pardoning powers to pardon any of the many political prisoners in the US. These include Leonard Peltier, an Indigenous freedom fighter who is currently the longest-held political prisoner in the United States. Peltier is currently 80 years old and has dealt with various health struggles, including being hospitalized in October, but was denied parole following his first parole hearing in over a decade.
Organizations such as the NDN Collective continue to call for clemency for Peltier. "This is promising momentum as we continue to work towards Clemency for Leonard Peltier," stated the NDN Collective. "The President continues to show signs of mercy and justice for those incarcerated in the jails and prisons across this country."
This act of clemency comes several days after Biden received criticism across the political spectrum for issuing a full and unconditional pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, covering all his federal offenses including tax and gun charges. This is despite the fact that President Biden and those in his administration had stated multiple times that the President would never issue a pardon for his son. As recently as November 7, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had insisted that Biden would never issue a pardon for his son.

4. DOCUMENTAZIONE. WATER PROTECTOR LEGAL COLLECTIVE: BIDEN IGNORES INDIAN COUNTRY AND CLEMENCY FOR LEONARD PELTIER WHEN GRANTING CLEMENCY TO 1,500 INDIVIDUALS
[Dal sito www.waterprotectorlegal.org riprendiamo e diffondiamo il seguente comunicato del 13 dicembre 2024]

Contact: Nizhoni Begay, WPLC Communications,
communications at waterprotectorlegal.org
*
On December 12, 2024, the Biden Administration and the White House issued a fact sheet and list of 1,500 individuals who have been granted clemency. Elder Leonard Peltier, a 80-year-old Citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and of Lakota/Dakota descent, is the longest-serving political prisoner in United States history. While he can still correct course before he leaves office, Biden's list today has failed to include Mr. Peltier despite increased and heightened efforts from Indian Country demanding Biden to grant clemency to our Relative and Elder.
The White House touts this executive action as an example of "the President's record of criminal justice reform to help reunite families, strengthen communities, and reintegrate individuals back into society" and his intention to "[grant] clemency to individuals convicted of non-violent crimes who were sentenced under outdated laws, policies, and practices that left them with longer sentences than if the individuals were sentenced today."
The framing around Biden's efforts for criminal justice reform and correcting historical wrongs is a far cry from the lived experiences of individuals most impacted and discriminated against in this country. The Biden administration has an opportunity to right a historical wrong by granting Mr. Peltier clemency, but the list released today–without Leonard Peltier's name - is an affront to Indian Country and a contradiction to Biden's stated goals of uplifting and respecting Indigenous Peoples rights in the United States.
Although the White House clemency list indicates Biden focused on those that were convicted for "non-violent" crimes, it also points to outdated laws, policies, and longer sentences. Leonard Peltier has maintained his innocence for 50 years and his trial and continued incarceration have been due to gross misconduct and the exact outdated laws, policies, and practices that lead to longer sentences that Biden claims to be his motivation for engaging in large sweeps of clemency powers.
It is an act of violence upon Indian Country and Leonard Peltier to ignore the cries reverberating throughout the U.S. to grant Mr. Peltier clemency. A father, grandfather and great-grandfather, an artist, and ceremonial Sundance and Chaŋnuŋpa-Carrier (Pipe-Carrier), Mr. Peltier deserves to spend his elder years with his family following nearly half a century of imprisonment in the custody of the United States. Now 80 years old, he has spent more of his life in prison than as a free man. In September 1953, he was enrolled at the Wahpeton Indian School in North Dakota, an Indian boarding school run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, making him one of the oldest surviving Indian boarding school survivors. An extraordinary amount of his incarceration in prison has been spent in solitary confinement, confined to a small, windowless cell that he has described as a "cement steel hotbox." Leonard has been repeatedly denied parole despite widespread legal and human rights experts condemning the irregularities in his case, including fabricated evidence, witness manipulation, FBI interference, and violations of international law.
We will support Leonard Peltier until he is free. The time for his freedom and justice is now.
Biden's pardon decisions today fall short and WPLC calls on President Biden to uphold the rule of law and respect human rights by granting Leonard Peltier clemency in the remaining days of his administration.
*
For more information about the background of Mr. Peltier’s case and incarceration please visit:
Biden: The Time for Leonard Peltier's Freedom Is Now
Time for Justice: Leonard Peltier's June Parole Hearing Garners Vast Support Including Legal Expert Letter on Arbitrary Detention from WPLC
Human rights organizations and advocates at U.N. 139th Session Call for Release of Leonard Peltier
Last year, we participated in "Leonard Peltier's Walk To Justice" held by the American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council (AIMGGC). Hear from Steven Donziger, Natali Segovia, and Michael "Rattler" Markus on why it's important to support Leonard's case.
WPLC Joins Calls to Action to Support Elder & Political Prisoner, Leonard Peltier
The Water Protector Legal Collective stands in solidarity with Leonard Peltier and AIMGGC's Leonard Peltier's Walk To Justice

