Words, UnLtd. November 2002

AGAINST WAR WITHOUT END 
THE NOT IN OUR NAME RALLY
AT THE EAST MEADOW, CENTRAL PARK, MANHATTAN,

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2002

by Marta Steele

      As the first major rally of Not in Our Name, a project to expand the voice of the majority at a time when so many democratic rights are being threatened by the Bush administration, 40,000 people gathered in Central Park and thirty other locales throughout the country to let Bush and his cronies know that his actions and particularly his war mongering do not represent the will of the electorate. In that we never even elected him but rather Gore, for him to be acting in so arbitrary and dictatorial a fashion against the will of the majority is doubly treasonous.

      The date was October 6, the anniversary of the beginning of the Afghan bombings last year. Within the week Congress is predicted to approve a measure that will authorize Bush to wage war anywhere in the world that seems to him to be a clear and present danger, with or without United Nations cooperation. Because Congressman Dick Gephardt has been won over to the side of the Chicken Hawks, so it is reported from Washington, DC, there is little hope for the few brave opponents to win the day. Senators who persist in their brave opposition include Robert Byrd, the most outspoken and a possible leader of a filibuster to prevent the vote altogether; Ted Kennedy, Diane Feinstein, Paul Wellstone, Fritz Hollings, Barbara Boxer, John Kemp; New York Senators Clinton and Schumer are still undecided, we were told, with Schumer less accessible than Clinton.

       Opposition up until now has been largely ignored or else belittled via various measures like the Patriot Act, which today was passed around in its 200+ page bulk to be torn to pieces by the crowds at Central Park. The media have turned a cold eye, leaving negative reactions to its op ed pages or bottom paragraphs or low-priority footage if that. The New York Times allowed one cynic in the crowd to cap its lackadaisical coverage of yesterday’s protest; at least it did not dare ignore a presence of over 30,000 in Central Park. Phil Donahue has his hands full as the only token liberal commentator on prime time TV and the immense pressure is clear, but he does accomplish a lot.

       But much, much more was needed, and Not in Our Name is attempting to fill the void, to weigh in as the majority who will brook no further repression or intimidation. The East Meadow was filled with protesters on October 6, people convinced that war on Iraq is nothing more than Bush’s private vendetta being waged at taxpayer expense and other than that, a rush for more oil, in that alternative forms of energy are another low priority for an administration dominated by former Enron executives and oil magnates. The array of speakers ranged from Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen to activists from an array of causes to two brave politicians to clergy of all denominations to private citizens, including children, all of us sharing the anguish and horrors of yet another meaningless war, protesting in peace and inner turmoil.

         After the introductory sitar and tabla music played for the first thirty minutes by Eklad Hussein from Pakistan and Boluj Gomes from India, Miles Solay and Robina Niaz served as moderators. Solay began the program with a call to arms on this significant date, tying in the sufferings of the innocent victims of devastation in Afghanistan, the daily dread and horror of life in Iraq, and the bereavement we are suffering in this country in the wake of 9/11. “The new, rebel generation faces historic challenges,” he said. “What we do has great significance for the future of humanity and our whole planet.”

      First to speak, representing 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, was Colleen Kelly, whose brother, Bill Kelly, Jr., perished at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Though he was a victim of “hateful ideology,” Bill’s tragic death should not “initiate heartache around the world,” said Kelly. “I will never feel safe in a single-minded country ruled by a powerful minority.” Among ten Members of Congress whom she recently visited, not one reported a majority of constituents in favor of war against Iraq. This could be the most important election ever, she said. “Let our representatives represent us.” We will lose credibility by attacking Iraq.

      “Bill died of weapons of mass destruction,” she concluded. “Until we know what caused that, no weapon in the world can keep us safe.”

      Kadouri al-Kaysi, an Iraqi-American, spoke next, affirming the faith Iraqis have in Americans to stop war. In the last decade, 1.5 million Iraqis have perished, he said, the educational system has collapsed, and there is no more electricity or clean water. Thousands are dying in Basra for lack of medical supplies, he added; and daily life means dread each time one steps out the door to go to the market, which is sometimes empty of provisions.

