Syracuse
Peace Council
924 Burnet Ave, Syracuse, NY 13203
(315) 472-5478
spc@peacecouncil.net
Spring 2008 Fund Appeal
Return Coupon (pdf)
Winter/Spring 2008 Highlights Flier (pdf)
June, 2008
Dear Friends,
Your support of the Syracuse Peace Council is urgently needed now.
The last six months have been intense for the Peace Council. We have been
educating, agitating and organizing for peace and social justice in numerous
ways: organizing support for the Iraq Veterans Against the War’s
Winter Soldier Hearings; creating community at Plowshares Craftsfair;
providing high school students with information on what it means to join
the military; giving talks on the Onondaga Nation’s land rights action;
stopping business as usual in downtown Syracuse at the start of the sixth
year of the U.S. occupation of Iraq (see flyer for more).
The last six months have also seen the Peace Council move from our home
of 36 years on Burnet Ave. to the Syracuse Center for Peace and Social
Justice. The Peace Council had initiated the Center, and SPC staff and
volunteers have spent countless hours helping it grow and mature. Supporting
the development of the Center, packing up and moving from Burnet Ave.,
and continuing a high level of activism has been exciting, but also challenging
in that it inhibited our ability to replenish our drained financial resources
in the midst of a steadily worsening economy.
We are very fortunate that Howard Zinn has volunteered to write in our
support. Originally he had been scheduled to speak at our spring Birthday
Dinner, but his wife’s serious illness prevented that. We offer him
our sympathy and appreciate his willingness to continue his support for
SPC during such a difficult time.
A note to SPC supporters from Howard Zinn:
We are in the
midst of the election frenzy that seizes the country every four years.
We lose our sense of proportion because we have been brought up to believe
that the most important act that a citizen can engage in is to vote. Yes,
I will vote. However, the majority of our energy, time and money shouldn’t
be spent advocating for one candidate over another. Our objective should
be to build a movement by educating, agitating and organizing in our workplaces,
neighborhoods and schools. It is this movement that will change national
policy, not a new person in the White House. Voting is easy and somewhat
useful, but is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct
action by concerned citizens.
The Syracuse Peace Council understands this. In its long life, SPC has
rarely endorsed a particular political candidate, not because it can’t,
but because it chooses instead to work tirelessly to create a movement
that focuses on the real issues facing our country and the world. Yes,
elections matter, but as SPC states in the November 2006 Peace Newsletter,
elections are just the beginning - voting can never be the primary vehicle
for social change.
It is SPC’s direct action and long range vision that make it such
a valuable resource. I encourage you to contribute to the work of real
democracy building by supporting the Syracuse Peace Council – with
time or money or both. Please write SPC a generous check as soon as you
can. Consider making a monthly or quarterly pledge. It will be money very
well spent.
Thank you.