5. REPETITA IUVANT. A CIVITAVECCHIA, GROSSETO, PERUGIA, TERNI E VITERBO DIFFUSO UN APPELLO PER LA GRAZIA A LEONARD PELTIER

Sabato 14 dicembre 2024 nelle citta' di Civitavecchia, Grosseto, Perugia, Terni e Viterbo e' stato diffuso un appello per la liberazione di Leonard Peltier.
L'appello propone alle persone di volonta' buona, alle associazioni impegnate per i diritti umani ed alle istituzioni democratiche di scrivere al Presidente statunitense Biden affinche' prima della conclusione del suo mandato conceda la grazia all'attivista nativo americano da 48 anni detenuto per un crimine che non ha commesso.
Di seguito il testo integrale dell'appello diffuso.
* * *
NON MUOIA IN CARCERE LEONARD PELTIER
Invitiamo tutte le persone di volonta' buona, le associazioni impegnate per i diritti umani e le istituzioni democratiche a scrivere al Presidente statunitense Biden affinche' prima della conclusione del suo mandato conceda la grazia a Leonard Peltier, l'illustre attivista nativo americano da 48 anni detenuto per un crimine che non ha commesso.
Di seguito un modello di lettera ed alcune indicazioni utili.
*
Egregio Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America,
manca poco piu' di un mese al termine del suo mandato presidenziale.
In queste settimane lei decidera', come e' consuetudine, di concedere la grazia ad alcuni detenuti.
Le scriviamo per chiederle di concedere la grazia a Leonard Peltier e ci permetta di elencarle alcune buone ragioni a sostegno di questo suo atto non solo di umanita', ma di verita' e di giustizia.
1. Leonard Peltier ha ottanta anni ed e' in prigione da 48 anni per un delitto che non ha commesso: non ha mai ucciso nessuno, ed anzi si e' sempre adoperato in difesa della vita delle persone, dei popoli, della natura.
2. Leonard Peltier ha subito un processo viziato da "testimonianze" dimostratesi false e da "prove" dimostratesi anch'esse false; autorevoli magistrati e numerose personalita' delle istituzioni del suo paese hanno riconosciuto che la sua condanna e' stata ingiusta, frutto di una persecuzione, palesemente contraria al diritto.
3. Leonard Peltier e' un uomo anziano gravemente malato: che possa tornare alla sua famiglia in questo poco tempo che gli resta da vivere.
4. La liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta da personalita' benemerite dell'umanita' come Nelson Mandela e madre Teresa di Calcutta.
5. La liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta da alcune delle maggiori autorita' morali e religiose mondiali: come il Dalai Lama e papa Francesco.
6. La liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta da prestigiose associazioni umanitarie, come Amnesty International e il Movimento Nonviolento.
7. La liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta dal Parlamento Europeo, dall'Onu (una cui commissione ad hoc ha ricostruito l'intera vicenda giudiziaria concludendo che debba essere liberato), e da innumerevoli altre istituzioni democratiche di tutto il mondo.
8. La liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta da innumerevoli istituzioni, associazioni e movimenti rappresentativi dei popoli nativi, dediti alla protezione dei diritti umani, impegnati in difesa della Madre Terra.
9. La liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta da milioni di persone di tutto il mondo.
10. Last, but not least, la liberazione di Leonard Peltier e' stata chiesta all'unanimita' anche dal Comitato Nazionale del Partito Democratico degli Stati Uniti d'America, il partito di cui anche lei fa parte, ed anzi e' il piu' autorevole rappresentante.
Egregio Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America,
restituisca la liberta' a Leonard Peltier.
Voglia gradire distinti saluti.
*
Alleghiamo alcune indicazioni utili:
- Allegato primo. Per scrivere al Presidente Biden;
- Allegato secondo. Per saperne un po' di piu' su Leonard Peltier, da 48 anni prigioniero innocente;
- Allegato terzo. Alcuni ulteriori contatti utili per informazioni dirette sulle iniziative attualmente in corso in Italia e in Europa per Leonard Peltier.
*
Allegato primo. Per scrivere al Presidente Biden
Per scrivere al Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America e' sufficiente collegarsi al sito della Casa Bianca alla pagina web: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Compilare quindi gli item successivi:
- alla voce MESSAGE TYPE: scegliere Contact the President
- alla voce PREFIX: scegliere il titolo corrispondente alla propria identita'
- alla voce FIRST NAME: scrivere il proprio nome
- alla voce SECOND NAME: si puo' omettere la compilazione
- alla voce LAST NAME: scrivere il proprio cognome
- alla voce SUFFIX, PRONOUNS: si puo' omettere la compilazione
- alla voce E-MAIL: scrivere il proprio indirizzo e-mail
- alla voce PHONE: scrivere il proprio numero di telefono seguendo lo schema 39xxxxxxxxxx
- alla voce COUNTRY/STATE/REGION: scegliere Italy
- alla voce STREET: scrivere il proprio indirizzo nella sequenza numero civico, via/piazza
- alla voce CITY: scrivere il nome della propria citta' e il relativo codice di avviamento postale
- alla voce WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY? [Cosa vorresti dire?]: scrivere un breve testo (di seguito una traccia utilizzabile):
"Egregio Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America,
le scriviamo per chiederle di concedere la grazia presidenziale a Leonard Peltier.
Come lei sa, Leonard Peltier ha gia' subito 48 anni di carcere per un delitto che non ha commesso.
