Appeal for assistance - Fayetteville March 19
Hello and peace, I hope this finds you well.
Fayetteville is really popping y’all. The Friday night concert is blowing up. The program on Saturday is amazing and we’re hearing from folks all over the country who are coming. The Sunday organizer’s conference and meetings of Gold Star Families for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Military Families Speak Out, are all falling in place. In short, Fayetteville is going to be something else! Check out the website www.ncpeacejustice.org for all the updates.Â
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Problem is…we’re just about out of money. Unfortunately, there’s much less access to organizing money down here, and we’re going about this about every way that we can imagine right now, but there are still huge gaps to fill.Â
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Ultimately, with the numbers that we’re expecting, and the plan we are developing, we believe that we can bring in probably a fair amount of cash on the 19th, but we need the money to get us there. I’m asking y’all to consider
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a) personally signing on as a co-sponsor
b) getting your organizations to sign on
c) passing the letter along to folks you know, especially folks you know that have deep pockets
d) sharing with us any resources that you may know of.Â
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I don’t think that I’m exagerating when I say that this weekend is going lead to dramatic shifts in the military families/vets/GI movements, and Southern anti-war movement more broadly. Please be as creative as possible on this one y’all, we need all the help we can get.Â
Peace,
Lou Plummer
Military Families Speak Out
Bring Them Home Now!
Fayetteville Peace With Justice
Dear Supporter
I am writing to you to ask for your financial support for the upcoming March and Rally to Bring the Troops Home Now in Fayetteville, NC, March 19. This event has grown far larger than we could have dreamed of when we started planning in November. With military families and veterans central to the program and planning, we are mobilizing thousands from around the country.
This historic event demands significant financial investments from the community to support the work of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, and the NC Peace & Justice Coalition. Our budget calls for $30,000, and we are half-way there! We need funds for airfare for speakers like Camilo Mejia, an Iraq Vet and Conscientious Objector, and Abdul Henderson, the Marine reservist featured in Michael Moore’s movie Fahrenheit 9/11. We have to pay for a top-rate sound system, permits, room rentals, and advertisements, postcards, and literature to reach tens of thousands of people.
We need your donation to keep up with the costs. We are seeking online or check donations of $50. If you fill in the co-sponsor form at www.NCpeacejustice.org by Sunday March 13, we can include your name or your group in the March 19 Program.
Your financial support is essential to supporting the work of a growing number of veterans, reservists, soldiers and their families who are speaking out against the war in Iraq.
Donations by Check:
Make out to “TSEC†(Twin Streams Education Center, Peace 1st)
Mark checks “March 19″ Mail to: Wes Hare, 243
Flemington Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, 27517.
Contribute online: at http://www.ncpeacejustice.org
The March 19 event falls on the second anniversary of the beginning of the war. The program features dozens of military-related speakers. A full program is online, with highlights including:
Kelly Dougherty, Co-Founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Colorado
An eight-year veteran of the Colorado National Guard, she served as an MP Sergeant in Nazariah. “We formed it [IVAW] just to give returning Iraqi veterans who are disillusioned and angry with the government and with this war in Iraq, a way to come together and organize a voice because we think it’s powerful to have returning veterans especially who have seen what it is like over there, to speak against it.”
Abdul Henderson, Marine reservist featured in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11
Henderson stated he would not return to Iraq if his reserve unit was called back to duty, saying “I will not let anyone send me back over there to kill other poor people; especially when they pose no threat to me or my country Mr. Henderson has also been featured on radio shows Democracy Now and the Joe Madison Show. In addition, he has appeared on the morning show Good Morning America and CNN’s show Inside Politics
Cindy Sheehan, Co-Founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, California
Her son Casey, a soldier, was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. “Our family never agreed with the war or it’s reasons, but since Casey was killed, so many of the reasons and rationalizations that Bush has given have proven to be lies. My goal is to bring our troops home to try and save another mother from going through what I am going through”
Sincerely
Lou Plummer, lou.plummer@mac.com, 910-433-9053
March 19 Organizer, NC Peace & Justice Coalition
On Saturday March 19 Thousands of People of Conscience from around the Southeast and beyond will Join Military Families and Veterans in Fayetteville, North Carolina for a March and Rally to End the War in Iraq.
With over 1500 US soldiers killed, and over 10,000 wounded and disabled in Iraq since March 20, 2003, and sources citing many tens of thousands of deaths of innocent Iraqi men, women and children, we are paying the price of this unjust and illegal occupation with our lives.
Military families have seen a steady erosion of their benefits, and the closing of VA hospitals nationwide. Many sources estimate that over 20% of Iraq war vets will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Over 50 soldiers from Fayetteville have died in Iraq. Fayetteville is the home of Ft. Bragg, the 82nd Airborne, and Special Forces Command. Nearly 1 in 5 US soldiers in Iraq is deployed from North Carolina. Fayetteville is at the center of the U.S. military enterprise, and on March 19, we will show the world that we are also at the heart of the movement to end the war in Iraq.
With military families and veterans at the center, the march and rally on March 19th has garnered national and international press coverage. Communities, Congregations, and Activists from as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Florida are organizing buses to attend this event.
