October 26, Ann Arbor, Michigan--In spite of fog and 40-degree temperatures, 2500 people met in Ann Arbor, Michigan to express their opposition to the Bush plan to attack Iraq. A drum circle got the crowd tapping, stomping and lifting their signs to the rhythm. U.S. Rep. Lynn Rivers, a recent primary casualty when redistricting pitted her against John Dingell another popular local Dem, inspired the crowd to get involved, to speak up against aggression and to carry on Paul Wellstone’s fight for peace, justice, and liberal values.

The march stepped off at 10:30 a.m. and wound its way through the streets of Ann Arbor, past the University of Michigan football crowds, to the Diag – the heart of U of M’s campus and site of countless protests against the Vietnam war. In contrast to those earlier demonstrations, this one was organized by community groups including Ann Arbor Committee for Peace, Muslim Community Association, and the Ann Arbor chapter of the American Friends Service Committee.

For whatever reasons – the demographics of the student body, the failure of the media to report fully and accurately, the trend that makes university faculty preoccupied with obtaining tenure and politically apathetic – U of M is no longer the bastion of liberalism that it once was. Even more reason for individuals concerned about this country’s direction to get involved.

Speakers and musical groups on the Diag had a common message – we are the true patriots and we must build on the spirit and energy present at the rally: Form discussion groups, write letters, educate the people we know about the crimes and abuses that the Bush administration and their corporate masters are perpetrating on this country and this world. We must all become leaders now and take back our constitution, our democracy, our country.

A printed message distributed to the crowd included this Contingency Plan: "In the event that full-scale war breaks out in Iraq, meet at the Ann Arbor Federal Building at 6 PM on the day the war starts for a nonviolent demonstration."