Posted on 10/05/2002 11:02:13 PM PDT by HAL9000
Anti-war protest draws about 1,500 in AustinAUSTIN — About 1,500 demonstrators, including more than two dozen from San Antonio and South Texas, marched through downtown at the state capital Saturday afternoon in protest of plans for a U.S. invasion of Iraq
Chanting such slogans as, "One, two, three, four, we don't want your oil war!" the throng marched north along Congress Avenue and gathered for a rally at the Austin federal building at Ninth and San Jacinto streets, where more than a dozen speakers addressed the group.
A Houston peace organization brought a busload of more than 30 protesters, but a similar bus-chartering effort in Dallas failed.
About a dozen demonstrators from the Dallas-Fort Worth area came to Austin, anyway.
The demonstration and march drew graying veterans of past anti-war campaigns as well as a new generation of high school and college students, many of whom were attending their first protest.
Richie Libertad, 19, a student at Edison High School in San Antonio, said he came for the march because, "I feel that what George Bush is striving for is not what the people want. The people do not want a war."
Tory Gravito, 24, a law student at St. Mary's University, said the demonstration would be useful "to force the media to broaden the debate about the war in Iraq."
Among the some two dozen religious, pacifist and left-wing groups represented at the march was the Austin chapter of Veterans for Peace.
Jewel Johnson, 76, a veteran of World War II, said he has attended dozens over the years.
"I was in the Navy," he said. "My ship picked up former prisoners of war, American, Brits and Russians, at Nagasaki, shortly after the atom bomb was dropped.
"A few days later, I walked through the rubble of Hiroshima, and I've been a peace activist ever since."
About a dozen speakers took the microphone at the federal building rally at the conclusion of the march. The most prominent of them was Rahul Mahajan of Austin, author of a book on U.S. policy in the Middle East, and the Green Party's candidate for governor.
"I accuse the Bush administration of viewing the events of 9-11 as an opportunity instead of a tragedy," he told the crowd.
Leti Guerra, a student at San Antonio College, also spoke to the rally, to invite participants to an Oct. 26 mobilization in San Antonio.
"I don't want mothers to grieve the loss of their sons, or for children to do without their parents. We need to do this in every city and every state until Bush gets the message that we don't want this war," she said.
Only two counter-demonstrators, from a conservative group called Free Republic, were in evidence at the rally. They carried picket signs reading, "Leaving Saddam in control of weapons of mass destruction is like putting Clinton or Condit in charge of interns."
Well done.
Only two counter-demonstrators, from a conservative group called Free Republic, were in evidence at the rally. They carried picket signs reading, "Leaving Saddam in control of weapons of mass destruction is like putting Clinton or Condit in charge of interns."
Yeah, but our guys had them surrounded.
Way to go FReepers!
"I wish I knew who those FReepers were."
So do I, Sam, so do I.
God bless you two, whoever you are!!
10/06/2002
AUSTIN - Chanting "no more blood for oil," hundreds of people on Saturday protested peacefully in downtown Austin against possible U.S. military attacks on Iraq.
"Yes we are here, and yes we are angry, and yes we will not stop mobilizing," Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rahul Mahajan told the crowd. "We will not stop yelling until this war is avoided."
Mahajan accused the Bush administration of using the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as an "opportunity, not a tragedy" to implement an agenda to get control of oil resources from the Middle East and central Asia. He said the administration was trying to redraw maps of the Middle East.
He also encouraged the crowd to keep fighting a possible war, and said Saturday's demonstration needs to the first in a series.
Mahajan estimated 1,000 people attended the rally. Authorities wouldn't give an estimate.
Protesters carried signs that said "Free the Press," "Stop the Bombs" and "No more war for Oil." Austin police reported no arrests.
Ryan Green, 42, of Austin, held his 7-year-old daughter on his shoulders while his mother, wife and son stood nearby. Green said he didn't think the economy could withstand a confrontation with Iraq. The United States needs to create more jobs, Green said.
"To support war in Iraq is to support fascism," Green's wife, Genevieve Sprinkle, 44, chimed in. "This is not an example we can afford to set for our children."
Suzie Baker of Manor said she came because she wanted to voice her opposition to military action in Iraq.
"I think it's political. You talk war and the polls go up. That is really scary. I think it is about oil. I think it is all about the really wrong reasons," she said, before adding that she was "mainstream, ordinary" person.
To help prove her point, she said her husband had been at the rally but had to leave because he had a tennis match.
Across the street, a small group waved American flags in opposition to the protesters.
"I'd rather settle this peacefully, but if war is needed to protect our people, protect our land, then we need to take that action," said David Armstrong, 36, of Austin.
Excerpt:
Only two counter-demonstrators, from a conservative group called Free Republic, were in evidence at the rally. They carried picket signs reading, "Leaving Saddam in control of weapons of mass destruction is like putting Clinton or Condit in charge of interns."
Way to go FReepers !!
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Texas or General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.
Only two And they were noticed!
Bravo, FReepers, to the Two of You!
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