People for a Peaceable Planet
by Stoney Bird
[email protected]
On November 2, 2002 People for a Peaceable Planet, a local group of activists, held its second Peace Rally in less than a month. 145 citizens attended, including men, women and children. Most were from the Skagit Valley, but some were attracted from as far away as Seattle and Surrey, BC. Having met at the Skagit County Court House, the group marched to Riverside Drive and College Way, where they chanted "This is what democracy looks like!" and "What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!", and held signs. A prominent feature of the march was a larger-than-life-size puppet of the the President holding gasoline nozzles in both hands. One group brought a 20-foot banner urging viewers to "Impeach the entire administration!" Another observer said that he preferred a bumper sticker calling for "Pre-emptive Impeachment". A commonly held view, judging by the signs, was that "War is Terrorism!"
From among the passing motorists, thumbs-up signs, peace signs and honks of support vastly outnumbered the indications of disagreement. A few motorists bellowed sentiments such as "Nuke them all!", but did not carry their verbal violence into physical violence, perhaps because of the presence of the police, who assisted the marchers at intersections and maintained a stabilizing, background presence.
Many of the marchers had not attempted to walk in the Riverside/College Way area before and were struck by how unattractive the main commercial area of the city is, the sidewalks being narrow and forcing pedestrians into close proximity to fume-belching, violence-threatening SUVs and other vehicles, and being strewn with gravel and consumerist debris.
The marchers stayed at the College Way intersection for about half an hour and then marched back to the Court House, pausing briefly on the Viaduct across I-5, where they were again greeted with honks of support by many motorists. At the Court House there was a program of songs and speeches that included a reading of the first paragraph of the Earth Charter, Woodie Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," and "We Shall Overcome." As at the first rally, the marchers especially honored Jerry Sommerseth, who has been conducting a peace vigil in front of the Skagit County Court House for 16 years.
In the two Peace Rallies organized by People for a Peaceable Planet, over 250 people have attended, with some degree of overlap between the two rallies. People for a Peaceable Planet also holds a vigil in front of the Court House every Friday afternoon from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Women in Black hold a vigil in Anacortes every Sunday noon at the intersection of Commercial and 12th Street. Others organized a vigil in Anacortes on the afternoon of October 26 to coincide with the peace rallies being held around the country that day, a day on which over 100,000 gathered in Washington, D.C. to oppose the President's war plans.