March for Peace February 16, 2003 & March 26 2002 Embarcadero - Civic Center San Francisco I must admit it that I am quite satisfied with my life so far. I've run with the bulls in Spain, climbed the highest mountains of the Himalayas and Alps, scuba dived in the seas of Thailand, been to the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower, played in a rock concert, seen the Pope, the Dali Lama and Santa Claus even - (in a shopping mall once). If there is one splendor that has alluded me however, it is the act of attending a good ol' peace rally. I finally got my chance on October 26th, 2002 when 100,000 people marched from the Embarcadero to the Civic Center in downtown San Francisco. Accompanied by my roommates Deborah Nicholson and Neo J Marvin, as well as Kim Theurich and Rich Hubbard, we joined in the march against the US's attempt to wage war on Iraq. Lightening struck the same spot a second time on Sunday February 16th. With war looming right around the corner and now looking tragically inevitable : peacemakers all around the world took to the streets in a coalition that became the largest global anti-war movement ever. February 16, 2003 March 26 2002 Seeing that taking part in the making of history was just a 15 minute muni-ride away, Neo and I joined 200,000 rambunctious demontstrators downtown for the march. Amidst the adversity, signmakers kept their sense of humor, with signs like "Viva la France", "Drunk frat boy drives nation into a ditch, starts war to cover up", "A village in Texas has lost his idiot / And a village in England has found him!", "stop mad cowboys disease", "Liberate America and implement a democracy", "You can bomb the world to pieces but you can't bomb the world to peace", etc. Neo had his "We Want Our Country back" and there were costumes, flags, music as well as effigies and voodoo dolls of Bush and Blair. When we got to the Civic Center quad, there were musical performances by Joan Baez, Lien Finau, Elizabeth Padilla, as well as Bonnie Raitt, who sung renditions of "Freedom (You Got To Have)" as well as Steve Earle's "Jerusalem". To see the photos taken of either of the marches, click the photos above. Right: A rather blury look at the route we took. (scanned from the SF Chronicle) Questions or comments: E-mail me @ glennaldo_sf@hotmail.com Back To Travel: You Are Visitor #