Celebrating a Community of Peace - A Report on the rally in Alba Park last Saturday
About 100 Rogue Valley residents gathered in Medford's Alba Park on Saturday, March 21st, for a peace rally and march, marking the 6th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, but also celebrating the efforts of local groups and individuals who have been working for peace and justice in our area. "If we want peace, we must work for justice", John Frohnmayer .
Citizens for Peace & Justice organized the event with help from co-sponsoring organizations Peace House, Womens International League for Peace & Freedom Ashland Branch, PFLAG of Josephine County, Veterans for Peace Rogue Valley Chapter 156, UNETE, Oregon Action, Southern Oregon Health Care for America Now, Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice and the Rural Organizing Project.
Despite a forecast calling for rain, only a few sprinkles fell and clouds soon gave way to sunny skies. The crowd was entertained by the Ashland Taiko drummers, the Rogue Valley Peace Choir and the amazing larger-than-life puppets of Coyote Rising. Jeff Golden as MC kept the program moving.
Featured speaker John Frohnmayer (author, OSU professor and former head of the National Endowment for the Arts) began his speech with these words:
Peace is not just the absence of war, but a state of mind. It is a lifestyle, an attitude, a commitment that the bully, the provocateur, the war monger will never understand. Peace is about power - a power more potent than any weapon - the power of community. He said if we want peace, we must work for justice, and added:
Issues of justice and of peace include universal, single payer, not for profit health care that covers everybody with no preconditions or exclusions; they include immigration, to be approached fairly and compassionately recognizing that we are all citizens of the world; it denounces discrimination in all of its forms be it gender, sexual orientation, wage or race; it seeks the elimination of poverty and universal quality education. In short, as we are seeking peace, we are building community.
Several organizations set up booths and displays in the park. None was more interesting or provocative than the Cost of the War display of Peace House of Ashland. Circled by signs on wickets that showed all the human services that could be purchased with the tax money spent on one day on the war in Iraq was a living graph showing the disparity between spending on good programs that benefit people and spending on the war that kills people. The good programs were represented by living plants in bloom while the war spending was represented by barren pieces of soil.
Another booth, staffed by WILPF, encouraged folks to write postcards to their legislators in support of legislation aimed at keeping the Oregon National Guard at home and stopping the deployment of 3,000 Oregon NG troops to Iraq later this spring. The Collateral Repair Project, which helps Iraq refugees, Oregon Action, HCAN and Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice also had booths and exhibits at the event.
After speeches, poetry readings and performances by Ashland Taiko and the Rogue Valley Peace Choir, the crowd grabbed signs and banners and marched to Vogel Park where their messages were visible to motorists passing by on Main and Central in the heart of downtown. It was a colorful march with the tall Coyote Rising puppets and Taiko drummers drawing lots of attention. A good time was had by all and much good will was generated for the groups that promote peace and justice issues in the Rogue Valley.
Allen Hallmark