Local News

Santa Barbara, Lompoc demonstrators attempt to silence war drums

2/16/03

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITERS

Antiwar protesters around the county joined millions of others across six continents Saturday in a global call for peace.

Several thousand people marched through downtown Santa Barbara and dozens marched in Santa Maria and Lompoc, vowing to keep up their protests even if the United States attacks Iraq.

"We'll march until there's peace," said Santa Barbara Mayor Marty Blum. "We have really made our opinions clear. ... I'm just proud of Santa Barbara; I really am," she told the crowd that packed De la Guerra Plaza for a rally following the march.

"This is not a game and it's not over," said Juan Campo, a professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies at UCSB. "Are we going to stop demonstrating when Bush and company take us into war?" he asked the Santa Barbara crowd.

"No!" protesters shouted back.

"We must continue marching to oblige our government to join the international community," Mr. Campo said. "We must march to hold our government accountable for their violence. ... We must march to make sure justice is universal. ... We must march for America now; march for the world now."

In the military-dependent city of Lompoc, peace protesters assembling 15 minutes before their scheduled march were outnumbered by other sign-bearers heralding a liquidation sale at the local Kmart.

Eventually, about 25 activists gathered and walked a two-mile route down the main drag of H Street. They toted a variety of homemade signs, including calls to "Honk for Peace" that, to their surprise, drew more honkers than hecklers. Some of the most vigorous horn-pushers' cars carried window stickers allowing access to Vandenberg Air Force Base.

In a pep talk before setting off, organizer Bing Aradanas put the Lompoc action in the broader context of marches in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, throughout the state, the nation and finally the world. The general goal, he said, is to craft "a peaceful, diplomatic resolution in Iraq."

"I've never felt so powerless about something," said Lompoc resident David Villalpando, a refrain taken up by his wife, Betsy. "The administration is not representing my viewpoint and that makes me mad," she said.

The couple came out with their 6-month-old son, Nathan, to publicize their viewpoint, although they were less than sanguine on how well the city closest to Vandenberg would hear the message.

"I don't know how much difference it will make," said Mr. Villalpando, "especially in this town."

He was interrupted as the driver of a pickup truck shouted, "Take care of Iraq now."

Chuckling at someone who clearly didn't want to "Honk for Peace," Mr. Villalpando added, "I'm the only person on my block that doesn't have a big American flag in my front yard."

He and Mrs. Villalpando both then looked at the big American flag he was carrying -- one with the 50 stars replaced by a peace sign -- and added "Except for this one."

Mr. Aradanas represented one of the march's co-sponsors, Women in Black, which with Not in Our Name and the local National Organization of Women organized the event.

Groups pushing an antiwar line have taken their lumps from those who support rooting out Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Veteran conservative activist Justin Rughe of Lompoc last week took Women in Black to task in a North County newspaper, terming their work "bogus peace efforts" and "demonstrating against the wrong target."

Farther north, in San Luis Obispo County, a group that includes former Assemblyman Tom Bordonaro has formed to act as a counterweight to the "trash America group."

"I don't like people saying that we're not American or that we don't have American feelings," said Mrs. Villalpando, a feeling other Lompoc marchers shared.

One woman, who asked not to be named because of the scorn her public stance might earn her at work -- on the base -- commiserated. "I think a lot of people are pushed into feeling if they do anything against the administration they are not American. Well, there's nothing un-American about protesting."

While the goal of the Lompoc protest seemed mostly to raise awareness of how the average citizen looks at the situation in Iraq, marchers in Santa Barbara want their message to carry farther -- to the White House.

"I really hope Bush is listening," said Trevor Marks, who joined antiwar protesters for the first time Saturday.

Ms. Blum, the mayor, thinks peace rallies like those that have been held in Santa Barbara every weekend for the past five months do make a difference.

"I believe the administration is listening, I really do," she said.

Ms. Blum said that when she was in Washington in September, "All our leaders were talking about a unilateral, pre-emptive attack. Now we're going to the United Nations.

"And now it looks like the U.

N. isn't going to let us (attack Iraq). But I don't know if the rest of the world can stop us," she added.

Antiwar protesters haven't been swayed by Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent presentation to the United Nations, in which he stated American spying proves a buildup of weapons of mass destruction, or by claims that the country provides haven for al-Qaeda operatives.

And they roll their eyes at a recent terror warning that urged Americans to stock up on duct tape and Saran wrap so they could try to seal their houses in the event of a chemical or biological attack.

"After all those billions they get from taxes," said Mr. Campo, the UCSB professor, "they came back to us with, 'Buy duct tape.'Ê"

"They want us to think this is a republic of fear," he added.

"And therefore we'll trust them to do whatever they have to do," remarked Ms. Blum.

"If people get missile crazy, that duct tape isn't going to save anybody," said Mr. Marks.