E' vecchio, e' gravemente malato, le sue patologie non possono essere adeguatamente curate in carcere.
La sua liberazione e' stata chiesta da Nelson Mandela, da madre Teresa di Calcutta, dal Dalai Lama, da papa Francesco, da Amnesty International, dal Parlamento Europeo, dall'Onu, da milioni di persone di tutto il mondo.
Egregio Presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America,
conceda la grazia a Leonard Peltier.
Restituisca la liberta' a Leonard Peltier.
Distinti saluti".
*
Allegato secondo. Per saperne un po' di piu' su Leonard Peltier, da 48 anni prigioniero innocente
Leonard Peltier e' un illustre attivista nativo americano difensore dei diritti umani di tutti gli esseri umani e dell'intero mondo vivente, da 48 anni prigioniero innocente.
Segnaliamo alcuni materiali di documentazione in lingua italiana disponibili nella rete telematica:
https://sites.google.com/view/viterboperleonardpeltier/home-page
https://sites.google.com/view/vetralla-per-peltier-2021/home-page
https://sites.google.com/view/vetrallaperpeltier2022/home-page
https://sites.google.com/view/vetrallaperleonardpeltier2023/home-page
https://sites.google.com/view/vetralla-per-peltier-2024/home-page
Segnaliamo anche alcune pubblicazioni a stampa in italiano e in inglese particolarmente utili:
- Edda Scozza, Il coraggio d'essere indiano. Leonard Peltier prigioniero degli Stati Uniti, Erre Emme, Pomezia (Roma) 1996 (ora Roberto Massari Editore, Bolsena Vt).
- Peter Matthiessen, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, 1980, Penguin Books, New York 1992 e successive ristampe; in edizione italiana: Peter Matthiessen, Nello spirito di Cavallo Pazzo, Frassinelli, Milano 1994.
- Leonard Peltier (con la collaborazione di Harvey Arden), Prison writings. My life is my sun dance, St. Martin's Griffin, New York 1999; in edizione italiana: Leonard Peltier, La mia danza del sole. Scritti dalla prigione, Fazi, Roma 2005.
- Jim Messerschmidt, The Trial of Leonard Peltier, South End Press, Cambridge, MA, 1983, 1989, 2002.
- Bruce E. Johansen, Encyclopedia of the American Indian Movement, Greenwood, Santa Barbara - Denver - Oxford, 2013 e piu' volte ristampata.
Segnaliamo inoltre che nella rete telematica e' disponibile una notizia sintetica in italiano dal titolo "Alcune parole per Leonard Peltier":
https://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/2022/03/msg00001.html
Sempre nella rete telematica e' disponibile anche una piu' ampia ed approfondita bibliografia ragionata dal titolo "Dieci libri piu' uno che sarebbe bene aver letto per conoscere la vicenda di Leonard Peltier (e qualche altro minimo suggerimento bibliografico)":
https://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/2022/09/msg00064.html
Ancora nella rete telematica segnaliamo una lettera "ad adiuvandum" alla "United States Parole Commission" del 22 giugno 2024:
https://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/2024/06/msg00055.html
Segnaliamo anche che in queste settimane il "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo pubblica un notiziario telematico quotidiano con la testata "Non muoia in carcere Leonard Peltier" che propone iniziative e materiali.
Segnaliamo infine l'attuale sito ufficiale del Comitato di solidarieta' con Leonard Peltier, il "Free Leonard Peltier Ad Hoc Committee": www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org
*
Allegato terzo. Alcuni ulteriori contatti utili per informazioni dirette sulle iniziative attualmente in corso in Italia e in Europa per Leonard Peltier
Per informazioni sulle principali iniziative italiane contattare Andrea De Lotto, tel. 3490931155, e-mail: bigoni.gastone at gmail.com
Vi e' anche un gruppo su facebook: Free Leonard Peltier Italy: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1051622359691101
Un sito che fornisce preziose informazioni aggiornate sulle iniziative in Europa (in tedesco e in inglese) e' www.leonardpeltier.de
Un riferimento fondamentale in Italia e' anche l'ottima rivista "Tepee" e la storica associazione Soconas-Incomindios: per contatti scrivere o telefonare alla professoressa Naila Clerici: cell. 3478207381, e-mail: naila.clerici at soconasincomindios.it, facebook: facebook.com/pages/Soconas-Incomindios/,  youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1jno1fq2G_HnMd50IG0hww
Ricordiamo infine ancora una volta che il sito ufficiale (in inglese) del Comitato di solidarieta' con Leonard Peltier, il "Free Leonard Peltier Ad Hoc Committee", e' www.freeleonardpeltiernow.org
*
A cura del "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo
Viterbo, 14 dicembre 2024
Mittente: "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo, strada S. Barbara 9/E, 01100 Viterbo, e-mail: centropacevt at gmail.com
Il "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo e' una struttura nonviolenta attiva dagli anni '70 del secolo scorso che ha sostenuto, promosso e coordinato varie campagne per il bene comune, locali, nazionali ed internazionali. E' la struttura nonviolenta che negli anni Ottanta ha coordinato per l'Italia la piu' ampia campagna di solidarieta' con Nelson Mandela, allora detenuto nelle prigioni del regime razzista sudafricano. Nel 1987 ha promosso il primo convegno nazionale di studi dedicato a Primo Levi. Dal 2000 pubblica il notiziario telematico quotidiano "La nonviolenza e' in cammino". Dal 2021 e' particolarmente impegnato nella campagna per la liberazione di Leonard Peltier, l'illustre attivista nativo americano difensore dei diritti umani di tutti gli esseri umani e dell'intero mondo vivente, da 48 anni prigioniero innocente.

