Category Archives: Information

ARMS RACE = SUICIDE RACE

By Lora Lucero

Koohan Paik-Mander, a Hawaii-based journalist, is currently on a speaking tour in the U.S. to ring an alarm bell – to wake up Americans. The paradigm shift in the way we wage war is rapidly pushing us over the proverbial cliff. The U.S. government is building a “high speed kill web” to encircle the entire planet with 5G capability to summon unmanned weapons and spacecraft at a moment’s notice, all operating on a sea-land-space infrastructure comprised of satellites and a “smart ocean” made up of undersea sonar and radar networks. The data cloud for the new war fighting paradigm will be developed by Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle and Google, which collectively received $9 billion last December from the Pentagon to begin research.

The facts and figures rolled off her tongue quickly as Koohan explained how this hyper-costly infrastructure is creating a new reality with dead oceans and atomized warfare. “A weaponized Pacific is a dead Pacific. And a dead Pacific is a dead planet.” Her pictures and diagrams showed how whale poop is keeping our oceans alive. Their poop is rich in nutrients that stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, capturing an estimated 40% of all the carbon dioxide produced. But roughly a 100,000 whales are being killed each year by the U.S. military using the Pacific Ocean and islands as a testing ground for new weapons systems and live-fire training, along with the use of sonar for anti-submarine warfare training.

Continue reading ARMS RACE = SUICIDE RACE

AMERICAN HOSPITALS: Healing a Broken System

Several PDACNM members attended the screening of this film today at the Guild Cinema followed by a panel discussion and Q & A. The event was organized by District 1199NM of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees led by Rep. Eleanor Chavez.

The film is a compelling indictment of the U.S. hospital system. Health care has a stranglehold on the U.S. economy, dominating our annual national spending with unsustainable, out-of-control growth that far outpaces annual economic growth. American Hospitals uncovers the economic structure of an industry that is charging outrageous fees while sitting on billions of dollars in accumulated cash – and paves the way towards solutions.

During Q&A several people mentioned money in politics and the corruption in both political parties prevents meaningful reform. Rep. Chavez replied that we need to elect more progressives to office. YES!

Rebirth of Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center on May 20, 2023

Cheers and a sigh of relief filled the community room in the new International District Public Library in Albuquerque on Saturday, May 20th. That’s when more than 70 members came together to vote on new bylaws for the Peace and Justice Center, and then elected a slate of new council members.

Many of us had not seen each other in person since before the Covid pandemic hit three years ago, and it felt like a mini reunion of sorts. Although the average age was probably north of 60 years, it was encouraging to see the young people, including the council’s new president, Joshua Orr. 

Given the challenges of the past few years, the new council has a lot on its plate. Everyone appears ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work. The next regularly scheduled council meeting is 6/20/23 at the Center.  More details to follow.

The new council members are: Cecilia Chavez, Bob Anderson, Jeanne Pahls, Katarina Robinson, Torrence Green, Joshua Orr – chair, Alan Wagman, Aiden Hendrickson, Andreas Archuleta, Ilse Biel – secretary, Nancy Henderson, Anamargarita Otero – treasurer, and Bob Kermott.

Communication with the council members can be directed to Jeanne Pahls at  jeannepahls@comcast.net and Joshua Orr at orr.d.joshua@gmail.com with a cc. to board@abqpeaceandjustice.org