WMPAW/PAM Exchange Ideas in Farmington

by Eileen Liddy

On Saturday, April 16th, Greg Field along with board members of Peace Action Maine joined with members of Western Mountains Peace Action Workshop (WMPAW) for a wonderful pot luck supper followed by a discussion.

The goal of the gathering was to make connections between the two groups, to find out what each is doing, and to see how we can help one another. WMPAW is a peace activist group with members throughout Franklin County in western Maine. The gathering was held in the vestry of Old South Congregational Church in Farmington. After a delicious supper and introductory remarks, participants divided into two discussion groups.

One group discussed how we could reach out and communicate both with people who have similar beliefs as well as those of differing beliefs.

Some of the suggestions that came out of that discussion included: encouraging more activists to get involved in local affairs, such as being elected to the school board or as a town selectperson to give us the opportunity to show and share our values with our community members; to make one-on-one contact with people we don't ordinarily connect with; to have a vision of where we want our community to be in 20 years and then set up a plan on how to get there by working backwards from that point. For example, if we want progressives representing us at the state and federal levels in 20 years, what do we need to do in years 1, 5, and 10, to achieve that goal?

Having fun along with the serious work is important. Using the arts could be one way of doing that. Another is our participation, along with members of the local Temple Stream Theater, in the annual Farmington Fourth of July parade.

The second group discussed how we can frame our messages so that our core values are clearly expressed. Greg explained some of the basics of framing as described by author George Lakoff, and gave the fall campaign on the tax cap as a good example of how framing was used to explain the problems with the tax cap. The importance of using local media to get our message out was also touched on. One easy suggestion for people in small communities was to phone in requests to radio djs for songs that are more peace oriented.

I think both groups were really pleased with the connections made between the two groups. WMPAW members will be using some of these suggestions as we continue our peace efforts. Already being planned is cardboard puppets representing victims of war at our Women in Black vigil. We will continue to reach out to Iraq veterans and their families and friends to let them know of our twice a month G.I. Coffee House. In our printed material, we have begun to think about how to clearly state our core values

This get together was part of a series of regional meetings the PAM staff and board are having with various peace and social justice groups around the state.

 

Back to: Summer 2005 Peace Talk