Diverse group gathers to protest war

The skies were serene and partially cloudy, but the street at 4100 Bigelow Blvd. in North… The skies were serene and partially cloudy, but the street at 4100 Bigelow Blvd. in North Oakland bristled with pent-up purpose and swelled from sidewalk to sidewalk.

About 1,000 protestors from across Pittsburgh flocked to the steps of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh around 1 p.m. on Saturday to join in a community anti-war march through the streets of Oakland in recognition of the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

The Thomas Merton Center’s anti-war committee organized the event in conjunction with 36 different Pittsburgh-based peace groups.

As protestors continued to funnel in from side streets, a series of speakers, including a spoken-word group, rallied the growing crowd from the Islamic Center’s steps with poetry and speeches criticizing what they saw as the Bush administration’s initial folly and more recent blunderings in Iraq.

The marchers came in all different hues – babies and baby boomers, anarchists and lawyers, Christians and Muslims – but with one message: U.S. troops should leave Iraq immediately.

The sheer variety of homemade-sign slogans spoke of their holders’ diversity. “Put ’em all in jail” read one, referring to the war’s principal architects, whose names danced around the fringes of the sign. “World Peace Through Inner Peace” and “Witches Against the War” read two more.

Richard Voelker, a retired second lieutenant in the Army, held a cardboard sign that said “Democratize the Dying, Restore the Draft.” He admitted that some of the other marchers sneered at his sign, but he held his ground.

“Everyone should have a chance to serve their country,” Voelker said.

The diversity of the groups represented was also highlighted when host John Clendaniel asked the speakers not to use profanity, as both the Pittsburgh Mennonite Church and the Islamic Center had complained about the earlier spoken-word group’s language.

But other disagreements were not so calmly resolved. During Iraqi War veteran Helen Gerhardt’s speech, a young man calling himself Reverend Stover began to cause trouble on the sidewalk in front of the microphone. Dressed in a tank top and gym shorts and toting a blue Gideon Bible, he was apparently upset over an earlier speaker’s use of the word evolution. Other participants tried to calm him down and pointed out that the speaker was using the word figuratively. But he was already too riled up.

“I’m not going to stand here and listen to people say that religion is not true,” Stover shouted. “I’m on fire for Christ.”

The youth began preaching to the crowd, at which time a disgruntled crowd member yelled, “If Jesus Christ has the power, [tell him to] send the power to Bush’s head and bring the troops back.”

When the crowd could not manage the defiant youth anymore, the police stepped in and arrested him for disorderly conduct.

The march got underway at 2 p.m. The marchers headed down Bigelow Boulevard and took a left onto Bayard Street, beating drums and chanting, “End the occupation, U.S. out of Iraq.”

With anti-war protests becoming commonplace in the last four years, some might think the energy for protest would have waned. But Therese Frankowsky of Pax Christi, a Catholic peace group, disagreed.

“No, the will to protest has not died down. I mean, look at all the groups that are represented here today,” Frankowsky said, pointing to the leagues of other banner-carrying organizations. The anti-war movement has actually been reinvigorated by the discovery of under funding at Walter Reed Medical Center, according to Frankowsky. “I think the recent disgust with veterans’ health care has become a new rallying cry.”

Daniel Fine of the Pittsburgh chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility agreed with Frankowsky’s seniments.

“To treat our own people [soldiers] this way is absolutely irresponsible and criminal,” Fine said, as he rounded the corner of Craig Street. He also viewed the war as an obstacle to a better domestic health care system. “If we weren’t wasting huge amounts of money [on the war], we would be able to spend more on health care.”

A group of local anarchists, sporting matching bandanas over their faces, had also joined the march, which grew close to 1,200 as it swept onto Fifth Avenue in the direction of Pitt. Ryan Williams, the group’s default leader, remained positive about the protest’s diverse participants.

“The one thing that does unify us is ending the war. [We] wouldn’t agree a lot with some of the other groups here, but what matters is that we can march together here today,” he said.

At the front of the march, Neil Santoriello Sr. held a sign that read “Bush Killed our Son.” Santoriello said 1st Lt. Santoriello Jr. had died in Khalidiya, Iraq, on Aug. 13, 2004. He had been a tank commander and was close to being promoted to captain at the time.

Since his son’s death, Santoriello has become a member of Military Families for Peace.

“I’m carrying out his mission,” he said, beaming with pride.

Other marchers were inclined to keep their organizations separate from their personal protests.

“An official endorsement of a position on the war would be disadvantageous since we represent many different diverse groups,” Tim Stevens of Pittsburgh’s Black Political Empowerment said. He explained that taking a stance on the war did not fit his organization’s mission statement, but many members of the Project had shown up individually.

The march circled around South Oakland, passing the Military Recruiting Station on Forbes Avenue, before ending on Bigelow Boulevard between the Cathedral of Learning and the William Pitt Union.

More speakers mounted another stage and exhorted the crowd to notice the war’s casualties beyond the death toll, such as the decay of public transportation, shrinking health care expenditures and educational funding.

David Meieran of the anti-war committee said that the focus on domestic issues was intentional.

“One decision that was made earlier on was to ground the war in systemic demands