The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice held a fabulous peace demonstration today. We gathered outside Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda bulding at the north end of the University of Virginia “Grounds” and then walked the 2/3 mile along Main Street to the downtown. There were about 250 of us. (My friend David Slezak sat by the side of the road and counted us.)
I had found an old collection of our peace signs in the back of my garage. They augmented the ones we use every week on our Thursday peace vigil– and we also had some really snappy new “Wage Peace” yard signs that CCPJ is selling/distributing. It was kind of poignant to see some of the old signs that expressed horror over the fact that the number of US dead had reached “1,000.”
When we got downtown, our numbers swelled a bit more. Bill Anderson, the President of CCPJ, gave a great speech. Then a dozen members of the C’ville Women’s Choir sang some really moving a capella numbers. There was a bit more singing; a man from the local Native-American community spoke a bit, and that was about it.
My friend Sarah reminded us that at the peace demo this time last year there were 55 participants.
I have to say it feels so great to me, after a big trip like the one I made to Israel and Palestine, to come back home– home to Bill-the-spouse and the dog; home to the Charlottesville Friends Meeting (Quakers); and home to all my buddies in CCPJ.
The one notable problem in today’s peace demo, though, was the near-total absence of University of Virginia undergrads. There were a few grad students, but just about none of the younger students. What a pity… We had some great younger kids, though. A couple of them held up home-made signs saying “Bush is stinky.” I think our oldest participant was Jay Worrall, a stalwart of the local movements for social justice, inter-racial reconciliation, and peace who turned 90 earlier this month. (Jay is also a beloved member of our Quaker Meeting.)
Will there still be US troops in Iraq a year from now? I regret to say that I expect so. But if there are, then you can bet that CCPJ will be organizing another march.
6 thoughts on “Fabulous local peace demo today”
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Our demo on Saturday in front of the US Consulate in Johanneburg’s Killarney suburb was small but widely covered in the SA media. We made plenty of good placards, made a good declaration, which we handed in, and the media came and interviewed us.
Today is a public holiday in South Africa. March 21st is now called “Human Rights Day”. But it is actually Sharpeville Day, the anniversary of the shooting dead of 69 people who were among a crowd demonstrating outside the Sharpeville police station against the apartheid pass laws that were in force at that time (1960).
Constitution Hill is a big installation based around an old prison and fort in Johannesburg. It includes the Constitutional Court building and is also where our barefoot “Communist University” gets the free use of a room once a week for a Freirean dialogue, for which we are grateful.
In front of me I have a flyer for today’s programme of activities at Constitution Hill. They include poetry, soap box oratory, music, and personal interaction with genuine ex-prisoners (advertised as an “unforgettable experience”). There is no mention of Sharpeville on the flyer.
I have mixed feelings about “Con Hill”, as it is often called without a trace of irony, and about our bland, non-specific “Human Rights Day”. I wonder what you all think about these things?
Another anniversary on this day is noted by the Guardian in an extract from their archives, at http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,,1735794,00.html . It is from March 21, 1933, only 27 years before Sharpeville, whereas Sharpeville is already 46 years ago.
“The President of the Munich police has informed the press that the first concentration camp holding 5,000 political prisoners is to be organised within the next few days near the town of Dachau in Bavaria.
“Here, he said, Communists, “Marxists” and Reichsbanner leaders who endangered the security of the State would be kept in custody. It was impossible to find room for them in the State prisons, nor was it possible to release them. Experience had shown, he said, that the moment they were released, they started their agitation again.”
The President of the Munich Police was not wrong about the last part. Long live agitation!
Did you have any signs urging the insurgency to quit bombing and killing fellow Iraqis, especially civilians, and destroying critical infrastructure?
Removing the troops is necessary and will happen. I’m unconvinced that removing them right now is the best way to contribute to peace, though. Especially when the vast majority of Iraqis favor having the troops in their country and say that it was worth it to have Saddam removed. Perhaps you could come up with a different name for your movement than a peace movement. I favor peace for Iraq, but I don’t believe that your suggested tactics are the best for Iraqis, and neither do most of them.
Of course, the divide in opinion between the Sunni Arabs and all others is striking. But the Sunni Arabs were the oppressors of the other Iraqis for so long, so it’s not surprising.
In San Francisco, in addition to the big rally on Saturday, we had a wonderful little traffic stopping theater action against torture on Monday. This set me thinking a lot about how the antiwar movement, whose goal of removing U.S. troops is now a majority postion, can deepen and enlarge its analysis and influence. If people have thoughts, please take a look at the pictures of yesterday’s action on my site and add your comments. We still need to do more.
For your information, Thacker, our declaration in Johannesburg made it quite clear that the Iraqi people have every right to oppose the war-crime of aggressive military action with military action of their own, so as to expel the US/British/Danish invaders from their sovereign territory.
No doubt the pacifists of Charlottesville have a different view, and we respect such people, but we are not pacifists.
One of our slogans was “Yankee Go Home”. That is not a tactic. It is a demand.
You think your 160,000 expeditionary force is fighting “oppressors”. You are delusional. So is your President, as your compatriot and fellow-capitalist Paul Craig Roberts has ably pointed out in recent days (see Antiwar.com or Counterpunch).
You think you speak for “most” Iraqis. You remind me of the old regime in my country, South Africa, where the white racist government also used to enjoy speaking for the black people even while it smashed them down.
John thacker- your a republican right? didn’t you see “red dawn”?