Central Coast News Mission Lompoc Peace

Iraq is the real outrage

2006-10-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

Recently a "God Bless America" poster was removed from the Lompoc Post Office after our local atheist objected to its presence and asked that it be taken down. As a result, numerous letters have been written to the paper objecting to its removal. Below is my letter to the editor regarding this matter.

I watch in amazement as letters pour in day after day about the controversy concerning a poster, or lack of it, in our local post office.

If someone didn't know better, they would think Mr. Hughes has committed a crime against humanity.

I find it fascinating and extremely disturbing that this is the thing that catapults our citizenry into standing up and taking action. I ask you why something so ridiculous as a poster can cause such outrage, when every day innocent men, women and children are dying in an illegal, immoral war of aggression perpetrated by our current administration?

In the last three years, tens of thousands of Iraqi lives have been lost, nearly three thousand of our own military men and women have died, and a sovereign nation was destroyed and is now being occupied by American forces, costing us millions of dollars every month, while our nation crumbles beneath our very feet.

Where is the outrage concerning this? Why aren't letters pouring in about these crimes against humanity? What is wrong with us that something as petty as a poster can overshadow the outrageous reality of an unnecessary war waged in our names and funded by our tax dollars, which only benefits the military/industrial complex to fulfill the demented vision of the neocons' New American Century?

Are we as a nation so fragile that we cannot speak the truth, that we can only be motivated by trivial matters? Perhaps it is easier to focus on whether God blesses America than to admit that we were lied to in order to wage a war of aggression, which is the ultimate crime against humanity. Perhaps it is easier for us to sleep at night if we are reminded on a daily basis that God is on our side, while we annihilate our fellow brethren in the Middle East for purely immoral reasons.

I think a new poster should be erected in our post office, it's simple statement, “God have mercy on us all.” Sorry, Matt, I don't mean to offend you.

Mary AlKhaja

Lompoc Coalition for Peace

and Justice

Calculating the dead in Iraq

2006-05-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

Documenting the number killed in a war zone is “hard work.” It takes something called a large scale mortality study. Only one has been done in Iraq, published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, and released two days before the 2004 election. It did not get much press coverage, partly because of its timing drew suspicions of partisanship. Also, the figure was much larger than other estimates at the time, but the more I learn about the study, the more likely it is that 100,000 was the best estimate, and if anything, low. The study was done by a team of public health researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Columbia University School of Nursing, and the College of Medicine at Al-Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. Dr. Roberts, the lead author, has testified before congress and is a recognized world expert in counting war dead. His Congo study found 1.7 million civilians killed, a figure cited by Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Tony Blair before Parliament. He has also done surveys in Burundi, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Most of the Iraq survey team were medical doctors. To Dr. Roberts, Iraq was interesting since the US claimed to have taken unprecedented measures to avoid civilian casualties, with 2/3 of the bombs dropped being precision guided. The researchers knew though, from past experience, that it isn’t bombs and bullets that kill most people in war, but the destruction of basic services that leads to disease. To begin, the team used the latest census to map the entire Iraqi population. A random number generator was used to pick 33 points on that map, in small towns and large cities. They randomly picked a GPS coordinate within each community and surveyed the nearest 30 houses to that point. The study surveyed 7,868 people in 988 households for births and deaths before and after the invasion. Election polls use a similar method of sampling and are rarely more than 10% off. The study yielded a conservative estimate of 98,000 excess deaths in the 18 months after the invasion compared to the 15 months before. This estimate did not include Fallujah, a city the size of Cleveland that had been destroyed as a lesson to the resistance, for their killing of 4 US mercenaries. Although Fallujah was randomly chosen, its death rate was so high it was omitted. As data was collected, Dr. Roberts was shocked to see, for the first time in any of his surveys, more deaths from bullets and bombs than from disease. The study showed most people died from coalition attacks and most of those were women and children. But surprisingly it wasn’t soldiers running amuck. Most of the deaths were caused by US "helicopter gun ships, rockets, or other forms of aerial weaponry." There are particulars to this study that indicate its estimate was low. Omitting Fallujah meant excluding all of Anbar province, Ramadi and areas near the Syrian border. Najaf and Sadr City were also excluded due to random chance. These areas have been the main sites of furious fighting and US bombing in Iraq. Meanwhile, the 2 Kurdish provinces, where no fighting occurred, were included. Since 2004, things have worsened. In August, 2005, Robert Fisk reported being shown the computer at the main Baghdad morgue, which is prohibited by the US installed government. It showed 1,100 Iraqis dead in Baghdad alone in just July. In a February, 2006 update to the Lancet study, Dr. Roberts estimated 300,000 Iraqi civilian deaths since the invasion. This is supported by Dahr Jamail’s April 12, 2006 interview with a Baghdad morgue employee who said, “The average (number of bodies they receive) is probably over 85” a day. As the US transitions to the “Salvador Option” of supporting death squads and relying on greater airpower to try and decrease US casualties, Iraqis will continue to die in greater numbers.

