Strategic, loving resistance
Patriots,
We are being asked, again, to believe that bombing another country will liberate its people. We have heard this before. In Iraq, in Libya, in Vietnam, in every graveyard the American war machine has left behind. Every single time, we are told this time is different. That this intervention is the one that finally works. That the suffering is necessary, the lives lost are the cost of freedom. Every single time, the result is the same: more graves, more profit, more power concentrated in fewer hands.
The richest country in the world, and we cannot seem to find the money to take care of its people. To make rent affordable. To make sure the people have what they need. But the money for weapons is always there.
You don't have to have a name for that contradiction to feel it. It lives in your kitchen table, your medical bills, your kids' school. We feel it together! This is a choice. It doesn't have to be this way.
The people who make these decisions will not send their own children to fight them. It is working people's children who go, from cities like ours, from families like ours. The billionaires and arms contractors cash the checks, the kids fill the body bags.
Empire is not a natural disaster. It is a policy choice, made by specific people, for specific reasons and it can be unmade. The people of Iran deserve to decide their own future free from violence done in our name, with our money, without our consent. That is not a radical idea. It is the only human one. It is why we are here.
Members of Veterans for Peace (who have been in the streets since Vietnam, for every president) and other regional activists held space in front of Westover Air Base in front of 100s as they attend monthly muster. They stood to ask that they refuse illegal orders, refuse to fly, refuse to give aid to an illegal war.
For more information you can share with service members in your life, visit https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/service-member-support
Can you think of ways to reach our military community in Westfield?
Among us are people of faith and people of none, conservatives and progressives, lifelong activists and first-time marchers. We are united not by any single tradition, but by a shared commitment to dignity, equality, and the conviction that no one is above the law.
Among us are those who, like Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson, and leaders today like James Talarico and Bishop Budde, follow the Liberator Jesus who walks with the oppressed. Will you stand in solidarity with them, whatever your own beliefs may be? There will be many events this Spring and Summer in the valley that will bring us together in this way, to lift our voices together.
In that spirit, Steve Harvester has written Liberator Stations of the Cross — fifteen readings designed to be shared by community leaders of all beliefs. The 45-minute program will follow our 4–5PM rally on Tuesday, March 24th, beginning at 5:30PM at the Episcopal Church of the Atonement on Court Street — a five-minute walk or short drive from Park Square.
This Week & Beyond
MA's party primaries are September 1st and the electoral calendar is packed with events! Business as usual will not defeat authoritarian breakthrough– get involved in a primary challenger race, collect signatures, knock doors, attend your local caucus! Visit https://mobilize.us and find one now!
Tuesday, March 10th, 4–5PM — Whatever's happening in Washington, whatever's happening in your week, we'll be there. Come stand with your neighbors. Bring a sign. Bring a friend.
Thursday, March 12th at 6:30PM — Westfield Democratic City Committee Caucus at 77 Mill Street. Local democracy is built meeting by meeting. Show up.
Saturday, March 14th, 11AM–12:30PM — Blandford Democratic Town Committee Caucus. https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/876623/
Saturday, March 28th, 11AM–12PM — NO KINGS 3 in Park Square, Westfield. Bring friends!
Every Friday, 4–5PM — Join us at the Southampton Road Overpass
We move together.
No Kings Westfield