Saying no to war
1,000 march across Petaluma to protest military action in Iraq
February 9, 2003
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
The intentions of the 1,000 people who marched across Petaluma on Saturday were as clear as the cloudless blue sky: to condemn the escalating movement toward war with Iraq and call for a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the crisis.
They gathered at Walnut Park on the city's west side, where hundreds signed petitions to impeach President Bush and organizers told the crowd, "You guys are part of the largest march we've ever had in Petaluma."
Then they marched -- pot-bellied dads with sons in tow and grandmothers in wheelchairs, first-time participants in a cause and veteran peace activists draped in American flags.
The march went through the historic downtown, down Washington Street and across the Highway 101 overpass to the city's east side.
"Let the inspectors do their jobs," said Salim Arikat, 68, of Petaluma, a Palestinian-American businessman marching with his wife, Farida.
"I think there has to be a peaceful way besides war," said Cotati resident John Walker, 46, whose T-shirt bore a peace symbol on the back and the words "No War, Not with our Children, Not with our Money" across the chest.
Should war come, said Walker, a burly warehouse worker who brought his two sons along, "I'll support the troops," but continue to demonstrate against the war.
The procession at one point stretched for more than a mile, from the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in west Petaluma to the Lucchesi Community Center on the east side, where Rep. Lynn Woolsey spoke to the crowd.
It was the second large-scale peace demonstration in Sonoma County. A Nov. 10 march in Santa Rosa drew 3,000 people.
Saturday's protest bristled with signs polite and less so, pointed and polemically anguished: "Please, No War," "No Blood for Oil," and (from leftist historian Howard Zinn's criticism of the 1986 U.S. bombing of Libya) "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."
The march was organized by Petalumans Against War, a small group of activists who say they want to show that serious opposition to a war with Iraq exists outside larger metropolitan areas such as New York City, San Francisco and Washington, where massive anti-war demonstrations have been held in recent months and are planned again next weekend.
"I think if the little cities, not just Petaluma, but all the little towns in the country can do this, we really can stop this," said Christine Lee, a key organizer with the group.
There were a handful of counterdemonstrators at the start of the march.
"They dream of peace. I know that sometimes you have to fight for it," said Nick Provenano, 36, of Petaluma. He stood across from Walnut Park with a sign that said "Liberate Iraq. Can we afford to wait?"
He said "diplomacy's been exhausted" and life would be better for the Iraqi people with Saddam Hussein toppled.
Many protesters, too, cited the Iraqi people, but as an argument against war.
Saddam is a tyrant and appears to be defying weapons inspectors, said Glenda Azevedo, 52, of Petaluma, but "it's not the whole country."
"I'm not saying I have all the answers, but blowing up innocent people is not the way to do it," said Azevedo, a home care worker.
Jeanie Wagenknecht, a 33-year-old accountant from Cazadero, marched with her son Carlos and said it was the fifth such demonstration she had taken part in, but that never before had she joined in support of a political cause.
Why this one?
"It would be a heinous war," she said. "And I guess being a mother makes me think about what the world will be like when he grows up."
From start to finish, the demonstration was orderly; organizers told marchers to stay on the sidewalks and heed traffic lights, saying they wanted to present a good impression.
But some thought it should have been more militant.
"We should be walking in the streets. We need to be heard," said Esther Tordesillas, 36, of Rohnert Park.
That's how it's done in Europe, said Tordesillas, a Spaniard who said she's "ashamed" of the Spanish government's support for Bush's stance.
"In Europe we have achieved a lot of things in the past because of public demonstrations like this," she said.
"Here it's a different culture," said her husband, Jorge, who said attacking Iraq would be "unfair and unjustified" but feared it was beyond doubt.
At the Lucchesi Community Center, though, Woolsey said it's not too late to prevent war.
"The big question is, can we afford not to do it?" she asked.
"We must contain that evil Saddam Hussein," she said, but that can be done by maintaining a system of weapons inspectors inside Iraq.
Wearing a "No War" T-shirt, Woolsey invoked civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.: "We will act nonviolently but we will not be passive in our pursuit of peace," she said, "and in the end, my friends, we will overcome."
Outside, in the bright sunshine, Bill and Yvette Henry of Petaluma fed bread crumbs to the park's ducks. They hadn't marched and they weren't convinced.
"I think we've already done that and they're not listening," Bill Henry, 37, an electrician, said of diplomacy.
"I'm back and forth," said his wife. "I don't want our troops to go over and get hurt, and I don't want private citizens over there to get hurt."
"The whole thing is frightening," she said, "both sides."
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jhay@pressdemocrat.com.
Photos by Scott Hess of the February 9, 2003 anti-war march through Petaluma organized by Petalumans Against War
