I was fortunate to attend the Peace Rally in San Francisco on April 20th under the umbrella of ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) with branches nationwide and a huge following (web is internationalANSWER.org, San Francisco Bay Area is 415-821-6545). The crowd was estimated from 20,000 to some accounts of 35,000-but there were LOTS and LOTS or people. The march route was 2-1/2 miles long and when the first of the marchers reached the ending point (City Hall) there were still marchers waiting to begin at the park where it started. The real purpose was scheduled to be opposition to U.S. policy in the Mideast, but one cause overwhelmed all others: support for the Palestinian people.

People asked me who all was there. My reply was: Representatives of EVERYBODY that wasn't at the allegedly 100,000-strong pro-Israeli march a few days earlier. There were all colors, all causes, all committed to change, to peace. We had no Warhawks such as Bibi and Wolfie frothing on about the terrorists about to hit our backyards and malls, they don't nail them in Jenin we'll get them next, we had no Mayor Guiliani. BUT WE HAD EVERYBODY ELSE.

Things I totally loved about the march, which was completely peaceful (the newspaper said there was a small group is Israelis protesting the march at the end but they were quickly escorted into City Hall and disbursed.) There was a New Orleans-style band in the midst to keep up the spirits. There was a dog with a signboard: This Pooch is for Peace. There was a kid in a stroller with a sign saying: I'm marching for me. There was a sign saying: A suicide bomber is a poor man's F-16. There was a sign with a pix of the kid in Tienaman (sp?) Square in Beijing facing down the tank, practically sticking a flower down the barrel, right next to one with a skinny Palestinian kid sailing a rock into a huge tank sitting in the middle of the road. There were people waving from windows and roofs and balconies as we passed.

The newspaper reports the oldest was an 89-year-old member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, an American group opposing nationalists in the Spanish Civil War form 1936-39. He stated: "I am proud to fight fascism and oppression, whether it's in Spain, Nazi Germany or Israel." (San Francisco Chronicle, April 21, 2002).

There were placards from spots where we have troops - Get your troops off my Islands. There were many references to just who (in Washington, my Capitol, my beautiful democratic America--and in Tel Aviv) might be evil, terror, terrorist. And there were many, many Palestinian flags.

We had GREAT organization from the group putting it together, we had good speakers with pertinent thoughts, WE HAD A GREAT TIME. AND NOW THEY KNOW WHERE WE ARE!

For the first time ever since they started on Afghanistan, I begin to think we have a chance of winning the War on Terrorism, and for me that SHUTTING IT DOWN COLD. We've got it all and we can shut it down and start thinking of human beings, fellow citizens of the world, as persons rather than as "for us or against us". We "the rest of the people" can make the government do the same because WE HAVE EVERYBODY ELSE AND EVERYBODY ELSE VOTES!

We've got EVERYBODY ELSE but the real terrorists on our side, and we can win it BIG TIME! Everybody else was there but the REAL terrorists, Bush & Buddies, Inc.. And Donald Duck Rumsfeld and the Pentagon One Hundred Ten Billiong. AND THAT AIN'T A ROCK BAND, BABY!

Return to the Patriots of Truth Speak Out Main Page