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5 Years Too Many! Alabama Peace Events on 5th Anniversary of Iraq War — March 2008

March 14, 2008 at 10:25 pm · Filed under announce, events, press release

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Alabama Peace & Justice Coalition  www.AlabamaPeace.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE /  March 14, 2008

Contact:  Linda Haynes, 256-489-3884, lahaynes@knology.net

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Alabama Peace Events Commemorating 5th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion. 5 Years Too Many! 

(Alabama) — Below are Alabama events planned in various cities (Auburn, Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery and Oneonta) by member organizations of the Alabama Peace and Justice Coalition. These events commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Iraq invasion and demand that the U.S. act now to end the war. They are being held in solidarity with the national “5 Years Too Many. Bring the Troops Home Now” campaign being held in Washington, DC on March 19. Peace rallies, nonviolent actions and other events are also being held in hundreds of other cities across the U.S.  More information at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/  

Nearly 4,000 dead and 30,000 wounded.

Between 100,000 – 1,000,000 Iraqis dead, and 4,000,000 displaced.

Almost $1,000,000,000,000 spent.

0 reasons to be there. 

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Auburn 

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Wednesday, March 19

Alliance for Peace and Justice

5th anniversary of the Iraq War  

5:00-6:00 p.m. — PUBLIC WITNESS to:   Support our troops by bringing them home, Commemorate all the direct losses of this war, both U.S and Iraqi,  Call for converting funds for wars abroad to meeting escalating human needs at home.Toomers’ Corner, (intersection of Magnolia Ave. and College St.), in Auburn, AL 

6:15-7:00 p.m. — COVERED DISH SUPPER. Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 450 E Thach Ave., Auburn, ALBring friends and also food to share. Beverage provided.  

7:00-9:00 p.m. — See and discuss film “NO END IN SIGHT.” Nominated for Academy Award as Best Documentary FilmAuburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 450 E Thach Ave., Auburn, AL  

For more information: Judy Collins Cumbee, Alliance for Peace and Justice,  judysi@knology.net, 334-499-2380, www.peaceeagle.org 

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Birmingham

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Wednesday, March 19, 11:45 a.m. -  1:00 p.m.

Birmingham Peace Project and Pax ChristiPax Christi Vigil.  In recognition of the 5th anniversary of the Iraq invasion.Five Points South, Birmingham, AL Friends, on this solemn and tragic occasion, once again Pax Christi is allowing anyone wishing to express their outrage and horror that this war still continues, to join their long-standing vigil for peace. They have extended the length so that you may feel free to come by at any time during the hour and fifteen minute vigil and leave whenever you need to. There will be signs, or bring your own.  

Contact, Diane McNaron, Birmingham Peace Project, 205.838.1391, Dianemcnaron@aol.com  

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Huntsville   

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Wednesday, March 19, 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.

North Alabama Peace Network 200 Pratt Ave.  (Corner of Pratt and Meridian), Huntsville, AL 

We will hold a peace rally on the 5th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, calling for an immediate end of the illegal and unjust occupation of Iraq! This will be held in front of U.S. Representative Bud Cramer’s office at 200 Pratt Ave.  (corner of Pratt and Meridian). Bring a friend. Bring a sign, but we’ll also have extras.  

Contact: Tom Moss, 256-468-5314 cell, NAPN@knology.net   or Linda Haynes, 256-429-8639 cell, lahaynes@knology.net      

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Mobile

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Friday, March 14

Mobile Citizens for Peace 

10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. — Memorial displayMemorial event co-sponsored by Mobile Citizens for Peace and Friends Group of Baldwin County. Midtown Mobile Park  (intersection of Government St. and Airport Blvd.), Mobile, AL In conjunction with the national Friends there will be a memorial event at Memorial Park.  Boots representing the dead soldiers from Alabama and shoes representing dead Iraqi civilians will be arrayed on the ground.  Periodically the names will be read aloud. For more information look at:  http://www.afsc.org/eyes/       This display is not a protest demonstration, people are invited to come anytime throughout the day to reflect upon the meaning of the display and to revive their ideals for peace.  

5:00 p.m. — March The Mobile Citizens for Peace will march from the Midtown Mobile Park to the monthly ArtWalk event that will be underway downtown (about 2 1/2 miles). For this part of the day, yes, get out your old posters or make new ones. As we walk we want this display to say that the media and politicians may have removed the war from view, but we know it’s still going on and we want it to stop. Best poster — determined by acclaim — will receive a prize.                   

Contact: David Underhill, Mobile Citizens for Peace, 251-599-8699 (cell), drunderhill@yahoo.com    

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Montgomery 

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Sunday, March 16,  2:00 p.m.

