You’re invited to join local activists at No Kings 2

Nancy Forrest (KEPW News): Local organizers encourage you to head for the Federal Courthouse Saturday, Oct. 18 to join the No Kings 2 protest, then sign up with one of the many local organizations tabling there. For Eugene PeaceWorks and a new local group, Chico Schwall:

Chico Schwall (Eugene PeaceWorks, People for Peace and Justice in Palestine): It’s difficult, you know. We had one big mass gathering and then another one two months later that was even larger, but which received even less media attention. And the bigger they get, and the more we do them, the less we will read and hear about them. I think broadcast media are really scared right now that somebody’s going to come after them or sue them or burn their house down or whatever. And it’s really gotten very silent out there.

[00:00:47] Basically, the No Kings events—they’re kind of all the voice we’ve got right now. And if nobody’s going to depart from the narrative of our current administration, then we can just appear and be our own story. Ourselves is our only option right now. We can’t depend on the usual levers of government, ’cause the legislature is blocked, the courts are compromised, and the press is being silenced. So it’s kind of up to us.

[00:01:24] Nancy Forrest: With many groups focusing on different issues, No Kings organizers here in Eugene encourage participants to find their favorite local group and get involved. Chico encourages those at the protest Oct. 18th to look for the Eugene PeaceWorks table and sign up.

[00:01:40] Chico Schwall: I’ve been off and on involved with PeaceWorks for a long time. David Zupan is a real kind of activism conduit, not between two things, but more like the center of a web. And PeaceWorks is involved in a lot of these other both organizations and movements. You know, KEPW is a project of Eugene PeaceWorks and falls under the PeaceWorks umbrella, and we have a 501(c)(3) and a board. So, we can spawn other organizations like that.

[00:02:15] Nancy Forrest: Eugene PeaceWorks is also serving as an incubator for a new local group. Again, Chico Schwall:

[00:02:22] Chico Schwall: PeaceWorks is the umbrella organization too for People for Peace and Justice in Palestine, although PeaceWorks didn’t start it, we’re just kind of helping it.

[00:02:33] Sunday, Oct. 19 there will be a march just about stopping starvation, kind of a single-issue get-together to raise people’s attention. I mean, there’s a lot of suffering and it’s human-made suffering. And that’s going to begin at 2 p.m. at City Hall, just to raise people’s attention to something that’s happening so far away.

[00:02:55] It’s easy to get involved with all of these other situations we have to face, but let’s bring some attention to this one. It’s a gathering of faith-based communities: a local group of people, several active and former clergy persons, a bunch of concerned citizens. You don’t have to be a member of a church or have a religion to participate.

[00:03:25] A couple of the people who are the organizers are actually from Palestine. Dr. Alex Awad is kind of a center of it. And we brought a speaker, we did the film, we were also raising monies for humanitarian aid.

[00:03:44] Nancy Forrest: That speaker was Sami Awad, whose organization promotes nonviolence in the Middle East. The film was Gaza: Doctors Under Attack.

[00:03:54] Chico Schwall: We did two showings of the film and broke into small groups and had a little discussion there just amongst ourselves. And then there was a second showing of the film.

[00:04:03] It was pretty affecting. When the army would raid hospitals, they would take the doctors separate from the other people and they ended up in black site prison camps and it’s just stuff I didn’t even imagine.

[00:04:18] Nancy Forrest: You can learn more at No Kings Oct. 18 by visiting with members of People for Peace and Justice in Palestine and members of Eugene PeaceWorks. This is Nancy Forrest reporting for Whole Community News on KEPW 97.3, Eugene PeaceWorks Community Radio.