“They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace,
peace,’ when there is no peace”. Jeremiah 6:14
There are still those
who cry for peace, but their motives may not lead to that end, endangering
a realistic chance for peace.
Observing those who gathered for “peace”
in Washington, D.C., one is struck by the numbers. Even though the
numbers are usually magnified by reporters on the size of the protests,
to see with one’s own eyes the mass of people turning out leads to
wondering just who these people are.
After having kept tabs on the
protests, I can tell you that they are mostly the SAME people who
gather time after time. Many of the groups represented were in protest
against the Vietnam War. They feel their tactics were successful in
stopping that war. They will use those tactics as long as they feel
some success. A second question that comes to mind is “How can they
afford to attend these gatherings? Don’t they have jobs? “ The answer
is…..yes, no, and maybe.
Many are students who show up for local protests.
After being rabble-roused by some leftist professor, they show up,
many times with masks and hoods. Either they are ashamed of their
positions or afraid of being apprehended by the police.
A fair number
are oldtime hippies who are still protesting. They are middle aged
or older. The men wear their gray hair in pony tails, ala Ward Churchill.
The women wear their gray or graying hair parted in the middle. They
are easy to spot since they stand out in today’s society. Many are
retired. These are the veterans who are well experienced.
Some are
union members, urged on by their leadership to protest the party in
power, but they are especially glad to turn out to protest President
George Bush.
It is a good bet that many are working in some capacity
for the government and can take time off with ease. Teachers can be
found at these protests. There are religious figures, whose congregations
support them monetarily, although probably most in those congregations
haven’t the faintest idea that that is where their money is going.
There are ethnic groups.
In short, every disenchanted group who has
a beef with the government is there. Some of them do not even know
with whom they are demonstrating. These are not spontaneous demonstrations.
They are well planned and there is always a leader who keeps the whole
display going.
How do I know this? Inadvertently, a friend and I, when
we turned out to see a prominent politician, got stuck in the stream
of the protest. We decided to make it a learning process, and despite
our contrary signs, we received a lot of answers to our questions.
We learned who these people were and what they wanted. What they wanted
was not always the same thing. Some showed a visceral hatred of this
government and carried signs that said “Anarchy now”. Other signs
mocked the president and vice president. The American flag was held
in contempt and displayed rudely. An overriding theme was for peace
and justice and that is how these protests are presented. This attracts
many, not the least of which are religious who naively believe that
running down their government will somehow bring about peace and justice.
These gullible people used to be called “useful idiots” for supporting
the communist element in this country.
Although conventional wisdom
is that the communist threat has subsided, my strong hunch is that
communists and their sympathizers are in that stream of protest. In
fact, some communist front groups are listed as supporters in other
peace protests.
When peace marches are reported in the news, some of
the groups are identified. A representative march would include: American
Friends Service Committee, Americans United for Palestinian Rights,
Jews for Global Justice, NAACP, and the National Lawyers Guild. Also
included are those working for illegal immigration: CAUSA, Immigrant
Rights Coalition, and Adelanto Mujeres,
Also represented are the Green
Party, the National Organization for Women, the War Resisters League,
and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Campaign
for Peace With Cuba, Radical Women, the Rainbow Coalition and the
Socialist Party. This is only a partial list of who might show up.
Religious
groups would be represented by the United Church of Christ, Archdiocese’s
Office of Justice and Peace, Meeting of Friends (Quakers), Buddhist
Peace Fellowship, Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Society,
Unitarian Universalists, First Congregationalists, and Muslim Community,
In some marches other religions would be represented, also.
So, it
can be seen who goes to the demonstrations, those who are discontented
with the government. They join together in their discontent. At least
some of the well-intentioned know with whom they are marching, but
choose to ignore the connections. And so we see the spectacle of the
Sisters of Charity marching in lockstep with the Socialist Party,
National Lawyers Guild, and the National Organization for Women. Strange
bedfellows, strange marching partners.
These are the people who are
giving the president such a hard time. These are the people who are
encouraging Al-Jazeera, the newspaper, to trumpet their activities
and give encouragement to the enemy our servicemen and women must
face every day. This is the fifth column in our country, well intentioned
or not. It brings vividly to mind the old saying “The road to Hell
is paved with good intentions”.
Copyright © 2005 by Barbara Anderson
