Chico Peace and Justice Center

March 20, 2010

We marked the passage of seven long years of the War in Iraq at the end of the Pathway to Peace Walk.  Many local youths and longtime activists spoke on this day, calling for an end to the war.  Kathy Kelly, longtime peace activist, was our keynote speaker.

Kathy Kelly co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence, (www.vcnv.org) a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare. As a co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, she helped form 70 delegations, from 1996 - 2003, that openly defied economic sanctions by bringing medicines to children and families in Iraq. Kathy and her companions lived in Baghdad throughout the 2003 “Shock and Awe” bombing.

More recently, she has visited Gaza and Pakistan, writing eyewitness accounts of war’s impact on civilians.

Kathy was sentenced to one year in federal prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites (1988-89) and served three months, in 2004, for crossing the line at Fort Benning’s military training school.

She and her companions at the Voices home/office in Chicago believe that non-violence necessarily involves simplicity, service, sharing of resources and non-violent direct action in resistance to war and oppression. Kathy hasn’t paid federal income taxes since 1980.