Posted on 10/05/2001 10:56:53 AM PDT by ppaul
Peace groups around the nation are preparing vigils and rallies on Sunday (10/7/01) to demand legal and diplomatic alternatives to war. The American Friends Service Committee, Pax Christi USA, the War Resisters League and others have asked their members to participate in the local gatherings, including a march and rally in New York, beginning at Union Square.
"We're encouraging peace groups throughout the country to get together and formulate their own way to speak out and promote peace," said Janis Shields, spokeswoman for the American Friends, a Quaker organization.
The idea, Shields said, is "to call attention to the fact that not everyone is calling for war in these trying days." Leaders in the groups say there has been a growing demand for public expressions of sentiment in favor of peace.
"It's really spontaneous," said the Rev. Chris Ney, national coordinator at the War Resisters League, a 78-year-old organization based in New York. "I wish I could say we're organizing it. We're just providing skills that we have."
Marches and vigils have already been held in Washington, Philadelphia and western Massachusetts. Besides the rally in New York, Sunday events are planned in Chicago, Philadelphia and Bangor, Maine, among other places. Organizers say events are likely in Seattle.
Common themes include not just opposition to war, but also condemnation of the terrorist acts, a call to defend American civil liberties and a rejection of bias against Arabs, Muslims and immigrants.
The ideas are stated on the War Resisters League's Internet site, warresisters.org, which also calls for peace through "economic and social justice." That reflects a view among peace groups that the United States must work to mitigate such problems as corrupt governments and poverty in developing nations if it is to eliminate the threat of terrorism.
The peace argument differs from another stand with a long history in Christian tradition, recently articulated by Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders, that there are instances in which war may be justly waged.
In a recent interview, Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Commission in the Southern Baptist Convention, said the central principle for allowing a nation to enter into war was "just cause." Land added, "War is only permissible to resist aggression and to defend those victimized by it."
In a letter laced with references to the theory of just war, the nation's Catholic bishops wrote to President Bush two weeks ago, saying military action must be considered as one option, along with diplomatic and legal means.
But opponents of war have argued that the terrorist attacks should not be regarded as an act of war, requiring a military response, but as an international crime, demanding legal pursuit, arrest and trial of the perpetrators, as well as diplomatic and financial penalties against the aggressors and their backers.
"We believe the perpetrators should be brought to justice, but under the rule of law," said Mary Ellen McNish, general-secretary of the American Friends.
by Merle Haggard
I hear people talking bad about
the way they have to live here in this country.
Harpin' on the wars we fight,
gripin' 'bout the way things ought to be.
Now I don't mind them switchin' sides
and standin' up for things that they believe in,
But when they're runnin' down our country man,
They're walkin' on The Fightin' Side Of Me.
Chorus
They're walkin' on The Fightin' Side Of Me.
Runnin' down a way of life our fightin' men
have fought and died to keep.
If you don't love it, leave it,
Let this song that I'm singin' be a warnin',
When you're runnin' down our country man -
You're walkin' on The Fightin' Side Of Me.
Verse 2
I read about some squirrely guy
Who claims that he just don't believe in fightin',
And I wonder just how long
the rest of us can count on bein' free.
They love our milk and honey
but they preach about some other way of livin',
When they're runnin' down our country man
They're walkin' on The Fightin' Side Of Me.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Darn right!
CSAW also has plans for an emergency response in the event of full-scale war, and a major anti-war conference to be held in Berkeley in November, with both educational and planning functions.
Make sure to take up-close, in your face photos of these traitors so they can be posted and exposed on FR and spread over the net for all to see who the enemies of freedom are.
They always look like rabble anyway. Might as well expose them.
Well...I witnessed this protest and there were three dudes and a chick with one guitar at the corner of 9th and Broad Streets...I started to get out of my pickup and start a discussion, but four folks?! I've got better uses fer my time!!
FReegards...MUD
Hey!! That dude don't look like 70 virgins...MUD
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