Chapter 54 Vice President Bob Potter passed away recently.   His book of poetry “Poems in Transit” is available online www.BobPotter.org  and an edited version of his production of  “Mother Courage” may soon be available.   We miss him and wish his family and friends well in their loss.  Bob Potter…Presente!

Chapter Cofounder and President Daniel Seidenberg’s new book “Vietnam Ambush”  is now available at Chaucers or online…or from him directly or at our monthly installations of the Iraq Moratorium or Arlington West,  or our weekly installation of the Inconvenient Booth.

Chapter 54 member Professor Thomas Scheff’s film and poem “A Wake on the Pier” http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/scheff/main.php?id=39.html  is also available online.

Please join us every third Friday for the War Moratorium (details below this message) or, during the summer, fall and spring semesters every Tuesday  at SBCC West Campus for VFP’s Inconvenient Booth,  a sustainability outreach to the students.  Or join us for our regular setup of Arlington West first Sunday of every month.  You can also join us in our efforts to get equal access in the high schools,  where military recruiters are spreading their propaganda but where they have no alternative view.   We want parents, students, veterans and citizens to attend the school board meetings and insist upon equal access.   Another issue we want to pursue more in the schools is to allow students and parents to opt out of having their private information passed on to the recruiters.  We are also pushing the chapter’s Depleted Uranium project ( open DU Quest at this website) ….a nationally recognized effort to represent veterans suffering from DU poisoning.  We were recently honored as a chapter by the Office of the America’s (see release at bottom of this email) and by UCSB veterans for helping them on Memorial day week 2009.

f you have not been active with your chapter or have let your membership lapse,  we would like to know why.   How can we better work to accomplish VFP’s  mission?
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/our_mission.vp.html. What would you like to see your chapter do?   To maintain our chapter’s and national’s activities,  we need our members and associates to be in good standing…and we need to pay our national staff (chapter 54 is only volunteers).

Going over our chapter roster,  I find that only 40 of our 134 members and associates have remembered to send in their dues to national http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Join_renew.vp.html. Some of our most active members have not paid dues and I want to ask our chapter at the next meeting to pay their dues if they cannot afford it out of AW donations.

Please visit our website at http://www.veteransforpeace.org and see the good work Veterans For Peace is doing!

In solidarity,  Lane Anderson,  LIfetime Member of Veterans For Peace
(ps…if you have trouble remembering dues,  you can do what I did and get a lifetime membership)

This is setup every third Friday at SBCC:

WAR MORATORIUM & TEEN MEMORIAL
AT SANTA BARBARA CITY COLLEGE

A mock cemetery of the U.S. Military Teen casualties is planned in Santa Barbara, California on (every third Friday), part of the National and International grassroots War Moratorium Movement calling for the immediate end of war and occupation from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine.

The  actions here, across the country and world mark the continuation of the War Moratorium, to unite individuals and groups who act to end Wars and Massacres, on the Third Friday of every month.

The local mock teen Cemetery will begin @10am in Santa Barbara, California at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) on the West Campus lawn across from the campus library overlooking Ledbetter Beach on the Pacific Ocean.

The event is sponsored by the SB Vets for Peace Chapter 54. The event will consist of a mock cemetery of the U.S. Military Teen Dead, from the Iraq & Afghanistan conflicts. To date we have information on 314, 18 & 19 year old casualties from both conflicts.

The “Tombstones” will be set up by volunteers from the SB Vets for Peace Chapter and SBCC Students. Staff, Students & visitors passing by on the walkway between the East & West campuses will be asked to come down on the lawn to place a placard of the colored photo & information of a teen casualty on the “Tombstones.” Information about the cost of war and the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palesstine will be shared.

An SBCC Form for students TO BE TAKEN OFF THE MILITARY’S RECRUITMENT LIST, in opposition to the Solomon Amendment will be given out. The Solomon Amendment, passed in 1996 & revised in 1998, 1999 & 2000 by Congress so that federal agencies would be supported by colleges & Universities that receive federal funding. It is seen as a way that colleges & Universities can help the military meet national recruiting goals. Federal Funding will be taken away from Colleges & Universities if they can’t comply with the Solomon Amendment. Colleges supply student names, phone numbers and other private information to 17 components of the U.S. Military Service, each term or semester, for students age 17 & older who are registered for at least 1 unit. If students withhold the release of their “Directory Information” Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974, THEN COLLEGES MAY NOT RELEASE IT TO THE MILITARY EITHER.

