Aug. 26—Today in Washington, D.C., a rally took place at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the historic mass rally 60 years ago, August 28, 1963, at which time Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous speech which came to be known as, “I Have a Dream.” Whatever the participants may be thinking this afternoon, as they attended today’s event, titled, “Continuing the Dream”—which included a speech from King confidant, Andrew Young, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1977-1979) and former Mayor of Atlanta, the words of Dr. King ring out with special, deep effect, from his “anti-war” speech four years later in New York City, April 4, 1967. The war Dr. King referred to at that time was in Vietnam, but his call to action, “to break the silence” about the wrongfulness of war, sounds truth for our time, here and now. He said of nations, “We have a choice today: non-violent co-existence or violent co-annihilation.”
The Global NATO drumbeat for war is continuing insanely, leading to the prospect of nuclear annihilation. The latest announcements of weapons for Ukraine include Finland yesterday pledging €94 million for more arms, and Norway this week pledging F-16 fighter jets, to come out of its mothball fleet. In October, the U.S. military will start training Ukrainian F-16 pilots at the Morris Air National Guard Base in Arizona, the Pentagon announced Aug. 24. In September, the Ukrainian pilots will start English-language training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. This will be “the most direct American involvement yet in the international effort to equip and train Ukraine with fighter aircraft,” reported Air & Space Forces magazine.
In the Pacific this week, combined naval drills began in the South China Sea with Australian, Japanese, Philippine and U.S. forces, to run through Aug. 31. The exercises include not only ship maneuvers, but also amphibious landing practices. The statements from defense officials involved in observing the drills, including Philippine President Marcos himself, repeat over and again that the purpose of the drills is vigilance to defend the international “rules-based order” to ensure a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The way ahead to stop this madness is open to us. Sign and spread the statement, “Appeal to the Citizens of the Global North: We Must Support the Construction of a New Just World Economic Order!”
Two weeks from now, the Schiller Institute will convene an international, online conference, “Let Us Join Hands with the Global Majority To Create a New Chapter in World History!”
Less than two weeks following that conference is the International Day of Peace, Sept. 21. That is an opportunity for all the world—the Global North, South, East and West—to stand together for development and peace. A focal point of action is a rally planned at the United Nations on Sept. 21.
These are the opportunities to collaborate with people the world over, to engage in the follow-on to the history-making shifts underway, seen this past week in the BRICS proceedings in South Africa, and seen in the inspiring success of India’s space achievement of Chandrayaan-3 landing softly on the South Pole of the Moon. In the United States early this morning, a SpaceX rocket took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, heading for the International Space Station, carrying Crew-7, an international team of four, from the U.S., Russia, Japan and Europe. That is an exemplification of the collaboration we should have among all nations, for purposes of serving humanity. Aboard the space station, Crew-7 will conduct 200 experiments, designed to prepare for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
To repeat Dr. King’s words: “We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action…. Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.”
