Ethan Vesely-Flad's blog

For many years, today's date in U.S. calendars seemed to be an odd, cynical juxtaposition of politically and socially-inflected observances: Presidents' Day, right in the middle of Black History Month. One the one hand, white powerful men were being honored at the same time as those who had fought enslavement, dispossession, and imprisonment at their hands. That is, it felt an oxymoron until the dramatic election of Barack Obama. The new issue of The New Yorker magazine brings us back to the thrilling feelings many of us felt one year ago at Obama's inauguration -- when Rev. Joseph Lowery closed the momentous program with a stirring invocation -- through an extraordinary photo spread honoring African Americans leaders (or their descendants) of the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King scholar Richard Deats -- who was also close friends with the King family and a member of the national commission to create the Dr. King Holiday -- was the featured guest on a national webinar hosted last week by the Fellowship of Reconciliation. An audio file of the program will soon be available on FOR's website for on-demand listening.

Last week in Cairo, dozens of international peace activists concluded a several-day hunger strike for the people of Gaza. Today in Washington, more than 100 peacemakers begin an 11-day hunger strike for the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. This "Fast for Justice" calls on President Obama to live up to his pledge to close the prison within one year of his installation as the 44th U.S. president -- in other words, within the next two weeks! Support their action by fasting for one meal or one day -- and by contacting the White House to urge the president to close Guantanamo and release those prisoners who have not been charged with a crime.

Progressive activists have made comprehensive immigration reform a top legislative priority in the 2010 Congress. A key reason is the rapidly increasing harassment of immigrants. Different cultural communities are being targeted by governmental officials as well as nativist activists. Arab and Muslim peoples have experienced such discrimination since 2001, of course, but it is expected to increase in the wake of recent terrorism threats to the U.S.

Last week in Washington, new strict screening regulations against travelers from 14 so-called "terrorism prone nations" were enacted. To be carried out by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Obama administration's decision was condemned by Muslim Public Affairs Council as "religious and ethnic profiling at its worst."

This past week, during the holiday period after Christmas and over the new year, a group of young Iraqis gathered at the headquarters of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Upper Nyack, New York. They were all university students attending U.S. colleges, whose schooling was organized by the Iraqi Student Project -- an initiative modeled on FOR's Bosnian Student Project from the 1990s. An article in today's Journal News, the newspaper of New York's Rockland & Westchester Counties, profiles the hope of these young people as they seek a better future than that seen amidst the war they left behind.

In the wake of President Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan, it is more important than ever to listen to the voices of ordinary Afghanis. The Fellowship of Reconciliation has been in dialogue with some young leaders there, and a few days ago -- just before the president's announcement -- the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers published a video on YouTube. It is a touching message of peace greetings to Malia & Sasha Obama, the president's daughters, from Afghani girls and boys. Their ordinary, gentle voices speak to love, conscience, and human dignity. Click here to watch this video message to Malia & Sasha Obama from young Afghanis.

MacGregor Eddy, a friend and fellow peace activist, is on a bus right now on the way to Las Vegas. MacGregor is joining Cindy Sheehan, Father Louie Vitale, members of CodePink, and others on a five-day trip to multiple armed forces bases in California and Nevada -- bases for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines -- whose impacts lead to death and devastation to humanity and the natural environment.

The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation uses a variety of media to get out the word about their efforts for justice, peace, and nonviolence. Examples include a monthly television show broadcast on local public-access TV, a film series, and a partnership with the local newspaper, The Olympian, to provide op-ed perspectives on current issues. This past weekend, Jody Tiller Mackey, co-chair of the Olympia FOR's steering committee, published the following perspective in the newspaper:

We continue to monitor the grave situation in Honduras with alarm. Our friends at the Quixote Center are doing a great job by regularly posting updates about what's happening in the tense stand-off as well as background materials on many underlying social and political issues in Honduras, such as the divides between poor and wealthy classes, the military and grassroots communities, and more. Together with Witness for Peace (FOR Task Force on Latin America & the Caribbean members helped found WFP in 1983), Quixote cosponsored an emergency fact-finding delegation to Honduras this month. This Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (ET), WFP is offering a free online briefing (via webinar and teleconference) titled "Honduras Coup Exposed" featuring WFP International Team member Galen Cohee Baynes.

On September 11, 2001, I was in Johannesburg, South Africa, nearing the end of a three-week trip to the country. I'd started in Cape Town, attending the 100th anniversary service of St. George's Cathedral -- the site of many anti-apartheid vigils and a sanctuary space for anti-apartheid activists during those traumatic years. Then I traveled to Durban to attend the World Conference Against Racism, joining an amazing gathering of thousands of people representing governments, NGOs, and people's movements from across the world. Unfortunately, the U.S. government boycotted the conference, so it was left to activists like me to "represent" the U.S. voice there.