Peace Activists Internet Soapbox, CrystalBay.net

CrystalBay.net home

for the pain filled faces without name
great grandfather murdered by soldiers
for Ron
for Tammy
for Anne
for Dhuha
for the unknown little boy
grandfather at the Russian front
homeless orphan begging for food
the animals tortured by superior beings
the students of the White Rose
for peace, for a future

What do you
want to leave
your children?

Stop Internet Child Pornography! Government Email, Important Links

Handala.org
Gush-Shalom www.playgroundsforpalestine.org/photo_gallery.html www.peace-action.org
Stop Forced Relocation of the Dineh/Navajo
Loved and Missing
The White Rose
Iraqi Civilians Casualties of Sanctions
Ban Landmines
Freedom Writers & Free Speech
Our Pound Puppies, Animal Rescue
Peace Reading
Inspiration
Green Peace

Our tax dollars at work in the Palestinian occupied territories.

Many of the pages on CrystalBay Virtual Village show you the beautiful side of our planet and societies. Unfortunately, you won't find that on this page. As long as there is tragic human suffering in the world, terror and oppression, cruelty to people and animals, and a plundering of the planet with no regard for future generations, this page will not be beautiful -- except for the innocent faces that grace it and the radiant light shone upon it by beautiful spirits such as yours who care and strive to heal the Earth and its people.

What do you want to leave your children?
A dying planet with air so thick with pollution that they struggle to breath through Asthma choked breath. A legacy of poisons used so carelessly that ever increasing people suffer from cancers. A vast nuclear wasteland. A violent society where they are not free to walk or sleep without fear. Politics and business in which children and the environment are the casualties. A legacy of blood for oil? This list could go on and the suffering of the Earth, its people and creatures seems endless.

Or a healing planet with fresh air to breath, clean water to swim in, compassion for each other and our animal friends, and free, civilized societies to live in?
We are now in a battle. It is a battleground where the history and future of your children's children is being fought. And it is a peaceful battle fought by the pen and actions everyday by those good people who never dreamed of going into battle, but have been drawn into it by fate and circumstance -- When they can no longer bear to cry alone in silence, when they must cry out loud as witnesses of truth and fighters for sanity and humanity in our world that is quickly losing both.

You are a champion of the Earth and future generations! Your actions today will shape your future and your children's futures tomorrow. Please help us to non-violently fight injustice in our time and honor those before us who so bravely sacrificed all for what they believed in -- freedom, peace and justice. One transgression against humanity hurts us all. We must protect those who can not speak and the cherished values that allow us to speak. BECOME A FREEDOM WRITER. WRITE, SPREAD THE WORD. NEVER BE SILENT AND NEVER GIVE UP ON PEACE, FREEDOM AND JUSTICE.

Loved and Missing

Loved and missing...

Do You Have Information? Please do the right thing.
Call Sgt. John Bradley or Officer Patrick Mahanay at (510) 238-3641
or, to remain anonymous, call (800) VANISHED.

Stop forced relocation of the Dineh/Navaho in Arizona

Stop Forced Relocation of Dineh/Navajo at Big Mountain, Arizona!
Thousands of Dineh people, many elderly, are being forced off their homelands in Arizona, U.S.A. Why? Though the issues surrounding forced expulsion can be complex, the reason is simple: COAL, a highly polluting, non-sustainable energy source.

About the Dineh
12,000 Dineh have already been forced from their homes so a coal corporation can strip mine their lands. The Dineh people are going to the United Nations to try to stop the forced relocation of their tribal people. The European Union has ruled in their favor, but the forced relocation and coercion continues. Dineh Links and Who to Write

Die Gedanken and the White Rose

** "Die Gedanken Sind Frei" is an old, powerful song I learned as a teen one year from my aunt Heidi. It goes back to the old German peasant wars of the 1600s, and was used as a non-violent protest song by the Nazi resistance movement the "White Rose" and others until it was banned by the Third Reich.
Click to play song

Throughout time, opinions and beliefs contrary to that sanctioned by the ruling elite, be they kings, dictators or ruling corporate interests, have been silenced through coercion, jail, and bullets. The song means "Your thoughts are free" and it eloquent describes how even jail and bullets can not enslave them nor restrain the power of the human heart.

The White Rose was made up largely of students and a professor who risked and ultimately paid with their lives for what they believed in. Their non-violent work was then carried on by friends and supporters who also risked their lives.

If you would like to read the original poem in German or read a poetic translation, please click here. I believe the poem looses some of its true meaning in the first translation in order to rhyme. For instance, "no hunter can shoot them" is translated as "no hunter can trap them," but the second is a more literal translation. To learn more about the White Rose, please click here.

My murdered great-grandfather's staying behind was not so much a symbol of protest, as simply the desire to take care of the family animals, however it has become a symbol for me to fight for freedom, peace and justice.

Sophie Scholl played the song to her father, a prominent mayor, in jail, "Your thoughts are free...they fly like shadows in the night." She and fellow students of the White Rose non-violently expressed their protests about the Third Reich's atrocities by distributing pamphlets, speaking out, painting slogans.

February 22, 1943, 9am... Three students from the University of Munich are brought to trial for treason. The trial last until 1 pm and by 5 o’clock all are dead. Sophie is among the murdered.

Christoph Probst, Sophie and her brother Hans Scholl were executed by guillotine. Hans shouted his last words before the guillotine's blade fell: "Long live freedom!"

July 13, 1943, White Rose member Alexander Schmorell was executed by guillotine. Philosophy professor Kurt Huber speaks his last moving words about right, decency and humaneness before being executed by guillotine.

October 12, 1943, Willi Graf was executed by guillotine. In the farewell letter to his sister he had the following message to his friends: "They shall continue what we have begun."

January 29, 1945: Hans Leipelt, branded a "jewish half-breed," was a decorated German soldier until the regime stripped him of his rank. He got a copy of a White Rose pamphlet after the Scholl's arrest and distributed pamphlets after their death titled 'And their spirit lives on, despite all!" He was executed at Munich Stadelheim .

Jürgen Wittenstein survived and brought the stories and pictures of the White Rose with him to America.

The White Rose
Memories of the White Rose by George Wittenstein M.D.

Have a free cup of java for the soul on us.

The Living Novel on the CrystalBay Inspiration
& Scribes page features a stories about refugees in World War II passed down through generations.
We hear so many stories about soldiers. These are mainly about the families, especially the women and children who fought to survive in the chaos. Mother's Day 1944 is a prelude
to the living novel.

The Eternal Connection

Would you like to nominate someone for an award for their courage and compassion?
If you know someone who has helped to make the world a better place, show them your appreciation with a special CrystalBay award.

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