Sorry it came out a bit blurry.
Posted on 10/14/2001 4:29:29 PM PDT by Little Bill
Sorry it came out a bit blurry.
Antiwar activists urge US to atone
By Douglas Belkin, Globe Staff, 10/15/2001
The antiwar effort that has been quietly percolating on college campuses and sparsely attended rallies grew to a rolling boil for a few hours yesterday as about 2,000 activists marched 20 blocks from Copley Square into the South End, blocking streets and making enough noise to set off car alarms.
Standing on her porch on Shawmut Street, Miguelena de Jesus flashed the peace sign back at protesters as she watched a parade that stretched five blocks. Protesters ranged from black-hooded anarchists and activists dressed up as white doves of peace.
''It's good, no more fighting,'' said de Jesus. ''I want peace, too.''
While antiwar protesters have been vocalizing their displeasure with America's bombing campaign, antiwar activists pushed their politics a step further yesterday, calling not only for a cessation of the bombing but for what one speaker called ''the politics of atonement.''
''We need to come together as a country and as a culture, and atone for the terror and destruction we have created in the world,'' said City Councilor Chuck Turner, who spoke to sustained applause in Blackstone Park. ''As we struggle against terrorism we have to begin to take apart the military industrial complex. There is no way to get peace for people here or for people overseas without unraveling it.''
Protesters held signs condemning everything from US aid to Israel to the sanctions against Iraq. Chants such as ''Bush, Bush what do you say, how many kids did you kill today'' harked back to the bitter protests of the Vietnam era. And the standard ''We Shall Overcome'' was updated to ''Peace shall overcome'' after one protester suggested ''we'' sounded too ''militaristic.''
A knot of counter-demonstrators included a Vietnam veteran whose sign said, ''This is not the summer of '68.'' Another said ''War is the Answer.''
The overwhelming tenor of the gathering, however, was about the quest for peace. Several of the protesters said Osama bin Laden should be prosecuted and tried for his offenses. By attacking a country already leveled by a decade of fighting, they said, the United States will only motivate more terrorists.
''My fear is that this escalates out of control,'' said Rhianna Tyson, a Hampshire College senior. ''This could lead to an increased backlash from anyone who is angry with America.''
Author Howard Zinn, who attended but did not speak at the rally, said the momentum the antiwar protests have attained in just a month far outpaces early protests during Vietnam.
Protesters hope to encourage politicians to speak out against the war efforts.
''Right now, there is a great atmosphere of intimidation,'' Zinn said, citing the ''substantial'' amount of hate mail he has received. ''People are afraid,'' he said, ''but does bombing other people make us more secure or less secure?'' This story ran on page A13 of the Boston Globe on 10/15/2001. © Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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