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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula Posted March 26, 2004 Text and photos © 2004 Michele Anderson. Marquette photo © 2004 Donald F. Dreisbach.

Copper Country, Marquette peace groups commemorate year of war on Iraq

HOUGHTON-HANCOCK, MARQUETTE -- High winds on the Portage Lift Bridge did not discourage about 30 local community members from their Walk for Peace from Houghton to Hancock and back on Saturday, Mar. 20, in commemoration of American and Iraqi lives lost over the past year.

On the same cold, windy day in Marquette, about 40 citizens gathered for a rally in front of the Marquette Post Office to "say yes to peace and no to the Iraq war and occupation," according to an email report from the Marquette Citizens for Peace and Justice.

Holding tightly to signs and flags in the wind, Copper Country Peace Alliance members and other local citizens commemorate the anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War by walking from Houghton to Hancock and back in a Walk for Peace on Saturday, Mar. 20, 2004.

Sponsored by the Copper Country Peace Alliance, the Houghton-Hancock Walk was followed by a video showing at the Motherlode Coffee House in Houghton. Owner Bill Rosemurgy turned off the espresso machine to allow the group to view "Iraq, Emerging Voices," a film produced by the Mennonite Central Committee.* A second showing was held on Sunday, Mar. 21. The film consists of interviews with Iraqis from various walks of life, several of whom speak English without a translator. They describe their daily lives in the aftermath of the war and communicate their hopes and fears for the future.

Informal discussions followed the showing of the film.

Near the Portage Lift Bridge, Susan Burack of Hancock carries a sign questioning the year-long war in Iraq. About 30 local residents, some from as far away as Baraga, joined the Walk for Peace on Saturday, Mar. 20, 2004, in solidarity with marches around the world.

The Rev. Bucky Beach, pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Houghton and Michigan Tech adjunct professor, said he joined the Walk because of misconceptions about this war.

"We need to keep thinking about ways to find peaceful methods to solve real problems," Beach noted.

Catherine Andrews and Marilyn Dammann, both of Baraga, traveled nearly 30 miles to join the Walk.

Andrews called it  "a profound experience."

"I think when we do this we feel connected with the larger peace movement, because we know people all over the world are doing the same thing," she said.* (See Editor's Notes below.)

In front of Hancock City Hall, participants in the Houghton-Hancock Walk for Peace hold hands and sing, "We Shall Overcome" on Saturday, Mar. 20, the one-year anniversary of the war on Iraq.

Heidi Sherman of Traverse City, an MTU graduate student, said she found it interesting that the Bush administration has changed its original justification for going to war -- WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction), implying that Iraq was connected to September 11.

"Now they're claiming that the war is justified because we're liberating the Iraqi people," Sherman said. "I don't think the war is motivated by helping the Iraqi people, because the Reagan-Bush administration supported Saddam Hussein in the past when he actually was gassing his own people; and they (Reagan-Bush) imposed sanctions that created hardships for the Iraqi people. The real beneficiaries of the war are U.S. corporations."

Noting this was her first time marching with the Peace Alliance, Allyson Jabusch of Hancock said she joined the Walk for several reasons.

"I think we have a leader who is misleading the country, and I am opposed to the war and always have been," Jabusch said. "I'm opposed to killing. It's not a solution. People like Martin Luther King, Jr., say it better."

Allyson Jabusch, right, and Joyce Koskenmaki, both of Hancock, pause outside the Motherlode Coffee House in Houghton after the March 20 Walk for Peace. Koskenmaki, a local artist, created the sign, which Jabusch carried during the Walk.

After the film discussion in the Motherlode, Andrea Baldridge, Peace Alliance member and Houghton resident, said she had noticed a difference since the group's last march several months ago.

"I noticed a change in the general attitude of the community," Baldridge said. "The community is noticeably more accepting of our presence."

Marquette area citizens "rose up, showed up and spoke up" during their Mar. 20 rally in front of the Marquette Post Office, reported Rich Bourgeois of Marquette.

Marquette citizens demonstrate with peace signs during their Mar. 20, 2004, rally in front of the Marquette Post Office. The Marquette Citizens for Peace and Justice hold a weekly peace vigil in front of the post office. About 40 people turned out for the rally and march commemorating a year of war on Iraq. (Photo © 2004 and courtesy Donald F. Dreisbach. Reprinted with permission.)

Their protest signs included "End the occupation," "Bring the troops home," "Healthcare not warfare," "No Wars for Oil and empire," "Peace," among others, Bourgeois noted.

"It was cold and windy and the rally lasted from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.," he said. "Local protestors included all ages -- seniors, middle-aged, NMU (Northern Michigan University) students and a few high school students."

Organized by the Marquette Citizens for Peace and Justice, the protest/peace vigil included a spirited march from the post office to Washington Street Park, where the names of 567 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq were called in front of the Veterans' Memorial.

*Editor's Notes:  For more information on the Marquette Citizens for Peace and Justice visit their Web site. The United for Peace and Justice Web site reports that protests on the One-Year Anniversary of the Iraq War took Place in at least 319 cities and towns in the United States and 398 around the world. Other Michigan communities who held peace events included Ann Arbor, Big Rapids, Flint, Grand Rapids, Ironwood, Kalamazoo, Lake Orion, Lansing, Midland, Monroe, Royal Oak, Saginaw and Traverse City. United for Peace and Justice also reports a 100,000-person march and rally in New York City, an event in San Francisco attended by more than 50,000 and 1,000 protesters in Crawford, Texas, where President George Bush owns a ranch and often vacations. In addition, military families and veterans led a protest of 1,500 people in Fayetteville, North Carolina, outside the Fort Bragg military base. The Calgary Herald published a Mar. 21, 2004, Canadian Press article, stating that police in Rome estimated 250,000 people participated in a protest there, the largest in Europe. The article notes the anniversary of the War on Iraq was marked in cities around the globe -- from London and Paris to Warsaw and Cairo.

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