Jim Silva
Lompoc Coalition for Peace and Justice

International Women's Day

2006-03-04T23:54:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, March 8th is International Women's Day. The theme for 2006 is "Women in decision-making: meeting challenges, creating change." Please join women and their families at Sugar Magnolia's in Lompoc on Wednesday, March 8th from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm to meet other women in your community over food and drink and to converse about issues relating to current government policies and how they affect women worldwide. This gathering will be hosted by the Lompoc Coalition for Peace and Justice, is free to the public and made possible by funding from the Fund for Santa Barbara. If you plan on joining us please RSVP at 736-5459 by Monday, March 6, 2006. I hope to see you there.

In peace,
Mary AlKhaja

Happy New Year

2006-01-03T03:10:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year and hope that you had a wonderful holiday season. With 2006 upon us I would also like to extend an invitation to you all to become more involved in the Lompoc Coalition for Peace and Justice. Whether it is dedicating a few hours a month to attend a planning meeting, volunteering your talents to help us create and produce meaningful events in our community, or just being present at these events, I encourage you to consider taking an active role in promoting peace and justice in the coming year.

LCPJ just received a generous grant from the Fund for Santa Barbara and we look forward to utilizing these funds to continue our ongoing efforts to educate and inform the citizens of the Central Coast about peace and social justice issues. It is only through education and dialogue that I believe these goals can be achieved, so it is my hope to continue our "Films and Forums" series by bringing outstanding personalities and informative documentaries to this community. We welcome any ideas or suggestions you may have about ways to make future forums more successful, about specific topics you are interested in learning more about, as well as ways to help our group outreach to more people in order to increase our membership.

Finally, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your support and encouragement over the past three years. I am so honored to be a part of this organization and I am incredibly grateful for having so many wonderful people come into my life as a result of this project. I am also so proud of the outstanding events that we have produced thus far, and I thank you all for making them so successful and fulfilling through your hard work, your talents, your energy, and your dedication and commitment to peace.

I have come to the realization that peace begins with each of us...that creating a more peaceful world begins with creating a more peaceful self. This is my New Year's resolution for 2006 and I hope that you might consider it to be yours. Peace is possible if you can imagine it and then make it your reality.

If you would like more information about LCPJ call 736-5459 or email lompocpeace@yahoo.com.

