[Peace] Several thousand people marched to the White House last Saturday

[George Doubleyou]

Please have a break and read these encouraging news:

 

Protest sit-ins, especially at federal buildings, defence recruiting offices and military bases, have been mapped out for dozens of cities in the first day or two of any war, anti-war organisers say. Some also foresee widespread walkouts at schools and workplaces, as well as blocking roads and bridges. "Once war happens, there will be civil disobedience. It’s bringing to a higher level what people have been doing," said co-ordinator Bal Pinguel at the American Friends Service Committee.


"We’re starting to see more people at these things," a police captain said. "They’re starting to gain in numbers. ... It seems like they’re getting more organised." Indeed, the peace movement that has taken shape in the United States and around the world uses organising technology - including the Internet and e-mail - that was not available the last time such large-scale domestic anti-war activism took place, in the Vietnam War era.


On Saturday, demonstrators gathered by the hundreds in cities across the nation, an increasingly common sight as the conflict looms closer. In Washington, police and organisers estimated between 4.000 and 10.000 demonstrators turned out in conjunction with International Women’s Day; by late afternoon, 25 people were arrested on charges of crossing a police line in front of the White House.

 

Once spearheaded largely by leftist students, hippies and draft-card burners, the peace movement is now taking on more support from the mainstream: labour unions, war veterans, middle-aged professionals, and teenagers born years after the last draft. Almost 100.000 backers have donated to Peace Action, one of the biggest anti-war groups, over the past six months, co-ordinators say.

In January and again in February, peace groups co-ordinated demonstrations in cities around the world. Hundreds of thousands of protesters unfurled signs and rallied in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, London, Berlin, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, Cairo and other cities.


On Wednesday, thousands of students around the United States walked out of classes. Some Americans have taken quiet, personal actions too. Anti-war American doctors have gone to Iraq to evaluate the dangers that war poses for civilians there.

 

Some anti-war activists have argued that conflict might foster more terrorism that endangers American civilians on their own turf. "It’s almost certainly going to guarantee not only more violence in the Middle East, but will almost guarantee another calamitous attack on U.S. soil," said Scott Lynch, a spokesman for Peace Action.

 

The peace movement has also embraced a particularly influential contingent of supporters: veterans of the war with Iraq 12 years ago. "Sept. 11 was nothing compared to the destruction that we visited on Iraq 12 years ago and even more so for what will probably happen this time," said Charles Sheehan-Miles, a decorated tank crewman in the 1991 Persian Gulf War who now wants peace.

 

President Bush has acknowledged the swelling protests, though they have not changed his mind.



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