MPJC Position on Peace and Justice Issues
2005
2006
2008
The Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition is opposed to the military draft and supports the right of each person to follow his or her conscience in the event of war.
Furthermore, we are opposed to the economic or "back-door" draft that is currently in place. As funding for schools and universities decline, and unemployment rises--especially in communities of color-- military service is one of the only ways of securing a decent job or funding for higher education. We support the expansion of real job and educational opportunities for young people, including lowering the costs of higher education, expansion of scholarship programs, and job creation which will give them real non-military options.
At the same time, the coalition believes that there would be significant disincentives for going to war if a broad-based, gender-neutral, "auto-onset" draft were instituted, one which would be activated any time Congress authorized military aggression (as opposed to defense from attack). Such a draft would assure that politicians would think more seriously about the consequences of military aggression and the advantages of resolving conflict through diplomatic and legal means, and many more citizens would be motivated to consider the true impact of a decision to go to war and to express their opposition to such a decision.
MPJC Position on Withdrawal from Iraq
MPJC position on Withdrawal of troops from Iraq
The United States attacked Iraq without justification and now has a moral obligation to repair the damage it caused. Coalition members believe that the United States must withdraw its troops from Iraq immediately.
The last time we sampled the membership, there were a number of opinions about how soon to withdraw, depending on the UN or some other multinational force replacing US forces. At this point it is clear that the UN is not coming in; there is already a civil war going on, and the presence of US troops is exacerbating it. The reality check of more US soldiers coming home in body bags and even more of them coming home "alive" minus an arm, or a leg, or a face, in addition to the mounting Iraqi casualties, either caused directly by US military action or by the terrorist attacks that are a direct result of our military adventurism there, has caused MPJC to rethink its previous position.
In all likelihood there will be dangers to Iraqis when the United States pulls out, but they will be far less than the dangers they will face if US troops are not withdrawn. Iraq cannot make progress while it is occupied by the United States.
After three years of war and twelve years of sanctions, the United States has a moral obligation to restore the homes and infrastructure that have been destroyed, but the rebuilding can only begin after the dust settles and the smoke clears. The first step is to get the troops out\u2014NOW!
Torture is never justified, because torture is both immoral and unreliable.
It is immoral because it licenses people to do into others what they would never want done to themselves. Soldiers are trained to think of the enemy as less than human so they can kill without hesitation or remorse. The same mind set encourages an interrogator to act inhumanely.
It is unreliable because a suspect will not necessarily provide correct information or a valid confession under torture but merely whatever the victim imagines the torturer wants to hear. In the oft-cited case of the ticking time bomb, even a culpable suspect can lead investigators on a series of wild goose chases by naming false locations. The torture scenario also usually presupposes the guilt of a suspect without due process. Many an innocent person has been tortured in the name of judicial expediency.
MPJC Position on Nuclear
Disarmament and Nuclear Power
See also http://www.warresisters.org/Reviving_Resistance.pdf
1. Nuclear Disarmament
The Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition rejects any development, testing and use of nuclear weapons. We demand that the Oakridge, TN, nuclear weapons facility stop refurbishing and resume dismantling all our nuclear warheads. It is dangerous and hypocritical for the U.S. to maintain a nuclear weapons stockpile while insisting that the rest of the world disarm. We demand that our government accept resposibility for its serious contamination of earth and water by cleaning up any and all waste from nuclear weapons development facilities.
2. Use of Depleted Uranium
Depleted Uranium (DU) is what is left after U-235 is extracted from uranium ore. It is very heavy and is used to coat armor-piercing shells and other ordnance. When the ordnance explodes, the DU vaporizes and is ingested by the military on both sides and by civilians. It is thought to be responsible for Gulf War Syndrome and the high incidence of lung cancer and birth defects in the regions where it was used (Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Puerto Rico, and the Balkans).
Because the contamination from storage and use of DU lasts virtually forever, the Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition calls for immediate cessation of the mining and processing of uranium ore and sealed storage of weapons containing DU as well as other DU waste.
3. Nuclear Power
The Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition rejects the use of conventional fusion nuclear power for electricity production or propulsion of land, sea, air, and space vehicles. Far from being a source of clean, cheap energy, "dirty" radiation is produced all along the production and operation cycle , and the high level waste from spent fuel rods and decommissioned reactors will be hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years. Scientists have shown that nuclear power will not prevent climate change from global warming.
MPJC encourages its members and others to reduce their consumption of fossil-fuel energy by walking or riding bicycles instead of driving, and avoiding the use of electricity whenever possible. In addition we encourage the greatly increased use of renewable solar, wind, and water electricity generation and recommend that electric companies allow individual home solar arrays and wind turbines to be connected directly to the grid to save money, to reduce dependence on non-renewable electricity sources, and to help democratize the local means of energy generation.
The MPJC feels that the basic right to vote, while still strong in this country, is being faced with numerous challenges. After the controversy in Florida during the 2000 presidential vote and in Ohio during the 2004 presidential vote many new regulations were implemented to help prevent voter fraud and other irregularities. We must ensure that any steps taken to protect the integrity of the voting system do not infringe on the rights of the poor, of minorities, and for anyone who does not have a photo id. We must also ensure that our elections are not influenced by the party in power, corporate interests, and intimidation by poll workers. While the new voter I.D. laws both in Indiana and the ones proposed on a national basis do provide some protection against fraud, they cause a larger problem by instituting a "poll tax" in the form of a charge for an acceptable form of I.D. We must work to make the polls accessible to all who wish to participate on election day without undue complications or discouraging measures. The voting system must be accountable for all votes cast. Steps that could encourage greater turnout would be the institution of election day as a national holiday, which would give everyone ample opportunity to go to the polls, a longer election period, and instant runoff voting.
MPJC Position on War Tax Resistance
For over five years peace activists have voted, lobbied, marched, and taken direct action to first prevent and then end the war in Iraq. Courageous soldiers have refused to fight the war. But, still the war goes on and still we/they pay for it. Congress repeatedly votes to appropriate billions of dollars to continue the war. War tax resistance is no less futile than these other efforts and quite to the point. It is one more way to raise consciousness. It's time for taxpayers who oppose this war to join together in nonviolent civil disobedience and show Congress how to cut off the funds for this war and redirect resources to the pressing needs of people. This can be done by refusing to pay some or all of our federal income taxes. Fifty percent of these taxes are used to fund the military, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition endorses the 2008 war tax boycott "Withhold from War / Pay for Peace," initiated by the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC), and supports any of its members who participate in this boycott. More information about the campaign as well as a registration form is available at www.nwtrcc.org. There is pdf version of FAQ about why folks who work for peace don't do war tax resistance at http://www.nwtrcc.org/why-isn't-rick.pdf
This campaign to boycott and redirect war taxes was launched in September 2007 as Congress began its consideration of a Bush Administration request for an additional $190 billion appropriation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was begun in the fall, ahead of tax season, so that those who want to refuse to pay for war could explore the options, decide what to do, and prepare to resist well before 2007 taxes are due. The campaign is being promoted by peace activists around the country and is partnered with CODEPINK's "Don't buy Bush's War" campaign. See www.codepink4peace.org.
Refusing to pay taxes because of war is an act of civil disobedience, but it also provides the opportunity to use that money for positive, healing, and rebuilding programs. War tax boycott participants are encouraged to redirect their resisted taxes to a project providing health care among Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria, a health care center in New Orleans providing free care to survivors of Katrina, or to a humanitarian project of their own choosing. (One of our MPJC members is directing a program to help Iraq refugees get a college education in the U.S. - www.iraqistudentproject.org)
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