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THE WEST POINT MAY 26th ORGANIZING COMMITTEE www.westpointrally.org
MAJOR PEACE RALLY SET TO PROTEST CHENEY SPEECH TO WEST POINT GRADUATION, MAY 26, 2007
People will start gathering in Veteran’s Park, Highland Falls, NY at 8:30 AM on Saturday, May 26th. After assembling, attendees will conduct a march to the Thayer Gate of the Academy, followed by a rally to include short speeches and entertainment.
World Can’t Wait is organizing carpooling in Manhattan. Also, the rally organizing committee itself will be providing a shuttle bus from Peekskill to the rally site for those who come on Metro North. Here’s the details on that stuff.
Gather at 6:00 AM (sharp) on 32nd Street, just west of 5th Avenue, Manhattan. If you have a car and provide seats for others, call us with information on how many people you can bring, etc. 347-678-5905
If you want a ride, please call 347-678-5905 to RSVP, so we know how many people.
Riders: please bring an extra $15.00 to help pay for gas, tolls and possibly parking fees. Those we can not provide rides for, can go by Metro North, leaving at 6:20 AM from Grand Central Station to Peekskill Station. (Round trip $17.50). Protest organizers are providing a shuttle bus from Peekskill Station to Veteran’s Park, and ask that people call ahead to make a reservation at: 914-682-4690.
“I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, 5-Star General, 34th President of the United States, West Point Class of 1915
Elected officials, veterans, military families, and grassroots citizen activists for peace, freedom, and justice will hold a march and rally at Veterans Park, Highland Falls, New York commencing at 8:30 am on May 26, 2007 as Vice President Dick Cheney delivers the commencement address to the graduating class of 2007 at the United States Military Academy.
“Dick Cheney announced at the onset of the war that it will not end in our lifetime. We are assembling before the future leaders of the American military to say that in their best interests, and ours as a nation, we as a people will not allow Cheney’s dire prophecy to be fulfilled,” said Steve Greenfield, founder of the National Council of American Eagles, a group of adult Eagle Scouts who have renewed their Eagle Oaths to lead the United States back to its essential national character and constitutional foundations.
Most of those planning to attend expressed particular dismay over Cheney’s selection for this year’s commencement address.
“This is a first where someone who has never served in the military and has no position in their chain of command has been selected to usher West Point graduates into a war,” said Rebecca Rotzler, Deputy Mayor of New Paltz and co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. “The fact that Dick Cheney used deferrments to avoid service during wartime only adds to the insult to this nation and the graduates. Given his lack of credentials, it appears that Cheney was chosen for his leading role in maintaining and expanding the pattern of lies that have kept our men and women killing and dying in Iraq. We will gather on May 26th to protest against Dick Cheney and his criminal, impeachable conduct.”
“We feel morally obligated to continue to protest the war in Iraq and to show this administration that people around the country will not accept the perpetuation of this war. Allowing Vice President Cheney to appear in our region without protest is tantamount to supporting this war and condoning current American foreign policy,” said Michael Sussman, the civil rights attorney currently defending the West Point 8, and the chairperson of the Democratic Alliance.
Organizations including Veterans for Peace, social justice groups, women’s groups, media watchdogs, impeachment advocates, party activists ranging the full spectrum from Democrat to Republican, Green to Libertarian, and over a thousand citizens are set to take part. With the endorsement of several national peace coalitions, this year’s peace event stands to be the largest in West Point history. At press time, an injunction was being sought in federal court to permit the parade to enter the grounds of the campus itself, which, if approved, would be the first access of this type in the movement’s history.
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