100,000 PLUS Dead! U.S. Out of Iraq! Enough is Enough!

On Saturday March 19, 2005 one hundred and fifty people stood along Grand Traverse Bay in Northern Michigan and held banners saying "Enough is Enough" and "US Out of Iraq".     Read more about the protest, click here or scroll down: March 19, Enough is Enough

In the midst of a last day of winter hefty drop of wet snow and chilly winds off the bay, the 150 held a 1/2 mile long black ribboned rope. The ribbons were one inch wide and thirty six inches long and tied at six inch intervals.  A third banner "100,000 Plus Dead" and the over 5,000 black ribbons, each representing at least 20 dead individuals, both grieved for Iraqi civilians, Iraqi resistance fighters and US soldiers killed in the war in the past two years.  Our speeches and publicity emphasized that 10's of 1,000's of Iraqis have died compared to 1,500 US soldiers. However, the ribboned rope made no distinction between the Iraqi dead and the US dead, as both are the victims of a historically misguided US foreign policy in the Middle East. The display along the road was powerful and brought home to participants and passersby the enormity of the human tragedy of this illegal and unjustified war. The stretch of road chosen for the demonstration is generally a busy one in Traverse City. Today was no exception. Traverse City sitting at the bottom of a 30 mile bay has over 15,000 citizens and over 100,000 in the nearby region. Today, the number of honking horns, thumbs up, waves and peace signs were truly more than we have ever experienced, and clearly outnumbered the few negative hand gestures.  During prior demonstrations, we would get many approvals from passersby with somewhat fewer negative comments. This Saturday not only did we have more approval than ever but now the approvals far out numbered the negative reactions. It also appeared that the approval was more enthusiastic: Long horn beeps, every passenger in the car energetically waving, windows rolled down (during a snow storm) to give us the peace sign.  “Reasonable people” could say a quantitative as well as qualitative change was observed and that the slogans on our banners really hit a chord with the Traverse Area population: US Out of Iraq!  Enough is Enough!  100,000 Plus Dead   The turnout today of 150 with a major snow storm rearing up just about start time was good. For a 10 month period we held weekly demonstrations attended by 25 to 60.  On March 17, 2003 fifteen people blockaded a convoy of army trucks from the 182nd Army Reserve Transportation Units as they deployed from a compound in Traverse City to take part in the invasion of Iraq.  Three days later on March 20, 2003 over 100 gathered for a funeral procession when the invasion began. On March 19, 2004 we had a demonstration of 250 on a chilly, but spring looking day. Today’s event, as well as a summer 2004 protest against the Blue Angels and our own Mock Inauguration in January, have contained aspects of street theater and have involved collective planning sessions by a varying group of people who come together as the Traverse Area Peace and Justice Community.  Both the street theater and planning methods have worked to build community and action net works. They, as well as local counter-recruitment initiatives, may also be the reason for the growing student participation.  Traverse City has many local indymedia participants who photograph and film the events. In addition to Mideast: Just Peace, they may be seen at: Venting Media Fear no Arts  The protest ended with the winding up of the rope and a gathering of participants to listen to three speeches from community activists. The local press and public access TV station as well as the Detroit Press were present.  We were featured on one channel's 6pm news along with other national protest stories.  We would expect the other station to cover us at 11pm.  We are anticipating coverage from the Traverse City Record Eagle, but won't know until Sunday am.   images by photographer © gary l howe

 

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