[Peace] views from the other side

[Al Kagan]

Well, we have some guidelines for the protest but somehow they were 
not handed out last Saturday.  The guidelines were developed at one 
AWARE meeting and were revised and agreed to by all at the next 
meeting.  Confrontation is not in the guidelines.

As far as who was supposed to be where.  They took over our usual 
space.  They have no claim to it.  There was nothing to prevent us 
from taking our usual space near the light and we did so.  They are 
the ones who should have gone to the other side.


At 5:28 PM -0600 3/24/03, Zachary C. Miller wrote:
>Just a little snippet of one persons views from the other side of
>North Prospect, submitted for the purposes of mutual understanding
>(you won't agree with this person but it is good to know how our
>actions are perceived by regular people on the other side).
>
>A friend of mine (anti-war) who works in Madison for a company that
>has an office in Champaign posted this note to a message board. I got
>her permission to forward it on to you all. This is a dialog between
>my anti-war friend and her "pro-america" coworker who was at the
>counter-demonstration.
>
>Begin quote:
>
>Okay, so a former coworker of mine was one of the pro-war people at the
>demonstration this weekend (not sure which day).  He and I had this
>conversation via email.  Just thought I'd post the view from the other side,
>in case any of you happened to be involved in this exchange:
>
>---
>Pro-War Dude:
>
>Hey - I want your opinion....[MY WIFE] & I attended a Pro-America
>rally in Champaign this weekend - yeah, I know you would have probably been
>on the other side, but that's why I want your opinion....there were 2 things
>about "the other side" that bothered me. #1 - They SAY they support our
>troops, yet every person who was at the rally in uniform was harassed, called
>names, etc. - WTF? If you support the troops then why do that?  #2 - Some
>B#TCH crossed a major line! We took [OUR DAUGHTERS] with us because we
>obviously feel the need to instill in them a sense of patriotism as we have,
>anyway, some lady from "the other side" was harassing [DAUGHTER #1] because
>(and this is a quote) "I feel like I can have to reach their children to
>spread the truth" - Ummm, EXCUSE ME, but those are MY children and
>"spreading the truth" to them is MY job. She's damn lucky she didn't get
>punched in the nose. She's also damn lucky I wasn't there at that moment.
>I took [DAUGHTER #2] and another child to the restroom - all this happened
>while I was away. [MY WIFE] handled it very well - she simply told the #$%@
>that is she persisted in talking to [DAUGHTER #1], [MY WIFE] would summon
>the police (who were 50' away.) Now I ask you, in your opinion, was this lady
>out of line?
>
>Me:
>
>#1 - Not everyone supports the troops.  I don't.  You and I talked before
>about that, and I think we had to agree to disagree.  I think that "just
>following orders" is no excuse.  If you think the war is wrong, you shouldn't
>go fight it even if you ARE a soldier. If you think the war is right, then
>you're one of the people that gets called names by the anti-war protesters. 
>Which is not to say that I don't hope our troops come home safely.  I don't
>think anyone ought to be dying over there--us or them.  I'm just simply
>against ALL war.
>
>#2 - I guess I would never have taken kids to a protest in the first place. 
>They're too little to understand, and you never know what might happen.  As
>it is, that lady was obviously trying to piss you off.  But that's part of
>free speech--anyone can say whatever they want, to adults or to kids, makes
>no difference.
>
>
>PWD:
>
>Against ALL war? Isn't that a little nave? I'm not trying to be offensive,
>but seriously, do you really think that Hitler would have stopped at Poland?
>Or Russia? Or England?  I certainly don't.
>
>Re: taking the kids, well for one, we weren't attending a "protest", we were
>at a "rally" - very different purpose. The protestors were SUPPOSED to be on
>the opposite side of the street, but a handful crossed over to our side -
>IMHO to make mischief. Secondly, I think you should re-examine your belief
>of FREE SPEECH. Your "free speech" can not infringe my rights....or my
>child's rights. I'm pretty sure any lawyer will tell you the same. However,
>if it happens again, I'll exercise my free speech upside her head & yes, I'm
>prepared to pay the $100 for bail money. You just don't cross lines like that
>with people's children. Hell, I saw several kids on the other side - I simply
>felt pity for them.
>
>--
>Zachary C. Miller - @= - http://wolfgang.groogroo.com/
>IMSA 1995 - UIUC 2000 - Just Another Leftist Muppet - Ya Basta!
>  Social Justice, Community, Nonviolence, Decentralization, Feminism,
>  Sustainability, Responsibility, Diversity, Democracy, Ecology
>_______________________________________________
>Peace mailing list
>Peace at lists.groogroo.com
>http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu