Mendocino County anti-war protests

There were hundreds of people involved in protests against the war on Iraq in Mendocino County, California, yesterday (3/21), and over the last ten days. Here are two of yesterday's protests that I saw or got a report on.

About 30 students and others blocked off part of Ukiah Street in Mendocino village, waving anti-war signs, flashing the peace sign at drivers, and chanting and singing. There was an earlier gathering at Friendship Park in Mendocino. In Elk, about 15 people gathered in front of Queenie's Road House with anti-war signs, and hailed passing drivers.

Many Mendocino County residents had gone down to San Francisco yesterday to join the mass shutdown of "business as usual" in the highly successful closure of the SF Financial District and other parts of SF (40 major intersections, last I heard), and others in Mendocino are acting as support.

There have been many and protests in Mendocino County over the last week, including several demonstrations of 15 to 30 people along Highway I in Albion and in other places, demos in Ukiah, Fort Bragg, Comptche and Gualala--and many candleight vigils including the one I and about 25 others attended in Elk on Tuesday night at the community center (part of the rolling candlelight vigil worldwide).

Mendocino County has a total population of only about 80,000 people, scattered around rural areas. (Elk, pop. 250). Mendocino County is the only county in the US in which the County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution against the war on Iraq--as far as I know (along with hundreds of cities in the US).

There have been many thousands of small protests, like the ones in Mendocino County, in villages and towns across America, and around the world. Small or large--one person, or a hundred thousand--it doesn't matter. It's happening everywhere!

This worldwide peace movement is the most amazing thing that has ever happened in human history. It held off the US invasion of Iraq for over two months--and is now preventing "shock and awe."

If Bush Inc. had gone in two months ago, there would have been tens of thousands of deaths in the first days of the invasion. Official reports as of yesterday: about 20 deaths, 16 of them in a US/UK helicopter accident in Kuwait. There have probably been more deaths--possibly hundreds--and not even one death is acceptable in this illegal and immoral invasion. But there is no question that "shock and awe" (raining 3,000 missiles down on Baghdad, as threatened) has not yet occurred. Tens of thousands of peoples' lives--including the lives of many American soldiers--have likely been saved.

Why? Because: THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING!