War and politics from a left-Christian perspective: Billboards Make it to L.A.--and LW-Christian Makes it to Mondoweiss

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Billboards Make it to L.A.--and LW-Christian Makes it to Mondoweiss

Last month I posted an article that included an interview with Armen Chakerian and Susan Schuurman, two activists involved with the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel. The Coalition, working with several other like-minded groups around the country, has been responsible for billboards that have been popping up in an increasing number of US cities. The advertisements call for an end to US aid to Israel.

Well, just a few days ago, the Coalition's message hit the city of L.A.—with a total of 23 billboards there, as well as a write-up on the Mondoweiss blog:

Millions of Americans will be exposed to these billboards every day as commuters in the country's second largest metropolitan area are stuck in traffic on some of the most congested roads in the world. Stop30Billion Co-founder Armen Chakerian told me the campaign plans to put up additional signs in different spots in LA each month.

Despite the clogged traffic, it does sound as if the Coalition has hit the fast lane, so our congratulations go out to Susan and Armen. And here's another little pleasant surprise. The article at Mondoweiss also quotes from the article I wrote and supplies a link back to this site.

In a blog post titled "Dodging the 'Hebrew Hammer' in the Fight for Justice," writer Richard Edmondson traces the hurdles in Stop30Billion's history and interviews Coalition co-founders Susan Schuurman and Armen Chakerian:

The article then goes on to include a segment of the interview with Susan and Armen.

Finally one other thing—the Coalition could run into attempts from the Israeli lobby to censor the billboards. This has been an ongoing issue faced by everyone in the Stop-Aid-To-Israel billboard movement. If you'll recall from the previous article, Armen's and Susan's initial billboards in Albuquerque—back in 2009—were taken down after the sign company was flooded with complaints from Israel supporters, and in an effort to head off a possible recurrence of that, the Coalition has set up at their web site a petition that people can sign thanking CBS Outdoor for accepting the ads. Click here to sign it.