[Peace-discuss] Anti-war march winds through Loop

[Morton K. Brussel]

Objective reporting!---5000 attended? UGPJ estimated 30,000.
What one expects from the Chicago Trib.

On Oct 30, 2007, at 11:53 AM, Robert Naiman wrote:

> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi- 
> rallyoct28,0,4350674.story
>
> Anti-war march winds through Loop
> Thousands gather in Chicago -- and across the country -- to protest
> the United States' continued involvement in the war in Iraq
>
> By Gerry Smith
>
> Tribune staff reporter
>
> October 28, 2007
>
> Leonore Lee was among the thousands rallying in Chicago on Saturday to
> protest the war in Iraq. Amid the crowd carrying signs marching down
> Ashland Avenue, the 65-year-old from Milwaukee called the event "the
> most powerful expression of power to the people."
>
> "It shows our solidarity and makes me love this country even more,"  
> she said.
>
> The day of speeches and demonstrations was part of a national day of
> action demanding an end to the five-year-old conflict.
>
> Police estimated about 5,000 people attended the event, which began in
> Chicago's Union Park before winding through the Loop and ending at
> Federal Plaza.
>
> The Chicago rally, one of 11 planned nationwide, drew protesters from
> eight Midwestern states and included local political figures such as
> U.S. Reps. Danny Davis, Luis Gutierrez and Jan Schakowsky.
>
> Police arrested three protesters, who were charged with disobeying an
> officer and resisting arrest while on their way to join the rally,
> said Chicago police spokesman Pat Camden. One of the arrests involved
> damage to property and another involved battery to a police officer,
> Camden said.
>
> During the rally in Union Park, where about 2,000 protesters
> assembled, Schakowsky called for cutting off funding for the war and
> an immediate decrease in the number of American troops stationed in
> Iraq.
>
> "The American people have had it with this war," she said. "We've
> given war a chance. Now let's give peace and negotiation a chance."
>
> After turning on Jackson Boulevard, protesters marched into the Loop
> and descended on Federal Plaza, where they were met by more than 20
> counterprotesters waving American flags and holdings signs that read,
> "You keep fighting there, we've got your back here."
>
> Counterprotester Beverly Perlson, 50, of Oak Lawn, said her son was on
> his fourth deployment in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division.
>
> "I'm proud of my son's service," she said. "Just in case he sees this
> on TV, I want him to know that we still love him and support him."
>
> James Redden, 31, a former soldier from Oak Park, sided with the
> anti-war protesters, saying he was against the Iraq war from its
> inception because he didn't believe the Bush administration's link
> between Al Qaeda and Iraq.
>
> "The whole idea that we can establish democracy there through the
> barrel of an M-16 is just bogus," said Redden, who said he served in
> Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
>
> Among the other protests nationally, the one in San Francisco appeared
> to draw the largest crowd, as more than 10,000 labor union members,
> anti-war activists, clergy and others rallied near City Hall before
> marching to Dolores Park. Other rallies were planned for New York,
> Boston, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City Seattle, and Los Angeles.
>
> In Chicago, the protesters spanned generations, ranging from 11 Oak
> Park and River Forest High School students to more than a dozen
> members of the activist group "Raging Grannies." One member, Nancy
> Guenther, 62, of Pardeeville, Wis., feared the Bush administration
> planned to invade Iran next.
>
> "It's the same rhetoric as Iraq," she said. "They're playing their war
> games behind closed doors."
>
> During the Vietnam War, George Reeber of Ludington, Mich., took his
> daughter, Beth Valone, 44, to protests in Washington and Detroit. On
> Saturday, he stood with Valone and her 13-year-old son Connor, who
> wore a bandanna that said, "Where's the rage?"
>
> "Why aren't more people mad about the war?" Connor said. "Some people
> just don't seem to care."
>
> Marsda Conner, 72, of Oak Park, held a sign saying "Billions for War:
> No More!" Conner complained that Democratic lawmakers were ignoring
> voters who gave them a majority in Congress with the hope that they
> would bring a swift end to the war.
>
> "We're here to provide them with some backbone so they'll deny funds
> for this war and start negotiating with Iran and Syria," said Conner,
> who is a member of the anti-war group Code Pink.
>
> Also attending the rally was Iraqi Raed Jarrar, 29, who fled the
> violence in Baghdad two years ago and now works as a Middle East
> consultant in Washington.
>
> Jarrar, whose father is Sunni and mother is Shiite, said the conflict
> in Iraq is more political than sectarian, and that most Iraqis are in
> favor of a timetable for an American troop withdrawal.
>
> Debbie Volonec, 54, who arrived at the rally with 50 other protesters
> from West Lafayette, Ind., said such events needed to be more frequent
> if they were going to have an impact.
>
> "We are going to keep it up until we get the guys home and get out of
> this mess," she said.
>
>
> -- 
> Robert Naiman
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
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