VFP Chapter Actions - 2007
Impeachment Resolution Passes in Sonoma County California
December 26, 2007
On December 4, our chapter's work with the Sonoma County Resolution to Impeach Coalition paid off when the Santa Rosa City Council passed our resolution petitioning Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. The city joined ninety other cities and counties that have passed similar resolutions, including Sebastopol, in our county, Arcata, San Francisco, Berkeley, all in California, and others across the U.S.
Veterans For Peace Gets Ready for Veterans Day
October 24, 2007
Last year, Veterans For Peace members in over 30 different cities either joined already existing Veterans Day parades, or held their own Veterans Day events. This year, we are hoping that many more VFP members join the ranks of Veterans and honor the real meaning of Armistice Day.
Veterans For Peace Chapter 140 is sponsoring their own Veterans Day parade in Meadeville, PA. Contact Sandy at sandkel@earthlink.com if you are interested in participating.
> view VFP Veterans Day actions
Oberlin Declares War on War
October 15, 2007
The
original sponsors & main organizers were the Oberlin Chapter
of Veterans for Peace, Oberlin Peacebuilders (the local umbrella peace
group), & the Oberlin Peace Activists League (the major student
activist group). About 300 non- students & 70 students attended; the
main speaker, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, 9th Ohio Congressional
District, gave a detailed, most informative, and powerful anti-war
address. She stressed, to a most supportive audience, how Congress, the
U.S. military, the media,& the U.S. Constitution have all been
hijacked by the fears generated by the Bush Administration's
uninhibited willingness to mount lying attacks upon all opponents of
the war or Bush's policies. It should be noted that Representative
Kaptur was one of the few people who voted against the Iraq war from
the very beginning. She impressed us all with her knowledge, passion
and eloquence.
Rally in Syracuse, New York
October 2, 2007
Saturday, September 29, members of Veterans For Peace and Iraq Veterans
Against the War joined thousands of others in Syracuse, New York to
show their dissent with the war. Being close to Fort Drum, the rally
included speakers like Eli Wright, Scott Ritter, and Phil Aliff, as
well as our own Elliott Adams.
Veterans For Peace Recognizes Iraq Moratorium
September 21, 2007
The war and occupation of Iraq has contined for over four years. Today marks the beginning of the Iraq Moratorium. With the idea stemming from the Vietnam Moratorium in 1969,
every third Friday, people are encouraged to break from their daily
routines, step outside their comfort levels, and do something to end
this war.
Some people will wear armbands, college campuses will stage walkouts, people will refrain from buying gas, and Congress will be flooded with phone calls.
This photo was taken outside the Veterans For Peace national office in St. Louis, MO. A coffin, pair of combat boots, jacket, and yardsigns were placed outside. Behind the tribute to the fallen troops is the Veterans For Peace flag and the U.S. casualty count. If you or your chapter participated in the Iraq Moratorium, please send photos and stories to breznicek@veteransforpeace.net.
Everywhere You Looked This Weekend - VFP Was There!
August 27, 2007
Newark, NJ, Kennebunkport, ME, and Washington D.C. all saw action this weekend and Veterans For Peace was there for all the events!
In Newark, NJ, Saturday, August 25, hundreds of people rallied and marched to demand an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq, a redirection of funding towards domestic needs, and to push for racial and economic justice in the United States. Read more about the Peace and Justice Coalition of New Jersey. [See Photos]
Also on Saturday, thousands traveled to Kennebunkport, Maine to hear Dennis Kucinich, Melida and Carlos Arredondo, and Cindy Sheehan voice their dissapproval at the Bush administration and their actions that have led us into a costly and unjust war and occupation of Iraq. Read more about the Kennenbunkport Protest. [See photos]
In Washington, DC on Sunday, August 26, members of Veterans For Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War set up scaffolding for Iraq War Veteran Evan Knappenberger on the National Mall adjacent to the Washington Monument to bring attention to the military's stop-loss program. Evan will be stationed upon the scaffolding for 7 days, 24 hours a day to answer questions and bring attention to these destructive policies. Read more TowerGuard.org. [See Photos]Denver VFP Members Participate in Operation First Casualty
July 9, 2007
Most reasonable people, regardless of their political persuasion, are
aware of the reality that the first casualty of war is the truth. Any person who has actually participated in a war, knows the second casualty is the plan. The
list of casualties and costs escalates from these first two items to
include killed and wounded soldiers on both sides, killed and wounded
civilians on both sides - often in far greater numbers than combatants,
despite propaganda to the contrary by both belligerents - and of course
the losses suffered by the families of the military and civilian
victims of war. Let us not forget also, the cost to national treasuries, and the cost to taxpayers.
July 4th, 2007, Independence Day for the United States of America, was
celebrated in very non-traditional way by a group of veterans of the
American occupation of Iraq. Members of the Denver chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War staged a moving street theater production in downtown Denver.
