[Dryerase] AGR--Hundreds rally in Asheville against war

[Shawn G]

Asheville Global Report
www.agrnews.org

Reprinting permitted for non-profit use and to members of the Dryerase news 
wire.

Hundreds rally in Asheville against war
By Liz Allen

Asheville, North Carolina, Dec. 9 (AGR)—  Over 300 people gathered in 
Prichard Park last Saturday to show their opposition to war with Iraq. The 
rally, lasting from 2pm until 5 that afternoon, included a march, speakers, 
musicians, poetry and dance.
“For us, the point is to show that there is opposition to the war and that 
we think not only is it morally wrong, but it is not effective,” Melissa 
Friedlin, an event co-organizer, explained. “The main thing is to keep up 
the energy. We can’t give up because we feel overwhelmed or because we feel 
like war is inevitable.” Friedlin says she believes the US has been at war 
with Iraq since the Gulf War, but actual declaration of war goes a step 
further to spark hatred and make enemies.
The event was sponsored by a number of area non-profit and religious-based 
organizations.  Information tables from various justice-oriented groups were 
set up and flyers and pamphlets were distributed. The Asheville Police 
Department was also present, videotaping the attendees and patrolling in 
uniform and undercover.
A broad spectrum of reasons for opposition to war with Iraq were expressed 
at the demonstration.
“I hate it when they have war because most of the people get killed,” said a 
twelve-year-old boy with “I Love America” painted on his face. He also 
carried a sign he made that read, “No War. No Fighting. No War. No 
Fighting.”
A prevalent concern of many present was the cruelty the people of Iraq are 
subjected to through war.  Speakers, signs and individuals brought up the 
fact that war and sanctions on Iraq have killed thousands of Iraqi children.
“How long can we turn a blind eye to the Iraqi people?” said Professor 
Elmoiz Abunura, member of Western Carolinians for Peace and Justice in the 
Middle East and former undergraduate student and prisoner of conscience in 
Iraq, speaking at the rally.  “Saddam will only be replaced with another 
Saddam.”  He stated that as a Sufi Muslim he believes in the principle of 
nonviolence and that he believes war will only cause more violence, 
instability and destruction.
“What the President and his cartel of war mongers have to understand is that 
Iraq was not behind 9/11, it was a criminal act by al-Qaida,” said speaker 
Ahmad Amara, a refugee of Palestine and retired microbiologist who has 
written on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. “In any language, wherever we 
find it, war is vile, inhuman and immoral.” He believes that war will not 
harm Saddam, but only the people of Iraq.
The United States of today was compared to Germany in the 1920s by Marc 
Karson, a speaker who is a peace activist, a 1968 peace candidate for the 
Democratic Party in Illinois, and a political science Professor Emeritus at 
Makato University in Minnesota. Karson criticized the US as going against 
international law, being unilateralist, anti-intellectual and pro-military.
“Politics is a struggle for power.  What we have is not government by the 
people, for the people and of the people, but government by corporate 
America, for corporate America and of corporate America…It’s ironic to say 
Soviet Communism wanted to take over the world. Now we are left to take over 
the world with our own system,” he said.
A march through the downtown area commenced at around 3pm with some marchers 
singing a peace song and burning sage.  The marchers were denied a permit 
for full use of the streets.  Consequently, in order to avoid $100 traffic 
citations, marchers were instructed to walk two by two on the sidewalk being 
careful not to interrupt the flow of traffic, in accordance with state and 
citywide laws. According to Lt. John Kirkpatrick, because the Toys for Tots 
bike rally was taking place in Biltmore, there were not enough police, 10 – 
15, to properly and safely shut down the streets and intersection for the 
march to legally take place. In order for that to have been organized, he 
claims they need more prior notice than a week to 10 days.
Friedlin said plans for the march and rally began during the trip to protest 
the School of Americas the second to last weekend in November and that it 
was last minute because of the urgency of the issue.  She stated that in 
working with the coalition of groups organizing the march, she found the 
Asheville Police Department and Parks and Recreation Department  to “[h]ave 
been sort of cooperative; with the rally they have and with the march they 
haven’t.”
In a phone interview the Friday before the march Kirkpatrick stated: “If 
they have 100 or 200 people show up, I don’t think there’s any way they can 
have a march without keeping people from using the sidewalk. [There cannot 
be a march] unless it was so organized that people walked single file so 
that other people could use the sidewalk if they wanted.”
Immediately prior to the march Kirkpatrick said “Hopefully the march will go 
along fine, people will obey the law and everything will be hunky-dory.”
So protesters, giant puppets of birds and moon-faced creatures, drums, 
radical cheerleaders and signs took to the sidewalks, using crosswalks and 
obeying the lights. Many passing cars honked at the “Honk for Peace” sign.
The law-abiding tactic was met with criticism from some of the more radical 
march attendees. Phoenix, a politically active Asheville resident 
questioned: “How the hell are we supposed to stop war if we can’t even 
disobey a goddamn traffic law? Every traffic light we stopped for, we were 
perpetuating the authority of the state.” Another marcher added, “Everyone 
so romanticizes civil disobedience and then can’t even do it.”


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