Tuesday kitchen help at Uncle Food’s Diner

Peace House coordinates a weekly hot meal on Tuesdays, and we need more hands in the kitchen! Flexible shifts from 10am-3pm. We cook at First Methodist near Laurel and N. Main. Come work with our fabulous chef, David Jimenez, and the rest of our fun crew. Reach out to Meg (meg@peacehouse.net) or call the office at 541.482.9625 for more info.

Volunteer with Ashland Food Angels

Food Angels has been collecting and donating produce and other perishable food items to Uncle Food’s since 1996, as well as helping to provide an abundance of food items to the Ashland Food Bank and food banks in Talent and Phoenix. 

The project operates daily, picking up food each morning and evening. Shifts are usually 2-3 hours. Although it helps to be able to lift 20 to 40 pounds, there are also jobs which require no lifting. Consistent weekly help is greatly appreciated, but even an hour or so once in a while would be helpful. It’s a wonderful and loving group that gives their time and energies to this project,To learn more, email Pamala Joy at ashlandfoodangels@gmail.com or call 458.246.7489.

On May 1st, workers, businesses, and schools are saying: No Work. No shopping. No school.

Will you join us?

Here’s what you can do:

1. Attend the May Day Rally in Medford

PCUN, Unite Oregon, Unete, Indivisible, local unions, and many many others are hosting a May Day rally in Medford:

May 1 from 4-7pm at Veterans Memorial Park next to the Medford Armory 

Live music

Food by Jobs with Justice

Local Union speakers in Spanish and English

2. Pledge to Strike.

Whether you’re a student, a worker, or an everyday person who does your shopping on Fridays, you can demonstrate the economic and social power we hold collectively by withdrawing your participation on that day. Stay home—or go out and volunteer instead. Plan your shopping for another day. Let our collective presence be felt.

This call for a national strike on May Day coincides with our statewide Day Without an Immigrant. In addition to encouraging a strike, Oregon for All, PCUN, and many others are hosting a lobby day in Salem for those able to attend.

Will you be striking on May 1st? Sign the pledge form from Unete to show your commitment.

3. Participate in outreach to local businesses.

On January 23rd, many businesses around the country shut their doors, closed early, or took part in solidarity actions in support of the community in Minnesota after the killing of Renee Good by federal agents.

May 1st, the business community has another chance to show that they stand in support of their customers, workers, and neighbors, and against the billionaires and authoritarians using our taxes to fuel war and terrorize everyday people via violent tactics from ICE and CBP.

Ask your favorite businesses to show their support using the BUSINESS OUTREACH TOOLKIT.

Are you a business or independent contractor that’s participating in the May Day strike? Let us know here and we’ll add your name to the list below so that community members can see you care.

Think your business is too small to meaningfully participate? The folks at The Drift Collective are engaged in conversations to help other small business owners think through what it means to show up in this moment. Check out their Instagram and reach out for more info:

And here’s how businesses in Southern Oregon are showing solidarity:

-The Drift Collective – Cash Only & Music by Los Mapaches + Chinga La Migra Live Screen Printing

-Luna Love Plant Show – Cash Only & Donating 20% of sales to the “Protect Oregon” organization @protectoregon 

-Loam+Black – Cash Only & Talking w/ All Customers About May Day Strike

-Fiit & Flow Fitness Studio – Rewarding members participating in May Day solidarity actions with points towards Spring Challenge competition. 

-Websters – Participating, Exact Details To Be Confirmed

-Treehouse Books – Participating, Exact Details To Be Confirmed

More to come!

See all the businesses taking action around the state: https://www.daywithoutanimmigrantor.com/businesses

Know of a small business taking action? Tell us about it.

We’re happy to announce our next set of trainings for April and May, following on our Justice is Love in Public weekend in February.

Please RSVP to tell us which trainings you’d like to attend and we’ll send more details to you.

Workshops are free and open to all but please consider making a donation to support this programming. Peace House relies on community support to do this work.

Send questions to meg@peacehouse.net.

Thursday, April 16th, 3-5pm – Strike Readiness Training
We’ll gather in person to participate in a national training on preparing for strikes, then debrief together and talk about plans for upcoming May 1st strikes.


Wednesday, May 13th, 6:30-8:30pm – HOPE-PV: Elections Focus
Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence is a framework being used around the country to push back against authoritarian violence. We’ll learn the basics of this framework and then put it into practice with a focus on elections, working through scenarios in which violence or threats of violence attempt to disrupt our right to vote and govern ourselves.