[Read more of article | View slideshow | View press conference | Denver VFP Website | IVAW Website]
091 - San Diego, CA
April 28, 2007 - Beach Impeach Action
San Diego Veterans For Peace, Chapter #91, Hugh Thompson Memorial, participated in BEACH IMPEACH on the beach at Torrey Pines State Beach in San Diego on Saturday, April 28th as part of the A28 national event. Later in the day, we went down and demonstrated for IMPEACHMENT along with 150-200 others at the California State Democratic Convention. On Sunday, the resolution for the impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney was passed by the entire convention.
Pictures of the beach event can be seen at: www.beachblogger.net
Memorial Day across the coutry: VFP chapter actions
From New Jersey, to Northern Michigan, to Southern California - Members of Veterans For Peace celebrated Memorial Day. [Read VFP's Memorial Day Press Release]› see pictures
078 - Gainesville, FL
May 28, 2007 - Arlington in Gainesville, The Mile Long Memorial
We decided to do this the first week of May, got permission from the city and put it together in 3 weeks. The youtube shows the making and planning for setup and the next link shows pictures of the finished product and the last a picture from today's paper. We set it up on a 1 mile stretch next to Westside Park. We had totals through Saturday: 3456 Iraq and 396 Afghanistan veterans so at 4 abreast it was a mile long with each row 1 pace apart. They were in order by date and a sign for "Mission Accomplished" was located in the near part of the asteroid belt. It was up at sunrise and we took it down at dusk. The view was mind boggling because from "Mission Accomplished" you could not see the end.It was extremely well received by the many people that visited during the day. We also had a Cost of War display on the opposite side of the road with 12 posters and personal cost of war banners that people could sign. I would estimate that close to100 people worked on this event between putting it up, monitoring it, providing food and taking it down in the evening.
021 - Alan Reilly - Gene Glazer Chapter - New Jersey
April 9, 2007
Photo courtesy of George Weber of the Tappan Zee Brigade VFP Chapter 60 New York. Standing from left to to right are: Alan Reilly's father, Chapter President Ken Dalton. Alan's widow Paulette, Gene Glazer, VFP National President Elliott Adams and Past National President and Chapter Vice President David Cline.
118 - Nikko Schoch Chapter - Salt Lake City, Utah
February 24, 2007
"The military needs to know that we will not rest until this issue is resolved," stated G.I Rights Hotline Counselor and former Utah Air National Guard TSgt Trish Withus at recent Women in the Military Panels held in Orem and Salt Lake City, Utah. The panel titled "Women in the Military: The Good , the Bad and the Ugly", was the brainchild of chapter 118 activist and retired Army Reserve Lt.Col. Cecily Light. Cecily organized and facilitated the panel with Trish Withus, Suzanne Swift's mother Sara Rich and former Army Medic Leslie Watson.
The first panel, held at Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah was sponsored the Gender Studies Club, Gender Studies Program and Peace and Justice Community. Carmell Hoopes-Clark introduced the participants and said,"War creates situations...where the horrors such as those like Suzanne Swift happen with impunity. War destroys people. We must make the system more accountable," she concluded.Sara Rich told Suzanne's story of sexual abuse by her team and squad leader while assigned to a military police company in Iraq. "I was told by them that they would take care of her. The system failed miserably," she concluded. Sara gave an update about Suzanne on her AIT training in Virginia, and her transfer to Ft. Irwin later this summer.
Former army medic and UVSC student Leslie Watson said,"It takes more to be a woman in the military."
The panel then took questions from the audience including current chairperson of the UVSC ROTC Department Major O'Reilly and her staff.
The panel then moved to Salt Lake City, where minus Watson, they were sponsored by chapter 118 and the Wasatch Coalition for Peace and Justice. A vigil was being held outside the auditorium for the victims of the trolley square shootings two nights previous, so attendance was minimal and media coverage was non-existent.
Withus, who handles women's issues for the Salt Lake City Branch of the G.I. Rights Hotline sponsored by chapter 118 ,summed up her thoughts on the panel. "I think the three of us, (Sara, Cecily and I) made a wonderful team, and bonded quickly. Awareness is the key to sexual abuse by the civilian population and military community. Studies can be done, classes given and programs put in place, but until the military prosecutes abusers, then it will stop. I will gladly speak again ,if the forum finds another place to speak," she concluded.
Sara Rich tells UVSC ROTC Chairperson Major O'Reilly about her daughter Suzanne Swift's sexual abuse as panel organizer Cecily Light and Trish Withus listen.049 - Indianapolis, Indiana
December 31, 2006
Last night, New Year's Eve 2006, several people associated with Veterans for Peace, Inc., Chapter 49, Indianapolis and their supporters held a vigil on the south steps of Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis and read the names of the 3000 Americans that have been scarified to the Bush Administration's illegal, immoral war of aggression against a sovereign nation that posed no threat to us. All that took part in the event were moved at very deep and spiritual level. It is a difficult task to remember and honor the dead. And when you read page after page of names of young people that have been sacrificed on the altar of Bush's death machine, it tears at your soul.
Wednesday at 11:30 AM in front of the offices of Senators Lugar and Bayh there will be a reading of the names of the Indiana dead, with a tolling of the bell for each person lost.
111 - Bellingham, Washington
January 1, 2007
Eighty people gathered in Bellingham, WA to remember the 3000 soldiers who have died in the war in Iraq.