Saturday, July 08, 2006

St Augustine Peace Demonstration May 2006

THE THIRD SATURDAY

It's hot. Under a brilliant blue sky, the 10 a.m. sun beats down on the Plaza de constitucion by the Ponce de Leon statue. Traffic builds as a small group, armedi with water, sunscreen, signs and banners sets up a table and takes up positions on the corners. It is the third Saturday of the month and the peace demonstration is on.

Since before the start of the Iraq "war", people have shown up to express their disapproval of the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq. Numbers have varied according to the passion and rhetoric of the month since the demonstrations began prior to March 2003. Sponsored by the People for Peace and Justice of St Augustine, the demonstrators have included local residents, college students, members of the Citizens in Action and even visiting tourists who saw notices in the paper. Often demonstrators even come down from Jacksonville in support of the group.

Stories of how people got here are as varied as their backgrounds. Some are activists from the sixties as evidenced by the huge yellow peace symbol dotted with florwers. Others come for personal reasons: family members who are serving, religious affiliation or moral outrage. One longtime demonstrator calmly announces that her teenage son will be going to Iraq next month. "He'll be celebrating his birthday there" she says, then falls silent for a moments, as the rest do, united in silent prayer for his safety and for her strength. Starting in his junior year in high school, her son was heavily recruited in high school and became convinced enlistment was the right thing to do.

Standing on corners, holding signs and waving to cars, the small group this day generally gets positive responses. Many drivers sound horns in response to "Honk for Peace" signs. Many others, including tourists on the trains, give thumbs up or peace signs. Carriage drivers and bicyclists yell "honk honk" in support.

It's harder when the light changes to red. Face to face with the stopped drivers, the reaction is an unknown. Many look away and some become abusive. "Get a job", "the sixties are over" and incredibly, "Remember 9-11" are yelled at the group. Some indulge in the familiar obscene gesture. For some reason, these dissenters are always white males.

But then there is the pale young woman stopped at the corner who speaks so softly it's unclear which stand she takes. She says she was married to her high school sweetheart for eighteen months. He died six months ago in Iraq. She tanks the two on the corner for what they are doing and now the words are hard as the heat and the honking and the waving and the shouting all distill down to this quiet, grateful woman's pain.

Soon it's noon and the groups starts packing up and heading home to family and the weekend. but they'll be back next month, and the next and the next for as long as it takes; for the mother, the young widow and all the others suffering and dying in this unjust "war".

They'll drag out the banners, the sunscreen, the water and the peace signs and stand on the corners and wave. They'll hear the support and take some abuse. They could use some help and have plenty of extra signs.

Every third Saturday, for as long as it takes.