In peace,
Mary AlKhaja

American Exceptionalism

2005-12-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

American exceptionalism, the belief that America is the best, is such a part of our lives that it goes unnoticed. Once aware of it, however, you hear it shaping the views of liberals and conservatives alike, from leaders in Washington, DC., to commentators in the Lompoc Record.
For example, an English Language student once corrected me for using “America” and “Americans” to refer to the US and US citizens only. Being from Latin America, she was as American as I. Though polite, she clearly resented my self-absorbed disregard of her equal existence on this continent.
One danger of US exceptionalism is that it blinds us to reality. Just as an arrogant individual, who cannot acknowledge his mistakes, will repeat them, so it is with countries. Neocons refuse to admit Vietnam was a mistake so now we’re in Iraq. The quotes from military commanders about “liberation” and “staying the course”, the torture, even the Fallujah atrocities, are all replays of the British disaster there in 1920.
Another danger in believing your country is superior is that it leads to unquestioning, religious patriotism, which is easily manipulated by government propaganda, as we have seen since 9-11. It can lead citizens into self-destructive behaviors, such as a “crusade” (Bush’s word) in the Middle East, or the “Patriot” Acts.
It can lead to a view that US corporations have a right to other people’s resources.
The worst result of US exceptionalism is a rejection of news that doesn‘t fit that world view, making one blind to obvious hypocrisy. Here are some examples:
This administration talks of protecting our liberty while they ram through the Patriot Acts that allow military spying on us and take away our right to challenge our arrest in court or even know the charge. The false claim that Iraq has WMDs is sufficient to bomb it into the Stone Age and invade, never mind that we have 18,500 nuclear warheads and are radiating the Middle East forever with “depleted” uranium dust.
Bush professes we stand for justice at the same time his goons are secretly whisking hundreds of people to old Soviet prisons, or other secret locations to be tortured; not to mention jamming bloody, oversized feeding tubes, unwashed from one prisoner to another, repeatedly down the noses of hunger strikers who have been abused for 4 years without charge at Guantanamo.
Is the US exceptional in supporting democracy? It’s helpful to realize we were founded and expanded West on a policy of Indian genocide. States, including California, with federal funding, offered bounties for Indian scalps. As we expanded into Latin America and the Pacific, the Filipinos lost 200,000 lives struggling for independence, and other national movements were repeatedly, violently suppressed.
After WWII the CIA became more important. Read their own documents on installing the Shah of Iran, or Pinochett in Chile, or how Saddam was a CIA asset for years and how we supplied him with weapons and long lists of people to exterminate.
A UN investigation found Reagan-assisted death squads responsible for 90% of the atrocities in El Salvador’s civil war. This was true throughout Latin America. Today, Rumsfeld and Cheney have adopted the “Salvador Option” in Iraq where death squads are rampant and well funded.
How exceptional are we otherwise? We are ranked 68th in the world in literacy. We spend more than anyone on healthcare but we are 37th in performance. We were 8th for Civil/Political Liberties, before the “Patriot” Act. We rank 15th for the quality of our democratic institutions behind Mongolia and Poland. We are 7th in economic freedom behind Estonia, and that’s according to the right wing Heritage Foundation.
Our military spending is exceptional however, - larger than the next 14 countries combined - approximately the same as all other countries combined!
We could be #1 in all the good things but I guess it takes a really big military to “spread democracy.”

Jim Silva
Lompoc Coalition for Peace and Justice

Putting The Peace Movement In Perspective

2005-09-27T02:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who wish to spend your time minimalizing, degrading and demoralizing the peace movement I have one thing to say to you. More power to you. I guess if my mind was saturated with shameless propaganda, manipulated into believing that hatred and violence were acceptable concepts to support, and shrouded in such fear that the idea of waging death and destruction on my fellow human beings was somehow a mature and appropriate means of conflict resolution, I too would have to find a way to belittle those who think differently than I. I would have to make them my opponents and attack their characters, motives and actions. How else could I live with myself and maintain my sanity?

I can't imagine how desperate I would become and to what measures I would have to stoop, if truth and human decency were absent from my thought process on a daily basis. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I supported a foreign policy that is destroying the lives and property of citizens of this world everyday in the name of freedom and democracy, and turned out to be based on a pack of lies perpetrated by war criminals who I endorsed and brought to power. I don't think that I could bear the shame.

And it couldn't be more clear how desperate and shameful the warmongers and their supporters have become then by their actions today in Washington DC. At this point they are so threatened by the peace movement that they felt the need to arrest one of it's greatest proponents, Cindy Sheehan. Her crime...being a grieving mother who had the audacity to demand an audience with her commander in chief. The nerve. How dare she. To think that she would be so bold as to attempt to hold accountable and demand answers from those responsible for the needless and senseless death of her precious child. Who does she think she is?

Well guess what? She is me and the millions upon millions of human beings on this planet who work for and believe in peace. Peace is not just the absence of violence. It is a way of life. It is a way of being. It is a way of coexisting on a planet filled with diverse cultures made up of unique human beings. It is understanding that we are all interconnected, that each human life is of value, and that no one race or country is superior to another or has the right to impose their way of thinking or way of life upon others, especially by force.

It is tolerance, it is accepting that which is different, it is being mature and responsible. It is treating others as we expect to be treated. It is conducting ourselves humanely, decently, morally and ethically. It is the only path to real freedom and security.

Yes, peace is the absence of violence, but it is also encompasses the belief in the dignity and value of all human beings and of our planet. And those of us who work for peace have the most powerful weapon at our disposal...righteousness. For those of you who wish to discredit the peace movement I wish you luck. History may eventually become the judge of our actions today, but the children of the world will ultimately become the benefactors of these actions tomorrow. And they will remember what each and every one of us has done to impact their destinies.

Tonight I stand before you as a proud member of the peace movement. As a mother standing in solidariy with Cindy Sheehan I dedicate my life's work to my children Reya and Dominic and to the memory of Casey and all the fallen heroes of this illegal and immoral war both here and in the Middle East.

