Mass. Peace Action has released voter guides for two of the most hotly-contested congressional districts in Massachusetts, CD5 and CD10. The guides cover the 2010 Congressional races. The 5th district, centered in Lowell, is Niki Tsongas’ current district, while the 10th district, which stretches from Quincy to Cape Cod, is an open seat currently represented by Bill Delahunt.

The guides compare the positions of the candidates on pressing peace issues.  They are available to download at www.masspeaceaction.org/resources#PeaceVoter.

Peace Action has endorsed Rep. Jim McGovern for re-election to Congress due to his exemplary leadership of the effort to end the Afghanistan war, among other peace issues.   Unfortunately, Rep. McGovern’s re-election challenger is receiving national conservative support.

In the final two weeks before the election, we urge you to volunteer with Rep. McGovern’s campaign, donate, and do all you can to ensure that this stalwart leader of the peace movement continues to represent Massachusetts in Congress.

Call 508-795-1998 or go to jimmcgovern.com now!    Or, to support all candidates endorsed by Peace Action, go tohttp://www.peace-action.org/peacevoter/and click Donate.

From left, Eva Mosely of Peace Action, Joan Ecklein, Annelise Ebbe, and Jean Miller of WILPF, Chris Wyman, and Shelagh Foreman of Peace Action, discuss the Afghanistan war outside Kerry’s office October 21. Ebbe, a native of Denmark and co-president of WILPF, is in the United States for WILPF’s international board meeting.

Boston, October 21 – A delegation of peace leaders from Massachusetts Peace Action, Women’s International League from Peace and Freedom, and United for Justice with Peace, delivered a letter to Senator John Kerry yesterday calling for Senate hearings on the Afghanistan war.

“We urge you, as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to hold hearings during November to evaluate the situation. We are confident that an honest evaluation will show that the situation is steadily deteriorating, that the US is unable to dictate the political future of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that the cost in US, Afghan, and Pakistani lives and in billions of dollars is unacceptable — even more so when measured against the utter lack of results achieved,” wrote Peace Action representatives Shelagh Foreman and Eva Moseley in the letter.
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Join Mass Peace Action at a Brown Bag Vigil to Stop the Afghanistan War!   The vigil will be held Wednesday, October 20, downstairs from Sen. John Kerry’s office at Bowdoin Square, Boston.    We will move at 1:00 to the JFK Federal Building where Sen. Scott Brown’s office is located.

Register to attend!

Brown Bag Vigil, Boston, Sept 2010

The Afghanistan war continues to destroy US, Afghan, and Pakistani lives, but the policy underlying it has completely failed.   The election was corrupt, the US is empowering the warlords, and the violence has now spread to Pakistan.  It’s time to stop the killing, bring our troops home, and use the money to rebuild our economy!

President Obama promised a review of the war strategy in December.   We vigil to demand that Senators Kerry and Brown hold hearings in a push to turn US policy toward negotiations and troop withdrawals.

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When: Thursday, November 4 • 7:00 p.m.
Where: First Parish in Cambridge • 3 Church St. • corner of Mass. Ave. • Harvard Sq. T • Cambridge

Massachusetts Peace Action and the UJP Afghanistan/Pakistan Task Force present Matthew Hoh speaking on the failure of the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Hoh is the director of the Afghanistan Study Group, a Washington, DC task force. Its report in September 2010 demolished the rationales for the Afghanistan war and called for troop withdrawals and negotiations.

Matthew Hoh earned a degree from Tufts University.  He served in the Marine Corps, then as a Foreign Service officer in Afghanistan.  He resigned from the State Department in 2009 with a devastating public critique of the Administration’s Afghanistan policy.

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