Salem-News.com Peace articles

What Can Be Done: A New Year`s Wish

A call for healing- to mend, to tolerate, and begin to narrow the wide divides in our society.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Lately, I have been reflecting on what I have in common with extremists. It turns out that the list is longer than one would think.

I hold their same passions for change, an ability to withstand discomfort--put more bluntly, tolerance for risk of pain that some term masochism--and I share a lack of tolerance for passivity and denial. Extremists are people of action.

Systemic Change Starts with Us

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The first World Peace Flame in North America was installed in the lobby of the Civil Rights Museum, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee in 2002.

The World Peace Flame is eternal as the ideals and inspiration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are universal and timeless.

U.S.: Hands Off Venezuela

What’s next — an invasion and occupation?

(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) - I am sure everyone would agree that Venezuelans deserve a better government.

Let’s face it, the late Hugo Chávez's vision of a modern day “Bolivarian revolution” — a Latin American political block with a socialist bent as an alternative to U.S. hegemony — has descended into repression and economic decline under Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

India: Citizenship Bill Discriminates Against Muslims

CAA disregards victims of persecution based on religion and ethnicity.

(YORK, UK) - I am William Nicholas Gomes, a British Human Rights Activist and Freelance Journalist. I write to express serious concern about the Indian Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA), passed by the Indian Parliament on December 11, 2019, and received President’s assent on December 12, 2019.

I believe that CAA not only violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution and the draft law favors Hindus, Other Non-Muslim Immigrants. 

Turmoil in Venezuela

Venezuela is a country on the northern coast of South America.

(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) - Even with backing from the Trump administration, Juan Guaidó, the U.S.-recognized interim president of Venezuela, failed to oust Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

It is difficult to reconcile our outrage over Russia’s interference in our elections with our present interference in Venezuela’s affairs.

India: Human Rights Defender Samiul Biswas in Judicial Custody

Samiul Biswas has been instrumental in documenting human rights violations along the India-Bangladesh border.

(YORK, UK) - According to the information received from Front Line Defenders, on 19 March 2019, the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court remanded human rights defender Samiul Biswas in custody at Krishnanagar District Jail.

Biswas had been arrested the previous day by the Border Security Force (BSF) of the Mahakhola Border Outpost near the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal on charges of theft relating to his “possession” of Bangladeshi currency and a Bangladeshi SIM card, the evidence for which is believed to have been falsified.

Fair Trial: Asia Bibi Not Guilty of Blasphemy

The US has conveyed concerns about Christian persecution in Pakistan, while Pakistan simply denies it.

(ISLAMABAD) - The Supreme Court of Pakistan finally set aside a review petition of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, accused of blasphemy, after she spent more than 8 years in prison, in solitary confinement.

The decision is being warmly welcomed by human rights activists in the local and international community. The judgement is unclear, however, regarding what action will be taken against those who falsely accused her of blasphemy and gave false testimonies to mislead the court and public.

Bangladesh: Release Mr. Shahidul Alam Immediately from Arbitrary Detention

An open letter to the Honourable Ambassadors of Bangladesh

(UNITED KINGDOM) - I am writing to voice my deep concern about the arbitrary arrest of an award-winning photographer, academic and human rights defender Shahidul Alam.

I have been informed... about the arbitrary detention and torture of Mr. Shahidul Alam, photographer and founder of the Drik photo agency and of the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute.

Could Tough Love Salvage Lebanon?

Problems for Lebanon’s economy and political status continue to mount

(BEIRUT) - “You could qualify for U.S. and Western aid to salvage Lebanon or you can cede what’s left of your country’s sovereignty to Iran. But you cannot do both.” A US Congressional staffer after his boss recently introduced legislation to cut off all aid to Lebanon until it “cleans its house of Iranian militia and restores Lebanese sovereignty.”

The Multiple Stepmothers of Daesh (ISIS) in Syria - Part I

UN agencies have repeatedly been threatened with expulsion from Syria if they deviate from the widely disputed claimed number of 350,000 people killed, whereas, the facts support the number to be over a million.

(SYRIA) - Last month, 186 of the 193-Member States of the UN claimed that they want all foreign forces out of Syria. Iran with its 18 Shia militia recruited from the region, Russia, America, France, the UK—the Lot.

Most urgently wanting all these countries and their proxies out of Syria are naturally the people of Syria themselves- and the Lebanese, Iraqis, Yemeni and others is this region dying in Syria for nothing.