Rick Staggenborg, former staff psychiatrist, Army veteran and member of Veterans For Peace, has plans to create a Jewish Voice for Peace chapter in Corvallis in the coming weeks.
According to the organization’s website, “JVP is a national, grassroots organization working towards Palestinian freedom and Judaism beyond Zionism. It’s the largest such organization in the world.”
Veterans for Peace is an anti-war group which was founded in 1985. According to Staggenborg, he first became involved with VFP in 2010 while advocating for universal health care and becoming disillusioned with the government.
“It’s a primitive system,” Staggenborg said. “It’s kind of like survival of the fittest.”
The VFP chapter in Corvallis was founded in 2006 and has been significantly active in the past, consisting primarily of Vietnam veterans.
Staggenborg even formed a VFP chapter in Roseburg in 2017.
However, according to Staggenborg, both Veterans for Peace and Jewish Voice for Peace have received renewed interest due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Staggenborg commended the activism taking place in Oregon, citing Veterans for Peace’s collaboration with organizations such as Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights and Corvallis Palestine Solidarity.
Staggenborg stressed the importance of discourse surrounding the conflict.
“We have to make it okay to talk about it,” Staggenborg said. “Because until we do, we’re not gonna have a solution.”
In addition to marching in this year’s Veterans Day Parade, VFP has sponsored Hiroshima Nagasaki Day, a commemoration about remembrance and nuclear disarmament.
“Unlike some commemorations,” Staggenborg said. “We talk about its relevance to today.”
Staggenborg credited his upbringing as having inspired his drive for social justice, stating that when his brother returned from Vietnam, it affected him profoundly.
“I was just so anti-war after that,” Staggenborg said. “I couldn’t understand how anybody would voluntarily join the military. And then I did.”
Staggenborg served in the Army for 15 months in psychiatry residency training, was honorably discharged for medical reasons and completed his training in Albuquerque.
Of the veterans Staggenborg served at the Coos Bay Veterans Affairs Hospital from 2004 to 2010, the vast majority were Vietnam veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or sexual trauma.
Staggenborg argued that both Veterans for Peace and Jewish Voice for Peace are organizations focused on what they advocate for: peace, more so than what they advocate against.
“We want to be peaceful in our methods as well as the results,” Staggenborg said. “I personally don’t think you can really wage peace unless you do it peacefully, and in a brotherly, sisterly spirit.”
Staggenborg also stated that there is no requirement to become involved with Jewish Voice for Peace.
“You don’t have to be Jewish, I’m not Jewish,” Staggenborg noted. “And I don’t intend to be the spokesperson for the group, I am just the one who’s interested in getting it together.”
