The Mendocino Institute was founded primarily as an institution to restore, protect and enhance the breathtaking environment of Mendocino County, as well as its often unique communities. We have done this with some success. The past years however have made it impossible for us to separate the endless wars from the ravaging of the planet and the climate crisis. This continues to be the case both in Ukraine and above all in Palestine/Gaza, with the ever-present threat of new, wider, more destructive wars. Hence we have supported activists and activities to make these connections as well as to add our voices to the worldwide call for peace – with justice and for the sake of our planet.
Ukraine
In the midst of the euphoria attending the first months of Ukraine’s heroic resistance to Russia’s cruel and inexcusable invasion, the Mendocino Institute produced three radio programs broadcast by KZYX, featuring by leading experts in the field of war and peace. Patrick Cockburn, Phyllis Bennis and Tariq Ali each offered an in-depth analysis of the war and its meaning for Europe and the future of the search for peace.
In May 2024, according to Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, reported 130,000 Ukrainians killed or wounded, plus 10,000 civilians.
200,000 Russians were killed or wounded; in May 2024, 1000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded on average each day. 9.3 million Ukrainians have been displaced, 800,000 Russians.
Vast areas of eastern Ukraine have been reduced to wasteland.
In spite to this NATO, the United States and the UK continue to block efforts for a ceasefire, pouring millions in to this quagmire.
Patrick Oliver Cockburn is a journalist who has been a Middle East correspondent for the Financial Times since 1979 and, from 1990, for The Independent. He has also worked as a correspondent in Moscow and Washington and is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books.
Phyllis Bennis is an American Jewish writer, activist, and political commentator. Focusing mainly on issues related to the Middle East and the United Nations, she is a strong critic of Israel and the United States and a leading advocate of Palestinian rights.
Tariq Ali is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review and Sin Permiso, and contributes to The Guardian, CounterPunch, and the London Review of Books.
In February 2022, just one month into the war, with death and destruction already mounting, Mendocino Institute Associate Faith Simon offered words of caution to a Ukraine rally in the Mendocino Village.
More war isn’t the answer. Peace is.
—Faith Simon, FNP
in remarks at the March 2022 rally in Rotary Park,
Mendocino Village.
Read her full remarks here.
Gaza
This series, for KZYX radio, like many we have produced before it, was meant to offer listeners in-depth analyses of social political crises, this time the war against Gaza/Palestine. This time however, despite the credentials of the invited speakers – Professor Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University, Dr. Penny Rosenwasser, Jewish Voice for Peace and, Joel Beinin, emeritus Professor Stanford University -and looking back at the prescience of their views, the series was rejected out of hand. The only explanation, “no place to put it.” Hearing this Professor Khalidi, Columbia University responded, “I’m not surprised.” Looking back, alas, nor are we. Here the station has taken sides with all those who choose to silence dissent, never mind the brutality on an enormous scale, the torture, the displacement and unlawful detention, indeed the wholesale extermination of the Palestinian people, all paid for by the American people.
Joel Beinin is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History, Emeritus at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1982 before coming to Stanford in 1983.
From Vietnam to Palestine: Campus Rebellions, 1968-2024 | Dawn | May 2024
Rashid Ismail Khalidi is a Palestinian-American historian of the Middle East and the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University.
The Neck and The Sword | New Left Review | June 2024 | interview with Tariq Ali
A life-long heartfelt rabble-rouser for social justice, Penny Rosenwasser earned her Ph.D. at the California Institute of Integral Studies in Transformational Learning & Change. Penny is former Jewish Caucus Chair of the National Women’s Studies Association and is a founding board member of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Palestine / Israel since October 7, 2023 plus background, interviews, articles and more
Mendocino for Palestine
July 2024, Fourth of July Parade, Mendocino Village
Documents
Select Bibliography — Palestine