Wednesday, May 27th, 6-8pm – Noncooperation 101
Words like authoritarianism, fascism, and autocracy are all being thrown around a lot these days. How does this moment in the U.S. compare to authoritarian take-overs in other places? We’ll share about the current authoritarian threat, then share stories of noncooperation and how nonviolent noncooperation has been used to push back against anti-democratic forces.


Saturday, May 30th, 10am-3pm – Economic Noncooperation Against ICE and Militarism
Rescheduled from February. Boycotts, strikes, tax resistance — these are just a few of the nonviolent noncooperation tactics movements have used around the world to disrupt authoritarian forces. We’ll break down the mechanics of these tactics and look at how they might be deployed against the violent excesses of ICE and the U.S. military in our current moment. We’ll share stories from global movements, review concepts like the pillars of support and basics of campaign strategy, then dig into creative campaign design ourselves to see what actions we might take together here in Oregon.

Pope Leo called for peace in his remarks on Easter Sunday and reiterated them again in response to President Trump’s threat that a ‘whole civilization might die tonight,’ made the morning of Tuesday, April 7th.

How do we respond on a day like this, when mass destruction of human life is tossed around so flagrantly?

We say: show your love for life in whatever manner feels compelling and urgent.

We’ve already heard that individuals are gathering on the Ashland Plaza this afternoon to speak out.

We also know that some of us are flooding the lines of the White House – (202) 456-1111 – before 5pm ET.

Some of us are showing up to continue feeding our neighbors, like we will be today at Uncle Food’s Diner, and advocating for their right to exist in public, later today at Ashland City Council.

Some of us will figure out how to provide aid to those already harmed and displaced.

Some of us will finally take the step to stop funding war, this week before Tax Day, joining the War Tax Resisters League and others in refusing to hand over our money to systems of endless bloodshed.

Some of us will gather and process and plan with those closest to us to figure out what kind of action we’ve been too scared to take before and finally step to take it.

Some of us will sit in quiet and allow the anxiety and fear of what’s happening to move through our bodies until we better discern the right course of action—engaging in an active preparing, in this moment when the next right move can be so hard to see.

Whatever form of action calls to you, we say: do it. Act for peace.

Whatever you do, don’t let this be the day you turned away from the harm this nation is willing to cause in the world. Don’t let it be the day you chose to ignore the truth of suffering.

Today is a scary and horrific day, and how it will unfold is uncertain and may lead to terrible loss. But we cannot begin to prevent this and future atrocities if we will not sit with the reality of suffering and let that move us to act, in whatever way is available to us.

So we say again, whatever form of action calls to you: do it.

Today, when so-called leaders act only for war, let the people act for peace.

We strongly urge the U.S. government and other involved parties to cease this path of murder and destruction and to return to open and honest negotiations in good will. It is the only reasonable and practical course. 

We urge all members of Congress to assert their constitutional prerogative and to quickly approve legislation currently in both the House and the Senate regarding the War Powers Act. The decision to go to war is the most consequential and disastrous decision that humans can male. This decision must never be left to a single person, including the President. We urge everyone to contact their Members of Congress with this message.

Finally, we must clearly state that “regime change” in other countries is not the prerogative of the United States. It is the sole prerogative of the people of those countries. This is true no matter the quality of the government in question.

Let us choose the project of life, not the project of death.

Peace House invites you to come rethink what love and leadership look like in these times of struggle and uncertainty.

Join us for the long weekend spanning Valentine’s Day and President’s Day to learn together, sing together, and find new ways to protect our neighbors and show love for our community.

We’re hosting events in two locations: Peace House in Ashland, and the library in Medford.

MEDFORD LIBRARY EVENTS

Friday, February 13th, 6-8pm: Noncooperation 101

Words like authoritarianism, fascism, and autocracy are all being thrown around a lot these days. How does this moment in the U.S. compare to authoritarian take-overs in other places? We’ll talk about the current authoritarian threat, then share stories of noncooperation and how nonviolent noncooperation has been used to push back against anti-democratic forces.

Open to all, no registration required. See more event details.

Saturday, February 14th, 11am-2:30pm: Intro to Security Culture

What’s encryption? Why use Signal? How do you gauge when to share information with others and when to withhold it? Learn some of the basics of security culture, and how keeping your own information secure and safe can help protect others in your community.

