Past Events

PEACE Iowa Annual Meeting. Sunday October 1. City Park, 200 Park Rd. Iowa City, Shelter 8. 'Beloved Community: The Friendship and Entwined Legacies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh.' Stephen Pradarelli will speak about Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh and socially engaged Buddhism. Agenda: 1:00 pm Snacks and socializing, 1:45 pm Summary of the year's activities and future plans, 2:00pm Guest speaker Stephen Pradarelli, Communications Director for the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation. Shelter 8 is fully-enclosed and near the pond in lower City Park. Everyone is welcome! Contact peaceiowa@gmail.com, or visit peaceiowa.org.

 

Click for accessible PDF of the poster below
PEACE Iowa invites you to a community-building workshop facilitated by Nathan Kleban: Peace-Building in Iowa City and Reactions to the War in Ukraine. Nathan is an experienced facilitator who recently moved to Iowa City. Most involved with the Alternatives to Violence Project, Nathan has also facilitated Kingian Nonviolence workshops with Kazu Haga. He has long been involved with the Catholic Worker movement, and has lived and served in various intentional communities dedicated to peace, healing, and sustainability. Iowa City Public Library Meeting Room D, Sunday, Oct. 8 2-5 pm. Structured conversations; Community-building exercises; Connecting as advocates for peace.

Registration for this free workshop is encouraged (but not required).
Please help us plan by registering with this link.

 

Click for accessible PDF of the poster belowVideo link Video/Reading Discussion
PEACE Iowa invites you to join us for a discussion on nonviolence based on
Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm
by Kazu Haga
Saturday, March 4 2PM
Iowa City Public Library Meeting Room B
We will be watching a video of Haga's discussion that is linked below. You are also welcome to read the introduction, and the chapters on violence and nonviolence to prepare for the discussion. Refreshments will be served.
If you need copies of the reading material please reach out to us at:
peaceiowa@gmail.com Healing Resistance Talk with Kazu Haga - Watch on YouTube Video link

 

Armistice Day Observance, Friday, Nov. 11th. North side of Graduate Hotel, Iowa City Ped Mall. Gather at 10:30 AM, Program Begins @ 10:35. With assembly played by VFP bugler Ross Porch.

The public is invited to the Armistice Day Observance on November 11th. Join us to remember the importance of building peace and a future without war. We will stand for half an hour to honor and remember all victims of war & to re-dedicate ourselves to the work of peace.

Bells will ring at the 11th hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month (Friday, November 11).

Organized by Veterans for Peace, Iowa Chapter #161
For further information, please contact Ed Flaherty at 319 621-6766

 

PEACE Iowa annual meeting, Saturday, October 8th, Iowa City Park Shelter 7. Featuring guest speaker Helen Jaccard, Golden Rule Project Manager and Crew Member. Click for more information (accessible PDF).

History of the Golden Rule

In 1958, a crew of four Quaker sailors set sail in their boat the Golden Rule, in an attempt to interpose themselves and the ship into the U.S. government’s atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Read more

 

Celebrate International Day of Peace...a period of non-violence and cease-fire. Tues Sept 20 - 5:30 PM, Mercer Park, Shelter #1, 1317 Dover St., lowa City. Activities include: Peace Pole Presentation; Sing Peace - with Family Folk Machine; Peace Proclamation

 

Sailing Into the Future: Remember Hiroshima & Nagasaki; Abolish Nuclear Weapons - An Evening of Conversation & Film. Tues. Aug 9, 6:30-8:00, Old Brick Church Iowa City, Lower Level Common Room. Click for more information (accessible PDF).

 

AN EVENING TO BENEFIT UKRAINE CRISIS RESPONSE - SATURDAY MAY 21ST, 2022. 6:00 pm Supper Featuring Ukrainian Food. 7:00 pm Presentation. Where: St. Raphael Antiochian Orthodox Church, 722 E College Street, Iowa City, IA, 52240. Click for more information (accessible PDF).

