doogiewray ([info]doogiewray) wrote,
@ 2008-04-05 16:24:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:peace, protest, yet another memory (yam)

My First Protest Against the Iraq Invasion



This picture reminds me of the high-school girl who organized a protest in Norwich, CT three and a half months before the invasion. I was impressed by her resolve and courage, and, being retired with "nothing better to do," I drove through the snow storm as soon as I read about her plans in the morning paper. There were just a few of us there, but her youthful indignation was the catalyst that got me out of my own indulgent and slothful "retirement rocking chair" and out on to the streets.



Sunday, January 5, 2003
Teen organizes city protest against Iraqi war
By FRANCIS McCABE
Special to the Bulletin

NORWICH -- Standing in front of the war memorials on Chelsea Parade Saturday, 15 protesters demonstrated against the impending war with Iraq.

Protest organizer Jill Palmer, 15, of Canterbury said she wasn't sure how many people would join her when she posted signs Friday announcing the event.
Palmer was committed enough to the issue to carry on the protest with just her sister, Sarah Riccardi, 20. "I didn't want to be pessimistic, but I didn't think there would be this many people out here," Palmer said.

Douglas Wray, 58, of Yantic, heard about the noon protest at 11:55 a.m., and ran out of his house to get there on time. The demonstrators were prepared to stay as long as two hours in the wind and snow to show their opposition to a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Holding signs proclaiming "Promote peace" and "Remember Vietnam," the protestors received signs of support from passing motorists, beeping horns and giving the thumbs-up sign.

Palmer was surprised and pleased by the response. We haven't had many people flip us off yet," she said.

Palmer's mother, Kally Palmer, joined her daughter at the rally.
"I thought we were in the minority because of all the media attention given to the war," she said.

Angry reaction

One woman slowed her car down and yelled angrily at the protestors that her son was over there. "Where is yours?" she asked. "I'm sorry that her son is there," protester Andrew Cordeira, 49, of Norwich, said.

A computer technician, Cordeira said free dialogue is what makes the U.S. a great country. He would not be convinced to change his opposition to a war.
"All war produces is more memorials to dead heroes," he said, pointing to the memorials on the green that list Norwich dead.

Angela Cordeira, 13, said she was against the war because there are children who will die from aerial bombardments. Angie Hart and Ben Richter, both 16 and of Norwich, joined the protest as members of Norwich Free Academy's Youth Peace Club.

"I think the reason the response has been so good is because the war is more real. We are closer to war than we were six months ago," Hart said.
She also said the response to anti-war protests was much more negative six months ago.

"I still don't think Bush has made a convincing case," Barbara Nelson, 57, of Norwich said. Nelson said she remembers Vietnam and doesn't want to see it happen again without cause. "Since Sept. 11, I realized that I need to voice my opinion," Nelson said. She encouraged people to call Connecticut senators Dodd and Lieberman as well as President Bush.

"We sing 'God Bless America'. We need to start singing 'God Bless the World'. We are all just human beings," Nelson said.

(Post a new comment)

I just found another article (for the record)
[info]doogiewray
2008-04-05 10:06 pm UTC (link)
Here's another rally that I joined about two weeks after the above protest (as our nation slid down the slippery slope to war, our numbers were growing):

Thursday, January 16, 2003
Protesters' mail to Iraq rejected by post office. Prohibiting aid to Iraqis hurts the wrong people, local clergy and others argue.
By FRANCIS McCABE
Special to the Bulletin

NEW LONDON -- Some 40 people gathered outside the New London post office Wednesday to demonstrate against a war with Iraq.

The group of religious leaders who called themselves "Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice" then tried to mail humanitarian aid to Iraq.

The U.S. Postal Service will not mail any package that weighs more than 12 ounces to Iraq, according to Christine Dugas, a spokeswoman for the service -- part of an executive order issued during the Persian Gulf War. The packages thus were rejected. The group soon peacefully dispersed.

"We, like all government agencies, have to abide by executive orders of the president no matter what is in the package," Dugas said.

The boxes were packed with shampoo, soap, toothpaste, Band-Aids and Tylenol, according to the Rev. Caroline Patierno, pastor of the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation in New London. Patierno called the sanctions against Saddam Hussein a failed policy that has resulted only in loss of innocent lives.

Joanne Sheehan of Norwich, a longtime anti-war advocate, called the event a "creative witness" to the situation. "The absurdity that we cannot send medical supplies is such an injustice, and injustice breeds war," Sheehan said. She said she didn't see how not sending medical supplies prevents Iraq from building weapons of mass destruction.

Douglas Wray of Yantic said he hoped to attract attention by participating in the event. "I'm doing a small part to get people interested in what is going on," Wray said.

The Rev. Robert Washabaugh, a Roman Catholic priest from St. Mary's Star of the Sea Church in New London, said a war with Iraq would violate his understanding of international law.

"I would like to see our government follow the lead of the United Nations," Washabaugh said. The United States has not done a good job of finding a nonviolent solution to problem, he said.
Washabaugh said the sanctions against Iraq do not work, because they punish the wrong people.

"If we used a fraction of the money we use on defense spending, we could help a Third-World nation and develop a just reputation while eliminating security concerns," Washabaugh said.

Wednesday's demonstration is one of many leading up to a massive protest planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., where more than 100,000 people are expected to participate.

There were five other similar demonstrations Wednesday throughout the state: in New Britain, Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven and Waterbury.

(Reply to this)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…