Gainesville Veterans for Peace Activities in 2003:

      
Washington DC, October 25, 2003

GI Rights         

The Gainesville Chapter of Veterans for Peace is pleased to announce the upcoming GI Rights Hotline to our area. This summer, members of VFP, Quakers, Unitarian Universalists, and Emmanuel Mennonite, and others were trained by the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) for GI Rights counseling, getting the military out of our schools/countering military recruiting in schools, and helping young people who have signed up for military service through the Delayed Entry Programs in their high schools and have changed their minds about entering the military. This group of 12 has since been holding weekly study groups on materials CCCO left with us. We are hoping to have a GI Rights hotline set up (with assistance from the national GI Rights Hotline) sometime shortly into 2004. We will have trained counselors in north central Florida (352 and 386 area codes) who can talk to people about their rights and options with respect to military service. We will also be able to connect callers to the Hotline with legal assistance and other resources related to military service and discharge. And, we will be working in the new year to organize counter-military recruiting programs in our schools with other local groups. We can also talk to you if you are interested in becoming a GI Rights Hotline counselor in our North Central Florida area contact Julie at (352) 335-5827. If you need to speak to a GI Rights advocate, call 1-800-394-9544.

Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors Website

SOA
Our chapter has continued, this year, in our efforts to help close down the U.S. terrorist training camp (WHISC, formerly known as SOA) at Fort Benning, Georgia.

School of the Americas Watch website

FCPJ
We also sponsored a camper for the 14th Annual Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice’s Peace Camp and provided volunteers to help with the running of the Peace Camps. Additionally, we helped FCPJ with their 2nd Annual Peace Pick-In at the FCPJ Teaching Farm in Graham.

Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice website

CMC
And, we continue our assistance to the Civic Media Center, the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, and The Gainesville Iguana.

Civic Media Center Website

Noam Chomsky Address at UF
October 2003

CCAWT
VFP members have continued active involvement in the Community Coalition Against War and Terrorism (CCAWT). VFP was a co-sponsor of CCAWT’s “Price of War” campaign in early 2003. We actively participated in demonstrations and flyering around Gainesville for several months, putting information into the hands of Alachua County residents on the cost of war to our county. We also participated in a CCAWT town hall meeting in March 2003 that brought former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (GA) to Gainesville. She and other community activists spoke to a group of 200 concerned citizens at the Thelma Boltin Center on the real costs, financial, psychological, and moral, the impending war on Iraq would bring to all of us. When the war on Iraq did begin, VFP members helped organize, with CCAWT, a large protest march down University Ave. on the day the war began and a moving candlelight vigil at the Sweetwater Branch Park that evening. Both events were attended by several hundred Alachua County residents.

Bi-monthly (2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month) anti-war, anti-U.S. imperialism, “Fire the Liars” protests (4:30 to 6:30 pm at the corner of University Ave. and 13th St.) continue with CCAWT, VFP, Alachua County Greens, and others. Join our public protests against U.S.-perpetuated war and terrorism, and our message that “Regime Change Begins at Home.”

Community Coalition Against War and Terrorism website

Cost of War Demo, Gainesville, 2003

High School Library Donations
We used about 25% of your contributions to donate books and videos to Alachua County high school libraries. These include (BILL or JOHN –what books/videos have we donated this year??)

Anti-Nuclear Demos at Kings Bay
VFP members joined the on-going inter-faith protests against Trident submarines located at King's Bay, Georgia at the Hiroshima, Nagasaki yearly remembrance and the annual Alternative New Year.