GPJC Statewide Meeting

Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition Statewide Meeting

Saturday February 2, 2008 in Macon

12pm potluck lunch, 1-5pm meeting
Cherokee Heights Methodist Church, Fellowship Hall
2590 Napier Ave, Macon, GA 31204

Please join us for this very important meeting where we will approve a formal structure and select a Steering Committee for the coming year of statewide peace and justice work.



GPJC: Where we stand

We, the people, are certain that a better world is possible. We believe in a future where all people strive to live in harmony with each other and the natural environment; where conflict is resolved non-violently; and where the root causes of social and economic injustices are eradicated.

We believe there can only be peace in the presence of justice, so as we oppose war, we also work for justice and the protection of human rights for all. We believe that peace and security at home are linked to peace and security abroad. We welcome a diversity of ideas to help us see the connections between our government’s propensity for war and the injustices that afflict our communities. We welcome all who strive to create a better world. By creating a forum for statewide coordination and cooperation while providing access to much needed information and alternative education to frequently neglected constituencies, GPJC nurtures our growing peace and justice community and enhances the strength of Georgia's progressive movement.

For more information on the February 2 meeting or the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition in general please contact our coordinators:

Christina Repoley, 404-561-7903/ crepoley@afsc.org or
Tim Franzen, 404-414-5521/ cobbpeace@comcast.net

State of Hope Tour Celebration and Debrief

Please join the Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition in a celebration of the completion of the recent State of Hope Tour. We want to share with all of our Atlanta area supporters some of the excitement we experienced as we traveled the state of Georgia with our message about the human and economic cost of the war in Iraq. With the Eyes Wide Open exhibit and the music of Witt Wisebram and others, we made wonderful contacts around the state, got great press coverage, and contributed to the building of a stronger statewide network for peace and justice. We will be showing a slideshow of the tour and some of the press coverage, and discussing what we see as a new model of statewide organizing. Witt will also play a set of his moving music and there will be light refreshments.

When: Thursday December 13, 2007, 7:00pm-9:00pm

Where: Atlanta Friends Meeting
701 W Howard Ave. Decatur, GA 30030 (for directions please see http://atlanta.quaker.org/where.htm)

For more information please contact Tim Franzen at 404-414-5521/ cobbpeace@comcast.net or Christina Repoley 404-561-7903/ crepoley@afsc.org.

Thank You!!!

Special thanks to…..

Witt Wisebram for lending us his amazing talent. Witt’s commitment to our cause is clearly genuine. When he wasn’t playing he was helping us unload the boots, staffing the exhibit, and engaging the public.

Barry Edwards at www.SpinTheWorld.com for providing us with free sound!

American Friends Service Committee for being so awesome! They paid for our van rental fee, and provided the powerful “Eyes Wide Open Exhibit”

School Of the Americas Watch for letting us have Witt play at prime time on Sunday.

The Atlanta chapter of the Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition for paying for our table at SOAW.

Koinonia Partners for providing us with housing three nights in a row and being a point of inspiration for countless Georgians.

Cathy Browning for being so supportive. Thanks for scoring us so much press Cath!

Fredando Jackson for taking a week of work to run around the state with us. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Sara Hopkins for taking so many lovely photos.

Everyone that came out and supported us, cheered us on, fed us, housed us, funded us, laughed and cried with us, and disagreed with us. Thanks for putting our minds in a state of hope!

The Econo Lodge on Veterans pkwy for letting us take over their lobby for a few hours.

…..and the HoJo in Statesboro for having Jacuzzi bathtubs in all their $39.95 rooms!!

Tim Franzen
Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition

Christina Repoley
AFSC/Georgia Peace & Justice Coaliton

Day Ten: Columbus 11.18.07

Wow, what an emotion filled finale for us. For those that don’t know the last day of the School of the Americus Watch there’s always a solemn memorial for the victims of SOA graduates. Demonstrators place their religious/spiritual symbols on the fence that blocks the public from entering Fort Benning, where the SOA program resides. Many of the religious symbols bare the name of a specific murder victim. As demonstrators take time to place their symbols on the fences names of the murder victims are read from the stage. I found myself weeping, filled with despair, grief, and hope. If 25,000 people from all over the world can converge on a Sunday in Columbus Ga. To stand in solidarity with foreign murder victims that, for the most part, they’ve never met, then maybe there’s hope. Only 12 congressional votes stand in the way of closing the murderous program for good.

After the procession was over Witt was introduced to the stage. The emcee recognized the “State Of Hope” tour and the crowd cheered. Witt ripped into, “Here’s to the State of Things” and the crowd really responded. It was a great bookend to our tour.

We discovered later that three students from Kennesaw State University were arrested because they refused to give the police their crosses, which each bore the name of children that had been murdered by SOA graduates. The police cited that the crucifixes’ were to large and could be considered a weapon. It’s difficult to comprehend how police would see three college kids carrying crosses on Sunday as a threat. The three students didn’t resist arrest and bonded out after spending five hours in a cell. All three of them have been active in Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition Affiliate groups. We’ve contacted them to reassure them that we would provide them with whatever support they need. See the video of their arrest below.

So we packed up the van for the last time and began our last trip back home. It’s safe to so that it was a life changing experience for all of us. I hope we strengthened the voice of the progressive voice in our great state. I hope that some in our state will begin to hold our politicians accountable when they claim to support our brothers and sisters in uniform. I hope that we never put our troops in harms way on a foundation of lies, public manipulation, and media cheerleading. I hope we all begin to prepare for a new generation of troubled veterans as they return from a seemingly endless war. I hope that we’re able to spend the kind of money we’ve given this president for his war on more pressing national needs in the future.