      An Afghani American then addressed the crowds, Masuda Sultan, a documentary filmmaker who lost nineteen members of her extended family in last year’s bombings. There was some justification for the attacks on her country, she said — both al Quaeda and the Taliban were there—  but nothing justifies a renewed assault on Iraq. She said that on October 19 other women from Afghanistan will visit Columbia University to relate what life is like there now.

      Sultan was followed by Shokriea Yaghi, the wife of a former detainee with an even more heartbreaking story. Her husband was illegally detained for six months, falsely accused of terrorism. During that time he was allowed neither visitors nor any form of medical treatment. After that time, the INS deported him, and she did not hear about this for over a week. He is now in Jordan and she and her three children, the oldest of whom is a ten-year-old boy, haven’t seen him for fifteen months. Her husband was forced to sign an agreement not to return to the United States for ten years. Her father and brother died running from bombings in Afghanistan and she herself was orphaned at age 10.

      A Pledge of Nonviolent Resistance was next read by Solay, representing EMT rescue workers here and nationwide, “a pledge to those they could not save to prevent the horror from ever happening again. It is unpatriotic to care only about Americans,” they contended. “We are tired of being told to resume our routine lives as if nothing had happened, after watching mothers and fathers jumping to their deaths. The terrorists have already prevailed because people are so scared they’ve stopped thinking and in their weakened conditions are trusting too much in the media. When fear replaces thought, preemption follows.

      “War will not make us safer,” the pledge continued. “A nuclear attack would resemble 9/11, only extended for miles. We refuse to become those ‘disposables’ — laborers, people of color, recent immigrants who will be drafted for war on Iraq.”

       The hiphop band Boja took the stage for a few minutes to punctuate the depths of emotion with protest rap. Then another performer took the stage to reiterate some unanswered questions. The actor Gabriel Byrne asked why so much money was going for war with so many people here starving and homeless; why people who had slaved all their lives were losing their pensions at age 60 because of the criminality of those in office. Where is the press? He asked. Distracting us with scandals that have left us unprepared for real exigencies like 9/11. This era of propaganda and doublespeak was well prophesied by Orwell and Huxley, where oxymorons prevail like war being mistaken for peace. Our democracy has been hijacked by an oil-ravenous junta, he said. Where is bin Laden? Noriega? Three thousand people died in the supposed quest for him that actually regained canal rights for this country. The media reduce weapons of mass destruction to soap operas. A small percentage allowed Bush to rob the election, he continued. Why is he speaking for us and sending us to war? If they think violence will bring peace, then they don’t understand history. Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Somalia lie in ruins: why? If the crowd here today doubles and triples, then we can vote the junta out of power.

      “Why do terrorists exist?” he asked. Because one night a father might have been pulled from his bed, a mother raped, and the child hit on the head with the butt of a rifle. That is the story told to him by a terrorist he questioned.

      Reverend Peter Laarman of the Judson Memorial Church corroborated the need to resist the junta, the culture of death with its atmosphere of imprisonment. “We must struggle to expand; we represent life,” he told us. “Are the lives of Iraqis worth less than ours? We are close to a breakdown. We need to purify our culture.” Our senators said that they need to hear more from us; our voice is not loud enough, he concluded.

      Imam Talib Abdul Rashid next read and translated verses from the Koran exhorting people of faith to lift up a prophetic voice in favor of peace and resistance to war and oppression. “If Moses were here today, whose side would he be on? Jesus? Muhammad? God is with the people. Salaam.”

      The actress Susan Sarandon remarked that today is what democracy looks like: an intelligent citizenship. We question and will not sacrifice our children to a war for oil, she continued. The press will surely distort this event. Killed preemptively in our own home, we can imagine the ravages of war. “If preemption is justified, is defensive, then so was Pearl Harbor,” she said. “Preemption is a crime against peace, rule by the stronger, as it was in ancient Rome: endless warfare.”

      She announced the intended filibuster by Senator Robert Byrd, which could preclude a vote freeing Bush to declare endless wars: if we phone 800-236-5495, we can protest to our federal lawmakers and demand that they support the filibuster and oppose the war. She listed the legislators who still support the peace effort, directed us to the web site commoncause.org/Iraq, and urged us to “continue to make trouble.”

