California Congressman Bob Filner joined with student and community organizations to discuss the true costs of war at CSULB’s third annual Practicing Peace Festival on Nov. 10.
“The violence, the thinking that goes behind it, the injuries — we as a society need to know the different kinds of costs of war,” said Filner, who represents California’s 51st District.
He added that the government has an obligation to give treatment to veterans for physical and psychological injuries.
The College of Liberal Arts Student Council and the Center for Peace and Social Justice organized the event at the Speaker’s Platform along the Friendship Walk.
“I am a child of the sixties and I am not for these wars,” said Filner, who has served as chairman of the House Committee for Veteran Affairs for the past three years. “I want to get the majority of people united to support our veterans and have demonstrations.”
Several advocates, at booths like Military Families Speak Out and Veterans for Peace, talked to students walking by and handed out peace stickers, pamphlets and informative books. Posters depicted and described the actions of peace practitioners, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Jane Goodall.
“I’m practicing peace my way,” retired Air Force veteran Horace Coleman said. “I have information for students on how to find a job outside of the military and share articles I’ve written about warfare in the local veteran newspaper. Every week, man, I am against war.”
Staff members of the College of Liberal Arts formerly organized the Practicing Peace Festival, but this year, students took the reigns. The student council wanted to bridge the gap between campus and community organizations to bring awareness about how different groups practice peace and are affected by warfare.
Program and publicity coordinator for the student council April Nietes said, “We could have made it commercial, but we wanted to stick to the grass roots level.”
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