Rock For Peace.

If you are able to be in Vancouver, Canada on Saturday afternoon, please join us to mingle with the crowd and wish for peace, justice, and sustainability. While you're there, please also explain to me what the Hell is sustainablity. Also, if you will, explain why a child throwing a rock is a worthy image for a peace conference. Finally, give me one good reason why Cindy Sheehan is still finding an audience. I will pay one nickel to anyone who can do all three tasks or cleean the Augean Stables before sunset.

What? My hair is growing down to my shoulders. I'm wearing "love beads"? What is this paisly shirt? What's happening to me? Oh no! Man, I'm havin' this flash-back to the 60s. I'm hearing Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, like, you know, man, Zappa doing that tune "The Torture Never Stops."

Bum-mer, man. This ain't no flash-back from years of dropping bad acid in the 60s: this is reality! Oooh bummer, fer sher, man.
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Vancouver Schedule of Events

*Get organized to join the big Peace Walk today!

On June 24, as part of the World Peace Forum in Vancouver, join a peace walk to say:

No War, No Where- Walk for Peace, Justice and Sustainability

Saturday, June 24

-Gather at 12 Noon at two starting points: Seaforth Peace Flame Park (south end of Burrard Bridge), or Waterfront Skytrain Station in front of Canada Place

-March at 1p.m.

-Rally and Festival 2p.m.-5p.m. at Sunset Beach on English Bay (at Bute and Beach Ave)

Featuring Cindy Sheehan and local and international speakers...
http://palsolidaritygrp.org/
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Our Mission
Palestine Solidarity Group - Vancouver believes in the full political, economic, and national liberation for the Palestinian people in its entirety. Striving for a full and unconditional end to the Israeli occupation of the 1967 territories, including the unconditional right of return for all Palestinian refugees, and full political, legal, and economic equality within the 1948 territories.

PSG is opposed to all forms of racism, including Anti-Jewish racism and Anti-Semitism. Our solidarity is based on internationalism. With this in mind, PSG activities seek out alliances with like-minded groups and individuals.

PSG recognizes the full implication of imperialism and it's role in the oppression and degradation of the Palestinian people. We therefore focus our efforts not only on the entire state of Israel, but the Zionist material and ideological supporters in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. PSG works to promote greater education and action on the subject of Palestine within working-class and progressive circles in their own areas, as well as beyond.

http://palsolidaritygrp.org/about-us.htm

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June 9, 2006

Peace forum coming to town

Questions remain over involvement of Jewish community.

KATHARINE HAMER EDITOR

The co-chair of the forthcoming World Peace Forum (WPF) in Vancouver believes the event will provide a balanced view of the Middle East conflict, one of the many topics under discussion when peace advocates from around the world gather in the city June 23-28.

The forum is organized through a central board, but topics for workshops have been decided via various working groups. In addition to working groups covering topics of particular interest to women, First Nations delegates and youth, as well as those addressing issues in Africa and Asia, there has been a Middle East working group. As of press time, its co-chair, Paul Tetrault, had not responded to requests from the Independent for more information on the Middle East-related workshops.

Though there has been concern in some quarters that the organized Jewish community would be underrepresented at the forum, WPF board co-chair Ruth Herman said, "I think there are going to be many people who are Jewish who are coming to the World Peace Forum. My understanding is that the program workshops that are being put on with respect to Israel do have people from both Palestine and Israel in them, so I'm not hugely concerened about the fact there will be no people representing a point of view from Israel - keeping in mind that there will be diverse points of view within Israel itself."

[....]

Vancouver's main organized Jewish community groups – Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, the Canada-Israel Committee, Pacific Region, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver – will not be participating in the WPF.

[....]

Michael Elterman, chair of CIC Pacific Region, said there was no communication between his organization and the Middle East working group until such time as he was informed the proposals had been rejected.

[....]

When asked if he felt there was any anti-Semitism at play, Elterman replied, "Well, it's anti-Semitism to the extent that [they] discriminate against one group and don't use the same treatment against all the other groups."

http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/June06/archives06June09-02.html
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The acid trip has worn off, and I'm now back to the real reality. True, sorry to relate, the fascists will be out in force on Saturday. But too cool to pass up, we'll be there to protest 'em, man. Dig it!

Oh yeah, before I forget, "Peace, Man."