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Local peace groups plan Saturday march

JANESVILLE — Two anti-war groups are sponsoring a March for Peace on Saturday in Janesville.

Speaking at the event will be Bill Christofferson, who recently was co-chairman of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, a statewide network of 174 groups working for social change.

Christofferson, a Vietnam veteran and member of Veterans for Peace, says any time is a good time to march for peace.

"But right now is especially important," he says. "President Obama is about to make a major decision on the direction we take in Afghanistan—another endless, bloody and expensive quagmire, where there is no hope of 'winning,' whatever that means, and where innocent civilians die every day."

Many who wanted peace in Iraq and Afghanistan supported Obama and voted to give his party control of Congress in 2006.

"It is critical that we hold them accountable and make them do the right thing," Christofferson says. "Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize; we want him to earn it."

Sponsoring the march is the Rock Valley Fellowship of Reconciliation and Rock County Citizens for Peace.

The message Christofferson hopes to send to the public is:

"Help us end these wars. If you can't march, do something to tell Congress and the President that we want to bring our troops home, not send more … If people speak up, we can have an impact."

Oct. 15 is the anniversary of the Vietnam Moratorium of 1969, one of the biggest nationwide anti-war protests in United States history.

"That's one reason organizers are holding events across the country on Oct. 17, and Janesville is one of many," Christofferson says.

Sue Nelson of Rock Valley Fellowship of Reconciliation says Obama has "not heard our voices for peace." The Janesville woman urges people to think about what is being spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and cites numbers from the National Priorities Project, which analyzes federal data so people can understand how their tax dollars are spent.

The cost of the wars to people in Janesville is $169.9 million since 2001, and the cost to Rock County is $430.8 million, she says. To date, 915.1 billion dollars have been allocated to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the National Priorities Project of Northampton, Mass.

"As people who are concerned about the state of the world and our country, we have to be more visible," Nelson says.

"Marching for peace is one way to do that."