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LOCAL GROUP HIGHLIGHTS Weekly Peace Vigil Celebrates 25 Years Every Wednesday for 25 years members of the Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation have held a downtown vigil for peace, nonviolence and social justice. The Olympia FOR proudly announces the 25th anniversary of its Wednesday Noon-Hour Peace Vigil, which began on March 5, 1980. Vigilers hold signs affirming basic humane values of peace, nonviolence, social justice, and human rights for everyone. Examples include “We declare peace,” “Have the courage to live nonviolently,” “All nations are one human family,” “Protect our troops from this reckless foreign policy,” and “The troops need peace.” Over the years since 1980 specific issues have changed, as the U.S. has threatened or used violence against many different nations around the world and practiced various kinds of social and economic injustice, including the death penalty and disregard for poor people. Meanwhile, the underlying values remain consistent: peace, nonviolence, and social justice. "Peace, nonviolence and social justice belong in the midst of our society, so this weekly reminder belongs in the middle of downtown in the middle of the week," said Glen Anderson, who began the vigil and still participates every week. "Our persistence week after week, all year around, regardless of weather, is a metaphor for the persistence people must invest if we are to convert our foreign and domestic polices toward humane values.” The Olympia FOR, a local chapter of the FOR USA, has worked nonviolently since 1976 on a variety of peace and social justice issues. For more information on the Olympia FOR, contact len Anderson at (360) 491-9093 or info@olyfor.org or visit the Olympia FOR’s Web site, www.olyfor.org
North Manchester FOR Mobilizes Around Sudan Genocide Our most recent event was a local clergy breakfast organized around the issue of genocide in Sudan. In our community are several churches that are from one end of the spectrum to the other when it comes to social and political beliefs. A member of our steering committee thought that the issue of Sudan would be one that all clergy in town could be mobilized around, so he worked with a few clergy in town to plan this breakfast. Two people spoke: A layperson who has been involved with this issue, and a Manchester College student who is from Sudan. Their stories were shared, and clergy were encouraged to share what they had learned with their congregations. Also, good connections were forged between members of the clergy, which is a positive step in bringing about reconciliation in the local faith community. -- Reported by Heidi Gross, Coordinator of the North Manchester, Indiana Chapter of the FOR Justice Works! goes statewide Previously, our criminal justice reform work focused primarily on King County in Washington State. Now, we are building relationships, doing public education and organizing people across the entire state. Our favorite method for doing public education is teaching about prison challenges through our plays. We recently performed our play entitled ‘Set Up To Fail’ at the Western Washington FOR anti-racism workshop. By the end of the production, some of the audience was brought to tears. We hope to find other FOR chapters across the state of Washington to work with us to sponsor a Justice Works! public education event in their city. Justice Works!
Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois/FOR By Margie Parker The Peace Coalition had a successful observance of the 2nd anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. We constructed 1500 crosses from white posterboard and strung them on fish line, attaching them to 300 stakes so they could be planted in rows on the town square. Four groups of marchers started from four sides of town carrying some of the crosses and converged on the square. The crosses are going to be set up on the Southern Illinois University campus this coming week. On April 2 we co-sponsored a talk at the university by Doug Rokke on depleted uranium, preceded by a potluck dinner. We hope some of those attending will want to become active on this issue since General Dynamics manufactures some DU ammunition about 12 miles away in a corner of the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge. On Tax Day three of us carried on the tradition of handing out fliers at the main Carbondale Post Office. We used a chart on tax dollar spending and information on "Unmet Human Needs" from the FCNL. One TV station interviewed me while we were there. The Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois/FOR is located in Carbondale, IL Contacts:
Prospective groups should feel free to contact the national office’s Local Groups staff at any time with any questions. Local Groups
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