***** Saturday, March 20, 2004 March & Rally for Peace and Justice
End the Occupations of Iraq & Palestine Now Stand Up for Economic Justice and Civil Rights and Liberties
12:00 Noon: Assemble at the First AME Zion Church, Bryden Rd. & 18th St., Columbus, OH (the march begins at 12:30 PM.)
[A map of the area around Bryden & 18th is at <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/Bryden&18th.gif>. For information about buses, call 614-228-1776 or visit <http://www.cota.com/COTA/Cotaweb/main.xml>.]
1 PM: Rally at the Statehouse, Broad & High Sts., Columbus, OH (in case of dangerous weather, at the Trinity Episcopal Church, Broad & 3rd Sts.)
* Speakers: -- Ahmad Al-Akhras (Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ohio Chapter) -- Wendy Ake (Committee for Justice in Palestine) -- Louise M. Antony (Professor, Philosophy, OSU) -- Bob Fitrakis (The Free Press) -- Rev. Vincent Frosh (First AME Zion) -- Barry Landeros-Thomas (Veterans for Peace/American Indian Movement) -- Columbus City Council member Charleta B. Tavares * Performers: -- Dave Hawkins <http://www.davehawkins.com/> -- Tom Harker -- STOPS -- Doublethink
Flyer: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/M20.doc> Program: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/M20program.pdf> Press Release: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/March20PressRelease.doc>
Sponsored by the Central Ohio Peace Network Contact: Central Ohio Peace Network Connie Hammond, <chammon at columbus.rr.com>, 614-531-4146 John Wallace, <jwallace0365 at wowway.com>, 614-899-9946
Endorsed by All African People's Revolutionary Party, OSU Cadre-Circle/Ohio Chapter, the Campus Green Party at the Ohio State University, Central Ohioans for Peace, Columbus Campaign for Arms Control, the Committee for Justice in Palestine, the Community Organizing Center, Council on American Islamic Relations (Ohio Chapter), Democratic Socialists of Central Ohio, Faith Communities Uniting for Peace, Islamic Foundation of Central Ohio, Islamic Society of Greater Columbus, the Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, the Oberlin Peace Activists League, the Ohio Center for Native American Affairs, the Ohio Working Group on Latin America, the Progressive Peace Coalition, Solidarity, the Student International Forum, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation East, United Methodists for Peace, Women in Black
On March 20, 2004, the first anniversary of Washington's illegal and immoral war, Central Ohioans will join people all over the world and demand an End to the Occupations of Iraq and Palestine Now!
Washington defied global voices of reason and invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003 - the war waged "for no good reason" driven by "false commitments" in the words of Rev. Vincent Frosh, pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and co-president of BREAD (Building Responsibility, Equality, and Dignity). One year later, the occupation of Iraq still continues, taking a heavy toll on Iraqis, US soldiers, and others: more than 8,400 Iraqi civilians, 550 US soldiers, and 101 UK and other Coalition soldiers have been killed, and 3,164 US soldiers, tens of thousands of Iraqis, and others have been wounded (as of March 6, 2004).
The March 20 Global Day of Action - over 150 protests in the Unites States alone - comes only ten days before the anniversary of the historic March 30, 1976, Land Day in Palestine, an annual reminder of the Israeli power elite's denial of equal rights to Palestinians and confiscation of more and more Palestinian lands inside and outside the Green Line borders. Since 1976, Israel has been the leading recipient of US aid. The National Lawyers Guild has found that well over $81 billion of US foreign aid was given to Israel from 1949 through 2000. Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg wrote in "The Price of Not Keeping the Peace" (New York Times 27 August 2003): "The United States finances about $4 billion a year, on average, of Israel's national budget. The continuing effort to defend, support and increase settlements in the West Bank and Gaza costs at least $1 billion a year. The money spent annually in directly subsidizing the existing settlements was estimated in 2001 at $400 million."
The US occupation of Iraq and support for the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza are but the most glaring examples of Washington's foreign policy - the latest is its removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti - that sacrifices countless lives abroad and burdens working-class people at home who pay for wars and occupations with their lives and tax dollars.
Worse, the unjust foreign policy that benefits the rich few at the expense of the majority of Americans has been marketed by the Bush administration with "consistent and unrelenting lies" - including the lies about the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" nowhere to be found in Iraq - that are "fundamentally Machiavellian in nature," says Bob Fitrakis, a political science professor at the Columbus State Community College and an editor of the Free Press. Fitrakis is outraged: "The Bush family sees itself as an aristocratic and entitled elite who can lie to the American people in order to plunder the world and ensure its fourth generation of war profiteering." To date, Halliburton alone has made over $2.2 billion from the war in Iraq, boosting its net profit for the second quarter of 2003 to $26 million, which contrasts markedly with the company's net loss of $498 million in the same quarter of 2002. The US military budget now stands at $400 billion - up from $300 billion when Bush took office - and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have racked up $200 billion in emergency spending to date, over and above normal Pentagon appropriations. As Paul Krugman quipped, the administration's motto indeed seems to be "Leave No Defense Contractor Behind" ("Bush's Aggressive Accounting," New York Times, February 5, 2002).
