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Upcoming 2009 Brandywine
Events
Past 2008 Events
Past 2009 Events
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July and August 2009
For Justice: Stop the Wars; End the Violence, handgun to H-Bomb
And Now, DECLARE PEACE!:
to stop the wars and end the violence, from handgun to H-Bomb.
We face an epidemic of gun violence in our communities, continuing war in Iraq and intensification of war in Afghanistan, the continuing (largely unacknowledged) threat posed by nuclear weapons to life and the living, and an earth poisoned and ablaze by greed, poverty, toxins, and war. It is time that we truly face the central fact of our society and of our time: violence! It is time for another declaration of independence, one every bit as revolutionary, in which people declare peace, and demand justice, by removing from our lives, our communities, and our children's future the scourge of guns, bombs, war, and violence.
July 3, And Now, DECLARE PEACE!, Independence Mall, Philadelphia, PA. For Justice: Stop the Wars; End the Violence, handgun to H-Bomb. Join with peace and anti-war activists, anti-violence and gun violence prevention activists, justice seekers, earth and community partners, celebrating our freedom and independence, by making a declaration for justice and for peace.
- Friday, July 3, Noon -
Independence Day Observance/And Now, DECLARE PEACE! Demonstration Independence Mall/People's Plaza, Market Street, between 5th & 6th Streets, Phila., PA
followed by bell-tolling vigil/chanting facing Independence Hall
to stop the wars and end the violence, from handgun to H-Bomb.
Speakers will include: Celeste Zappala of Military Families Speak Out, whose son, Sgt. Sherwood R. Baker, was killed in Iraq, April '04; Edward Aguilar, director of Project for Nuclear Awareness; and representatives of Heeding God's Call, a faith-based campaign to end handgun violence. Music by Tom Mullian ("Six Strings Against the War"). Declarations and statements, both historic and contemporary. A large black coffin, draped by the Earth and U.S. Flags and bound by heavy chains, with sign: "Break The Chain of Violence", will be at the center of circle of peace. Philly Code Pink will lead us in a "cleansing" ceremony of the U.S. Flag from war and militarism, racism and hatred, indifference and violence.
Organized by the Brandywine Peace Community
Co-sponsored by: BuxMont Coalition for Peace Action; Catholic Peace Fellowship; regional Coalition for Peace Action; Heeding God's Call; Philly Code Pink; and Veterans for Peace, #31.
See video of last year's "And Now, DECLARE PEACE!" Demonstration at Independence Mall at Philly IMC, http://www.phillyimc.org/en/node/71052 .
Join us this year on July 3rd in Philadelphia at Independence Mall.
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Memory, Hope, Nonviolent Action at Lockheed Martin, and Peace...August 6 - 9, 2009, 54th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki (August 6 - 9, 1945).
Thursday, August 6, Hiroshima Day - Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Boulevards, Valley Forge, PA (behind the King of Prussia Mall).
8a.m. - Noon, Vigil for Peace;
Noon - Hiroshima Day Ceremony and Nonviolent Action, including civil disobedience. Those interested in participating in the civil disobedience, call the Brandywine Peace Community by July 25 for preparation and planning information.
Sunday, August 9 - Nagasaki Day, 7:30p.m. Candlelight Peace Dedication in front of SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral, 18th & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in memory of the Urakami Cathedral, ground zero of Nagasaki bombing. Co-sponsored by Phila. Catholic Peace Fellowship.
"Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds," said J. Robert Oppenheimer, Scientific Director of the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb. On July 16, 1945, Oppenheimer quoted from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita, after witnessing the first atomic bomb, code-named "Trinity." The site of the Trinity test in Alamogordo, New Mexico, was called Jornada Del Muerto - "Journey of Death" or "Dead Man's Trail."
Three weeks after Trinity, on August 6, 1945, at 8:16a.m., the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 150,000 people in the immediate blast and fire. "This is the greatest thing in history", said President Harry Truman, who had given approval for the use of atomic bombs against Japan on July 4, Independence Day, 1945, and received news of the Hiroshima bombing enroute from the Pottsdam conference.
".....I climbed Hikiyama Hill and looked down. I saw that Hiroshima had disappeared.....What I felt then and still feel now I just can't say with words. Of course I saw many dreadful scenes after that, but that experience - looking down and finding nothing left of Hiroshima - was so shocking that I simply can't express what I felt...Hiroshima didn't exist...Hiroshima just didn't exist." - Hiroshima bomb survivor
Three days after Hiroshima, August 9, 1945, at 11:02a.m., more than 75,000 people died in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The Urakami Roman Catholic Cathedral was ground zero for the world's second atomic bombing, which destroyed at the time the largest Catholic city in all of Asia. In the days, months, and decades following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thousands upon thousands died - and continue to die - from the effects of radiation poisoning.
The legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki continues. U.S. military spending annually is quickly approaching $900 billion, not including the $170 billion in 2009 appropriations for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At a cost of $30 billion annually, the U.S. maintains an arsenal of more than 10,000 nuclear weapons ready to strike from land, sea, or air. Despite presidential declarations calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, billion dollar plans to "modernize" the nuclear arsenal and production complex continue.
We must stop the wars and abolish nuclear weapons. We must end the culture of violence and militarism, from handgun to H-Bomb. We must resist Lockheed Martin, the world largest weapons corporation and the U.S.'s chief nuclear weapons contractor. We must save our children and our communities from the violence of handguns, militarism, and nuclear weapons.
Beyond war and violence, a new economy and new day is possible.
BEYOND WAR: A NEW ECONOMY IS POSSIBLE!
Lockheed Martin (the world's largest weapons corporation, the U.S.'s chief nuclear bomb and space weapons contractor, the world's largest international arms dealer and the Iraq War's chief weapons profiteer) is the very center of the corporate war economy, which is the "elephant in the room" of the current economic meltdown. Lockheed Martin is now even pushing for its own "stimulus package", the F-22 Raptor jet fighter. A Lockheed Martin ad for the F-22 Raptor reads: "95,000 jobs created, 300 million Americans protected." Lockheed Martin must be stopped. Yes, we can and must! http://groups.google.com/group/arms-and-security-updates?hl=en
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Brandywine
Monthly Potluck Suppers & Programs
In its 3rd decade...Join Us at the area's longest running on-going gathering for peace and justice, the Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Supper/Program, 4:30PM, 2nd Sunday of the month (except August), University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street, Phila., PA (bring main dish, salad, or dessert to share). Programs begin at 5:30PM.
Next Potluck:
Sunday, July 12 - Special showing of "The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb (1980), the acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film documentary about Oppenheimer, the scientific head of the Manhattan Project which developed, tested (Trinity was the code-name for the first atomic test blast), and built the first atomic bombs, and the life-changing and threatening nature of nuclear weapons.
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