WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2026: Hosted by VFP New York Chapter 34 6:30pm EDT | 5:30pm CDT | 3:30pm PDT (Zoom link below)
Guest Speaker Lindsay Koshgarian, Program Director of the National Priorities Project, will talk about the Costs of War, especially relevant since the U.S. has embarked on extremely costly unfunded illegal wars in Venezuela and Iran, and has announced plans for additional illegal regime-change wars around the globe, including Cuba. Lindsay Koshgarian’s work and commentary on the federal budget and military spending has appeared on NPR, the BBC, CNN, The Nation, U.S. News and World Report, and others. At NPP, her work is at the intersection of military and domestic federal spending. She got her start as a clinic worker and organizer at Planned Parenthood in central and suburban Philadelphia, and led economic development and affordable housing studies at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute prior to joining NPP in 2014. She holds an MPP from UCLA and a B.A. in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania
.National Priorities Project (NPP)inspires individuals and movements to take action so our federal resources prioritize peace, shared prosperity, and economic security for all, the people’s guide to the federal budget.NPP was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, in recognition of their pioneering work to track federal spending on the military and promote a U.S. federal budget that represents Americans’ priorities, including funding for people’s issues such as inequality, unemployment, education, health and the need to build a green economy.Unlike other think tanks and watchdog groups that focus solely on providing information, NPP turns knowledge into action to build a powerful movement toward positive social change. First, they provide real-life context by localizing and personalizing federal budget data, illustrating the ways in which the federal budget affects all Americans. At the same time, they foster a growing sense of agency by helping people understand how they can influence budget decisions and by demystifying federal legislative complexities. Finally, NPP makes information actionable by facilitating data-boosted advocacy and engagement in political debate around budget issues.
Saturday, March 14th In The Annual SF Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
Join Us!Veterans For Peace (VFP) SF Chapter #69
The Irish government and People were the First in Europe to stand up to Israeli genocide and Call for a Ceasefire. They are again calling for a Ceasefire in the Entire Middle East.
VFP & “About Face – Veterans Against the War” (POST 9/11 vets), along with CodePINK will be the official organizations representing our contingent. All Anti-War individuals are ASKED TO JOIN US!
The parade is viewed by thousands. We will be handing out an Informational Leaflet to those watching the parade.
Two years ago we had a very large contingent, with lots of Palestinian flags, and won First Place for a “Military” Unit!
VFP SF Chapter #69 has marched in the huge annual SF Saint Patrick’s Day Parade since 2012 marching for Palestine and against All Wars. Now the U.S. and Israel are bombing Iran!
Join Us!
Muster 11:30 AM
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Meetup: Second Street, between Bryant & Brannan – 5 ½ blocks South of Market on Second.
Bring Veterans For Peace banners, flags, etc. We will have US, Irish and VFP flags and banners and a Palestinian flag as well. All to be carried by participants or taped to the vehicle. We will have a vehicle as well.
Even as the US has attacked Venezuela, kidnapped its president and threatened to overthrow the governments of Cuba and Iran, thousands of “Homeland Security” troops have invaded and terrorized a major U.S. city, Minneapolis, even murdering two nonviolent protesters. Thousands of people, including veterans, are resisting these racist, violent attacks.
“The silver lining is that the community defense has brought everybody together,” says Dave Logsdon of Minneapolis Veterans For Peace. “People who never protested before are in the streets organizing, with yellow vests, whistles, and first aid kits. People are finding the camaraderie contagious and the community resistance fulfilling.”
City of Heroes Celebrated in Song The community resistance in Minneapolis is being celebrated in song by leading singer/songwriters, Above: Combat veteran Rory Fanning at our billboard outside Great Lakes naval base in northern Illinois. Veterans For Peace Facebook page.
“Peace at Home, Peace Abroad” is the vision that has inspired Veterans For Peace for many years. We have watched as the racist violence we witnessed in US wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq has been reproduced in U.S. cities by militarized police using gestapo tactics. We are currently seeing simultaneous US wars abroad and at home.
Even as the US has attacked Venezuela, kidnapped its president and threatened to overthrow the governments of Cuba and Iran, thousands of “Homeland Security” troops have invaded and terrorized a major U.S. city, Minneapolis, even murdering two nonviolent protesters. Thousands of people, including veterans, are resisting these racist, violent attacks.
“The silver lining is that the community defense has brought everybody together,” says Dave Logsdon of Minneapolis Veterans For Peace. “People who never protested before are in the streets organizing, with yellow vests, whistles, and first aid kits. People are finding the camaraderie contagious and the community resistance fulfilling.”
When they came for the immigrants, I got in their face When they came for the refugees, I got in their face When they came for the five-year-olds, I got in their face When they came to my neighborhood, I just got in their face When they killed my sister, I got in their face! When they killed my brother, I got in their face!
Minneapolis is definitely a City of Heroes, and that is exactly what they have been doing – getting in the face of heavily armed, masked, white supremacist storm troopers. Older folks and younger folks have stood together in the streets every day in the hundreds and in the thousands, in sub-zero weather!
