WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul
By Anita Weier
July 27 2008
The Capitol Times
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Helene Hedberg is marching through much of Wisconsin to oppose the Iraq war.
But first she had to fly to Chicago — from Sweden.
Hedberg helps Iraqi refugee children in Stockholm and got to know march organizer Kathy Kelly during a human rights conference in Sweden. So when she heard from Kelly that Voices for Creative Nonviolence was organizing a march from Chicago to St. Paul, Minn., to arrive Aug. 31 in time for the Republican National Convention, Hedberg decided she had to participate.
“This has a lot to do with my work,” said Hedberg, who is studying in a human rights program at Stockholm University and working at an after-school center.
“There are 90,000 refugees from Iraq in Sweden, the most after Syria and Jordan. I work with about 60 kids who have been very much affected by the war. Often one of their parents was injured in the war, and even though the children are in a safe country, some are afraid and others are angry and express their anger with violence.”
The Witness Against War march includes about a dozen regulars who are marching most of the 450 miles, as well as many others who walk segments. The marchers straggled into Cottage Grove on Saturday afternoon in twos and threes, some limping and others walking pretty slowly, after their trek from Lake Mills. They stayed Saturday night with friends and neighbors of Cottage Grove residents Dennis and Karen Coyier and on Sunday were marching on to Madison, where they were hoping many people would join them in the walk or listen to what they have to say.
One of the marchers is Army veteran Paul Melling, 27, who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 in field artillery as a specialist E-4.
Melling, of Melrose, Minn., is a member of Iraq Veterans against the War.
“What we did in Iraq, I didn’t agree with most of it,” he said. “With harassment and interdiction, the fire was kind of random. While shooting up insurgent strongholds, we would hurt and kill children and other innocent people. I don’t feel we ever tried to win hearts and minds.”
Also participating in the walk is Alice Gerard, 51, of Grand Island, N.Y., a freelance writer who also knew Kelly, a longtime peace advocate who is co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
“I thought it would be a good idea to go,” she said. “I was getting pretty depressed about the war going on and on. I though this was a good way to say the violence has to cease. We are a good and kind people, and our foreign policy should match that.”
She had walked almost all the way so far, but got a ride the last few miles into Cottage Grove because of a cramp in her leg.
Mary Dean, 43, a physical therapist from Chicago, has been involved in the peace movement for a while and decided the march was something to do for peace.
“I think that’s how we will change things in this world — from the bottom up,” she said. “We cannot rely on our government to change things.”
Dan Pearson, 27, the organizer of the march, is a Wisconsin native who now lives in Chicago and is a co-coordinator for Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
The main objectives of the protest walk are to end the war in Iraq immediately and secure full finding for veterans’ initiatives, he said. The group also wants to see funding for reconstruction efforts in Iraq and the cancellation of debts owed by Saddam Hussein’s former regime.
Another objective is to prevent future deployment of the Wisconsin National Guard.
“We’d be asking that the Wisconsin Guard stay home,” said Pearson, who said he is in the antiwar movement because “I’ve come to understand that nobody wins in war. Though some people are making a tremendous profit they are not really winning, because there is no justice behind it.”
On Sunday morning they marched to Olbrich Park from 2866 Alydar Way in Cottage Grove. Later on Sunday, the walkers and community activists spoke at St. Bernard Church at 2450 Atwood Ave. Kelly, who was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was among the speakers.
The walkers also will take part in a Day of Action on Monday by participating in the regular noon peace vigil at the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Doty Street. They then plan to deliver a letter to the governor asking that he do what he can to prevent the Guard’s deployment.
They will depart on Tuesday morning from the corner of Webster and Main, heading for Waunakee, where a conversation about the war will take place from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Village Park.
From there, the group goes on to Sauk City.
A map and schedule are available at www.vcnv.org.
