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My husband just brought me an article by Danny Westneat, a Seattle Times columnist, wherein he writes about something that we are very familiar with, because it happens every Sunday a few blocks from our house. We have been involved from time to time, but have sometimes slacked off, though if we drive by we will honk sympathetically, like most of the other cars.
The reporter interviewed one of the protesters who has shown up every Sunday at Green Lake, Seattle, with a protest sign, with no exceptions. Once, before the invasion, so many people turned up that they ringed the lake, which is almost three miles around. Then it dwindled to 50, then 20, then finally a dozen or so. Then finally it was only the one man. This went on for a month.
Some thought the numbers would increase after the 2006 election, with numbed people newly energized. The polls have been showing that the Iraq war has become as unpopular as the war in Vietnam was. Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose this war, and more than that in this city. The concensus is that the entry into and conduct of this war exceeds all previous foreign policy blunders and is unthinkably ill-conceived and tragic.
So where are the people? Why aren't they taking to the streets? Why aren't people talking about the war more? "I'm as puzzled as I've ever been," a vet tells the reporter. "Are people in a state of shock? I don't know. Sometimes i think we're spoiled in this country, that we don't understand suffering or sacrifice any more." This Vet's son was killed by a bomb in Baghdad in 2003.
Others tell the reporter the turning point is now. Organizers say that a peace march in Washington DC next week will be the largest since the war began. The lone protester fears that the press wouldn't report it if it's the biggest protest in the history of the world.
I wanted to start with a tribute to some of those who have dared to exercise their freedom of speech in my community. I am often moved to tears by them but I suspect it is also frustration that there aren't more of us and that we have not had more influence. Reading the article about the lone protester, and strolling through memory lane with photos of fellow citizens, I think that we should go out this afternoon and join those stalwarts at Green lake.
Perhaps in some sense, the voting in 2006 was a referendum on the war, especially since independents and more moderate and conservative Democrats voted their conscience. Maybe it is encouraging that a few Republicans in Congress are listening to people at home, or questioning at all. Let's try to grab on to that momentum by being relentless and not giving up.
(Original article is at http://www.seattletimes.com/localnews - Sunday Jan. 21, 2007)
(Photos taken over the last four years)
That's me ..
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