Article By: Shoshana Akins

A mere 24 hours after President Obama announced that he would send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, the Boston area peace groups United for Justice and Peace and the Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition organized a rally against the Commander-in-Chief’s decision, giving an immediate voice to the shocked and appalled people of this area and loudly expressing their own disapproval.

Over 200 Boston residents gathered at the Common in protest of the President’s action.

“Once we heard that there was a possibility that Obama would announce an escalation, we planned for an immediate response,” said organizer and Greater Boston War Coalition member, Matthew Andrews. “We wanted to be ready to make the call and it’s amazing how many people responded in such short notice.”

The rally featured signs, peace songs, drums, chants, candles, and, most importantly, hoards of outraged citizens.
“I thought I had fallen asleep and I was seeing this in a dream,” said Boston resident, Jessie Nopez, of her experience hearing the President’s announcement. “This is not the answer. This is not right.”

Representatives from various organizations came to speak, impassioning the already flushed audience and letting them know that there is still a reason to fight for peace. They stressed a need to unite for this cause and to not give up.

“We need to slash the military budget and fund human needs,” said Nate Goldshlag, a speaker from Veterans for Peace. “We need to use this money to provide decent health care, housing, and productive jobs for our citizens. We need a budget for peace!”

The peace groups of both of these coalitions are calling on the Massachusetts congressional delegation to vote against the funding the escalation. Senator Paul Kirk, who is filling Ted Kennedy’s seat until a replacement is elected on Jan. 20, has already made clear his opposition to escalation and now members of both coalitions are looking to Senator Kerry to do the same. They hope that with this action, along with others across the country, that the escalation will be stopped and the war can come at least a step closer to ending.

One such hopeful citizen was Gold Star Speak Out member Melida Sharon Arredondo. She wrote a letter to the President a week before the escalation was announced, pleading him to stop the war after she received news that her stepson had been killed in Iraq while serving in the Marines.

“I wrote this letter because I did not try to stop Alex from going and I stood on the sidelines way too much as the war in Iraq killed too many soldiers and Iraqi people,” read Arredondo during the rally. “Dear President, I do not want you to feel such regret and despair as I have suffered.”

With more rallies planned in the future and all the peace groups organizing additional events and protests, the Coalitions hope this is not the end of Boston’s anti-war movement.

“The problem is that people don’t feel empowered. After these events, they feel disillusioned and disappear,” said Andrews. “To make this work we need to start at the grassroots and unite. This is just the beginning.”