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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Letters to the Editor
Thursday 26 December @ 16:55:29 |
 The Pulse deserves thanks
On behalf of those of us in the anti-war movement who have to deal with the constant underreporting and misrepresentation of the movement, we wanted to thank the Pulse for your extensive and accurate coverage of the anti-war movement, especially in the last two editions. As members of the Anti-War Committee, we participated in two recent anti-war events that were announced in the Pulse, an anti-war forum on Dec 7th and a demonstration on Dec 10th. The forum against the war held at the University of Minnesota was well covered in the last edition of the Pulse.
We thought it would also be important to provide some follow-up to readers about the events of Dec 10th. On the 10th, there was an anti-war demonstration at the Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis at 4 PM – the usual spot at about the usual time. However, this demonstration was unique because it included a call for people to dump rubble on the Federal Plaza to represent the destruction of a war with Iraq. On the flyer announcing the event, people were encouraged to “BYOR” (bring your own rubble) to dump.
Apparently, this worried some folks who were concerned about random arrests and significant charges in court. While we knew that the event wouldn’t appeal to everybody, it was disappointing to see a local progressive e-mail announcement list include an e-mail from somebody who called our event “incitement to riot”.
Happily, a large number of people still felt compelled to act and did so. Over 200 people gathered at the Federal Building on the 10th. People had the option to only participate in the demonstration or to join the rubble dumpers who knowingly risked arrest and were clearly separated from the rest of the demonstration. As the megaphone siren sounded, protesters started to amass the pile of rubble. The rubble was topped with signs that read “Made in the USA”. One protester read the names of Iraqis who have already been killed by sanctions and war. Most of those who delivered the rubble were young people, including some young children with their families. It served as a strong visual reminder of grave level of destruction that war would result in. After the rubble was dropped, spontaneously, some gathered in a circle around the rubble, holding hands. Not only were the protesters moved by this action, but we later heard reports that workers inside the Federal Building had watched what we were doing and were touched.
It is important that during this time of impending war that people take action at whatever level they can to show their opposition to the war. Protests, creative actions, civil disobedience and informational events all have an important role to play. Thank you to the Pulse for continuing to provide coverage and announcements about these important events.
Jared Cruz for the Anti-War Committee
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