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Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice (NWCPJ) is a group of residents in Illinois' 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts who came together in opposition to war and occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan and their disastrous consequences. We also work to support justice and environmental sustainability in communities large and small.
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Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice meet on the Second Saturday of each month. We'll be at the Brookfield Farmers Market, weather permitting, May through September. Please call 708-447-9577 or 708-772-3034 for time and place or join us on our Yahoo Group.
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Bring the Illinois National Guard Home! It's the law. Sign our petition asking Governor Pat Quinn to act now HERE! Download a petition and take it to everyone you know. Click HERE for a pdf copy of our petition to the Governor that you may pass along to  friends, family and neighbors.
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Now more
than ever, since the US has committed 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan with almost a trillion spent on wars since 2001, billions
more to come and no end in sight, we need to understand the effects of war on those we
send to fight.
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NWCPJ film series features a documentary every other month. Our film on 4/14/12 was Ethos: a Time for Change .
NWCPJ showed these films for the 2010 to 2011 season: Flow, the Movie, The Yes Men, Beyond Belief, The Most Dangerous Man in America, The End of Poverty, Inside Job and A Sense of Wonder.
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On November 4, 2008, residents in Berwyn (and Riverside for #2)Township voted in favor of the following Questions of Public policy:
1. Shall our representatives in Congress hold current and former public officials, and private contractors accountable for war crimes, including torture and unprovoked aggression, in connection with the Iraq war?
2. Shall our elected officials in Illinois take steps to phase out nuclear power in the state, replacing it with renewable sources such as wind and solar?
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Join NWCPJ in supporting the War Moratorium third Fridays and third weekends of the month to protest the ongoing Wars and Occupations. The War Moratorium is a national movement occurring on the THIRD FRIDAY ord Third weekend of every month until the wars end. Join others in committing to:
I hereby commit that on the Third Friday and/or Third Weekend of
every month I will break my daily routine and take some step by myself
or with others to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice placed the following
question on the Berwyn Township Ballot for the election held February
5, 2008: “Shall our representatives in Congress pursue all available means to
limit military funding in Iraq to only that which is required to bring
all U.S. troops home safely?”
This referendum question passed by 77%.
No Expulsions for Morton West High School Antiwar Students!!
NWCPJ thanks all those who signed petitions, wrote letters, made calls and attended the rallies and meetings to support the Morton West High School students who were threatened with
expulsion after staging a sit-in to protest the Iraq War on November
1, 2007.
More than two hundred students participated in the All Saints Day anti-war
protest through the course of the day. Our next jobs will be to clear the records of the students involved and to get counter-recruiters into the campus on a regular basis.
Thanks also to Students for a Democratic Society for their petition for individuals: http://www.petitiononline.com/mortonw/
and for Student,
community, civil liberties, human rights and labor organizations: http://cccsds.wordpress.com/
In order
to have an organization placed on the petition, please contact cbrenz [at] gmail.com ASAP.
Here's the story: Dozens of Berwyn High School Students Faced Expulsion After Antiwar Sit-In on November 1. The school cafeteria event served in part as a counterpoint in the
school setting to military recruiters on campus, who routinely visit the high
school multiple times each week seeking to enlist young people into military
service. More than two hundred students participated in the All Saints Day
anti-war protest through the course of the day.
Students
complied with a school administrator's request to move the action outside the
cafeteria after initially being assured that the only disciplinary action they
would face was citation for cutting classes. But administrators subsequently
threatened expulsion, including for students who joined the sit-in later in the
day. Administrators have since issued formal notices to dozens of student that
they will be expelled from the school, suspended many more, and threatened to
bring criminal charges against students age 17 and older who participated in
the anti-war action.
School
administrators also put the school on lockdown briefly during the All Saints Day
protest. That action stands in stark contrast to administrators’ response to a
report of a student with a gun on campus last month. In that incident,
administrators chose not to lock down the school.
The
District has said they will issue final decisions on appeals of the
suspensions, on Tuesday, however, they say the orders of expulsion still stand.
The District 201 School Board is scheduled to meet at 7PM at Morton East High School on Wednesday evening.
Morton West High School parents are planning a press
conference for Tuesday morning, where they will read a letter to the school
superintendent demanding complete amnesty for the students, and then parents
and students will take questions from the press before delivering the letter to
the School
District
201 office. You can also read more about
the event here:
[ http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/80059/index.php
]
Oct. 27, NWCPJ and others took part in the Stop the War Now! Chicago Regional Mobilization Against War and Occupation in Iraq. More than 100,000 marched in the 11 regional and scores of local demonstrations throughout the country. Full details and pictures are available at oct 27.org and at oct27chicago.org.
 A Concert for Peace, on Sept. 8, was fabulously successful and a lot of fun. NWCPJ thanks all those who helped in this effort: the artists and performers who donated their time and all the volunteers from Unity Temple and Oak Park Coalition for Truth and Justice.
The Vote was "Yes" for Peace November 7, 2006! Illinois voters took the opportunity to vote yes for withdrawal from Iraq.
Election results of Townships:
- Berwyn-yes 71%
- Riverside-Yes 61%
- Oak Park-Yes 76%
- DeKalb-yes 58%
- Geneva-Yes 52%
- Aurora-Yes 58%
- Downers Grove-Yes 55%
- Champaign-Yes 58%
- Cunningham (Urbana) -Yes 65%
- Capital (Springfield) -Yes 59%
Election results of Counties:
- Cook Co.- Yes 73%
- Whiteside- Yes 59%
NWCPJ's message to Rep. Dan Lipinski: After repeated requests, our Congressman finally published his Iraq position on January 10. This, our reply, dated January 22, 2007 was delivered to his offices during the lobbying efforts tied to the national protests of the Iraq war. The complete letter follows.
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