Activists hold vigil to oppose Iraq war: 'Security cannot be rooted in fear,' protesters say

By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News 

November 30, 2002

A human quilt of peace activists launched a 24-hour vigil of fasting, praying and playing at noon Friday to express opposition to war in Iraq.

Organizers had hoped for as many as 500 participants, but a crowd of only about 50 gathered early Friday afternoon in Denver's Civic Center Park. That number grew to about 75 by early evening.

Their numbers were modest, but their words were impassioned and emphatic, seemingly spoken out of an awareness that they are a voice-in-the-wilderness minority.

Protester Byron Plumley, justice education coordinator at Regis University, said the Bush administration is trying to achieve security by spawning a "tremendous atmosphere of fear" in the country.

"To promote fear as a way to increase military response, clearly, is going to be a losing effort," Plumley said. "Our security just cannot be rooted in fear and militarism. It has to be rooted in justice."

No one at the demonstration appeared to believe the Bush White House was being honest about its true motivations for a renewed military campaign against Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

"I think it is in some people's minds in this administration that the right thing for the U.S. is domination of the world," said Elaine Andrews, a Boulder resident and member of Boulder's Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

"I also think they're trying to correct past mistakes. Instead, they're creating more mistakes that they're going to then correct with another war, later."

There were veterans of the peace movement on hand, and there were babies in diapers.

There was a sign-bearing Irish wolfhound ("I'm Man's Best Friend, But He Is His Own Worst Enemy") and a flautist sprinkling the city's warm November air with music.

The event was launched by the protesters' forming a circle for a traditional six-directional prayer of the Native American Church, led by a Lokota, Ketzalwitzitli Laura Naranjo of Denver.

Songs, fasting, drumming, prayer and a twilight procession by candlelight were all on the agenda, with an overnight weather forecast better than anyone could have hoped for.

But they know the political and social climate of 2002 is perhaps the least sympathetic to U.S. pacifists since the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

"The people that want war, we are not going to change them," said Dennis Sienko of Denver and a member of the Rocky Mountain Buddhist Peace Fellowship. "We can just build some awareness and show people that there is an alternative voice."

Most agreed their cause is poorly represented right now by Washington lawmakers.

"We need someone to take a risk sometime and speak out for peace," said Amy Sheber Howard, a member of Spirit of Christ Catholic Community Church in Arvada. "They might be surprised at how many people might respond to that."

Nancy Peters, an event spokeswoman and also a member of the Rocky Mountain Buddhist Peace Fellowship, believes the pacifist community is a seed holding the potential for tremendous growth.

"Gandhi said, 'When you are right, people pop up, out of the pavement,' " Peters said.

"We don't know what will happen. But a resistance is growing. A peace movement is growing. We say no to war in Iraq, no to use of military might to solve the world's problems."

brennanc@rockymountainnews.com  or (303) 892-2742

FAIR USE NOTICE  

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.  If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.