Protesters
urge city for resolution
By Toby Lewis
On-line Forty-Niner
About
200 people are expected to show up and march
in a peace rally Saturday in protest of
the preemptive strike on Iraq that is being
proposed by the Bush Administration.
Protesters will be carrying with them a
petition addressed to the Long Beach City
Council in an attempt to get the city of
Long Beach to join other cities around the
nation in passing an anti-war resolution.
“We are having a petition campaign to ask
the city council to pass an anti-war resolution,”
said Eugene Ruyle, professor of anthropology
at Cal State Long Beach and founder of the
Long Beach Area Peace Network, the primary
sponsor of the march.
The rally is part of a worldwide campaign
in which cities around the world will be
staging protests Saturday against the proposed
war in Iraq, Ruyle said.
Protests are scheduled in cities including
Manila, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Stockholm,
Belfast, London and Paris, Ruyle said.
“It’s going to be a pretty big thing worldwide
and we are marching in solidarity with that,”
Ruyle said.
“We want to give people in Long Beach a
chance to participate,” Ruyle said. “The
Long Beach Area Peace Network has always
been about bringing peace to our neighborhoods.”
So far, 79 cities in the United States,
the Maine State Senate and the Hawaii House
of Representatives, have passed resolutions
in support of a peaceful resolution to the
problem in Iraq and against a preemptive
strike.
The proposed resolution states that a war
in Iraq will cost $200 billion, taking money
away from federal funding for education,
health care, job training and housing.
Proponents of the resolution say that a
preemptive strike in Iraq would destabilize
the Middle East region and could increase
the threat of terrorism as well as cause
unnecessary civilian deaths.
“All these young people are going off to
war and are going to end up being cannon
fodder,” said Sharon Cotrell, one of the
organizers of the protest.
Among the speakers scheduled to speak at
the rally is Long Beach City Council member
Tonia Reyes-Uranga.
“Are we opposed to the war, yes, because
we are looking for a peaceful resolution.
We are concerned about a rush to war,” said
Ray Pok, chief of staff to Uranga.
“We are trying to draft a resolution [for
the city to adopt] that doesn’t directly
oppose the war but that strives for a peaceful
resolution,” Pok said.
Other speakers scheduled are Eduarta Schwartzbach,
professor of Chicano-Latino Studies at Cal
State Long Beach, Tom Hennessy of the Press
Telegram and Ray Cordova, a highly placed
member of the Democratic Party.
Protesters will gather at the corner of
Broadway and Promenade and will march for
about one mile to the rally at Lincoln Park
in front of city hall, Ruyle said.
Police will be on hand to help the protest
and rally be conducted in a peaceful manner.
“We
want to provide an opportunity for a safe
march,” said Officer Gregory Schirmer of
the Long Beach Police Department.
Several motor officers will be on hand to
ensure the protesters have a safe march,
Schirmer said.
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