Coalition for Justice

The Coalition for Justice and the New River Free Press: A Long, Fruitful Partnership
by Dale Wimberley

(from the New River Free Press, final issue, July 15, 2007)

The Coalition for Justice and the New River Free Press were born in the early 1980s as two separate organizations with compatible goals, and have cooperated closely over the years. The Coalition originated in early 1981 as a Virginia Tech student organization opposing the Reagan administration's support for the Salvadoran government's violent repression of progressive movements.  It soon expanded its focus to Nicaragua, where the US government was organizing and supporting a proxy war against the democratic and socialist revolutionary government, and to Guatemala, whose right-wing government was slaughtering tens of thousands with the US government's tacit blessing.  The Coalition sponsored visiting speakers and other educational events that drew large crowds; participated in many protests against US intervention in Central America, including a weekly noon vigil at Blacksburg's downtown post office; held beans and rice suppers; and published a newsletter named ¡Presente! 

When Central America's violence began to wane in the early 1990s, the Coalition for Justice scaled back its efforts but expanded its scope. Though it retained a Latin American emphasis, the Coalition began to focus on local peace and justice issues and on conflicts in other countries, including Iraq. It was at this time of change that the Coalition and the Free Press agreed to incorporate ¡Presente! as a page in the newspaper, paid for by the Coalition and edited to fit the Free Press style.

Since then the Coalition has continued to hold beans and rice suppers with programs on peace and social justice, and has helped sponsor local residents to represent us around the world – for example, to join in the pivotal 1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization, to observe the 2001 Nicaraguan elections as part of a US team invited by the Sandinista labor federation, and to participate in a Voices in the Wilderness delegation to Iraq to see the deadly effects of US-promoted sanctions between the two Iraq wars. The Coalition has also promoted anti-sweatshop activism, served as a center of support for opposition to the School of the Americas, and had a significant presence in local efforts against the Iraq War. These efforts' impacts have been multiplied many times because we could report them in the Free Press and announce related events in the newspaper's community calendar. More generally, the Free Press has multiplied the Coalition's impact by nurturing an attuned progressive community in the New River Valley.

Now we have come to another time of change. I think I can speak for a consensus within the Coalition for Justice when I say how deeply thankful we are to the Free Press volunteer staff who have helped make progressive activism so visible in the New River Valley for a quarter century. We will deeply miss this newspaper. But although the Free Press will cease publication, its staff is not retiring from public life, and the local progressive community is as vibrant as ever.  The Coalition looks forward to cooperating with new local efforts for peace and justice.

We welcome new participants, as well as old hands who would like to be involved in the Coalition again. Our commitment to peace and justice is unchanged, but we will continue to adapt to new times and new problems. Please check the Coalition's website, http://www.civic.bev.net/cj, for updates on our monthly meetings and other activities. You can also reach us by email at justice@bburg.bev.net. A listserve is also available. Please join with us at our first fall meeting, tentatively set for Monday, September 17.