Tim Franzen
Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition

Photos by Al Viola
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On Sunday three students who are part of the GPJC network were arrested at SOA Watch for carrying crosses that local police deemed were too large. See the footage of their arrest below.

Day Nine: Columbus 11.17.07

We arrived to Columbus Saturday morning, with thousands of others who had come for the 18th annual School of the Americas Watch vigil. Estimates of the crowd this year are at 25,000! We set up our tables and the Cost of War banners, but decided it would not be possible to set the boots up with everything else that was going on. We spent the day talking to hundreds of people who were interested in the work of AFSC and GPJC. The Cost of War banners were a big hit and we gave out hundreds of Cost of War brochures. Everyone agreed that having a clear breakdown of how much we are spending on one day of the war in Iraq ($720 million!!) and how that money could be spent domestically (for example, 423,529 children with healthcare) is a great resource. We also invited Georgia activists to our meeting later that night.

Due to a misunderstanding when I booked out hotel "suite" we ended up holding our GPJC Statewide Meet and Greet in the lobby area of the Econo Lodge in downtown Columbus. We had about 20 people show up and it was a nice relaxing time to hear about work around the state and for us to give a quick report on the tour. We also made a great connection with a member of the Columbus Peace and Justice Coalition. We look forward to continuing to work together in the future.

Witt played a song to give folks a taste of the tour.

After the meeting was over we were all so tired that we worked on the blog for a while and then called it a night.

Christina Repoley
AFSC/ GPJC

Photo by Al Viola

Day Eight: Macon 11.16.07

We showed up at Joshua Cup in historic downtown Macon around 10am for coffee and pre-game strategizing. I should say that I travel through Macon so often that I was able to redeem my frequent card for a triple vanilla/haze soy latte. As we began to work on the blog Fredando informed us the Oprah was in town for a her “home town” series. I attempted to find her publicists contact info but gave up after a few minutes.

We decided to head to the First Christian Church of Macon, who hosted the national Eyes Wide Open exhibit in 2004, to begin setting up the boots. Once we got there we were greeted by a half dozen local volunteers from the church and the local peace group, MaconPeace. There was a tremendous amount of media outreach done by the church. Within two hours we did several interviews for local TV stations. We had thousands of people drive by the boots, some stopped and took the time to view the memorial and pick up information. We were really excited to connect with several high school aged kids that came out to volunteer. We can’t wait to work with them in the future.

So I had secretly planned to leave the rest of the State of Hope folks to join the MaconPeace folks for their regular weekly street demonstration against the Iraq war. Right before it was time for me to go I told Christina I’d be back in a while. Craig Fluke drove me to Washington st. to join the demonstration. What a great group! Turns out the their site was only a few hundred yards from Oprah’s hotel. With so many cars honking in support of MaconPeace, I wondered if Oprah could hear.

Once back at the church the father of the soldier who’s sister left his picture with his boots at our Savannah stop arrived. We knew he lived in Macon and might show up. He wanted his sons name removed from the exhibit. This was the first time we had received this request and we of course complied with his wishes. It was a bittersweet end to the story that began in Savannah.

We packed up the boots at 6pm and headed into the church. Witt got to play in the church sanctuary! It felt very peaceful. After we left we treated our selves to a delicious warm meal at a local Chinese joint before we drove off into the night toward Americus.

Tim Franzen
Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition

Photos by Christina Repoley

Day Seven: Americus 11.15.07

We rolled into historic Koinonia Farms around 3am after the long drive from St. Simons Island. It should be noted that Koinonia is not only the birth place for Habitat for Humanity and Jubilee Partners, it’s also the birth place of the Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition. Sanders Thornberg, who was our local host/organizer, met us in the morning and we followed him out to the exhibit site. We set up the “Eyes Wide Open” exhibit right across the street from Habitat For Humanity international headquarters located in the middle of downtown Americus. Without a shadow of a doubt we experienced the most hostility there than at any stop we’ve made so far. The ease with which Bush supporters were able to ignore the symbolic boots of our state’s fallen soldiers was shocking and troubling. The Americus Times Reporter showed up and promised a front page story, Christina did a great job during the interview. Later channel 10, the south Georgia NBC affiliate, showed up and interviewed me. The crew spent a long time filming the boots and even asked if Witt would play a song. We were all skeptical about what footage would end up being used.

A man in uniform showed up and began walking amongst the boots. I introduced myself. It was clear that he wasn’t sure how he felt about our presence. He told me that he was going to be sent to Afghanistan in a month and that he was nervous. He told me that most in his unit felt betrayed by George W. Bush. He asked if I would help him find a friend of his who was killed in Iraq. We found the boots with his friend's name on them. I could no longer hold back tears. He took a moment of silence and a few pictures. He thanked us and encouraged us to keep it up. We shook hands and he was on his way.

Later that evening we set up the concert back at Koinonia Farms. We all felt so great being able to have the music in a more friendly environment. Koinonia is such a warm, peaceful place. Christina & I gave a brief talk on our experiences on the road so far. Witt played another fantastic set. As we were making our closing statements Fredando asked to come to the mic for the first time on the tour. He was clearly overwhelmed with the emotion and spirit that surrounded the Koinonia museum. His words brought many to tears.

Later that evening we discovered that Channel 10 made our story their lead story and promoted it all night long. Sanders taped it for us and we watched it together. It was great! They really did the story justice. We also made the front page of the Americus Times Reporter with a good picture! THANKS CHANNEL 10 & THANKS KOINONIA! Click here for a link to footage from the news.

Tim Franzen
Georgia Peace& Justice Coalition

Photos by Christina Repoley and Witt Wisebram