[Peace] Article from Common Dreams NewsCenter

[jbuell at prairienet.org]

Hello,

Jim Buell wanted to share an interesting article with you.
It can be located at:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0928-01.htm

Jim Buell also added these comments for you:

As we involve ourselves with networking for peace locally, it may be instructive to consider how San Francisco activists are framing their first big rallies. 

I for one was sickened yesterday by how Phil Bloomer in the News-Gazette twisted Sarah Kanouse's bold attempt at questioning the flag-waving mentality - in particular, the stuff about someone allegedly scrawling "killer" on a bumper sticker was totally out of line, slipped in specifically to discredit Sarah, the IMC and, by implication, the entire pro-peace (or "liberal," in PB's impoverished vocabulary) position. The headline was almost as bad - I don't think Sarah was trying to "protest the flag" nearly so much as to call into question the flag-waving mania that's helping manipulate this nation into clamoring for a new world war. Page 1 placement was also unfortunate, when there were two big local peace stories that got stuck in the B section. Better news judgment would've put that story as a sidebar to Father Bourgeois' visit or the on-campus rally.

Much as I admire Sarah's courage, I think we need to take great care to spread a message that cannot be so easily misunderstood or maligned. As a more positive aside, I happened across Artists Against AIDS' all-star remix of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" on MTV (gasp) this morning. I think it says a lot of what we need to be saying - grief not just for the victims of NY/DC/PA, but for those who suffered before and those who are sure to suffer in retaliation, plus a determination to work together to put things right: "War is not the answer. You know that love must conquer hate." Exquisite truth.

in peace,
Jim

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