On Sunday night November 16, 2008 Veterans for Peace Chapter 54, Santa Barbara was honored at a banquet in Los Angeles with the prestigious Peace and Justice Award for its work in initiating the Arlington West memorial and carrying it forward over the past five years.

Together with actors/peace activists Bill Farrell and Sean Penn, Veterans for Peace were the guests of honor at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Office of the Americas, the international peace organization founded by Blaise and Theresa Bonpane. The award was presented by noted Vietnam Veteran and activist Ron Kovic. A distinguished audience at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel joined in the tribute.

Ron Dexter, Korean War veteran and longtime VFP member, accepted the award on behalf of Chapter 54 and other Veterans for Peace chapters across the country which have followed the local chapter’s lead in creating Iraq War memorials modeled on Arlington National Cemetery. Dexter traced the evolution of Arlington West from a protest to a memorial, reaching beyond the “choir” to bring home to a wider audience the realities of war and the achievable goals of peace.

The official award citation reads as follows:

Office of the Americas Presents its Peace and Justice Award to Veterans for Peace

The Office of the Americas and Veterans for Peace share a common objective.  We both are dedicated to the abolishment of war as an instrument of national policy.  Together with Veterans for Peace we want to see an economy where the bankruptcy of military production is replaced by the life affirming investments in social programs for national and international betterment. We believe a better world is possible.

Veterans for Peace has chosen non-violence as their methodology and the impact of that soul force resounds internationally.

The Arlington West Memorial began with the Santa Barbara Chapter and has spread throughout the United States. News programs have featured these memorials which have drawn respect from the entire political spectrum. Veterans for Peace are out on the beaches before dawn each Sunday to set up markers for the dead and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also have a special beachside statement on behalf of the peoples of these countries who have died in an unnecessary and illegal holocaust.

Veterans for Peace has a multitude of other programs as well.  In Vietnam they bring medical supplies, build clinics and advocate for victims of agent orange (dioxin).  In Korea they have created the Korean Peace Campaign to investigate massacres conducted by our troops in that yet unresolved conflict.  In Columbia they conduct fact finding missions to educate our citizens about our military involvement, the role of paramilitary death squads, human rights abuses, and the impact of chemical defoliants in the so-called “War on Drugs.”  In Puerto Rico Veterans for Peace has struggled to end six decades of US Navy bombing and shelling on the Island of Vieques.

And every year your members are participating in the huge demonstration to close the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia.

We thank you, Veterans for Peace, for your service to your country and for demonstrating  authentic patriotism at a time when our country has lost its way.

With love and solidarity,

Theresa and Blaise Bonpane
for the Board of Directors of the Office of the Americas
November 16, 2008.

Contact:  Bob Potter, Vice President
Veterans for Peace Chapter 54
Santa Barbara

(805) 965-5826

Protest Planned at City College June 18

Santa Barbara Independent [independent.com], Mon., June 14, 2010

A mock cemetery of the U.S. Military Teen casualties is planned in Santa Barbara, California, on Friday, June 18, 2010, part of the National and International grassroots War Moratorium Movement calling for the immediate end of war and occupation from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine.

The June 18 actions here, across the country and world mark the continuation of the War Moratorium, to unite individuals and groups who act to end Wars and Massacres, on the Third Friday / weekend of every month.

A mock cemetery of the U.S. Military Teen casualties is planned in Santa Barbara, California, on Friday, June 18, 2010, part of the National and International grassroots War Moratorium Movement calling for the immediate end of war and occupation from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine.

The June 18 actions here, across the country and world mark the continuation of the War Moratorium, to unite individuals and groups who act to end Wars and Massacres, on the Third Friday / weekend of every month.

The local mock Teen Cemetery will begin @10am in Santa Barbara, California, at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) on the West Campus lawn across from the campus library overlooking Leadbetter Beach on the Pacific Ocean.

The event is sponsored by the S.B. Vets for Peace Chapter 54, and partially funded by the Fund for Santa Barbara. The event will consist of a mock cemetery of the U.S. Military Teen Dead, from the Iraq & Afghanistan conflicts. To date we have information on 349, 18 & 19-year-old casualties from both conflicts.

