"Peacemongers unite" by Waging Peace

The Capital Region will soon play host to three of the most internationally recognized people in the peace and non-violent resistance movement. These folks will be well known to those of you are involved in working for justice or who follow alternative media.

They will be the keynote speakers for the 10th annual Kateri Tekakwitha Peace Conference, to be held Aug. 15 and 16 at the National Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine on Route 5 in Fonda. This year's theme is “Nurturing Peace”.

If you want to know what you can do as one person to promote peace in the world, these are the people who will tell you. It is the best bargain in the greater Capital Region at $15 to $40 for adults. It is a sliding fee – you pay what you can afford. Students and seniors are $10 and high school students are free. They even throw in lunch.

Colonel (ret.) Ann Wright resigned from the U.S. Foreign Service on March 19, 2003, after an extremely distinguished military career, while serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia. She resigned due to her disagreement with the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq without the authorization of the U.N. Security Council, the lack of effort in resolving the Israel-Palestinian situation, the lack of policy on North Korea and unnecessary curtailment of civil liberties in the United States.

Ms. Wright has master's and law degrees from the University of Arkansas and a master's degree in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I. Ms. Wright has been featured in articles in the Washington Post magazine, Government Executive magazine, Foreign Service Journal and Ms. magazine and has been interviewed by radio and TV networks. She participated in the documentary film "Uncovered: The Truth About the Iraq War”. She is the author of “DISSENT – Voices Of Conscience” with Susan Dixon and a foreword by Daniel Ellsburg.

Bishop Gumbleton was the founding president of Pax Christi USA in 1972. Pax Christi is an internationally recognized organization devoted to promoting peace through justice and human rights and Bishop Gumbleton remains one of the organization's "Ambassadors for the Peace". The list of international peace and human rights awards bestowed on this man for his work is nothing short of astounding.

Rev. Roy Bourgeois is the founder of the School of the Americas Watch, whose ministry is to shut down this travesty. Rev. Bougeois was a naval officer for four years, spending two of them at sea, one in NATO and one in Vietnam, and received the Purple Heart. He became an outspoken critic of U.S. policy in Central and South America when on Dec. 2, 1980, four U.S. church women (three nuns and one lay person) were raped and killed by members of the Salvadoran Army. Two of the women were personal friends of Rev. Bougeois. At the time of their murder, the women were ministering to the poor and orphans.

The School of the Americas - now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation - trained the killers and also trained the killers of six Jesuit Priests and their cook and her 15-year-old daughter Nov. 16, 1989 in El Salvador. Here's a salient fact that the liberal media in the U.S. made little mention of at the time – the priests' heads were split open and their brains were removed and placed beside them. I know – I saw the photographs. The message was very clear - “You will not think for yourselves and you will not teach others to do so either”. The killers learned that creative technique on scholarship at the School of the Americas, which is generously funded with our tax dollars – several of them, in fact.

The man who organizes the conference is no slouch either. In addition to organizing this conference for 10 years, John Amidon has been arrested in Nevada for witnessing against nuclear weapons and has traveled in the Middle East to promote peace.

Please sign up in advance to help John and company plan the day's logistics. Tickets are available by e-mailing jajaja1234@aol.com or calling John at 518-312-6442

For complete conference information, go to www.kateripeaceconference.org.