Statement by Massachusetts Peace Action and the AFSC on Syria

On Thursday night, Donald Trump attacked Syria with over 50 Tomahawk missiles. We don’t know who caused the chemical attack in Idlib province, but U.S. bombs will not help the situation. The Syrian civil war must be solved by diplomacy, not more bombs.

A new U.S. war against Syria’s government is not the answer to the catastrophic Syrian civil war.

Whoever is responsible for the recent use of chemical weapons, a war against a sovereign country is certainly not the answer. As we learned in Iraq, once started there is no telling where such a war will go and what impact it might have. The Iraq war gave us ISIS. Who knows what this one will give us after all the triumphalism in Washington fades.

If the Assad regime used chemical weapons, it is a war crime and should be dealt with through the International Criminal Court. If the extremist militias that we and our allies support in Syria are responsible for the chemical attack, they should be brought before international tribunals.

The lives of Arab women and children are of no concern to this frightening administration in Washington. If we really want to protect the lives of tens of thousands of women and children in the Middle East, we should end our military and political support for rebels in Syria and for Saudi Arabia’s savage destruction of Yemen.

If Trump is so concerned about children being killed in gruesome ways, why is he killing so many of them in Yemen? Do we really trust Exxon’s CEO to decide who we go to war with (Syria) and whose wars we help in every way possible (Saudi Arabia)?

Trump’s war on Syria is a major breach of both international and U.S. law. Impeachment would be an appropriate response. Congress must come back into session immediately to stop this war and to debate our Syria policy.

Statement by Massachusetts Peace Action and the AFSC Peace & Economic Security Program.

Walpole Peace Group: Immigrant's Day at the State House - Wednesday, April 5 - join us to take the 8:11 am train from Walpole

A reminder that we will be going into Boston tomorrow, April 5 for Immigrant’s Day at the State House.  We will be taking the 8:11 am train out of Walpole and expect to return by the 1:35 pm train. Join us in going into Boston for Immigrant’s Day in support of immigrants and the Safe Communities Act. There will be speakers in the Hall of Flags at 10:00 am with a  rally outside the State House from 12:00  to 1:00 PM. We will join with RISE Sharon in meeting with State Senator Timilty’s office. We also have appointments to meet with Representatives Rogers and Kafka. You can register and get more information at http://miracoalition.org/.   Please let us know if you want to meet us at the Walpole Train Station and go in together.   We will have signs. 

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, April 15, 2017, 10:00 AM, Walpole Common: Tax Day Rally – Redirect Military Spending to Fund Human Needs. The Walpole Peace and Justice Group  will hold a  rally  on April 15, joining with the Global Campaign on Military Spending and the Tax Day 2017 Mobilization in calling for our federal government to redirect military spending to fund human needs and to stop military interventions. We call for:

·   President Trump to release his tax returns

·   Stopping the new “big, big” tax cuts for corporations and the 1%

·   Opposing President Trump’s “Death Budget” released on March 16

·   Re-directing money from the Pentagon to families and climate protection

·   Supporting the Peoples Budget in Congress

The Pentagon’s budget equals the combined total of the next eight largest  military spenders, including China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United Kingdom, and India!   We will have a 40 foot budget banner that shows where the Federal discretionary budget is spent today. We will also have a couple of brief speeches  and will pass out an informational  leaflet urging people to call our U.S. Senators and Representatives. We may also have some drummers!

Rally on Monday, March 27, 11:30 AM, in Boston to Support Farm-worker Rights Leaders Detained by ICE

Monday, March 27, 2017, 11:30 AM, Boston: Rally to Support Farm-worker Rights Leaders Detained by ICE.  “Please spread the word that Migrant Justice leaders Zully and Kike and farm-worker community member Alex are all going to immigration court in Boston on Monday, March 27th and we need a huge turnout to speak out for their freedom and immediate release!” Meet at 11:30 AM in front of the JFK Federal Building. For more information see www.migrantjustice.net.

From the Migrant Justice Network: “Jose Enrique ‘Kike’ Balcazar Sanchez, 24, and Zully Palacios Rodriguez, 23, were surrounded by four undercover ICE vehicles soon after leaving the Migrant Justice office in Burlington, VT on Friday March 17 after being followed from a Migrant Justice organizing meeting. Migrant Justice organizers arrived on the site of the arrest in time to see the two being loaded into separate vans and driven away. The detention came two days after agents arrested dairy worker Cesar Alexis Carrillo Sanchez, 23, outside the Chittenden County courthouse Wednesday morning. At the time, Mr. Carrillo, known as Alex, was accompanied by his wife, Lymarie Deida, a U.S. citizen. The two have a four-year-old daughter together.”

