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Veterans Peace Coalition: National Report

By John LIndquist

—John Lindquist
VVAW National Office

Last August VVAW and 12 other veteran peace groups met in Chicago to formalize the Veterans Peace Coalition. At the end of January the 2nd meeting was held at the office of Swords Into Plowshares in San Francisco. The Veterans Speakers Alliance helped set up the food, housing, and a good party on Saturday night.

The first order of business was to deal with the Revolutionary Communist Party which showed up to play A1/VVAW (see article about VVAW/AI and the RCPO elsewhere in this paper). This weird cult group is still active on the West Coast and is doing support work for Ayatollah Khomeni. The meeting was delayed an hour while the discussion rage on. Finally the coalition voted not to allow this group into the Coalition. Its representative was asked to leave.

This meeting was set up to create a structure for operating the Coalition and to plan actions around the country. We started out with reports of activities of the groups present: the VFW Post 5588 in Santa Cruz, CA; the Veterans Against intervention in Central America from Seattle; Veterans for Peace, Inc; VVAW; Vietnam Veterans Peace Education Network; Veterans Speakers Alliance; and several independent veterans groups.

Over half the meeting was devoted to formalizing what kind of group we are. This is not a new organization but rather a coalition of veterans peace groups. The motions reflected this: 1) One Coordinator will be elected for one year on a rotating basis; elections annually by the Sterring committee. 2) There will be 3 regional coordinators. Other motions dealt with annual dues and setting up annual meetings.

In the elections, Gerry Condon of FAICA in Seattle was elected coordinator for the first year. Jerry Genesio (Vets for Peace Inc), Barry Romo (VVAW) and Eduardo Cohen (Vets Speakers Alliance) were volunteered to be regional coordinators. A quarterly newsletter and minutes of each yearly meeting are part of the communication net which was set up.

During the meeting 3 guests gave reports to the Coalition.

Mary Lynn Price from Committee Against Registration and the Draft (CARD) in San Diego reported on and passed out example of ads which CARD ran in high school newspapers. The Gross Point school system refused to run the ads which told the other side of military life; the school system was sued by CARD. The 9th Circuit Court reversed the original decision, quite a victory. CARD figures the case will eventually end up in a trial because the Justice Department and Department of Defense both say that counter-recruitment is a danger to national security.

Bill Smith of the National Lawyers Guild was a Vietnam vet ( Laos, 1959) who is now a lawyer active in the Guild in California. His report was a hard-hitting one about the use of the National Guard as a conduit for arms for the contras in Central America. He traced an affidavit which has been turned over to Senator Kerry and the Special Prosecutor in Washington: this affidavit showed how ever $25.00 million in arms and lots of equipment was turned over to the contras in Honduras without ever having to get Congressional approval. He also spoke about the use of the "Auxiliary Guard" to round up Central American refugees in the case of an invasion of Nicaragua so that they cannot commit sabotage, the Reagan version of the Japanese interment camps during World War 11.

The Director of the New Foreign Military Policy, David Reid, spoke on the April 25th demonstration in Washington, DC. Over 60 groups are part of the coalition so far with a broad base of union and church groups. A refreshing fact was that no "Party" groups were allowed to join the Executive Committee. This fact, the Iran/Contra mess, plus worsening conditions in South Africa as well as Central America should give this demonstration a huge base. The coalition for April 25th thought it exactly right to pressure Reagan when he's weak. Stopping the war in Central America is possible, and battling for the survival of the VA hospital system plus decent benefits for all veterans is our duty. Groups in the VPC will be marching in Washington. For VVAW information, call VVAW in New York City or Jersey City.

The last phase of the meeting was about upcoming events by member groups. Vets for Peace is sending a 30 member delegation to Central America from May 2 ? May 18th; it will cost $1450 from Miami. The delegation will visit Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. If you want to go or need more information, contact Jerry Genesio, Box 3881, Portland, ME 04104 (207) 797-2770. At the time of writing this article, there are still open spaces. VFW Post 5588 and the Pledge of Resistance are doing their second annual vigil at the front gate of Fort Ord. This base is the home of the 7th Light Infantry, a probable unit to go to Nicaragua in case of war. This demonstration will be on February 28, 1987 but will probably recur in the future.

The Coalition endorsed an April 19th march on the Western White House near the Santa Barbara, California. The last two years the Veterans Speakers Alliance and other vets groups have marched on Easter weekend. This year we hope to have a larger turnout. The base camp will be at El Capitan State Park, 15 miles from Santa Barbara on Route 101. For people on the East Coast who can't make it to California, there's a march at Bush's Eastern White House in Maine. More detailed information is available to those interested. VVAW hopes for a good turnout of members from western states who can't always get to VVAW events. For more information, contact John Lindquist or Ann Bailey, 3433 N Fratney, Milwaukee, WI 53212 (414) 963-0398.

I've been active in the veterans' movement since 1970. I've seen veterans coalitions come and go. Some have been messed up, some have done good work. The Veterans Peace Coalition has the capability of doing good work no matter how long it lasts. Energy by veterans against new wars like Vietnam, public speaking by vets in the schools, and 20th reunions by the vest veterans organization ever cannot be energy wasted.