      On the stage with Sarandon, the actor Tim Robbins expressed anger over 9/11 and reverence for those who came to our aid on that day. “Dead Man Walking stressed victims’ anger,” he said. “I understand the victims’ families’ anger. When our government bombed Afghanistan, he understood reactive warfare for the first time in his life. “I dislike all fundamentalism that connects violence to God,” he told us. “Radical fundamentalism hates art, music, expression, and independent women. Cloaked in patriotism and the drive to spread democracy, our fundamentalism is business and spreading our economic influence; profit at the cost of human lives must be resisted. The financial scandals that have destroyed the U.S. economy have disappeared from front pages; oilmen are more into money than morals.

      ‘The dormant majority in the United States want alternate forms of energy,” he continued. “We must resist this war and the new oil war in Colombia. We must hate war in all its forms”      “Move to the left!” Leslie Cagan of Pacifica Radio next exhorted us. She was referring to huge crowds still lined up outside the park because the meadow (capacity 40,000 per the NYPD) was so filled. “It’s always good to move to the left in every way,” she continued. “Not with our money nor our lives will they wage war,” she said. “The mainstream press must be forced to stop lying and tell the truth. We must force them.”

      In the press section myself, I noticed a PBS camera crew in front of me. Others present, I was told, were CBS, NBC, and CNN, along with the flippant New York Times gesture mentioned above. This was no time to abbreviate or summarize, as if anguish, injustice, and abuse can be compressed like a computer file.

      “Time is up,” the civil rights attorney Lynn Stewart informed us then. “That sign needs to be planted on the White House lawn. “The real axis of evil is Bush, Cheney, and Ashcroft [who arrested her last April for alleged compliance with Muslim terrorists]. It takes only one minute [the time allotted most speakers that afternoon] to confront others and start discussion. Let us beat these people. Thirty-five years ago we demonstrated against the Vietnam war here and we won. We can and must win now. Not in our name! Not with our money!”

      The PR system was good, but the loudest voice of all was one of only two sitting politicians in attendance yesterday, Tom Duane, a New York State Senator representing parts of Manhattan. “I wish more politicians would stand here with us to say no to war with Iraq,” he said. “I wish more would stand with Barbara Lee against repressive laws; she was the only one to protest. We want to spend money to save, not destroy this country. We’ll make them stand with us!”

      Katy Lucid, who lost a cousin at the World Trade Center on 9/11, related her cousin’s last moments rushing down the stairs of the South Tower, telling her husband she loved him via cell phone, when the second plane hit. A poignant contrast was struck by the Stuyvesant High School student Naomi, who diverted our attention to the youth of this country. “It’s our world and we will be around long after Bush and his friends head out,” she told us. “Youth need to speak out. There will be no other time. We will lose everything for not speaking out. I don’t believe in war!”

      “Another world is possible and we pledge to make it real,” answered the radio host and journalist Laura Fletcher, representing New Yorkers Say No to War. “The media aren’t showing us Afghanistan and Iraq. Every week bombs are dropped on the north and south of Iraq. But 33 million people in this country now live in poverty. The proportion is rising. State governments are all in deficit. This war is wrong.”

       Miles Solay at that point noted that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has targeted sixty countries in the world for possible invasion. On Tuesday Congress will vote on this “blank check.”

      The Bible was again invoked by Saul Williams, next to speak. “The Bush was not consumed,” he startled us. “Sharon is taking his cue from a Bush telling people to destroy for gods. Charlton Heston followed up his performance in The Ten Commandments by becoming head of the NRA. Talking to Bushes is destructive. Why is the number of young poets rising? Because too many metaphors are coming to life. Poet laureates are being forced to renege, that is, ‘renigger’. We reclaim our names and the right to defend the nameless!”

      Fundraising was the next issue: today’s event cost $20,000, Earl Koopercamp informed us. Amadou Dialou died reaching for his wallet when the he was shot by the NYPD. Let those dead presidents [sc. Those pictured on various U.S. bill denominations] speak for life and justice. Oscar Brown, Jr., followed up the appeal with a song for joy and peace, in Spanish. Mira Nair, director of the popular Indian film Monsoon Wedding, told us that a monologue is not the answer. “There are no insiders or outsiders. We are all humanity.”

