The Nature of Boston Peace Groups :: War Iraq Papers

The Nature of capital of Massachusetts Peace GroupsLike umteen other Brookline residents, Amy Hendrickson spends every Saturday at Coolidge niche. But unlike most Coolidge Corner visitors, shes non catching a movie at the past Coolidge Corner Theatre or grabbing a latte at Starbucks. each Saturday at noon for the past two years, Amy Hendrickson has held a peace watch for soldiers who have died in Iraq. Hendrickson is the makeer of Brookline Peaceworks, a community peace active group and offshoot of United for Justice with Peace.Its amazing what you jackpot do from Brookline, says Hendrickson, a self-employed computer consultant who admits she probably spends more than time on Brookline Peaceworks than on her job. Every Saturday Hendrickson and other Brookline Peaceworks members hand forbidden flyers, and speak with passers-by about the war in Iraq. On March 23, 2005, Hendrickson reach out flyers detailing the costs to taxpayers for the war, including the specific cost for Brookline residents.And shes not stopping there.Brookline Peaceworks is initiating a town-wide canvass to raise awareness about the match of the Iraq War. We will be going door to door to ask Brookline citizens to distinguish a petition to remove U.S. troops from Iraq as quickly as possible, and to reassess the use of Massachusetts National Guard in international conflicts, wrote Hendrickson in the Guest Commentary section of the Brookline Tab, on March 24, 2005.Hendrickson was a member of United for Justice with Peace (UJP), an association of almost 60 peace groups in the Greater Boston area. In 2002 it came to her attention that Brookline was scatty a community peace group. After some hesitation, Hendrickson decided to found Brookline Peaceworks with the encouragement of other UJP members.Since then, Brookline Peaceworks has made front page news in the Boston Globe by organizing a demonstration in Boston that was concurrent with demonstrations in other U.S. cities, such as Ne w York and San Francisco organizing teach-ins at schools such as Northeastern University and Brookline High School and campaigning for Randall Forsberg as a write-in candidate for Senate, in defiance of John Kerrys support of the war powers act. This last effort resulted in 25,000 write in votes for Forsberg, according to Brookline Peaceworks.The group has worked many hours in an effort to end the war with Iraq. Groups such as Boston Peaceworks aim to educate Boston residents, alone to many they seem useless, ineffective, and to some, downright annoying.