The Orange County Peace Coalition is in the middle of a war. It has been taken over by a group that includes wife beaters who have been the recipients of domestic violence restraining orders. A particularly violent batterer has been placed in charge of their Internet groups and given the address of one of the other OCPC leaders to use for credit and background check purposes.

Domestic violence victims in the OCPC are furious. They feel betrayed by people they stood along side of at peace protests. They argue that peace begins at home. Most individuals opposing domestic violence along with war are attending a popular peace group that meets on the fourth Tuesday night. To undercut the victims’ peace group, the OCPC changed its meeting night to the fourth Tuesday, making peace supporters choose between opposition to and support for wife-beating. Orange County’s Military Family’s Speak out has aligned itself with the batterers’ group in the quest to control the peace movement.

This video sums up the particular kind of domestic violence the OCPC is supporting. Listen carefully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZobHXLL4mLk

I know some of the people involved and it is a tragic situation.

It is bad enough that the victims almost lost their lives. They should be able to count on their fellow peace protesters to support their right to be safe from harm.

There is a boy who attends with a batterer who is now openly proclaiming that his mom asked for the beatings. This is what the coalition has taught him.

Shame on the OCPC . From now on I'm attending the victims' peace meetings.