Montgomery Peace Project

Capri Theatre, 1045 E Fairview Ave, Montgomery, AL

The film “No End in Sight” will be shown at  Find out how we got into this mess in Iraq by watching the movie that tells the inside story about the American occupation of Iraq and why it is doomed to failure.  It was nominated for 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary.  More info   http://www.noendinsightmovie.com/  Free admission. Reception will follow film.  

Contact:  Valerie Downes, Montgomery Peace Project, 334-462-9522, valerie.downes@splcenter.org  

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Oneonta     

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Wednesday, March 19, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Blount County Committee for Peace & Justice

Peace Vigil for 5 Years of the Iraq War Blount County Courthouse, Oneonta, AL 

Vigilers from the local peace group invite others to join them Wednesday, March 19 at 6:00 PM for an hour of reflection, prayer, and witness for an end to the Iraq War. The hour-long vigil will take place on the County Courthouse steps in Oneonta. Holding signs such as “War Is Not The Answer”,  “Americans Want Our Troops Home” and “Who Would Jesus Bomb”, the group has had a presence at the Courthouse since September of 2002, a good 6 months before the current war began, now totaling 5 years. The group reports that by far, most passersby seem to support the message the group presents, with honks, waves, peace signs, stopping and joining in with the group, and even a family with small children stopping by to bring the vigilers chocolate chip cookies. The peace group welcomes returned Iraq veterans to join them in their call for an end to the war. For more information, call veteran Morris Gardner at 681-4928. 

Contact:  Morris Gardner, Blount County Committee for Peace and Justice, 205-681-4928, rivkahdara@urisp.net     

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The Alabama Peace & Justice Coalition is made up of eight peace organizations from around the state.  More information about APJC is at  http://www.alabamapeace.org

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Reports on Alabama peace events held Jan. 27, 2007

January 30, 2007 at 11:06 am · Filed under announce

Below are reports on Alabama events held on Jan. 27, 2007 — in solidarity with the huge peace rally held in Washington, DC.

1) Huntsville, Alabama (North Alabama Peace Network)
2) Mobile, Alabama (Mobile Citizens for Peace)

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North Alabama Peace Network
www.napn.org
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For Immediate Release / Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007
Contacts: Tom Moss, 256-468-5314 cell, NAPN@knology.net
Linda Haynes, 256-429-8639 cell, lahaynes@knology.net

More than 100 Joined Peace Surge in Huntsville Today! “Constellation” Movie Actor Participates Too.
Huntsville, Ala. — More than 100 people participated in the Peace Surge Rally in Huntsville today calling for an immediate end to the Iraq war.

The crowd included David Clennon, an actor from Los Angeles who is in the “Constellation” film premiering in Huntsville tonight. Clennon said, “I’m happy that I could come here from LA and find a peace demonstration in Huntsville — because today is such an important day in the struggle for peace.” Clennon found information about the Huntsville event by doing a search on the Internet. He has been going to the peace rallies in LA since before the Iraq war began. (Dave Clennon is available for interviews. Contact Linda Haynes at 256-429-8639 (cell) to make arrangements.)

Huntsville rally participants included people of all ages, from young children to octogenarians, filling all four corners of the Airport Rd and Whitesburg intersection. People held signs, peace flags, and American flags during the rally which lasted from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

Tom Moss, coordinator of the North Alabama Peace Network, said, “We had a marvelous outpouring of support from passers-by today. Every week the response gets more positive; it’s a peace surge. I think more and more people realize our government is not exporting democracy but is only serving to make the poor poorer in order to pay for this war.”

Linda Haynes, a NAPN member said, “A woman driving by rolled down her window and said to us, ‘Thank you for being here. My son is in Iraq.’ Those types of responses make the effort so much more poignant.”

Today’s local rally was in solidarity with the huge peace action being held in Washington, DC to demand an end to the Iraq war. The national event is sponsored by United for Peace and Justice, True Majority, RainbowPUSH Coalition, Working Assets, the National Organization for Women and hundreds of other national and local groups. Tens of thousands of people converged on Washington, DC today to demand an end to the war in Iraq, and to bring the troops home now. This includes Alabama residents from Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and other areas of the state. More information about the national event in Washington, DC is at www.unitedforpeace.org/

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Mobile, Alabama — Mobile Citizens for Peace

Report submitted by David Underhill drunderhill@yahoo.com

Cold rain couldn’t keep the faithful away. The largest crowd in a long time turned out Saturday the 27th at a mid-Mobile park that has become the traditional site for such events since shortly before the attack on Iraq almost four years ago. Citizens for Peace, an APJC member, co-sponsored the rally with the Mobile chapter of Veterans for Peace.
We scheduled it to coincide with the big march in DC. The announced hours were noon to 3:00, but some demostrators started gathering by 11:00.

