Working for peace and ending the war is not a “feel good” activity.

Comments by Mayor Kitty Piercy, Eugene Peace Rally, March 16, 2008

Good afternoon everyone to this place of peace – those who walked from the EMU and those who joined us here in the heart of our city.

We are all here for an important purpose – to lend our voices to millions across this nation and world in saying End the War Now, Bring our Troops Home.

I am proud of all the individuals, groups and organizations that work for Peace in our area. Working for Peace and ending the war is not a “feel good” activity. It is the most important work of our times, of all times. It is often hard work and comes at a cost. It is far more challenging to work for peaceful resolution than to go to battle. It is even harder to work to prevent the disagreements that lead to bloodshed and war. Just a week ago I was at LCC Peace Center’s first conference where people came together to talk about how to be peacemakers.

On the day of that conference, the news was full of a report that in this country, our country, one in 100 Americans is incarcerated. Think about that. It also said that Oregon was one of the states with very high incarceration rates. Think about that – the impact on the individuals and our society of so many spending significant parts of their lives in a penal system. In Oregon we do not have rehabilitation as one of the goals of our prison system – no commitment to giving people the tools and the help to being productive and peaceful citizens. We should change that.

On a national scale, our investment in child welfare, mental health, environment and education all fall in line far behind our investment in our armed forces. Just week before last I was in Washington DC with folks from the county, Springfield, Coburg, Cottage Grove, schools and LTD, lobbying for our local needs together. We all are deeply concerned about the huge decrease in Federal funds to support basic services such as health, judicial processes, intervention, prevention, treatment services as well for our roads and infrastructure. The loss of these funds will reach into our cities and the lives of our families.

In Washington, the pockets are empty right now, with funding diverted to Iraq and all are poised waiting for the next election. Meanwhile American families wait for their needs to be met.

On an international scale, scientists call us to act in response to global warming and climate change, to act now and to dramatically change the way we live, to reduce CO2 emissions through the way we consume and our dependence on fossil fuels. None of us can doubt that fuel has fueled the war in Iraq and conflict in the Middle East in general.

There is no doubt about the warming impact on our oceans, our vegetation, animals, glaciers, and so on will put tremendous pressure on human populations and will be at the core of unrest and conflict in this world.

We must do our part to reduce our impact through conservation, reduced vehicle miles traveled, energy and fuel reduction. We are working on this at the community level, the city level and the individual level. You can go to sustaineugene.com to find out what you can do in your own life.

With all these challenges, there is great hope moving across this land – that our national nightmare will end soon.

We must end the war and bring the troops home.

We must help Iraq rebuild just as we must rebuild America – jobs, healthcare, education.

We must adhere to our Constitution again and be respected on the world stage –recommit ourselves to justice.

We must learn how to be peacemakers.

We must make real change to respond to climate change and finite resources.

We will elect leaders who will bring about change, who will take America back and give Iraq back to the Iraqis

We will have an America where human rights and patriotism go hand in hand from the local to the national level

We are part of building the hope and promise of this nation and our destiny is in our hands. Some may scorn our local efforts to change national priorities, but I, like you, believe in the power of our city, the fierce grassroots power of our people to do what needs to be done.

Bring the troops home, end this war, and let’s go about the business of building a far, far better tomorrow for everyone.