Call to members of the Massachusetts Peace Movement
In this critical election year it is essential that we place our agenda before the people for their consideration and confront the austerity agenda coming out of Washington that will ruin the lives of millions and promise never ending war.
We need an all out effort in June to place the “Budget for All” referendum on the ballot this fall across the state. Can you help out in a small or large way to collect the signatures in your town needed by July 1 to place this public policy question on the ballot in your state representative district?
| “Shall the state Representative (or Senator) from this district be instructed to vote in favor of a resolution calling upon Congress and the President to:
1) Prevent cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans benefits, or to housing, food and unemployment assistance;
2) Create and protect jobs by investing in manufacturing, schools, housing, renewable energy, transportation and other public services;
3) Provide new revenues for these purposes and to reduce the long-term federal deficit by closing corporate tax loopholes, ending offshore tax havens, and raising taxes on incomes over $250,000; and
4) Redirect military spending to these domestic needs by reducing the military budget, ending the war in Afghanistan and bringing U.S. troops home safely now.”
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Here is the chance for our peace and justice groups to work with unions and low income, housing, and community groups. Organizations currently collecting signatures in their districts include Chinese Progressive Association, ARISE for Social Justice (Springfield), Right to the City Civic Action Alliance, AFGE/Local 3258/AFL-CIO, Mass. Alliance of HUD Tenants, United Food and Commercial Workers, Neighbors United for a Better East Boston, The Chelsea Collaborative, The Boston Workers Alliance, New England United For Justice (NEU4J), Mass. Global Action, The Mary Ellen McCormack Tenant Task Force and other hard working groups. A dozen of our peace groups are involved.We can provide you with the official petitions and instructions on how to collect signatures. We can present a slide show and training in your area. If we all take on a minimal amount of work we can get this referendum on the ballot in many or most parts of the state. Currently major efforts at signature gathering are taking place on Cape Cod, in Western Mass, in the Greater Boston/Cambridge/Somerville/Brookline/Newton area, in Boston suburbs, on the North Shore, in Southeastern Mass and in sprinklings of districts elsewhere. We need to strengthen these efforts and grow new efforts where currently none exist. Once we get it on the ballot we will need and educational campaign to advocate for a YES vote.
If you are already collecting signatures, Thank You! If you are not and can volunteer to collect 10 or 20 signatures in your town -- or spend 2 hours in the month of June or 2 hours per week in June collecting signatures -- or take on the task of coordinating the gathering of the 200 signatures of registered voters needed to put the referendum on the ballot in your district, please contact:
Cole Harrison at Massachusetts Peace Action: cole@masspeaceaction.org or 617-354-2169 or
Paul Shannon at AFSC: pshannon@afsc.org or 617-661-6130 ext, 123.
For more information and a chart of the places where signature gathering is now taking place please visit our exciting web page at www.budget4allmass.org.
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United for Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic justice. 
Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP today. |
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| 617-383-4857 | www.justicewithpeace.org | |
Upcoming Events:
| Boston Marathon Bombings: Impact and Response | Mon May 20 | 7:00pm | Cambridge Friends Meeting | Cambridge |  |
| When Martin Luther King Jr. Came to Cambridge | Mon May 20 | 7:00pm | Christ Church Cambridge | Cambridge |  |
| Memorial Day for Peace | Mon May 27 | 1:00pm | Christopher Columbus Park | Boston |  |
| Peace Contingent in Dorchester Day Parade | Sun Jun 2 | 12:00pm | Dorchester |  | |
| Plastic, Plastic and More Plastic: Watertown Citizens Annual Meeting | Sun Jun 2 | 5:30pm | The Apartments at Coolidge School | Watertown |  |