Perhaps a hundred people participated, with about 75 the most present at any time. The park is at an intersection of major streets, and we ringed it with a forest of soggy signs.
We had a quasi-captive audience in thick, snarled traffic headed to the nearby stadium for the Senior Bowl. (That’s not geriatric football but an all-star game for college stars turned NFL prospects.) As routine lately, we received far more honks and waves of support than gestures of opposition.

That reception reflects the polls showing that the public, including Alabamians, have turned against Bush’s calamity in Iraq. But you would never know this from the words and votes of most of our supposed representatives in congress. They remain devoted to war and escalation.

And a new group made its first public appearance during rush hour in west Mobile on Friday the 26th. Resist Mobile, which sprang up in recent weeks in the University of South Alabama vicinity, turned out about 40 poster-wielding peaceniks along a main artery to give commuters something besides billboards to look at. Resist says this is just the first of anti-war demos, plus other activities, to follow.
David Underhill

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“Living The Dream” Rally, This Sunday in Selma. Week of Events, Nov 12-19

November 10, 2006 at 4:14 pm · Filed under announce, events

APJC is a paid sponsor of “Living the Dream: Co-Creating the Beloved Community of Humankind.” We urge all Alabama peace people to attend the events described below.
Dr. King reminds us: “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.”

“Silence is betrayal.”

“LIVING THE DREAM—CO-CREATING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY OF HUMANKIND”

THIS SUN. NOV. 12: 1:00 p.m. Selma rally, 1st Baptist Church (MLK & Jeff Davis), 1:30 march and bridge crossing. Drive to Montgomery for 3:30 p.m. capitol steps rally, kicking off the march from Montgomery to Ft. Benning, Columbus, Georgia, going “into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to racism, poverty, and militarism.” “Wisdom born of experience tells us that war is obsolete.” “Nonviolence or nonexistence” Dr. M.L.King,Jr.

SPEAK OUT—STEP OUT–LET THE WORLD KNOW WE IN AL (AND PEOPLE JOINING US FROM OTHER STATES–MN, CA, NJ, NC…. AND EVEN OTHER COUNTRIES–CAMBODIA, JAPAN, & IRELAND) “DARE DEFEND OUR RIGHTS”–ALL OUR FREEDOMS, INCLUDING SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY, AS WE COME TOGETHER REDEDICATING OURSELVES

“TO THE LONG, BITTER, BUT BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE FOR A NEW WORLD,
CO-CREATING THAT GLOBAL BELOVED COMMUNITY
WHERE ALL CAN “LIVE IN PEACE AND UNAFRAID”

Nov. 12 rallies–Presiders, Ms. Angela Brown, Youth Task Force in Selma; in Mtgy. Rep. Laura Hall, Chair AL Congressional Black Caucus and Mr. Anton Flores, Immigrant Advocate. Speakers include: The Rev. Brooks Anderson and Mr. Donte Smith, SOA Watch Prisoners of Conscience; AL Council on Human Relations President Emeritus Ezra Cunningham; Ms. JoAnne Bland, director National Voting Rights Museum; Atty. Faya Rose Toure, civil-human rights-education activist/songwriter/playwright; AL State Senator Hank Sanders; The Rev. Robert And Mrs. Jean E. Graetz; Mrs. Amelia Boynton Robinson, almost lifelong (maybe not as an infant) civil/human rights activist, recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Medal; Honorable Ella B. Bell, AL State Board of Education; Ms. Malika Sanders, Recipient Reebok International Human Rights Award; Steve Orel, founder and assistant director at Birmingham’s World of Opportunity, Vice-president Spiver Gordon, SCLC S.E. Region

Mass Meetings Nov. 13-17 in local communities, with speakers lifting up their work in “Dream”; 7:00 p.m. each night:

Nov. 13, Montgomery: Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, Pastor Walter Ellis, 1436 E. Washington St., Greetings: Ms. Esther Brown, executive director Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty, Donte Smith(see above), and Ted Glick, former Green candidate for New Jersey senate and co-founder, Climate Crisis Coalition who coordinated Nov. 4 International Actions by tens of thousands; Keynoter, Pres. Ed Vaughn, AL NAACP

Nov. 14, Waugh: St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, Minister Sylvester Poole, Sr., 3412 Richmond (off I-85, take exit 16 to Waugh, turn left in front of BP station. At flashing light go right onto Co. Rd 107 for about 1.5 miles) Greetings: Rep. Thad McClammey (invited); Ms. Pres Harris, Alabama Arise; Sophia Bracy Harris, Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative and co-director of FOCAL. Keynoter: Dr. James Orange, lieutenant for Dr. King, civil and human rights leader in U.S. and Africa. Lateefah Muhammad, Tuskegee Interfaith Group welcomes people to the Nov. 15 meeting.

