3.25.08
2
If I’m late to the MTB interview, it’s because my bus route goes here:
Tomorrow, Tuesday, at 5 PM, please come downtown to help hold up the nearly mile-long string of names of the 4,000 US soldiers who’ve died in Iraq (plus 200 doves per page to represent the Iraqis killed) across the Detroit-Superior/Veteran’s Memorial Bridge. The idea is to reach commuters on their way home with a physical manifestation of the number of deaths caused by the Iraq war and occupation. Because the numbers are so high and the string is so long and Cleveland by the lake is so windy, we’ll need at least 100 people to help hold up this string.Commemoration of the 4,000th US Military Death of the Iraq War…
…and 1,000,000 Iraqi deaths
Gather at the downtown side of Veterans’ Memorial Bridge, also known as the Detroit Superior Bridge
TUESDAY, March 25, 2008
5:00 p.m.
Sponsored by NOAC and Peace Action
4000 US troops have died in Iraq as of today. Over 1 million Iraqis have died from the war and occupation.
We will commemorate these tragedies by holding up (if we can recruit enough people) a string almost 1 mile in length of names of killed US soldiers in Iraq. Each name is on a sheet of paper with a border of 250 doves (to represent dead Iraqis). The sheets of paper are encased in a plastic protector. There will also be 4000 white lights.
The project is a mammoth undertaking requiring the help of at the very least one hundred people to pull it off.
Please do everything you can to make it to the Veteran’s Memorial Bridge TUESDAY at 5:00 PM.
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George,
Thanks for posting this. Anyone who isn’t at MTB, hope you’ll be here. At least drive by to honor the dead and oppose the war.
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+2 | March 25, 2008 @ 8:32 am
I won’t be upset one bit if I’m stuck in traffic because of people protesting the war. I’ll take photos from my cameraphone and cheer them on.
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+2 | March 25, 2008 @ 8:38 am
Some valuable insights into this sad episode: Check out Frontline tonight.
A review of last night’s Part 1here.
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+1 | March 25, 2008 @ 10:02 am
Saudi King Abdullah has announced his intention to host an interfaith conference including Muslims, Jews, and Christians for the purpose of increasing religious tolerance. Since Saudi Arabia has been behind the promotion of the extremist form of Islam called Wahhabism, this is a huge breakthrough in faith and potentially for the Middle East and the world. This would not have happened without Saudi Arabia being directly confronted with the violence which is the logical conclusion of promoting religious intolerance. It’s much more real to the Saudis, now that it’s on their doorstep.
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+2 | March 25, 2008 @ 10:23 am
Good to see this, Jonathan. Just finished listening to Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s podcast (text/mp3). Open-mindedness is one of the 3 enduring principles she cites.
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+0 | March 25, 2008 @ 10:57 am
J:
If I haven’t mentioned this before, I strongly recommend the book “The Faith Club” which deals with open and honest interfaith dialogue at a personal yet very moving level. I remain in the belief that this sort of exchange within community is essential to combating the dangers of fundamentalism, whether of the Wahhabi flavor or of the types we see closer to home.
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+0 | March 25, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
George, I tried to link to the article in the Jerusalem Post that reported this, but without success.
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+1 | March 25, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
[…] Hattip to Jonathan Murray. […]
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+1 | March 25, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
As the son of a Marine and the husband of an Army vet I appreciate the right to assemble and protest.
I don’t see how this display honors the dead, but uses their death in a mockery to make a political point. Right now the families of the hereos that layed down their lives at their country’s call need support. Not to have their husbands, childs, partners names/lives used as a form of protest.
If you don’t agree with this war you have that right, I would even fight in a war for you to have that right. However to use names of people who proudly servered voluntarily, who knew the consequences, who may have even re-upped several times, as a protest is in my humble opinion a disgrace.
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--1 | March 25, 2008 @ 1:51 pm
How would one protest the war appropriately, Tim?
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+0 | March 25, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
Don’t know, don’t care, but I think the soldiers and their families should be left out of it. Unless they decide to join in.
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+0 | March 25, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
I’m trying to figure out how you protest a war and occupation without mentioning our soldiers.
I have a better idea–let’s blame the government officals who are responsible for this mess, not the ones trying to end it.
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+0 | March 25, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
I’m waiting to see if someone understands the intent of my original post…
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+3 | March 25, 2008 @ 2:42 pm
I don’t think you’ll be late, I doubt they’ll get 100 people there to hold the signs.
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+0 | March 25, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
Tim,
As a Vietnam era veteran myself, I cannot agree with your comment #9 above and I hold out as an example the Vietnam War Memorial by Maya Lin which lists the name of every soldier lost in that war.
Visiting that site is always a profound experience for me that I feel both honors my fallen comrades and lays open the folly and tragedy of war. There is nothing disrespectful about a protest that recognizes the honrable service of our troops but mourns their loss in an unjust, politically motivated and ill-planned war.
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+2 | March 25, 2008 @ 4:10 pm
For about half the cost of a tank of gas, this DVD spells out how we came to be where we are today with the Saudis.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saud/
The US Naval presence, since 1956, in the Straits of Hormuz is not enough to calm their fears anymore. Unemployed and uneducated youth is always, everywhere, an unstable army waiting to be armed.
In a consumer driven economy, consumption is the big stick. Have you checked your tire pressures this week? It’s patriotic.
It is one thing to participate in a mobile society that uses fuel, another thing entirely to brag about how proud you are of wasting something that soldiers die for.
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+2 | March 25, 2008 @ 4:19 pm