      Professor Sami al-Arian, who lost his position at the University of South Florida because of alleged terrorist ties, spoke next. “Our constitutional rights are being undermined since 9/11,” he said. “We will not sacrifice freedom and liberty to be safe. We must say no and not surrender to intimidation and fear. Fake Enron ethics are polluting our society. Speak out against the powerful on behalf of the weak. Challenge the Patriot Act. I was punished for exercising my right of free speech.

      “Dissent and criticism are the lifeblood of democracy,” he continued. “Ben Franklin said, ‘Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve nothing’; Margaret Mead said that ‘a small group can change the world; it’s all that ever has.’”

      Another moving shift in focus occurred with the appearance of a student from Kent State University, where on May 4, 1970, three students protesting the Vietnam war were shot and killed by the National Guard. Nora said that students and youth around the world must protest a war that does not represent us. “Kent State knows what it is to have dissent silenced. Our lives come down to commercialism. They’re making a nightmare of our world. We want our dreams! This is our world to reclaim! Our clothes were made by slaves, our food is picked and produced by slaves. No more will we be told to sit down and shut up!”

      “We must combat this climate of fear and intimidation by building solidarity to combat the hijacking of our human and civil rights,” said Aisha al-Adawiya next, representing Women in Islam and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The US is no longer bastion of these ideals. An unconstitutional regime change is what we got. Another war will not bring down Sadam; Khomeini died a natural death after wiping out whole cities; we made Kadafi a bogeyman and bombed his cities; we bombed Panama; one million Iraqis have died; these tyrants still walk the earth. “The track record shows the ineptitude of bombing the innocent. They’re taking away our dreams and inspirations. Francis Fukuyama was wrong to say ‘it’s the end of history.’ It isn’t. Muslims are partners for peace with all others.”

      Representing GABRIELLA network, Vivian Gupta spoke of the pollution of the US presence in the Philippines: the current president has sent five thousand women to sexually service the military there, she said. Abuse of human rights is rampant. People are being killed with impunity by the troops. Refugees to Holland have been labeled terrorists and had their funds confiscated. “The US war on terrorism is the US war of terrorism.” She alluded then to revolts in South America led successfully by Philippine women.

      Another surprise celebrity appearance was that of Martin Sheen, whom some in the audience greeted as “Mr. President” because of his TV role on West Wing. He noted that the fortieth anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis would occur next week, an effective response by a strong president representing his constituency. Sheen next alluded to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. “Let my country awaken,” he concluded.

      Solay at that point extended special greetings to all senior citizens, veterans, and high school students attending, and Stephan Smith then sang a song “I will not fight your war,” newly released on CD last September 1. Code Pink was the next focus of the day. Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange remarked that the world is suffering from testosterone poisoning. “We must rise up with preemptive strikes for peace.” She said that Code Pink, a female résistance, first disrupted a Congressional session where Rumsfeld was speaking and next a session on international relations, as a result of which they were thrown in jail for being “rude and unreasonable.” “You were rude and unreasonable at Enron and for waging oil wars and Daddy’s war,” the women responded. She exhorted the protesters to contact their legislators, Clinton and Schumer in particular, to let them know that both the US and Iraq are “ruled by arrogant, unelected bullies. We need regime change here. Drop Bush, not bombs!”

      A civil rights attorney, Randall Hamud, advocate of post-9/11 racially profiled detainees, next called the Patriot Act an “anti-Bill of Rights law,” whereby it is illegal to resist a train loaded with nuclear waste headed for your hometown. Hamud then passed around a copy of the bill to be torn to pieces. Scraps littered the meadow after the rally, like fallout. “Let us end the refusal of the Kyoto Accords, the resistance to Germ Warfare, the Landmine ban,” he concluded.

     Two bereaved mothers followed, both of who had lost sons to NYPD overreaction. Juanita Young and Margarita Rosario, whose car was also destroyed by fire three years ago, said that they knew what it was like to lose children unjustly. “Our children are being killed in numbers. Mothers should not continue to suffer.” “There is no peace with war and racism,” added Cindy Lu Jon, whose brother was also killed by the NYPD. “No more bloodshed!”

      “The whole world is watching the US global grab,” said Jana of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade. “Congress is disregarding public opinion. They are illegitimate. Massive determent and resistance are needed. The younger generation must rise to this historic challenge. Another world is not only possible but urgently necessary!”

      Rabbi Michael Feinberg, next to speak, said: “As a Jew and a world citizen, I say that it is obscene and criminal to spend tens of billions to kill Iraqi innocents. There is no money to protect the environment, workplaces, and living wages. Support a just peace in the Middle East and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians to protest discrimination against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians. Call on clergy to counsel youth to refuse military service. Say no to the real axis of evil: war, racism, and oppression!”

      “Where there is resistance, you will find a Puerto Rican,” joked Frank Vulgara, of the Vieques support campaign. He next referred to the five hundred years of Spanish domination his island had suffered, followed by the US takeover in 1898. “Puerto Ricans support the Palestinian march for homeland,” he continued. “Vieques demands that the US Navy leave with its cancer and mercury poisoning. Our people have lived through wars and served as cannon fodder! We will win!”

      A nine-year-old girl, Caeli, next told us that children could only speak for themselves. “We don’t bomb just for oil,” she said. “We have plenty of our own oil. Why steal it when we can buy it?” Lucia Porío of Colombia next sang a peace song with dramatic echoes throughout. A highlight of the afternoon followed, the heroic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, recently defeated in the primaries through outside collusion. “The one who wins is the one best prepared and most committed,” she said. “We can win if democracy is taken to the streets.

      “We have troops all over the world,” she continued. “We might as well get used to war. It might last a generation. Let’s look at Bush’s record: he went AWOL when he had a chance to go to war. Dick Cheney was missing in action, Richard Pearl, and Rush Limbaugh had a bump on his bottom. Where were they when their country needed them? How are we treating our troops? Our veterans? The troops are underpaid, and one-quarter of the homeless on the streets of this country are veterans. Bush cut overtime pay of the frontline military. The Bushes’ New World Order is what we are experiencing now. Neither knew what he meant by that. The illegalities of the rich shame us all. Three Americans are wealthier than forty-three countries on this plant. A black man can be killed for reaching for his wallet. White corporate CEOs can steal millions with impunity. The president can spend millions on war.

     “Bush is condemning true patriots,” she said. “We are the true patriots. Our republic was born out of protest.”

     Gwen Braxton, of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, said, “while we resist war, we must work for ecological and political democracy, gender justice, environmental justice, and peace. We must understand what peace is. We must rebuild society, an overwhelming amount of work.”

     Added Ron Daniels, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, “The real patriots are on the side of expanding democracy, the right side of history. We seized the Panama Canal from Colombia and supported Pinochet, Duvalier, Mobutu, some of the most ruthless killers in history. We pay the price of injustices committed in our name. There is an arrogant plan for global domination. Invading Iraq will destabilize the Middle East. We have no defense against hunger, poverty, and disease while spending millions on war. “

     The comedian Reno next lightened the tension, joking that during the Afghanistan bombing we spent millions on bombs and about $150 on food, both wrapped in the same bright yellow. We dropped Pop Tarts without toasters, she added. “Carting off people in the middle of the night will not make us safe. Peace and freedom will keep up safe. Ashcroft was so unwanted in Missouri that he was defeated by a dead man.”

     Representing the Harlem Antiwar Coalition, Melly Belly said “bushwhackers and chicken hawks are plunging the world into chaos. Racism throughout history has weakened the working class. The fear factor is in high gear.” She announced another antiwar rally, on 126^th St. in Harlem at St. Mary’s Church on October 18 at 7 p.m. “Young minorities are fodder for the war,” she concluded.

     A librarian “not married to the president” spoke next, Christine Karanytsky of the executive board of the New York Public Library and the AFSCME division of the AFL-CIO. She urged us, beyond peaceful protest, beyond the pledge, to strike, refuse to work, inspired by the precedents of the Kronstadt Rebellion, the Battle of Roundhouse, the Wobblies; and if any of these events or identities are unfamiliar, the library was the place to go to read about them. Proclaiming herself an anarchist, she said that antiglobalism is more than a movement. “Dumping Nixon or Bush is not enough,” she continued. “We must dump government!”

     Evergreen Cho, of Flushing, NY, and the New York Green Party, said that instead of our youth dying for oil, Bush should go get it himself and send his daughters also. Every life is sacred. He reminded us of the racial violence in his area and the burning of the Sikh temple on September 6, 2001. “McVeigh did not trigger white bashing,” he further admonished. “Vote Green and for Stanley Aronowitz.”

