General

Vets for Peace Meeting in Pensacola

Wednesday, 10 November 2004
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Organizer: VFP Pcola

PLEASE pass this on to anyone you think may be interested. Thank you!

VETERANS FOR PEACE

What: Veterans for Peace Meeting in Pensacola
When: Wednesday November 10th at 7pm
Where: 1420 E. Bobe St. (corner 15th and Bobe in East Hill. (Bobe is at south edge of baseball field on 12th Av., 2 blocks north of J's Bakery)
Phone number: 433-5140 e-mail vfppcola (at) yahoo.com
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VETERANS FOR PEACE IN PENSACOLA

I know we're all smarting from the elections, but as the old adage goes "Don't Mourn. Organize!" Now that the elections are over and we're stuck with another four years of these warmongers, we need to take our frustration over the election and do something positive with it. Something that could really affect the community and help change the world.

To cut to the chase, a few of us are interested in starting a Vets for Peace chapter here in Pensacola. But we need help.

Contrary to popular myth, veterans have a very long history of speaking out against wars. In fact, many argue that the veteran has a specific duty to speak out against war. As the war in Iraq drags on and on, and more and more people are dying on all sides, now is not the time for us to be paralyzed by the bad news of the elections. We have to organize and we have to act.

I myself am an 9 year veteran of the US Navy/USMC and have been active in the anti-war movement here since days of getting out of the military. After 9/11, and especially since the neo-cons started started beating the drums of war, I have become very aware of the power that our veteran status has in the arguments concerning war and militarism in general. While many of the people active in the local anti-war community are former members of the armed forces, we haven't gotten together along those lines. Maybe we were hoping that the war would be shorter than it has been. It's sad enough that it happened in the first place and all of our protests weren't strong enough to stop it. It's even sadder that it has gone on as long as it has. Over 1,100 Americans will never see their families again. And who knows how many Iraqis have died? 10,000? 35,000? 100,000? One is too many, American or Iraqi. The war isn't going away. It's only getting worse.

This madness has to end.

That's why a few of us are working to start a Veterans for Peace chapter in Pensacola. I know that there are a lot of vets in this area, and I know a lot of us were teed off at the wars and militarism of the last few years. Pensacola might be a conservative town in a lot of ways, but there are a lot more of "us" here than we give ourselves credit for.

As vets, we have a voice that people will listen to. A voice that people HAVE to listen to. Many of us have seen the horrors of war first-hand. Many of us have seen what a war can do to those who are directly affected by them. And many of us have spoken out against war, whether it's Iraq or Vietnam. We can have an impact. But we need to get together and we need to do it soon. The world can't wait much longer.

Veterans for Peace is open to all vets and supporters who agree with the "Statement of Purpose" that I've placed below.

What is Veterans for Peace? Basically, Veterans for Peace is an educational and humanitarian organization dedicated to the abolishment of war.

There are dozens of chapters across the country and several here in Florida. There is no reason Pensacola shouldn't have one.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace. To this end we will work, with others

(a) Toward increasing public awareness of the costs of war.
(b) To restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations
(c) To end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons
(d) To seek justice for veterans and victims of war
(e) To abolish war as an instrument of national policy.

To achieve these goals, members of Veterans For Peace pledge to use non-violent means and to maintain an organization that is both democratic and open with the understanding that all members are trusted to act in the best interests of the group for the larger purpose of world peace.

We urge all people who share this vision to join us.

If you're interested, please join us at Hallie Joyce's house for a video and conversation where we can talk about getting together as vets and community activists to help end this war and all the other ones. We'll have some food there, too. Feel free to bring a dish. This is serious stuff we're dealing with, but there's no reason we can't eat too.

I hope that you can make it Wednesday and I hope that you'll want to get involved.

Sincerely,
Scott Satterwhite
Veterans for Peace
USN/USMC 1990-1999

For more information on Vets for Peace, go to the website http://www.veteransforpeace.org
or email us at vfppcola (at) yahoo.com

Location:
1420 E. Bobe St. (corner 15th and Bobe in East Hill. (Bobe is at south edge of baseball field on 12th Av., 2 blocks north of J's Bakery)

Cost: free

Directions: (corner 15th and Bobe in East Hill. (Bobe is at south edge of baseball field on 12th Av., 2 blocks north of J's Bakery)

URL: http://www.veteransforpeace.org