Open to all, no registration required.

Saturday, February 14th, 3-5pm: Free Families : Songs and Community Building for Migrant Justice Now

Come sing together and learn how to weave song, healing cultural practice, and community-building. Bring your voice (yes, even those of you who don’t think you can sing—we want you here!) and your heart for migrant justice. Hosted by Lu Aya of Songs in the Key of Resistance and The Peace Poets.

Open to all, no registration required.

(These events are not sponsored or endorsed by the library.)

PEACE HOUSE IN ASHLAND EVENTS

Saturday, February 14th, 12-2pm: 4th Amendment Workplace Ashland Team Launch

Join Coalición Fortaleza’s 4th Amendment Workplace campaign for a potluck lunch and volunteer orientation! Space is limited, please sign up in advance.

POSTPONED – Monday, February 16th, 10-2pm: Economic Noncooperation and ICE: A Workshop and Strategy Session

Note: We are postponing this session to be in solidarity with the Day Without an Immigrant Action taking place in Medford! We will be rescheduling soon. If you’d like to get registration info for the next time, send an email to meg@peacehouse.net.

Boycotts, strikes, tax resistance — these are just a few of the nonviolent noncooperation tactics movements have used around the world to disrupt authoritarian forces. We’ll break down the mechanics of these tactics and look at how they might be deployed against the violent excesses of ICE in our current moment.

In this workshop we’ll share stories from global movements, review concepts like the pillars of support and basics of campaign strategy, then dig into creative campaign design ourselves to see what actions we might take together here in Oregon.

Workshop space is limited. To try and build a group bringing diverse viewpoints and experience levels, we are asking folks to fill out an application to participate. We’ll begin sending out acceptances on a rolling basis starting February 5th. 

If you have difficulty accessing the form please email with your interest to meg@peacehouse.net.

Monday, February 16th, 5-7pm: From President’s Day to July 4th: A Talk and Community Brainstorm

This July 4th will be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and we’re expecting an escalation in fascist rhetoric and pressure to narrowly define citizenship and patriotism. How can we find ways to push back on this culture of authoritarianism in the lead-up to July 4th? How do we honor our democratic ideals while recognizing the long history of harm in the U.S? What are alternative ways we can observe our interdependence and love of the land on July 4th? 

One-part presentation, one-part community brainstorming of ways to collectively observe July 4th this year.

MORE MEDFORD EVENTS

Many of our community partners and friends are also hosting events this weekend! Here are a few of the other happenings on our radar:

Join Unite Oregon and others in showing your support for all the immigrants in our community.

MORE ASHLAND EVENTS

Saturday, February 14th, 3-5pm: Jobs With Justice Valentine’s Day Party

Can’t make it to Medford our community song event? Consider joining the Jobs with Justice crew at Pioneer Hall and learn how to help out with their community meals and more!

Sunday February 15th, 6pm: The Power of Song with RV Peace Choir

Listen to the Rogue Valley Peace Choir perform with three other regional peace choirs in a mega-concert! Donations suggested but not required. Performance is at SOU Recital Hall, 450 S. Mountain Ave.

Also check out the Saturday evening performance and talent show at Wesley Hall: https://roguevalleypeacechoir.org/event/multi-choir-dinner/

January 30 will mark the anniversary of the assassination of one of humanity’s great teachers of nonviolence.  At this difficult time in our country and in the world, there is strength in remembering who he was and what he showed us. Many called him Mahatma (Great Soul).

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born October 2, 1869, in British colonial India. He earned a law degree in England, spent years as a lawyer defending Indian clients in South Africa, and finally returned to India in the early 1900s. He became head of the Indian National Congress in 1921. 

At the time, India was under a restrictive British colonial rule. There was tension and sometimes violence between Hindus and Muslims, the two largest religious blocks. Women were controlled from birth by men. Untouchables were those who were consigned by custom, religious belief, and law to do the most menial jobs and to live in poverty—the throw-aways of Indian society. The Congress was an activist organization dedicated to ending or lessening poverty, increasing the equality and rights of women, promoting religious and ethnic harmony, eliminating the category of “untouchables” in Indian society, and especially working for Indian self-rule (hind swaraj).

