Activists rally, cities pass peace resolutions in effort to influence policy, avert conflict
Anti-War Movement Grows Louder, Stronger
by Kim Kozlowski , Detroit News
January 23rd, 2003
FERNDALE -- Car horns were blaring at the corner of Nine Mile and Woodward this week as people drove past a group of activists carrying signs that read: "War is not the Answer. Honk for Peace."
That sounded a new note in America's long standoff with Iraq. The anti-war movement in Metro Detroit, across America and around the world has been re-energized by the prospect of another Middle Eastern war.
"The opposition is really jelling," said Al Fishman, who is on the board of directors of Peace Action of Michigan. "It does appear that the president is frustrated by his inability to go in and start the war, and I think that's a reflection of the growing opposition."
So far the protest movement's weight falls far short of the massive anti-war protests of the Vietnam War era. But it marks a growing contrast with American sentiment during the 1991 Gulf War as well as the nation's angry response to the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks.
Among the protesters are people who were active in the Vietnam peace movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. They have been joined by human rights, labor and faith-based organizations. Demonstrations also are popping up on college campuses, including one last week at the University of Michigan.
But a major question remains: Will the movement grow strong enough to influence American policy?
Last weekend, 18 bus loads of Michiganians traveled to Washington for an anti-war march. Numerous city councils and township boards in the state are considering resolutions that call for peaceful ways to disarm Iraq. By all indications, anti-war sentiment is growing and moving into the mainstream.
Some peace activists think they have already influenced American policy, forcing the Bush administration to win resolutions of support from Congress, work through the United Nations and avoid unilateral action against President Saddam Hussein's regime.
"Peace should be a choice," Livonia resident Key Halverson said. "War should not be the first thing we think is the answer."
"I just believe that too many innocent people are going to be killed, and I just don't believe in attacking before something specifically has been done to us," said Jan Price, a Ferndale resident who recently got involved in opposing a war with Iraq. "The whole attitude seems to be: Let's get them before they get us. I believe their people are just as important as our people and have just as much a right to live."
Less obvious threat
For most activists, the moral issue today is far different from the Gulf War, when America fought a clear case of Iraq's aggression against neighboring Kuwait. The present threat to America is less obvious, compared with the likelihood of widespread destruction in Iraq.
A recent United Nations report estimates that as many as 500,000 Iraqis would be wounded or killed in the early stages of any war. Already, half a million children have died in the last decade as a result of economic sanctions, some experts say.
A war, peace activists also say, also could spawn more terrorist acts at home. So, as the military buildup aimed at Iraq grows, opponents are ever more vocal.
A world protest is planned Feb. 15 in several European capitals, New York and in other American cities.
U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, introduced a resolution earlier this month to repeal the resolution Congress passed in October authorizing the Bush administration to use force with Iraq, arguing North Korea poses a bigger threat.
And several prominent Republican businessmen took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal last week that told Bush: "The world wants Saddam Hussein disarmed, but you must find a better way to do it."
"Those are examples of how the winds are shifting, and how the Bush administration is begining to respond more to public opinion," said Karen Dolan, at the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
Cities join protest
Dolan is director of the Institute's Progressive Challenge Project, a grass-roots effort to give a voice to average Americans by lobbying their city councils to back resolutions opposing the war.
So far, 42 cities across the nation have approved anti-war resolutions, including Detroit, Ferndale, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo and Traverse City. At least 15 other Michigan cities are targeted by local activists working for the organization.
Municipalities say they are concerned that sending troops into Iraq would take a financial toll on the country when the economy's direction is uncertain and many state governments, Michigan included, are struggling with budget deficits that is translating into cuts to social programs.
"The tax money that this community will contribute to waging an unnecessary war could be better spent on health, education, environmental and infrastructure agendas," Southfield resident Bill Opalickey recently told his elected officials when trying to get them to pass a resolution. "If you believe we are morally correct in attacking those who have not attacked us, be sure to mention that to the school children of Southfield. Tell them it's OK to beat up someone because they might be a threat to our future."
9-11 fears
The current peace movement began soon after the Sept. 11 attacks when the Bush administration used military action to seek out terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden. Then, peace activists tried to draw attention to U.S. foreign policies, particularly in the Muslim world, that they believe contribute to international resentment of America.
But now, anti-war activists are pointing out that Iraq has not has not attacked the United States, no smoking guns have been found by UN weapons inspectors and the country does not threaten homeland security.
These concerns were quietly bolstered by the religious community. Almost all of the major faiths have spoken out against war. The Archdiocese of Detroit has joined the lead of Pope John Paul, who has called the war immoral.
United Methodist leaders in Michigan have been trying to meet with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who are both Methodist, to say that war on Iraq is incompatible with the teachings of their faith. But they have yet to have schedule a meeting.
Earlier this month, a delegation from the National Council of Churches, which represents 36 denominations and 140,000 local congregations, went to Iraq.
Archdiocese of Detroit Bishop Thomas Gumbleton also returned last week from Iraq, his seventh trip there.
Iraqis live in terror, dreading what is going to happen to them, Gumbleton said. "They know what is going to happen to them if this war is undertaken by the United States."
His guide gave Gumbleton a glimpse into what many are going through. Normally a man with high spirits, the guide this time broke down, confessing to Gumbleton how he never has enough money to get the food he needs for his family.
"Now he has this added fear that the bombs are coming again," Gumbleton said. "And this time, it will be worse than before."
Copyright © 2003 The Detroit News
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