By Yosi McIntire Peace & Justice Secretary

Do you know a US Servas member who is doing some noteworthy things to make our world a better and more peaceful place … someone who inspires you to do more? Maybe it's working with refugees, or putting water and supplies in the desert for immigrants, or setting up gleaning operations for a food pantry, or working to promote racial justice or gender equality. If so, they might be eligible to receive one of three US Servas Peace awards to be presented at our 2023 National Conference this October 6-8 … the weekend before Indigenous Peoples Day.

Our National Peace Secretary, Yosi McIntire, and the US Servas Community Outreach team will review applications, then forward their recommendations to the Board of Directors. The member whose efforts are deemed "most worthy" will receive recognition at the US Servas 2023 Annual Conference this Fall. The awardee will also receive up to a $500 reimbursement for conference related expenses. In addition, US Servas will make a $500 donation in the member's name to the umbrella non-profit group under whose auspices they worked. The Peace Text BoxSecretary may present up to two additional awards of $500 each ($250 conf expenses plus $250 donation). It is our hope that winner(s) or their designees will make a brief presentation at the conference.

We look forward to hearing the stories of our amazing Servas members. Show how much you respect their efforts by sharing their stories with the rest of us.  Our website is being updated to include details and a submissions form for the award. In the interim, please submit their story (or yours) to me at PeaceSecretary@usservas.org.

By Yosi McIntire, US Servas Peace and Justice Secretary

The current military budget is approaching $1 trillion.  Today, most holders of the more common mutual fund portfolios are not concerned about being invested in weapons manufacturers’ stocks. Much of the American public has essentially bought into acquiescence. Typically, college students have little knowledge or interest in the anti-war movement that once thrived on campuses.

Joan Roelofs’ new book “The Trillion Dollar Silencer: Why There Is So Little Anti-War Protest in the United States” (Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2022), suggests the answer is money.

Particularly important is the fact that military bases have been placed strategically across the country, often in remote rural areas, where they become the life blood of economic development. Millions of American workers find jobs with military contractors or their subsidiaries, which finance scholarships and internships.

The military’s extensive philanthropic endeavors have helped to normalize militarism. A significant portion of grants to universities, businesses and engineering firms are geared to research and funding to train the next generation of weapons-producers. Opposition to U.S. foreign policy in universities has resulted in dismissal from employment.

According to Roelofs, our over-reliance on military spending is taking its toll. The link between bloated military spending and issues such as climate-change inaction, environmental protection, the crisis in public education, health-care, housing, poverty, etc. has been all but abandoned while the military industrial complex that General Eisenhower warned about in his Farewell Address in 1961, continues to always gets its way. Meanwhile we are witnessing a continued deterioration in civilian industrial infrastructure, political polarization, a negative balance of trade, and a mounting deficit.

Investment in civilian research, and an anti-war movement are desperately needed.

Hicks, Edward, Last Peaceable Kingdom, 1849. The painting depicts lions, leopards and other predators lying down with lambs and Pilgrims meeting with Native Americans. 

US Servas, just like Servas International, has a Peace & Justice Secretary. Both organizations have mission statements: Peace and understanding through travel and hosting. In this context, what do Peace and Peace & Justice mean since Servas is not an advocacy organization? 

Here Peace & Justice refer to efforts that “encourage individual and collective action by citizes as actors in society for the promotion of peace and justice in the world. It seeks to strengthen citizen responsibility both locally and globally.”

When we invite people from elsewhere into our homes, and vice versa, we learn about others – we represent our country, and they theirs. Few traveler or host experiences are negative, and even when they are, we reason that not everybody from, for example, France, can be like that so it’s a win for peace and understanding.

There are many ways to work for peace and not all of them involve directly protesting or fighting war. It becomes more complicated when you are put in the position of deciding whether or not something is a “good” war, e.g., World War II, or perhaps the current conflict in Ukraine. You are working for peace if you actively support any of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals. And so, by definition, Servas hosts and travelers are all working for peace and justice.

We would love to hear about member efforts. Share your story here.  

Francisco Salomon Luna, SI Peace Secretary on the Road

While at the recent 2022Servas International Conference 
and General Assembly (SICOGA)_ meeting in India, I applied – and was selected – for the International Peace Secretary position. I will serve for three years in this capacity together with Mei Wang from Taiwan. 

I was born in Mexico in 1980. My origins are a mixture of European, Asian, Middle Eastern and indigenous Mesoamerican. I was offered a scholarship to study in China and joined Servas in 2004. A neighbor's daughter, who had taken a trip to Europe using Servas contacts, recommended this organization to me. During my stopover in Seoul, South Korea, I sought Servas hospitality. It turned out to be an extraordinary experience! I was treated as if I were a family member or a lifelong family friend.  

