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Friday, March 08, 2013
St. Patrick's Peace Parade
People's Parade for Peace, Equality, Jobs, Environmental Stewardship, Social & Economic Justice
Unite, Participate, Celebrate
Sunday, March 17, 2013, 2:00 pmD Street & West Broadway, South Boston • Look for white "Vets for Peace" Flags
Assemble: 2pm. Parade
start: 3pm Sign Up to Attend - We Need to Know You will Be
There!
There are several
DIVISIONS marching in the parade, as well as two marching bands, Duck Boats,
bagpipers, and the Bread and Puppet Theater.. The DIVISIONS are: Veterans
groups; Peace groups; LGBT groups; Faith groups; environmental groups; social
and economic justice groups; labor groups; political groups. Please invite your
group(s) to come! Contact: Veterans for Peace, Pat Scanlon, info@massvfp.org, 978-475-1776;
Massachusetts Peace Action, Cole Harrison, info@masspeaceaction.org, 617-354-2169; faith groups contact
Lara Hoke, minister@uuandover.org.
Please join us for our
Third Annual Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade, the Alternative People’s Parade for
Peace, Equality, Jobs, Environmental Stewardship, Social and Economic
Justice.
Logistics
Sunday, March 17,
2013
Assemble: 2pm. Parade
start: 3pm Sign Up to Attend - We Need to Know You will Be
There! The parade route is 4.5 miles and ends at
Andrew Station.
 Rides along the parade route are available
for those who need them, but please let us know ahead of time that you may need
a ride.
Come by
T if at all possible as the area will be very
congested. Broadway is the closest MBTA subway station.
Parking is
available for participants in the St. Patrick’s Peace Parade.
Vehicles must enter from the north from Summer Street
onto D Street; the parking lot is at 383 D Street. Look for the lot with 40 foot
white truck trailers. Allow extra time for traffic.
DirectionsFrom North
Route I-93 to South
Station exit (20 A). Merge onto Purchase Street to light (100 feet). Make a left
onto Summer Street (will pass South Station on right). Go approx. 1 mile to
Convention Center. Turn right onto D Street, parking lot .2 mile up on left,
(look for VFP Flag)
From South
Route I-93 – Take exit 20
toward South Station. Follow signs for Chinatown, continue straight onto Lincoln
Street, turn right onto Kneeland Street, turn left onto Atlantic, south Station
will be up on your right. Take a right onto Summer Street. Go approx. 1 mile to
Convention Center. Turn right onto D Street, parking lot .2 mile up on left,
(look for VFP Flag)
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Why are there two
parades on Saint Patrick’s Day?
For the past three years
Veterans For Peace have been denied to walk in the historic Saint Patrick’s
Parade in South Boston. This is the largest parade of its kind in the country
with over 700,000 people viewing the parade. The parade has a dual purpose; the
celebration of Saint Patrick and the Irish traditions and heritage and a
celebration of Evacuation Day, the day the British were run out of Boston. Both
days fall on March 17th, so the City of Boston thought it a good idea to have
the Allied War Veterans Council (AWVC) organize the parade. The problem is that
one side of the equation, St. Patrick, a man of peace, is second fiddle to a
military parade. AWVC has the exclusive say in who gets to walk in this
historical parade. The City of Boston, South Boston Community Groups, the Boston
Police have absolutely no say in who walks the streets of South Boston in the
Saint Patrick’s Day Parade.
In 2011 Veterans For Peace’s application was denied, when asked why
and were told, “They did not want to have the word Peace associated with the
word Veteran”. Well they did not know the Smedleys very well. We pulled our own
permit and with only three weeks to go before the parade pulled together 500
people and the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade, the Alternative People’s Parade for
Peace, Equality, Jobs, Environmental Stewardship, Economic and Social Justice
was born.
Twenty years ago the LGBT
community wanted to walk in the parade and were denied which resulted in a
lawsuit that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court resulting in the Hurley
Decision. The Smedleys immediately reached out to the LGBT community, inviting
them to “walk in our parade”
In 2012 we had close to
2,000 people, seven divisions (Veterans, Peace, LGBT, Labor, Political,
Religious, Occupy Everywhere) two bands, bag pipers, drummers, a Duck Boat, two
trollies etc. It was a grand success. We have an Environmental Stewardship
Division this year. Our goal is to end this last vestige of institutionalized
exclusion, prejudice, bigotry, and homophobia and make this parade inclusive and
welcoming to all and bring the message of peace to South Boston on Saint
Patrick’s Day.
Please join us in South
Boston on March 17. Be sure to bring your Chapter’s or Organization’s banners,
signs and costumes and join us in our fabulous Third Annual Saint Patrick’s
Peace Parade.
On behalf of the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade Organizing
Committee.
Thank you,
Pat Scanlon (VN '69)
Coordinator, VFP Chapter
9, Smedley Butler Brigade
Vets4PeaceChapter9@gmail.com Phone: 978-475-1776
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VIDEO: Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around! Marchers gear up
for International Women's Day
The march, entering its fifth day, is starting to hit home with
people both inside and outside the marchers, prompting some truly moving
reflections, two of which we wanted to share with you today. Writing in the
pages of christianweb.us, prominent Evangelical leader and writer Brian
McLaren highlighted the march in a piece reflecting on the connection between
farmworker poverty and Publix's purchasing policies:
"[Publix has] refused even to have a substantive face-to-face meeting to
discuss the matter.
As a result, they are cooperating with an old and broken system that has exploited farmworkers for far too long. The workers are asking them to join a new system that will treat the farmworkers with dignity as human beings. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents have been speaking a great deal lately about their concern about "generational theft" - the way that our current spending and debt policies are unsustainable and place burdens on the young for the benefit of the old. Sustainability - economic and ecological - is a valid concern that deserves real attention. But almost nobody has been talking about "demographic theft" - the way our current economic policies are aiding and abetting in a huge transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich. (More on that here.) Listen to the voices of some of our nation's hardest-working people - people to whom we are connected by what we eat, and you will hear a moral summons to all of us - to corporate executives at Publix, and to buyers like you and me. "We are poor," they say, "but we, too, are human beings."" read more
Also, straight from the heart of the march, between miles, meals,
and stretching, Zach Blume with Nashville Fair Food and Dignidad Obrera somehow
found the time to pen a powerful reflection on his experience:
"Why the struggle, why the strain?
Why make trouble? Why make scenes? Why go against the grain? Why swim upstream? Nothing changes anyhow. - "Nothing changes" by Anaïs Mitchell (listen) I've been on the march for three days now with the Coalition of Immoaklee Workers (CIW). It is tiring in the Florida sun. Think of the last time you spent eight hours in the sun — now multiply that by 14 days, constantly walking the whole time. People are already getting blisters. There have been laughs among runners that it's much easier on our bodies to run a half marathon than to walk one everyday. The consistency wears on you. That's what we're up against... ... If Publix continues buying tomatoes without coming to the table with the farmworkers who pick them, there will continue to be growers who, for whatever reason, don't appreciate the Fair Food agreement and who nevertheless will still have the unscrupulous buyer of Publix to offload their unethical tomatoes onto. We're marching on Publix because it stands in the way of the march towards justice that is going on right now in the fields." read more |
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