Freeway Vigil To Expand

For the past two weekends peace activists have lined freeway overpasses in Washington State with an anti-war message. There have been people on at least 20 overpasses along a 95-mile stretch of interstate from Seattle to the Canadian border. Those involved think that this action is very effective and are suggesting we take it nation-wide over the next three Saturdays (Dec. 28, Jan. 4 and 11) from 11 AM to 1 PM. Activists in Oregon have already begun to plan their participation in the action.

In order to make the message clear and avoid distracting the drivers the activists have used a consistent sign that says “No Iraq War.” Information on ordering the signs can be found at http://www.snowcoalition.org and http://www.boruckprinting.com/niw.html

Police have hassled activists at a few of the intersections but for the most part the police simply drive by the protestors. As far as we can determine there is nothing illegal about what the activists are doing. However, people involved are recommending that you not bring children to this action because of the possibility of police harassment and the difficulty of supervising them near traffic. We have at least one lawyer who has agreed to help and Nootka Rose affinity group is working on putting together legal resources. A more complete set of suggested guidelines will be available on the SNOW Coalition web-site soon.

More information about the vigil can be found at: http://www.nas.com/beddill/noiraqwar.html and an organizing page for Oregon can be found at: http://nrsst.net/i5action/

If you organize a vigil in your area please email bbaxter [at] openaccess.org so we can track participation.

Below are comments from this Saturday’s vigil:

"Last week , in 2 hours I got 101 honks and/or waves (middle-finger love-wiggles not counted.) Today, in 2 hours I got 254. One guy drove up onto the ramp ... he wanted to know "Who's behind you? I see you all over the place!!"... My feedback ... is "THIS IS BRILLIANT!!" Everybody probably already has this idea, but I definitely support trying to get the national organizations (MoveON, etc) to pick up on it and get people around the country to join in. It could be huge, cheap, positive publicity."
Chris

"Statistics-percentages about the same as last week - about 60%-70% nothing; those that did
honk/wave were 4:1 or 5:1 in favor and supportive.

I like the whole idea, too. It is cheap, safe and legal -- but more importantly is flexible and effective getting the message recognized. It is grass-roots. "
Marian

"We drove the gauntlet and noted 38 overpasses, 20 of which were covered, and counted a total of 84 people participating.

This act is highly visible to a high volume of people. Your willingness to be there rain or shine is a message in itself. Another thing we noted about this choice is that we are mostly on local access roads, very safe public places, where nobody can say we are blocking access or disturbing retail or any other businesses. The consistency is so powerful, including the sameness of the signs; drivers know what we are all about after one or two instances. As Ellen said, it's the kind of advertising money cannot buy....

At one overpass, a solitary person stood: her sign and her own stately presence made a powerful statement. At others, pairs of people or small groups.... children, parents, young folks and old farts. Their movement and interaction with drivers was very noticeable and fun."
Larry and Nancy

“I feel a great sense of urgency about preventing bombing of Iraq. If we can have people with anti war signs on most of the overpasses of all the interstates throughout the country, maybe Bush and his staff would get a different impression of how many people are opposed - and, certainly millions of American citizens would. I hope we can get someone with access to national peace, environmental and church offices to coordinate this effort.”
Bill H.

“We counted 6000 cars Southbound alone in the two hours we were there...That doesn't include the cars coming Northbound or cars with more than the driver or the number of cars coming across Sunset!!!…I am sure we will want to continue vigil in the weeks to come...Our message is very powerful and must be continued (nationally would be fantastic)!!!We must include the "silent majority" in our quest for peace in this world.”
Mary P.