Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine

Join Hands to End the War, Build the Peace and Rebuild Our Economy

September 13, 1:00 p.m. Paul Bunyan Park, Bangor
2:30 p.m. Walk for Peace to…

3:00 p.m. Talk with Democracy Now!’s AMY GOODMAN
at the Hammond Street Church

Updated!! Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! will appear at the Hammond Street Church in conjunction with our peace event and the 20th Anniversary of WERU Community Radio!!

Many people are focusing on the next election with the hope that a new administration will end the occupation of Iraq and use diplomacy to negotiate with Iran. We look forward to that possibility, but also want to make sure we continue to build a multi-faceted peace movement that can support and/or challenge the next administration to promote cooperation and diplomacy, reparations for the people of Iraq, support for Veterans of this war and federal budget priorities that serve the needs of people and not primarily military contractors and large corporations.

According to the National Priorities Project, taxpayers in Maine will pay $364.5 million for the President’s request for additional Iraq war spending in FY2008 and FY2009. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

• 114,740 People with Health Care for One Year OR
• 559,655 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR
• 9,290 Public Safety Officers for One year OR
• 6,874 Elementary School Teachers for One Year

Without a strong peace movement the military industrial complex with its well-funded lobbyists will continue to exert strong pressure to maintain the status quo on whichever candidates are elected. We don’t believe this rally will, by itself, exert such a pressure, but we hope it will affirm our unified power, demonstrate to the candidates there is a peace movement to which they will be held accountable, and help fuel on-going local organizing.

We hope the rally will bring together peace & justice activists from Eastern and Northern Maine who have been doing the most important work of sustaining weekly vigils and building grassroots organizations in their own communities.

Join us to show how you and the people you serve are being impacted by current budget priorities and policies that support the war in Iraq and neglect our communities. Here are some ways you can help.

• Have your group listed as a co-sponsor of the event
• Promote the event to your members through announcements, newsletters, etc. (We will provide posters and postcards to help you do this)
• Write letters to the editor expressing your concerns
• Bring members to the event with signs expressing their concerns
• Sign on to a signature ad to appear on September 11th in the Bangor Daily News and encourage your members to sign on

click the following link to download a map and parking tips.

9-13-08 map & parking

Press release & program details below:

Hundreds to Gather in Bangor to urge Candidates to End the War/Build the Peace

Bangor- After the two parties hold their conventions, those concerned that important issues may got lost in the political  campaigns, plan to send their own  message to candidates and members of Congress. Presque Isle peace activists will carpool to Bangor and join others from Bangor, Orono, Old Town, Hampden, Winterport, Belfast, Waterville, Bar Harbor, Machias and beyond. Hundreds of Mainers will gather on Saturday, September l3th at 1:00 p.m. at Paul Bunyan Park in Bangor. They will rally to call  on elected officials and candidates to “End the War.  Build the Peace.  Rebuild the  Economy.”

“With all the focus on political campaigns and candidates, its important that we the people make our voices heard.  We want all the candidates to know  we want to see an end to the occupation of  Iraq and a foreign policy based  on misinformation and military domination,” said Al Larson, member of Veterans for Peace Chapter 003,  one of the sponsoring organizations.   “Such policies  drain resources needed here in Maine, and   around the world.  These policies  don’t increase our  security at home  or abroad,” said Larson.

Speakers at the rally will include Mary Trotochaud, who with her husband Rick McDowell lived in Iraq after 2003 and who continue to maintain contact with Iraqis.   Hosain Aghamoosa, an Iranian American history student at the University of Maine;  Katrina Bisheimer, a Maine labor activist; Doug Crate  a  Bangor area social worker, Al Larson from Veterans for Peace and Rev. David Grainger from the Orono Methodist Church.

In March 2003, Mary Trotochaud and Rick McDowell moved to Baghdad to work with emerging Iraqi civil society organizations and coordinate relief and development projects for the American Friends Service Committee.  In April 2005, they returned to the US to work for the Washington-DC based Friends Committee on National Legislation as Senior Fellows for Iraq Policy.  They have spoken on Iraq at multiple venues in 25 states and five countries and maintain contact with Iraqi friends and associates throughout Iraq and the Diaspora.  They continue to support the work of Iraqi organizations.  Mary recently participated in a conference in Dharamsala India with 40
Iraqi young people.

Mary Trotochaud acknowledges that people might feel discouraged, but encourages them to attend the rally. “After five years of war, it is understandable that people might feel hopeless about the possibility of change.  But giving up the struggle is a luxury we cannot afford. How can we stand by as our children’s future disappears as school budgets are cut to pay for this war?  How can we watch as they gamble their lives for a higher education as they enter the military to pay for college?”said Trotochaud

Area folksingers Larry and Leslie Latour along with Judd Esty-Kendall will open the  “Join Hands to End the War.  Build the Peace.  Rebuild the Economy” rally to be held on Saturday, September 13th  beginning 1:00 p.m. at Paul Bunyan Park in Bangor.  Larry and Leslie  combine folk/rock/blues and country from the heart of Maine.  They have three CD’s of music, two completely original and a CD of Woody Guthre style folks tunes.  Joining this duo will be Judd Esty-Kendall, who plays music under the name of Southpaw Slim and is  a legal services lawyer who volunteers for various peace and labor oriented groups.  Bringing a youthful tender and  melodic style to the  rally will be Cora Rose, a gifted singer and songwriter,  who is currently a student  at  the College of the Atlantic and who recorded her first CD, “Ebony” as a high school sophomore and who now uses Nashville as a headquarters. Marsha Lyons, who plays guitar, piano and Celtc Harp and sings with Acadia Choral Society, Mt. Desert Summer Chorale and St. Saviour’s church will bring songs from her repertoire as a peace activist and music teacher for over 30 years.

A large rolling drum created by Brooks native, Peter Baldwin  and the Bangor Area Veterans for Peace will lead a “peace walk” from the rally to a talk by Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now”. She will speak at 3:00 p.m. at  the Hammond Street  Church, 23 High Street in Bangor Her talk will be presented by WERU which  broadcasts her program locally.

Sponsoring organizations include Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine,Veterans for Peace Chapters 001 and  003, Maine People’s Alliance, Orono Peace Group, Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice, Northern Maine Peace & Justice (Aroostook County),Ellsworth Peace & Justice,Peace & Social Action Committee of Unitarian Universalist Church of Ellsworth, Bar Harbor Vigil for Peace, MDI Peace & Justice,Pax Christi Maine, Peace & Justice Group of Waldo County, From Every Village Green,Peace Action Maine, h.o.m.e. Inc., St. Francis Community, Belfast Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee,  Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats,  Greater Bangor NAACP,Work for Peace, (Washington County), Belfast Raging Grannies, Resources  for Organizing and Social Change, Peninsula Peace & Justice, Maine Peace Action Committee, Maine Chapter of Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom.

For more information call 942-9343.