The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal

July 22 Symposia on DOP & Space for Progress

Friends of the forthcoming Dept of Peace (DOP):

Congratulations! You are examples of what inspiration, cooperation and
unity can accomplish while facing personal doubt and, perhaps, public
derision. May you continue to grow in spirit and outreach within
nations and across the world.

Six of us of the Dept of Peace Coalition (DOPC.US) face a similar
challenge Thursday, July 22. We will each speak briefly in the Cannon
Room of the US Capitol. We are informed citizens who prepared talks
without "experts" or secretaries. We address what a potentially
powerful Dept of Peace can do under the principle of nonviolence.

We want to work with other Departments and Ministries of Peace around
the world. Our message is how to nourish what citizens and governments can
do to improve life on earth. For example, Planet Earth will soon be facing forces of personal and global destruction with geopositioned lazers lurking in space.

A future DOP would tackle such threats by counselling cooperation with civilian and military officials in the US and around the world. It may be too late for civilian/military leaders to ban weapons of mass destruction in space to prevent their installation. If so 100 ton launchers will remain in space with their deadly payloads.

However if we get the Space Preservation Act (SPA HR3657) passed in Congress and the Space Preservation Treaty signed by the President, we may be able to ban WMDs in space before September when some are scheduled for launch into orbit. If launched, nuclear and laser weapons could take out persons, cities, nations from space. Do we really want such threats over our heads? Do we really want such destructive power above us to destroy our enemies--or us? If we want to prevent such hazards from space, we must sign the SPTreaty, denounce official secrecy and demand congressional investigation of the secret installation of WMDs.

On July 22, we begin the symposia *Space for Progress* organized by
Amalie and Alan Sinclair of Santa Cruz, Ca. They contacted the DOPC
with visions of how the DOP can help change life for the better. Instead of delusions of grandeur, ours are pragmatic hopes of what could be. The DOP will be a small department of the federal government. It differs from other departments with strategies to reduce interpersonal and global violence, to eliminate the 5000 year institution of war, and to inspire new plans for the United States beyond the costly, destructive personal, ethnic and international violence.

Our symposia topics range from the potential DOP as a national source
for educating, communities, schools, families in nonviolent strategies
--to calling for a DOP think tank that consuls and collaborates with military-corporate-university media for improving ecology and environment, and producing new commerce, products and goods for humanity.

Each speaker in the symposia July 22 will
examine how Americans can press civilians and governments to stop weapons of
mass destruction from becoming active in space. Tests are scheduled for
September, 2004. Each speaker will also suggest ways the DOP may make
Americans more compassionate and productive--for leading
businesses to treat employees and communities respectfully while
increasing profits, perhaps using Dale Carnegie or Harvard approaches
of "Getting to Yes." Each speaker will present Dennis Kucinich's ideas for HR 1673 to clean up our global contaminated food supply, or redirect American media from empty talk to well-produced public service programs, and for,space commerce of unimagined goods and services, and education for lives of health, happiness and liberty.

Such DOP goals my sound utopian, but unless stated and attempted, such goals can never become real.

We want to unite with other goups to establish a Department of Peace
(DOP) and Ministries of Peace. Our goal is simple, if not a Mission
Impossible. Thus, a Department of Peace may improve our society while
redirecting "sky mining" of Asteroids, Moon and Mars from planned
private interests to public benefits for Planet Earth.

We ask your help in shifting forces of destruction--including wars and
terrorism--to real security. Members of DOPC and other organizations, write us your ideas on how we can work together, pass the DOP bill and organize an effective Dept of Peace.

Marjorie Zamora and Geri Perry, Co-Directors of the Department of Peace Coalition.