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New York City
Celebrities
Mobilize for Peace
October 7, 2002 Caesar G. Soriano USA TODAY
Barbra
Streisand isn't the only celebrity banging the drums of peace.
Hollywood,
which banded together after Sept. 11 to raise funds, flags and patriotic
fervor, is mobilizing an anti-war front to protest President Bush's
plans for an attack on Iraq. Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Danny
Glover, Martin Sheen, Jessica Lange, Ed Asner, Joanne Woodward and
Jane Fonda are among the list of U.S. artists speaking out against
the Bush administration's policies.
It's
a dramatic departure from last year, when Republican leaders and
Hollywood officials worked together to increase the entertainment
industry's support for the war on terrorism.
Dozens
of celebrities have signed the ''Not In Our Name'' anti-war declaration
that ran as a paid advertisement in the Los Angeles Times on Friday
and last month in The New York Times. Playwright Tony Kushner, filmmaker
Oliver Stone, actor Ossie Davis, performer Mos Def, writer Gore
Vidal and historian/author Howard Zinn are among the signers of
the declaration. It also opposes threats to civil liberties and
the government's treatment of Arab-Americans.
On
Sunday, the Not In Our Name project held an anti-war rally in New
York City's Central Park that drew Sheen, Robbins and Sarandon.
Sheen, who plays the U.S. president on the NBC drama The West Wing,
urged protesters to put pressure on their congressional representatives
to oppose Bush's quest for the all-clear to wage war.
''I
don't think that a military expansion of violence is the solution,''
Sarandon told reporters in Scotland recently. Sarandon also has
narrated a documentary about the importance of protecting post-Sept.
11 civil liberties. Bruce Springsteen and Zinn also lent their support
to First Monday 2002, which premieres at college campuses nationwide
today.
Compared
with Britain, where 150,000 people and celebrities held an anti-war
rally in London last month, a peace movement has been slow to build
here. Not In Our Name rally organizer Mary Lou Greenberg says U.S.
celebs fear being labeled anti-American. ''In this country, when
Bush says 'You're either with us or with the terrorists,' that's
a deliberate effort to discourage people from speaking out,'' she
says.
''As
a publicist, I would advise my clients to stay away from the topic,''
says R.J. Garis, a publicist and damage control expert.
Lange
spoke against war while in Madrid last week. The actress said she
''hates'' Bush and said his call for an attack on Iraq is ''unconstitutional,
immoral and illegal.''
Other
celebrities have made a concerted effort not to take sides. At the
Italian premiere of Minority Report, director Steven Spielberg and
star Tom Cruise said they could not support Saddam Hussein ( news
- web sites) if Bush's reasons for attacking are accurate. But after
some newspapers said the superstars were Bush backers, Spielberg
quickly sent out a news release: ''It was never my intention to
give an endorsement.''
NION:
Sarandon, Robbins Join War Protest in NYC
Celebrities
Mobilize for Peace(article
below)
STAFF
| Associated Press
2002-10-07
NEW
YORK-- Thousands of demonstrators, including Susan Sarandon and
Tim Robbins, gathered in Central Park on Sunday to protest a possible
U.S. military strike against Iraq and what they called the United
States' broader "war on the world."
Protest
organizers said President Bush, motivated by a thirst for power
and control of oil reserves, was lying to the country about the
need for an attack on Iraq and the war against terrorism.
Iraq's
oil reserves are the second biggest in the world after Saudi Arabia's.
The
group that organized the afternoon rally, Not In Our Name, opposes
"war on the world" by America, including alleged unnecessary detention
of immigrants and curtailment of civil liberties since the Sept.
11 attacks.
"I
think the power structure in this country is dead set on war," said
Joe Urgo, a member of the group. "They are in a thirst for war."
Organizers
said the crowd, which was centered in the park's East Meadow but
spread to other sections, numbered at least 20,000.
Police,
who declined to give a crowd estimate, said they issued two citations
for disorderly conduct.
The
protesters held signs saying, "Do Not Get Bushed Into War In Iraq."
They chanted, "Resist, resist!"
Iraq
is bolstering its stockpile of chemical and biological weapons and
could have a nuclear weapon by 2010, according to a report by U.S.
intelligence agencies issued Friday. The weapons programs are the
Bush administration's chief complaint.
The
rally came a day before Bush was to address the nation to outline
the case against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Congress is expected
to pass a resolution soon authorizing military action.
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Los Angeles
Up in Arms on Plans for War March:
Westwood rally, one of numerous protests held across the country,
draws thousands opposed to a U.S. attack against Iraq. Ê Ê Ê
October 7, 2002 , LA TimesÊ Ê
By LEE ROMNEY and DANIEL HERNANDEZ, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
Thousands of protesters opposed to a war in Iraq
converged on the Federal Building in Westwood on Sunday as part
of a coordinated national effort that stretched from New York City's
Central Park to San Francisco's Union Square and spots in at least
a dozen other cities.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Pat Jordan estimated
the crowd at about 3,000, but a California Highway Patrol officer
overseeing the peaceful rally and march put the number at "well
above" the group's permit--for 3,500.
