OntheWilderSide

The Green Party of Suffolk, the county’s largest peace organization, has endorsed the Saturday, March 19, 2011 march and vigil calling for an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The date was chosen since it will mark the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq John Keenan, a 2002 Green Party Congressional candidate, will be speaking at the event. The North Country Peace Group is sponsoring the march and vigil. This event has been designed as the focal point for all peace activities on Long Island on March 19. For more information, contact ncpeaceg@gmail.com

The endorsing groups call for all Long Islanders to mourn the thousands who have died since the invasion of Afghanistan, and to call for an end to the immoral, illegal and costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They call for “Not One More Death, Not One More Dollar!”

The Marchers assemble at Setauket King Kullen Shopping Center on Rt. 25A, Setauket at 10:15 a.m. The Solemn “March of the Dead” proceeds east along shopping center to Stop & Shop, then west to Bennetts Road/25A at 10:30 a.m. Marchers are asked to wear black. Others may opt to go directly to vigil site. There will be the “Reading of the Names” of Long Islanders killed in Iraq and Afghanistan followed by speakers; music; vigil; and the demonstration from 11:00 a.m. to 12 noon.

Since December 2002, the North Country Peace Group has demonstrated every Saturday morning on the corner of Rt. 25A and Bennetts Rd. in Setauket for an end to the Iraq War and Afghanistan War, and a speedy and safe return of our troops.

The Green Party, also known as America’s Peace Party, has nearly 1500 members in Suffolk County. The Green Party has continually opposed the Afghanistan and Iraq war and has consistently called for the immediate return of our troops, in stark contrast to the Democratic and Republican parties. The Green Party has always been part of the national peace movement. The opposition has been expressed across the board, from local Green Party members marching in a Smithtown peace vigil while U.S. bombs were first being dropped on innocent Afghanis, to the campaigns of National and State Green Party candidates. 

The Democratic and Republican Parties have refused to listen to Green Party candidates telling them that their war policies were based on false information and flawed policy analysis. In 2002, Green Party Congressional candidate John Keenan (2nd Dist) explained why attacking Iraq and Afghanistan were bad policy based on false information and a misguided idea of revenge. His opponent, Congressman Steve Israel, kept insisting that he had read two books that backed the necessity to follow the invasion of Afghanistan with an invasion of Iraq. As former FDNY member Keenan had predicted, the books cited by Israel not only turned out to be false, but were funded by the CIA as propaganda tools.

Six years later in the 2008 presidential election, the Democratic and Republican candidates still had not learned from their fatal mistakes. While on the national stage, Green Party Presidential candidate (and former Congresswoman) Cynthia McKinney warned Obama and McCain to not continue the failed policies in Iraq and Afghanistan. The same dialogue played out with the local surrogates for their campaigns. In a presidential debate in Huntington with local political leaders standing in for their candidates, Green Party of Suffolk chair Roger Snyder warned the Democratic and Republican stand-ins that the U.S. would be best served by immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. Suffolk County Legislator Jon Cooper, standing in for Obama, called the idea of immediate withdrawal “naive”

Snyder said:

It’s time for the rank and file of America’s Peace Movement to come home to America’s Peace Party. Today we march, tomorrow we vote.

The march and vigil on March 19th are also endorsed by Bellport Women in Black; Code Pink LI; Franciscan Brothers of the Little Portion Friary; Great Neck SANE/Peace Action; Interfaith Alliance – LI Chapter; Islamic Center of LI; LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives; LI Food Not Bombs; LI Immigrant Alliance; LI Progressive Coalition; LI School of the Americas Watch; LI Teachers for Human Rights; Metro NY Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism; Pax Christi LI; Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stony Brook; South Country Peace Group; Suffolk Peace Network; Suffolk Progressive Vision; United People for Social, Economic and Racial Justice; Veterans for Peace LI

In addition, the Green Party of Suffolk has invited all enrolled Green Party members to come to their annual membership meeting to celebrate regaining their ballot line. The meeting will be held on the following Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 12pm at the Stony Brook Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 380 Nicolls Road, E. Setauket. You can enroll in the Green Party on a New York State Voter Registration form. For more information about the Green Party, or about the March meeting, please contact Suffolk Chair Roger Snyder at (631) 351-5763. Or, go to the web-site: www.gpsuffolk.org.

The Green Party is a worldwide political movement. The four pillars of the Green Party are: Social and Economic Justice; Grassroots Democracy; Ecological Wisdom and Non-Violence/Peace.

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Filed under: 3rd party, Action Alert!, activism, afghanistan, Anti-War, cynthia mckinney, election, elections, grassroots democracy, Green Party, international politics, Iraq, politics, Press Release, third party, US Politics, war Tagged: | Afghanistan War, cynthia mckinney, Four Pillars of the Green Party, green, iraq war, John Keenan, long island, new york, Roger Snyder, War in Afghanistan (2001–present)