New Generation Of Protesters Unites Against The War

[Hissyspit]

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/05/26/m1a_peace_0527.html

New generation of protesters unites against Iraq war



Jill Liberto joins a group of peace protesters which gathers every Saturday at the corner of Glades Rd. and St. Andrews Blvd. in suburban Boca Raton to speak against the war in Iraq. A larger than usual group of 60 or more showed up Saturday, May 24, 2008. The loose-knit gathering has been going on for five years now. (Chris Matula/The Post)

By STACEY SINGER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, May 26, 2008

They stand vigil close to traffic: a new generation of antiwar protesters, urging motorists to "Honk for peace," "Send the troops home now!" and "Invest in health care, not war!"

In West Palm Beach, they stand at Parker Avenue and Okeechobee Boulevard or at the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on Flagler Drive. In south Palm Beach County, they're at St. Andrews Boulevard and Glades Road in Boca Raton, and Old School Square in Delray Beach.

Some belong to organized political and religious groups such as Move On, the Greens and Pax Christi. Many drop by on their own, from no affiliation at all.

Unlike the teenage flower children of another war, these activists tend to be middle-aged parents and retirees, hoping to feel less alone, less powerless, in their opposition to the war in Iraq.

Each Saturday since August 2005 in Boca Raton, a dozen or more activists have stood during the noon hour near the Town Center mall.

They came together after a few members of the nearby Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton organized a candlelight vigil in support of Cindy Sheehan, the bereaved mother who demanded that President Bush explain why her son Casey, a soldier, had died in Iraq.

More than 200 people came to that first vigil and left their e-mail addresses, wanting to do more. The Boca Peace Corner was born.

'It gives people courage'

Susan Caruso organized the first vigil at a time when her youngest son was 19, and she simply felt empathy for Sheehan's loss.

Now, still protesting, she's a mother of a soldier. The irony tears at her.

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[patrice]

1. Wonderful!! Thanks for this hissyspit! I will tell my Street-corner Friends.

:hi:

[Peace Patriot]

2. Thanks for this post--and thanks to war protesters in FLA and everywhere! nt

[pacalo]

3. A hearty thumbs-up.