Duluth residents, including veterans rally to bring the troops hom
Naomi Yaeger
November 17, 2006
The march began at the Rose Garden on London Road and ended at Portland Square with speeches from several speakers.
The crowd gathered at Portland Square on the 1000 block of East Fourth Street in Duluth. Immediately before the gathering at the square, over 150 of them had marched up Duluth’s East Hillside neighborhood. People stood in somber silence as a mother of a solider sung an old Irish song lamenting the death of loved ones killed in wars. They listened again with wet eyes and silence as a man, recently home from the Iraq war, Army National Guard Sgt. Daniel Fanning, said that the war and occupation of Iraq is not deterring terrorists but breeding them.
Fanning said the people of Iraq want what people everywhere want, access to clean water, medicine, electricity, food and education. He said the military can and should be used in the appropriate circumstances, like the situation in Chad and Darfur.
The rebuilding of Iraq would best be done with diplomacy and with the involvement of other nations which surround Iraq. “We can and we must work to end this occupation.” He said that no more soldiers should be asked to die. “Nobody else has to die for this mistake.”
His answer to people who say leaving Iraq would result in chaos is, “What do you think is happening now? The nation is already in chaos. Our presence is only fueling it.”
After his speech he was asked if he was worried because military members are not supposed to speak out. He reply was, “As a military person I’m not supposed to go to illegal wars either. I’m worried if we continue on the course we are on.” He said that when he enlisted, shortly after Sept. 11, he expected to be sent into combat. But that the Iraq war is a diversion from the real problem.
He served 12 months in the Middle-East, mostly in Iraq, also in Kuwait and Qatar.
His wife Tara said she is very proud of her husband and glad he is speaking out.
The anti-war and end-the-occupation march and rally was coordinated by the Northland Anti-War Coalition and sponsored by other interested groups including, AFSCME Local 66, Veterans for Peace, the Duluth Area Green Party, Lake Superior Greens, Socialist Action, Youth for Socialist Action and Progressive Action.
The rally started across the street from the old armory building at the Rose garden on the 1400 block of London Road. With a view of Lake Superior behind them, people marched up the sidewalks, zig-zagging their way to Portland Square between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues East of East Fourth Street. The path taken was a zig-zag because of the step hills in one of the older neighborhoods in Duluth. The crowd marched between the Plaza grocery store and the strip mall of businesses on the 1200 block of Superior Street. Many of the houses in the neighborhoods are large, stately structures built in the 1880 and 1890s and now converted into apartments.
Signs stating “Bring the Troops Home” and “End it, damn it.” were carried. Chants saying “End the Occupation Now,” and “Bring them home, bring them home, bring them home,” were shouted. People in cars honked their horns in approval.
One woman, Laura Teige, who had just finished grocery shopping, began to cheer and clap when she saw the people marching with their banners, American flags, and signs.
Teige said, “I feel bad for the people that died because their heart was in the right place. They trusted the president. The reasons for the war were misguided.”
A sophisticated looking woman in a white trench coat held a sign which stated, “A better world is possible.” Carol Franklin’s dress, posture, and demeanor made her seem younger than her years. She said she has been retired for many years, and she had come to this country in 1948 as a war bride. A fellow marcher asked if she was tired and wanted to turn back, and although winded from the uphill climb, she continued the march and spoke of her experience during a war which took place over 60 years ago.
She said, “Many, many years ago, I was in World War II. I know what war is like. This war is uncalled for.” She was a teenager in England during World War II. She remembers the raids and she remembers how she hated the Germans.
A German prisoner of war (POW) camp was near her town. She remembers the POWs walking by her home. She was furious when her grandfather gave a German prisoner a pair of shoes. How could her grandfather be nice to this man who had tried to kill English people?
Later, at a store in which the POWs were selling items they had made, she learned the man spoke English. He told Carol that he didn’t want to go to war and he didn’t want to hurt people. “I realized that this was a young man with the same fears that I have. I just realized that he was a human being.”
Franklin said, “We are creating terrorists. Look what is happening in England now. We used to live side by side.” She was referring the the millions of Muslims who emigrated from Pakistan to England.
While the majority of people walking by or driving cars gave shouts of support, not everyone was positive. On London Road, a least one person gave a thumbs-down. At the corner of Tenth Avenue East and East Fourth Street, (across from the Ski Hut and kiddy corner to Portland Square) a woman who looked to be in her twenties stood in stone silence with a scowl on her face while she held her young child’s hand. When asked if she cared to comment she defiantly said, “No.”
Adam Ritcher with the Northland Anti-War Coalition said this war protest brought out many new people. “I saw a lot of people I didn’t recognize. It’s encouraging to see new faces.
(Naomi is a freelance journalist and the editor of “The Hillsider,” a community paper in Duluth. To see more coverage of this event pick up a copy of “The Hillsider” or visit the American Chronicle’s website at http://www.americanchronicle.com . See more photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/sundogpress )
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