Merrimack Valley People for Peace
Serving the communities of the Merrimack Valley

 
2004 Highlights

 

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December 2004

MVPP at Northern Essex Community College

On December 8th, MVPP spoke at the Contemporary Affairs Club at Northern Essex Community College describing MVPP and discussing the war in Iraq.

We donated two copies each of The Peace Book and the Hiroshima Appeal for Banning DU Weapons: NO WAR NO DU, one to Professor Russell and one to the school.

Peace and Justice Discussion Group

A total of 19 people recently participated in a six-week Peace and Justice Group at Jim and Mary Todd's church, First United Methodist Church in North Andover. Three people from MVPP attended.

November 2004

Candlelight vigils were held the day before and the day after the election

November 2: - Brenda McCarthy invited MVPP members to join her at her home to await the election results. Attendees were grateful for the warm and friendly place, the camaraderie and the great food, all nourishment for the work ahead.

November 3: Thirteen people and a dog came together for an evening vigil in Andover. A truly therapeutic moment after a late night and anxious day waiting for the election results. We held our flags, sang together and spoke of the future. Mary Kate and Don read their poems. Becci and Thea spoke of working at the polls. There were honks and waves from passing cars. We were together, fully committed to the work of peace and justice before us.

Nov. 23, We had a Stone Soup dinner, attended by about 35 people, who contributed $400 for Oxfam. We viewed the video "Hijacking Catastrophe".

October 2004

We tabled at the Westa Fiesta (Andover Youth Fest), at their invitation.

We distributed most of the 10,000 UFPJ Voter Education Leaflets, many finding their way to New Hampshire and even Ohio and Florida

We tabled at the Know Your Town Day in Andover and moved our vigil one block north for that day.

We held an economic forum entitled Economic Justice? War and the Economy, presented by Mike Prokosch at the Andover Library, co-sponsored by the Ethical Society of Boston, North Bridge Alliance for Democracy, North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice, Reading People for Peace, and WAND (Women’s Actions for New Directions). Over 30 people attended the forum and we all learned a great deal from Mike.

Becci tabled at the Greg Brown concert at Imagine Studios in Newburyport.

Jane had a gathering at her house to meet Stuart Leiderman, environmentalist/expert on devastated marshes in Iraq.

Salem, NH vigils have been well received and have been moved to Saturdays at 1:15.

We welcomed two new members to our Board, Barbara Haack and Brenda McCarthy, after accepting the resignation of Lee Bluemel and Susan Manning.

MVPP voted to endorse the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and donate $100

MVPP voted to send up to 3 representatives to Solidarity School and to support any MVPP members with up to $200 to attend the School of the Americas protest in Fort Benning, Georgia.

MVPP voted to provide $1000 in seed money to Jane to help an Iraqi woman who was shot in the face regain her vision. Jim will coordinate efforts to fundraise and replace these funds.

Many MVPP members volunteered to canvas, phone, and pollwatch with ACT, MoveOn, and other similar organizations

We have legally changed our name from North Andover People for Peace to Merrimack Valley People For Peace

September 2004

-MVPP celebrated Labor Day at Lawrence's Bread and Roses Festival. Our table was very popular, and we sold over $300 worth of buttons and bumper stickers to a very sympathetic crowd.

-September 9, MVPP vigil commemorating 1,000 US Soldiers killed in Iraq. pictures (in separate window)
At Old Town Hall in Andover, thirty-five people attended; including some new faces interested in joining us for vigils, meetings, and events. MVPP members also joined 45 in a vigil in Newburyport's Market Square, and 35 in Marblehead. Reading and Lawrence members also held vigils that evening, joining over 1,000 vigils nationwide, that were organized with only twenty- four hours notice.

We had a very successful and fun 20th anniversary benefit concert on Sept. 18th, with lots of very talented performers, including Dean Stevens, the Prince Myshkins, our own Pat Scanlon, Mary Kate Small, Brian Quirk, Ralph Galen, and the Merrimack Valley Peace Chorus singing an original song composed by Don Abbott. We raised over $1000

Becci tabled at the Groton Fest, and sold more buttons and bumper stickers

We voted on the following donations at our September meeting:

$200 to Alan Pogue, documentary photographer in Iraq to help a bombing victim receive medical care in Texas;

$250 to the Association of Haitian Women, for hurricane relief;

$100 to the Agape Community, for their work promoting non-violence,

$75 to Andover Youth Services, to support their several youth programs, and

$50 to Lazarus House to support their work with the homeless in Lawrence.

Geogia Hollister Isman, Massachusetts Volunteer Coordinator ror ACT (America Coming Together) attended our monthly meeting and explained ways volunteers could help mobilize voters.

August 2004

-Our Hiroshima vigil had about thirty people, some were new young people.

-Becci set up her table, and some of us sang at girl scout Christen Mills' Peace Festival, at All Saints’ Church, Chelmsford. The festival included speakers, entertainment, food, and information tables.

