Against the current

[Times photo: Jennifer Davis] The steering committee of People United for Peace meets to discuss plans for the rally this weekend. From left, Eric Rubin, Kristy Alagna, Natalie Judge, Bonnie Agan, Sharon Russ and the Rev. Bruce Wright.

By TOM ZUCCO, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 11, 2001

Building a peace movement is not the most popular effort right now. But a group of activists in St. Petersburg say they cannot remain silent.

ST. PETERSBURG -- The loyal opposition -- a minister, an actor, an activist and a couple of moms -- has gathered in Eric Rubin's living room to plan its next move. There are a dozen more members -- college students, teachers, health care and office workers -- who couldn't get the time off to be here.

It's a tough spot they're in. They've heard the war drums and sensed the paranoia, and they're afraid of what's unfolding in Afghanistan. They're also apprehensive. They're preaching peace and tolerance at a time when America is at war.

But when you're trying to build a peace movement, as these people are, you have no other choice. To remain silent, they argue, would only further the injustice.

The steering committee of People United For Peace huddles with note pads and pens in Rubin's bayside bungalow on a sunny afternoon. The group, formed in the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is a coalition of labor and religious organizations, student groups and individuals who oppose war.

They say they are sickened by the attacks on New York and Washington.

But just as important, they say, it was a criminal act. A crime against humanity. Not an act of war.

That's why they're planning one of the first major rallies for peace in the Tampa Bay area since the terrorist attacks and America's response. (A Sept. 23 march on St. Petersburg City Hall, organized by activist and former mayoral candidate Omali Yeshitela, drew 120 people.) The Peace Picnic is scheduled for 2-6 p.m. Sunday at North Shore Park in St. Petersburg.

[Times photo: Jennifer Davis] “I’m amazed at the number of people who are willing to accept collateral damage,” says Bonnie Agan, a St. Petersburg actor.

No one is sure what will happen or how many people will show up.

But they are sure of one thing.

They have to do this.

"I was in New York the week of the attacks, and it was very solemn," says committee member Bonnie Agan, a St. Petersburg actor who was an antiwar activist during the Vietnam War and moved on to support other causes, including women's rights. "But when I got back here, I heard this big drum beat for war. I was so horrified.

"It was as if it were a football game.

"I'm amazed at the number of people who are willing to accept collateral damage."

Rubin, seated next to her, nods in agreement. "The terrorists considered the people in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as collateral damage, too," he says.

From where he sits, Rubin, a former marketing executive who is now a full-time organizer and a leader of the peace movement, has a breathtaking view of Tampa Bay. But he notes that an Army Reserve training center is just down the street. And that if you look hard enough, you can see MacDill Air Force Base on the horizon.

"Ironic, isn't it?"

The committee is an unlikely collection of people. Natalie Judge, a 38-year-old stay-at-home mom, has never been an activist, never carried a sign or marched down a street.

"I've coasted through life," she says. "I've been very fortunate.

"But the day after the attacks, I sat down and felt so sad and I was crying. So I wrote my (7-year-old) son a letter and tried to say I was sorry.

[Times photo: Cherie Diez] “War, with a so-called humanitarian face, is still war,” says Eric Rubin, a former marketing executive who is now a full-time organizer.

"It's not that I can change anything, but I have a voice. And I didn't do enough to speak out against injustice in the past. I wrote him that I was so sad the world has come to this.

"That's when I realized I've got to do something because I have a voice."

Committee members say that advocating peace and living in the South is not always easy. And after Sept. 11, standing up for peace became even more unpopular.

"But if it (a peace rally) can play here, it can play anywhere," says the Rev. Bruce Wright, pastor/director of the Refuge, an organization that ministers to the homeless and working poor in St. Petersburg. "I think much of the fervor is fueled by hurt and pain, not a real, honest desire to go to war. I was angry the day it happened, too. I have family in New York and Washington and hadn't heard from them. (They were okay.)

"But the opinion polls were taken at the height of everyone's pain, and whenever you go to someone after they've experienced a personal tragedy, it's difficult for them to think objectively."

The support continued after this week's U.S. airstrikes. In an ABC-Washington Post poll, seven in 10 said they support President Bush's call for entering a broad war against terrorism and not limiting it to those behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

Wright and the others advocate finding those responsible for the terrorist hijackings and bringing them to trial before a world court, somewhat like the fate that befell former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. They also want to examine how and why terrorist organizations are born and flourish.

"We need to look at resolving the poverty and pain in the Middle East," Wright says, "and the conditions that create this terrorism, this insanity.

"I think there are a lot of other people who are starting to feel the same way."

The tricky question for those on both sides is who is the enemy? Osama bin Laden? The al-Qaida network? The Taliban regime?

"Those responsible should be brought to justice," Rubin says. "You have to make a distinction between the people of the country and the political structure of the country.

"Should people pay for the crimes of their leaders?" he asks.

"We've seen millions of innocent people become refugees, and the reality is the standard aid going in to the refugees has been stopped by these attacks.

"War, with a so-called humanitarian face, is still war."

As for the question of justice, committee member Sharon Russ, a single mom who raised three sons in St. Petersburg, wants that, too. Here in America.

"If we can't have social justice here in America, why go and fight for it over there?" she asks. "I'm not unpatriotic. But I'm against violence, and we're in a war every day right here in south St. Petersburg."

She also worries about her sons, who are in their early 20s and in college. She safely led them through the briar patch of childhood, and now they are of prime draft age.

"The African-American community can't afford to lose any more young men," she says. "Or for that matter, any young men from any community."

The group also plans to raise awareness regarding stereotyping, particularly of Muslims and those of Middle Eastern decent. With help from the Tampa Bay Action Group, a consortium of various church and activist organizations, the group has established a hotline to serve the Arab and Muslim communities.

"We're starting to see the criminalization of a whole society (Arabs and those of the Muslim faith)," Rubin says. "It's interesting to note that historically, women were seen as criminals during the suffrage movement, blacks were criminals during the civil rights movement, labor when it tried to organize, and Asians during World War II."

The committee says there will be music and food at Sunday's event. But it won't be Lafayette Park, circa 1969.

"We're not a bunch of hippies," Judge says.

But there will be people from religious groups, labor unions and every university in Tampa and St. Petersburg, as well as several high schools. The Professors for Peace will be there, as will the Pastors for Peace.

"I hope there are hordes and hordes of people," Judge says. "So often you end up preaching to the choir. The problem is reaching the people who feel a different way or aren't sure.

"We really believe there is a wider audience who feels pretty much the same way we do but don't feel comfortable speaking about it."

At a glance

People United for Peace will hold the Peace Picnic from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at North Shore Park in St. Petersburg. The event is free and open to everyone. For more information, call (727) 896-8224 or e-mail PeopleUnitedForPeace@yahoogroups.com.

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