Costs of War
Come to the Cost of War tent to learn about the many ways the costs of war affect us all and what you can do to stop funding war and start funding peace!
10:30AM – Workshop: Costs of War to Returning Veterans, Families, and Communities – Perspectives of family members who are supporting the returning troops, information about governmental and community supports. Handouts on combat stress and statistics on the disproportionate burdens on the poor, people of color, and youth -- the highest percentage of the fatalities in this war.
12:00PM – Discussion: War Tax Resistance and the Peace Tax Fund – Our tax dollars are paying for this war. How can we resist? Come talk about ideas and strategies for you to stop funding this war.
1:00PM – Workshop: People of Color Against the War – How can people of color become more mobilized to be proactive in the peace movement and throughout our communities? Come and strategize on how to effect real change.
4:00PM – Discussion: How to influence Congress to End the War – Congress has the power to stop the war. How can we, their constituents, pressure them to represent their constituents by stopping the war and funding the peace.
ALL DAY – Sign making – the US spends $720 million a day on the Iraq war. Imagine what else those dollars could do. We'll have materials for you to make your own sign for the march
illustrating how you would rather spend the money. We hope that
children, especially, will use this activity as a way to look forward
to a peaceful future.
ALL DAY – Write to Congress to stop funding war and start funding human needs at home and in Iraq. Sign up to hand-deliver to Congressional offices in the coming weeks.
ALL DAY – Penny poll – show how you would spend your tax dollars.
Paying for War
We are paying with our lives
Nearly 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq as of February 2008. Several projects believe that over one million Iraqis have been killed. Nearly 60,000 US soldiers have been seriously wounded, many with brain damage, disfigurement, or limbs blown off. Many more US soldiers have been wounded in spirit. The number of Iraqi wounded is unknown. At least 4 million more are refugees. The lives of Americans and Iraqis connected to the dead and wounded have been damaged forever.
We are paying with dollars needed at home
The War in Iraq has cost 500 billion dollars by the end of February, 2008, and the costs continue to grow at 1.5 billion a week. The entire year's budget for Portland Public Schools is spent in a day and a half in Iraq. We cannot have the education, health care, and infrastructure we need here at home and also pay for this war.
We are paying with our moral values
As Americans, living in a democracy and paying taxes, we are responsible and pay for what our leaders do. It is our war and occupation as well as theirs. If we know the war in Iraq with its killing and its torture is wrong, then we must not let it continue.
Organizations participating include: PDX Peace Cost of War Action Group, Oregonians Against the War, American Friends Service Committee, Living Earth, and more.
For more information: email defundwar@lists.pdxpeace.org