The Nature of Boston Peace Groups :: War Iraq Papers

The Nature of Boston Peace Groups Like many other Brookline residents, Amy Hendrickson spends every Saturday at Coolidge Corner. But unlike most Coolidge Corner visitors, she’s not catching a movie at the historic Coolidge Corner Theatre or grabbing a latte at Starbucks. Every Saturday at noon for the past two years, Amy Hendrickson has held a peace vigil for soldiers who have died in Iraq. Hendrickson is the founder of Brookline Peaceworks, a community peace activist group and offshoot of United for Justice with Peace. "It’s amazing what you can do from Brookline,† says Hendrickson, a self-employed computer consultant who admits she probably spends more time on Brookline Peaceworks than on her job. Every Saturday Hendrickson and other Brookline Peaceworks members hand out flyers, and speak with passers-by about the war in Iraq. On March 23, 2005, Hendrickson handed out flyers detailing the costs to taxpayers for the war, including the specific cost for Brookline residents. And she’s not stopping there. â€Å"Brookline Peaceworks is initiating a town-wide canvass to raise awareness about the impact of the Iraq War. We will be going door to door to ask Brookline citizens to sign a petition to remove U.S. troops from Iraq as quickly as possible, and to reassess the use of Massachusetts National Guard in international conflicts,† wrote Hendrickson in the Guest Commentary section of the Brookline Tab, on March 24, 2005. Hendrickson was a member of United for Justice with Peace (UJP), an association of almost 60 peace groups in the Greater Boston area. In 2002 it came to her attention that Brookline was lacking a community peace group. After some hesitation, Hendrickson decided to found Brookline Peaceworks with the encouragement of other UJP members. Since then, Brookline Peaceworks has made front page news in the Boston Globe by organizing a demonstration in Boston that was concurrent with demonstrations in other U.S. cities, such as New York and San Francisco; organizing â€Å"teach-ins† at schools such as Northeastern University and Brookline High School; and campaigning for Randall Forsberg as a write-in candidate for Senate, in defiance of John Kerry’s support of the war powers act. This last effort resulted in 25,000 write in votes for Forsberg, according to Brookline Peaceworks. The group has worked many hours in an effort to end the war with Iraq. Groups such as Boston Peaceworks aim to educate Boston residents, but to many they seem useless, ineffective, and to some, downright annoying.