 

Veterans for Peace and PEACE Iowa Present: War is Never the Answer, A Lecture Delivered by Kathy Kelly. Come join us at the Old Capital Building's Senate Chamber, April 19th at 5:00 pm for an evening with Kathy Kelley.

 

Kathy Kelly to present in March, 2022

 

2021 Annual Meeting

 

11-11-20

Armistice Day — November 11th

Veterans For Peace, Chapter 161 is holding space with a traditional Armistice Day Observance on Zoom. You are invited to be there with us as we celebrate the peace that the world felt at the end of WWI and at the same time remember the fallen on all sides and recognize the victims of wars throughout the world. Fast forward 102 years to today. Although we cannot celebrate peace we can work towards it. We can recognize the victims of war throughout the world, including the damage to Mother Earth herself. Please join us at 10:45 AM CST for opening remarks. We plan to ring the bell 11 times promptly at 11 AM followed by a minute of silent reflection.

Many thanks to PEACE Iowa who arranged to have David Swanson, co-founder of World Beyond War deliver the concluding remarks. To register for the event and obtain the Zoom link please click the following:

lu.ma/ArmisticeDayinIowaCity

 

Annual Meeting 2020

If you have not already been provided with the Zoom link and want to attend
please register at: https://lu.ma/PEACE-Iowa-2020

 

Peace Day 2020

 

PEACE Iowa and Veterans For Peace, Chapter 161 will hold a candlelight vigil in downtown Iowa City on Thursday, June 25, one month after the murder of George Floyd. We are vigiling out of lament for the loss of his life and so many others before him to racial violence; and out of gratitude for the light that shone through him and so many others.

Thursday, June 25, 2020
8:15 PM
Pentacrest, 21 N Clinton St, Iowa City, IA 52242


Please be sure to bring a candle and make a sign or poster of remembrance. We ask that everyone wear a mask and practice social distancing.
Share this experience with friends by RSVPing on Facebook.

Candle Vigil


 

This date was chosen because it marks one month since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. We want to lament the loss of Mr. Floyd's life — and of so many others' before him — to racial violence. And yet we want to honor his life for the light, the peace, and the love that shone through him and so many others.

Please gather between 8:15 and 8:30pm, when we will pass out candles to everyone who would like one (you may bring your own.) The mood will be quiet and thoughtful and reverential — no noise, no speakers. If we need to speak, it should be quiet and minimal. At 8:46 we will all take a knee and bow our heads for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, in honor and in remembrance of Mr. Floyd. (Those for whom kneeling is not possible may certainly remain standing.) Please remember to wear your masks, and to honor social distancing.

Contact: David Hempel 471-0896
 

 

Intl Women's Day 2020

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020 — 11am to 12pm

Iowa City Caravan for Peace

Mercer Park

We will mark both International Women's Day for Peace and Disarmament (IWDPD) and Memorial Day by participating in a Caravan of Peace through Iowa City. Similar Peace Caravans and activities will take place in other cities all across the world. PEACE Iowa, along with the Iowa chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Veterans For Peace, Chapter 161 are proud to join with CODEPINK in honoring the many women and men (past and present) who have worked toward peace-building and disarmament.

Join us Monday, May 25th at Mercer Park, ready for the 11am start of the caravan to spread a message of peace throughout Iowa City. To participate, you should make your way to Mercer Park - just east of Southeast Junior High - by 10:50am where we will gather in the parking lot at the Dover Street side to get in position. Please come with your vehicle decorated with short messages of peace, such as: 'Peace', 'Global Ceasefire', 'No Sanctions', 'No War', 'HealthCare Not Warfare', 'War is Not Green', 'Divest from War', 'Sanctions Kill' — with symbols, such as peace signs, doves — hearts and flowers can also be used. You can use window paint, fabric or poster board signs, or any material you want. Feel free to be creative.

