Syracuse March and Rally Quilts

From: Betty Wood, Green Party of CortlandClick thumbnail for larger photo.The Cortland Community for Peace had about a dozen people there, many of them Greens. We featured the 5 quilts that I made that showed pictures and identification information about NYS military people who were killed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Liberation, uh, Freedom. Each photo and id was surrounded by 52 flags of either Afganistan or Iraq, to acknowledge that war has casualties on both sides, with the people of Iraq and Afganistan having many more casualties than the invaders. The American flags are as seen from the top of a flag draped coffin.The Syracuse March and Rally had about 2500 people from all over thestate. The speakers and music were inspiring. The march was severalblocks long. At the rally, the greatest ovation was for the IraqVeterans Against the War, the group that called for the action.There were many creative signs and some street theater. There were ahalf dozen or so tables. One artist used 4×8 particle board as canvasfor half a dozen paintings that used photos from the NY Times asinspiration. Each painting had a paragraph or two identifying theinspiration and the artist’s comments on it as a statement of the war.Many, many groups participated.The Cortland Community for Peace had about a dozen people there, many ofthem Greens. We featured the 5 quilts that I made that showed picturesand identification information about NYS military people who were killedas part of Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Liberation, uh,Freedom. Each photo and id was surrounded by 52 flags of eitherAfganistan or Iraq, to acknowledge that war has casualties on bothsides, with the people of Iraq and Afganistan having many morecasualties than the invaders. The American flags are as seen from thetop of a flag draped coffin. This, in fact, was the inspiration for theproject, i.e. when the flagged draped coffins of the returning dead weremade confidential and they became statistics. The quilts were very wellreceived with many people looking for neighbors or family members.Others just looked. Many photos were taken. I was interviewed byseveral reporters: 2 from Syracuse Post Standard, SU Daily Orange(student newspaper), Channel 3 TV, a Rochester student web site reporter(www.rocloop.com), and several SU journalism students. Others in thegroup were also interviewed (I have no details).Syracuse police were much in evidence during the march for trafficcontrol. Otherwise, they were out of sight. I saw no attempts atintimidation.It was a beautiful day and a successful march and rally.Congratulations to Jessica Maxwell and all those who worked with her fora job well done.