Genesee Valley Citizens for Peace
PO Box 363 Geneseo NY 14454 <www.gvcp.org>
"Human Race Not Arms Race"
February 29, 2004

Dear GVCP Member:
NEXT GVCP MEETING: SUNDAY, MARCH 28th, 2:00 PM, 15 Livingston, Geneseo. [Livingston runs north off North St. Parking is tight-it's better to park on North and walk along Livingston to number 15.]
WEEKLY SATURDAY MORNING VIGILS FOR PEACE! 10:30-11:30 AM in Honeoye, Richmond Memorial Park, Route 20A. (Not Honeoye Falls!) [Judi Taylor 585-229-4963 <jsalsburg@monroecc.edu>]

Help Free Lori Berenson! Phone in to the White House every Wednesday and Thursday. Call the White House Hotline: (202) 456-1111, press "1." Lori has been in Peruvian prisons for eight years. Ask the operator if she/he knows about Lori. (Most of them do.) If she/he doesn't know who Lori is, say, "She's a US citizen who has been in jail in Peru for eight years." Then ask the operator to tell President Bush to use the authority of his office to free Lori.

SAVE THE DATES: Thursday, March 11th, 7:00 PM, Schults Center, Nazareth College, Rochester. Panel Teach-In: Health Care, Not Warfare.

Friday, March 19th, 4:30 PM Liberty Pole, Rochester. Health Care, Not Warfare rally. 5:30 PM March to Genesee Hospital [closed because of corporate greed and lack of funding]. Rally and picket until 6:30 PM. This rally is conveniently scheduled to allow people to stay in Rochester and attend the event:

Progressive Celebration 2004 (which actually is scheduled to begin at 6:00 PM). Edgerton Community Center, 41 Backus St., Rochester. This event extends through the evening and includes a potluck dinner, performance by Charlie King & Karen Brandow, panels, and a musical send-off for people leaving on the bus to attend:

Saturday, March 20 The World Still Says No to War! Peace rally in NYC. Buses leave from Rochester and Geneseo late Friday night & arrive NYC Saturday morning. Call Metro Justice 585-325-2560. More info: <unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2136> or
<internationalanswer.org/news/update/010204mar20.html>

Saturday-Tuesday, March 27-30 Shut down the SOA! Washington, DC. "Not in Our Name and Not with Our Tax Money!" A vote on the School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation is coming up in the U.S. Congress in the summer of 2004! It is our job to make sure that enough Representatives vote against the school. Hold your Representative accountable. The SOA Watch Spring Mobilization will include trainings, skill-shares, street theater, social and educational events. Check SOAW website: <http://www.soaw.org> for more info.

Saturday, May 1st, 1:00 PM. Mayday! Disarm! May 1st, 2004, No More Nuclear Excuses for War, New York City, specific location TBA. <www.1may04.org>

THIS MONTH'S LETTER: BOOKS, NOT BOMBS; HUMAN SERVICES, NOT WAR!
Invading Iraq and Afghanistan has caused the deaths or injury of almost 30,000 Iraqi & Afghani civilians. Over 15,000 Iraqi, Afghani, U.S., and "Coalition" troops have been killed. Countless more have been wounded or injured. The financial cost of invading Iraq was $26 billion! Ongoing military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq cost almost $5 billion a month! [This information-and much more-is available in the leaflet "Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes," distributed by War Resisters League. I'll plan to send the leaflet out with next month's newsletter.] Write: to President Bush [The White House, Washington DC 20500], your Senators [Washington DC 20510] and your Representative [Washington DC 20515]. Urge them to use money for human needs, not warfare. Remember-the next time you hear of a hospital, a library, or a human needs agency being cut back because of budget cuts, speak out. BUDGET CUTS ARE NOT NATURAL OCCURENCES LIKE HURRICANES OR ICE STORMS. THEY OCCUR BECAUSE POLITICIANS HAVE MADE THE DECISION THAT THERE'S ENOUGH MONEY FOR WAR, BUT NOT ENOUGH MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS. WE MUST NOT GIVE UP OUR STRUGGLE TO OPPOSE THIS KIND OF THINKING!
Peace,