With regret, we are announcing the cancellation of the Walpole People's Climate Rally

With regret, we are announcing the cancellation of the Walpole People’s Climate Rally, previously scheduled for Saturday, April 29.  After assessing our own hands on deck, we realized that some of our key players will not be available to work on/ attend a Walpole Rally.  Some of us are planning on attending the Washington March.  The marches in Boston and Washington have great appeal and we urge you to attend one if possible.  Of great importance, too, is the ongoing work of making our voices heard. We call upon our Senators and Representatives and all government officials, national, state, and local, to oppose the proposed draconian budget cuts to the EPA and support aggressive measures addressing climate change and other critical environmental issues.

Talk on "Protecting Our Civil Liberties Under the Trump Administration" by Kade Crockford, ACLU, at Walpole Library on Wednesday, March 22 at 7:30 PM

Protecting Our Civil Liberties Under the Trump Administration

On Wednesday, March 22, Kade Crockford, Director of Technology for Liberty at the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts (ACLUM), will be the featured speaker for a meeting of Walpole Democrats at the Walpole Public Library at 7:30 PM. The future of our civil liberties is a major concern under the Trump administration. Ms. Crockford is an expert on privacy issues.  She will be talking about bills pending in the Massachusetts legislature and the urgency of securing our rights at the state and local level, given the authoritarian views of the incoming national administration.
As Director of Technology for Liberty, Ms. Crockford works to protect and expand core First and Fourth Amendment rights and civil liberties in the digital 21st century, focusing on how systems of surveillance and control impact not just the society in general but their primary targets—people of color, Muslims, immigrants, and dissidents. She has written for The Nation, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, WBUR, and many other publications, and regularly appears in local, regional, and national media as an expert on issues related to technology, policing, and surveillance.

The meeting will be in the Community Room at the Walpole Public Library, 143 School Street. Coffee will be available. To learn more about the ACLU, visit aclum.org. To learn more about the ACLU’s privacy work, visit privacysos.org.

Immigration Talk on Wednesday, March 15 - Postponed

Due to the snowstorm, our speakers for ”Immigrants under President Trump’s Enforcement Regime”, scheduled for tomorrow night, March 15, have asked that we postpone the talk.  We will let you know when it is rescheduled.   

SAVE THE DATE: The Walpole Peace and Justice Group is sponsoring a Walpole People’s Climate march and rally on Saturday, April 29, 2017 at 1:00 PM at the Walpole Common. Join us in Walpole if you cannot attend the major march in Washington, DC  or the march in Boston. We will be marching in Walpole, united in solidarity with marches in Washington, DC and communities across the country. Marking 100 days of the Trump Administration, we will rally for climate justice, calling on our elected leaders to protect our environment. Our country needs to take bold action to address climate change by supporting the Paris agreement, moving to renewable energy, and opposing any attacks on our air, water, atmosphere, economy, health, and families. We will be standing together to bring awareness to climate change as well as various justice and equality issues facing our nation today.

We will gather at the Walpole Common at the corner of Main and Common Streets at 1:00 pm, march around the center of Walpole, and end back at the Walpole Common for speeches. The plan is tentative. You can RSVP and get more information at the link below:  

https://actionnetwork.org/events/walpole-peoples-climate-march

Walpole Peace Group Talks: "Immigrants under President Trump’s Enforcement Regime" on Wednesday, March 15 at Walpole Library

Gabriel Camacho, of the American Friends Service Committee, and Liza Ryan, of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, will give a talk, “Immigrants under President Trump’s Enforcement Regime” on Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 7:30 pm at the Walpole Public Library. President Trump’s immigration policies and executive orders are not new. His cabinet appointees and advisors have long influenced the debate on immigration policy.  Mr. Camacho and Ms. Ryan will describe the situation of immigrants in Massachusetts, where they came from and why they came to the United States. They will show the impact of the harsh policies of the Trump Administration, through the Executive Orders and the expansion of existing enforcement programs, on immigrants and their families.  Throughout the nation a grassroots movement has been growing and successfully pushing back on these policies. Many municipalities in the Commonwealth are on the forefront in protecting immigrant families and the civil rights of all residents.

Gabriel Camacho has served as the Immigration Programs Coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in New England for over a decade. His work includes grassroots organizing within immigrant communities, leadership development, wage recovery campaigns for undocumented workers, policy analysis, and promoting humane immigration policy at the local, state, and federal levels. Liza Ryan is the Organizing Director at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). She has over ten years of experience working with refugees, immigrants, and foreign/public policy everywhere from sub-Saharan Africa to throughout the Middle East and Europe.

The talk is sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group and is open to the public. The Walpole Public Library is located at 143 School Street in Walpole.