Three Events Today ~ Sunday, September 11th The Last Day of S. Brian Willson's Southern California Book Tour
BLOOD ON THE TRACKS: The Life & Times of S. Brian Willson The Unimaginable Journey of An American Peacemaker Sunday, September 11th 10:15 AM ~ Brian will Speak at The Church In Ocean Park - 235 Hill Street, Santa Monica 90405 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM - At The Arlington West Memorial - Just next to the Santa Monica Pier - Brian will be at the table to sign books. 7:00 PM - Big Event at The All Saints Church - 132 N Euclid Avenue, Pasadena - The Urgency of 9/11/11: Challenging U.S. War-Making: Brian will have a table to sell & sign his book at this event. He will not be on the program. www.icujp.org - Contact: 213-748-1643 - ic...@pacbell.net To Order a Copy of BLOOD ON THE TRACKS go to: www.addictedtowar.com/SBWillson.html In Peace, Frank Dorrel 310-838-8131 Endorsements "A remarkable and exceptional book! Brian Willson is an American hero, citizen of the world, and passionate man of peace. His extraordinary life is an inspiration to us all!" - Ron Kovic (Vietnam veteran; author, Born on the Fourth of July, anti-war activist) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- "There are few peace activists who have the dedication of Brian Willson, as there are few activists who inspire me more. I hope Brian's story can inspire a new generation of activists to fight with all they have for peace, justice, our planet and humanity." - Cindy Sheehan (Gold Star Mother, Peace Activist) "In a world filled with violence, oppression, the madness of war, and the destruction of the environment, many are searching for hope-and those individuals who give us hope. "This is where Brian Willson comes in. Like many of us, he bought into the lies of war and violence. But something happened along his journey, and Viet Nam was only the beginning. He discovered the truth and he followed it, no matter the cost. I encourage you to read this book about a great peacemaker and a great lover of mother earth. You will be filled with hope." - Roy Bourgeois (Maryknoll Catholic priest, founder SOA Watch) "Brian Willson is one of a few modern men for all seasons. His memoir is an introduction to a way of living that could save a planet perilously drifting toward extinction. He takes the philosophy nonviolence or 'Do no harm' and applies it to the violence we are doing to the planet and one another. (Personal note: perhaps we are a species that should be extinguished. At least 99% of us.) Caution! Read at the risk of being inspired." - Charles Liteky (Viet Nam veteran, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, peace activist) "The 1960s to the 1980s...for progressive activists in the United States there perhaps was never a period quite like it-Viet Nam to Nicaragua to El Salvador, one long protest against the barbarity of American imperialism. S. Brian Willson was there, here and everywhere, devoting his life, sacrificing his legs to a munitions train. A marvelous "journey" he calls it, for the boy who was "convinced that the United States could do no wrong," a loyal anti-communist, who served in Viet Nam, then traveled the length of Latin America to oppose US foreign policy and support the numerous victims of that policy. Sadly, that policy continues, but Willson's memoir can well serve as a guide and inspiration to a new generation of progressive activists. We've learned a lot." - William Blum (author, Killing Hope) "S. Brian Willson is an American hero who gives me inspiration and hope. In this book, he takes us on an amazing journey through his life as an All-American young man. He was an excellent student, an all-league athlete, a Conservative Baptist, a Republican and a strong believer in the American way of life. In 1969 he had an epiphany in Viet Nam that changed his life forever. He has had many incredible experiences along the way, including being run over by a U.S. Navy train, where he lost both of his legs while protesting U.S. foreign policy in Central America. Brian now stands for peace, justice and fairness for all people of the earth. I love his mantra: 'We are not worth more, they are not worth less.' This book should be required reading for all high school and college students in America." - Cynthia McKinney (former US Representative from Georgia; Green Party presidential candidate) "This Brian Willson is no throwaway American. This was a soldier in wartime, this was a protester after war taught him its lessons and finally, this was a sacrificer in carrying protest to the nth degree. I was busted with him but I never gave the ultimate as he gave. This book is about a patriot, the kind of patriot you don't find anymore, the kind of patriot who loves and believes in his country so much he surrendered his legs in telling his country it's wrong. Read this book." - Edward Asner (film & television actor) "Brian Willson has lived one of the more interesting and inspiring lives of any peace activist in recent American history. His story deserves to be read and absorbed by people of all persuasions: militarists as well as anti-militarists." - Peter Dale Scott (historian, poet and author) "Brian Willson's life story teaches us to 'walk the talk,' guided by one of the finest prophets of our time. Brian teaches us that we can't control the U.S. government. It is every bit as reckless as the train that ran over him. Brian asks people to stop fuelling "the train." If we can't control our own government, can we at least stop actively helping it? For many years, he traveled all over the world to campaign against weapons and war, but his conscientious objection to voracious resource consumption spurred him to design