Susan Meeker-Lowry [01/22/2003]

By Susan Meeker-Lowry

This past weekend my 3-year-old grandson attended his first peace rally. Along with his mother and some friends, Nicholas marched in Montpelier, Vt., along with thousands of others. Yes, I heard from folks who were there that 3,000 or so demonstrators filled the streets of the nations smallest state capital to speak out for peace. I tried to find exact numbers but unfortunately my computer hasnt been acting well lately and I finally lost patience waiting for articles to download. When I lived in Montpelier, we considered ourselves lucky if our rallies attracted a couple hundred folks.The big demonstration was in Washington, D.C. How many were there? Well, most of the papers I checked out today (Sunday) are citing 30,000 people, which seems rather low to me. An article in the Washington Post said estimates ranged from 30,000 to 100,000 and even 200,000 with the media using the low figures and activists using the high figures. Somewhere in between is the truth. Regardless, thats a lot of people saying No to war with Iraq. And its safe to say this wont be the last our nations leaders will hear from the peace movement. A new generation of young people are questioning Bushs motives and people of all ages are waking up, taking a look around, and not liking what they see. The looming war with Iraq is only one of many issues centering around democracy, power, the economy, terrorism and freedom.Heres what I see: an administration that cares about one thing, power. Bush needs this war. He needs it if he is to have a ghost of a chance in the next election and his buddies, those rich folks who run the oil companies, the chemical companies, the banks, need Bush because with him in there theyre guaranteed profits, at least for a while. Theyll be able to continue to suck the Earths resources and our pocketbooks dry for another four years.Ever since the first of the year, news reports glorifying the military have increased significantly. Every television channel shows clips of families saying goodbye as their enlisted children prepare for being shipped overseas. Military dads are filled with pride as yet another generation goes off to war. Headlines scream War and Terrorism at us, not to mention the fact that war is good for the economy.I saw a show on TLC the other night on the history of the situation in Iraq from Desert Storm to today. It was a great piece of propaganda because it used actual reports to make the case that the only reasonable solution to Saddam is to wage war on Iraq. Does Iraq have weapons of mass destruction (especially biological and chemical weapons) hidden somewhere? Almost certainly. Are these a threat? Most probably. Exactly the reason why we shouldnt be talking war.Its time to think and act like adults. Its time to take a close look at whats really going on, under the surface of the rah, rah, rah of the military and the ridding the world of evil rhetoric of Bush. Since the attack on the World Trade Center over a year ago this country has been on a fast-track to a police state. Now, ironically, those who care about the Earth, who put people over profits, and who speak out against hypocrisy and the abuse of power are themselves targets. They are labeled unpatriotic terrorists.The Bush administration is hell-bent to preserve a way of life based on the unsustainable use (abuse) of resources, especially oil. Iraqs oil reserves are the third largest on Earth. Bush and his elite friends have dollar signs in their eyes and care not a whit for anything or anyone else. Millions of dollars have already been invested in oil infrastructure in Iraq despite Saddam, despite any hidden weapons of mass destruction, despite the fact that Saddam is a madman who cares even less about his people than Bush cares about us.Bushs vow to rid the world of evil should have been a wake-up call to every reasonable person alive. No one person can do that. We might want to ask ourselves, what is evil anyway? Is it an active force in the world, the counterforce to love? Evil is a very Christian concept and I know many spiritual (as opposed to religious) folks dont believe in it. Ive had many discussions on this subject and despite my new age leanings I still believe evil is an active force to be reckoned with (although I think what most people call evil is in reality simply bad). Bush, for example isnt evil, rather hes stupid and greedy and easily manipulated. The force of evil is a lot more subtle than Bush or even than Saddam. As David James Duncan wrote in the January/February 2003 issue of Orion, There is no man or woman, no nation, no mortal power on Earth capable of ridding the world of evil as George W. Bush has vowed to do. The desire is preposterous. To act upon preposterousness with vast military might is evil. Get it?A time comes when silence is betrayal. Men do not easily assume the task of opposing their governments policy, especially in time of war. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. For we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness so close around us. - Martin Luther King, Jr. Susan Meeker-Lowry is a writer who lives in Fryeburg.