When I returned home from China, I wanted to offer that same hospitality to Servas travelers visiting Mexico. I contacted Servas to express my interest in participating more actively as a volunteer. I became an assistant to Lilli Kerekes, the Mexican Youth coordinator. In due course I took over as Youth coordinator. In 2010, I participated in the first International Youth Meeting held in Mexico. After that, I became the Servas Mexico Peace Secretary as well as coordinator of Mexico City. In 2017 and again in 2020, I was elected Servas Mexico National Secretary. Throughout the Covid pandemic, in addition to being a host and traveler, I participated in Servas meetings in Kyrgistan, Costa Rica, Spain, Korea and India. I also engaged in the SYLE program in Brazil and Making Connections in Israel.  

While at the recent 2022 SICOGA meeting in India, I applied – and was selected – for the International Peace Secretary position. I will serve for three years in this capacity together with Mei Wang from Taiwan. As International Peace Secretary, I intend to maintain communication with other National Peace Secretaries to try to promote activities and events that promote Servas and that connect Servas to other organizations that have the similar objectives.  

I believe that small actions can have significant impact. Everything counts in the promotion of peace. The virtue of selfless “hosting of the pilgrim” appears in all the religions, cultures and philosophies of the world. Welcoming strangers into our homes, generates a positive energy that raises our consciousness and broadens our understanding. As ambassadors of our respective cultures of origin, the interaction between host and traveler convinces us that even if in many ways we are different and may have different view-points, we can be good friends. This is something of great value when we consider the human actions that sustain the world.  

-- Translated by Yosi, U.S. Peace Secretary

 

by Yosi McIntire

Anti-War Protesters Carrying "Stop the War Now" Banner at Anti-War Protest 1970's

Back in the day, people were angry about U.S. engagement in overseas “adventures” like the Vietnam War and the War in Iraq to name two. Today, the military budget is approaching $1trillion and much of the American public has essential acquiesced to this status quo.

Today, most holders of the more common mutual fund portfolios are not concerned about being invested in weapons manufacturers stocks. Typically, college students have little knowledge or interest in the anti-war movement that once thrived on campuses.

Joan Roelofs’ new book “The Trillion Dollar Silencer: Why There Is So Little Anti-War Protest in the United States” (Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2022), suggests the answer is money.

Particularly important is the fact that military bases have been placed strategically across the country, often in remote rural areas, where they become the life blood of economic development. Millions of American workers find jobs with military contractors or their subsidiaries, which finance scholarships and internships.

The military’s extensive philanthropic endeavors have helped to normalize militarism. A significant portion of grants to universities, businesses and engineering firms are geared to research and funding to train the next generation of weapons-producers. Opposition to U.S. foreign policy in universities has resulted in dismissal from employment.

According to Roelofs, our over-reliance on military spending is taking its toll. The link between bloated military spending and issues such as climate-change inaction, environmental protection, the crises in public education, health-care, housing, poverty, etc. have been all but abandoned while the military industrial complex that General Eisenhower warned about in his Farewell Address in 1961, continues to get its way. Meanwhile we are witnessing a continued deterioration in civilian infrastructure, political polarization, a negative balance of trade, and a mounting deficit.

Investment in civilian research and an anti-war movement are desperately needed.

In the Spring of 1964, the Ancient City would witness a final scene of what would be called “The Great Moral Drama,” which led to the landmark passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While St. Augustine was gearing up for its 400th anniversary, tensions rose as racial segregation came to the forefront and began to make headlines.

National media covered stories of the Ku Klux Klan attacking non-violent activists who were not only beaten but also subsequently arrested by local law enforcement. Terror reigned. Black homes were shot up and firebombed. At the request of local activists, members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) - headed up by Dr. King - arrived on May 18, 1964, and began working with locals to organize sit-ins and peaceful protests and lead the charge to end segregation. On June 12, 1964, Dr. King was arrested on the steps of the Monson Motor Lodge when he asked to be served at the whites-only hotel restaurant. He was taken to the Old St. Johns County Jail where he wrote to Rabbi Israel Dresner of New Jersey, encouraging rabbis to assist in the St. Augustine movement. On June 18th, two crucial moments in Civil Rights history would unfold at the hotel. After the refusal of service in the Monson Motor Lodge restaurant, sixteen rabbis prayed at the hotel's entrance. Manager James Brock reportedly pushed the kneeling rabbis toward police to be arrested for trespassing, breach of peace, and conspiracy. This resulted in the largest mass arrest of rabbis in US history to this day.

