Peace Walk - from Camp Williams to Ft. McCoy

On Thursday morning august 6, 2009, we all got together at Monica’s house in Peoria and piled in two cars, all seven of us, to drive to Mill Bluff camp to participate in a peace walk. Others joined us from all over, including Canada, New York, Florida and Iowa. I probably was not the oldest, but Kasey, Monica’s son at 9 was the youngest peacemaker. Christopher, Tonya’s godson at 12 and Mohamed, the Iraqi refugge, at 16 were the next youngest walkers

Friday morning we started our three-day walk from Camp Williams, which is headquarters to the 32nd Brigade Combat Team of the Wisconsin National Guard. The 32nd BCT is currently deployed to Iraq, the largest combat deployment of the Wisconsin Guard since World War II.

On Sunday we arrived at our destination, Fort McCoy, which plays a key role in the mobilization of Army Guard and Army Reserve units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. The organizers of the walk had alerted the relevant authorities about our activities. They had closed the main gate and had put barriers near the road, which nine people crossed and were arrested promptly.

The purpose of the walk was to raise awareness about the wars still going on and to remember the bombing of Hiroshima. Several people read moving accounts of bombing and aftermath of the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Protesting at a street corner every week or getting together every so often is a great way to meet like-minded people, raise awareness and perhaps motivate other people. I often wonder, though, about the effectiveness of our protests. We put ourselves in harms way, get arrested suffer humiliations but nothing seems to change. The wars, the injustice, the torture go on unabated. What else can we do to more effective to bring about the change we so desperately want? Significant these two army camps may be symbolically, but folks there are not the decision makers.

Wisconsin people signed a petition, which if approved will give the governor power over federal order to deploy national guards. Local level may be where we can have some influence. What if all over the country we protest at our senator or representatives office on regular basis and present our point of view. If they don’t listen to us, come next election, we throw them out of office. Ultimate power is in our hands; all we need is to figure how to use it most effectively.

Friday it rained all day and all night. Our tents leaked and we were soaked out. Saturday night we stayed in a hotel in Tomah. At breakfast I met a woman and we started talking. I was very happy to tell her why I was there, when she asked me what brought me to Tomah. It was my turn to ask her. she was also from Illinois a place west of Rockford.

She was in Tomah for a family reunion. Then she told me about her son who was in the army and was going to be deployed to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. Upon my asking she told me the family believed in the mission in the mission but was not so sure now. She expressed some frustration at the government not telling the truth and didn’t quite believe that her son was serving his country by going to war in Afghanistan. He had already served two years in Iraq. When asked her what her son thought about it she replied: he rather be home. When I asked her what’s keeping him from doing what he wants to do she answered with one word: prison!

She told me they watch CNN and Fox News and her husband watches Rush Limbah. I tried to be gentle with her and told her to lookfor alternate media such as Democracy Now!

peace walk pix