By Lisa Savage
Yesterday's
gatherings to rage against the war machine in Maine were among the most
interesting I've organized. Not only did we get a bunch of new people
to fill in the ranks of those missing because they only oppose wars when
a Republican is in the White House, but our participants were from a
broad range of political parties and tendencies: Green Independent Party
of Maine, Communist Party of Maine, Libertarian Party of Maine, and
independents were all represented.
Two
people said they were Republicans, while two others told me
(separately) that they were registered Democrats but did not feel like
the party represented their interests and were planning to unenroll.
One person came from New Hampshire to join us, while two others had come up from NYC as one of them has ties to Waterville, Maine.
Professors
from the Maine College of Art in Portland and Colby College in
Waterville were with us, plus someone who works at the University of New
England.
Our
messaging was varied and most signs or banners played on one of the
nine demands we were organized around for raging on February 19:
- Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine
- Negotiate Peace
- Stop the War Inflation
- Disband NATO
- Global Nuclear De-escalation
- Slash the Pentagon Budget
- Abolish War and Empire
- Restore Civil Liberties
- Free Julian Assange
In addition we had a sign made the night before at my house calling out the Biden administration on revelations by investigative reporter Sy Hersh that the Nordstream pipelines were bombed by U.S. and NATO nations working together under cover of so-called "war games."
Estimates of that crowd range from 3,000-5,000 (crowds are notoriously hard to count). We had 20 in Bath and 16 in Westbrook, with some overlap. Many of the groups represented said their members had traveled to DC for the bigger rally. Honestly, as an anti-war organizer in Maine, I'm pleased when we have attendance in the double digits.
We also received coverage from Maine Public Radio and I just finished a follow-up radio interview this morning with the Ric Tyler/George Perry Show. Those two media outlets in Maine are as far apart ideologically as our group was. However, since the corporate media ignores us in these days of draconian narrative control, I'm willing to spread our message on whichever platforms are available. (Just to be clear, I don't align politically with either of those media outlets.)
What's next? March 18 is the date we agreed to meet again in Westbrook, where response was positive from many of the hundreds of cars that drove by in an hour.
Want to join us next time? Leave your email address in the comments and we'll be in touch. Because we don't have to agree on everything to stand together against the real possibility of a nuclear World War 3.
4 comments:
Thanks to everyone in Maine that supported Rage Against the War Machine. I saw quite a bit of the demonstration in Washington DC. So far nothing comparable in Scandinavia. Next Sunday the big demonstration will take place in Berlin which has been preceded by a peace appeal signed by a half a million.
Andre above lives in Sweden. He is originally from America but went to Sweden as a Vietnam war draft resister back in the 1960's.
He's a long-time member of the Global Network.
He has family ties to Maine.
Where was the Maine VFP with their flags?
Where was Portland and Augusta?
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