Glastonbury Peace Vigils
an article by Matt McLaughlin

Here in Glastonbury, CT, we are doing our best to reach out to the community to help generate support for peace, for justice without war. We have been having great turnouts for our new weekly peace vigils our in the center of town (corner of Main and Hebron), as well as some VERY inspiring and encouraging responses from passer-byers. We get a vast majority of positive responses to negative ones, including thumbs ups, peace signs, honks and shouts of support. There is a considerably less amount of negative responses, most of them mindless and brutish, others merely a thumbs down or a shake of the head. The amount of indifference is greater than both positive and negative, but the mere presence of our vigils and the messages on our signs creates a new presence in each person's mind. Most people, I imagine, never gave a second thought as to just how many people really support the "War on Terrorism," before they drove by. Now, at least, they recognize that there ARE those who do not. Just the look of surprise on people's faces is satisfaction enough to stand out in the awful heat we've been having lately!

The Glastonbury Peace and Justice Organization puts on these vigils. The GPJO was started early this summer with the first meeting on June 22nd. Presently, there are easily over 20 members. Our home page is www.gpjo.org, which includes important news updates taken from both the GPJO listserv and the CT Coalition for Peace and Justice listserv for anyone who may have missed them, which is updated daily. Our site also includes recommended links, contact info, as well as a new section I've named "Anti-War For Dummies." Submissions are welcomed.

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What can we do to avoid another war in Iraq?


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Matt's Peace Work is an inspiring example of what a few people can do to avoid a war in Iraq. By reaching out to the community, the Glastonbury vigilers are doing their bit to add to a growing ground swell of public opinion against a rush to war.

This report was posted on August 30, 2002. The moderator is Robin.

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