I am shocked anew at the lack of coverage in the MSM [Mainstream Media] of this growing anti-war movement.
The NY Times focused on a small group of 350 protesters at the U.N. This is what other newsmedia then repeat.
After returning from the powerful march experience in Fayetteville, NC, I wanted to see what happened elsewhere. To be honest, I was disappointed in the turnout in Fayetteville. It looked like about 2500 people to me, and they had been hoping for 4000- 10,000. It was supposed to be the largest national march, with national news coverage, since it was so unusual to have a Peace march co-sponsored by military families in a military town.
Before I continue with my rant on the media, I want to show & tell a bit about the march. At the pre-rally, there were a lot of Code Pink women, including their founder, Medea Benjamin. There was singing and belly-dancing for peace by my friend Betsy. Thanks to Susan M. for snapping these photos.
I have been a Picasso fan since I was a child. My Pacifist father introduced me to Picasso's monumental anti-war painting, "Guernica". So when exciting drums announced a larger than life enactment of a moving "Guernica", done with 10' tall puppets, moving with sticks and hinges, I was blown away. They also made a very large flying dove that needs five people to hold it up with long bamboo poles. Here are the characters, made by Paper Hand Puppet Intervention.
One hundred coffins had been made with cardboard and covered with flags to represent all the soldiers from North Carolina who died in Iraq. The marchers were asked to be pallbearers. This made the sadness of this war more real.
When we got to the rally site, there were pillow case sizes banners made by family and friends of the dead. Hanging beside them were banners for some of the Iraqi civilians, with their names, ages and circumstances of their death. This sight brought tears to my eyes.
Here is the stage where we heard many speakers who had been in Iraq or lost loved ones there, including Nick Berg's father. Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey spoke; she is the co-sponsor of Res 35, which calls for the President to bring the troops home at once. The Co-founders of all these groups with military ties were present:
Iraq Veterans Against the War http://www.ivaw.net/
Gold Star Families for Peace http://www.gsfp.org/
Military Families Speak Out http://www.mfso.org/
Veterans for Peace http://www.veteransforpeace.org/
and the non-military sponsors included
NC Peace and Justice Coalition http://www.ncpeacejustice.org/
Sept 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows http://www.peacefultomorrows.org
United for Peace and Justice http://www.unitedforpeace.org
CODEPINK http://www.codepinkalert.org
A real highlight for me was running into Code Pink's founding mother, Medea Benjamin. I had brought a pink tee,"What Would Durga Do?" to give her, and she loved it. Here we are with her (second from left).
For 24 hours, I believed theWashington Post, which said, "N.C. Demonstration Is Largest of 800 Held Across the U.S. to Mark 2nd Anniversary of Conflict". But then I searched the internet and found reports of 25,000 in San Francisco and 20,000 L.A. http://www.answercoalition.org
Even if that's an exaggeration, there were probably more than we had in Fayetteville. ABC TV news gave some coverage, but they featured the few counter-protesters as much as the protest. Many people who follow MSM didn't even know about any of the marches. I guess it's good to decentralize and have marches in 800 cities in all 50 states. that way at least some people will be first hand witnesses to these under-reported events.
United for Peace lists all 765 U.S. cities that held rallies, which were twice as many as last year.
Apparently, there were far bigger rallies in Europe, also on March 19, 2005. London: 45,000, Istanbul,Turkey: 15,000, Athens, Greece: 3000 according to the
Boston Globe.
I am grateful for the liberal websites and blogs who share more of the news on the ground.
Here are some nice big pictures of Seattle's march someone posted at Democratic Underground
Truthout's Chris Hume interviews the military protesters at Fayetteville march. This interview is biased to leave out the fact that the majority of the marchers present were non military. But at least it's coverage of this important and growing segment of the Peace Movement.
I guess we have to become our own media, as well as pressure the media to cover news we want to hear.
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