Planting trees for peace, along the eastern seaboard

Tomorrow, Iranians and Americans will come together on Capitol Hill to plant a tree to represent their common commitment to peace and care for the earth. Casey Trees of Washington, DC, in support of the visit of Iranian bicyclists Nasim Yousefi and Jafar Edrisi, has donated a tree for this special purpose.

If you are interested in attending this special event, contact Shelagh Bocoum at 202-494-6229 or shelaghbocoum@yahoo.com.

Last month, the bicyclists spent time with peace activists in New York City, Princeton, NJ, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, making their way to Washington. The Rev. Robert Moore, the director of the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action, wrote today,

"We had a wonderful time with Nasim and Jafar. We did a symbolic tree-planting in front of Princeton Boro Hall when they first arrived at 4 p.m. on December 18. The Princeton Packet took a photo and ran it on their front page. Then the Trenton Times interviewed them before the Vigil started at 5 p.m. They had a photo of them with their banner and Coalition for Peace Action supporters, as well as the story in the Trenton Times on Thursday, December 20.

"They spoke at the beginning of our Program after the Potluck for Peace, and did an excellent job. About 60-70 people came. There weren't many questions to them, as I spoke before we took questions about Impacting the 2008 Elections for Peace and most of the questions that night were to me. But that was made up for the next day when they spoke to about 50 retirees at our Monroe Township Chapter meeting, and almost all the questions were to them. Following that, we had lunch with a reporter from Town Topics, and that led to the article on the link below (third item under Other News on the right): http://www.towntopics.com/jan0208/index.html

"After the newspaper interview, I drove them to Philadelphia to hook up with their hosts there. All in all, they added a lot with their positive, upbeat attitude and desire to foster greater understanding and communication across cultures and political divides. We were blessed to have them with us for that short time!"