Scott: were you a part of this...??
Thousands march against war
Candlelight vigil, procession again fill Seattle streets
By CANDACE HECKMAN AND CHRIS McGANN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Thursday, October 10, 2002
seattlepi.nwsource.com
Thousands of anti-war demonstrators took to the streets of Seattle last night -- the second time in less than a week -- pounding the pavement in the hope that options for a peaceful resolution in Iraq aren't drowned out by the rising drumbeat for war.
The candlelight vigil and procession from downtown Seattle to St. Mark's Cathedral on Capitol Hill was called for by the Church Council of Greater Seattle, which wanted to duplicate the march it sponsored on the eve of the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Crowd estimates then ranged from 12,000 to 30,000. It was considered the largest such anti-war protest in the country.
More than 3,000 people marched up Broadway last night, forming a five-block procession that filled the street.
The marchers -- from many races and religions -- walked toward St. Mark's with their candles burning. Some came in blue jeans and others in business suits. There were a few songs and a pounding drum. But mostly they walked quietly.
Many carried signs that read "No Iraq War." Nathan Lewis of Seattle carried a recruiting poster he downloaded from a Web site. It showed Osama bin Laden pointing and saying, "I want you to invade Iraq."
Warren Jones of North Seattle had a homemade sign: "I love my country. I fear my government."
"I can think of nothing better to recruit terrorists around the world than an attack on Iraq," he said.
As the marchers crossed over Interstate 5 on Madison Street, freeway drivers honked a chorus of a supportive horns.
Nearby, the march stalled traffic at Boren and Madison. It kept Chris Causey of Tacoma waiting, but he didn't care.
"I'm definitely against the whole movement toward war," he said after he got out of his truck to show support for the marchers.
Along the way, others fell into line.
Anne Brewer had come to Broadway carrying white candles in her purse.
"I'm just going to be with the others. I like silent marches because they are so powerful," said Brewer, a 20-year resident of Capitol Hill. She took part in the huge march 11 years ago and felt compelled to walk again last night, even though she fears war is inevitable.
"I am frightened for all of us because our civil rights are being jeopardized. There is no reason for this that I've found. It will be a terrible mistake," she said.
At Broadway and Pine Street, dozen of people waited for the marchers to arrive.
Scott Morrison of Seattle carried his 22-month-old son, Finn, on his shoulders and pushed his 8-week-old son, Olaf, in a stroller as he joined the march.
"I don't like the precedent that this would set," he said of a war on Saddam Hussein. "There are a lot of other bad dictators in the world."
Tami Thomas of Woodinville and John McLaren of Seattle showed up feeling a little bit hopeless, given that opinion polls show many support President Bush's Iraq policy.
But McLaren said there seemed to be what he called cognitive dissonance. "Everybody I talked to is against this bombing. I don't know where they get that number" of support for the war.
Thomas was on Broadway "hoping it makes it somewhat obvious that there are people who oppose this war."
She added: "I'd like people from other countries to see that all Americans aren't the bullies that the American government is."
The rally began with brief services at the First United Methodist Church. At least 1,200 people filled the pews of both floors of the sanctuary, and others stood. Outside, crowds listened via loudspeakers.
Mention of U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, the Seattle Democrat who has become a controversial opponent of a war, brought the crowd to its feet. So did the news that U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., announced yesterday that she will oppose a resolution that would give war powers to the president.
The Rev. Rich Gamble of Keystone United Church of Christ in Seattle told the crowd about his visit to Iraq earlier this year. The faces of the people, he said, stay with him.
People there treated him with respect, he said, adding that they knew the difference between a country's rulers and its people. "Unfortunately," he said, "we, too, are learning to live in a country ruled by people unresponsive to our wishes."
Ali-Salaam, imam of the Sea-Tac Masjid Mosque and Islamic Center of Washington, urged people to "take back their synagogues, take back their churches and take back the mosques" from those practicing fundamentalist and intolerant religion.
A children's choir sang "We Are the Children of Peace" in both English and Arabic at First United Methodist. Those in the pews began to join the children in the chorus:
"We don't want war anymore. We are the children of the world."
The past year has not been easy for Seattle peace activists trying to maintain the city's war-protest reputation, especially under the president's "you are either with us or against us" rallying cry for the invasion of Afghanistan.
More show up at every new event, though. Authorities in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco are preparing for mass demonstrations planned for Oct. 26 in those cities.
A majority of American adults, 53 percent, support an invasion of Iraq, according to the latest CNN-USA Today-Gallup Poll conducted last week. But those numbers have been in steady decline since last November when support peaked at 74 percent.
Marc Grossberg, 54, of Seattle, said it felt good last night to be surrounded by what appears to be the minority.
"There are a lot of people with similar feelings and this helps draw them all together," he said.
The first people to St. Mark's Cathedral filtered in singing hymns it seemed they had long ago committed to memory -- "We shall overcome . . . we shall work for peace" -- until the pews and chairs were full and the mass spilled out onto the lawn.
"Now we've walked and been counted by someone in a helicopter," said the Rev. Pete Strimer, canon missioner at the cathedral, "and tomorrow we will be underestimated."
Strimer then returned to the earnest message that those who marched had carried with them through the streets of Seattle. He encouraged them to make the vigil just the beginning of their anti-war activism.
"There will be days of action from this moment until the war is stopped," Strimer said.
P-I reporter Candace Heckman can be reached at 206-448-8348 or candaceheckman@seattlepi.com |
