Click here for downloadable .pdf flyer

Volunteer tasks: Contact Peace and Justice Works if you can help put up flyers, stand on public sidewalks with banners, and/or make phone calls before October 2, or if you want to help with set-up, clean-up, march or stage security, or literature distribution on the day of the event.

Calendar Item

For Immediate Release         Wednesday, September 30, 2009

What: "The Invasion of Afghanistan, 8 Years Later": Expanded Friday Rally and March for Peace and Justice
When: Friday, October 2, 2009, 5:00 PM
Where: Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill and Broadway
Who: Portland Peaceful Response Coalition (PPRC), Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group, the First Unitarian Church, and other groups

Contacts:
PPRC      (503) 344-5078      pprc@riseup.net      www.pprc-news.org
Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group     (503) 236-3065      iraq@pjw.info

"The Invasion of Afghanistan, 8 Years Later":
Expanded Friday Rally and March for Peace and Justice
Friday, October 2, 2009, 5:00 PM, Pioneer Courthouse Square, SW Yamhill and Broadway

As President Obama considers his top General's request for more U.S. soldiers to risk their lives, Portlanders will call for an end to the occupation of Afghanistan this Friday. At an expanded Friday Rally and March for Peace and Justice on October 2, 2009 at 5 PM at Pioneer Courthouse Square (SW Yamhill and Broadway), protestors will consider "The Invasion of Afghanistan, 8 Years Later." Speakers, including several who are in town for a conference on the economic and enviromental crises, will tie the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, the bombardment of Pakistan, the threats against Iran and other foreign policy issues together. Just some of these concerns are US dependency on oil, use of depleted uranium and other toxic weapons, and the skyrocketing costs of the occupations. The US has now spent over $1 trillion on these occupations, which would have been much better spent on human needs.

The US invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, ostensibly to capture Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda members suspected of planning the attacks of 9/11. The current government of Afghanistan has welcomed US and NATO's military presence while complaining bitterly of the hundreds of civilian casualties caused by airstrikes and ground troops. Since the US is now allied with the governments of Iraq and Afghanistan after having driven out those who were in power in each country in 2001 and 2003, these conflicts should not be labelled "wars."

"Traumatized by 9/11, the people of the United States were hounded and defrauded into war and occupation in Afghanistan eight years ago," said Will Seaman, a volunteer with Portland Peaceful Response Coalition. "We said no then, we say no today, and we will not rest until the United States rejects this nightmare of empire, until all the troops are home, and until we have paid reparations for the terrible crimes our country has committed against the people of Afghanistan."

The October 2 event is an expanded Portland Peaceful Response Coalition (PPRC) Friday rally in cooperation with Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group, and the First Unitarian Church. Supporters include Freedom Socialist Party, War Resisters League-Portland and others. Endorsers include Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House, Rural Organizing Project, PDX Peace, Center For Infercultural Organizing, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-Portland Chapter. Portland's Friday rallies for peace and justice have been an institution since late 2001. A march will commence at about 5:30 PM.

A march will commence at about 5:30 PM, winding through downtown to engage rush hour commuters, ending at the First Unitarian Church. That evening at 7 PM, political analyst Noam Chomsky is speaking at the conference, known as EcoNvergence.

The rally is being coordinated in conjunction with the EcoNvergence gathering in Portland, October 2-4: information at http://www.econvergence.org , and in solidarity with other actions happening nationwide to end the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq.

For more information, or if you or your group would like to support the event with an endorsement and/or donation,* please contact Peace and Justice Works at 503-236-3065 or PPRC at (503) 344-5078.

*Supporting organizations are being asked to give $10-20 sliding scale to offset costs; endorsers are simply asked to lend their name to the event and promote it to their memberships.
 
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Page posted August 24, 2009, last updated September 30, 2009