The rallies, pulled together by an umbrella group
called the Not in Our Name project, were timed to coincide with
the eve of the one-year anniversary of the start of bombing in Afghanistan
Polls have generally shown support for the Bush
administration's actions since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and
for a war on Iraq with allied and United Nations support.
Central Park's event, where actor Martin Sheen spoke,
drew thousands; San Francisco's also drew thousands; and a Chicago
demonstration attracted more than 1,000. On Saturday, a companion
rally in Portland, Ore., drew an estimated 5,000.
Gathering on the broad lawn of the Federal Building
and stretching along Wilshire Boulevard, protesters toted signs
that included "Don't Invade Iraq" and "No, It's Not Iraq. It's the
Economy. We're not Stupid." Protesters said they hoped to send a
strong message to Congress and fellow Americans that opposition
to a war is alive, and that expressing it is a form of patriotism.
The crowd was packed with the regulars of progressive
rallies: tattooed students pounding drums, Green Party activists
promoting their candidates and the more radical Revolutionary Communist
Progressive Labor Party distributing newspapers.
But the rally also drew first-time demonstrators
who said that they were deeply concerned about the implications
of a war and felt that their voice has not been heard. President
Bush is expected to make his case for a war on Iraq, which he says
has developed weapons of mass destruction, in a televised speech
tonight.
In his weekend radio address, Bush urged Congress
to give him authority to move swiftly against Saddam Hussein. Later,
while stumping in Manchester, N.H., for Senate candidate John Sununu,
Bush didn't mention the 50 anti-war demonstrators outside or the
gatherings around the country. But he reiterated his stance that
the United States must disarm Iraq to protect American lives.
"This has been long overdue, for people to come
together and voice their opinion," said Michael Collins, 35, a health
insurance administrator from Westwood who attended the rally with
his daughters, Chris, 9, and Cami, 6. "If we go into Iraq, it's
going to give other countries a reason to side against us.... Why
not stand up now and say something?"
Not in Our Name was born out of a meeting in March
in New York. Since then, nearly 20,000 artists, intellectuals and
musicians have signed a "statement of conscience" against the Bush
administration's resolve to wage war on Iraq, "a country which has
no connection to the horror of Sept. 11." The statement also decries
the Patriot Act, which gave the government greater latitude to curtail
civil liberties in the name of the war on terror.
The lengthy list of signatories on the statement,
which was published in full-page advertisements in the New York
Times and Los Angeles Times, include actor Edward Asner; writers
Barbara Kingsolver, Eve Ensler, Tony Kushner and Alice Walker; musician
Steve Earle; performance artist Laurie Anderson; and language theorist
Noam Chomsky.
At the events across the country Sunday, demonstrators
recited a "Pledge of Resistance" against war, roundups of immigrants
and infringements of civil liberties.
Collins, who is not affiliated with any activist
organization, saw the ad Friday, visited the group's Web site and
learned of the rally. He then photocopied 200 copies of the event
announcement and distributed them to strangers in Westwood.
"I'm really terrified that democracy is going to
suffer," he said as he cradled his youngest daughter. "I'm doing
it for the kids."
Echoed Rae Wilken, 76, of Canoga Park: "When you
have grandchildren you realize how precious life really is, and
it becomes unimaginable that we would throw bombs at people."
Sabrina Judge, who attended the rally with her husband
and parents, said that in the mix of "fringe" fliers, she was handed
a list of every member of Congress, along with their phone numbers
and e-mail addresses.
"This is something I can go home and use," she said.
A recent Washington Post-ABC poll showed that three
in five Americans favored using force to get rid of Hussein. But
47% opposed such a move without the support of U.S. allies (46%
approved it), and 52% of those polled said they feared Bush would
move too quickly to challenge Hussein. Other polls have reflected
greater dissent.
Many Democratic members of Congress have said that
calls, letters and e-mails from constituents have overwhelmingly
opposed a war. For example, an aide for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
has said that the senator has received about 15,000 phone calls
and 3,500 letters on the Iraq issue, with the overwhelming majority
against a unilateral, preemptive U.S. strike.
Organizers drew on a network of labor, religious,
student and other activist organizations. Among the speakers was
Ron Kovic, the wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran who wrote the book
"Born on the Fourth of July" and has become an outspoken peace activist.
"We are sick and tired of being told we're unpatriotic,"
Kovic said to cheers, seated on a stage beneath an inflated globe
wrapped in a yellow "Not In Our Name" banner that resembled crime-scene
tape. "Let it sink in, President Bush: We care so much about this
country that we know democracy is being threatened and we are not
going to let it happen."
Steve Boise, 43, wore a hard hat emblazoned with
the U.S. flag and the name of his union local to let people know
that "blue-collar America is talking about this at work."
Boise, a pipe fitter at the Shell Oil refinery in
Wilmington, said he and his co-workers have spent hours discussing
a potential war in Iraq and have decided "it's all about controlling
oil in the Caspian Sea.... This just doesn't make any sense to us."
The rally was his first, but Boise said he attended
because "it feels like our views aren't being expressed.... I don't
understand the doublespeak," he said. "Patriotic now means, 'Sit
down and shut up.' "
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