We will leave the parking lot at about 11am and circle through Iowa City toward downtown and then back to Mercer Park. In the event that anyone gets separated from the caravan please review the route map. We ask that everyone follow all traffic laws.

Organized by CODEPINK, and cosponsored by PEACE Iowa, the Iowa Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Veterans For Peace, Chapter 161.

 

 

1000 Dinners 2020

PEACE Iowa happily co-sponsors ...

Night of 1,000 Dinners

A community celebration of International Women's Day
featuring an international buffet dinner and
honoring local organizations that promote
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Wednesday, March 11, 2019 -- 5:30 to 7:00 pm
at Robert A. Lee Recreation Center, 220 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City

Tickets:
· General $25 in advance — $30 at door
· Students $10 in advance — $12 at door

 

Dana Fisher

PEACE Iowa, the University of Iowa Sociology Department,
and Prairie Lights Bookstore
present:

American Resistance: From the Women's March to the Blue Wave
Dana R. Fisher will talk about her research with activists
and her latest book

Friday February 21
12 to 1 pm
Prairie Lights Bookstore
15 South Dubuque Street
Downtown Iowa City

Since Donald Trump's first day in office, a large and energetic grassroots "Resistance" has taken to the streets to protest his administration's plans for the United States. Millions marched in pussy hats on the day after the inauguration; outraged citizens flocked to airports to declare that America must be open to immigrants; masses of demonstrators circled the White House to demand action on climate change; and that was only the beginning. Who are the millions of people marching against the Trump administration, how are they connected to the Blue Wave that washed over the U.S. Congress in 2018—and what does it all mean for the future of American democracy? American Resistance traces activists from the streets back to the communities and congressional districts around the country where they live, work, and vote. Using innovative data and interviews with key players, Dana R. Fisher analyzes how Resistance groups have channeled outrage into activism, using distributed organizing to make activism possible by anyone from anywhere, whenever and wherever it is needed most. Beginning with the Women's March and following the movement through the 2018 midterms, Fisher demonstrates how the energy and enthusiasm of the Resistance paid off in a wave of Democratic victories. She reveals how the Left rebounded from the devastating 2016 election, the lessons for turning grassroots passion into electoral gains, and what comes next. American Resistance explains the organizing that is revitalizing democracy to counter Trump's presidency.

Dana R. Fisher is professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her books include Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America (2006).

Professor Fisher has appeared on CNN and MSNBC to discuss her work on activism and protest. She has also published a series of pieces on this topic in the Monkey Cage at the Washington Post. Her research has been featured in media outlets such as the The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Science Magazine, various programs on National Public Radio, and on numerous podcasts, including the Politics Guys podcast, the Pantsuit Politics Show, and the No Jargon podcast of the Scholars Strategy Network. Fisher's research on protest was profiled in "The Collectors: Political Action," a documentary short by FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films.

Fisher received her Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees from the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her undergraduate degree is in East Asian Studies and Environmental Studies from Princeton University.

No war with Iran 2020

 

Tent of Nations

 

Peace Painting

Coming together to promote peace ...

PEACE Iowa Annual Meeting

Saturday, October 26th
Congregational United Church of Christ
Rockwood Hall (ground floor)
30 North Clinton Street in Iowa City

12 pm · Potluck & live music with Old Cap String Band
1 to 3 pm · Program Including panel and discussion
Panel Topic: Coming Together to Promote Peace

This is a perfect event for learning more about PEACE Iowa.

For more information:
peaceiowa @ gmail·com
3l9-354-l925

 

Holy Land event

 

Sept Caucus Meeting

 

JC Fair 1
Meg and Ann were among the PEACE Iowa volunteers at the 2019 Johnson County Fair.

JC Fair 4
Fair visitors were asked to vote for the issues of greatest importance to them.

wood peace

Step right up — for the People.

