Thursday, November 11, 2010

Walk for Peace: Day Eight

Freeport to Portland: the final leg of the journey.
Tomorrow, the Veterans Day Parade in Portland. Should be interesting... Maine VFP have been told by the american Legion organizers of the Portland Veterans Day Parade that they cannot take part in the parade (sent by Jacqui Deveneau of Peace Action Maine)


Veterans for Peace Observes Armistice Day
    Maine Veterans for Peace will be present at the Veterans Day, more historically correct, Armistice Day, parade in Portland, on Thursday.
    The veterans will be there,not to participate in the parade, but to solemnly observe the anniversary as a time to end the inhumanity of war.  For the past several years VFP members and supporters have participated in the November 11th event with mixed emotions as solemnity and an occasion of sacred remembrance too often has given way to celebration of militarism.
    In 2009, members of the Maine Chapter unfurled an "Out of Afghanistan" at the conclusion of the parade at City Hall.  This call for cessation of hostilities provoked the American Legion organizers who have refused to permit the chapter to participate in this year's parade Veterans for Peace are inviting friends and supporters to join them as they will respectfully call for the end of our present occupations and wars.  
    Coinciding with the Armistice Day event, the group will be welcoming the Maine Walk for Peace, organized by VFP and led by Buddhist monks and nuns from the Nipponzan Myohoji order, as they complete their 150 mile journey through central and coastal Maine.
    That event has been dedicated to engaging the public on the need to end war in Afghanistan, to addressing human needs, and to the care of returning veterans.  Walkers began their journey in Farmington on November 2nd and passed through Skowhegan and Waterville on their way to Bangor and then down the coast to arrive in Portland on the eve of Armistice Day.
    Veterans, the walkers, and their supporters will gather at City Hall at 10:00am.  They will not be participating in the parade, but will be distributing information relating to the cost of war and the impact here at home.

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