Eventually, Gandhi discarded his British lifestyle and adopted the clothing, diet, and lifestyle of traditional Indian peasant communities. He began what he called his “experiments with truth.” He practiced abstinence—fasting from food periodically and practicing chastity, although he was married. He later felt that he had been selfish in failing to consider how all this might have affected his wife, Kasturbai. Gandhi reflected on all of this in his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Abstinence became for Gandhi both a spiritual discipline and a political statement that challenged the violence that accompanies the acquisition of wealth, goods, or power.

By the 1930s, Gandhi was a leader in what was known as satyagraha, a concept difficult to define easily in English. It was manifest as campaigns of nonviolent civil disobedience and non-cooperation. Nonviolent civil protest might include not trying to defend one’s body when attacked by British colonial military or their Indian police subordinates. Gandhi and other satyagrahi believed that a nonviolent response to extreme violence could touch the conscience of those engaged in violent repression—especially those who were the front line servants of a repressive system—police, soldiers, government agents—without whom oppressive rule could not be enforced. Civil disobedience is not necessarily everyone’s path.

Non-cooperation or non-participation in evil or repressive systems became a foundational principle—not just a tactic—of nonviolent action. Gandhi led several major campaigns that became emblematic of non-cooperation with or withdrawal of support from British colonial rule. Most famous was the Great Salt March. The British colonial government demanded that Indians pay a tax on the salt they bought, a tax that helped fund Britain’s colonial rule over India. To enforce this, the colonial authorities made it illegal for ordinary Indians to make or gather salt. In 1930, Gandhi led thousands of people in a 250 mile walk to the sea where he and some of the marchers gathered sea salt, deliberately breaking what they saw as an unjust law, and withdrawing their support for colonial rule by evading the salt tax. Gandhi and many others were beaten and arrested, and he said he regretted that many who followed him suffered such violence.

Gandhi also led a campaign to stop buying British textiles, and instead to make cotton clothing in home and community workshops. Gandhi began making his own cotton cloth on a home spinning wheel. He said that his time at his spinning wheel each day was part of his practice of nonviolence. Cotton was grown in India and the clothing was lighter, more traditionally Indian, more suitable to a warm climate, and did not depend on British imports. It did not escape notice that spinning, by social norm and tradition, was considered work for women, and that Gandhi was deliberately violating that gendered division of labor.

When Gandhi realized that this boycott of British cloth affected the incomes and jobs of sheep herders and textile workers in northern England, he went to England and spent days among the textile workers explaining the struggle of Indians for self-government and how non-cooperation was necessary. For Gandhi, nonviolent actions must be mindful and not inflict even unintended violence to others. Consequences matter. This was, and remains, a difficult requirement.

In the 1940s, during World War 2, Britain relied on its British-trained Indian soldiers to fight against Japanese forces in southeast Asia, even as an independence movement was growing in India. After the war, Britain had little choice but to agree to Indian independence, which began in 1947. But independence also encouraged two opposed movements. Many in India’s large Muslim minority demanded an independent Muslim state separate from India. On the other side, an extremist Hindu nationalist movement developed that demanded Hindu dominance and the expulsion of Muslims. 

Gandhi’s vision was always of a pluralistic and inclusive India. He led the nonviolent movement against the partition of India and for a tolerant and open society. Despite this movement, partition did occur.  Parts of India, were carved out as the new Muslim nation of Pakistan. Chaos, religious violence, and slaughter accompanied this, as hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Hindus moved in opposite directions, Muslims toward Pakistan, Hindus out of those areas, passing and often attacking and killing each other in the process The carnage became an international spectacle.

Gandhi continued to lead prayer meetings through this disaster. Before one of these meetings, on January 30, 1948, he was assassinated  by a young man described as a Hindu nationalist who believed Gandhi’s inclusive vision was treason to Hindus and India. By chance or intent, the nationalist movement to which the assassin belonged had adopted an ancient Hindu symbol that the Nazis had adapted to form the swastika. 

A devout Hindu, Gandhi read the Christian Gospels and wrote that Jesus’ sermon on the mount “went straight to my heart.” It commanded us to love our enemies, do good to all, not covet  earthly wealth. We know that Gandhi’s life and example influenced many famous people—Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein, many others. Ordinary people around the world, including my Polish grandfather, also found inspiration in Gandhi’s life. The flag of modern India has the figure of a spinning wheel, a reminder of Gandhi’s teaching of simplicity, self-reliance, now interpreted also as national sovereignty. 

Across years, distance, and differences, we can see the ugly similarities between Gandhi’s situation and our own—religious nationalism, empire, rampant racism, untouchable or throw-away people, violent greed, might makes right, extreme patriarchy, and more. 

