Brooklyn for Peace

Community organizing around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is particularly difficult because there is little, immediate tangible result. In spite of very large protests before the start of these wars, and for several of the early years, the wars appear to be relentlessly ongoing. Brooklyn For Peace (BFP) has created a panoply of responses to war. 1) BFP has an Anti-militarism Committee that leaflets high schools in Brooklyn and provides counseling to young people about alternatives to the military. 2) BFP has a Peace and Economic Justice Committee (previously known as the Iraq-Afghanistan Committee that emphasizes the cost of war Brooklyn in very specific ways. 3) BFP's Nuclear Zero Committee holds community forums highlighting the danger of nuclear weapons. These forums are then broadcast on community access TV (BCAT). 4) BFP has a Latin America Committee that exposes US military training of Latin American armies and police. 5) BFP holds an annual Brooklyn Peace Fair whose goal is to energize peace activists from across the board – from artists/musicians and students to community organizations. This presentation will elaborate on each of these responses to war.