     “War will do nothing to heal 9/11 but only add to the death toll,” said Mike Kendall, Archdeacon of the Episcopal Church in Manhattan. “The numbers of homeless are growing out of sight. Money is needed for them. Send compassion, not bombs.” Bishop Paul Moore, a former Episcopalian bishop in Manhattan, added that he had served as a Marine and war nearly killed in World War II. “If anyone in this administration had been in war, they would not want a war,” he said. “If Bush had sons, he would not want to send them. This country is guilty of one million deaths since World War II. We are the terrorists!”

      “It is easy to phone our representatives,” said David Byrne, next to speak. “Filibustering could prevent war.” He gave out phone numbers: 212-688-6262 to reach Hilary Clinton’s office and 212-486-4430 to reach Schumer. “Letters are better than calls, calls are better than e-mails,” he said. To write to Clinton, the address is 476 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, 20501. Larry Holmes, of Answer, said that the people are going to stop the war. “They are more and more opposed to war each day,” he said. “Congress doesn’t represent the people. Organize! Make sure we go to Washington. Shut down offices and cities to do what is necessary!” He directed us to the web site www.internationalanswer.org.

     Rosa Clemons next spoke out on behalf of victims of the war on drugs and the terrorism of the NYPD. “We must jail the real terrorists,” she said, “Bush, Sharon, Kissinger, Rice. Free the land! Free all prisoners. Dean Christie, of the Political Action Campaign of Conscience, next introduced the Iraqi Pledge of Resistance, already signed by 1,500. “If the U.S. sends, troops, bombs,” it read, “I pledge to join with others in nonviolent civil disobedience and legal protest to prevent or halt the destruction.” He announced a rally the next day, October 7, at 48^th St. and Third Ave., to “take it to Schumer.”

     Another bereaved victim of 9/11, Jeremy Michael Glick, who lost his father, told of victims’ families being housed in a hotel for surveillance by the FBI, to determine the extent of their bereavement and loss for the purposes of a possible lawsuit against Zacharias Moussaoui. Glick said that he told them he would assent to that form of objection if the FBI would in turn prosecute those who had empowered Moussaoui and his cohorts: The US government, and the FBI and CIA in particular.

    A ten-year-old Muslim boy, Charlie Malik, spoke next. “I’m a Muslim but not a terrorist,” he said. “No one in my community is a terrorist, but in school some call me bin Laden Boy. Killing innocent people is wrong. Every child knows that. Why doesn’t every adult?”

     Representing the Northampton, Massachusetts, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Arlene reiterated next that dissent is patriotic. “We must say no to war without end and the assault on the Bill of Rights,” she said. “No to the Patriot Act, no to secret immigration hearings, secret searches, surveillances, secret government. Forty communities in twenty-two states are drafting resolutions. Challenge these assaults on our freedom.”

     “A New York Times ad costs $22,000,” a Not in Our Name spokesperson informed the attendees next.

     In lieu of forming a globe, the protesters were told to wave their green Pledges of Resistance in the air. The event then concluded with words from another oppressed and displaced minority, the Native Americans. “The campaign of terror against American Indians has gone on for the last five hundred years,” said the Peltier Defense Committee representative. “There is no proof as to who shot the U.S. agents in 1975, but Leonard Peltier has spent twenty-six years in jail, a canary in a mineshaft. When he dies, so will the US. We’ve been waiting five hundred years for backup. Honor the Indian treaties!

     “We are not an afterthought. We are on occupied land. Look here first before going overseas. The Amerindians were forcibly removed like the Palestinians. We were free men before the colonists came, just as you want to be. We are living evidence of crime. And you will be, too, if you don’t stop. Peace on earth, peace with earth. We’re killing her with war. Be angry! We love peace, live peace, and know its power.”

      Future activities of Not in Our Name will be documented on its websites, www.nion.us and www.notinourname.net. They are planning responses if and when Congress approves the carte blanche for war without end, including campus activism. Statistics available yesterday documented, in addition to the 30,000 plus in Manhattan, 5,000 in Chicago protesting and 7,000 in Portland. Similar events were held all over the country, as documented above.

 Copyright © Marta Steele 2002. All rights reserved.