"Out of Afghanistan!" anti-war rally, 12 noon to 2pm

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Comment by Tony Nuspl on April 5, 2010 at 1:15pm

We had another successful anti-war demo this month, with attendees coming from as far away as Tahlequah and Vinita. At the end of the two hour peace vigil, one of our newer attendees suggested that we organize another two-hour shift, to continue the vigil from 2pm to 4pm. Any takers?

Also on the positive side, we were briefly visited by teenagers, passing through the intersection on foot. One group, ages 12 to 15 (guess), from Bishop Kelley H.S., told us that they thought our banner was "cool." Another group of girls, similar in age to the first, included a girl whose older brother had been sent to Afghanistan, and within 48 hours of his arrival in that far off country, was hit by shrapnel from a bomb. She said, considering the TPF group of activists on the corner with the "U.S. Out of Afghanistan" banner: "These people are smart."

Thanks again, Tulsans, for all the thumbs up, peace signs, "power to the people" hand signs, and honks in support, as you drove by. Now if only more of you would come join us on the line, hold a sign, and stand in solidarity with us.

This was Easter Weekend. We joined an international tradition of holding peace vigils on Easter, e.g. in Germany they're called
Ostermärsche, and they've been ongoing for 50 years.

According to AFP newswire, 5th April 2010:

BERLIN - THOUSANDS of pacifists demonstrated in Germany at the weekend as part of traditional 'Easter Marches' which this year focused on the country's unpopular military intervention in Afghanistan.

The demonstrations came after three German soldiers were killed in a Taleban ambush in Afghanistan late on Friday, after which German troops mistakenly killed six Afghan soldiers, according to authorities.

About 2,200 people demonstrated on Sunday in Berlin on a former Soviet military landing strip which for long was the focal point of the pacifists' campaign in Germany, organisers said.

Demonstrators also gathered in the western city of Cologne on Sunday, while on Saturday 1,200 pacifists marched in the southern city of Munich and 1,500 in Stuttgart in the southwest on the 50th anniversary of the 'Easter Marches'.

Most Germans are against their country's involvement in Afghanistan, where it has around 4,500 troops in a multinational Nato-led force helping to fight a Taleban-led insurgency.

The 'Easter Marches' were extremely popular during the Cold War years when around 300,000 people demonstrated annually against nuclear arms. -- AFP

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_51064...

According to Der Spiegel (German news source):

Peace Marches

Thousands of campaigners across Germany staged rallies against the Afghan mission over the weekend as part of the German peace movement's traditional "Easter march" demonstrations. Activists said the soldiers' deaths reinforced their concerns about the deployment, and reiterated their calls for an immediate withdrawal.

"The news this Easter reminds us of the often suppressed but brutal reality of the Afghanistan war and also of its hopelessness," Manfred Stenner, the head of the peace network Friedenskooperative, said in a statement from Bonn.

The Easter march movement's central office in Frankfurt said the government's "cynical and unwise" Afghanistan policy was to blame for the deaths, and called for the immediate withdrawal of German troops.

Germany has over 4,000 troops in Afghanistan and pledged in January to send an additional 500 troops,plus 350 soldiers as a "flexible reserve," and to double reconstruction aid as part of NATO's new strategy of fighting the Taliban insurgency. Germany has the third biggest contingent of foreign troops in Afghanistan after the US and Britain.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,687267,00.html

For more on the Network of the German Peace Movement, go to:
http://www.friedenskooperative.de/