Well, I was there yesterday. It went well. It was a considerably smaller
group than the Lake/Lagoon march - I'm no hand at crowd estimating, but I
would guess 300 to 400 people. Small but feisty. The best part was the
interaction with cars and peds as we marched down Lake Street.. a lot of
thumbs up and peace signs and honking. Oh, an amusing moment was the list
of printed chants that was distributed with some chant protocol included :
"Everyone has their own tastes in chants. If you don't like what you hear,
PLEASE DON"T YELL AT THE CHANTERS. You can ask them to switch to something
else (be specific). Or find another part of the march where you like the
chants better."
At the march we were given notices of several other marches coming up in the
near future- which worries me a bit.. it strikes me that dissipating our
energies into many small marches is less effective than doing fewer, much
larger events. If there are opposing rationales for why many and small are
better, I'd like to hear them.
[ to pass along the info: Neighbors March for Peace: Saturday, March 22
1:30 PM gathering at Macalester College.. march down Summit, back on Grand
and return to Macalester for a rally. www.mppeace.org or call rachel at
(651)644-0025 for more info. Even though its a St. Paul/ Merriam Park rally,
Minneapolitans are specifically invited]
and
[Emergency Response Protest and March. The day after war begins, 4:30 PM at
the Federal Courts building. 4th Street and 4th Avenue, downtown. The
protest will happen the same day that its reported in the newspaper. Not
sure today is the day? Contact anti-war committee 612.879.7534.
www.antiwarcommittee.org. Or Women Against Military Madness 612.827.5364]
and
[ Civil Disobedience Training Session. Wednesday, March 12, 7 PM. 2104
Stevens Avenue South. WIthin the first week of the start of the attacks, the
Anti-War Committee and the Twin Cities Campaign to lift sanctions will
organize acts of civil disobedience to protest the war. This training
session will answer questions: what CD is, why we do it, what it means for
you. Contact AWC for info: 612.879.7543. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
One last thing to note.. this is really a question for the march organizers.
I don't really understand why the format of every march that I've been to is
about the same. Publish an assembly time.. have people mill around for a bit
(sometimes quite a bit) after that while the sound system gets connected and
everything is set up (although to be fair, yesterday's march started pretty
much on time) then have several speakers harangue me for 15 to 20 to 30
minutes while I'm getting colder and colder, and around me babies are crying
and the crowd is getting very restless. On to the march (best part, why I
came). More speeches at the end which pretty much everyone cuts out for (OK,
I cut out for). Its the speaking part that seems less effective than it
could be. I don't need folks yelling at me about how Bush's military
spending could be used to buy affordable housing, healthcare or food for
hungry children. I know that. Its why I'm there. This is SO preaching to
the choir - and when it goes on too long, a bit disrespectful. What I would
like to hear are shorter, more thoughtful messages - perhaps housekeeping
message about other activities that we should know about (the method of folks
moving around the crowd passing out flyers seems a bit hit or miss to me) .
Or ideas on how we can effectively discuss these issues with folks that are
still on the fence. Or convince our more timid neighbors that dissent is
patriotic - for example, on the next march one attends, invite one friend
that opposes the war but would never think of marching - and bring them along
to show that it feels good to actually DO something. And if that sounds too
much like a study group and not the opening rally to a march, then scheduling
one speaker who thanks us for showing up and gets us on our way seems about
right to me.
Sue Herridge
Lynnhurst
All I know is PEACE feels good
Lets take to the streets and do what we should
Susan Herridge
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the
affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure
the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in
others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden
patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has
breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
--- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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