BRANDYWINE PEACE COMMUNITY - P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA, 19081--(610)544-1818

2004

January 11 - Monthly Potluck Showing of the movie "UNCOVERED: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" which examines the Bush Administration's distortions of fact which took the U.S. to war in March 2003.

 

January 19, Martin Luther King Day of Nonviolent Resistance to Lockheed Martin - Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his philosophy of nonviolent direct action at the Lockheed Martin weapons complex, Mall & Goddard Boulevards, Valley Forge , PA. (behind the King of Prussia Mall). The opening rally included: Elizabeth Terry, long-time activist for justice and Executive Director of The Other Side, Inc.; Rabbi Arthur Waskow, noted author and director of the Shalom Center; Phoebe Schellenberg, U.S. coordinator of Global Women's Strike; Shafiq El-Amin of the Minority EXperience Network; and Michael Hoffman, a Marine veteran of the Iraq war. The rally was followed by  Nonviolent Civil Disobedience at the main entrance to the arms giant.

 

February 8 - Monthly Potluck The area premiere of "The Arsenal of Hypocrisy: Space Program & the Military-Industrial Complex". The video, produced by the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space,  features archival footage and expert commentary. on the history of the U.S. Space Program, provides background to the Bush Administration's Mars exploration, and explains what's at stake with "Star Wars" missile defense and the increasing militarization of space.

March 14 - 15, 2004 The Dover [Air Force Base] - DC Memorial Procession: A Trail of Mourning & Truth. more

 

April - People arrested the day after the start of the U.S. bombardment and invasion of Iraq , March 20, 2003 , for blockading the Phila. Federal Building are sentenced in groups of five to ten to seven days imprisonment for refusing to pay a Federal Court imposed fine. Each group does their jail time at the Phila. Federal Detention Center . Vigils of support accompany each of the Federal Court appearances. Vigil at Federal Courthouse and walk to Phila. Federal Detention Center , located just behind the Courthouse, takes place on days that people are ordered to report to jail. On day of release, each group is met by vigilers in front of the Federal Courthouse. Emily Bogner and Kurt Spiridakis,  Maine; Michelle Brix, Phila; Bernadette Cronin-Geller, Phila.; Gerard Givnish, Phila.; John Hohenstein, Phila.; Rev. Patricia Pearce, pastor, Tabernacle Church, Phila.; Janeal Turnbull Ravndal, Pendle Hill, Wallingford, PA; Kathleen "Kaki" Sjogren, Phila.  You can read statements made by the defendants at:  http://www.markis.com/brandywine/cdstmt.htm).

April 9 Good Friday Stations of Justice & Peace and Nonviolent Civil Disobedience at Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge, PA.  
Ten people are arrested for a concluding act of Nonviolent Civil Disobedience.

April 15 YOU PAY; LOCKHEED MARTIN PROFIT$ Tax Day Protest at 30TH St. Post Office.

May 6 War Protest in front of Hyatt Regency Hotel in Philadelphia where Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, in Donald Rumsfeld’s stead, speaks to the World Affairs Council just as news of torture at Abu Ghraib is breaking.

 

May 9, Monthly Potluck Mother's Day, "A Cry of Women for Peace"  - Lou Ann Merkle and women artists from "Peace by Piece" present slides and share the stories behind their exhibit, "Collateral Damage: Echoes in the Soul". The program included videos, sculpture, photography, collage and printmaking.

 

May - June Demonstrations at offices of Senators Specter and Santorum with Military Families Speak Out.

June 13 - Monthly Potluck "The Bush Debacle: Where the Bush Administration Taking Us in World Affairs" - Craig Eisendrath, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a former U.S. foreign service officer, speaks. Eisendrath is the author of numerous books and a play, including Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neo-Conservatives Are Putting the World at Risk

June 14 - "The Hope of Peace in the Darkness of War", along with the House of Grace Catholic Worker, a large gathering to hear S. Olga Yaqob, Catholic Iraqi nun and missionary in Baghdad slums and prison, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Catholic Bishop, peacemaker who has made frequent visits to Iraq; and Brian Buckley, Catholic Worker, who as part of the "Najaf Emergency Peace Team", demonstrated in front of the largest U.S. military base in Iraq,

July 3 Evening Speak-out/Candlelight Walk to Independence Mall, Ceremony to End the War of Occupation of Iraq .

July 11 - Monthly Potluck "The Legacy of Hiroshima and Why We Remember" - Yoko Nishimura, from  Hiroshima , Japan , whose mother was a "Hibakusha", a Hiroshima bombing survivor, speaks.

