The local chapter of the Coffee Party political movement will hold a rally Saturday to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the Iraq War, and call for reallocating war funds to a more useful domestic purpose.
The event, entitled the Patriotic American Peace Rally, will be held from 1-3 p.m. at downtown's Fountain Square. It will feature various speakers including an Iraq war veteran, along with live music.—-
“Coffee Party Cincinnati is encouraging Cincinnatians to take a stand against war, violence and hate,” the group said in a prepared statement. “We believe that war is not the way to resolve conflicts in the 21st Century and that our nation's resources would be better invested in putting Americans back to work rebuilding our infrastructure and improving the lives of the American people.”
Group leaders say they've invited other groups from across the political spectrum because they believe “there are people on the left and the right that oppose the war in Iraq and our bipartisan foreign policy which has America policing the world.”
The national Coffee Party movement was founded by Annabel Park, a nonprofit worker who studied philosophy at Boston University and political theory at the University of Oxford in Britain. She started a Facebook group called “Join the Coffee Party” in response to media coverage that she believes wrongly cast the Tea Party as a symbol of America.
The organization's initial kickoff was held in March 2010. For more information, contact Sheli Delaney via e-mail [email protected].