Veterans Resisting Fascism Veterans For Peace has also been in the streets of Minneapolis, standing with the most vulnerable communities. Younger Post-9/11 veterans have taken the lead. They have been patrolling in at-risk neighborhoods, monitoring for agitators, de-escalating situations at protests, and training people how to stop bleeding. At least four veterans have been arrested while peacefully protesting, but have been released without charges.
The heroic sustained resistance in Minneapolis has exposed the true nature of these ICE attacks before the entire world. They have put the Trump administration on the defensive. The calls to abolish ICE are now heard in many quarters. The War at Home will be a long one, however. Similar community resistance is taking place in many US cities that are also being subjected to racist ICE attacks, or who are preparing to defend their communities from the anticipated assaults of an increasingly fascist federal government.
To make matters that much worse, we are now bracing for the Trump Administration’s threatened war against Iran, one that could be a catastrophic for the region and possibly for the entire planet, causing global economic chaos and even risking nuclear war.
From Venezuela to Minneapolis: Standing Up to Stop US Terror San Francisco Veterans For Peace has teamed up with the ANSWER Coalition for an indoor rally titled From Venezuela to Minneapolis: Standing Up to Stop US Terror. The rally will be on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 7, 3 pm at the Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave. Room 210.
Refuse Illegal Orders Veterans For Peace is currently putting up billboards with the message “Refuse Illegal Orders” near military bases around the U.S. We are reminding our brothers and sisters, sons and daughter and grandchildren who have joined the military that they have the right and the responsibility to refuse illegal orders, and that we will support them when they do.
Illegal Order would include:
Orders to unconstitutionally deploy to US cities in support of racist ICE attacks or to suppress peaceful protests;
Orders to participate in illegal regime-change wars, such as against Venezuela and Iran;
Orders to ship weapons to Israel while it is conducting a genocide.
Order to attack civilians or to torture and kill prisoners of war.
Trained counselors who can speak to concerned military members about their legal options can be reached by going to the Veterans For Peace website, www.veteransforpeace.org.
Veterans For Peace is welcoming new members – younger veterans, older veterans, active-duty members, family members and supporters. The Veterans For Peace eNews showcases the many ways that Veterans For Peace is organizing for Peace at Home and Peace Abroad.
Gerry Condon is Vietnam-era veteran and war resister who serves on the Veterans For Peace Board of Directors. He can be reached at gerrycondon@veteransforpeace.org.
Members of Veterans For Peace work on a wide variety of issues every day. In an effort to combine resources and create a central source for information, the Board has created VFP Working Groups to help us all work together, more productively and effectively to WAGE PEACE! These groups are designed to:
Provide a vehicle for individual VFP members who are interested in, or knowledgeable about a specific issue to become more deeply involved.
Focus the efforts of individual members and chapters; eliminating duplication of effort and raising the level of interest in a specific issue.
Create a “go-to” source for position papers, talking points, and updates which is credible and accurate.
Allow all members and chapters to benefit from the knowledge/experience of others.
The harm left in the wake of Agent Orange still impacts Vietnam’s environment and its people. We follow filmmaker Masako Sakata who has spent two decades documenting the victims of this toxic legacy. A NHK Documentry https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/3026045/
The documentary includes an interview with local Veterans For Peace National Secretary Paul Cox, who talks about his Viêt Nam War experience as a Marine. He currently leads efforts to pass the Agent Orange Relief Act (H.R.3952) and 3052 through Congress aiming to expand healthcare and assistance for those affected by Agent Orange.
Veterans For Peace, Chapter 69, meets on the 3rd Tuesdays of the month, 7-9pm. Meeting are usually Zoom meetings. In person meetings will be announced and are usually in the Veterans Building, Room 221, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102
Contact: President Vince Dijanich vfp.vinced@gmail.com to attend. Mailing Address: Veterans For Peace, Veterans Building Room 213B, San Francisco, CA 94102
VFP’s sponsor American Legion Bob Baker Post 315 meets on the 4th Tuesdays, 5:30pm, Zoom or in Room 221, Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA 94102. Contact: Commander Merc Martinelli, mercmartinelli@alwmcsf.org for more information.
Huge parades in Ho Chi Minh City this spring marked the 50th anniversary of April 30, 1975, when a North Viet Namese army tank crashed through the iron gates of the Presidential Palace in Sai Gon. Again, 50 years later, the military took the lead (in the parade), but contingents soon changed to beautiful peace floats, music, doves, flowers, and thousands of workers and children, along with colorful cultural costumes.
Although Viet Nam is looking to the future, the past is always present, and the same is true in neighboring countries, as well. During the so-called “Indochina War,” Viet Nam, along with Laos and Cambodia, received more explosive power than World War I and II combined. It remains the largest aerial bombardment in human history. This is why the only foreign military units in the April parade were from Laos and Cambodia.
Veterans For Peace: Veterans Speakers Alliance 
