“We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby
affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause
of world peace by applying the concept of engaging
conflict peacefully, without violence.”
Veterans For Peace
VFP Takes Leading Role in Peace Movement
As we approach the end of the third year of the war on and occupation of Iraq, several events are planned to resist the war and pressure the United States government to provide real support for our troops: Bring Them Home Now and Take Care of Them When They Get Here.
The anti war/peace movement is growing. Millions of people are planning hundreds of events across the country. Veterans For Peace is taking a leading role in this organizing. We have a three prong strategy for this time period:
- Build solidarity with the economic and social justice movements here at home. Educate and raise awareness of the connection between the war in Iraq and the domestic war on the poor, the vulnerable, workers and middle class.
- Hold Congress accountable. Pressure Senators and members of the House to speak out against the war, stopping funding the war and take immediate step to bring our service people home.
- Local actions and vigils
Veterans And Survivors March For Peace And Justice: From Mobile to New Orleans March 14-19, 2006 Support Americans in Iraq and the Gulf Coast–Bring Them Home NOW! March 19th: End of year three/ Start of year four.
March 19, 2006 marks the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the beginning of the fourth year of the war and occupation. Veterans For Peace is organizing a five-day march along Gulf Coast Highway 90 to demand the immediate return of our troops from Iraq, and to call for U.S. tax dollars to be spent on human priorities and rebuilding of the devastated Gulf Coast, instead of the illegal occupation of Iraq. The March will begin in Mobile, AL on March 14th and culminate in New Orleans, March 19th.
The U.S. government continues immoral and failed policies abroad and at home. Money was spent to invade and continues to be wasted on occupying and bombing Iraq, (a country that was never a threat to our nation) not for housing, education and healthcare in the U.S. Government policies are designed to meet the desires of corporate executives and not the needs of the Iraqis or U.S. citizens. Over 45 million U.S. citizens are without healthcare. Unemployment is falling, now at 4.7%. However, African Americans are being left behind, 8.9% jobless rate. There is no money for schools but plenty of money for prisons and tax breaks for the rich. The Bush administration has stopped asking for money to rebuild Iraq but has recently asked for $120 billion more (total cost of war nearly half a trillion dollars) to continue the war on its people. Meanwhile, Iraq war veterans return home to face PSTD, homelessness, unemployment, and transition into the civilian world alone. No real support, only parades, medals, high fives and slaps on the back.
The tragedies of Katrina, Rita and recent suicide of Iraq veteran Doug Barber are the most obvious and outrageous examples of the disregard our government has for the common person. Build solidarity in your community to strengthen the peace movement by making these connections.
Visit the March website Veterans Gulf March for more information on the March.
Hold Congress Accountable, Demand They Stop Funding The War and Take Immediate Action to Bring The Troops Home Now!
We are encouraging VFP members to coordinate with Military Families (MFSO & GSFP) and other veterans (IVAW & VVAW) to discuss setting up local meetings with your Senators and House Members around the 3rd commemoration of the beginning of the war in Iraq. Pressure these elected officials to speak out against the war, stop funding war and act to Bring Our Troops Home NOW and Take Care of Them When They Get Here. Most of our Senators and Members of Congress could do much more to make this happen.
Congress is out of session March 20-24 and many Senators and Members of Congress will be back in their districts. Some possibilities for pressuring them to SPEAK OUT, STOP THE FUNDING and ACT to end the war include:
– Coordinate and participate in Winter Of Our Discontent (WOOD), planned for Feb. 15 to March 19, in Washington, D.C. Voices for Creative Nonviolence, the group created after the dissolution of Voices in the Wilderness, is organizing this campaign to help strengthen grassroots opposition and nonviolent resistance to the continued war against the people of Iraq. A core group will journey to Washington, D.C. to organize a 33 day fast, vigils, lobbying and nonviolent civil disobedience during this period. Others will join the core group in D.C. for shorter periods of time. Still others will organize local actions in their home communities. VCNV invites you to join them in D.C. for part or all of the Winter of Our Discontent. If you are not able to travel to D.C., you are encouraged to organize actions in your local community. Visit VCNV , see VCNV Flyer
or call Mike Ferner, (419) 729-7273 for more information.
- Letters, petitions and letters to the editor
- Regular vigils outside of their office
- Formal meetings arranged with the Congress member
- Holding a press conference following those meetings
- Showing up at meetings, forums and speaking engagements that they have already scheduled (this would involve getting their schedules and being a presence at as many of the events they go to as possible — with our signs, pictures, etc.)
- Sit-ins at local congressperson’s office until they give you an answer or a plan for immediate withdrawal.
- Holding demonstrations outside the homes of politicians
- Creative activities to draw attention to the personal and financial cost of the war, such as reading the names of casualties in the offices of elected officials, bringing the boots of service members and asking elected officials to identify who they believe is worth sacrificing to the war,
- See Bring Them Home Now for ideas.
All of these activities could be started right away, building toward events on or near the 3rd Commemoration of the War on March 19th. We’d love to hear about your plans and other suggestions you have for actions.
Local Actions, Campaigns and Vigils, Large and Small
There are several local actions taking place around the country. Some are large, others small. All are important to resisting the war.
- Fayetteville, North Carolina Home of Fort Bragg, the 82nd Airborne, and Pope Air Force Base On March 18 & 19, 2006, the 3rd commemoration of the war in Iraq is a critical opportunity to show support for the men and women speaking out against the war from within the Armed Forces. Real support for the troops still means that we Bring Them Home Now! Visit NC Peace&Justice for more information.
- Check with other local peace organizations to see what they are planning and how you could work together. Check the UFPJ web site for information on local activities and organizations ( United For Peace ).
- There are many local and state campaigns to resist the war. They include: initiatives to bring home the National Guard, depleted uranium testing of returning troops, resistance to the Patriot Act, initiatives to impeach President Bush. This period is an opportune time to organize and agitate on these issues.
Additional Resources
For details on the Cost of the War to your community
Michael T. McPhearson
Veterans For Peace
Executive Director
“All experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for thir future security.” :
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
“If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.” :
Winston Churchill
“If Everyone In This Country Lost A Brother/Sister, A Son/Daughter Or Grandson/Grandaughter, Things Would Be Very Different”
A Lesson Quote Brought Back In Support Of This New Generation Being Used:
Vietnam War History 101:
“The Only Glory In War, Is In The Imagination Of Those Who Were Never There”