As you lay awake tonight in the capital of the greatest democracy on earth, having committed no crime other than grieving for your beautiful little boy, I wish you comfort in your grief. Blessings and may peace be upon you, Cindy. REMEMBER...YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

In peace and solidarity,
Mary AlKhaja

National Day of Protest: Lompoc Action

2005-09-19T23:52:00.000-07:00

As most of you may know, Saturday September 24, 2005 is a national day of protest both here and in the United Kingdom. The majority of Americans have had enough with the misguided foreign and domestic policies of the Bush Administration. This is our chance to show our elected officials that we are tired of our national treasure being wasted on an illegal war, money that should be going toward the protection of our own citizens in times of crisis and to the health and well being of all Americans.

If you are interested in participating in this action and cannot make it to San Francisco or Los Angeles we want you know that there will be a peace march and picnic here in Lompoc. We will be meeting at Centennial Park, located on H Street and Cypress Ave. at 10:30 AM. We will march along H Street and return to the park for a potluck picnic. Bring signs of peace and food or drink to share and join us for this peaceful demonstration.

Exercise your constitutional rights and become a participant in the democratic process. For more information please contact lompocpeace@yahoo.com or call 736-5459. Hope to see you on Saturday.

In peace,
Mary AlKhaja

"A Prayer Band" by Palestinian poet Suheir Hammad on Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

a prayer band

every thing

you ever paid for
you ever worked on
you ever received

every thing

you ever gave away
you ever held on to
you ever forgot about

every single thing is one
of every single thing and
all things are gone

every thing i can think to do
to say i feel
is buoyant

every thing is below water
every thing is eroding
every thing is hungry

there is no thing to eat
there is water every where
and there is no thing clean to drink

the children aren’t talking

the nurses have stopped believing
anyone is coming for us

the parish fire chief will never again tell anyone that help is coming

now is the time of rags
now is the indigo of loss
now is the need for cavalry

new orleans
i fell in love with your fine ass poor boys sweating frying
catfish blackened life thick women glossy seasoning
bourbon indians beads grit history of races
and losers who still won

new orleans
i dreamt of living lush within your shuttered eyes
a closet of yellow dresses a breeze on my neck
writing poems for do right men and a daughter of refugees

i have known of displacement
and the tides pulling every thing
that could not be carried within
and some of that too

a jamaican man sings
those who can afford to run will run
what about those who can’t
they will have to stay

end of the month tropical depression turned storm

someone whose beloved has drowned
knows what water can do
what water will do to once animated things

a new orleans man pleads
we have to steal from each other to eat
another gun in hand says we will protect what we have
what belongs to us

i have known of fleeing desperate
with children on hips in arms on backs
of house keys strung on necks
of water weighed shoes
disintegrated official papers
leases certificates births deaths taxes

i have known of high ways which lead nowhere
of aches in teeth in heads in hands tied

i have known of women raped by strangers by neighbors
of a hunger in human

i have known of promises to return
to where you come from
but first any bus going any where

tonight the tigris and the mississippi moan
for each other as sisters
full of unnatural things
flooded with predators and prayers

all language bankrupt

how long before hope begins to eat itself?
how many flags must be waved?
when does a man let go of his wife’s hand in order to hold his child?

who says this is not the america they know?

what america do they know?

were the poor people so poor they could not be seen?

were the black people so many they could not be counted?

this is not a charge
this is a conviction

if death levels us all
then life plays favorites

and life it seems is constructed
of budgets contracts deployments
of wards and automobiles of superstition and tourism
and gasoline but mostly insurance

and insurance it seems is only bought
and only with what cannot be carried within
and some of that too

a city of slave bricked streets
a city of chapel rooms
a city of saints

a crescent city

where will the jazz funeral be held?

when will the children talk?

tonight it is the dead
and dying who are left
and those who would rather not
promise themselves they will return

they will be there
after everything is gone
and when the saints come
marching like spring
to save us all

In Remembrance of 9-11-01

2005-09-09T00:13:00.000-07:00

A group of us from the Lompoc Coalition for Peace and Justice will be going to Santa Barbara this Sunday to visit Arlington West. We were trying to think of a meaningful way to spend the anniversary of 9-11-01 and decided to take a group of high school students down to Santa Barbara to assist in setting up this memorial. With military recruiters on their high school campuses on a regular basis encouraging them to enlist into the armed forces, we thought it was important for them to see what could be the ultimate result of that decision. The only way our children can make a responsible choice is for them to see all sides of the equation. They certainly aren't seeing the whole picture in the mainstream media clearly demonstrated by the fact that our commander and chief has banned all photographs of flag draped coffins returning to the states. I guess out of sight is out of mind.