6. DOCUMENTAZIONE. DESIREE HELLEGERS: 'TIS THE SEASON TO TALK CLIMATE COLLAPSE. NUCLEAR COLONIALISMO, AND FREEING LEONARD PELTIER
[Dal sito www.counterpunch.org riprendiamo e diffondiamo il seguente intervento dell'11 dicembre 2024]

I don't know about you, but personally, the whole festive holiday thing seems to be falling a bit flat this year. Don't get me wrong, like every other year, I do plan to really go to town on a pumpkin pie or two. But this year, the annual deluge of Black Friday ads egging us on to higher levels of consumption - with corresponding carbon emissions and solid and liquid waste - seemed particularly hollow, morbid–predatory, even–falling as Black Friday did this year on November 29, the date the U.N. first recognized in 1977 as International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This year all the excess, forced pageantry, and planned obsolescence of Black Friday seems in such stark and ironic contrast to the poverty in Gaza.
*
From Plymouth to Palestine
Winter is coming soon to Gaza where hundreds of thousands of shell-shocked people are struggling against the odds to care for themselves and their families - from infants to elders and recent amputees on crutches and in wheelchairs, as well as people with other disabilities - eking out lives in the streets, tents, and precarious ruins of shelled out apartments. In The Guardian, Kaamil Ahmed and Ana Lucia Gonzalez Paz describe Gaza as a "sonic hellscape" filled variously with the "incessant buzzing of drones" and "more violent intrusions: Israeli missile strikes, sirens, gunfire and the screams of frightened people." And the situation is unlikely to get better under Herr Trump.
The man who as president moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem stands to personally profit from, as reported in The Guardian, investment his son-in-law Jared Kushner has in the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and its development as an Israeli waterfront resort. And no doubt Trump is also well aware of the profits to be had from exploiting Gaza's offshore marine gas fields. But, if Jewish-led protests at the Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, and more recently in the Canadian Parliament, are anything to go by, solidarity actions against the unfolding genocide to Gaza are likely to continue to build in the run up to Hanukkah and the January inauguration.
But in the lead up to Christmas, Joe Biden seems as willing as ever to continue the seemingly limitless supply of U.S. weapons to help annihilate Gaza. I'm just speculating here, (so, please, sir, do not to put me to the dunking stool!) but Jesus himself might be the first to observe that giving birth in a manger sounds pretty idyllic right now to women in Gaza weakened by hunger, giving birth in the rubble of buildings that used to be apartments, universities and hospitals. No sterile sheets, no antiseptic, nothing to dull the pain, nothing to stop the next forced removal, the next relocation. The Palestinian Trail of Tears.
The links between Native American and Palestinian experience being so many and so obvious, it seems fitting that the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People follows so closely on the heels of Thanksgiving, that annual rite of colonial simulacra on such a spectacular national scale that Walt Disney himself would have been proud to call it his brainchild. We're talking about a holiday that begins indoctrinating American school children, from kindergarten onward, into a history that never was. And for all you teachers out there, I'd be remiss for not noting that, for decades, Rethinking Schools and the Zinn Education Project have been developing K-12 curriculum that centers Native voices, culture, and history, and goes a long way toward puncturing those myths.
Still, far too many Americans remain unaware of the fact that since 1970, the fourth Thursday in November also has been recognized as a "National Day of Mourning," heralding as it does, the arrival of settlers bent on claiming the land as their own - in the pithy words of the late 19th century colonialist hymn - "from sea to shining sea." Today we may hear the echo of that much celebrated American phrase in Netanyahu's and the Likud Party's longstanding vision of a Jewish state purged of Palestinians, one that extends "between the Sea and the Jordan River."
Red Power was in the air on Thanksgiving Day in 1970, when Aquinnah Wampanoag activist Wamsutta (Frank B.) James, drafted the speech he planned to deliver on behalf of the United American Indians of New England as an invited guest of settlers gathering at Plymouth. A year earlier on Thanksgiving Day in 1969, 78 Indigenous activists calling themselves "Indians of All Tribes" (IAT), had cast off from San Francisco, disembarking at Alcatraz Island. That act kicked off an internationally visible 19-month long occupation - and standoff with the Feds. When the settlers organizing the event in 1970 got wind of Wamsutta's speech, they revoked their invitation in an attempt to silence him.
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Accumulation By Dispossession