a new life style. With impeccable logic, Brian challenges us stay closer to home so that we can avoid consuming more than our fair share of energy. By living simply and working hard for justice, he aims to attain right livelihood. By studying his writing and following his lead, we bolster our chances to build a better world. - Kathy Kelly (nonviolent activist, Voices For Creative Nonviolence) "I write as a witness to S. Brian Willson. "It was the privilege of the Office of the Americas to be part of the Nuremberg Actions at the Concord naval Weapons Station in California. And this is the site where Brian and his fellow Veterans gathered on the tracks to stop a munitions shipment to Nicaragua. The munitions train did not stop, in fact it speeded up as it approached the protestors. It was here at Concord that Brian lost both of his legs and received a brutally fractured skull. "And after Brian's rapid recovery, it was our privilege, during the peak of Reagan's homicidal war on the Nicaraguan people, to travel over much of Nicaragua with this wounded hero. We flew at tree top level in a worn out helicopter to see the devastation. "Brian Willson represents millions of young women & men whose lives have been severely damaged by unnecessary, illegal & immoral imperial wars conducted by our nation. He urges us to a new way of life. "This book must be required reading for every high school and college student. Their lives depend on it". - Blase Bonpane, Ph.D. (Director, Office of the Americas; author) "Brian Willson and I went to Nicaragua in 1988 to witness the Sopoa Peace Summit between the Contras and the Sandinistas. The love and respect shown him by the people there was heart felt and heart warming (he had knelt in front of a train in the well publicized protest of the shipment of weapons to be used against the citizens of Nicaragua by the Contras, who were trained and equipped by the US, who wanted to destabilize the Sandinista Government). In hospitals full of children and farmers who had lost limbs because of land mines planted by the Contras, we was obviously and immediately one of them. He'd done it for them and they loved him for it. "Brian Wilson's courage, compassion, and commitment to fighting for freedom, and justice, and human rights is an inspiration to the rest of us and a lesson in how to handle Adjustments in our Plans." - Kris Kristofferson (actor, singer-songwriter) "Brian Willson's courage, integrity, and dedication to peace and justice and to a sustainable society have been an inspiration to all of those who seek to change the course on which we are lurching towards destruction. His memoir should be read and pondered, and its lessons should be taken to heart by those who hope to create a more decent world." - Noam Chomsky (linguist, historian, professor, author) "Brian Willson's memoir boils with alchemy that has turned pain and caring into moral insistence and political resistance. After seeing what war really does, he lives every day with the wounds of military madness and the imperatives of struggling for social sanity. This book takes us away from the false comforts of clichés and cardboard images, replacing them with a genuine account of injustice writ large and insistence on humane values. With this superb narrative of his own life, Brian Willson invites us to think more clearly and feel more deeply." - Norman Solomon (media critic; author, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death) "Brian Willson is a hero in our midst. Descended from early settlers, like most small town boys, he was born and bred to serve his country, to do his patriotic duty, and to not ask questions about the worthiness of his government. His military service in Viet Nam shattered all illusions about the war itself and the government he was serving. Remaining duty bound, principled, and determined, he has spent the past four decades as a non-violent activist against United States' military interventions, and since 1988, has walked on "third world legs." We are fortunate to have this book, this testament to the transformative power of consciousness." -Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (historian, activist, author) Reviews of "BLOOD ON THE TRACKS: The Life & Times of S. Brian Willson" The Honesty of a Warrior for Peace... June 30, 2011 By Michael A. Kroll <http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/AAKXPOSMPCBTA/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp> This is not an easy book to read, but that is because its author never flinches from the truth, whether about America's brutal war record in Vietnam or his own complicity in that Imperial War, and that of all Americans of a certain age -- just as all Americans share the horror we are bringing to Afghan and Iraqi and Pakistani villages today. S. Brian Willson, the 4th of July gung-ho American boy, had already begun to question the lessons of "patriotism" with which we so proudly indoctrinate our children, especially our boy children, when, as an officer in Vietnam, he looked down at the dead eyes of a Vietnamese villager clutching her three bullet-ridden children, burnt beyond recognition by Napalm, and understood viscerally the fundamental center of Christ's teachings. As he took in the horror, he writes, "She was not alive. But at the moment her eyes met mine, it felt like a lightning bolt jolted through my entire being... `She is my family,' I said..." Nearly twenty years later, I stood just behind Brian on a California train track in a well-publicized effort to block munitions trains carrying American weapons to kill other poor villagers in El Salvador and Nicaragua, thinking about the words he had spoken that morning, before one of those trains ripped his legs from his body. He said, "...each train that... gets by us is going to kill people, people like you and me.. And the question that I have to ask on these tracks is: am I any more valuable than those people?" 