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Greens Join Procession of Coffins on Veterans Day
Huge Crowd Turnout at Arlington West - Santa Monica for 2nd Straight Year to Protest War in Iraq
By Byron DeLear, Los Angeles
SANTA MONICA - Early Saturday morning about 300 peace activists gathered on Santa Monica Beach to make an incredible visual statement about the human costs of war. One hundred life sized flag-draped coffins were laid out in rows adjacent to the Arlington West Memorial of 2000+ crosses on Santa Monica Beach. Each grave marker representing a US casualty in Iraq. There were various Green Party members from all over Southern California showing their support and participating in this special anti-war demonstration on Veteran's Day: including San Fernando and Los Angeles Greens, Ceil Sorenson, Linda Piera-Avila, Lisa Taylor, Sasha Karlik, Perias Pillay, Amy Marshak, Maricela Guzman, LGBT Green Shane Que Hee, and Orange County GP Congressional Candidate Tom Lash and myself, Congressional Candidate in the 28th district, Byron De Lear. (DelearforCongress.org )
After assembling on the beach, hundreds of pallbearers dressed in all black T-shirts saying, "2000 DEAD: HOW MANY MORE?" gently carried the flag-draped coffins and marched off the beach pier and turned north onto Ocean Blvd. This was such a great visual opportunity for independent media and documentary film makers to capture such a moving representation of the anti-war movement, and the entire procession had photographers moving in and out of the formation, buzzing about and recording the whole event. Cindy Sheehan gave a couple of interviews on location as well as other Goldstar families of fallen victims to the Iraqi war. (http://www.gsfp.org/ )
Film maker Mark Manning visited the site and marched before screening his new film that night entitled, "Caught in the Crossfire: The Untold Story of Fallujah". As a film project produced between Iraqi and American film makers, "Caught in the Crossfire" starkly shows the realities of how many innocent Iraqi civilians, women and children suffered and perished in the brutal all-out assault by US Forces on the city of Fallujah. Indeed, a small sign always posted at Arlington West states that if Iraqi victims had grave markers here, the cemetery would cover the entire beach.
The Arlington West Memorial Project has been lovingly built every Sunday by volunteers organized by the non-profit org Veteran's For Peace (VFP). First built on February 15th, 2004 with 540 crosses, the project at Santa Monica pier was inspired by other Veteran's for Peace memorials most notably Santa Barbara's Arlington West which began three months earlier. (http://www.veteransforpeace.org/ )
Instrumental in getting the Arlington West Memorial Project up and running over a year ago were Frank Dorrel, Peter Dudar, Sally Marr, Larry Alpert, Chuck Nixon, Jerry Rubin and everybody else at VFP. With its visual and visceral impact, this outlaying of grave markers has succeeded at exposing the anti-war effort to beach going visitors unaware of the peace movement or the massive losses of life due to the relentless Iraqi quagmire.
Peter Dudar and Sally Marr have produced a stirring documentary about the temporary cemetery that has been shown to students in schools all over America.
"They call them transfer tubes now..." said Peter Dudar in an interview on the Global Peace Network. Peter talks about one of the dirty secrets of this war: bringing US dead back from Iraq cloaked by dark of night and hidden away from any cameras or the media.
Dudar continues, "...you can hear the planes come in and this is where they offload our children secretly, and there are many parents in America now who are wondering, wait a minute, my child, my family just paid the highest price in this country and I know my child would like to be honored with a ceremony returning back from "protecting our Constitution" instead they're hidden. So this was one of the reasons for Arlington West to begin."
The ever-present activist Frank Dorrel, publisher of "Addicted To War", was distributing his new version in Spanish, "Adicto a la Guerra", in addition to the his compilation video, "What I've learned About US Foreign Policy" :a set of informative documentaries on one DVD exposing the secret wars our government has illegally conducted all over the world.
The procession of coffins paused at the Veterans Memorial at Palisades Park to lay four wreaths of flowers in front of pillars representing each branch of military service. It was here Vietnam Vet and anti-war activist Ron Kovic, gave a moving and impassioned plea to end once and for all this senseless bloodshed.
"There comes a time when the people have to speak up, to stop the violence... bring our troops home now, before any other needless lives are lost or shattered..."
Subject of Oliver Stone's Vietnam film "Born on the Fourth of July", Kovic has been speaking up for human rights and against violence for close to forty years from the confines of a wheelchair: his loss due to war. To see a champion like Mr. Kovic give and keep on giving to build a living community is so inspirational and so very humbling. The thought of Ron Kovic's tireless efforts over the years in the midst of his disability should put a waft into any peacemaker's sails. The truth that he sees and shares from what he's been through tenderly bites with his clarity of love and forgiveness.
We then heard from Santa Monica City Council member Kevin McKeown. He spoke on the need for a more
loving expression in government and that peacemaking can be realized through nonviolent social change. As he did at a Topanga Peace Alliance event earlier this year McKeown confirmed that we really need to appreciate how broad the support for our nonviolent and anti-war position is in our
society despite what we think we see on television.
Give Peace a Chance: San Fernando and Los Angeles Greens, turned out in great
numbers to support the Veteran’s Day Procession of Coffins at Arlington West In Santa
Monica. Over 2,000 crosses were put on the beach to honor the dead in Iraq.
Photo by Marcus Africanus
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