Description:

The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) is seeking applicants for an internship at the PC(USA) 220th General Assembly, June 29- July 7, 2012. Applicants ought to be energetic, engaged, and interested in learning about and participating in the General Assembly (GA) advocacy and legislative process—particularly as it relates to peacemaking, nonviolence, and justice.

by Rick Ufford-Chase

 

Labor Rights at Risk under Santos Administration

from Washington Office on Latin America

On October 12, the same day that the U.S. Congress passed the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), a group of over sixty Afro-Colombian victims protested in Bogotá. The marchers, internally displaced leaders from the conflict areas of Chocó, Cauca, Valle del Cauca, Nariño and Bolivar, had a clear message, “We are marching for our right to life. The government does not protect us. We are killed, threatened and displaced so that Colombia and outside investors can make a profit off of the natural resources found in our lands. We say no to the U.S.-Colombia FTA.” While it was not uncommon to hear such statements under President Uribe’s reign, it was sobering to hear it under the Santos Administration.

From our friends at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture:

Despite significant opposition from groups across the political spectrum (far left to far right) and a concerted effort by those of us in the faith community, Senate and House negotiators have drafted a final version of the National Defense Authorization Act that includes specific authorization for the use of long-term indefinite detention without trial. Both supporters and opponents of this provision have even argued that it would allow for the indefinite detention without trial of American citizens captured in the United States who are merely suspected of being affiliated with a terrorist group.

Preamble

How long, O God, will they steal our livelihood? Oppress, imprison and humiliate our people?Deprive our children of their childhood? Indeed how long, God, will the multitudes of Christians of the world ignore the anguish of our Palestinian sisters and brothers and all of the oppressed?

“Come and see,” said the Christians of Palestine. “Come and see the olive groves, the bulldozers, the ancient terraces, the segregated cities. The situation is worsening.”

More than 60 participants from 15 countries heeded an urgent call by Kairos Palestine. On 4-­10 December 2011; they joined Palestinians in the Kairos for Global Justice Encounter/Conference in Bethlehem.

The Presbyterian Peace Fellowship holds the VA Tech Community in our prayers as gun violence has again wreaked havoc on their campus as another gunman shot and killed a university policeman, then killed himself. We grieve any instance of gun violence that too often plagues our local communities and give thanks to God that preventative measures that were instilled after the 2007 massacre have held strong.

by Rick Ufford-Chase,
Bethlehem, Advent, 2011

For more than twenty years I have carried a quote from Martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador that went something like this:

“Try not to have hope, for unfulfilled hope leads to despair, and we have no need of a despairing people. Try instead to live in Faith, doing that which needs to be done each day. . .” Over those twenty years I’ve reflected personally and publicly on the meaning of Romero’s words, and a few friends and I have an ongoing dialog about the appropriateness (or lack thereof) of living in hope.

by Rick Ufford-Chase

This morning I left the Bethlehem Hotel on foot shortly after the sun came up. Across the valley I could see the huge wall that divides Bethlehem from Jerusalem.