Peace Rally in 2007

On March 24, 2007, the WNC Peace Coalition held a Peace Rally. The theme was “Building Peace”, and this was the 4^th Peace Rally to mark the start of the occupation of the country of Iraq by the US military and US government agents. The estimated number of people at the rally was 550, which is about the number we had last year. We estimated the number of attendees by handing out stickers that said “End the Occupation of Iraq”. These came from Progressive Democrats of America.

Overall, it was a successful rally. We had great weather, great speakers, and great music. However, I did not feel really good about this rally for two reasons: one, we had about the same number of people as last year and I was expecting more; and two, I felt that the Asheville Parks and Recreation department was hassling me. I don’t think they did this because of who I was or the group I was with, I think they just do this when they can so they can feel important. I guess they think it is their job. Give some little people a little bit of authority and they feel very self-important, I guess.

One of the things I had to do was contact the police and fire/EMS guy. It is really silly when you have a city official who asks you to draw the layout of the street in front of city hall so that the fire and police can find you in an emergency. If you know downtown Asheville at all, you would know that the police and fire department can walk outside their front doors and look to the right and see the street in front of city hall. Drawing them a map is an exercise in stupidity. And, if they really need a map to find the front of city hall, then god help us in a real emergency!

Asheville Parks and Recreation (the person of Janet Dack) had told me, from the very first phone call, that our costs to use the street in front of city hall would be $75. She made me come to visit her twice (I guess wasting time is a job priority for her), and on the second visit, Dack said that we would need a Building Safety Permit if we built risers higher than 8 inches. We decided against such risers. A week before the rally, someone from the Building Safety Department called and said our permit was now ready, we had to pay $75 to pick it up. I did not know what they were talking about, since we never had that before. I left a message saying that I was confused by the charge, but would come the following week and pay it and pick it up. I said that they should check with Dack at Asheville Parks and Recreation, since this seemed to be a duplicate charge. I received the Asheville Parks and Recreation permit in the mail just before that pick up day and thought the issue was settled. The night before the rally, she called me at 5:30 and said that we could not set up our “structures” at the rally and that we would have to call the whole rally off because we had not paid for the extra permit (which we never needed before). She would not say what “structures” were exactly, but implied that the shade tents would be considered “structures”.

Also, I and several other people who worked on this rally are really questioning if these type of activity is helping to end the occupation of Iraq. We are now at a point where the majority of Americans are against this occupation, yet our elected and selected officials still allow it to go on. Nothing has caused them to stop the occupation or even scale it back.

But, this is a report on what happened at our rally on March 24, 2007. We started the day with the news that the flat-bed truck we were planning on using as a stage had broken down. This meant we had to find some other way of getting the tables we need to the rally area. We did solve this problem (found someone else with a truck) and we had the performers and speakers just stand on the blacktop.

It was a beautiful day in Asheville, as it has always been at our rallies. We had alternating MCs - myself and Stack. We had a pre-rally drum circle. Our speakers included Robert Thomas (Department of Peace campaign), Errington Thompson (Author, Radio Host, Physicians for Social Responsibility), Emily M.(high school student), Rev. Sarah York (UU church), Don Richardson (Physicians for Social Responsibility, Common Sense at the Nuclear Crossroads), and Jimmy Massey (Iraq Veterans Against the War).

And music acts included Daniel Barber, Kuumba Zuweena and the Ancestral Ryhthm, Stack Kenny, Shawn Adinolsi and Pure Energy. We had a poet also, DeWayne Barton.

The Raging Grannies also did some songs, and they were likely the most popular part of the overall program. The Raging Grannies are mainly from Burnsville. We had a beautiful dove release at the very end.

The week after the rally, we were told that we had to pay an extra $75 to the Building Safety Department or we could not have any further rallies on public property. We were charged $25 for a "Level 1 Small Project, including: tents and temporary permits" under Zoning Permit Fees. And we were charged $50 for "Minimum Permit/Inspection Fee: Includes 1 to 2 Family electrical, mechanical, plumbing, storage tank installations, underground storage tank removal)." This was under Inspections Division Building Permit Fee. So, that is what the Building Safety Permit was all about - this year was the first we were charged for these items and the first year we needed a Building Safety Permit. We paid the fees, all for the sake of setting up a couple of tents and plugging in the sound system. The Peace Coalition is not pursuing any further action or communication on this.

I just have a chip on my shoulder. Which is why it took me so long to write this up. The picture above is thanks to David I., and I have downloaded all his pictures, but failed to save the link (sorry!). This post was written on June 23, 2007.