8,000 people listening to speeches from many perspectives in the Peace and Justice community. One highlight was Eric Vega, CSUS Ethnic Studies professor, who advocated rolling back the Patriot Act -- "a piece of legislation based on duct tape and fear!" "In this interegnum between war and peace, we should pay attention to the rights and actions of a Free People (paraphrase): "A Free People does not romanticize men with guns! ..... A Free people asks questions like "Why is there such a wide gap between the rich and the poor of this world (and this nation!)?"

Unsure of what all the Patriot Act comprised, I looked it up on the Internet. The USA Patriot Act was signed by Pres. Bush on 10/26/01 and "gave sweeping new powers to domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies. It eliminated the checks and balances that previously gave courts the opportunity to ensure that these powers were not abused. Most of these checks and balances were put into place after previous misuse of surveillance powers by these agencies, including the revelation in 1974 that the FBI and foreign intelligence agencies had spied on over 10,000 U.S. citizens, including Martin Luther King." (from analysis by Electronic Frontier Foundation).

Skimming through the Patriot Act, I learned that my use of the Internet Google search engine could put me under surveillance for use of "certain terms," many of which I have probably used in this very photo essay! Phrases like "nationwide roving wiretaps" and "new definitions of terrorism that expand the scope of surveillance ....raising concern about legitimate protest activity resulting in conviction on terrorism charges" also caught my attention.....

Back to "Who cares about U.S. foreign policy in Iraq?" After the January 18th Peace march in S.F., a co-worker described an account she had heard of the event on a.m. radio. "It was just kids--a lot of young people!" was her impression from the radio broadcast.

Speaking as "not a young person," and as a participant in the S.F. march, I was irritated by the media spin placed on this event. I saw a large number of people who were "my age" and some even older, if such a thing can be imagined!

THEN, after the Sacramento march on 2/15, I watched the Channel 3 news at 11 o'clock and was astonished at the amount of WEATHER I had to hear about in the greatest of detail, followed by teenage stabbings in outlying areas, and finally a quick glimpse of what I would've thought was a fairly significant event in Sacramento. To be fair, they DID show scenes of the march in New York, with a clip of South African Bishop Desmond Tutu speaking, but an analysis of what this world-wide protest signified was sadly absent.