The Santa Barbara chapter of Veterans for Peace have been constructing this memorial every Sunday since November of 2003 to give their fellow citizens a visual reminder of the human costs of the "War on Terror". I was in Santa Barbara two weeks ago and stopped by Stearns Wharf. I was moved to tears more than once as I walked through the rows of crosses bearing the names of young American men and women who have lost their lives in this conflict. One of the biggest problems I see, and one of the main reasons why more people are not outraged by our current foreign policy, is that this war is not impacting average Americans in any significant way. This memorial reminds us of the real tragedy facing American families and bears witness to the senseless loss of life perpetrated by this administration. For any of you living on the Central Coast who have not yet visited this memorial to our fallen troops, I encourage you to drive down to Santa Barbara this Sunday and bear witness to the truth.

The Worst Kind of Weapon You Can Imagine

2005-09-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

As the catastrophic tragedy on the Mississippi Gulf Coast intensifies one can only ponder how this could possibly be happening in the United States of America. The greatest superpower on the planet, with the most technically advanced resources known to humankind at it’s disposal, could not quickly and efficiently evacuate the people affected by this disaster. Instead, our fellow Americans were left to starve and drown to death, while Bush and his cohorts wrapped up their summer vacations. How outrageous. How shameful.

It appears that the only thing this administration can lead us into is an illegal and immoral war of aggression. They certainly cannot lead us during a time of national crisis. And it is painfully obvious that in the first few days of this crisis there was no leadership on the national level, which ultimately led to the unnecessary demise of hundreds if not thousands of American citizens.

Unfortunately, I am so outraged these days that I am not really shocked by this latest atrocity. I am saddened, in fact sickened by it, but not shocked. Mr. Bush made a statement recently that what happened to the Mississippi Gulf Coast was the worst kind of weapon you can imagine. I beg to differ. The worst kind of weapon you can imagine is a superpower out of control.

It began when our government was hijacked by fanatics bent on world domination. It led to a policy of preemptive war which has drained our national treasury and taken the lives of tens of thousands of people worldwide. The death and destruction began in the oil rich Middle East but has now found it’s way back home to our soil. Now my fellow Americans are paying the price for this insanity with their lives.

When will we say enough? When will Americans wake up and realize that they are being used, manipulated, robbed and now murdered by the worst kind of weapon you can imagine? When will we reclaim our democracy, our decency and our humanity? We have no more time to wait.

Candlelight Vigil in Lompoc

2005-08-18T02:06:00.000-07:00

What an evening. I was so thrilled by the turnout at tonight's candlelight vigil here in Lompoc. Over thirty people joined us to stand in solidarity with Cindy Sheehan and to honor our fallen soldiers and their families, as well as all victims of war and violence. Furthermore, it was so empowering to know that ours was one of over 1600 vigils simultaneously taking place around the country this evening.

For over two years our group has been accused of not supporting the troops and for being unpatriotic. Tonight we supported our troops in a very meaningful and respectful manner. And as always, I believe that exercising my constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of assembly is patriotic. What is the point of living in a democracy if I cannot exercise my rights? I would like someone to explain to me why this is viewed as unpatriotic and why our peace efforts are continually met with criticism and disdain?

What we should be critical of is an administration that will wreak death and destruction on our fellow human beings because they possess resources we covet. We should all be outraged that the war being waged in Iraq is based on lies, funded by our tax dollars, and is destroying our most precious national resource, our children. And we should all be holding this president accountable for the senseless loss of life both here and in the Middle East in the manner that Cindy Sheehan is. Not one more parent should have to grieve the needless loss of their child anywhere in the world.

The unacceptable reality of war without end, which this administration is purposing, is what motivates me to continue working for nonviolent conflict resolution and for a peaceful world that is safe for all its’ children. Working to end this insanity is our responsibility as United States citizens and in my opinion is the ultimate form of patriotism. This is the legacy I wish to leave my own children and the future generations to come.

