Tug of War

As the Tea Party descended on Greenfield on July 17, members of the Greenfield and Northampton vigils to end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan continued their silent protest in Greenfield. Meanwhile, members of the Alliance for Peace and Justice of Western Mass.'s Street Theater Committee hit the streets of Northampton in a not-so-silent protest built around the theme of "The Tug of War." Members chanted, "There is a tug of war in our nation between the people and the military-industrial complex. Bring our troops and war dollars home. Stand up for your rights."

The Street Theater Committee holds periodic actions to educate the citizens in Western Mass. about the horrific costs of the wars in human lives and the devastating effects of the enormous military budget on the people in our region and throughout the nation. The APJ-W.MA is part of a coalition of individuals and groups in the Pioneer Valley and Berkshires using various tactics such as teach-ins, vigils, and street action to oppose President Obama's expansion of the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan and get our troops out of harm's way in Iraq. It is part of a growing movement throughout the country to bring our troops and war dollars home and to oppose a massive military budget that drastically cuts into spending on real human needs in our towns and cities.

Why? Because we're into 20 years of war and counting, beginning with the first Iraq War. Eighteen veterans a day committed suicide in 2005 and that rate for young vets went up by 26 percent between 2005 and 2007; 20 percent of all suicides in the U.S. are vets. Our soldiers are coming home in caskets or maimed physically and psychologically.

A recent study by Stanford University puts the rate of post-traumatic syndrome (PTSD) at 35 percent; the Veterans Adminstration is not equipped to handle these cases. Countless numbers of innocent civilians (many women and children) have been maimed and killed—hundreds of thousands, experts believe.

Total tax dollars [expended on the wars] could exceed $325 billion in 2010. The people of Northampton alone will have paid $111.7 million in war taxes by the end of FY2010, and education and unemployment services, medical care, housing, family services and private sector financing have been drastically reduced.

A major current campaign of the Alliance aims to have the Northampton City Council pass a resolution calling on our U.S. congressmen and senators to oppose war funding and end the wars. The resolution was initially sponsored by five of the nine Council members and the mayor. A city-sponsored forum on the resolution was held on Wednesday, June 23, at the JFK Middle School Auditorium. The citizens' petition giving the text of the resolution can be downloaded for anyone to circulate among residents of Northampton and other towns throughout the region at http://apj-wmass.org/. There are myriad ways for people from all ages and all walks of life to get involved in our work. Please see our website for ways to get involved.

Lynn Martin
Holyoke

Taxes for Shakespeare, Not for Weapons

Taxpayers should be reminded that promoting arts and the classics is just as vital a priority as spending billions of dollars unnecessarily on the weapons of mass destruction we allegedly possess in the name of peace. Not only does Shakespeare have far more value than our nuclear weapons; at a mere $300,000, it's a far better deal. John (see Letters, July 22, 2010) should be more than happy that our government can still spend even a paltry amount to help ensure that his granddaughter will have access to the classics.

Greg Bennett
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