|
|
|
 News from Around the Americas | March 2008 
Protests Mark Fifth Anniversary of Iraq War
 Associated Press
go to original
| | Anti-war protesters block the streets during rush hour in Washington, DC. US President George W. Bush on Wednesday defended his decision to go to war against Iraq five years ago, vowing no retreat as he promised the battle would end in victory. (AFP/Win McNamee) | | |
New Haven, Conn. - Octogenarian Jim Barron has hearing aids and a pacemaker. The prostate cancer survivor received a cortisone shot this month to ease the pain from an old shoulder injury.
"It got to the point where I couldn't lift a glass of water," Barron said.
Despite his aches, Barron planned to risk arrest Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 U.S. troops. He's part of a nationwide peace movement using the anniversary to protest with nonviolent civil disobedience.
Anti-war protests were scheduled in Washington, D.C., where demonstrators vowed to block the entrance to the Internal Revenue Service and to disrupt the offices of lobbyists who represent military contractors and oil companies profiting from the war.
College students from New Jersey to North Dakota planned walkouts, while students at the University of Minnesota vowed to shut down military recruiting offices on campus. Barron geared up to participate in a protest in Hartford, Conn.
"This is the first time coordinated direct actions of civil disobedience are happening," said Barbra Bearden, communications manager for the group Peace Action. "People who have never done this kind of action are stepping up and deciding now is the time to do it."
The Iraq war has been unpopular both abroad and in the United States, although an Associated Press-Ipsos poll in December showed that growing numbers think the U.S. is making progress and will eventually be able to claim some success in Iraq.
The findings, a rarity in the relentlessly unpopular war, came amid diminishing U.S. and Iraqi casualties and the start of modest troop withdrawals. Still, majorities remain upset about the conflict and convinced the invasion was a mistake, and the issue still splits the country deeply along party lines.
Activists cite frustration that the war has dragged on for so long and hope the more dramatic actions will galvanize others to protest.
"If you are determined and your cause is right, the American people will eventually come around," Barron said.
Though he has participated in demonstrations for decades, Barron has never risked a trip to jail. He opposed the war from the beginning and has written letters of protest to Congress, but his feelings intensified while hearing the names of the war dead read each week in his church.
The final straw, he said, was reading an article about U.S. soldiers who suffered permanent brain damage in Iraq.
"I'm tired of being a futile old man not able to have any participation in this decision," Barron said. "I'm 80 years old. I'm still alive. I want people to say, `If he's not afraid to do it, what am I doing being so silent?"'
Barron, who ran a kitchen remodeling business with his wife before he retired in 1995, said he helped organize efforts to integrate restaurants in Richmond, Va., during the 1960s. He saw police drag college students from lunch counters, and said authorities stood and watched as the students were attacked on sidewalks.
But the attacks only encouraged more protesters to engage in civil disobedience, he said.
"I saw the effectiveness of civil disobedience," Barron said. "Those kids paid a helluva penalty, but they got the good people of Richmond awakened. This chemistry needs to happen again."
Planning to join Barron on Wednesday were his minister, the Rev. Kathleen McTigue, and others from his Unitarian church in New Haven. McTigue said she was surprised when Barron told her he wanted to join the action, but he assured her he was up it.
"I'm very proud of him," McTigue said. "I find him very inspirational."
Demonstrators Mark Five Years of War With Protests Across District
Petula Dvorak - Washington Post
go to original
Scores of demonstrators opened two days of war protests yesterday with a raucous morning march along Constitution Avenue and a piece of silent street theater during the evening rush hour inside Union Station.
A full day of rallies, marches, blockades and demonstrations is planned today for downtown Washington to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq.
Activists plan to blockade the headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service, at 12th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, as well as offices of various corporations in the vicinity of K Street between 13th and 18th streets NW. Antiwar veterans plan a 9 a.m. march on the Mall from the National Museum of the American Indian to the Capitol.
Other events are planned at the Department of Veterans Affairs, McPherson Square, Lafayette Square, the American Petroleum Institute and the Democratic National Committee. A "March of the Dead" from Arlington National Cemetery into the District is set for 9:30 a.m. Other demonstrators will target The Washington Post and other news outlets.
Permits filed with the National Park Service by United for Peace and Justice, the umbrella group organizing the protests, estimate that crowds at the midweek demonstration will likely be in the hundreds rather than the thousands.
Yesterday's events began with a march by about 60 members of the antiwar group Code Pink, who held aloft a living room-size copy of the preamble to the Constitution, beat drums and carried peace signs. They marched along Constitution Avenue from the National Archives to the Justice Department and to the IRS, occasionally disrupting traffic.
About 30 police officers on bicycles and motorcycles and in cars followed them. No arrests were made.
"You're blocking traffic!" a police officer yelled at the protesters as they veered off the sidewalk and into the street.
"We're well aware of that!" one protester yelled back.
At 5:25 p.m., at least 100 people froze in place at the bustling Union Station: A couple kissing, a woman bending over to tie her shoe, several people pointing to maps, a couple sitting at the bar with drinks held halfway to their mouths. All stopped in mid-motion and did not move for 10 minutes in a show of support for the antiwar movement.
Passersby towing suitcases weaved their way through the tableau, dubbed "Frozen Union Station." Dozens of police officers stood by; again, no arrests were made.
"This is the strangest thing," said Michele McKnelly, a librarian from River Falls, Wis., initially unsure why everyone around her had suddenly stopped. "Then I looked around and saw some of them wearing 'End the War' T-shirts."
At 5:35 p.m., the protesters started moving and chanted "End the war" for 10 minutes, then left.
"It was a very, very positive event," said protester Deanna Gorzynski, 52, of New Milford, N.J., who is with a group called the World Can't Wait. "Even those people who don't agree with us stopped to think." |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us