When I was a Jesuit seminarian in the 1960s, I found and read Gandhi’s autobiography and a collection of his other writings in our library. A lifetime of seeing nonviolent resistance by people in the Caribbean, Central America, and the United States has given me my own understanding of what Gandhi meant, and a few simple beliefs. 

Nonviolence is  a way of life, not just an occasional tactic. Nonviolence may be a way of appealing to the conscience of others, but it is first of all for oneself. Each person’s practice of nonviolence is unique. We are all compromised in some ways by the realities of our world and our place and time. We each live nonviolence as best we can. We cannot afford to be “purists” about the practice of nonviolence for ourselves or others. 

The core of Gandhi’s nonviolence was his understanding of truth.  For Gandhi, truth was grounded in the realization of the unity and sacredness of everything (ahimsa). We are all one. Truth was factual—a sense of how our actions affect others— but it was more.than that. The search for truth is a humble path. We do not seek truth to exercise power over others but to clarify human relationships. The search for truth is difficult and constant. Today more than ever, this search for truth must contend with a multiplicity of false narratives, images, and idols. 

The opposite of nonviolence is fear. In its extreme form, fear may become cowardice or clinging to false justifications for doing nothing. Fear is a terrible violence that is used to control others. However we live our nonviolence, and whatever we do, in the face of injustice or oppression we must do something. We cannot do nothing out of fear or indifference. Those who use fear as a weapon are most often themselves afraid. 

Nonviolence is not a solitary choice but is always a community affair. Community is a powerful manifestation of nonviolence and an antidote to fear.  The essence of nonviolence. is the realization—the truth—that whatever happens to one affects all. 

I can write this, and we may already have reflected on all of it many times, but knowing what it means and how to adapt and live it in this time and place is an ongoing experiment. Thank you, Mr. Gandhi and all our ancestors and predecessors who have shown us by your lives the search for truth and the power of nonviolence, each in your own way. 

James Phillips is an anthropologist, a former Jesuit, and a member of the Peace House Board. He has studied and participated in movements of social change and human rights in Latin America and the U.S. over several decades.

“I want to leave behind a belief that good politics means living in a state of anxiety and dread,” I said. I had become sure that, though the election outcomes of that year were surely reason to feel agitated and anxious, we could not meet the challenges of 2025 working only from those emotions. Even now, as we see those outcomes morph into their harmful consequences, I remain convinced of this. Love, care, a sense of self-worth and dignity, a belief in community — these are what will allow us to conquer the forces of hate and greed.

What did I want to increase with the increasing light? “Focus and friendship.” I wanted to find a path I could commit to, and I wanted to “find my people,” to figure out how I might really show up for others in these times.

And now, here I am, just over a year later, in a place I could not have predicted, but which is surely the outcome of that moment of intention-setting. In early 2025, I had been to Peace House before, had volunteered once or twice for meal prep at Uncle Food’s Diner. But that was all. So it has been a year of learning about the long history and deep roots of this institution, and finding all the ways it has helped shape life here in Ashland, the county, and beyond. And I am still learning. But it seems that at Peace House I have found focus and friendship both, and most certainly, a means by which to take action in these endlessly difficult times. I’m looking forward to finding all the ways to show up for you, my new community, in the coming months.

And I have been overwhelmed by all the kindness and support and the ways I have seen all those involved with Peace House show up for us in this moment of transition. Thank you, thank you, to everyone helping steer us through this, especially our board, and all those who have been helping put us on a stable financial footing for the coming year.

Just this week, we’ve had a supporter come forth to match all new donations made during January, up to $10k. So if you’ve been considering making a donation and haven’t yet, now’s a great moment. Recurring monthly donations, which are especially impactful for small organizations, will be matched at their full value for the year. Donate, and be a part of helping set the foundation for us to face these times together, not from a place of anxiety, but from a base of love and a sense of community.

In continuing building our foundations and community both, we’re starting off 2026 with more ways for you to engage with Peace House and to get to know its new and old faces. This month, we’re beginning two occasional series: first, “Tea with the ED,” when you can join me for tea in the Peace House kitchen for casual conversation. Come ask all the questions you want, and let’s get to know one another! This month we’ll be hosting these from 1 to 3 p.m. on Monday, January 12th, and Thursday, January 29th.