Sunday, July 21 through Wednesday, July 24
Johnson County Fairgrounds
3109 Old Hwy 218 S, Iowa City


The People's Coalition Booth returns to the Johnson County Fair again this year. PEACE Iowa, along with 100 Grannies, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Veterans for Peace, and United Nations Association are all contributing volunteers to the booth. This is your chance to have interesting and fruitful dialogues, meet lots of people, and help them answer our "corn poll". This year's poll question is about what we feel is most important for the new upcoming president to pursue.

For more information please contact: information @ peaceiowa·net

 

People's Coalition 2019

4th of July Parade, Coralville

The Peoples' Coalition is parade unit 97
The Parade is to start at 10 am, and folks are urged to get there by 9:30. It is a great time to visit, and even to lobby other entrants before taking off. Many thanks to Maureen McCue for making arrangements. There will be a large trailer, with straw bales. Yahoo Drummers!! New 1/4 pagers to hand out to parade watchers. This is a great time to visit, to network. Bring family, children, friends, to ride or walk. (water) Place is the parking lot to the west of HyVee parking lot on Hwy 6 in Coralville.
 

 

Sudan Forum

 

Peace Prayers 2019

 

Amira Hass
Trumpet Blossom

Tacos for Peace

Trumpet Blossom Cafe Fundraiser
for PEACE Iowa
Tuesday, April 30th
5:00 to 9:00 pm
Trumpet Blossom Cafe
310 East Prentiss Street
Iowa City

Trumpet Blossom Cafe will donate a portion of proceeds for the evening to PEACE Iowa. Don't worry, you can still come and eat their lovely food even if you're not craving tacos that night. Bring friends and family to have a cocktail or some vegan food!

 

Oakdale Choir

Each week in Coralville a group of "outside singers" joins a group of "inside singers" in a prison gym to form the Oakdale Community Choir. And for two hours on a Tuesday night nobody thinks they're in prison.

PEACE Iowa member, Andy Douglas,
will read from his new book:
Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Prison Choir

Monday, April 15, 7 PM
at the Unitarian Universalist Society
2355 Oakdale Rd., Coralville

For six years, the author volunteered with the Oakdale Community Choir, a performing chorale composed of both volunteers and inmates and directed by University of Iowa associate professor of music education Dr. Mary Cohen, based in a correctional facility in Coralville, Iowa. Taking the reader inside the walls of this medium-security prison, the book offers a glimpse at how music and the arts are offering second chances to the incarcerated.

The United States incarcerates more prisoners per capita than any other country, with more than two million people in U.S. jails and prisons. In addition to exploring the role of singing as a rehabilitative tool, the book examines some of the pressing issues facing the criminal justice system.

In doing so, it reflects on several questions - how can music and the arts inspire prisoners to change? Should the underlying philosophy of our penal system be one of retribution or restoration? What can restorative justice offer to all those touched by crime and the criminal justice system?

Andy Douglas (andydouglas.net) received an MFA in Creative Writing from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, where he was the recipient of the Marcus Bach Fellowship for Writing about Religion and Culture. His first book, The Curve of the World: Into the Spiritual Heart of Yoga, was published in 2013.

 

Let's put issues of Middle East Peace front-center ...
CAUCUS 2020 PEACE PROJECT
Initial meeting to kick off this project

Middle East Dove

Saturday, March 23rd, 1:00 pm
at Merge
136 South Dubuque Street, downtown Iowa City
(on pedestrian mall west of ICPL)
Anyone interested in Middle East peace is welcome.


PEACE Iowa, Iowans for Palestine, and Veterans For Peace Chapter 161 invite you to join this non-partisan candidate education project to bring Middle East peace issues to candidates' attention.

We are seeking individuals to participate in a coordinated effort to raise concerns and question candidates about peace in the Middle East and surrounding areas:
Syria · Yemen · Iraq · Iran · Palestine/Israel · Afghanistan · Sudan · Saudi Arabia
US involvement throughout the Middle East

 

 

Drone Des Moines event

Iowa Must Not Pilot
Reaper Drones!

