SAN FRANCISCO — The chilly fall evening couldn’t keep people away. Neither could the rain or wind. It was too important for the activists who had gathered in front of senior Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s office in central San Francisco on Monday evening to protest against calls to bomb Syria. “Don’t Bomb Syria” placards were on display as passersby honked in approval and waved as the spirit of peace spread throughout the gathering.
Monday was a national day of protest against President Barack Obama’s calls for an attack against Syria following a UN report that suggested the Bashar al-Assad regime deployed sarin gas on civilian populations, killing over 1,000 in a single incident. The report left Obama and much of the international community clamoring for an adequate response. For Obama, that has meant churning the wheels of war once again. But Americans are beginning to say “no.”
Speakers outside Pelosi’s base spoke about the need to avoid further bloodshed in the civil war that has already left some 100,000 people dead and around 2 million displaced in refugee camps across the region, including in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey.
“It is time we move and stop this apathy toward violence in our name as Americans,” said Zanna, a woman in her 60s. She told Occupy.com that she has been urging Americans to protest against war for decades, after arriving in San Francisco in the mid-1970s at the peak of the anti-war movement. Now more than ever, she believes, Americans can have their voices heard and can speak directly to elected officials to tell them no more violence “in our name.”
“I find it difficult to live in this country because we have so many people who just aren’t aware of the outside world and when we speak out they wave us on as if we are outsiders in our own land,” she said, adding that she and a group of women were planning to mount a civil disobedience campaign on Wednesday to show that even a handful of people can make a statement. “It is about changing the landscape we live in and [creating] a society that will support peace instead of war.”
The San Francisco protesters were not alone, as demonstrations took off Monday in a unified call against war. Across the country — from New York and Washington, DC, to Seattle, Los Angeles and elsewhere — Americans took to the streets to support peace and diplomacy. The protesters make it clear that they understand the horrors of violence occurring in Syria and the ongoing destruction being wrought by the country's civil war, which is now well into its third year.
But they are adamant that American bombing will do little to stem the flow of blood in the country.
“90,000 women and children are displaced in refugee camps along the Syrian-Jordanian border,” said Dorothy Santos of the Association of Filipina Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-feudalization & Marginalization (AF3IRM), as she began a short talk to the San Francisco crowd of around 150.
“We have read the reports that over 40 percent of the rapes are gang-rapes used to destroy Syrian families, to destroy the spirit of rebellion. We have heard in nearly every account, how as women, and young girls are raped, militia men shout ‘you want freedom?’ and 'this is what you get when you want freedom.'"
Santos talked to Occupy.com following the protests, as activists started to move toward the bustling Embarcadero area and merge with hundreds more who were calling against another American “intervention” in the Middle East. “It is time we all join together and really tell Americans that bombing is not an answer," she said, that "it will just lead to more deaths and killing.”
But there was a hint of support for the Obama bombing campaign, coming from an unlikely group: Syrian-Americans. Ramy Beloumi told the audience that inaction is the worst type of protest, and argued that America must do something to stop the carnage.
“My parents are Syrian. We all know someone who has been killed by Assad and his military, so by doing nothing we are allowing this man to continue to murder," Beloumi said.
"It is time for America to help and assist the Syrian people,” he added, though he stopped short of calling outright for a bombing campaign. Instead, he urged protesters to help those in need, like the refugees who continue to struggle in camps that are overcrowded, poorly managed and under-resourced.
“Don’t just call for nothing, do something,” he said.
Others gathered outside Pelosi’s office called their representative a “hypocrite” for supporting the Obama administration's war effort. Mark, a 43-year-old accountant, said he believes that by going to war, America is again sending the wrong message to the world.
“I don’t believe that violence and bombing will do anything to stop the violence and killing that is going on. I think it tells the world that America just does what it wants, when we want, and we don’t listen to our own people or others. That is imperialism and that is why I am here,” he told Occupy.com.
While Americans wait impatiently to see whether Congress will give Obama authorization for military action in Syria, the voices against such a move are growing and becoming more forceful. For Zanna, the act of making a statement and keeping the conversation going is vital to creating a culture of peace in America — and ending the cycle of violence created by America since September 11, 2001.
“Americans need to know what is happening. We need to educate and detail what happens when bombs are dropped on people: death. That is why I urge all people, especially the youth, to take their concerns to the streets," she said.
"If we say nothing, we are doing nothing.”
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