Over the past three years, North Carolina has been home to one of the South’s most vibrant anti-war movements. We organized an 8,000-person-strong demonstration in Raleigh before the invasion of Iraq on February 15, 2003. We pushed Republican Congressman Howard Coble to announce that he is calling for a return of the troops home. Last year’s mobilization was the largest peace demonstration in Fayetteville since the Vietnam War and was a huge success. This year promises to be even more significant as the American public is increasingly weary with the arrogance, lies, and coercion that are used to keep us in this war.
The weekend features a Hip Hop Concert on Friday March 18, and a Southern Organizers’ Gathering on Sunday March 20, in conjunction with the first national conference of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Main sponsors of the 2005 actions are: Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Quaker House, Military Families Speak Out, Bring Them Home Now, NC Peace and Justice Coalition, Fayetteville Peace with Justice, NC Council of Churches, and United for Peace and Justice.
Please see www.NCpeacejustice.org for a full list of sponsors, speakers, bus information, and more.
Ruby Sinreich:
Welcome back, Stan!
I will definitely send some money to Lou and see you in Fayetteville!
10 March 2005, 12:42 pmStan:
Hi Ruby! And many thanks!
Fayetteville is gonna rock ‘em and sock ‘em.
10 March 2005, 1:07 pmeoinmonkey:
This might seem a little off topic, but I was wondering what you might think of a subject I have found coming up again and again in talking to current and ex- servicemen, both in the US and the UK. Im sure if I paraphrase their comments you will have heard the same thing many times yourself. I have had this from even the most left wing veterans, so it isnt just a conservative flag waver thing to say, and I have heard it from British soldiers as well as soldiers from the various American branches.
10 March 2005, 1:14 pmBasically, they often express having no sympathy for those soldiers who refuse to go to a conflict zone (lets say, Iraq) or refuse to fight once there, after already having signed up. In an extreme example, one ex-British soldier I used to work with even went so far as to claim that service personel should not expect any first aid or transport off the battlefield as their right upon being wounded. I know Mr Goff wrote something about a related subject for Counterpunch, about the myth of the volunteer military, but that was more about the criticisms of non-soldiers, which I find hold very little weight at all.
My response has always been this: it seems obvious to me as a lefty radical who reads an awful lot about the military and the history of conflict, that the hierarchy of all the worlds armed forces is not exactly what you would call efficient. Nor, as a beuracracy of death and destruction, are they particularly mindful of the well-being of their troops, except where it affects their ability to wage war and destroy the enemy. You dont have to read very far into the history of the battle of the Somme to come to that conclusion. However, most people dont get taught this about the military- they see recruiting officers in their A1s’ and movies about how great modern death technology is, and are fed that kind of “Army of one” crap the US is currently shovelling to get more warm bodies in the way of shrapnel. Since, therefore, they are signing up under somewhat false pretences as regards the militaries abilities and concerns for their lives and health, I do have, and think it perfectly acceptable to have, sympathy with volunteers that refuse to serve or to fight. You might sign away your physical freedom when you join up and take the Kings shilling, but that doesnt mean you have signed away your human right to decide what to do and when even when it means an army prison or a firing squad. I think the attitude of “you took the pay packet and the pension fund (such as it is), now you have to stand up straight and shoot who they tell you, charge those machine guns and eat poisoned food and none of your complaining” is far more prevalent in the UK and US militaries than it is in any European armed forces, with the possible exception of Germany. I know that French troops, to their credit, were never ones to lie down in front of military stupidity, or resist the temptation to help themselves to officers lunch hampers when they were feeling a bit peckish. I know America soldiers are also much better than British troops at sitting down and saying “No f**cking way!” when they are told to do something stupid, but why doesnt this streak of independence extend any further?
Sorry if that was a bit long, or if it wasnt the right place to bring it up, but I have wondered about this for some time, and wouldnt mind getting some feedback from someone with more knowledge than myself.
Thanks in advance.
Stan:
Quick reply… the veterans I work with right now, to the last person among them, not only support refusing to follow orders once you’ve raised your right hand, we actively encourage people to refuse, disobey, and leave. The individual decision of the individual soldier is never easy and always made with a variety of often heavy concerns that affect many other people, so we try to support decisions to resist along the whole con tinuum of resistance, from plain complaining about day-to-day stuff, to unauthorized trips, to Canada, to decisions that include the foreknowledge of incarceration.
10 March 2005, 1:27 pmeoinmonkey:
Thats really good. I would support anyones decision to refuse orders just like I support the international law that makes personal responsibility a cornerstone of the “laws of war”. I was wondering more about what to say to someone who expresses the lack of sympathy. Is it taking the right tack to mention said personal responsibility, do you think? Please dont feel obliged to answer right away if you are busy, its just a query.
10 March 2005, 1:39 pmdh56:
I’m glad to see this site, as I have been an avid reader of Stan’s writings and am always looking for good sources of current news.
One of the reasons I have an interest in Stan’s views is that aspects of my involvement in ‘peace work’ are informed by discussions with Vietnam vets. Specifically, some of those vets who came to Canada after our government here declared likelyhood of persecution for desertion or draft dodging to be grounds for asylum.
Unfortunately, this is not currently the case, and the Canadian government appears to be leaning away from accepting ‘refugees’ from the US military. Hearings for a handful of brave deserters are underway and we are all watching to see the outcome — so there is still some hope.
Best wishes to all those who have learned that war is not a real solution to anything.
13 March 2005, 1:24 pm