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[OPIRG-EVENTS] VIGIL for NONVIOLENCE, Sat October 6
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VIGIL for NONVIOLENCE to APPEAL for PEACE!
Saturday, OCTOBER 6, Ottawa
Please join us in calling for
an end to the cycle of violence
We will gather on Parliament Hill, 1 p.m.
and have a Solemn Procession for Peace to
First United Church
(397 Kent St., at Florence St.)
Our program at the church (beginning at 2 pm)
will include brief presentations, music & prayer.
Followed by discussion groups and workshops.
Organized by the:
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
(This event REPLACES our prvious plans for a
"No to NATO: Festival of Creative Nonviolence."
See the explanatory letter below.)
================================================
Tentative PROGRAM
VIGIL for NONVIOLENCE
(at First United Church) October 6, 2 pm:
The event will be chaired by two of COAT's mentors:
Marion Dewar, former Mayor of Ottawa
Jean-Claude Parrot, Exec. Vice Pres., Canadian Labour Congress
Brief MESSAGES from:
Michel Chossudovsky, author, The Globalization of Poverty
Philippe Duhamel, SalAMI
Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Cdn. Orthodox Archdiocese, Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Carolyn Langdon, Voice of Women for Peace, Canada
David Morgan, Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, Canada
Moraima Rivera, Puerto Rican activist opposing NATO test bombing of Vieques
Island
Dr. Gamal Solaiman, Imam, Ottawa Mosque
Richard Sanders, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade
Laurel Smith, Homes Not Bombs
Mel Watkins, Science for Peace - Canada
Susanne Wall, Fellowship of Reconciliation - USA
Theresa Wolfwood, Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Group
We will also hear from:
Helen Caldicott, of the film "If you Love this Planet"
Arun Gandhi, founder, M.K.Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence (and grandson of
Mahatma Gandhi)
(They will join us live on the phone from Australia and the U.S.,
respectively)
MUSIC led by:
Ian Tamblyn
Terry Tufts and Kathryn Briggs
Following the messages from speakers there will be simultaneous
DISCUSSION GROUPS/WORKSHOPS:
(1) Nonviolence in Action: Resisting Canada's role in space weapons research
(Matthew Behrens, Homes Not Bombs, Toronto)
(2) Solidarity with Vieques: Nonviolent resistance to NATO's bomb testing
(Moraima Rivera, Nonviolent action organizer, Puerto Rico)
(3) Getting to the Roots of NATO Militarism
(Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, Economics, University of Ottawa)
(4) Theatre in Resistance
(Laurel Smith, Burning Passions Theatre, Toronto)
======================================================
Background information on this event:
At an emergency meeting September 13, key members of the Coalition to
Oppose the Arms Trade, after consulting with many others, decided to make
some important changes to the event that we had planned for October 6. We
had been planning an event called: "No to NATO: Festival of Creative
Nonviolence" to respond to the NATO-related meetings which will be held in
Ottawa on that Thanksgiving weekend.
As you'll see from the above description, our event will still take place
on Saturday, October 6, 2001, starting at 1 p.m.
Our dual themes, of: (1) support for nonviolence and (2) opposition to
NATO, remain the same. However, we have decided to change the whole tone
of our event, as well as its location.
From a FESTIVAL to a VIGIL
Due to the horrific violence that descended upon the U.S. on September 11,
and our mourning for the loss of innocent lives, it is no longer
appropriate to hold a celebratory, joyful and happy "Festival of Creative
Nonviolence" as we had hoped. (This would have been a wonderful event, but
for us to proceed with that format at this time would be highly
insensitive. We are determined to organize this type of event at some
later date. Stay tuned.)
The appropriate form for our event on Oct. 6 is a VIGIL for NONVIOLENCE to
PLEA for PEACE!
The need to appeal for nonviolence is even more important now than before.
This focus on nonviolence will remain central to the theme of our event.
It is at the core of our message. We are appealing for nonviolence!
Change of location
We have also decided to change the location of our event, which we had
previously planned to hold in Majors Hill Park, directly across the street
from the new U.S. embassy. For numerous reasons, our use of this location
is no longer suitable, practical, feasible or even possible.
Instead, on October 6 at 1 p.m. we will gather on Parliament Hill. From
there we will walk in a solemn procession south to First United Church, at
397 Kent St. (at Florence). At the church we will have a program which
includes many of the same presenters who had already agreed to join us at
our festival in the park. Discussion groups and workshops will also be
include, but info tables and displays will no longer be part of the program.
Our dual themes remain intact
Our two main themes: (1) nonviolence and (2) opposition to NATO war are
both very important at this time. They will remain central to our event.
The U.S. is preparing itself for military strikes and a NATO-backed war
seems imminent. As we face the possibility of another war, we know that if
the cycle of retaliatory violence is repeated, many further innocent lives
will be lost. We fear that by October 6, our governments may again be at
war.
Our event on Saturday, October 6, will be opportunity for people to come
together to appeal for nonviolence, to plead for reason and to call for an
end to the cycle of violence.
We hope that you will join us at this event to express our solidarity with
people all over the world who are pleading for reason, calling for an end
to the cycle of violence and pledging themselves to support nonviolence as
the way to peace.
Richard Sanders
Coordinator,
Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade
Richard Sanders
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
A national peace network supported by
individuals and organizations across Canada
541 McLeod St., Ottawa Ontario K1R 5R2 Canada
Tel.: 613-231-3076 Fax: 613-231-2614
Email: <ad207@ncf.ca> Web site: <http://www.ncf.ca/coat>
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Help build opposition to NATO PA meetings in Ottawa, Oct. 5-8, 2001!
Join the "no_to_nato" list serve:
Send the message: subscribe no_to_nato to <majordomo@flora.org>
Read the archives of our list serve <http://www.flora.org/coat/forum/>
Sign our "Global Appeal for 'No More Violence'"
<http://www.flora.org/coat/appeal/>
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