The “Tombstones” will be set up by volunteers from the S.B. Vets for Peace Chapter and SBCC students. Staff, students & visitors passing by on the walkway between the East & West campuses will be asked to come down on the lawn to place a placard of a color photo & information of a teen casualty on the “Tombstones.” Information about the cost of war and the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine will be shared. Also information on the video www.RethinkAfghanistan.com will be available.

A form for students to be taken off the military’s recruitment list, in opposition to the Solomon Amendment will be given out. The Solomon Amendment allows Colleges & Universities to give student names, phone #’s and other private information to 17 components of the U.S. Military Service each term. Students can prevent the release of their information to the Military Recruiters by using the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974 to withold the release of their “Directory Information” to the military and others.

Two Petitions will also be circulated at the memorial to be sent to Congress to:

1. Stop the Military Use of Depleted Uranium for VFP, Chapter 116, P.O. Box 96, Albion, CA 95410

2. Withdraw our military from IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN immediately for American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), 637 Dearborn, 3rd Fl., Chicago, IL 60605

Dr. Gilberto Robledo, (805) 963-1259 or Cell (805) 252-0219 (on day of event)

Peace Demonstration Santa Barbara — March 19th

Save the date

Friday, March 19th, 2010
4:45 to 6:15 pm
Corner of Carrillo and Chapala Streets

Out of Iraq!  Out of Afghanistan!

On the tragic anniversary of the invasion of Iraq seven years ago
and as part of a national commemoration —
A peaceful demonstration calling on the United States government
to withdraw all military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bring signs and your peaceful attitude.

Sponsors

Santa Barbara Veterans for Peace * Progressive Democrats of America
The Peoples Coalition of Santa Barbara * MoveOn Santa Barbara
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

“Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world.”
Historian Howard Zinn

Here’s wishing us all a more peaceful world in 2010.We will be commemorating one positive development, in a time with too many negatives — December 2009 was the first month with no American military fatalities in Iraq, since the outbreak of the Iraq War.

Set-up will begin at 7:30 am on the beach at Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara, with take-down scheduled for 4 pm.  We look forward to a good turnout of volunteers.

Will War Ever End?: A Soldier’s Vision of Peace for the 21st Century by Paul K. Chappell

Welcome to Captain Paul Chappell, a remarkable addition to Santa Barbara’s veterans and peace community.  Paul is the new Peace Leadership Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.  A West Point graduate and Iraq veteran, he is the author of Will War Ever End?: A Soldier’s Vision of Peace for the 21st Century, published just this year while he was still on active duty. He is a member of Veterans for Peace.

Paul Chappell was a special guest of VFP Chapter 54 at our chapter meeting, Monday November 2, where he gave us a fascinating and inspiring presentation.In his new role as a spokesman for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, he will be meeting with groups of students and veterans around the country, and we have no doubt that his message will be heard, loud and clear.  To order copies of Paul’s book “Will War Ever End?” just go to amazon.com

On Saturday November 14 there will be a parade down State Street honoring veterans, with a number of members of Chapter 54 participating.

 

Rethink Afghanistan, directed by Robert Greenwald

Here are some notes from the video section of the film’s site rethinkafghanistan.com:

Rethink Afghanistan is a ground-breaking, full-length documentary focusing on the key issues surrounding this war. By releasing this film in parts online for free, we are able to stay on top of news of the war as it continues to unfold. We hope to raise critical questions regarding Afghanistan that Congress must address in oversight hearings, which inform the public and challenge policymakers. We strive for more discussion among experts on Afghanistan, like the debates seen below released in conjunction with our documentary campaign.

Arlington West
Courtesy SB Independent

NAME OF EVENT: Special Afghanistan Arlington West
LOCATION OF EVENT: On the beach immediately west of Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara, CA
DESCRIPTION OF EVENT: Crosses memorializing those who died in the war in Afghanistan
TIME: All day
DATE: October 4, 2009
CONTACT INFORMATION: Mary Johnston-de Leon, maryjohns10@yahoo.com
SPONSORED BY VFP CHAPTER 54 – Santa Barbara, CA

October 7 marks the 8th year of the war on Afghanistan. Join Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Military Families Speak Out as we continue to resist this ongoing war and occupation. For more national activities in this effort, please consult www.veteransforpeace.org.

This convention takes place on the heels of the VFP National Convention, August 5 – 9, 2009, held at the University of Maryland, College Park Campus. There were over 190 members of VFP, 45 members of MFSO, and over 80 members of IVAW who attended the national convention in College Park, MD.

For more information, visit www.vfpnationalconvention.org.