Room for a View > Profile in Peace
Peace Is Patriotic:
March in Washington, DC, Sat. Jan. 18th, 2003
photos and text by Lorna Tychostup

“Average Americans Against Bush’s War” read one sign.
“Sick & Tired of War Waged in Our Name” said another.

These photos represent only a minute sampling of the many faces that passed through my lens at the International answer (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) coalition Peace March in Washington, DC on Saturday, January 18. An estimated 350,000-500,000 demonstrators jammed a rally on the National Mall in front of the Capitol building to denounce the Bush administration’s plan to invade Iraq. In doing so they shattered the myth conjured by politicians, media lapdogs echoing Bush’s calls for war, and those who profit from war that there is a consensus of support in the United States for Bush’s war of aggression against Iraq.

“Real Americans Don’t Start Wars”
“War is Terror” “Illegitimate President, Bogus War”
“This Administration is Not Representing Us!”

We are not consenting, said the hundreds of thousands who, at the end of the rally, marched over two miles in subfreezing temperatures to continue the protest at the Washington Navy Yard.

“My Leader Embarrasses Me and Terrorizes Others”
“This War Won’t be an Episode of mash”
“Frodo Has Failed, Bush Has the Ring”
“Spread Hope Not Hate” “Weapons We Invented Haunt Us”
“We Are the True Majority” “Don’t Trade Our Sons For Oil”
“Blacks Refuse to be Cannon Fodder”

Our country’s mood has lightened since the first days of the post-9/11 pre-emptive peace movement when falling bodies and smoking rubble invoked fear and outrage among the majority of Americans.

“If Iraq’s Major Export Was Broccoli There Would Be No War”
“Bush For a Lawn Ornament!” “Draft the Rich”
“Draft Dodgers Should Not Start Wars”

People calling for peace in days immediately after the attack—I photographed thousands of them—were ignored by the media, accused of being unpatriotic, anti-American. They allowed their flag to be abducted by those who were blind with retributive rage. Or perhaps many of the peaceful simply handed their flags over. Flags which had lain useless and disregarded for so many years, their owners never having let go of the Vietnam era-spawned anger, among other war-related angers, which caused them to distance themselves from the symbol of our country.

On January 18 many carried our flag along with their love and pride in our great nation—a necessary reminder that the flag and the country still belong to “we” the “people”, a reminder that speaking out and questioning one’s government is the duty of all Americans.

“Peace Is Patriotic” “There is No Flag Large Enough to Cover
the Shame of Killing Innocent People”
“Don’t Make Me Ashamed of My Country My Home”
“I Love My Country—I Won’t Let This Happen”

A reminder that we Americans haven’t lost sight of our priorities.

“Save the Planet” “No War for Oil”
“Books Not Bombs—Use Taxes for Education”

On Febuary 15, massive demonstrations against the proposed war on Iraq are planned in New York City, around the us, and the world.

For information, call answer at (212) 633-6676, or www.international answer.org. Locally, the Phoenix Action Network is organizing a Fill the Train Campaign. Call 658-7348 for information.