Weekly vigil in Asheville NC

Veterans for Peace perennials Rusty Sivils, Chris Berg, Bob Brown, and Gerry Werhan, backed up by the Jesus chorus. Date is December 28, 2021. Location is downtown Asheville. Photographer is Clare Hanrahan.

LTE by member of Chapter 099

 Stop over-funding defense budget

If our country had been mangled by foreign terrorists as much as it has been this year by Mother Nature, we would be avenging the damage this very moment.

But how do we avenge the damage that we ourselves have caused: Global climate change, leading to more dangerous weather patterns, forest fires, extinctions of wildlife?

Meanwhile, we increase our so called 2022 defense budget up to $768 billion. That’s $25 billion more than President Biden requested, more than any of the Trump defense budgets. Already we
have been giving more than half of our country’s discretionary budget to defense, which in turn turns it over to weapons corporations. They in turn beg for additional funds from locations where they locate, more than $100 million in this county and state alone.

And our military burns more fossil fuels than 140 countries. Where is our defense of our planet from climate change, or health care, or homelessness or education?

We have a black hole in our government. Our continuous over-funding of a department of government that hasn’t seen the writing on the wall is sheer stupidity.

Rachel Bliss, Asheville

LTE by member of Chapter 099

Letter: The rest of the Pratt & Whitney story

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Letters

On Nov. 23, WLOS produced a 2.5-minute segment on the progress of the Pratt & Whitney plant. While the information and footage of the plant were welcome, what was missing made the segment little more than a puff piece of promotion for the company.

Unmentioned were:

• The $100 million in subsidies provided by state, county and private sources, including the gift of 100 acres of free land from Biltmore Farms.


• The ownership of the company by Raytheon Technologies, the second-largest war corporation in the world.


• The intended production of engine components for fighter jets like the F-35 to be sold to Israel and Saudi Arabia for their genocidal attacks in Palestine and Yemen.


• The powerful effect on our climate emergency that comes from the aerospace industry that Pratt & Whitney is a part of.


• The threat to the French Broad from an industrial plant of this size and nature right on the river.
• The notorious reputation of war corporations to promise jobs that often don’t materialize or are misreported, and are not guaranteed to be for local residents.


• The secret decision-making that brought this plant to Buncombe County without adequate public discussion.

Reject Raytheon AVL is a local citizens group focused on exposing the rest of the story that was neglected by WLOS. Visit our website for more information: rejectraytheonavl.com.

— Ken Jones
,Swannanoa

Reject Raytheon Asheville Action on December 12, 2021

Photos posted by Ken Jones on Facebook.
 

LTE from member of Chapter 099

Letter: There should be more investment in local businesses 

Ken Jones letter to the Asheville Citizen Times, published on 11-21-21:

Thanks to J Hackett (Asheville’s Changing Economic Deck of Cards, 11/14/21) for pointing to the fact that the economic well being of our community depends more on investment in local businesses than in big multinational corporations.

Hackett cites a study by Michigan State University that found that small local businesses account for two out of three jobs in a given community and have much better ripple effects on local economies than larger businesses that come in from the outside.

It is precisely for this reason, as well as others, that we in the Reject Raytheon campaign have opposed the investment in the Pratt and Whitney plant here in Buncombe County. The $100 million in state, county, business and foundation subsidies could have produced many more jobs and beneficial spin-off effects if it had been invested in local businesses instead.

We are calling for a moratorium on further economic development that relies on subsidies to lure external industries to Buncombe County. Instead, the county, city, and Chamber of Commerce should follow Hackett’s advice of investing in Black Wall Street AVL.

No more Pratt & Whitney types in Asheville. The promises of jobs made by these kinds of absentee corporations are inflated, temporary, and not even guaranteed to be local. They will extract much more money from our local economy than they put in.

As Hackett says, that system of corporate welfare was designed to keep the rich rich and the poor poor. Where is the racial justice in that?                        

 -Ken Jones, Swannanoa

LTE from member of Chapter 099

 Letter: You must participate in our democracy
Posted on November 16, 2021 by Letters at Mountain Express

When you participate in your local community, you are participating in the Big Story of the Universe. We do our little thing in our corner of the world to make the world a little bit better.

Recent experiences at Pritchard Park, Hominy Creek Greenway and Bent Creek brought responses that change was hopeless; Raytheon good at providing jobs; and we need defense. This ignores the issues demonstrators are addressing.

Local groups such as Resist Raytheon and the Veterans for Peace support good-paying jobs and the defense of our country, along with the hope that informed citizens will recognize the military industrial complex and the trillions of dollars spent on wars that corrupt the democratic American dream.

We do not claim that we can stop wars, economic inequality, suffering or poverty in the near future. But we do encourage participation and informed decision-making to create a place for common sense. It requires that we the people do not lose hope.

What can you do? Resist the seeming easy answers. Dare to dream! Yearning for security isn’t enough. You must participate in our democracy. You are a part of the eternal drive for freedom, justice and ever greater truth, goodness and beauty.

Inform yourself. Be courageous and participate in fulfilling your democratic responsibility. Our election system, economic system, political system, health care, etc., are broken. The least one can do is study the issues, demand the truth — be skeptical of politicians running for office. The information is out there: documentary films and dramatizations, books, peace and justice organizations — not only locally, but millions of people globally demonstrating for a more just and peaceful world.

