We want CHANGE, not WAR!
On April 4, 1967, one year to the day before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech at Riverside Church in New York City, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” “…I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today–my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”
On Saturday, April 4th, 2009, the PDX Peace Coalition will present Change ≠ War, a public reading of Dr. King’s speech in downtown Portland. We will gather to demand an immediate end to the war in Iraq, and join with brothers and sisters worldwide to call for the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan. And we will give voice to the civilians of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine as well as the US soldiers that are speaking out in resistance; the voices that have been crushed and silenced by our country’s violence and occupation.
President Obama has announced that 21,000 more troops will be deployed to Afghanistan, it is up to the peace movement to demand change, real change, not more war and occupation. Join us at any of the following activities on April 4th to help us “speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy.”
Change ≠ War
Saturday, April 4th
11:00 am Teach-in: Ending Occupation from Iraq to Afghanistan to Palestine
Cramer Hall, Portland State University
2:00 pm March: Out of Iraq, Out of Afghanistan
Money for People, Not for War
South Park Blocks, SW Park & SW Salmon
3:00 pm Public Reading: Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Beyond Vietnam” … 42 years later, an inspiration for today’s peace movement.
Skidmore Fountain, SW 1st & SW Ankeny