Several minutes later, Brock pouring two gallons of muriatic acid into the pool. The image of horrified swimmers would make global headlines, influencing lawmakers to vote in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On June 17, “wade-ins” began on local beaches. While beaches were legally desegregated, St. Augustine’s public beaches were still mostly off-limits to Blacks. One of the largest and most violent demonstrations took place on June 25, 1964 at St. Augustine Beach. The Miami News reported hundreds of white segregationists “screaming and flailing” at African Americans in the “city’s worst outbreak of racial violence.” White residents forced many of the demonstrators into the water. Police officers stormed the water: some with dogs, others wielding batons. At least 45 injuries and 15 hospitalizations were reported with some nearly drowned. Wade-in protests continued until July 1, 1964, the day before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law on July 2, 1964. Martin Luther King taught us that compassion is a tool that can influence and inspire us to grow a culture of Peace.

Monday, January 16 is Martin Luther King Day, a National Day of Service. I would like to learn what other US Servas members are doing to celebrate his legacy. Submit your story.

Stay connected to the larger world. Read the UN’s monthly Department of Economic and Social Affairs January newsletter. See what SERVAS International was talking about at the end of 2022. 

The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27), the United Nations conference on climate change held last November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, was an opportunity to bring a series of important issues to international attention – including the concept of “climate colonialism.” The term evokes a set of dynamics created in the colonial era, which still persist today and result in a seemingly interminable imbalance of power between Western countries and the global South which is most affected by “climate change.” Much was made of the European rush for natural gas. Many human rights and environmental activists representing non-governmental organizations heavily criticized the event claiming that it had been “reduced to a grand spectacle” and failed to push world leaders to commit to stronger action and be held accountable. The term "anthropogenic” was challenged on the basis that it assumed that the climate crisis was caused by universal human nature, without considering the actions/liabilities and historical emissions of a minority of colonialists, capitalists, and patriarchs. 

The NGOs were left disappointed COP27: no significant action was taken to phase-out fossil fuels or to moderate hyper-consumerist lifestyles. One of the few achievements of the COP27, was the agreement to establish a so-called “loss and damage” fund for those most affected by environmental disasters. We’ll see whether the fund pans out. It would be a step in the right direction even though it may never offer enough to enable less-wealthy countries to protect themselves from climate change or even have the necessary means available to remedy the damage caused. 

The window for limiting the increase in global temperature to 1.5 C degrees is closing fast. The need for a concrete and immediate commitment is ever more urgent. How can Servas members help? If you are involved with Peace and Justice initiatives in your community that you would like to share with the broader Servas community, please let me know! Yosi, US Servas Peace and Justice Secretary PeaceandJustice@USServas.org.

by Yosi McIntire, USServas Peace & Justice Secretary

Bob Luitweiler founded Servas in 1949 to promote and enable intentional, constructive social interactions. He believed that cross-cultural understanding was necessary for the diverse populations of our planet to find common ground, to grow, and to thrive in harmony with one another. 

Through our relationships with one another and our actions in the larger world, Servas strives to be a network for the exchange of ideas, experiences and knowledge that promotes tolerance and understanding between the peoples of the world. The overarching and long-term vision of Servas is a more peaceful world. The COVID pandemic put the organization under considerable strain, but we have emerged and are growing once again!

We enter 2023 looking forward to new engagements with our fellow humans and continuing together to make the world a better place. If you are involved with Peace and Justice initiative in your community that you would like to share with the broader Servas community, please let me know!    

by Yosi McIntire, Peace & Justice Secretary 

You are invited to apply to join the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. To apply, please fill out UNCSW65 Statement of Intent and Interest available at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXyJtdpWxVSZdzWBJdmV97HtdE7fml5ljiRL5HSGMuGb5KHQ/viewform?usp=sf_link  Your application must be submitted by January 10, 2023. 

Be sure to have your SI Profile ID before you begin (sign in online at Servas.org and it is shown on the top of your SI profile page). This Registration Form must be submitted by January 10th, 2023. UNCSW67 - United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 67 is instrumental in promoting women’s rights, documenting the reality of women’s lives throughout the world, and shaping global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Dates: 6-17 March 2023

Place: Virtual CSW Conference online https://ngocsw.org/ngocsw67/ 

The format of the NGO CSW67 Forum will be hybrid (both virtual and in-person in New York).

Priority theme: Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

NOTE: All applicants must submit a Statement of Intent and Interest. I attended last year and found it really enlightening and stimulating! I urge you to do the same.

Best wishes. Yosi (National Peace and Justice Secretary)