STOP NATO: ˇNO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- ListBot Sponsor -------------------------- Sopranos fanatics, this one is for you. Tony Soprano's autographed Suburban is available for purchase on eBayTM. James Gandolfini has personally signed the vehicle. Find this and over 800 other Sopranos items for sale on eBay. http://www.bcentral.com/listbot/ebay ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ccaccess.net/jmarcus/Archive/peace_forces_gain_momentum_in_ch.htm. For Poetry Chicago Peace Forces Pick Up Momentun May 1, 1999 As NATO and the Clinton Adminstration, in open defiance of the U.S. Congress, which voted last Wednesday to strip the war against Yugoslavia of any legitimacy, escalate their campaign of death and destruction, opposition to this criminal endeavor is mounting from increasing sectors of the public. Panel discussions and teach-ins, the latter reminiscent of the Vietnam War era, are springing up on nearly every campus across the city. Radio talk show call-ins and letters to the editor in both major Chicago daily newspapers are heavily in favor of ending the war and negotiating a peaceful settlement of this tragic and complex conflict. ...NATO has killed thousands of civilians in less than one month. Clarence Page and Steven Chapman, both nationally-syndicated columnists based at the Chicago Tribune, have spoken out bluntly, and in Chapman's case repeatedly, for an end to the bombing and a peaceful resolution of the crisis. In fact, not one single columnist in either daily, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, has written in support of the war. The entire Democratic Congressional delegation voted against the resolution authorizing ground troops in the House on Wednesday, and one Congressman, Jesse Jackson, Jr., voted against the resolution on the air war. Most impressive, though, is the almost spontaneous outpouring of anti-war sentiment from the general population here in Chicago. Several mass demonstrations have occurred in the last two weeks, the most spirited of which, arguably, was outside the Hotel Intercontinental on Michigan Avenue this past Monday. Major media networks and the press continue to ignore anti-bombing demonstrations. Wesley Clark, the Bomber of the Balkans, was to have been the guest of honor at a fete organized by the Chicago Council of Foreign Relations. Being otherwise occupied, largely with raining cruise missiles and "dumb bombs" on Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Bulgaria, a last minute replacement arrived instead. We were ready for him. An estimated crowd of 500 people gathered outside the hotel on Chicago's upscale Michigan Avenue, Miracle Mile as it's known locally, with bullhorns, banners and a simulated air raid siren. Initially prevented by the police from moving outside hastily erected barricades, the urgency of the cause gave rise to passionate and indignant chanting: "Let us march, let us march!" This "disturbance" to the normally staid environs and their elite pedestrians evidently induced the police to relent, and we marched south on Michigan Avenue past the Chicago Tribune building. The marchers were a diverse group, reflecting the wide range of sponsors: Illinois Peace Action, 8th Day Center For Justice, the Serbian Unity Congress and a busload of Veterans for Peace en route from California to the East Coast. Despite the diversity, though, our voices shouted in unison. As we passed the Tribune building and started on the bridge leading over the Chicago River, one marcher grabbed a bullhorn and got the crowd chanting, "Stop bombing bridges, stop bombing children!" The effect on passing pedestrians and motorists was profound. After nearly ninety minutes of marching on both sides of Michigan Avenue, returning to the hotel for one final "salute" to the militarists, the participants went north up the avenue to the historic Water Tower, a landmark which survived the Great Chicago Fire of last century. The symbolism didn't require comment. The vicious war against Yugoslavia has unfortunately brought out - or merely exposed - the brute in many. But it has also brought to the surface the innate decency, good sense and bravery of many others. I look for the latter to soon overwhelm the former. --Rick Rozoff Chicago FOR POETRY __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
