Two dozen people attended a rally in Brattleboro on March 27, 2022. The goal was to get Biden and congress to stop supporting war in Yemen. The event organizers have a web site at www.ActionCorps.org.

On February 22 the owner of the Brattleboro Reformer daily newspaper published in the Reformer an opinion article written by him. “War is the Answer” was the headline. The long article elaborated on why the multi-millionaire businessman feels Russia invading Ukraine is a good thing for the U.S. economy.

Less than 24 hours after President Trump bombed Syria, about 80 people attended a rally on April 14 in Greenfield to oppose the attack. The group that organized the rally has a web site at www.fccpr.us.

Sabine Merz works at the Resistance Center in Northampton. She told the Valley Post that dozens of people attended a Northampton protest on April 14 against the bombing.

On April 17, there will be a peace rally in Brattleboro. Cutting the USA's military budget is an effective way to slow population growth and stop climate change, experts say. The USA's military, by far the world's largest, is used to steal resources from poor nations. The federal government does this through war (as in Iraq) but also through the threat of war, as in oil-producing nations in Africa. On average -- globally and in the USA -- the poorest and least educated people have the most kids.

Dozens of people attended a rally in Northampton on April 9 to protest President Trump's military attack on Syria. Sabine Merz spoke at the rally. "The way to help Syria is to open our borders to them," she told the Valley Post. The event was outside city hall. It was organized by the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts www.afscwm.org.

At least five people from the Valley were among the thousands who marched against climate change in Philadelphia July 24. “The march was huge,” Paki Wieland of Northampton told the Valley Post on July 26. She traveled to the march with four other Valley residents. “I am here with CODEPINK,” Wieland said. CODEPINK is a women-led group that works to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect Americans' tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and related programs.

These photos were taken on May 25 in Keene. A man rides his bicycle outside the Keene food co-op. People walk down Main Street. World War II veteran Jim Johnston of Keene, seated, and Vietnam war veteran Jeffrey Scott of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, hold peace signs on the town common. "We've been here every week for the past 13 years, in snow, rain, you name it," Johnston said. "Once we had about 150 people here with us."

Lucinda Williams will perform a public concert at the Colonial Theater in downtown Keene on June 20 at 8 p.m. The cheapest tickets are $39.

On Saturday, March 14 at 10 a.m., there will be a peace march from Amherst to Northampton. The public is invited to attend all or part of the walk. In rough numbers, with 5 percent of the world's population, the USA spends as much on the military as the rest of the world combined. The USA spends about $2 trillion a year on war.

“Our goal is to eliminate all the world's nuclear weapons,” said organizer Tim Bullock of Leverett, Massachusetts. The march will start at the Amherst town common, across the street from 30 Boltwood Avenue.

Hundreds of people in Northampton, Keene, Brattleboro, and other Valley towns attended rallies for peace with Syria on September 8 and 9. The Northampton action drew more than 200 people. It was organized by the local chapter of www.afsc.org and by www.MoveOn.org. The other rallies were organized by MoveOn. About a dozen people were at the Keene rally, about two dozen in Amherst.

A rally in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, near Northampton, was attended by 22 people, organizer Eliza Cooney told the Valley Post.

If the government spent less on the military, life in the Valley would almost certainly improve, according to local experts. In the Valley, it’s likely that people are dying because they don’t have health insurance. In 2010, more than 44,000 Americans died because the U.S. does not have universal health care, which Canada, Cuba, Europe, Japan, and every other rich nation has. That’s according to congressman Alan Grayson.

Every year, acres of farmland and forestland in the Valley are turned into parking lots, fast food restaurants, and “McMansion” vacation houses that are usually vacant.