Second is a topical “brown bag” series, where we’ll make space to address the heavy issues of the moment in a friendly environment. The first of these is Friday, January 23rd, at noon, when we’ll have the opportunity to put the current events in Venezuela into the broader context of U.S. involvement in Latin America, with the help of Peace House Board Chair Jim Phillips. Bring your lunch and your willingness to learn; we’ll have coffee, tea, and snacks to share.

And save the date for February 14-16, when we hope to bring you a diverse set of programs with local partners to think about how we can take action together. We’re calling it “Love is Justice in Public” (as Cornel West so famously put it). Come join us for a new way to honor love on Valentine’s Day, and a new way to look at leadership for President’s Day. On the agenda so far: refusing war through tax resistance, and strengthening the 4th Amendment Workplace campaign in Ashland to protect our neighbors from ICE. More details soon.

Now more than ever, as each day brings hard and harder news, is the time for us to gather together. So I hope to see you at one or more of these events. And I thank you again for the warm welcome and the chance to serve our community through Peace House.

With gratitude and hope for the coming year,

Your new director,

Meg

In the early morning hours of Saturday, January 3, President Trump announced that U.S. military special forces had successfully captured the Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, and that they were in U.S. custody on a plane to New York to face trial.

Later that morning, President Trump added that Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez had indicated that she was willing to work with a U.S. presence in running the country. That statement was challenged later Saturday when Rodriguez gave a televised address to the Venezuelan people. Surrounded by senior Venezuelan military and government personnel, Rodriguez condemned the U.S. kidnapping of President Maduro, and declared that Venezuela would never again be subjected to foreign control. Then President Trump declared that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela until a peaceful transition can occur. 

As of Sunday afternoon, the United States was not in control of Venezuela. Special Forces had kidnapped the country’s president, but the U.S. military were not occupying the country. Trump indicated that if acting president Rodriguez submitted to U.S. plans for the country, there would be no need for direct U.S. military occupation. But, Trump said, he had no aversion to “boots on the ground.” Despite its limited targeting, this action did constitute an invasion into Venezuelan territory and its political order.

Peace House strongly condemns as illegal and dangerous the administration’s invasion of Venezuela and the removal of the country’s president. We are clear that this invasion by the U.S. of a sovereign Latin American country signals a much larger threat to the peace and security not only of Latin America but of the entire world. Whatever one thinks of Nicolás Maduro, his fate was for the Venezuelan people to decide, not the Trump administration. 

A World of Might or Law?

An older world order was based on “spheres of influence” —the idea that the most powerful nations each had their own areas of control over smaller countries.  The Monroe Doctrine became the basis of the United States’ claim to influence over Latin America, and the basis of U.S. interference in the region. That older order depended on the military and economic might of the great powers to maintain a precarious balance of power between these spheres of influence. Essentially, it was an order based on force, not law. The result was a history of conflicts and interventions, culminating in two world wars.

At the end of the Second World War, the major world powers agreed to a new framework of laws and agreements binding all nations. The new framework was based on a series of international and regional laws and treaties. The United Nations Charter, Article 2, paragraph 4 mandates that all nations refrain from threatening or attacking the territorial integrity or political independence of other nations. The charter of the Organization of American States prohibits the nations of the Western hemisphere from using coercive economic or political measures  to undermine the sovereignty of other nations. 

The U.S. Constitution itself grants the power to declare war solely to the Congress as a measure to limit the President’s ability arbitrarily to drag the country into foreign wars. But the Trump Administration apparently merely informed some Congressional Republicans and no Democratic member of Congress before attacking Venezuela. There is rumbling in Congress about that, and a few calls to enforce the War Powers Act.

In addition, there are international laws and agreements that heads of state enjoy immunity from criminal indictment. But apparently Maduro has been indicted and will stand trial in federal court in New York as a “narcoterrorist.” What “evidence” the Administration has for this charge remains to be seen. And whether the court will recognize Maduro’s claim to immunity from prosecution is uncertain, but not likely. Neither the first Trump Administration nor the Biden Administration recognized Maduro as a legitimate head of state.

Historically, the international framework of laws and treaties set up after World War II has often been ignored, but the aggressor nation has generally been held to account through the mechanisms of this global framework. For example, when the Reagan Administration waged war against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, using the so-called Contras as proxies, the World Court ruled that the U.S. had violated international law and must pay reparations to Nicaragua (which Reagan ignored). 

