Once again this Sunday I found myself in downtown Kalamazoo to photograph the
weekly antiwar protests. This time, however, I spent much of my time talking
with a woman is writing a book (more on that later) and so didn’t end up with
enough time to take the usual number of shots. As a result, many of these are
hard to see (there is actually quite a bit of traffic through this area at this
time of day so it’s a matter of waiting for lights to change, traffic to clear,
and then get close enough to take a decent shot without getting run over. Rinse,
wash, and repeat). As usual, though, you can download extremely hi-res versions
of all of these photos at the link given at the end of this article.
From left to right, starting with the woman holding the sign sidewsign sidewise
her sign reads “Bush/Cheney are guilty of using weapons of mass destruction.”
Next to her we have, “Violence begets violence,” which is an interesting
sentiment. Of course sometimes nonviolence begets violence as well. Not quite
sure what the point is there.
Continuing left we have a sign reading “Peace and Justice for the Palestinians.”
There are usually two or three Palestinian-related signs in the crowd every
Sunday, and who could blame them — an undemocratic state without a free press
that encourages terrorism vs. one of the rare legitimate democracies in the
Middle East. You know where the Left is going to come down in that debate.
Next we have, “Resist not evil with evil.” This is from Matthew 5:39,
except that most translations of the Bible don’t quite translate it this
way. Rather than being a call to not resist evil with evil means (which makes
sense), Matthew 5:39 is generally translated as a call to not resist evil period,
[38] Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth
for a tooth: [39] But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. [40] And
if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have
[thy] cloke also.
I’ve always thought this was one of the more goofier of the New Testament teachings.
A lot of Christian analyses of this passage really jumps through a lot of hoops
to try to argue that it does not entail pacifism.
Finally, we have a “Where are the weapons of mass destruction” sign.
As I told the woman I talked with, I never thought it made much sense to emphasize
the WMD argument which seems to have been done largely in the failed attempt
to obtain a second UN resolution. Maybe they’ll find WMD, maybe they won’t,
but it shouldn’t have been the focus of the pro-war argument.
The guy with the big white sign wansts to know if we’re “Liberators or
oppressors?” I wonder how these
folks would have answered questions about oppression in Iraq?
Next to him is a woman “Make love not war.” Why not make love and war?
Maybe we should “Wage Peace.” Well, that’s apparently the United
Nations view as well, and we all saw how well that worked in Rwanda.
Finally, “Bush Lies” and “Send our troops home!”
These are really hard to see (stupid digital camera metering).
On the far left, we have a person with a sign reading, “The rich start
wars, the poor get slaughtered.” The man with the fabric sign on two sticks
is proclaiming that “Violence is no solution.” Next to him, a man
is holding a sign reading, “Who has used weapons of mass destruction –
U.S.A.”
And next to him, “Instead of weapons invest in people of Israel &
Palestine.”
Note: As a public service, I’ve included all of the photographs I took of the protests on July 13, 2003 here. These are free to use for any purpose provided you credit me, Brian Carnell, as the photographer. Take them, edit them, republish them, whatever.