By Madison for a World BEYOND War, November 17, 2024
Madison for a World BEYOND War marked Armistice Day, 2024 with a vigil and war abolition walk. Veteran for Peace’s Alex Mixtli was the featured speaker. Antiwar activists gathered to flyer on UW-Madison campus at Library Mall, meeting many students and sharing a lively conversation about war abolition with staff of the UW Office of Veterans Affairs, who were out tabling for Veterans Day. Many people thanked the group for their antiwar message, including the owner of the Taste of Tibet food cart who spontaneously passed out cups of chai for the activists.
Next was a War Abolition Walk up State Street with signs, banners and flags. Then the group vigiled by the Lady Forward statue at the State Capitol. They vigiled in silence, then Alex Mixtli spoke about his experiences and the need to work to end war. The peace activists remembered and honored all victims of war and peacemakers, and rejected the rebranding of the day by the Military Industrial Complex to glorify wars.
Armistice Day is the day that World War I ended in Europe. War abolitionists believe that we should mark November 11 as a day to end war, which was the original intent of the holiday.
The U.S. military is the world’s largest institutional user of fossil fuels, and wars are a driver of climate change.
