On Oct. 15, 1969, a nationwide protest called the Vietnam Moratorium was held. Millions of people in thousands of communities around the United States participated in what was up to that time the largest public protest in American history.
Students walked out from public schools. There were sit-ins at draft boards and induction centers and workplace "sickouts." There were public meetings, vigils, candlelight processions and church services. There were massive gatherings in major cities. In Boston, more than 100,000 gathered peacefully on Boston Common that day.
From every walk of life, people participated in any way they could with one goal in mind -- ending the war in Vietnam and bringing our soldiers home.
The Nixon administration pretended not to notice the events of Oct. 15. But they couldn't ignore what happened a month later, on Nov. 15, 1969, when nearly a million people streamed into Washington to protest the war.
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In the spirit of the original Vietnam Moratorium, today has been designated Iraq Moratorium Day. It is a day designated for locally organized opposition to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. It is the start of what the event's organizers hope will be a monthly event, on the third Friday of each month, until our troops leave Iraq. You can find more details about it at iraqmoratorium.org.
The above, noted by Kyle, is from The Brattleboro Reformer's "Voices must be raised together." Also noting the Iraq Moratorium is Zach who steers us to Joe Piasecki's "Pause for Peace" (Pasadena Weekly):
Friday marks the first Iraq Moratorium, a national effort by peace activists to engage the millions of Americans who are against the war but have not yet stood publicly to say so.
The idea is for everyone who opposes the continued occupation to do something -- anything -- on this day to express their views, explained Paul Krehbiel, a member of the national Iraq Moratorium Organizing Committee and a Pasadena resident.
That could be as simple as wearing a peace button or a black ribbon or armband, writing to your congressman or local newspaper (email kevinu@pasadenaweekly.com), or organizing your own small gathering and announcing it at www.iraqmoratorium.org.
"We don't see what we're doing as an alternative to other antiwar activities; we see it as adding to them. A lot of people don't feel comfortable marching in the street, so we needed to do more things to include more people," said Krehbiel. "Really, our goal is to reach out to the mainstream of society and encourage people to express their opposition to the war however they feel comfortable."
The Iraq Moratorium begins today. Meanwhile the cholera epidemic spreads in Iraq. From Andrew E. Kramer's "Cases of Cholera Reach Baghdad" (New York Times):
The first cases of cholera appeared in Baghdad on Thursday, in a sign the epidemic that has already sickened thousands in northern Iraq is now spreading more widely in a population made vulnerable by war to a normally preventable disease.
The World Health Organization and Iraqi Red Crescent Society reported two cases here and Iraqi television reported another case, in a 7-month-old baby, in Basra, far to the south.
Well into the article, you learn that the BBC is relocating their correspondents outside of Baghdad due to a threat or threats they have received. So much for the 'safer' Baghdad the White House keeps yammering on about. And note it is now "cases" -- two -- of the outbreak in Baghdad.
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