More reason to amplify Wamsutta's words describing "Thanksgiving Day [as] a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands and the erasure of Native cultures," but also of "Native resilience." You can read the full speech here, including Wamsutta's call to transform Thanksgiving into a "protest against the racism and oppression that Indigenous people continue to experience worldwide." It wouldn't have been too surprising if Palestine was on his mind when Wamsutta issued that global call not four years after the '67 - or Six Days - War, which ended with Israel occupying the "Sinai peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and most of Syrian Golan Heights - effectively tripling the size of territory under Israel's control." Beginning in the 1970s, the American Indian Movement (AIM) saw clear parallels between colonialism on Turtle Island and the Palestinian experience of removal and dispossession.
"Accumulation by dispossession" is how Marxist geographer David Harvey describes the logic of capitalism, which is inextricably linked to colonialism. Throughout history, Indigenous people–from Palestine to the U.S. - have been on the frontlines of dispossession and removal, their lands drowned or exploited for hydropower or contaminated in service of the empire - whether by mine tailings and nuclear waste or bombs, bullets or other forms of military ordinance. And the same hard-hit communities are now on the frontlines of climate collapse, disproportionately hit by rising sea levels, by typhoons, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other extreme weather events.
And what was it, anyway, that Martin Luther King, Jr. said in his 1967 Riverside Church speech about the triple evils of militarism, racism, and materialism and how they intersect? And would he be surprised today by products moving at the speed of light, millions of us wrapping our arms daily around boxes that many contend are stamped with Jeff Bezos' male member? What would he have said about Bill Gates injecting markets and mines into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), about corporations and militaries jonesing after cobalt, after tantalum, after tin, tungsten, uranium, and gold, after debts and interest, after bodies of children, bodies of water, bodies of workers wearing flip flops into mines?
I write all this as someone who grew up white, middle class, and addicted to oil, plastics, and petrochemicals, someone who basked in endless hours of tv, who marinated in Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, in the blue-gray light of frontier myths and the urge to consume. We cut our teeth on the McUsual contemporary drive - by forms of American planetary annihilation. We grew up watching the world rush limitless past the back window of a Ford or Chevy station wagon. And unlike today, we witnessed the wonders of dinosaur piggy banks, Peter Max towels, and steak knives bestowed on us like a benediction­ every time our parents bought a full tank of gas.
We grew up consuming travel and oxygen, consuming landscapes, countries, cultures, and colonial myths, oblivious to the war in Viet Nam, to sundown towns, and the Green Book. We took cross-country trips and woke bleary-eyed at midnight to stare into the glaring white lights of Mount Rushmore, oblivious to the fact that not far away, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the Justice Department and FBI were busy making back door deals with tribal Chair Dickie Wilson and his "Goons," who terrorized anyone who resisted the U.S.'s right to ravage Lakota land for uranium for bombs and nuclear energy. If, collectively, they had to break a few eggs, heads, bodies, and the crust of the earth, contaminate rivers and streams, and set up Leonard Peltier to get their hands on that uranium, so be it, right?
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Nuclear Colonialism v. Red Power
The world has no shortage of political prisoners - or of environmental martyrs and heroes - but 80-year-old Leonard Peltier, a Lakota and Anishinaabe AIM member, is arguably the most famous, the legal lynching he underwent so outrageous, and his incarceration in a "maximum security" prison so protracted. Even former FBI agents have themselves essentially contended that Pelter was scapegoated by the FBI for the lethal shooting of two agents - Jack Coler and Ronald Williams - on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Michael Apted's 1992 documentary Incident at Oglala, narrated by Robert Redford, is a good place to start if you're new to this history. But if you're looking for insights into the role that uranium mining played in the conflict, you'd be better off checking out Peter Matthiessen's book In the Spirit of Crazy Horse: Leonard Peltier and the FBI's War on The American Indian Movement. To hear a first-hand account, check out Peltier's memoir Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance.
Despite well-documented prosecutorial misconduct powerfully depicted in Apted's documentary, Peltier's conviction has yet to be overturned. And in the face of decades of global, high-profile pleas for clemency for Peltier, including by James Reynolds, a "senior US attorney who was involved in [his] prosecution," no president up until now has been willing to free Peltier. Given that he's in increasingly poor health, time is running out, and the same president who just pardoned his own son may be Peltier's last shot at clemency. If you haven't yet done so, check out the Amnesty International petition - and Amy Goodman's and Denis Moynihan's recent column -making the case for his release. The Red Nation media collective also has an extensive playlist of podcasts focused on Peltier's case and the long struggle to free him.
Peltier, arguably the world's most visible casualty of nuclear colonialism, was only three years into his sentence when Santee Dakota organizer John Trudell, his contemporary in AIM, delivered a searing 1980 speech at the Black Hills International Survival Gathering. As Zoltan Grossman has documented, "Multinational mining companies, such as Union Carbide and Exxon, proposed the development of the Black Hills for energy resources, including coal mines, uranium mines, and coal slurry pipelines." The Black Hills gathering brought together a global convergence of more than 10,000 Indigenous activists and non-Native allies to hold the line against a repeat of the 1950s, which, per Grossman, had "result[ed] in the extensive irradiation of the southern Black Hills community of Edgemont."
A Navy radio operator during the Vietnam War, Trudell was all of 23 when he first came to national visibility as the voice of Radio Free Alcatraz, which aired on the Pacifica Network, during the 1969-71 takeover of the Island. Trudell had also witnessed close-up and personally the massive, militarized violence that the federal government unleashed on Wounded Knee to open up Lakota land for extraction. And by 1980, Trudell had good reason to suspect that his pregnant wife Shoshone Paiute activist Tina Manning, their three children, and Manning's mother Leah Hicks-Manning had been among its most recent casualties. In 1979, all five died in a house fire that broke out within 12 hours of Trudell burning a U.S. flag outside FBI headquarters. Not surprisingly, following a brief and perfunctory investigation by none other than the FBI itself, the fire was ruled accidental. For Trudell, and so many other AIM members and supporters, U.S. resource wars– whether in Vietnam, Central America, the Middle East, or South Dakota– were extensions of the so-called "Indian Wars."
To Trudell, nuclear war wasn't confined to some future exchange between the U.S. and Russia or China. It was unfolding in the present, and not just against Indigenous people, but against everyone who stood to be impacted by mining, radiation, and a nuclear industry that placed profit overall life:
Are they not waging nuclear war on us now when the miners die from cancer from mining that uranium? Are they not waging nuclear war with Three Mile Island when they release that stuff into the air? Are they not waging nuclear war when they build all of these nuclear reactors...? Are they not waging nuclear war when they attack the Indian people on their land militarily - so that they can get at the natural resources to feed their radioactive machine? That is war and they are waging it against us...
To Trudell, "nuclearization" was a "final assault," a form of madness that needed to be resisted at every turn. The U.S. government and assorted nuke boosters and interests would try to sell us on "the illusion" of safe nuclear power, and of our own "powerlessness" to resist the industry. For Trudell, our very survival depended on recognizing both our dependency on "our Sacred Mother, Earth," and the power we draw from her–and from each other. "We are Power," Trudell repeats throughout his speech.
In the wake of the hair-raising standoff between the Ukraine and Russia, when the latter seized the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the site of what remains the world's largest nuclear disaster; and with Japan now releasing nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean; and some 40% of the world's nuclear plants routinely buffeted by extreme weather events and rising sea levels; with heightened nuclear saber rattling in the Middle East, Trudell's Thanksgiving speech is more relevant than ever.
If you want to get a sense of the kind of propaganda that a revitalized and ostensibly "green" nuclear industry is trying to sell us on today, check out Jan Haaken's 2023 documentary Atomic Bamboozle: The False Promise of a Nuclear Renaissance. With corporations bent on selling us the fiction of nuclear energy as a clean, safe, and sustainable answer to the climate crisis - one that will enable the U.S. to continue down the path of limitless extraction, consumption, and war - we'd do well to heed his words: "We cannot protect ourselves if we do not protect the Earth." Amen to that.
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Desiree Hellegers is affiliated faculty with the Collective for Social and Environmental Justice at Washington State University  Vancouver; director of The Thin Green Line is People History Project and a member/producer with the Old Mole Variety Hour on Portland's KBOO Radio. Their web series "How I Learned to Breathe Thru the Apocalypse" is airing on Portland's Open Signal Cable TV. More information on their work can be found at https://labs.wsu.edu/desiree-hellegers/

