3-21-06, 9:21 am
United for Peace and Justice NY Launches Peace Zone Campaign New York, NY—New Yorkers will hold a town hall meeting with City Councilmembers to press them to take action to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq now. Highlighting the domestic impact of the Iraq war, the town hall is part of a week of anti-war activities in hundreds of cities throughout the United States coordinated by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ). The event will take place Tuesday, March 21, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm at 1199 SEIU’s Auditorium, 310 W. 43rd St., between 8th and 9th Avenues.
City Councilmembers will hear testimony from 10 New Yorkers about the impact of the Iraq war on their everyday lives. They include: an Iraq war veteran; an immigrant mother whose son, a Gulf war veteran, was deported; a tenant concerned about cuts in funding for public housing; and a high school student who has been the target of military recruiters.
United for Peace and Justice NY will call upon the City Council to make New York a Peace Zone by passing a city council resolution to end the war and declaring April 29th Peace Zone NYC Day. Confirmed participants include: Councilmembers Baez (Bronx), Barron (Brooklyn), Fidler (Bronx), Foster (Bronx), Giola (Brooklyn), Koppell (Bronx), Mendez (Manhattan), Monserrate (Queens), Stewart (Brooklyn), White, Jr. (Queens), and Yassky (Brooklyn).
Elsa Parchment, the mother of a Gulf War veteran deported in September 2005, says, “I feel like my family has fought four wars: the First Gulf War, the war for Courtney’s recovery once he came back as an injured veteran, the war against my son’s deportation, and now the war to protect the rights of all immigrants.”
Frank Stearns, a Queens resident and member of Veterans For Peace Chapter 34, says, “The cost of this war squeezes out other spending. Take veterans' services. Thesame officials who told us the invasion and occupation of Iraq would be a cakewalk also tell us we have one too many veterans' hospitals in New York City. Wrong, and wrong again. Underestimating this indirect cost of war may help pass budgets stuffed with tax breaks, but it won't pay the butcher's bill.”
Alex Hing, a cook and Executive Board Member of UNITEHERE Local 6, says, “New York’s hotel workers are preparing for a possible strike when our contract expires in June. We are seeking to increase our defined benefits pension so retirees can live in dignity. What does this have to do with the Iraq war? We are demanding that employers increase their benefit contributions because the government is failing to provide adequate health and retirement coverage to working people. Ending the Iraq war would free up money that could be used to fund those programs.”
City Councilmembers will also hear testimony from an Iraqi doctor currently visiting the U.S. Dr. Entisar Mohammad Ariabi, a pharmacist at the Yarmook Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, has documented the deteriorating condition of Iraq’s health system under the U.S.-led occupation. She is married with 5 children. At one of her speaking events in the U.S., Dr. Entisar asked the audience, “What are your dreams?” Some answered world peace, or an end to all forms of violence. “Ah, such big dreams,” she sighed. “For us, we simply dream that our children will come home from school alive. That is all.”
The town hall is being organized by United for Peace and Justice NY (UFPJ-NY), a local coalition of peace groups. UFPJ-NY is affiliated with United for Peace and Justice, the largest U.S. peace and justice coalition with more than 1,400 member groups under its umbrella. Since its founding in October 2002, UFPJ has spurred hundreds of protests and rallies around the country, including the largest demonstrations against the Iraq war.
