Thursday, November 26, 2009

Prepare to protest the madness of Obama's escalation plan for Afghanistan

President Barack Obama is to announce from West Point at 8 PM on December 1 his order to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan.  Groups around the country are planning protests before, during and after the announcement.  Please consider organizing an event in your area.

 

In Baltimore, the Pledge of Resistance and United For Peace and Justice are asking concerned citizens to gather on Wednesday, December 2 at 5:30 PM on Gay Street by the War Memorial Building. Other Baltimore vigils for peace are Tuesday, Dec. 1 outside AFSC, 4806 York Road, from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, Thursday, December 3 from 5 to 6:30 PM at Centre & Charles Sts. and on Friday, December 4 from 5 to 6 PM outside Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.  

United for Peace and Justice joins Veterans for Peace in their Call to Action

We call on you to act NOW to pressure the President to not escalate and at the same time plan actions if he does decide to send more troops.

An escalation will mean at a very minimum that the U.S. will occupy Afghanistan for several more years, sending home dead and wounded soldiers while killing and wounding many times more Afghans. The suffering in Afghanistan today will grow by orders of magnitude and the U.S. will be that much less secure in direct proportion. In addition, the U.S. economy today still teeters at the abyss.  Escalating the Afghanistan war will not just be the ruin of desperately needed domestic programs but may very possibly destroy the entire economy.

For these reasons and many more we call upon our members and every U.S. citizen with a love of humanity in their heart to pledge to at least the following actions: conduct any of a wide range of local activities -- from calling members of Congress to nonviolent civil resistance and everything in between -- demonstrating our opposition to and disgust with any decision to widen the war in Afghanistan.  To show unity of purpose, we suggest local "March of the Dead" to Federal Buildings, local Congressional offices and government buildings of any sort. Post your events on the UFPJ calendar.

<! Flood the White House with calls: 202-456-1111. Endorsed by: United for Peace and Justice, Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, the A.N.S.W.E.R Coalition, National Assembly, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, Pledge of Resistance, Voices for Creative Nonviolence and World Can't Wait.  Go to www.unitedforpeace.org & http://www.veteransforpeace.org/VFP_statement_afghanistan_2009.vp.html.

The Sound of Silence: Afgh Escalation

PeaceAction Montgomery is calling for all to come to the White House on Tuesday, December 1 at 5 PM.


Hello darkness, my old friend
We'll meet in front of the White House
I've come to talk with you again
Beginning at 5:00 pm
Because a vision softly creeping
on Tuesday, December 1st.

Left its seeds while I was sleeping
To lament this decision
And the vision that was planted in my brain
for the nation and the world
Still remains
With bullhorns and noisemakers
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
We'll have each other
Narrow streets of cobblestone
On Pennsylvania Avenue
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
Within view of the nation.

I turned my collar to the cold and damp
With the warmth of determination
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
Shared by our friends
That split the night
To rob the focus
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
A hundred million across the land
Ten thousand people, maybe more
Stop the killing!
People talking without speaking
Turn swords into ploughshares
People hearing without listening
and spears into pruning hooks.
People writing songs that voices never share
Speaking with our presence
And no one dared
Except us
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made

And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And in front of the White House
And whispered in the sounds of silence

Bring your bullhorns and noisemakers
to the White House at 5:00 pm
on Tuesday, December 1, 2009.

Shatter the sounds of silence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUy9ePyo6Q

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

 

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