Recently, a conversation with angry neighbors about today’s problems echoed my own concerns, despite differing worldviews. When asked what they were doing about this, they replied they ignore the news and focus on their own lives.

Think about this: If you are not informing yourselves by listening and studying all sides of an issue, your inaction is compliance and support for the systemic domination by the very wealthy and the politicians who are controlled by them — this includes both Republicans and Democrats.

A registered Republican in the 1960s, I argued against my father’s method of voting. He told me, “I’m voting against every incumbent because they become too powerful.” Now I understand his words of wisdom. As Lord Acton said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

My sense is that most of us know things have gone wrong. If wars and the so-called “free market” were truly effective, we would have had economic justice years ago. It’s up to us folks to support and dialogue with others who support change.

Here’s a challenging comment by Eleanor Roosevelt: “Some people are dreamers and some people are doers, but what the world really needs are dreamers who do and doers who dream.”

Check this inspirational book: What to Do When It’s Your Turn: (And It’s Always Your Turn) by Seth Godin. It explores the dance we have to do and the tensions we must embrace in order to do work we care about — pushes us to dig deep inside to address the things we care about.

— Ed Sacco
, Asheville

Photos by Citizen Times of Reject Raytheon at end of the Holiday Parade

 

Reject Raytheon Asheville Photos from the Holiday Parade

Reject Raytheon Asheville operates separately from Chapter 099, but the Chapter does support Reject Raytheon Asheville work, and there are many members involved with both groups.

From Ken Jones: “We stood on the roadside as the parade passed by, then walked into the street after the last float (Santa) and police motorcycles went by. Within a minute or two, the police stopped us and ordered us off the street. So we took to the sidewalks, edging out into the side of the street as we walked along. Motorcycle cops kept telling us to get back, which we would do. People were starting to leave as we walked up Biltmore, and by the time we got to the review stand with all the cameras, they were packing up. When we turned onto Patton Avenue, the police left us alone and we took the street walking all the way, now at some distance from Santa and the motorcycle cops. At that point we had our own parade all the way down to the end. Lots of people were still on the street there and we got lots of positive affirmation. A police officer recommended to me that next year we apply to be an entry in the parade - he felt sure we would be admitted. We’ll probably do that.”

Photos of the event on this post, with videos in posts below this one. Photos by Melody Shank.

 

 

Video of Reject Raytheon at the Holiday Parade

 

Video from Reject Raytheon at Holiday Parade

 

Video from Reject Raytheon at the Holiday Parade

 

Video from Reject Raytheon at the Holiday Parade

 

More Vets for Peace Holiday Parade Pictures

 These photo were taken by Melody Shank. 

Vets for Peace in Holiday Parade from Asheville Citizen Times

 

Chapter 099 in the Asheville Holiday Parade

Photos by Cindy Heil. Parade was on 11-20-21. I am not sure of the identities of all the people in the photos, but it looks like a great time was had by all.

More Armistice Day photos from VFP event on 11-11-21

 Rachael Roberts Bliss: “Today I reclaim with Veterans for Peace Armistice Day, a day to remember the end of war and celebrate peace. Veterans deserve our thanks by us opposing all future wars while growing peacemaking throughout the world. We had a large group that met this morning at the Elder and Sage Community garden in the rain.”

WNC Veterans for Peace, Chapter 099, marked Armistice Day on November 11, 2021. The event started at 10 AM and ended at 11 AM with the Basilica  ringing their bells eleven times at the end to mark the anniversary of the ending of WW1 at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. Armistice Day was later changed to Veterans Day, but Veterans for Peace are trying to reclaim it again as Armistice Day. Photos below were posted by Rachael Bliss.

Cindy Heil

Gerry Werhan and Rachael Bliss

Armistice Day by WNC Veterans for Peace Chapter 099

 Posted photos by Heather MacLachlan on Facebook.  Her caption:  "Downtown Asheville Veterans /Armistice day on  Thursday, November 11, 2021."

Gerry Werhan, current Chapter President.

 

 

Cindy Heil

 

 

 

Ken Jones

Reject Raytheon Asheville Action on Nov 6, 2021

 From Ken Jones:  Reject Raytheon shows up at P&W bridge site for the COP26 Global Day of Action on Climate Justice.

 

Reclaim Armistice Day 2021!

Every year Chapter 099 of Veterans For Peace celebrates November 11^th as a day for peace. As veterans, we know that a day that celebrates peace, not war, is the best way to honor the sacrifices of veterans.

 

This year’s celebration will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00, and on. We will be holding the event in the public space adjacent to the Elder and Sage Community Gardens in downtown Asheville near the corner of Page Avenue and Battle Square. There will be music, readings, signage, commentary, tabling with educational and inspirational materials along with fellowship in peace in abundance as we fill the hour leading up to the bells of the Basilica ringing 11 times.

 

Gerry Werhan, President of VFP 099, will be available for interviews, either by phone or in person. Contact him at (828) 490-1872, or at <president@vfp099.org>.

 

Veterans For Peace was founded in 1985 by 10 U.S. veterans in response to the global nuclear arms race and U.S. military interventions in Central America.

VFP now has veteran and associate members in every U.S. state and several countries. The organization holds a permanent Non-Governmental Organization seat at the United Nations

Reject Raytheon Asheville Action on October 23, 2021

Today's Reject Raytheon action at the bridge to Pratt & Whitney. Posted by Ken Jonnes.


October 23, 2021.

 

 Ken Jones