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Veterans For Peace - 20 Years of Waging Peace
Report from the US Social Forum - 2007

The US Social Forum Report

Written by Thomas Brinson, Chapter 138 Long Island

I was most privileged to join several other members of Veterans For Peace, to include Ellen Barfield, Clarissa Duran, Ed Cohen, Mike Hearington, Reid Jenkins and George Sossenko at the first US Social Forum held in Atlanta last week. The Forum brought together approximately 7,000 activists from multitudinous grassroots organizations seeking peace with justice. Under the slogan “If another world is possible, another US is necessary,” the US Social Forum conveyed to people’s movements throughout the world that there is an active movement within the US that is opposed to and strenuously working to change oppressive US Policies both at home and abroad.

The highlight of the Forum for me was working with our younger sister and brother veterans from the quagmires in Afghanistan and Iraq. IVAW had a strong presence at the Forum to include a visit by the IVAW Bus Tour currently on a swing of southern military bases. A very successful fundraiser with circa 300 persons in attendance took place Saturday night at a Manuel’s, a local Atlanta bar-restaurant. I was most inspired to feed off the enthusiasm and dedication of such true patriots as Kelly Dougherty, Geoff Millard, Michael Blake, Adam Kokesh, Liam Madden, Sholom Keller, Steve Mortillo, etc. The passing of the torch of leadership from us of the Vietnam Generation to the membership of IVAW is in good, steady and most capable hands. IVAW member Eli Painted Crow addressed one of the plenary sessions.

I participated in the Peace Caucus that met for each of the three days of workshops. I briefly reported last week via the email lists that I was most gratified when George Paz Martin, National Co-chair of UFPJ, made a strong point that veterans in VFP and IVAW along with their family members in MFSO and GSFP are the point persons, the leading phalanx of peace activists, in the movement for peace with justice. This theme continued consistently in remarks made by Leslie Cagan, UFPJ National Coordinator, during the second session of the Peace Caucus as well as those made by Judith LeBlanc, a member of the UFPJ Steering Committee, at a workshop on building a coordinated peace movement co-sponsored by War Resisters League, IVAW and MFSO. The Peace Caucus developed an action plan with an 8-point declaration for achieving peace.

It is my strong recommendation that Veterans For Peace support and play an active role in developing plans for the next US Social Forum scheduled to take place in 2010.

 

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