-The Republican National Convention in NYC: We were over 12 of the 500,000! pictures NYT writeup NYT flash video: go through the link on that page titled "Interactive Graphic..." For the first time, 28 people boarded a UJP bus Andover.

July 2004

-After some rehearsals, we serenaded the Veterans for Peace harbor cruise. Thanks to Mary Kate and Ralph and Jim Scott.

-Many went to the vets' rally the following evening at Fanuel Hall.

-Many of us attended the Boston Social Forum, July 23-25, held at UMass Boston, gaining strength and ideas. As we debriefed our individual experiences at different seminars, workshops, and plenary sessions, we universally affirmed that this was a “teach-in” with an extraordinary degree of expertise and usefulness, plus the kind of hope that was consistently grounded in practical alternatives. Many members expressed interest in attending other forums in this global series. There will be one in Seattle in October 2004 and another in Porto Allegre in Winter 2005.

June 2004


-The Raging Grannies sang for our annual meeting. More in the newsletter.
-We started to vigil in Salem NH.
-Many of us enjoyed a concert by Irish singer, Tommy Sands.
-Many of us attended the Michael Moore movie, Farenheit 9/11, and other pertinent movies, Control Room, The Corporation, Outfoxed (others coming soon).
-We attended a demonstration in Boston's Copley square to "bring the troops home".
-The bylaws committee started meeting, to update our legal status.
-Becci, Don, Peter, and Brian visited Rep. Meehan's office.

May 2004 - We hosted Dave Lippman as George Shrub, the only known Singing CIA (Committee to Intervene Anywhere) agent for a fun concert on May 1st.
- MVPP has agreed to order rainbow PEACE flags directly from Italy, with discounts given to local people and peace groups who pre-pay us for their orders.
- MVPP voted to endorse the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
- MVPP voted to register for a table at the Boston Social Forum.
- MVPP voted to donate buttons in English and Spanish for a campaign in Lawrence sponsored by Latinos United for Justice to both educate parents/students/school board members about registration requirements under current draft board regulations and de-emphasize military service.

April 2004 - Barbara and Becci had a table at the Michelle Shocked concert on April 3rd.
- MVVP has a beautiful new banner to use at tables and demonstrations
- We received permission from Andover to continue to table at Saturday morning vigils through November.
- Swarthmore College Peace Coalition was impressed with our newsletter and joined MVPP to receive it for their peace archives.
Mike and Dave -We hosted the Wheels of Justice Tour April 29-May 2nd, with Mike Miles, Dave Lippman, and Slava Davidzon. We caused quite a controversy at North Andover High School and in some local newspapers.
On April 30th we had a PowerPoint presentation on the occupation of Palestine after a great potluck dinner.
(Bigger picture)
click to visit Whels of Justice site
- We started our petition drive for the Fund The Dream Campaign, and UFPJ’s emergency petition about Iraq.
- MVPP made donations to LIFE (Life for Relief and Development), for food and medicine in Iraq; The War Resisters League of New England, and United for Justice with Peace.

March 2004 -Chain Reaction Affinity Group trial in Nashua March 4.
Pleaded Nolo Contendre with statements.

- Hosted participants for a Walk for a New Spring on March 8th with a potluck dinner after a vigil together(See article in Andover Townsman)
- On March 14th, over seventy people attended our candlelight vigil for "No more victims", commemorating one year after the invasion of Iraq. Don's Intro
- A number of members attended other peace events we didn't sponsor: Some walked on the last day of the Walk for a New Spring; Henry and Becci were at the Peace Abbey and Hanscomb Air Force Base. Brian greeted the president at Boston's Park Plaza.
- MVPP signed on to endorse the petition for the resolution to Congress for the United States government to undertake a full, fair, and expeditious investigation into the death of Rachel Corrie. See link: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=320
- At our last meeting we voted to co-sponsor the Toxics Action Conference on Sat. April 3rd with a donation of $50.
- March 20, NYC: Twelve from MVPP joined the crowd of 30,000 to 100,000 in New York; and hundreds of thousands around the world, to call for bringing the troops home from Iraq.
click for a bigger picture, and many others
Many pictures: click

February 2004 At our February meeting, we decided to join the campaign to ban DU; and approved donations to Global Peacemakers, the House of Peace, Mass Peace Action, March to Abolish Poverty, and AfSC.
Pictures of February meeting.

January 2004

The Spirit of Resistance Concert by Pete Seeger and The People's Music Network. January 23-25 was uplifting. See our February newsletter for rave reviews! We gained some contacts and sold lots of buttons.

 

Click for highlights in 2002 - 2003,  2005,  2006,
 200720082009,  2010, 20112012,  2013,  2014,  2015,
2016,  2017,  2018,  2019,  2020,  2021,  2022,  2023,  2024


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Merrimack Valley People for Peace meets monthly, on the fourth Tuesday,
at 7:30 pm,
at North Parish Church, North Andover.
(NOT DECEMBER)

Contact Merrimack Valley People for Peace       (978) 685-1389
            P.O. Box 573
            North Andover, MA 01845

Send material to post on the website to brian@quirk.ws