------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Jan. 30, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
C-SPAN COVERAGE GENERATES THOUSANDS OF CALLS By Mary Owen New York While the huge protest was taking place in Washington on Jan. 18, a dozen staffers at the New York office of the ANSWER coalition answered hundreds of calls from all over the U.S. and Canada from people who saw the rally and march on CSPAN, CNN, dish TV and other news outlets. They had picked up the phone to vote "no" on the war. "I was nearly in tears as I watched the rally on television," said one caller from Wisconsin. "I'm so happy to know I'm not alone and there are so many people who feel like I do about the war." Callers of every ethnicity and nationality from South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Hawaii, Alaska, Mont real, Quebec, Toronto, Canada and other areas echoed her sentiments. Callers from Texas were particularly eager to disassociate themselves from the Bush administration's war drive. Some callers with family members in the military who were already in Afghanistan or being shipped out to the region said they wanted their loved ones brought home. Others said that the Vietnam experience contributed to their anti-war sentiments. "I've been a psychiatric nurse in a VA hospital since the Vietnam War," said a woman who called from California. "I've seen first-hand what war does. That's why I'm voting no war." Even a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, who call ed in to say he disagreed with ANSWER's vote no campaign, admitted his mother was against his being sent to bomb Iraq. During C-SPAN's live coverage of the rally, and later as CNN and other media carried news stories, all the ANSWER office's many phone lines were lit up for four solid hours as staffers logged the "no" votes. Callers with computer access were sent to the www.VoteNoWar.org Web site to cast their votes. Many who called had polled friends and family first, and wanted to cast more than one vote against the war. n - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
