Feature Article February 5, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeMarch against war with Iraqby Jeff Green The first ever peace march in the history of the town of Perth drew a crowd of over 200 people on Saturday afternoon.
The march was one of the first
events sponsored by the Lanark County Peace Movement, a group of
individuals that have been meeting recently to discuss war-related
issues. Jim Ronson, a co-chair of the group, said of Saturdays
march, we as a group agreed we wanted to send a message of peace,
saying that war is not the answer. The march was a reaction to the
pending conflict between the United States and Iraq, and represented
an attempt to register the opinions of the people of Perth and the
surrounding area on the matter.
The march began at the public
swimming pool in Perth, and proceeded to Perth City Hall, where Nicola
Oddy led the crowd in singing peace songs.
The march was generally well-received by passers by, with many giving the thumbs up sign. Still, the prospect of war with Iraq and any potential Canadian involvement, does divide the community, and there were some passers-by who objected to the marchers.
The crowd then headed over to the Perth Public Library for some short speeches. One of the speakers, Susan Brown from Elphin, told that her brother had informed her that 50 US cities have passed resolutions against going to war with Iraq. These include Chicago and Detroit, among others. So the people of the United States are not all following the government line, even though the media is not getting the message out.
In a subsequent interview, Jim Ronson said our focus is on the people of Iraq and the soldiers of the United States. This war will lead to a humanitarian disaster. It will also lead to a refugee disaster that no country is capable of addressing.
Ronson points out that Iraq is a highly populated country, with around 6 million people living Baghdad itself. As well, Ronson claims the medical infrastructure of Iraq, after 10 years of UN sanctions, would fall apart as soon as a war took hold.
War is not going to solve problems, violence only leads to violence. It is always possible to step off the brink and carry out conflict resolution. It eventually worked between the U.S. and Russia, between the U.S. and China, even in Cyprus between Greece and Turkey. If the step of war is avoided, over time the conflict will pass and a humanitarian disaster will have been averted.
