20th Anniversary Celebration
October 13: it was a great honor for us to bring the renowned author and historian Howard Zinn to speak at St. Francis College on "War and the Election".
Protest
March 20: Brooklyn For Peace joined the millions of people world wide who took to the streets to declare that the world still says NO to the War in Iraq.
August 29: We joined with half a million people all saying NO! to the Bush Agenda
Iraq
In a year long effort, we gathered 2748 signatures for an "Emergency Petition to Halt the Bombardment of Iraqi Civilians and End the Occupation of Iraq."
Starting on May 1st, we held Sunday night vigils which continued through June and led to an August meeting with Congressman Schumer where we presented our perspective on the Iraq war.
We sponsored Salma Yaqoob, a British Muslin anti-war leader, speaking about the British Anti-War movement.
Brooklyn 2004 Peace Fair
At our Second Annual Brooklyn Peace Fair on October 16, hosted this year by the Brooklyn YWCA, almost 800 people (twice as many as in 2003) and over 120 community organizations came together for a full day of performance, discussion, and education around issues of war and peace. This unique event is part of our mission of creating a culture of peace and justice, and of reaching out to bring together diverse Brooklyn communities.
We have already begun planning for the 3rd Annual Brooklyn Peace Fair.
UNICEF Campaign
For Halloween this year BFP participated for the first time in a UNICEF campaign to foster international awareness and social responsibility among children in schools in the Park Slope neighborhood.
Israel-Palestine
We sponsored a community meeting featuring a report from two of our members who had recently visited Israel and the Occupied Territories with a Jewish American delegation to observe conditions and meet with human rights activists.
We sponsored a speech by Peretz Kidron, an Israeli writer, journalist and refusenik who is part of the growing movement in which Israeli soldiers are refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories.
Our Israel-Palestine committee held meetings with Congressman Major Owens, Congressman Ed Towns, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, and Congressman Jerrold Nadler to open dialogue with them, and to press them to take a leadership role in affecting the US-supported policies regarding Israel and Palestine.
International Awareness
We developed position statements on Haiti and Darfur.
Outreach
Thanks to many, many volunteers, we continued to reach out through old fashioned tabling and conversation in Brooklyn neighborhoods. Thousands of people signed petitions and picked up flyers at sidewalk tables.
We participated in many street festivals, including Brooklyn Pride, Williamsburg Music, Red Hook Arts, Seventh Heaven, Fifth Avenue, Smith Street, Bay Ridge, East New York, Fort Greene Greenmarket, and the Atlantic Antic.
We participated in an Interfaith Peace Walk, bridging the distance between synagogue and mosque.
Opposition to Military Recruiting in Public High Schools
We continued our Opt Out Project, offering information about the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, which makes the name, address, and telephone number of every public high school student available to military recruiters unless students choose to "opt out".
Creation of Visual Resources
Working with professional Brooklyn artists, we designed and produced "Say No to War!" and Brooklyn Peace Fair T-shirts, as well as a visually compelling window-poster "Who's Dying? Who's Lying? Who's Profiting? Say No To War! Bring Our Troops Home" These resources, as well as low-cost buttons with peace and justice slogans, are important in bringing our message and sparking conversation in our various communities.
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