On October 12, roughly 200 peace activists gathered at Ithaca's Farmers Market for a speech given by Christopher Columbus, who arrived by boat with "his buddy" George Bush. He unrolled a scroll made with tissue paper rolls and declared that he had come to "plunger" this land, holding a toilet plunger up in the air. Christopher Columbus efforts to claim the new land in 1492 parallels Bush's continued efforts to "conquer" our world today.Originally the march was planned to address the issue of American militarization of Outer Space. One speaker explained that Star Wars is partially deployed. He stated that unmanned bombers and missiles were guided from satelites in space. These same weapons systems will be used against Iraq should an invasion of Iraq take place. Other speakers said that ironically,history repeats itself, so Ithacans gathered on this day not only to reflect on history, but to address issues of the present day; notably, Bush's aim to wage war on Iraq and the militarization of space.
After Columbus' speech, a parade was led out of the Market destined for the Ithaca Commons, as people sang and chanted for peace. As the parade marched through the Northside neighborhood, many people were seen leaving their homes to join the march as it passed by. By the time the parade reached the Commons it had grown to roughly 300 people, roughly double the number seen at last Saturday's "die-in" demonstration, where several dozen peace activists "played dead" on the Commons.
This overwhelming public opposition to stop war in Ithaca comes to no suprise to many of us, since the Ithaca Common Council unanimously passed a resolution last Wednesday (Oct 9th) asking New York's representatives not to authorize the use of military force against Iraq. Several reports indicate that this meeting of Council members was in response to "hundreds" of calls and petition signatures from their constituents in support of this resolution.
Ithacans continue to show their support for anti-war efforts as in the past and from seeing the high number of participants in today's event, we can expect great turnouts in the future.
Source: Ithaca Independent Media Center
