Rally for Peace 2006

On March 19, 2006, the Western North Carolina Peace Coalition held a Rally for Peace. This was the third annual rally to mark the start of the Iraq war, and this followed large pre-war rallies in 2002 and 2003. Our theme for this Rally for Peace was "the wages of peace".

This rally was held at Pack Square in downtown Asheville. We had over twenty different groups doing tables at the rally, and they included NOW, Women in Black, Kindness Campaign, Mountain Greens, Veterans for Peace, and Department of Peace Campaign. We had even more sponsors, and they included Physicians for Social Responsibility and several local churches.

We had 450 stickers to pass out to attendees that said "End the Occupation of Iraq". These stickers were from the Progressive Democrats of America, and we handed out all of them shortly before the program started. But people kept coming, and we estimate that another 150-250 people came after the start of the program. We had an activist table for the Peace Coalition, with petitions to be signed and pre-made postcards to send to our elected officials. The postcards said "WAGE PEACE for a better world" on the front along with a peace dove and "I believe in peace and ask you to support an end to the war in Iraq" on the back. We had hundreds of postcards signed and returned to us for mailing.

Several of our speakers were ministers from local churches, including one who was a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Voices in the Wilderness. He was in Iraq in 2003. We had a speaker from the local Department of Peace campaign and several music acts. We had a couple of exhibits at the rally. One was five display boards of the names of Iraqi civilians killed by this war and another was a sculpture by DeWayne Barton. That sculpture spoke to the Iraq war and the Katrina disaster. It showed how we waste our money on destructive activities instead of helping our own people.

The very best part of our program was, in my opinion, the ending. We had a musical group called Pure Energy that consisted of two young men, with one playing bells and another playing the didgeridoo. The music was both inspiring and mystical. Along with that, two young women released their Peace Doves, which were trained homing pigeons. They were snow white, and they started by releasing two doves, then a few more, and then an entire box full of doves. The doves were trained to fly together in formation, and they formed two distinct groups that flew above us, dipping and gliding and circling around, as we listened to the magical music.

It was the most spiritual experience that I have ever experienced while attending a public event. It was both moving and hopeful, and this was a feeling shared by all who watched the doves and listened to the music. It was inspiring to see some young adults show such creative talent and energy into expressing their personal desires for peace.

It was awesome.

We did get some coverage in the local paper, but we did not feel it was an accurate portrayal of the Rally for Peace.

Also, the WNC Peace Coalition made flags to commemorate the casualties of the Iraq war, and they are now on display at Unitarian Universalist Church in Asheville. The picture above is a close up of the flags. We made 1,400 of them for the Iraqi civilians and 23 for the US military casualties. I don't have any good pictures of the Rally for Peace 2006.