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Show THE ZEPHYR/APRIL-MAY 2006 The previous night Coretta Scott King had died. Thirty seven years ago her husband was assassinated. King was an unusually outspoken pastor, he condemned the war in Vietnam where our armed forces dropped 19 million gallons of herbicides, 8 million bombs, wiped out 60 percent of Vietnam’s mangrove forests. Our troops took 50,000 KIAs. Among the 300,000 wounded were 70,000 amputees. (1) The Vietnamese people are still taking casualties from that holocaust. Most statistics are boring, these are not. When our feet got cold we tippy-toed on ice, back to the car, joined the good old American traffic streams, went home. Next morning we heard that Cindy Sheehan had been arrested for displaying an anti-war sign at the State of the Union affair and taken away in handcuffs for god’s sake! And then along comes David Gergen, longtime advisor to presidents from both donkey and elephant stables. He is given air time to say that Cindy had a right to protest, but her going to Venezuela and “embracing Chavez,” was too much.” Gergen! Stop! Think what you just said! You have tried to push to the far margins of society a Gold Star mother who visited another president, having been rudely and cowardly refused an audience with her own. Did she literally “embrace” Chavez? I didn’t even know she’d spoken to him. If she did embrace, good for her. What is “too much” about such acts? Nothing. Nothing at all. Searching the Web, I discovered there are web sites full of totally mindless and vicious words being thrown Cindy’s way. I got mad. I’m still mad. Let's be clear about a few things. We live in a nation governed by stealth and secrecy LOSING SOI Pw CD) that has launched us on a track that leads to Hell. oye e scan wl Merete CINDY SHEEHAN'S ADVENTURES IN COURAGE & CONSCIENC E Noon hour, Veteran’s Memorial Park sheathed in ce. Alison and I stepped with great caution to the junction of Main and Elm. Her sign rea d NO TO WAR AND WASTE/ YES TO PEACE AND PROSPERITY. She stood in front of the statue of a Civil War (Union) soldier. My sign read IRAQIS ARE PEOPLE. I stood o n frozen footsteps someone else had made while waiting to cross. We received several honk <s and raised arms with hands in the Let's be clear about a few things. We live in a nation governed by. “V’ peace sign. One young guy leaned out of his win« low, waving his arms at “Iraqis are People,” shouting, “Yes, yes.” Quite a different recepti on this time. We'd been here before. A few drops of ice rain fell, not enough to ruin our sig ns. On this day a master of assembling words into str uctures that shine every which way would take an oath and become a member of the Sup reme Court. And at 9 o’clock in the evening our leader would give a report on the State of the Union. That’s why we were there, to show opposition to clever dodgers and the Ch 1icken Hawks’ war. I wondered how ‘many people in the passing cars and trucks felt like sto pping to show heartfelt hostility and tell us how wrong we were. And how many silently w yondered if it might be fun to join us. Actually, it was fun. We enjoyed showing the flag, he opposition flag. If you know that firm resistance here at home is the only way out, then y you know what is to be done and you don’t fret about it. It’s a sort of freedom feeling. Not 30 incidentally, some people passing by not only waved or honked, they smiled. The atmosphere on that day was one of soft suspe’ nsion, as if people were waiting. For what? I don’t know. Sometimes after getting into th ne rhythm of a demo or protest you move into a sort of dreamy state. On this day I was wa rking with materials at hand, ice and quiet rain, slushy rush of traffic, pigeons soaring high above, and then I began recalling the It’s time to become refuseniks, people who stick up for one another, refusing to be sidetracked by prominent spokespersons and news manglers who make up sentences that don’t stand the test of logic or constitutionality or American underclass tradition. Oh yes, nearly all of us are underclass. If you're reading this I doubt very much that you are wearing a suit designed in Milan by whose-it or in Paris by what’s-it. The people in charge don’t really give a damn about us and the sooner we get used to that fact, the better. Because that might nudge open the rusty old gate, welcoming us to the real stuff of our country, the long hidden history, the thoughts and acts they didn’t teach us in high school. We ought to be critical, learn the fine art of disagreement among ourselves, but that doesn’t mean we have to take the word of people in power or their lackeys, or the subservient congresspersons or the talking heads on TV or complacent newscasters on NPR. STEALTH AND SECRECY that has launched us on a path that will lead us to Hell. It's time to become Refuseniks, people who stick up for one another... We don’t have to take seriously the vapid, totally empty pronouncements from Democans, like Hillary, or Republicrats, like Tom DeLay. We can’t afford to allow them to sidetrack us by innuendo about a refusenik’s personality or her/his stature or human failings or mistakes at certain places along the lifeline. None of us are angels. I’m saying nothing new here, but the arrest of Cindy gets me mightily riled up. I’m still riled up. start of Gulf War II when the park had been crowd ed with American Legion and VFW “Support Our Troops” vets, a boom box blasting God Bless America, a yellow ribbon on the tall pedestal on which the Civil War soldier stood. And Old Glory and Marine and Legion and VFW flags. A scene colorful and raucus. [ had mingled, trying to start a bit of discussion, but I was a Support Our Troops, Bring Them Home vet. Someone yelled, “This is OUR park, didn’t you know that?” Our handful of « anti-war people were forced from the park. We took the opposite corner, but even then one of the vets ran across and tried to block Alison’s sign with his. She talked to him. He gave in, responded with the standard brand: “War might not have been a great idea, but na Ww We're in we have to finish it.” We kept on protesting, every week, for a while. Th e Support the War vets didn’t show, our anti-war six or seven dwindled, got down to two: Alison and me. Three years later, two of us again, but no scowls this time, no angry shouts. Just the slush of traffic, pigeons, rain, ice and some smiles. COMING SOON: BREAKOUT A NOVEL BY MARTIN MURIE A cross continent struggle to save people and other endangered species. Joe Hill, an IWW, was executed by firing squad in Utah, for murder. We don’t know if he was guilty; we don’t know if he toned down his defense to defend the reputation of a certain woman in Salt Lake. We are told he said, or wrote, “Don’’t mourn, organize.” That's a damn good saying, and it’s high time we stop milling round like a bunch of sheep mourning our sorry situation. Time to stand up for Cindy, an organizer, a leader who walks the talk, and who has been taking lots of flack. It’s time to stand firm against the slandering of everyone who gets in the crosshairs of the utterly stupid, but well-placed, blathermouths on the airwaves. Oh sure, let’s enjoy passing around cartoons and jokes about the horrific times in which we live, the stupidities of higher-ups, the awesome depth of disdain for human life that infests the corporate world. Laughs are good. The more laughter the better. But, hey, the Europeans had great jokes about Hitler too, remember? ORDER SIGNED COPIES DIRECT FROM MARTIN MURIE: LOSING SOLITUDE: A contemporary Western. Developers invade a cowtown....$14.95 : WINDSWEPT: Birdwatchers & a biker from Montana tangle with corporation extremists in Medicine Bow, Wyoming....$14.95 BURT’ S WAY: Environmentalists labeled ‘terrorists, keep a’ chuggin’ on the Quebec/New Y ork border...$12 RED TREE MOUSE CHRONICLES: Forest animals on assignment; What is the future of the forests? They turn activist.....$6.00 $15 Order direct from Martin Murie SERIOUSLY INSISTENT: 80 pages of activist critique...$7.00 Plus Postage---$2.20 for the first book, $1.00 for the second. me 6PAGES: sf Send your order to: MARTIN MURIE |