Wednesday, May 18, 2005

I’m really scared

Syamak Moattari*
moattari [at] gmail [.] com

I feel cold, when I think about the possible war against my homeland, I remember when I was a second grade high school student, at a very cold night in the winter, I experienced for the first time in my life a couple of big explosions in my town in the west of Iran.

We have been slept under the KORSI (a covered table by thick and big blanket with a heater source under it) I was in my dream when I feel a blue color on the sky and then the massive explosions have occured.

Early next day we went to the scene; it was a part of the historic Bazaar of my town and a part of a crowded poor place of our community.
Actually at that night we received a couple of Skad Rockets from Sadam Hossein Army.

During the bloody conflict between Iran and Iraq I was witness of a plenty of victims in our cities and our people.

I am really scared when I hear the US has a plan to attack to my country during the coming 16 months and the scenario will start with sending the Iranian Atomic nuclear program file to the Security Council.

My picture of war hasn’t come from Hollywood movies; I have seen the pain, the kids tear, grand mom’s cries, bloody streets…

*Syamak Moattari is an Iranian environmental activist who is working on sustainable development issues. He graduated from Shahid Beheshti university as a medical Doctor in 1995.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

The Anti-War Origins of Mother's Day

Posted by Sima Shakhsari

The Anti-War Origins of Mother's Day

From Veterans for Peace

WASHINGTON - May 7 - Each year the president issues a Mother's Day Proclamation. The original Mother's Day Proclamation was made in 1870. Written by Julia Ward Howe, perhaps best known today for having written the words to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in 1862 when she was an antislavery activist, the original Proclamation was an impassioned call for peace and disarmament. In the years following the Civil War her political activism increased, as did her condemnation of war. Here are the words to the original Mother's Day Proclamation:

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