NJ PEACE ACTION’S 54th Annual Soup Luncheon Move the Money: Stop the War Machine Featuring Phyllis Bennis and Judith LeBlanc

NJ PEACE ACTION’S 54^th Annual Soup Luncheon

Move the Money: Stop the War Machine

Featuring Phyllis Bennis and Judith LeBlanc

Phyllis Bennis and Judith LeBlanc will be the keynote speakers at NJ Peace Action’s 54^th Annual Soup Luncheon at Bloomfield High School, 160 Broad St., Bloomfield, on Saturday, November 12^th.  Doors open at 11:45 a.m. for the Silent Auction and socializing; lunch, which will be homemade soups, bread, and desserts, is served at 12:45 p.m.

Judith Arnold, Hopatcong resident, will be attending the Soup Luncheon and describing the work of New Jersey Peace Action and why people need to support it. “The NJ Peace Action Soup Luncheon on November 12^th at Bloomfield High School, is very important to me,” said Judith Arnold, resident of Hopatcong. “As a long-time peace activist and retired teacher, the message of stopping wars and moving the money from the military to humanitarian needs resonates strongly with me.  Despite the efforts of many excellent educators, our schools are underfunded.  Facilities need to be updated and new schools built.  Teacher training for the 21^st century should be a priority, as well as extra aid to schools in poor neighborhoods. This country should be looking in the direction of building the lives of our youth, not ending those of people in other lands.  Supporting NJ Peace Action and its work is imperative to creating a world at peace.”

Judith LeBlanc former co-chair of the national anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice and now Peace Action’s field director, addressed the connection between the upcoming withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the need to stop the war machine by moving the money from war to peace. “We may not have prevented the war,” she said, “but we fundamentally changed the political terrain by mobilizing a politically empowered opposition to the war into the streets, the halls of the Congress and into the voting booths in the 2008 elections. Now we must redouble our efforts to end the war in Afghanistan as the next step to creating jobs, protecting human services and repairing the damage of a militarized foreign policy that has drained scarce resources needed in our communities.”

“ President Obama’s announcement that almost all of the U.S. troops still occupying Iraq will come home by the end of the year certainly counts as a huge milestone-to-come,”wrote Phyllis Bennis for the Institute for Policy Studies. “It’s not complete, but it’s a huge victory for our U.S. and global antiwar mobilizations, and especially for the people of Iraq so desperate to see an end to eight years of occupation. It means almost all the U.S. troops, and all the Pentagon-paid contractors will leave by the end of this year — so even with the biggest U.S. embassy ever built, with 5,000 staff, and thousands of security contractors (paid by the State Department this time)…  this is a huge tribute to our years of work.”

“This program is particularly timely,” said Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director of NJ Peace Action and resident of Flanders. “During this time of economic turmoil, thousands of people have taken to the streets from Wall Street to Washington, D.C. and throughout the rest of the country and the world. The people are standing up to corporate powers that have taken far too much control of our political system. We believe hat the majority of Americans understand that part of the reason for our economic crisis is that billions of dollars are being spent on two protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with no end in sight. Our demands to end the wars and bring the troops and the dollars home is right in line with those occupying Wall Street. This is the time to make such a change in national priorities!”

Phyllis Bennis is a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, where she directs the New Internationalism Project.  She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam.  She works on U.S. foreign policy issues, particularly regarding Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Palestine, as well as United Nations issues, especially regarding democratization of the UN and the challenge of U.S. domination of the UN.  Her most recent book is ENDING THE US WAR IN AFGHANISTAN: A PRIMER (with David Wildman).

Judith LeBlanc, Field Director of Peace Action, coordinates efforts on campaigns to cut military spending, nuclear abolition and to oppose the war in Afghanistan.  She works closely with Peace Action’s affiliates on grassroots organizing efforts.  She helps coordinate the efforts of the New Priorities Network, a national network supporting grassroots organizing to “move the money from wars and weapons to fund human needs”.  From 2003-2009, she worked with United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) coordinating national outreach efforts and served two terms as UFPJ National Co-Chair.  She is a member of the Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma and lives in Harlem, NY.