Peace demonstration, Charlottesville

It was a bright, windy afternoon yesterday on the corner of McIntyre Rd. and Main Street as thirty of us gathered to launch the resumption of our small town’s weekly public peace demonstrations.
The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice had been holding antiwar
demonstration/vigils on this corner for several years up until April or Mayof this year. After September 11, and as our country went through the war in Afghanistan and the buildup to the invasion of Iraq, the numbers of participants grew.
But in the spring, once it became clear that the peace movement’s efforts to prevent the launching of the invasion had failed, many people became despondent and a bit discouraged. Plus, after all the energy we expended in the build-up to March 19, many of us were tired, too… Well, whatever the reason, that weekly, rush-hour presence of people with signs and banners–right outside the small Federal Office Building in our town– just petered out at around that time.
But now, it’s back.

A couple of weeks ago, a group of us pulled out the collections of much-used signs someone had kept at home, in her garage, and we sorted them through.  A few, that called for not launching the war against Iraq, we put to one side. Many more– “War without end– Not in our Name!” “End the cycle of violence!” “Honk for peace!”, etc.– were just as timely as they ever were. (Several of these did need some repairing, however, since they’d been used so much before.)
Also, since the last time I was there at the Thursday-rush-hour sidewalk demonstrations, someone had bought a bunch of marvellous, large “global” flags– a simple blue flag with a cloud-shrouded globe in the center; and these had been attached to simple wooden poles. Yesterday, as our demonstration got going, six or eight of these flags were swirling above our heads in the breeze. Two or three people had the venerable “Honk for peace” signs– and it was just as I remembered it: many, many drivers coming by that busy intersection leaned heavily onto their horns, expressing their support for our peace presence.
Only one driver, this time, rolled down his window and leaned out, his face twisted with anger, to yell something about “supporting the troops, you @#$%s!”
One of the demonstrators standing with us was Evelyn Ortiz, who had come with others from her church. She has two sons in the military, both in Afghanistan;
and she had made a lovely big sign featuring photos of them that she held proudly up at our protest.
It was really, really cold out there (though luckily not cold and raining, as it was one time I was there last January.) After an hour we re-grouped, and walked together down to our US congressman’s office. For two or three weeks previously, we’d been collecting signatures for a general pro-peace petition to present to him. We got around 300 signatures– not bad for such a short, quick, effort, though I kind of wish we’d gotten more.
Bill Anderson, the President of CCPJ, made a few remarks at the doors of Congressman Goode’s in-town office. But neither Goode nor any of his staff members was there so I think the plan then was to actually deliver the petitions there this morning.
Then we had a 30-minute candlelight vigil in the Central Square downtown. The theme was, approproately enough, “Peace on Earth”. Three or four heads of local congregations spoke– also, a great young person from Charlottesville High School, who spoke a little about the students’ concerns about a potential draft, and Ms. Ortiz.
So now, the Thursday afternoon peace presence is back on the streets of our hometown. I can’t be there next week. (I’ll be in China.) But I know that several of my friends will be there. And when we start up again January 8, I’ll certainly be there.
I’m writing this on the train to New York, where I’ll have a quick visit with my daughter before I catch the flight to Beijing tomorrow evening. I’m hoping that my friend George Loper, who keeps a great community website in C’ville and has a great touch with a digital camera, will have posted some photos from yesterday’s actions onto his site… Maybe I could even capture them from there and upload them onto here?? Anyway, I’ll have to wait till I get an internet connection before I can look for them.