Peace Groups Use New Resource to Keep Track of Over 100 Protests as Outrage Grows

BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

Editor's Note: This information provided by the Peace Justice and Environment Project, based in Evanston, IL

Peace and anti-war groups all over the U.S. have been protesting President Obama's announcement Tuesday night that he has decided to increase the number of troops to be deployed to Afghanistan by 30,000. Protests began with a mass vigil and march near the West Point Military Academy where President Obama made the announcement, followed by nearly 100 response protests by groups across the country in locations that span from Bangor, Maine to Honolulu, Hawaii and includes most major cities in the United States.

Most protests occurred in the late afternoon and evening on Tuesday, December 2. Chelsea Neighbors were out in the street in their New York City neighborhood 15 minutes after the announcement was made. More protests are being planned, including a second protest in Chicago at noon on Saturday, as outrage grows over the plans to send more troops and to spend additional billions more in a war that is not "defense" and it is not making us more secure.

The Peace Justice and Environment Project (PJEP.org) has been instrumental in telegraphing the breadth and scope of the protests through the coordination of the 40 networks in the PJEP network that cover activities of grassroots groups in all 50 states. The first of the PJEP Web sites for the Illinois Coalition for Justice, Peace and the Environment went live in April 2006 and using all volunteer time and research, the network grew, state-by-state until, in early July 2009, it reached the goal that it had been working towards -- to cover the whole of the U.S.

Andy Thayer, organizer of the Chicago protests that have been endorsed by 34 local groups said, "The presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan has served as one of the biggest boosts to Al Qaeda recruitment, which as a result now also has a substantial base in neighboring Pakistan. Thirty-thousand more troops will only increase anger at the West."

"And domestic reforms? Healthcare for all is already hostage to imagined budget restraints. Meanwhile the United States spends as much on its military as the rest of the world combined, and President Obama has increased the military budget over his predecessor," Thayer added.

BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

A full listing of the over 100 events nationwide is available here and will be updated as new actions are posted with links to details available on the 40 state network Web sites. Events were gathered from the Peace Justice and Environment Project (PJEP) participants and allies. PJEP is an Illinois based network of over 1500 organizations that participate in 40 state-based networks.