West Springfield Citizens for Peace sponsored vigils to mark 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq

  - Tuesday, March 18, at their usual spot on the West Springfield Town Common at the intersection of Park Street (Rte. 20) across from the Public Library
4:30 – 5:30 p.m. 

- Friday, March 21,  at the intersection of Rte. 20 and Boulevard (at the light just before Rte. 20 heads downhill into the center of West Springfield.  There’s a gas station on one of the corners.)
12 noon – 1:00 p.m. 
This event is also part of the monthly National Iraq Moratorium Against the War.

NOTE: The official Dept. of Defense U.S. death toll as of March 10 is 3,974, so we may also be sadly commemorating the 4,000th American death.  Estimates of Iraqi deaths range from 81,000 documented civilian deaths from violence (from the Iraq Body Count website) to as many of 655,000 excess Iraqi deaths from all causes (from a study in the British medical journal “Lancet”).

We hope that some of you will be able to join us for one or more of these vigils.  We will have signs, but you are welcome to bring your own.

---

Note: Peace vigils continue on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays each month at 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.on the West Springfield Green opposite the library.
 (click here for map & directions to West Springfield Library)

Summary of March 2006 Events at the West Springfield Library

During the month of March, the West Springfield Public Library and West Springfield Citizens for Peace co-sponsored an educational program on Iraq at the Library. The centerpiece of the program was be a month-long exhibit of Iraqi children's art. accompanied by photographs from Baghdad of a child-to-child art exchange project coordinated by Northampton educator Claudia Lefko. There were art supplies available in the Youth Room of the library for children and their parents to make drawings for the children of Iraq.

Recognizing that most Americans know very little about Iraq except the images of violence shown on the daily news, the group offered additional presentations on the culture of Iraq, including the Muslim religion, and the lives of ordinary people living there.

The Opening Reception was held on Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m., with a short talk at 7:15 by Northampton educator Claudia Lefko on her month-long exhibit of Iraqi children's art. accompanied by photographs from Baghdad of a child-to-child art exchange project.

On Tuesday, March 7 at 7:00 p.m., Ladan Akbarnia, visiting lecturer at Smith College,  gave a power point presentation on Iraqi Art. Akbarnia is currently teaching in the Department of Art and Architecture at Smith and is a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard.

On Tuesday, March 14 from 4:00p.m. - 5:00 p.m. there were activities for children as well as adults, including Northampton educator Claudia Lefko reading Jeanette Winter's children's book, "The Librarian of Basra".  The reading was followed by a non-threatening discussion geared for children about the circumstances of this true story. Through age-appropriate story-telling and colorful illustrations, The Librarian of Basra chronicles the work of Basra librarian Alia Muhammed Baker who, with her family and some community members, saved 30,000 volumes from being destroyed during the war in Iraq.

On Wednesday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m.  the video "Abbas Goes to Japan" was shown, followed by a discussion led by Claudia Lefko.  The video tells the story of a young boy with cancer who is sponsored to Japan for treatment by a Japanese NGO.  Claudia, as you may know, spent some time working with children in a cancer ward (in Baghdad, I believe) during the time of the U.N. sanctions.

On Wednesday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m.  the final activity in conjunction with the exhibit, was a talk and slides by Jo Comerford entitled “Examining the impact of War.”  Comerford, the Program Coordinator of Western Mass. American Friends Service Committee, was part of a humanitarian aid delegation to Iraq in June 2002.  Six members of the Waronoke Peace Action Group were present.

Additionally, the Library has a growing collection of books on the Middle East; these were on display during the month. All of the events were free and open to the public at the West Springfield Public Library.

---

Report on West Springfield leg of "Walk for a New Spring 2006" from Mary Anne O'Connor

Weren't the peace walkers inspirational? 

I wasn't able to join them in walking, but I was with them at the Chicopee mayor's office, where Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette signed on to Mayors for Peace (first mayor from a community with a military base as large as that at Westover) and then at the Holyoke mayor's office, where a large group of students from MacDuffie Academy witnessed the the meeting between the walkers and Mayor Michael J. Sullivan.

See peace walker pictures on my photo site at
http://www.pbase.com/maryanne16/peacewalkers