A letter from Chuck Fager at Quaker House, Fayetteville NC
Dear Friend,
I’m writing you today to express my deep concern about the campaign being mounted on “FreeRepublic.com”, a militantly conservative website, against the large peace rally we’re planning in Fayetteville on March 20, the anniversary of the Iraq invasion.
Quaker House, you may recall, is a faith-based project that does peace work and counsels soldiers and sailors seeking discharges from the military. It has been pursing this mission here in Fayetteville for 35 years since its founding in 1969.
Quaker House is part of a coalition preparing for this march and rally. We believe this will be the largest peace gathering in Fayetteville since May 17 1970. On that day several thousand protesters, including hundreds of GIs, gathered in a city park, to hear Jane Fonda and other speakers denounce the Vietnam War.
That 1970 rally was peaceful, but the aftermath wasn’t.
Three nights after that rally, on May 20, 1970, the original Quaker House was firebombed, and had to be abandoned…
When I read the many false statements on Free Republic about our plans for our March 20 peace rally, that unsolved firebombing is something I can’t forget. Similarly inflammatory rhetoric was aimed against peace protests then too. We’re going to gather in the same park, only a few blocks from where Quaker House is now.
As local liaison for the march steering committee, I have kept in regular contact with Fayetteville police about our plans, as well as the FreeRepublic efforts. The police have been professional and cooperative, and we’re confident they will be there to protect our rights, and theirs.
At the March 20 rally, the program will prominently feature veterans and military family members, to underline our message that calling for an end to the Iraq war and occupation shows real support for U.S. troops and their families in a very difficult time.
For that matter, we have no objection to a peaceful FreeRepublic counterprotest in Fayetteville. They should be as free to express their views as we are. But the numerous slanders and falsehoods being spread about our rally on FreeRepublic are very disturbing to me, as is the ominous tone of many posts.
We’ll feel safest here if there is a large turnout on March 20. So we’re calling on all those who believe in free expression and peace to come and join us. Help us deliver our positive message to the servicemen and women at Ft. Bragg and elsewhere, let them know we support them and their families, we want them safe and together. On March 20 we want to recognize their courage and sacrifice, dedication that is being tragically wasted in an illegal war and occupation.
Come and help us demonstrate to our neighbors in Fayetteville, and to our government, that the way to show real support for the troops is by ending the war and bringing them home now. Let’s also show those who wish we would simply disappear in silence that just as in 1970, harassment and intimidation will not succeed.
Keep us in your prayers, and I hope to see you here on March 20.
And if this message speaks to you, I ask you to pass it on to others who may find it useful.
Thanks and peace,
Chuck Fager
www.quakerhouse.org
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Several FreeRepublic allegations are excerpted below. They are untrue, and some are also menacing.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1078193/posts
Last night the “peace truck,” a 15-ft moving van painted with antiwar murals,was extensively vandalized. The truck was parked near the home a member of the group Public Assembly, which decorates the van and drives it to peace rallies. The van was slated to be driven around the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) on Wednesday and the Fayetteville area on Thursday to publicize the March 20 rally. As this is written, that is now in doubt.
A brand-new mural on the side of the van, with the message “Is This War Worth It?” was covered with spray paint; the windshield was smashed, the headlights broken out and the side windows spray-painted.
Public Assembly has reported the vandalism to the Raleigh police, and they still hope to have the van fixed up enough for use in the peace rally.
We will be reporting this act of political terror to the Fayetteville police, and to the media. My judgment is that this vandalism was not random, and that we will need to be watchful, and refuse to be intimidated.
I regret having to send you this news. But there it is.
Lou, I am so sorry….. I’ll be thinking of you guys down there in NC a lot in the days ahead. Please do keep me posted of any further developments.
Love and Light to all of you!
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