 

July 16 - August 9 Vigils, Protests, and Nonviolent Civil Disobedience at Lockheed Martin [Moorestown, NJ and Valley Forge, PA] commemorating the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Aug 6 & 9.

August 17 Protest of Bush at Boeing in Ridley Township , PA. [Photos]

Sept More People arrested the day after the start  of the U.S. bombardment and invasion of Iraq , March 20, 2003 , for blockading the Phila. Federal Building are sentenced in groups of five to ten to seven days imprisonment for refusing to pay a Federal Court imposed fine. Each group does their jail time at the Phila. Federal Detention Center . Vigils of support accompany each of the Federal Court appearances. Vigil at Federal Courthouse and walk to Phila. Federal Detention Center , located just behind the Courthouse, takes place on days that people are ordered to report to jail. On day of release, each group is met by vigilers in front of the Federal Courthouse.  Gret Gentile, Joshua Grace, Catherine MacDonald, Holly McLaughlin,  Jeff Monjack, Meenal Raval, and Charles Sherrouse, all of Philadelphia . You can read statements made by the defendants at:  http://www.markis.com/brandywine/cdstmt.htm).

 

September 9 - "1,000+ U.S. Dead in Iraq - Thousands + Thousands +  Iraqi Dead: How Many More?" Hundreds of people holding candles mark the 1000 U.S. death in Iraq at Phila. City Hall.

September 12 - Monthly Potluck "Voices of Sorrow, Voices for Peace" a Special 9-11 (3rd) Anniversary Memorial for Peace with music; poetry; Litany of Stones, Ashes, and Flowers with guest reflections: * Bob McIlvaine, member of  September 11th families for PEACEFUL TOMORROWS, whose son was killed in the World Trade Center;* Military Families Speak Out: Pat Gunn, whose son was wounded in Iraq; Mildred McHugh, whose son is in Iraq; and Sue Niederer, whose son was killed in Iraq; and * Rev. John McNamee, author of  Diary of a City Priest.

Sept 25 NO STAR WARS: No Way ! No How! Demonstration at Lockheed Martin, Valley Forge , PA marks start of International Days of Protest to Stop Militarization of Space. [Photos]

October - More People arrested the day after the start of the U.S. bombardment and invasion of Iraq , March 20, 2003 , for blockading the Phila. Federal Building are sentenced in groups of five to ten to seven days imprisonment for refusing to pay a Federal Court imposed fine. Each group does their jail time at the Phila. Federal Detention Center . Vigils of support accompany each of the Federal Court appearances. Vigil at Federal Courthouse and walk to Phila. Federal Detention Center , located just behind the Courthouse, takes place on days that people are ordered to report to jail. On day of release, each group is met by vigilers in front of the Federal Courthouse. Michael Brix and Marion Brown, both of Phila., PA; Cassandra Heino-Haw and husband Christopher Haw, of Camden, NJ; and Lillian Willoughby of Deptford, NJ.  You can read statements made by the defendants at:  http://www.markis.com/brandywine/cdstmt.htm).

 

October 10 - Monthly Potluck  Showing of  "UNCONSTITUTIONAL" , documentary film about the impact of the post 9-11 USA Patriot Act's impact on civil liberties.

November 14 - Monthly Potluck  "Election Retrospective: "Whither America ? Imperialism Heavy or Lite? Accelerated or Stabilized Class Warfare? Stability or Crash?" - renowned economist, media analyst, and author, Professor Edward Herman speaks.

Saturday, November 27, noon - 5pm Thanksgiving Holiday "LOCKHEED-VILLE" (where the business of war matters and human needs don't) Shanty-town demonstration with large wooden shanties and lean-tos at Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Boulevard Valley Forge, PA

December 11 - Memorial for Bill Stuart-Whistler at the Delaware County Peace Center .

 

December 12 - Monthly Potluck  Voices Rising in the Darkness  Seasonal Celebration of Resistance (dedicated to Bill Stuart-Whistler - Nov. 10, 1926 - Nov. 8, 2004, GE engineer/GE resister, anti-war activist) with video tape of Bill's last interview done weeks before his death, also poetry by Beth Friedland and Laurie Pollack, and music by Tom Mullian.

Wednesday, December 22, 7pm - Christmas Candlelight Vigil for Peace at  Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Boulevards,Valley Forge, PA. 

In this  time of empire:  to us a child is born!