Gathering for peace

Local peace vigils enter third year

Their numbers have ranged from one to over 100, but a core of local people committed to peace marked more than two years of weekly antiwar demonstrations on Saturday in Kalispell.

Jim Mahnke, a retired neurosurgeon, said the Kalispell gathering at Depot Park attracted about 60 people for the one-hour noon demonstration.

"We started two months before the war in Iraq," Mahnke said.

He said the Kalispell demonstration was loosely organized and featured musicians on guitar and accordion.

A similar demonstration billed as a peace gathering in Whitefish reportedly attracted more than 100 people at 10 a.m. Saturday. Ruth Neff, one of the concerned citizens, said that event was organized to generate ideas about building a more peaceful world."

"The concerned citizen group wanted to get positive ideas like how to get better benefits for the kids who are serving," she said.

She said people at the Whitefish gathering were urged to plant their signs in their yards to grow more interest in peace.

Neff said she noted a lot of participation by church leaders and members of their congregations in Whitefish. Other participants came from long distances through the blizzard to attend.

"Some people came from Eureka on that awful road," Neff said.

In Kalispell, Mahnke recalled that their early peace vigils were countered by a pro-war group across the street. Both groups carried flags, symbolizing their commitment to the United States.

"They (the pro-war demonstrators) only lasted a couple of weeks," Mahnke said.

Kalispell anti-war activists have kept a Saturday presence in Depot Park for 26 months with a half dozen or fewer people usually participating.

At the beginning, the reaction to their anti-war stance was about 50 percent in support and 50 percent against, but Mahnke said he has seen a marked shift in the response.

Now more motorists flash peace signs, wave and honk, and fewer shout obscenities and make rude gestures.

"It's overwhelmingly friendly," he said.

Mahnke said a few of the protesters describe themselves as pacifists, but more, like Mahnke, don't oppose war in all instances. He said he thought the action in Afghanistan was justified.

"But it was not very well done," he said.

Mahnke and others protesters take a different view of the subsequent action in Iraq. They question the motives of the current administration and Congress since Iraq had no direct connection to the 9/11 terrorists.

"We don't think this is a justifiable war," he said. "The administration's justifications for war have been discredited one by one."

According to Mahnke, peace activists see the war as "a commercial enterprise" more concerned with Middle East oil and gaining a military foothold with bases in Iraq. He points to numerous large military installations under construction there.

Mahnke doesn't believe that President Bush intends to withdraw troops from Iraq.

"Why is there no exit strategy?" he asks.

He said the Iraq war protesters encompass a range of people, including Christians, "but most are left-wing, secular, disobedient types," Mahnke said with a laugh.

Protesters also include a full range of ages from elderly to high school students. Peter Chapman, a Whitefish painter, said the demonstration there attracted a number of high school students.

He estimated that about a dozen people used a microphone at the peace rally to share their views of the war with the crowd.

"It was basically 11 against and one in favor of [the war]," he said.

A veteran of a few vigils, Chapman echoed many of Mahnke's sentiments about the Iraq war, calling it illegal. He added that people also spoke of the need to support the troops in Iraq even though they disagree with the military action.

Chapman also sees the anti-Iraq War movement growing.

"It's gaining momentum," he said.

He pointed to the turnout Saturday in the face of terrible weather. Chapman said more and more people question the cost of the war in the face of cuts in Amtrak and education funding and spiraling oil and medical costs.

"It's going to be like the Vietnam War," he said. "More and more people are sick of being lied to about the military-industrial complex."

Chapman said poor Americans are being sent by what he called "a lying coward" to "fight a rich man's oil war."

Both Chapman and Mahnke became peace activists during the Vietnam War. Chapman said that experience has fired others to protest this war.

"They see it happening again," he said.

Even if the Iraqi people form a successful democracy, Chapman said the end doesn't justify the means.

According to Mahnke, peace activists don't want to see the Iraqi people fail in their bid for freedom. He was happy to see the recent elections succeed.

"I think it was perfectly wonderful that they came off at all," he said. "It was a great step forward."

Chapman bristles when people holding opposing views on the Iraq war question the patriotism of peace activists.

"We consider ourselves patriots," he said. "We take a hard look at this country because we love this country."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com