WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul
By ALAN HAMARI
BrookfieldNOW
July 23, 2008
See reporter Alan Hamari’s video report of Witnesss Against War’s stop in Brookfield.
A walking protest against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan made a quick stop in Brookfield this week.
About a dozen members of Witness Against War 2008, a 450-mile journey from Chicago to St. Paul, Minn., trekked through Waukesha County on July 21 and 22, carrying banners and signs urging an end to U.S. conflicts in the Middle East.
Witness Against War is a project of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a Chicago-based group started in 2005 that promotes active nonviolent resistance to America’s wars. The walk started in Chicago on July 12 and will finish Aug. 31 in St. Paul ahead of the Republican National Convention, which starts Sept. 1.
Walkers share experiences
Walkers travel about 12 miles a day, stopping to hold “action days” filled with discussions and presentations about why the U.S. should withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, said Dan Pearson, a co-coordinator with the Coalition for Creative Nonviolence.
Pearson said the group holds Republicans and Democrats alike responsible for “waging and continuing to finance the war in Iraq.”
Many of the walkers have personal experience working or serving in Iraq or working with Iraqi refugees, said Pearson, who spent time living among Iraqi refugees in Syria in 2007.
“We come bearing witness to the ugliness of war,” he said. Church invites group to stop
The group’s stay in Brookfield included a presentation and question-and-answer session at Unitarian Universalist Church West on Monday night. Speakers included Paul Melling, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Helene Hedberg, a resident of Sweden who works with Iraqi immigrant youths in a Stockholm suburb.
Ann Heidkamp, a member of the church’s social action committee, said the idea to bring in the group this week started when Unitarian Universalist held a conference in spring to commemorate the anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.
Kathy Kelly, another co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence and a longtime activist, was a speaker at the event and told Heidkamp about the upcoming walk, and Heidkamp thought it would be appropriate to bring Kelly and the Witness Against War group back to the church when they came through the area again.
“Certainly in this area, they have a lot of support,” Heidkamp said. Passersby supportive
Heidkamp’s husband, Jim Gerber, walked with the group from Milwaukee to Brookfield on Monday. He said the reaction from passersby and motorists was generally positive during the five miles he spent walking with the group, with people honking and giving a thumbs up.
Gerber said talking to the walkers and hearing their stories was a valuable experience, not only for him, but for the few dozen people who attended the presentation Monday night.
“We looked at it as a real opportunity to bring some good people and a good cause to the western suburbs,” he said.
AT A GLANCE
Upcoming routes for the Witness Against War walk:
- July 24: Sullivan to Jefferson
- July 25: Jefferson to Lake Mills
- July 26: Lake Mills to Cottage Grove
- July 27: Cottage Grove to Madison
- July 29: Action Day in Madison
- July 30: Waunakee to Sauk City
- July 31: Sauk City to Devil’s Lake State Park