2500 years ago, the great Greek philosopher Diogenes is said to have carried a lamp in broad daylight searching "for an honest man." Blessed to have known S. Brian Willson for 30 years, I can say without equivocation, that had Diogenes met my friend, he could have put down his lamp and rested, having found what he was looking for. A Comprehensive, Studious and Very Readable Story of the Life of an American Hero.... July 6, 2011 By Greg King <http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1TMNZ0I0G4YGR/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp> When I first bought Brian Willson's book I expected an engaging story of an interesting life of a Vietnam vet who became a peace activist. You know: there are a lot of such stories. But very shortly into the book I realized this is no formulaic memoir. Brian is perhaps best remembered as the veteran who was run over by a train while blocking transportation of munitions in Concord, California on Sep. 1, 1987. The weapons were destined for U.S. wars in Central America. Brian lost both legs in the attack, during which the train conductors were ordered by superiors to triple the legal speed of a train in that area and, more importantly, not to stop for anyone sitting on the tracks. It was a targeted attack against a man whose life had metamorphosed from an All American, "communist hating" young adult, to a captain in the Air Force, to a man who witnessed firsthand the intentional targeting by U.S.-led fighter jets of unarmed families in rural villages, to an Air Force veteran who, upon return to the U.S. actively opposed the war even while still in the service. Throughout the book Brian is attempting to answer the question: How was the government able to convince him, a decent person, that he should pick up his life and travel 9,000 miles to a land he's almost never heard of and kill people he'd never met? To answer the question we meet a who's who of philosophers, activists, government officials, community members, and others whom Brian knew personally or mined as a reader. The book includes too many italicized words and exclamation points that Brian uses for emphasis, when no emphasis is needed, as the material is so compelling. This is one of the best books ever produced on 20th Century America, I can't recommend it highly enough. "We Are Not Worth More, They Are Not Worth Less." This is the mantra of S. Brian Willson and the theme that runs throughout his compelling psycho-historical memoir. Willson's story begins in small-town, rural America, where he grew up as a "Commie-hating, baseball-loving Baptist," moves through life-changing experiences in Viet Nam, Nicaragua and elsewhere & culminates with his commitment to a localized, sustainable lifestyle. In telling his story, Willson provides numerous examples of the types of personal, risk-taking, nonviolent actions he and others have taken in attempts to educate and effect political change: tax refusal, fasting, and obstruction tactics. It was such actions that thrust Brian Willson into the public eye in the mid-'80s, first as a participant in a high-profile, water-only "Veterans Fast for Life" against the Contra war being waged by his government in Nicaragua. Then, on a fateful day in September 1987, the world watched in horror as Willson was run over by a U.S. government munitions train during a nonviolent blocking action in which he expected to be removed from the tracks and arrested. Throughout his personal journey Willson struggles with the question, "Why was it so easy for me, a 'good' man, to follow orders to travel 9,000 miles from home to participate in killing people who clearly were not a threat to me or any of my fellow citizens?" He eventually comes to the realization that the "American Way of Life" is AWOL from humanity, and that the only way to recover our humanity is by changing our consciousness, one individual at a time, while striving for collective cultural changes toward "less and local." Thus, Willson offers up his personal story as a metaphorical map for anyone who feels the need to be liberated from the American Way of Life-a guidebook for anyone called by conscience to question continued obedience to vertical power structures while longing to reconnect with the human archetypes of cooperation, equity, mutual respect and empathy. About S. Brian Willson S. Brian Willson is a Viet Nam veteran whose wartime experiences transformed him into a revolutionary nonviolent pacifist. He gained renown as a participant in a prominent 1986 veterans fast on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. One year later, on September 1, 1987, he was again thrust into the public eye when he was run over and nearly killed by a U.S. Navy Munitions train while engaging in a nonviolent blockade in protest of weapons shipments to El Salvador. Since the 1980s he has continued efforts to educate the public about the diabolical nature of U.S. imperialism while striving to "walk his talk" (on two prosthetic legs and a three-wheeled handcycle) by creating a model of right-livelihood including a simpler lifestyle. About Daniel Ellsberg (Introduction) Daniel Ellsberg is a former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. http://addictedtowar.com/SBWillson.htm1 http://bloodonthetracks.info www.brianwillson.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/laamn@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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