Peace Events
Through Friday e-mails and monthly church bulletins, we distributed information on the UUA’s peacemaking study project and its question of adopting a non-violence principle. At our meetings, we held discussions of the possible UU non-violence principle. We submitted input to the UUA, through Morris Hudgins, on the views of committee members and friends.
Some members donated items to Blue Star Families of Central Virginia for care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq. We encouraged the wider church community to donate items.
We bought winter holiday toys for nine Iraqi refugee children living in Charlottesville. Committee members continued our support for Iraqi refugee families, including shared meals, conversation, and outings. At our request, a private company donated a few English language computer programs for sharing among Iraqi refugees.
At our monthly meetings we discussed background of the Israeli Palestinian conflict and the Israel’s December bombings of Gaza. We distributed ar ticles and web sites to learn more and educate others. We shared the web site for Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (www.uujme.org) after Dr. Kim Beach spoke on Israel Palestine. After the Gaza bombings, some members sent postcards to our representatives calling for a cease fire; for the U.S. to end military funding for Israel; and to follow the Red Cross’ and the U.N.’s recommendations to investigate possible war crimes, including the use of white phosphorus. Some members participated in the downtown demonstration against the bombings of Gaza.
We continue to update our book list, compiled with recommendations from the UUA, UVa Department of Religious Studies, local scholars and activists. The list may be found at the committee’s section on the church web site. We continue to build our e-mail list for updates, information, and discussion. Please contact us at peace@uucharlottesville.org to join the list or for news and updates.
2008
Helping Local Iraqi Refugees
We are offering rides, food donations, and friendly listening to Iraqi refugees in our community who have come to Charlottesville through the International Rescue Committee. We are also working with the church’s Refugee Partnerships group to distribute food to the wider refugee community.
Over Memorial Day weekend, TJMC Peace Conversations, along with three other local groups, Veterans for Peace, the Charlottesville Quaker Meeting, and the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, hosted Eyes Wide Open at the Free Speech Wall on the Downtown Mall. The exhibit, creat ed by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), is part of a national campaign to show the human cost of war. It includes combat boots tagged with the names of the 117 service men and women from Virginia who have died in the war and a visual representation of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people who have died during the conflict.
Hundreds visited over the three-day event, which was covered by C-ville Weekly, NBC-29, and the local public television station. More than forty volunteers worked at the exhibit and helped read the names of the dead every two hours. Local schools and businesses donated supplies and equipment, and Iraqi refugees helped with names reading. Among the visitors were veterans of past wars and active duty service members who had been to Iraq and some who were returning.
On the AFSC’s petition, “Defund/Refund,” calling for the defunding of the Iraq War and refunding of human needs at home and in Iraq, volunteers gathered ten pages of signatures from our area as well as names from Northern Virginia, Alabama, Boston, Texas, Washington DC, Florida, Maryland, Arizona, and the UK. Many people wrote comments in a guest book that travels with the exhibit around the state.
2007
November/ December 2007: Soldier Donations
We mailed 20 boxes of donations to Camp Taqaddum, Iraq, including New=2 0Yorker magazines, National Geographics, mystery novels, magazines on hiking, gardening, fitness, news, sports, women’s magazines, an art book with pictures of European cars, and many others, all donated from members and friends. From the donations, soldiers have set up a small lending library at the base. We also sent lip balm, hard candy, peanuts, beef jerky, snacks, and some comfort toys for Iraqi children. If you have a family member in Iraq for whom you would like us to collect donations in the future, please write to peace@uucharlottesville.org.
United Nations Sunday, Oct. 28: Letter Writing Campaign
Members staffed a letter writing table to urge our Congressional representatives to oppose military action against Iran, generating 130 letters from church members. Thank you to everyone who worked on this and wrote letters.
October 25: Interfaith Pray for Peace service
Members from Sojourners United Church of Christ, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, TJMC-UU, Charlottesville Bahai Community, Gesher Center, the Central Virginia Interfaith Cooperation Circle, and other faith groups gathered on in the TJMC Sanctuary for an Interfaith Pray for Peace service hosted by TJMC Peace Conversations. At the informal candlelight gathering, participants led folk and protest songs, readings, poems, responsive readings, and mediations, as well as prayers from various faith traditions. This ongoing event is held the final Thursday of every month from 7:15-8:30, often at Unity Church, on Hydraulic Road. Check The Gesher Center for locations.
Early October: War Petition
The committee gathered members’ signatures as part of a petition calling for the U.S. to end the war in Iraq. The effort was organized by the Unitarian Universalist Association and United Church of Christ congregations. TJMC members added their names to a total of more than 73,000 signatures delivered to Congress. “Not another dollar. Not another life,” the petition stated. UUA President William G. Sinkford said the petition may be “the largest single advocacy action ever taken by Unitarian Universalists.”
September 25: Guest Speaker
Journalist and author Jeremy Scahill spoke in the Social Hall to over 120 people about his new book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books). Scahill is a Polk award-winning investigative journalist for Democracy Now! and The Nation. The event was cosponsored by several groups, including The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, TJMC Peace Conversations, and the Charlottesville chapter of Food Not Bombs.
September Movie Night
To an audience of about 50 people, Peace Conversations showed the movie, War Made Easy, in the church parlor. The movie, funded by the Media Education Foundation, is based on media critic Normon Solomon’s book by the same name. Members may borrow the movie from the church office. The Ground Truth, Why We Fight, and Iraq for Sale are some of the other recent movies shown at the church.
Please contact us at peace@uucharlotteville.org to volunteer. All are welcome. We welcome your ideas and suggestions.
