We March For A Nuclear-Free World

May 2, 2005

Woke up Sunday morning to the steady tap of rain. But this can't be! It was supposed to be a beautfiul day - perfect for the great peace march that we were planning to attend. Switching on the boob-tube I learned that this was a passing shower and that all would be well by noon.

We got up, went for a coffee at Prospect Perks and met our upstairs neighbor, Rock, who was joining us for the day.

I had been postering the neighborhood the past few days. Speaking to people I was getting the feeling that this was not going to be as big a demonstration as I hoped for. A lot of people didn't even know about it - and that's not a good sign in this hip neighborhood where there is a lot of anti-war sentiment.


My handiwork - flyers urging people to attend the march and rally.

The three of us walked to the subway. Our destination was East 54th Street and First Avenue. The march would take us near the United Nations, then across 42nd Street to Sixth Avenue and we'd then march up Sixth to Central Park and a rally.


On the subway, on the way. My bike group, Transportation Alternatives has posters advertising May as Bike Month NYC.

We arrived to find 54th Street almost devoid of people. It was already close to noon, the time people were supposed to arrive for the march. This didn't look good and it was confirming my previous estimates of low turnout. There were a few people milling about but, as in previous protests, the block should have been filled to bursting from one end to the other. I made my way to the corner to look down First Avenue....there were the multitudes, lined up in the avenue, waiting to march. It seems most people had made their way to East 50th Street, not 54th.


Sign maker plying his craft.

We got into line right next to a cool bunch of peace musicians that were playing strange-sounding tunes on instruments as diverse as a seashell, a saxaphone and a drum. A bunch of singing marchers accompanied them. The overall effect was uplifting as marchers walked along, singing or clapping out the rhythm. The sun was out and that added a euphoric feeling to parade whose demand was the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide - including those held by our own country, the only nation that has ever used them against a people.


This guy is playing a seashell and carrying a drum and symbol. A bit eerie but fabulous!


The people's marching band for peace!

We had started out marching with Brooklyn Parents For Peace, our local group but right next to us was also Camp Kinderland - the progressive, secular Jewish camp which I attended as a kid and to which both of our kids had gone for so many years.


Our local group - Brooklyn Parents For Peace.


Camp Kinderland marches for peace.

Ensconced in the parade it was hard to get a grip on how many people were marching - but it was a lot. Later, at the rally in Central Park, the organizers, United For Peace And Justice announced an estimate of 40,000. Accurate or not, it was correct to say a lot of New Yorkers had turned out to make their voices heard.


Young and old, the line stretched down First Avenue and into the distance.

A wonderful component this time around was the presence of thousands of Japanese citizens. A large contingent was in town to attend the United Nations debate on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (which Bush is seeking to abrogate). They took advantage to participate in the peace march as well. Veterans of that country's struggle against nukes, they were festooned with colorful banners and distributed origami to the other marchers. They also collected signatures from marchers and onlookers on petitions demanding abolition of all nuclear weapons. They were very friendly and very well received.

At the rally, the mayor of Hiroshima, one of only two cities in the world that had been the target of nuclear weapons, spoke to the crowd. Then a survivor of the bomb from Hiroshima described the mental and physical anguish and living hell that his life became in the decades since. These people knew full well the nigthmarish effects that nuclear war portends for humanity.


There were many people from Japan who had travelled here to participate.


We pass Grand Central Station.


Stacey and Rock - on the march.


One woman carried a portrait of our great leader.


Marching up to the park.

When we got to the park, marshalls assisted people into areas that would depict a giant peace sign when viewed from the air.


Here's a photo of the human peace sign at Central Park on Sunday, May 1st.


More Japanese marchers at the park.

It had been a long day as we walked out of the park and to a subway that would take us back to Brooklyn. We realized that there's much more to be done if we are to awaken the American people to the harm that is being done in their name by a small band that has grabbed control of our government.

On the domestic front, people are suddenly becoming aware that this is most certainly not what they voted for: they did not vote for severe cuts or elimination of Medicare, Social Security and other social services. They did not vote for despoiling the environment on behalf of the oil companies' bottom line. But now we must show them that they also did not vote for a dirty war to subjugate the people of the Iraq or to use nuclear weapons as a tool of domination against countries that want to follow a different path than that which Bush has chosen for them.


A group of good kids in Central Park. Our future.