Nov. 15, Tuskegee: Butler Chapel, 1002 N. Church. Presider Pastor K.G. Jones, Greetings: Mayor Johnny Ford and Mayor Pro Tem, Ms. Mae Doris Williams. Brief Remarks: Dr. Gwen Patton, first female student government president at Tuskegee University, a youth organizer for SCLC and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), currently archivist for H. Councill Trenholm State Technical College and Mtgy. Coordinator for National Historic Voting Rights Trail; Mrs. Amelia Boynton Robinson (see above); Mr. Bill Madison, President NAACP, Columbus GA; Dean Walter Hill, Tuskegee College of Agriculture, Environmental and Natural Sciences and Macon Co. farmer Al Hooks; Kathy Kelly for School of Americas Watch

Nov. 16, Opelika: St. James Baptist Church, 1335 Auburn St., Rev. James Bandy, presiding. Welcome by Lee Co. Commissioner John Andrews Harris. Greetings by The Rev. Diana Allende, Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and treasurer of the Alliance for Peace and Justice, and Mrs. Nighet Ahmed, a founder of International Women for Peace and Understanding. Presentations by The Rev. Kenny Glasgow, S.E. coordinator for World Social Forum 2007, Alabama Director of New Bottom Line Campaign, NAACP Prison Project, and TOPS–The Ordinary People Society, and Kathy Kelly, twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, a founder of Voices in the Wilderness and current coordinator of Creative Voices for Nonviolence.

Nov. 17, Columbus area (site being determined): Presentations by Carlos Mauricio, Salvadoran torture survivor and recent speaker throughout Latin America, Mrs.Amelia Boynton Robinson (see Mtgy rally); and Dr. Kenneth Cyrus, Gandhian/Kingian scholar connecting the dots from Selma to Montgomery to Columbus

Nov. 19, Columbus, main gate of Ft. Benning on Benning Rd: The Honorable Charles Steele, national President Southern Christian Leadership Conference speaks on behalf of “Living the Dream–Co-creating the Beloved Community of Humankind,” 9:00 a.m.

When driving to “Live the Dream” LET THE WORLD KNOW: I’m sending a separate email with links to different size “Living the Dream” signs in PDF format. The letter size is in Acrobat Standard and is OK for desktop printers. [Dream Rally Printable Sign - Letter PDF]The larger ones, 18 x 24 — DreamSign-18-24.pdf– and 18 x 30 — DreamSign-18-30.pdf are “press quality” PDFs, best to email or take on disk to a speedy print shop or Office Depot, Kinko’s etc. The letter size and 11×17 might be used on a car window–but do NOT impede your vision. We can also wear these when marching. The two larger ones especially work best if printed on heavy stock and laminated. Great signs also for rallies, meetings and marching! Dream organizers will have a selection of the larger signs laminated and available for the march (Just got the 11×17 from printer—a wonderful placemat too).


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Alabama Peace Events In Recognition of the International Day of Peace – September 21

September 14, 2006 at 7:55 pm · Filed under announce, events, press release

Below are Alabama events planned by member organizations of the Alabama Peace and Justice Coalition in recognition of the International Day of Peace, Sept. 21.

Auburn, Birmingham, Fairhope, Huntsville, Mobile, Oneonta and Tuscaloosa will host a variety of peace events — including candlelight vigils, music performances, films and more.

The International Day of Peace is celebrated each year on Sept. 21 by groups and individuals around the world. In 2006, there are over 1,000 events planned in 175 countries. Established by a United Nations resolution in 1981, the International Day of Peace was first celebrated September 1982. More information at www.internationaldayofpeace.org

For more information about specific events, read the press release…

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September 21st events?

September 8, 2006 at 11:11 am · Filed under announce, events

As in prior years, I am preparing one press release listing all of our AL peace groups’ events commemorating International Peace Day. That is on Sept. 21, but your event might not be on that specific day.

Can you send me details (what, when, where, etc.) or let me know if your group will be doing something — even if details are not yet ready? (You can post a comment, or email me at lahaynes@knology.net.

Once all the details are ready, I’ll send the event list to media all over the state — and beyond. Thanks!

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