On the Road to Peace

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Reflections on the September 24 antiwar mobilization and the spiritual power of protest

On the Peace Bus
"Welcome peace warriooors!" shouts Sara Williams into the bus's tinny microphone. A 55 year-old healthcare worker from Saint Cloud, MN, Williams is one of our 'bus captains.' Her green tie-dyed t-shirt reads "Peace is Patriotic" and her powerful voice bubbles with excitement through a thick drawl from her native South Carolina, setting the mood for the grueling 25-hour bus ride ahead of us.

My brother Sam and I decided at the last minute to join a group of Minnesota activists on a bus chartered by Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) headed for the September 24 peace march on Washington, DC. Drawing upwards of 300,000 people, this would turn out to be the largest antiwar demonstration since before the war.

While I have attended many local antiwar events in the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, I had stayed home for all of the big demonstrations in New York and Washington since the Bush administration began its march to war four years ago. We decided to take the bus in part because we couldn't afford to fly, but also because we wanted to find out what kind of people are so committed that they would spend nearly 50 hours sitting upright, cramped and sleep-deprived, just to spend barely ten hours marching and chanting in the streets of DC.

Of the 45 people on our bus, some are seasoned activists, but half are under 30 and even more are headed to a national protest for their first time. Alex, a student from Saint Cloud, is one of the first-timers. He lived near Washington in 2003 but skipped the large prewar protests because "the invasion was a foregone conclusion." This time, he says, "I can't not go."

"This is a watershed moment in the history of our movement," says Marv Davidov, 74, visibly moved by the number of new protesters on the bus. Considered the "father of the movement" by many local activists, he joked Saturday to a reporter from the Minneapolis StarTribune that he had "picketed Abraham Lincoln." Over the years, Davidov has taught the techniques of nonviolent civil disobedience to thousands of laborers, students, immigrants, and other social justice activists. Now, he teaches courses on nonviolent political action at a local college.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print