PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Indiana Voices for Peace develops new plans
by Erica Fontana Friday, Mar. 21, 2003 at 11:57 PM

Indiana (PA) Voices for Peace met Thursday evening to discuss how to develop Indiana community involvement with the group and continue to advocate peace.

Voices for Peace develops new plans
Erica Fontana
Penn Staff Writer
March 21, 2003

Amid the initial stages of a war against Iraq, Indiana Voices for Peace met Thursday evening to discuss how to develop Indiana community involvement with the group and continue to advocate peace.

IVP's main purpose, according to steering committee member and meeting chair Pat Rawls, is "... to stop the war, primarily, and we're planning activities around that issue."

During this semester and last, IVP has held a variety of activities in order to promote that purpose, including candlelight vigils, distributing information and a teach-in.

The group also organized Thursday's Convergence of Conscience program in the HUB, where they had a table distributing peace- themed literature, circulating peace petitions and selling "No Blood for Oil" T- shirts.

The Convergence of Conscience program, which had been planned for the day after war began, offered a series of informational speakers and forums created to advocate the peace movement and educate attendees about it, encouraging students to walk out of class as a protest against war.

Thursday's meeting, held in the Indiana Free Library, was focused primarily on discussing ways to involve the Indiana community, as well as the IUP community, in the peace movement.

"What we're trying to do is ... to reach out to other groups in the community to try and get more [members] in Voices for Peace," Rawls said.

Those who attended the meeting included IVP members, clergy members from several churches and Indiana community members. After much discussion, IVP planned an interfaith prayer vigil for peace, tentatively scheduled for Sunday, March 30. The members believe that an interfaith vigil would draw on the commonalities of Indiana community peace advocates, encouraging them to put aside their religious differences in order to work toward the common goals of the group. "This is not a time to politicize others ... this is a time to pray for people in harms way," said one local clergy member who wished to not be identified.

Several other topics were discussed at the meeting. These included ways to involve junior and senior high school students, who, according to IVP members, often face the problem of being suspended or expelled from school if they organize walk-out protests like Convergence of Conscience and what it means to "support the troops" without supporting the war.

Indiana Voices for Peace is also considering organizing a letter-writing party to inform government officials of their opinions about the war.

The group organizes activities several times a week. Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m.

Thursdays in the HUB, and Tuesdays the group protests and discusses war in the Oak Grove from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., followed by marches down Philadelphia Street.

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www.thepenn.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/03/21/3e7b99033dd8e

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