In contrast, poor men, women, and children are left behind in America. Since the recession began in March 2001, 2.4 million jobs have disappeared - the greatest sustained job loss since the Great Depression. From November to December 2003, Ohio suffered the second largest job loss in the nation. Charleta B. Tavares, who supports young men and women in the armed services, observes: "We have spent tens of billions of dollars to finance a war with Iraq while both the State of Ohio and the City of Columbus are suffering fiscal crises," the fiscal crises that have resulted in "severe program cuts to family services, community health care centers, and the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department." Tavares' efforts to promote peace are driven by her concern that a long-term US military presence and occupation abroad requires "massive public expenditures which would be far better spent rebuilding our economy, expanding opportunities for all, and addressing our national crises in employment, health care, education, housing, infrastructure, and the environment."
Therefore, on March 20, 2004, we will stand up for economic justice and defend civil rights and liberties of all who live in the United States, citizens and immigrants - demanding money for jobs, education, and universal health care, not for wars and occupations. Our actions will honor the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other non-violent voices of resistance.
Additional Information: * Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary," January 27, 2004: <http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm> * Pratap Chatterjee and Herbert Docena, "Occupation, Inc.," Southern Exposure (Winter 2003/2004): <http://www.southernstudies.org/reports/OccupationInc.htm> * The Economic Policy Institute's Jobwatch: <http://www.jobwatch.org/> * William D. Hartung, "Making Money on Terrorism," The Nation February 23,2004: <http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040223&s=hartung> * Iraq Body Count (civilian deaths in the Iraq war and occupation): <http://www.iraqbodycount.net/> * Iraq Coalition Casualty Count: <http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx> * Ittijah - Union of the Arab Community Based Organizations: <http://www.ittijah.org/inside/history.html> * The National Lawyers Guild, "The Al Aqsa Intifada and Israel's Apartheid: The U.S. Military and Economic Role in the Violation of Palestinian Human Rights": <http://www.nlg.org/programs/mideast/al_aqsa_intifada.pdf> * United for Peace and Justice: <http://www.unitedforpeace.org/> *****
Our local monopoly paper the _Columbus Dispatch_ is more cooperative than usual -- we got an advance coverage of today's events, with the date, times, and locations, in the _Dispatch_ yesterday:
***** Peace activists still committed, plan weekend Statehouse vigil The Columbus Dispatch, Friday, March 19, 2004 John Futty, jfutty at dispatch.com <http://www.dispatch.com/national-story.php?story=dispatch/2004/03/19/20040319-A10-01.html>
Nearly every Saturday afternoon for more than a year, Janet McLaughlin has stood on a Worthington street corner, joined in her vigil by a few other central Ohio residents who hold signs and banners promoting peace during a time of war.
"Our feeling is, OK, we didn't prevent the war in Iraq, but we're still committed to peace," she said. "A commitment to peace isn't a one-time event. It's a lifetime commitment."
The Northwest Side resident is a member of Central Ohioans for Peace, a group formed in February 2003 when about 100 people met at a Worthington church to express their concerns about the impending war in Iraq.
The resulting peace rallies at the corner of N. High Street and Rt. 161 didn't stop when the war began March 19.
And members of the group say the organization won't go away, even after the troops come home.
Although the number of demonstrators has declined, the group attracts about two dozen people to its weekly organizational meetings and is seeking nonprofit status.
It also has seen its mission broaden.
"There is social injustice all over the world, and our group is concerned about that," said Sue Simon of Westerville, another regular at the Saturday demonstrations.
"If our mission is to promote peaceful resolutions to problems, we can't discriminate about where."
At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, they will join with other peace advocates for an interfaith prayer service at the First AME Zion Church, 873 Bryden Road, marking the first anniversary of the war.
It will be followed at noon with a rally outside the church and a march to the Statehouse at 1 p.m., organized by the Central Ohio Peace Network.
The prayer service is sponsored by Faith Communities Uniting for Peace, which formed after more than 200 people attended a similar service the day after the war began.
"We're very much grounded in our faith traditions," said Tarunjit S. Butalia, a co-director for Faith Communities. "Our responses aren't about politics."
The group, which includes Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs, sponsors a monthly gathering at the Main Library to pray for peace and promote dialogue about social justice.
"The issue of peace and justice is not just about Iraq," Butalia said.
At its monthly meetings, Faith Communities discusses and takes action on a variety of topics, including AIDS/HIV funding for Africa and vandalism to churches and synagogues.
Yoshie Furuhashi of the International Student Forum at Ohio State University said the peace movement lost some momentum when the war began, but gained supporters when the United States met guerrilla resistance and failed to uncover weapons of mass destruction.
And local peace groups still battle the perception that they don't support U.S. troops.
"When we started our rallies, we heard from a lot of people who thought if we wanted peace, we were against our soldiers," Simon said. "That was hard, because it's not how we feel."
She said negative reactions have become rare at the weekly rallies and passers-by seem increasingly supportive.
"We plan to continue indefinitely," Simon said. "If we can make one person think every time we're out there, it's worth it." ***** -- Yoshie
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>
