October, 06 2009, 04:44pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Reva Patwardhan m: 510-681-7075,
rpatwardhan [at] peaceactionwest [dot] org
Eight Years of War in Afghanistan: Peace Group Conducts a "Friendly Takeover" of White House Facebook Page
OAKLAND, CA
As
the 8 week mark of the war in Afghanistan approaches and the president
considers an increase of up to 45,000 additional soldiers, supporters
of peace are flooding the White House Facebook page with comments
opposing the war. The effort was initiated by Peace Action West as a
"Facebook Vigil at the White House", but is quickly going viral. The
posts are coming in at a pace of about one per minute, and can be
viewed on the White House Facebook page under the "Just Fans" tab.
Anyone can join the vigil here: https://peaceactionwest.org/fb/action.html
"The majority of Americans oppose sending more troops to
Afghanistan," said Rebecca Griffin, Peace Action West's political
director. "But the political pressure on the president to agree to an
additional 45,000 troops is enormous, and getting stronger. That's why
people who oppose the war understand the need to come out loud and
strong this anniversary."
The campaign is getting noticed by both progressive and tech bloggers, and here are some of the early hits:
- https://washingtonindependent.com/62611/facebook-campaign-held-to-stop-the-afghanistan-war
- https://bloggasm.com/peace-advocacy-group-organizes-white-house-facebook-page-takeover
- https://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/8754
Peace Action is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.
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