As weak as it was, that global order of laws and agreements worked with some success. The invasion of Venezuela now signals that illegal takeovers and “regime change” are the new normal. Imagine what this tells Russia about eastern Europe and China about Taiwan. We seem to be back to the old spheres of influence order again, this time with added dangers.

The U.S. sinking of Venezuelan fishing boats and the killing of over one hundred people who were no immediate threat to the United States—actions that for several months preceded the invasion—were also manifestly illegal and violations of the international rules of war as embodied in the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. military’s own code.

Why Venezuela?

Targeting Venezuela as the administration has done for months is not incidental. Venezuela represents at least two things to the current U.S. administration: oil and the Bolivarian Alliance. The Trump administration clearly wants Venezuela’s large oil deposits, as Trump has said publicly various times. Venezuelan oil has been important in supporting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and other governments disliked by Washington. A U.S. takeover of Venezuelan oil strikes a blow to these governments.

Venezuela was also the anchor of the Bolivarian Alliance formed by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez. The Bolivarian Alliance came to include other Latin American countries trying to defend a semblance of independence from the U.S., including Nicaragua. That Alliance represented an alternative to U.S. controlled free trade and other agreements in Latin America. It seemed to challenge Washington’s economic and political dominance over the entire hemisphere. When Honduran President Manuel Zelaya indicated that he might bring Honduras into the Bolivarian Alliance, he was deposed and exiled in a coup in 2009 that was ultimately supported and recognized by the Obama Administration.  

There are things about this invasion of Venezuelan sovereignty that raise questions and expose the hypocrisy of the act. It was never about stopping Venezuelan drugs from entering the U.S.  If it were, why did President Trump recently pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, one of the biggest drug traffickers in the hemisphere?  Why are news reports indicating that Maduro has already been indicted in New York to stand trial? Was there ever a grand jury convened to hear evidence against him, as our legal system requires as the basis of an indictment?. Will this be a sham trial with a predetermined outcome?

It is unclear what will follow Maduro’s kidnapping. If the U.S. does try to take direct control of Venezuela with “boots on the ground,” that is very likely to result in much misery, loss of life, wasted resources, and the possibility of a long-term low-intensity conflict. Will Colombia, Brazil, Guyana, Mexico, or others be drawn into this disaster?

Our Work

The invasion of Venezuela must also be seen in the context of President Trump’s apparent weakening position at home. His initiatives blocked in the courts, his approval ratings dropping, the massive and ongoing popular protests against his policies, the ever-so-slight edging away of right-wing supporters, the Epstein files scandal, and his “lame duck” status must make him desperate to distract us. Few things are more effective in propping up an authoritarian administration than to declare a national threat and wage war against a weaker target.

We are called to make loud and clear our condemnation of this invasion and all of its negative implications for world peace and security. We can encourage our senators and representatives to support an enforcement of the War Powers Act that limits the President’s ability to make war without Congressional approval. And revealing the administration’s unpopularity at home, through demonstrations and in the courts, is a way of weakening its ability to engage in lawless, flagrant, and arbitrary exercises of power at home and abroad.

Reflections on Becoming an Ancestor

By Elizabeth V. Hallett

“The problem with being human,” said the sage, with a hearty laugh, is that you have to do something!”

Next comes: “How do you want to define your humanity?”

In my case, there have been work and activist-related positions overlapping some of those years. As with most of us, the “assignments” manifest for a time, and then morph into something else with life changes.

As for many, my first awakenings to the movement for peace and justice came in the sixties as we grappled with The Draft and Americans my age, mostly men, were coming back in coffins from the war in Vietnam. I majored in American Studies at Miami U. of Ohio. There were about twenty-eight of us on campus willing to appear at an anti-war demonstration. While our campus was isolated and conservative, I was aware that there was a large community of war resistance mobilizing across the country. I wanted to be a part of that.

Along with the huge controversy over the Vietnam War, we were grappling as a country with the struggle for civil rights and confronting the enormous racism of our culture. We faced the exponential violence which has been one of its by-products. We lived in horror through the assassinations of John F. Kennedy in 1963, of Malcom X in 1965 and of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy in 1968. All this as I graduated in “American Studies,” trying to make sense of our country; the cultures of violence, the rich creative history of the arts, technology, human potential. Like you, I am still trying to envision how we harness the gifts of our time.