7. REPETITA IUVANT. MOVIMENTO NONVIOLENTO: OBIEZIONE ALLA GUERRA, SCRIVIAMOLO SU TUTTI I MURI
[Riceviamo e diffondiamo]

La Campagna di Obiezione alla guerra presenta un nuovo strumento operativo: un poster diffuso a livello nazionale.
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La Campagna di Obiezione alla guerra presenta un nuovo strumento operativo:
un poster diffuso a livello nazionale con il simbolo del fucile spezzato e la scritta "Con la nonviolenza: per cessare il fuoco bisogna non sparare, per fermare la guerra bisogna non farla".
Il volantone, inviato a tutti gli iscritti e ai Centri del Movimento Nonviolento, agli abbonati alla rivista Azione nonviolenta e a tutti coloro che ne faranno richiesta, rilancia la Dichiarazione di obiezione di coscienza rivolta a chi rifiuta la chiamata alle armi e contiene tutte le informazioni su quanto realizzato finora a sostegno degli obiettori di coscienza di Russia, Ucraina, Bielorussia, Israele e Palestina, e i prossimi obiettivi che la Campagna vuole raggiungere.
Sono ormai centinaia di migliaia gli obiettori, disertori, renitenti alla leva che nei luoghi di guerra, rifiutano le armi e la divisa, negandosi al reclutamento militare, ripudiando il proprio esercito senza passare a quello avverso. Alcuni affrontano processo e carcere, altri espatriano, altri ancora scappano o si nascondono. Il Movimento Nonviolento ha scelto di stare dalla loro parte, di sostenerli concretamente, di difendere il loro diritto umano alla vita e alla pace, e di chiedere all'Unione Europea e al Governo italiano di riconoscere, per loro e per chi firma la Dichiarazione, lo "status" di obiettori di coscienza.
La Campagna si sviluppa su due direttrici:
- la raccolta fondi per sostenere nelle loro attivita' i movimenti nonviolenti di Russia, Bielorussia, Ucraina, Israele e Palestina, le spese legali per i processi che obiettori e nonviolenti di quei paesi subiscono, per aiutare chi espatria per non farsi arruolare, per gli strumenti di informazione necessari a diffondere la scelta dell'obiezione;
- la diffusione della Dichiarazione di Obiezione di coscienza alla guerra e alla sua preparazione, il rifiuto della chiamata alle armi e fin da ora della futura mobilitazione militare. La procedura e' semplice: si compila e si sottoscrive la Dichiarazione (per tutti, giovani o adulti, donne e uomini ) rivolta ai Presidenti della Repubblica e del Consiglio.
Sul sito del Movimento Nonviolento azionenonviolenta.it alla voce Obiezione alla guerra si trovano tutti gli aggiornamenti e la possibilita' di adesione e contribuzione.
Movimento Nonviolento
Settembre 2024
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Movimento Nonviolento
via Spagna, 8, 37123 Verona
Tel 045 8009803
Cell. 348 2863190
www.nonviolenti.org
www.azionenonviolenta.it
per sostegno e donazioni
Iban IT35 U 07601 11700 0000 18745455

