It annoys and worries me that I have seen nothing in the general global
news about protests yesterday ...
and yet the
href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=330&e=1&cid=330&u=/kr/20030
216/lo_krphiladelphia/peace_march_draws_10_000_in_philadelphia">Philadelphia
Inquirer says 10,000 gathered there (one of the largest peace demonstrations
in city history -- and on a day of record snowstorms),
href="http://thistledown.diaryland.com">Thistledown and Paisleypiper say it
was 1600 in their city (a small Midwest city, I think), and
href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/angiej">Ebony says it was 5,000 in
Detroit. An article on NPR Friday spoke of protests in San Francisco and of how
people with widely varying beliefs were marching together, united only by a wish
for peace.
This is Americans, not "just" those foreign people the US government seems to take
little account of. These are the people who vote our governments in ... or out.
But it's not just Americans; I checked the London Times and there were protests
there too yesterday, though I could only find it mentioned in an opinion column
(he was against it).
I'm still a tiny bit equivocal, because I keep thinking of WWII, of what would
have happened to my people and others had other countries not fought Hitler, and
of how pusillanimous we now thing Chamberlain and the other appeasers were in
1938. On the other hand, that was when Hitler was marching into Poland, Austria,
and Czechoslovakia; we did interfere when Saddam marched on Kuwait, but at the
moment he's not marching on anyone. Or wasn't until he called for kamikazi attacks
on American after we tried to bring the world to war on him. The situations
are not really parallel, and trying to force them to be could be
disastrous.
So the people in the US as well as abroad are calling for peace. And these are
serious numbers; 5000 here, 10000 there, and the numbers add up to hordes. And one
comment I saw in a few places was "this is what democracy looks like," with people
of all races, beliefs, and income levels marching. The sixties did bring real
change, when it was just one segment of society protesting; I hope it doesn't take
as long as it did then. Do I think Bush is listening? No, I don't, not based on
his record. But I hope he will be forced to listen. And I hope Fred Small was
right when he sang:
Many years ago, I heard a soldier say,
When the people want peace,
Better get out of the way
But it's less likely to happen if it's not even in the news.
Posted by dichroic at February 17, 2003 08:14 AM