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| November 10, 2006 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth Eleven in the Rain
Eleven of us huddled on the black, glistening street, pressing against the rain. My soggy cardboard sign said “No More Blood for Oil”, and I stood in the median. Drivers peered through foggy windows as their tires splashed and shushed me. When a gust blew, my sign folded. The strong wind hurled Susan, a longtime Ketchikan activist, onto soft ground as it filled a blue banner she held. I gave another sign, “Iraq When Will It End?”, to a protester in a rubber raincoat. There were a few candles, someone rang a bell, and a dog shook itself in the rain. Two high school students, studiously aloof under ball caps, joined us, hands in their pockets. A woman came across the street. “George Washington was a terrorist”, she proclaimed. The rain ticked against the hood of my jacket. Washington also used symbolic violence to achieve political goals. She stood with us for a while then walked on. “I love you all,” she called as she departed. I had neglected to call the local press, a five-minute call to a reporter, so no one was there to broadcast the demonstration. But a woman with an injured foot let me hold her dog’s leash as she hobbled back to her car for her camera. The night before, I laid on the couch listening a This American Life story on public radio about the researcher who wrote the Lancet report finding that about 650,000 Iraqi civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the violence of the war. These are brutal deaths caused mainly by U.S. fire. Whole families, figuratively and literally, torn apart. Think about it. A woman once told me how long it’s taken for her to find a balance in her life after her son was killed in a car accident. Years and years of grief that is just beginning to reconcile itself in the idea that he lived a full lifetime at 18 years old, his is a star that burned bright for its time. So how do you not hate a nation that is at fault for the clogged sink of your despair? How do you forgive the source of a dirty well of pain that extends from family to family to family across Iraq, to Afghanistan, to East Timor, Latin America, and Africa? For those still sloshing in the pit of despair, for those whose sons were taken away at high school by flashy recruiters, a young man stripped of dignity by grades that are really labels, who goes to stand in sandy camo on a hot street until a sniper gets lucky ... for him, and for them all, the least you can do is hold a sign. A friend at school told me instead of marching with us, he would go home and light a candle in honor of the day. But nobody would see him. Nobody would care. On a street corner in Ketchikan’s November, eleven people huddled in the rain. It’s the least we can do. And that’s usually all.  Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist, and is the winner of the Alaska Press Club's 2006 'Best Columnist' award. He resides in an undisclosed location in rural Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. 'Red Alert' appears on insurgent49.com every Wednesday. |
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November 3, 2006 October 27, 2006 October 20, 2006 October 13, 2006 October 6, 2006 September 29, 2006 September 22, 2006 September 15, 2006 September 8, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 25, 2006 August 18, 2006 August 11, 2006 August 4, 2006 July 28, 2006 July 21, 2006 July 14, 2006 June 30, 2006 June 23, 2006 June 16, 2006 June 9, 2006 June 2, 2006 May 26, 2006 May 12, 2006 May 5, 2006 April 28, 2006 April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 29, 2005 April 21, 2005 |
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Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
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