It’s just a short trip up to Denver and back, so combine the demo with some other activities and protest the continued occupation of Iraq by American troops.
October 27, Saturday:
Regional protest set for Denver
Colorado Springs peace activists will travel to Denver on Oct. 27 to join a nationwide action calling for an end to the Iraq war. The protest will demand an immediate end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. People from all walks of life will gather in 11 major cities around the country in a national expression of the breadth and depth of antiwar sentiment in this nation.
Colorado Springs residents will gather at the Justice and Peace office at 214 East Vermijo for a carpool around 9 a.m. For further details, contact Pete at dynamic@ppjpc.org
About 2o of us went up to Denver from Colorado Springs to a rather bland rally on the the steps of the Capitol building. We got lots of cars passing by honking in our support, yet it is was dispiriting to us to know that most antiwar support continues to remain totally unexpressed. People just are not upset enough to overcome their cynicism and apathy and do something.
Again, too, there was a disproportionately small number of younger people in the crowd. Our political and educational system has done a knockout job in convincing younger people that their voices are of no real account. This is wrong of course, but it seems hard nowadays to convince people in their teens and twenties that their energy for the cause is necessary. They are continuing to abstain from action.
The message that kept being repeated from the organizers of the rally were that the people attending need to participate in real street vigils on a regular basis. In fact, they had numerous signs stating Honk for Peace being held by protesters showing that the street vigils are a central focus for the Denver antiwar leaders.
Here in Colorado Springs, we still do not have one weekly vigil going on on a weekly basis at a well trafficked site. We should listen to what was said at th rally by the organizers,and change our attitudes here and get this work done. The people are with us when we do this activity, so let’s get it done.
Click here to see a clip of local coverage in San Francisco of that march of about 30,000
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lleNr7Cp-i0
I have footage of Denver’s Oct. 27 Antiwar rally on YouTube. It is at:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=B2sRcxsxRaE
YouTube displays a very bad and pixilated video. If you want a good clear copy of the DVD, you can send me your mailing address. Please explain why you need it because production and postage is expensive for me.
I hope you enjoy the film.
Chun Pan
ChunPan9@yahoo.com
http://www.ChunPan.com
Chun,
Your film is okay and I greatly appreciate you spending the time to capture the rally on video, but I could’nt see the sign I was holding or many of the other signs I saw that day being held by others that day. I was advocating an end to the UN (which is dominated by the US) intervention in Somalia. Others were calling for Peace with Iran. Your video shows many “impeech” signs, but you failed to capture the variety of messages being delivered by the participants. Still I would encourage you to keep up the good work and make the effort to better it by capturing as much of the event as possible – including all the signs and not just some.
Thanks, Chun Pan, for sharing your video of the rally with us. Do you have any other videos like this of other Denver events that might also be of interest to us here in Colorado Springs?