Rally at the Iowa Air National Guard
132nd Attack Wing
featuring Kathy Kelly,
founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence


Sunday, March 17th, 1 pm
3100 McKinley Ave, Des Moines

The rally will include over 100 Catholic Workers from throughout the Midwest, Veterans for Peace from Iowa and other states, and peace-makers from many organizations and communities in Iowa.

For further information about the March 17th rally
contact: Gil Landolt 515·657·O354, peacevet @ hotmail·com
or Frank Cordaro 515·282·4781, frank.cordaro @ gmail·com

or visit website vfp161.org
 

 

Night of 1000 Dinners

 

Zogby 2019

 

MLK at Thai Flavors 2019
++

Enjoy delicious Thai food menu, meet others committed to peace, and support the work of PEACE Iowa. We choose this day to celebrate the birth of a champion of Peace causes, Martin Luther King, Jr. Thai Flavors will donate a portion of their dine-in sales to PEACE Iowa on Monday January 21, 11:00-2:00 and 5:00-9:00. This is dine-in only, take-out and delivery sales are not part of the fundraiser.

 


Starting a new year in 2019

 
Veterans for Peace is sponsoring
a peace vigil on New Year's Day
to express our hope and determination
to work for a more peaceful world in 2019

Tuesday, January 1, 6:00 to 6:30 pm
east side of the Pentacrest
Clinton Street at Iowa Avenue in Iowa City
 

 

Julie Brown to speak

 

Armistice Day Observance

Sunday, November 11th, 10:45 AM
Eastside of the Pentacrest
sponsored by Veterans For Peace Chapter #161

Armistice Day is a day to promote peace and to
remember the victims of war
both veterans and civilians.
Bells will be rung at 11:00 AM, as they were
rung around the world at the end of the
Great War, 100 years ago.
 

Reclaim 2018


The event is free, and the public is welcome
More information at vfp161.org
Observance attendees are invited to a free lunch,
socializing and Open Mic at Old Brick, 26 E. Market Street
immediately after the public Observance, ends @2PM

 

2018 Meeting


PEACE Iowa Annual Meeting
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Lower City Park, Shelter 8
Iowa City
 

12 p.m. Potluck & music
Music featuring Joe Brisben
1 — 3 p.m. Program
 

Presentation by Mehrnaz Khanjani,
Iranian doctoral student in the mass communication and journalism department at U Iowa:
Iran Before and After the Islamic Revolution —
What the American Public Is Being Kept in the Dark About


Join us as we celebrate our work over the past year and enjoy good food, friends, and music.
 

logo

For more information:

peaceiowa@gmail·com
3l9 354·l925
peaceiowa·org

 

JC Fair

Join us at the Johnson County Fair
At the Johnson County Fairgrounds on July 22nd through 25th

Come visit the Peoples' Coalition booth, and bring a friend or family member to learn about our mission, play some fun games and earn a treat! PEACE Iowa will be there along with Physicians for Social Responsibility, Veterans for Peace Chapter 161, 100Grannies, and Iowa United Nations Association.

 

Thai Flavors

Join us at Thai Flavors!

Monday, July 9th
from 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 9pm

340 East Burlington St in Iowa City

The restaurant will be donating 10% of dine-in business to PEACE Iowa.

 

July 4th 2018

March for Peace!

Join us at 9am on July 4th to march in the Coralville 4th Fest!

The People's Coalition will again march in the Coralville July 4th parade. The coalition includes PEACE Iowa, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Veterans for Peace, the Yahoo Drummers, and other groups. Anyone supporting peace, human rights, and sustainability is invited to walk with us.

This year's theme is "Coralville, Hub of Hospitality"
which we are turning into "Make the World a Hub of Hospitality."


We are number 50 out of 123. That's the closest to the front we've ever been!

The truck and trailer must be in our entry place by 9 am in the GEICO/McGregor's/LiFEchurch parking lot. For walkers and drummers, park in the HyVee lot and walk on over to the Geico Lot on Hwy 6 at the western end of Coralville. Please be sure to arrive absolutely no later than 9:30 to be in place with all your things organized including your water and sunscreen for the 2 mile walking and talking and bouncing to the drums. It goes without saying, wear comfy shoes!

