Washington Post, Dec. 2, 2002
Antiwar Effort Gains Momentum
Growing Peace Movement's Ranks Include Some Unlikely Allies
By Evelyn Nieves
Washington Post Staff Writer
AMHERST, Mass. -- The idea was hatched on a bright day in August, when
Daphne Reed was celebrating her daughter's and granddaughter's
birthdays, and the talk around the living room sofa turned to war.
Reed began worrying that her 25-year-old grandson, who spent four years
in the Coast Guard, might be called to serve if the United States were
to invade Iraq. Her family also wondered why the United States was
threatening to invade Iraq even before United Nations weapons
inspections began. And Reed fretted over the particular suffering that
would befall Iraqi women; their sons and husbands would be killed, she
said, and the women would be left in the rubble to fend off contaminated
water and starvation.
"I said that all mothers should automatically be against war," Reed
said. "It was against their nature to be violent instead of nurturing."
Maybe, she said, it was time to start a movement -- Mothers Against War.
Reed's response is just a tiny part of a growing peace movement that has
been gaining momentum and raises the possibility that there could be
much more dissent if U.S. bombs begin falling on Baghdad.
The retired Hampshire College drama teacher e-mailed about 15 parents in
her address book. Reed reached people such as Elaine Kenseth, whose five
children include a son she adopted from the killing fields of Cambodia.
Aileen O'Donnell, a veteran of the women's movement. Joanne and Roger
Lind, whose son was a Vietnam War conscientious objector. And Elizabeth
Verrill, who had never been involved in political causes. Before long,
Mothers Against War had 50 core members, and thousands of supporters
around the country and the world.
full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61647-2002Dec1.html
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