Peace vigil marks two years in Iraq

A crowd of approximately 100 people gathered in downtown Harrisonburg at Court Square on Saturday night for a vigil reflecting on the two year mark of the U.S.-initiated war on Iraq.

The vigil was organized by members of Community Mennonite Church, Shalom Mennonite Church, members of the local Muslim community, a local interfaith group, and the Rising Up collective.

"We received a call from Ray [Hurst, pastor at Community], saying that it was about time for some public expression about the war and how long it's gone on," said organizer Earl Martin. "So Pat (Martin's wife) and I met with Ray, and some other people and organized this event."

Organizers and speakers used the vigil as an expression for their sentiments about the Iraq war and war in general. Earl Zimmerman, Bible professor at EMU, urged those attending the vigil to "Just say 'no' to war" and emphasized that we need the courage to do so for the sake of our children and future generations.

Patricia Martin, a staff person at EMU's Conflict Transformation Program, spoke on military spending. She distributed pennies among the crowd to show the proportions of spending in different sectors and illustrate that military spending is excessive when compared to spending on social programs and services such as education, veterans' benefits, and healthcare. She stressed that there are people in the US who are hurt and forgotten by current spending priorities.

A Veterans for Peace representative advocated for the abolition of war and made the claim that "government isn't spending for defense, they're spending for offense." He went on to say, "It's high time we are honest with ourselves and quit pretending that the world is our oyster."

An Iraqi JMU professor and poet, Kakahama Askari, followed the representative and read several poems in both Arabic and English that covered themes of recognizing humanity and embracing what is life-giving.

The vigil included a time of prayer led by members of the pastoral teams of Community Mennonite and Shalom Mennonite, asking for guidance for world leaders and for all people to recognize each other's humanity. A time of singing followed the prayer.

Organizers of the vigil encouraged those in attendance to socialize afterward and emphasized that it was a community event.

Following the vigil a JMU student read a speech claiming that the U.S. government was corrupt for allegedly torturing Iraqi insurgents. A minor incident occurred when a local man confronted the student and accused the student of not appreciating the freedoms U.S. citizens enjoy. Earl Martin intervened and began a discussion with the local man.

Two on-duty police officers and an auxiliary officer were on hand to provide security for the vigil.

"We're here to make sure peace and order are kept, and to make everyone secure," said Officer Shayne Brown. He said their goal was to keep traffic moving, make sure everything runs smoothly and keep interference at a minimum.