8. SEGNALAZIONI LIBRARIE

Maestre
- Angela Davis, Donne, razza e classe, Edizioni Alegre, Roma 2018, 2023, pp. 304.
- Angela Davis, Blues e femminismo nero, Edizioni Alegre, Roma 2022, pp. 320.
- Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R. Meiners, Beth E. Richie, Abolizionismo. Femminismo. Adesso, Edizioni Alegre, Roma 2023, pp. 240.

9. DOCUMENTI. LA "CARTA" DEL MOVIMENTO NONVIOLENTO

Il Movimento Nonviolento lavora per l'esclusione della violenza individuale e di gruppo in ogni settore della vita sociale, a livello locale, nazionale e internazionale, e per il superamento dell'apparato di potere che trae alimento dallo spirito di violenza. Per questa via il movimento persegue lo scopo della creazione di una comunita' mondiale senza classi che promuova il libero sviluppo di ciascuno in armonia con il bene di tutti.
Le fondamentali direttrici d'azione del movimento nonviolento sono:
1. l'opposizione integrale alla guerra;
2. la lotta contro lo sfruttamento economico e le ingiustizie sociali, l'oppressione politica ed ogni forma di autoritarismo, di privilegio e di nazionalismo, le discriminazioni legate alla razza, alla provenienza geografica, al sesso e alla religione;
3. lo sviluppo della vita associata nel rispetto di ogni singola cultura, e la creazione di organismi di democrazia dal basso per la diretta e responsabile gestione da parte di tutti del potere, inteso come servizio comunitario;
4. la salvaguardia dei valori di cultura e dell'ambiente naturale, che sono patrimonio prezioso per il presente e per il futuro, e la cui distruzione e contaminazione sono un'altra delle forme di violenza dell'uomo.
Il movimento opera con il solo metodo nonviolento, che implica il rifiuto dell'uccisione e della lesione fisica, dell'odio e della menzogna, dell'impedimento del dialogo e della liberta' di informazione e di critica.
Gli essenziali strumenti di lotta nonviolenta sono: l'esempio, l'educazione, la persuasione, la propaganda, la protesta, lo sciopero, la noncollaborazione, il boicottaggio, la disobbedienza civile, la formazione di organi di governo paralleli.

10. PER SAPERNE DI PIU'

Indichiamo i siti del Movimento Nonviolento: www.nonviolenti.org e www.azionenonviolenta.it ; per contatti: azionenonviolenta at sis.it
Tutti i fascicoli de "La nonviolenza e' in cammino" dal dicembre 2004 possono essere consultati nella rete telematica alla pagina web: http://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/

TELEGRAMMI DELLA NONVIOLENZA IN CAMMINO
Numero 5417 del 17 dicembre 2024
Telegrammi quotidiani della nonviolenza in cammino proposti dal "Centro di ricerca per la pace, i diritti umani e la difesa della biosfera" di Viterbo a tutte le persone amiche della nonviolenza (anno XXV)
Direttore responsabile: Peppe Sini. Redazione: strada S. Barbara 9/E, 01100 Viterbo, e-mail: centropacevt at gmail.com , sito: http://lists.peacelink.it/nonviolenza/
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