Posted on Mon, Mar. 21, 2005

Anti-war protesters

BANNERS DECRY MORE THAN IRAQ INVASION,
BLAST STANCE OF BUSH WHITE HOUSE

By Aaron C. Davis

Mercury News

Hundreds of protesters trudged through soggy downtown San Jose on Sunday, marking the second anniversary of the launch of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

A shared sense of outrage over the deaths of soldiers and civilians in Iraq seemed to unify the crowd. But hoisted banners blasting everything from President Bush's planned Social Security reform to his stands on the environment, China and Iran revealed more disparate criticism of the administration than anti-war protests of two years ago.

Many seemed unfazed by the march's many themes. ``It's all the same fight'' the crowd chanted as it spilled into Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

But others saw it differently. Competing interests, they said, were weakening the anti-war message. ``The revolution has been co-opted,'' quipped Stacey Stevenson of San Jose, looking at a crowd member handing out leaflets on Social Security. ``This is one of the tamest rallies I've ever been to.''

Sunday's event followed a larger gathering of about 25,000 in San Francisco on Saturday. Crowds also gathered in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Reno and Las Vegas over the weekend to protest the war.

About 100 marchers began the day at First Unitarian Church on Third Street for an interfaith prayer service for peace and justice while a larger group of 400 to 500 met at San Jose's Diridon Train Station -- many arriving on a ``peace train'' from the Peninsula.

In pouring rain that began about 1:30, the group set out for downtown, marching behind banners ranging from
``End the occupation of Iraq!'' to
``Stop U.S. Tax $$$ to Israel now!'' and
``No to U.S. aggression against Iran's national sovereignty.''

Making light of the weather, the group also chanted:
``It can rain. It can pour. We're gonna stop this bloody war.''

Dorothy Fadiman, a documentary filmmaker who said she's attended anti-war rallies in the Bay Area for 50 years, said many of the themes expressed Sunday still fell under a larger umbrella of anti-war philosophy, and the event was important for those inside and outside the movement.

``One of the things these rallies do is remind the community that we are not going to give up,'' she said. ``They also give the rest of us the strength to keep going in between these visible moments, to keep writing the letters, sending the money and making the speeches. It's not easy marching in the rain.''

Organizers from the Peninsula/South Bay Peace Council -- a coalition of more than 35 peace and justice organizations in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties that sponsored the event -- also said there was a natural nexus between the many themes in Sunday's march. If the money being spent on the war in Iraq were earmarked for Social Security and other domestic needs, the country would be better off, organizers said.

For all the competing themes Sunday, a united hush fell over the crowd when the event's keynote speaker, Nadia McCaffrey of Tracy, rose to the microphone. McCaffrey's 34-year-old son, Patrick McCaffrey, a National Guardsman, died in June in Iraq.

When her son's flag-draped coffin arrived back in the United States, McCaffrey defied President Bush's order that coffins not be photographed, inviting the media to witness the return and publish the photos.

``Patrick did not hide when he was called to Iraq,'' she said. ``The day he arrived in Sacramento, did you think I was going to hide him? No. I wanted everyone to see what was left of his beautiful, young life.

``When he died, my life stopped and I stood up and said no to this war. I will keep saying it.''

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The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Aaron Davis
at acdavis@mercurynews.com or (408) 275-0917.