The Group in front of us will be the Dream Divas and Flip Squad and Forever Green will be behind us. Should be interesting! For more information:
Check out website at www.coralville.org/310/4thFest, for the parade route and all of the spectacular events planned for 4thFest!

 

Exhibit logo

Veterans For Peace Chapter 161
is sponsoring an exhibit on the My Lai Massacre

Coralville Public Library, lower level

Friday through Sunday, June 15-17
Friday 10 am to 6 pm · Saturday 9:30 am to 4:30 pm · Sunday Noon to 4 pm

Join us in attending and learning about this tragedy

 

The exhibit panels on the American War in Vietnam and the My Lai Massacre provide a lens to face up to the tragic impact of our political and military actions on the people of Vietnam. Exhibit panels explore how our governmental and military policies and practices were developed, nurtured, implemented and then covered up in a campaign that led to the killing of 2 million Vietnamese civilians during the course of the war.

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the civilian massacre of My Lai, the Vietnamese village that was destroyed by US forces during the Vietnam War. The My Lai Memorial Exhibit honors the Vietnamese who died in what they refer to as the American War. It is a strong, anti-war response to the Pentagon's campaign and is a way of assuring that the Vietnam War does not slip down the memory hole.

The exhibit, which is traveling the whole country, is a critical element in fulfilling the Veterans For Peace mission — to seek justice for veterans and the victims of war, expose the true costs of war, and to work for peace.
 

 

Objectors Day

 

John Dear

May 4th · 7 to 9pm
St Thomas More Catholic Church
3000 12th Ave, Coralville

zogby

Jim Zogby:
America and the Arab World


Wednesday April 11th · 7pm
Jim Zogby, who cannot attend, will speak via Skype

Iowa City Public Library, Room A
123 S. Linn St
Iowa City, IA 52240

 
Jim Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute and Board Member of Our Revolution, will speak about "America and the Arab World." Zogby has been a long time advocate for Arab Americans and served on the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2017. Bernie Sanders designated Zogby as one of his representatives to the DNC Unity Reform Commission to lessen the power of super-delegates and make other reforms to the Democratic party process.

Sponsored by Johnson County Green Party, Our Revolution Johnson County, PEACE Iowa, Iowa Peace Network, Iowa UNA, Iowans for Palestine, Veterans for Peace #161, and others.

Dawn Jones production of the April 11, 2018 Zogby presentation


 

stop the war

Join Us Monday
to Observe the 15th Anniversary
of the beginning of the Iraq War

Monday March 19th 5:30pm
Iowa City Pentacrest

PEACE Iowa and Veterans for Peace are co-sponsoring this observance 

 

night of 1000 dinners 2018
Trumpet Blossom

Tacos for Peace
Trumpet Blossom Cafe Fundraiser for PEACE Iowa
Tuesday, February 27th
5:00 to 9:00 pm
Trumpet Blossom Cafe
310 East Prentiss Street
Iowa City

Trumpet Blossom Cafe will be donating 20% of their sales (don't worry, you can still come and eat their lovely food even if you're not feeling tacos that night) from 5-9pm that night so bring friends and family to have a cocktail or some vegan food!

 

Gandhi

Workshop on
Nonviolent Activism


Understanding and Practicing Gandhi's Satyagraha
as a Method for Social Change
New Date: Saturday, February 24th
1:00 to 5:00 pm
Wesley House


Facilitated by Karen Nichols—awardee of the PEACE Iowa scholarship to attend the Satyagraha Institute last summer—the event will take place on Saturday, February 10th, 1 to 5pm at the Wesley Foundation on 120 North Dubuque Street in Iowa City. Please call or email PEACE Iowa to register. There is no charge for this event.

 

MLK Day 2-18

 

New Year Vigil

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