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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula December 9, 2001 Photos and Text © 2001 Michele Anderson

More Photos of the Walking Vigil for Peace and Nonviolence

HANCOCK -- Participants in the Vigil walked through the business district of Hancock. After pausing to sing anti-war songs, they walked back across the Portage Lift Bridge to Houghton. The group has decided to hold a second Walking Vigil next Saturday, Dec. 15, beginning again at 11:30 a.m. at the Motherlode Café in Houghton. The public is invited to join in the Vigil.

The Vigil participants pass the Hancock Post Office during their walk for peace and nonviolence, sponsored by the Copper Country Peace Alliance, on Saturday, Dec. 8.

Vigil participants continue their peaceful walk through the Hancock business district.

 

The group pauses at a park in Hancock to sing anti-war songs, including "We Shall Overcome" and "Down By the Riverside."

 

Back at the Motherlode in Houghton, Copper Country Peace Alliance member Scott Rutherford displays the other side of his sign, bearing a quotation from Gandhi. Rutherford said Gandhi has been an inspiration for him for 20 years, ever since he began involving himself in peace and justice work.

Leaflets distributed during the walk outline the Copper Country Peace Alliance members' response to the events of September 11th and global terrorism, beginning with this statement:

"We abhor and condemn the terrorist acts of September 11 that killed and injured thousands of our fellow citizens and citizens from 80 other countries. We are united in mourning the victims of violence wherever it occurs.

"Because we believe that retaliatory violence can only beget more violence, we have chosen to respond nonviolently by working to reduce and hopefully eliminate violence and terrorism in our world."

The leaflet then calls for action both from the United States government and from individual citizens:

"We believe our government must take the following actions:

• End the military intervention in Afghanistan as soon as possible. It is only perpetuating the cycle of violence and may lead to a humanitarian disaster.
• Use diplomatic, economic, and political powers to apprehend and bring to justice before an international tribunal the perpetrators of the events of September 11, which were crimes against humanity.
• Reassess its policies in the Middle East and the U.S. relationship with the Islamic world, including our relations with Iraq where the economic sanctions have caused the deaths of an estimated 500,000 children.
• Renounce its use of terrorism and the support of governments that use it. It should close the School of the Americas.
• Join with the rest of the world to combat other forms of terrorism and violence and ecological degradation by signing and abiding by international treaties and protocols.
• Reduce our dependence on foreign oil, not by more drilling in environmentally sensitive areas of the U.S., but through conservation, increased efficiency, and development of alternative forms of energy.
• Protect us all from further terrorist attacks, taking actions that are consistent with the principles on which our nation was founded.

"Here are things we believe we, the people, must do:

• Regain control of the global economy and our own national economy from the large, impersonal and irresponsible multi-national corporations.
• Broaden our knowledge and understanding of the world and educate others.
• Look inwardly and examine ourselves, collectively and individually to understand how our materialistic and consumeristic way of life may foster the conditions that contribute to terrorism -- our own and others'."

To learn more about the Copper Country Peace Alliance, founded in 1980, email Scott Rutherford at scottru@chartermi.net.

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