Palo Alto Demonstration/March

Every Wednesday, we have a demonstration in Lytton Plaza, downtown Palo Alto (unless it rains or I'm in Canada or New York to protest the WEF) with a couple of tables, four chairs, banners, lots of hand-outs, cookies, rolls… and an easel which has an Earth flag image and "Listening for a Change." This Wednesday, George of Veteran's for Peace joined me with his great banner- "War War What is it good for? Absolutely Nothing" and an assortment of signs and flags. Quite a number of people came, some spontaneously joining us and creatively making new signs to enlist more people to make a stand for peace. There was plenty of time for dialogue which was the initial goal of the weekly presence.


We ask people three questions-


"What do you think, feel about the events of September 11th, and the government's response?"


"How do you think we could defuse terrorism?"


"How could we create a safer, better world for our children?"


We write down the responses and can honestly say that President Bush's support seems quite bloated in the mainstream press polls. A few people respond to the questions, and remain closed to information, but most after responding seem very interested and open to new information, and a different point of view. We all enjoyed the sunshine, company and conversation.


Around 1:00 p.m., about nine of us readied ourselves for the march, stashing cookies, books, tablecloths, etc… attaching the sashes- Hope, Love, Peace, People, Earth, Air, Water. We followed our lovely banner "One Earth, One People, One Love" with "One Air, One Water, One Hope - Respect All Life" on the other side. Channel 2, Fox Television showed up and tried to get us to linger a bit, so they could get some footage of our depleted demo, but we couldn't stand around just posing.


We began our short march. We started singing, "Earth my body, Water my blood, Air my breath and Fire my Spirit." We handed out the leaflets "Terrorism for Dummies"- which give the ABC's of the Bush, Bin Laden, CIA connections. Congresswoman Eshoo's office is conveniently located just a few blocks from Lytton Plaza. We took turns going in and speaking on our concerns, accompanied by the television crew.


I presented all the articles that I had compiled, and demanded a Congressional Inquiry of 9-11. "The War on Terrorism" is a fraud. I questioned the reasons we were in Afghanistan, as well as the administration's complicity in the World Trade Center attacks. When interviewed by Channel Two, I voiced publicly my belief that Bush knew, and mentioned that he himself had said publicly twice that he had seen the first plane fly into the World Trade Center.


Since I wrote the report on our first march to Senator Feinstein's office (Demanding a Congressional Inquiry of 9-11), I have been flooded with e-mails- supporting our efforts to find out the truth about what happened, and offering me additional information, beyond my own capacity to absorb.


Truth can be very powerful and transformative. I believe we are in a moment of great crisis and opportunity. If the truth of 9-11 reaches the consciousness of the American people, there is hope to change the government dramatically, to shift resources from deadly technologies to meeting the desperate needs of people and planet. I hope that my efforts will contribute towards peace, towards making the world safer and better for my children, and ALL children.