Upcoming Events – Summer 2020
On July 18th, 2020, the 18th Annual Peacestock: A Gathering for Peace will take place virtually at 1pm via Zoom. Register here.
What is Peacestock?
Peacestock is a mixture of speakers, activists, and musicians. Peacestock features timely topics and seeks speakers who are well respected on those topics. Browse the archives of previous Peacestock festivals for reference, and watch video of our speakers.
Where can I register for the 2020 virtual event?
Register here: peacestockvfp.org/
Who organizes Peacestock?
Peacestock is sponsored by Veterans for Peace, Chapter 115, in Red Wing and Veterans for Peace, Chapter 27, in Minneapolis, and has a peace-themed agenda.
Where can I connect to Peacestock on Social Media?
Facebook users: Please join our Peacestock Facebook page, found at https://facebook.com/
Twitter users: Please follow our Twitter account @peacestock, found at https://twitter.com/
Welcome to the VFP 2020 Online Convention!
We are excited to announce Veterans For Peace’s first Online Convention! We know that many of us will miss being able to greet each other in person but we also know that each and every one of us wants to make sure all of our members are safe and healthy. Convention will take place from August 2nd-9th, with the theme “Human Rights over Nuclear Might”. Since our founding, Veterans For Peace has had it in our goals “to end the arms race and to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons” and the week will mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear explosion of all time at the Trinity Site, New Mexico, which occurred on July 16, 1945).
While we are so disappointed to not connect with everyone in person, we also see the amazing opportunity this presents for our organization. We see this as an opportunity to broaden our audience to many folks who have been unable to join us in person and to expand the possibilities of who may be able to participate and present for our workshops. Everyone in New Mexico has been amazingly generous and allowed us to rebook everything for 2021, so we will not miss out on the opportunity to gather in New Mexico next year!
We are busy making plans on an amazing array of workshops and plenaries and even creative ways to incorporate some social times. This year’s convention will highlight work being done to address nuclear weapons as well as nuclear colonialism and broader topics such as what decolonizing the peace movement looks like and highlight some of the amazing work being done within Veterans For Peace. We will be updating this website in the coming months with more information, which will include options on how to learn and navigate the convention technology. We will be doing our best to make sure that everyone who wants to participate will be able to have the technological support needed. Stay tuned for more details!
Signed,
2020 Online Convention Committee
Robert Vivar, MFSO board member and co-founder and co director United US Deported Veterans was interviewed on Via Voices last week. After living 40 years in the US, he was deported in 2014. His son is active duty Army and grandson recently enlisted in the US Marine Corps and so Robert works daily to help veterans before and after they’re deported. Take a listen to his recent interview on Via Voices and share our gratitude for the incredible work of our MFSO board member and humanitarian activist is doing. https://youtu.be/QcTh8jHxnqs
Military Families Speak Out participated in the 23rd annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade
Military Families Speak Out participated in the 23rd annual Long Beach Veterans Day Parade on Saturday, November 9, 2019 on Atlantic Avenue in North Long Beach. Photo by Geronimo Quitoriano
MFSO Actions Around Armistice Day
It was a whirlwind of activities over Veterans Day weekend. Attached you will find pictures of MFSO members in attendance that included our main event which was a silent march to the war memorials in DC on the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day and organized by Marcia Westbrook, WVA. Included were Paula Rogovin, NJ, Sabrina Waller, Ill, Cindy and Al Glatkowski, SC, Stacy Bannerman, Ore., and Pat Alviso, CA, Other events attended by MFSO members included a caravan tour, the Peace Congress, Veterans Occupy the VA and a peace concert in McPhearson Square. Please send your photos of actions in your area and we will get them out as well.
Link to CBS coverage of action/event at Independence Mall https://cbsloc.al/2qFFLvf
Military Families Speak Out in the Poor People’s Campaign!
Many of us in MFSO were very heartened and encouraged to see how MFSO, Veterans for Peace, and About Face ( IVAW), collaborated to support the Poor People’s Campaign, Phase 1, last May and June. The National Poor People’s Campaign is a call for moral revival that supports Dr. King’s vision to oppose the 4 pillars he identified that uphold the ills of society: Poverty, Racism, the Environment and the War Economy. Dr. Barber, the national organizer of the PPC today, laid out a plan that for 40 days we would confront each pillar by organizing direct actions at each state capitol, as was successfully practiced in South Carolina with Moral Mondays. An essential part of the campaign included a call for people to risk arrest. Over 35 states had actions that resulted in what has been recognized as the largest mass demonstration across the US with over 2,000 people being arrested across the country.
MFSO, VFP and AF focused on week 3-the week on militarism and the war. In California, 20 MFSO, VFP members and supporters were arrested in Sacramento for disruptions that resulted in the halting of the State Assembly while in session. To do this, it required weeks of coordinating at many different levels. Three vans of participants drove up from S. CA, while others drove many miles across the state to participate. With the help of Veterans for Peace LA and Orange County, we set up an exhibit of crosses representing our troops who have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to represent the countless innocent civilians who also died, the PPC Arts committee helped us build a clothesline of torn garments and a display of empty shoes. Many of our members held up posters of of loved ones and set up informational booths-all on the capitol lawn! A speak out was held on the steps with MFSO members Tim Kahlor and Laurie Loving and VFP member Anthony Palacios among the speakers.
The goal of the direct action in Sacramento was to get our message heard and stop business as usual at the state capitol. MFSO members Tim, Laurie, Pat, Rossana and Arturo Cambron, Jeff Merrick, Kathleen Hernandez VFP Associate member and other VFP members and dozens of supporters boldly took up a whole section in the State Assembly. We held up posters of our loved ones who died due to war, suicide, substance abuse and deportation and interrupted the session by shouting the names of these victims of war and demanding the end of state tax breaks to those who support war, that we bring the National Guard home from the border, stop the privatization of the VA and provide housing and support for veterans. Some State Assembly members stood up and applauded . We shut down the State Assembly but 21 people were arrested that day including MFSO members Laurie Loving and Pat Alviso, and Kathleen Hernandez.. They were kept overnight in the Sacramento jail, but all charge were eventually dropped.
All of this was made possible due to the generosity, hard work and masterful organizational skills of MFSO members Laurie and Russell Loving, who provided housing and meals, media outreach and leadership for two of the six weeks. What was accomplished is immeasurable – groups that had never worked together before organized an unforgettable message with a collaboration that all wish to continue implementing for Phase 2 of the Poor People’s Campaign.
By Pat Alviso, MFSO CA, MFSO National Coordinator and Mary Hladky MFSO MO and MFSO Steering Committee