For many of us, the seventies and eighties were a time of Waking Up in the Nuclear Age, as described by psychologist and friend Chellis Glendinning in her book by that name. Many voices imprinted new views, new communities, new strategies.  The dialogue over racism, environmental protection and degradation, women’s rights and gun control continued and expanded, took on different shapes.

The movements for social justice that were seeded by resistance in earlier decades gained traction and grew into the seventies and eighties. We were about facing the inescapable implications of our war culture and the spiraling production of nuclear arms. It was the time of the Nuclear Freeze Movement, the Central American Wars, the fights for environmental protection and racial justice, discourses on sexuality and diversity, the AIDS epidemic, and the abortion rights movement.

In 1987, I became involved in the nonviolent Nuremberg Actions Vigil. This was resistance at Concord Naval Weapons Station outside of Walnut Creek in California, protesting the shipment of weapons to Central America during the Contra war in Nicaragua. There were over 2500 arrests and 65 court cases applying the Nuremberg Principles to justify civil disobedience and refusing orders of the state in protest of crimes against war, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity. There is a big story there that I will tell, perhaps, at a different time. It was in that movement that I learned how vast the Beloved Community is and can be. It was nationwide.

Although I would not know it for several years, Ashland’s Peace House was born in October of 1982, out of the Nuclear Freeze movement, helping to pass a bill that made the city a nuclear-free zone, and aligning with International Mayors for Peace to form a web of like-minded to groups to educate and advocate for de-escalation of nuclear warheads and against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Life seemed then, as it does now, fragile in the face of political absurdities based upon money, greed, and a senseless logic about how nuclear weapons could protect anyone.

After my daughter was born in 1988, there was a move from San Francisco to the Rogue Valley and overlapping periods of attending births, studying Reiki, and cultivating a lay chaplaincy; overseeing a dementia care center; and yes, work with Peace House.

So, it has been nine years this time, as well as three-to-four years in the 90’s, shared partly with Ruth Coulthard. We have walked in the footsteps of Marilyn Lenehan; Marjorie Kellogg; Nancy Spencer; Dot Fisher Smith; John Stahmer; Ellen Craine and Selene Aitken; Herb Rothschild; and many more, while being sponsored at first by the national office of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). Some of you will recognize and remember these names. Others may not. Time passes.

The point is more that there has been a continuum of advocacy for human rights, for peace, for community awareness and a culture of compassion. We walk in the footsteps of our ancestors.

Through all these transitions, I was consistently reminded of the resilience and interconnected-ness that arise within communities facing adversity. Each new challenge brought together diverse individuals, united by a shared commitment to peace and healing. The journey was not just about organizational roles or activism, but about forging deep relationships and finding purpose amid uncertainty.

“The problem with being human,” said the sage with a twinkle, “is that you have to do something.”

We choose to lift up and magnify the belief that creative, nonviolent ways to solve problems are precious keys to the survival of our very humanity; the keys to creating a New World. Think how much money spent on weaponry, rockets, and war could be used to educate, plant, grow, feed, and build healthy humans, a healthy planet. Find the Golden Light within and let’s keep going!

A nonprofit director never does their work alone. Most immediately, I offer appreciation to our Peace House Board of Directors, to Pat Murray our stellar Office Manager, and to Meg Wade for stepping up to take on the role of director. More appreciation is due to our Uncle Food’s Diner team, including our chef, David Jimenez; Josh Rohde, our van driver; Anney Maricle, our dishwasher; and the many, many cooks and prep volunteers that produce over 100 meals each week. Thanks also to past chefs including Curtis Paul, Kerul Dyer, and Maren Faye. Our remarkable pantheon of volunteers also includes our Prevent War Group, coordinating our annual Hiroshima and Nagasaki observance, and members of the Rogue Liberation Library Project, sending books to those in prison. We are delighted as well to be the fiscal sponsor for Southern Oregon Pachamama Alliance, Ashland Together, and Ancestor’s Future: Crystallizing Our Call. Growing green shoots is part of our mission.

I am filled with profound gratitude at this time in my life, for all the ways we have been able to grow and build in the Peace House community, with you, the readers and sustainers. You know who you are. You sustain and nourish the work in our community that can continue to grow at this critical time in our country’s self-definition.  

You will be well served by Meg Wade as the new director, who has all the skill and moxie to carry Peace House forward into new arenas as an organization dedicated to nonviolent social change.

Wishing you inner peace, light and joy in the midst of challenging times,

Elizabeth