In peace,
Mary AlKhaja

In Solidarity with Cindy

2005-08-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,
As I write this message tonight my sweet son is sleeping in his warm bed. It is this thought that keeps me from joining him in slumber…it is this thought that takes me to Crawford Texas…to another mother who cannot rest tonight because her beloved son is not resting in his bed, but is resting in peace. WHY?! I want to scream. Why is it acceptable to my fellow citizens that American children are dying for corporate greed and imperialist adventures? Why are our children dying so that corporations can get richer and the military can get stronger? What has happened to my country, the greatest democracy on earth, the bastion of freedom and the defender of human rights? Why can so many Americans sleep peacefully tonight while so many around the world are suffering and dying?

Cindy Sheehan is sleeping in the desert tonight, awaiting a meeting with our commander in chief, so that he can explain to her why her precious child died in a war based on lies. I only wish that I had the courage to do something so bold. Already the media is spinning this story. How typical. How disrespectful. This is a mother who is simply asking why her child was killed and is taking direct action to find the answer. She, like millions of Americans and billions of the world’s citizens, do not believe the official government lies as to why the US illegally invaded and occupied Iraq in the first place. She sees through the official deceptions and lies and has paid the ultimate price with the sacrifice of her eldest child’s life. I truly cannot imagine her pain and grief, as I cannot imagine the pain and grief of all the mother’s living in the Middle East who have lost their children, their loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods, because of US imperialism.

I had the privilege of meeting Cindy Sheehan this past April when she came to Lompoc to participate in a forum that our group sponsored on the human costs of the Iraq war. I wept, as most people in the room did, while she shared with us her story of the pain her family has endured as a result of her son’s death. It was because of her testimony that I was finally able to understand the impact this so called “War on Terror” is having on American families. She finally brought this home for me, and for that I am truly grateful.

Tonight I stand in solidarity with Cindy and all women and men holding vigil in Crawford Texas and around the world who seek an end to violence and the destruction of life. We, as civilized human beings, must find an alternative to war so that no other family experiences this kind of tragic, unnecessary loss of life. Our children depend on it and deserve to sleep peacefully tonight and every night.

In peace,
Mary AlKhaja

Lompoc Peace

2005-07-27T03:08:00.000-07:00

The Lompoc Coalition for Peace and Justice is a group of concerned citizens who wish to educate the public on social justice issues such as war, poverty, social inequality and attacks on democracy. We encourage people to question and challenge commonly held assumptions about American government and society by presenting alternative points of view. Conversely, we discourage passive, uncritical reliance on corporate mass media and official government press releases for the information we depend on to make informed decisions that impact all of our lives.

In the past two and a half years we have presented a series of films and forums to our local community on issues of national and international importance. Our goal is to educate the public and broaden the awareness of our fellow citizens on matters that concern us all, but are too often ignored by the mainstream media. We plan to present the people of Lompoc with an alternative perspective, which will hopefully encourage thoughtful debate and critical thinking, two very important components of a democratic society. Our ultimate hope is to build a proactive coalition of like-minded groups within the Lompoc community, who will continue to expand and educate the public about our ideals for peace and justice well beyond Santa Barbara County.

For those of you who may not know this, the city of Lompoc is located 8 miles east of Vandenberg Air Force Base. We find ourselves literally on the doorstep of the military industrial complex. Much of our local economy is dependent on the base and a significant number of employment opportunities are found there. Although many people of this community are opposed to the administrations policy of pre-emptive war without end, they have been intimidated into silence for fear of jeopardizing their livelihoods. Furthermore, a large percent of our community is comprised of military and retired military personnel and their families who hold very conservative views.

Because of the conservative nature of this community we have faced an enormous amount of opposition to our peace activities. But it is also because of this that we are determined to continue our efforts to educate the community about alternatives to violence and war, about peaceful resolutions to conflict, about social justice issues around the world and about the threats to our civil liberties and our democracy perpetrated by the current administration.

In the past two and a half years we have held weekly Women In Black vigils in Lompoc protesting war and violence perpetrated against civilians. We staged anti-war marches during the run up to the war on Iraq and have had numerous vigils and demonstrations since then in solidarity with peace actions around the world. We have brought nationally renowned speakers to our community to discuss issues such as the Patriot Act, interfaith alliances, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and the human costs of our current “war on terror.” One of our most recent events featured members of Gold Star Families for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the local chapter of Veteran’s for Peace who shared with us the impact of our current foreign policy on American families.

If you would like more information about our group or would like to become involved in our efforts please contact us at lompocpeace@yahoo.com.