Veterans For Peace will continue our live Memorial Day Service May 30, 2022 beginning at 10:30 am on the State Capitol grounds on John Ireland Blvd, just outside of the Vietnam Veterans memorial. We will follow all necessary safety regulations as we gather and have a Native welcome, hear some music, spoken word and have a time to remember “All” those have been lost to “All” wars, veterans and non veterans. If the weather is inclement we will gather under the walkway between the VA administration buildings. Please bring a chair and whatever you need to be comfortable.
Sincerely,
Barry Riesch
FFI contact me at 651-641-1087
or bwrvfp27@gmail.com
Veterans For Peace has commemorated Memorial Day every year to remember the true costs of war. We are a group of military veterans, family members and friends who are joined in association by our pledge to serve the cause of world peace and abolish war.
On Memorial Day we remember all who have died in war and understand that no one wins in war. Many of us have been personally touched by war. But we must also extend that mourning. We must remember the civilian victims, and their families, who are all equally human beings. Honoring and remembering some deaths while ignoring others not only perpetuates war, but also ignores the moral injuries of war, which some now recognize as a significant cause of veteran suicide. We also now remember the environmental impacts of war as Veterans For Peace now works to educate others on the US Militaries impact on the Climate Crisis. The most important fact to remember is that the Pentagon is the WORLD’s single largest institutional user of fossil fuels AND the single largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) (1). In fact, if the Department of Defense were a country. it would rank #47 (out of 170) in the world’s ranking of CO2 polluting countries.
We do not seek to glorify either warriors or war. Rather, Veterans For Peace seeks to educate the public about the folly of war and the human, economic, civil rights and liberties and environmental cost of war. VFP members march in parades, lay wreaths, give talks and speeches, recite poetry and vigil to honor U.S. service members who died in and as a result of war, as well as all the civilian victims of war.
There are people who profit from war, mainly those who invest in the defense industry or the oil sector. But the veterans and civilians who survive war suffer for the rest of their lives. And the entire society is robbed of billions of tax dollars which could be spent on jobs, education, healthcare, infrastructure and sustainable energy. We need to fund healthcare and human needs over the massive expenses of the military.
Our message for Memorial Day is to remember all who have died in war and to understand that no one wins. We understand that those who fight the wars gain the least from them and those who send us to war gain the most from war. There are many people who either profit from war or are misled by war mongers and profiteers. These are the people who seek to block our message to question war and to work for peace.
Shall we remember what war is?
Shall we remember what war is?
What is war?
In the human psyche
it is the fatal flaw,
a perversion of the human mind,
using our greatest brains to create
outrageous threats to all mankind.War is
the profoundest disrespect
for the sanctity
of human life,
the ultimate in racism,
the collapse of morality.War is
the ultimate in criminality,
the ultimate obscenity,
the ultimate crime against humanity.So shall we honour war?
and shall we now praise troubled men?
Or shall we remember what war is
and give true meaning
to “Never again” ?David Roberts
28 September 2004