A Venice Response to 9/11 and its Aftermath


We started marching for peace on the Boardwalk the Sunday after the bombing of Afghanistan began. It’s been almost a year and we haven’t missed a single week. For many of us, it’s become our “Sunday Service.”

The 9/11 attacks sadden us, but so does the indiscriminate bombing of innocents in Afghanistan. Now, we are worried about the horrendous loss of life that would be caused by a U.S. invasion of Iraq. Our flyers say, “An Eye for An Eye Makes the World Go Blind.”

We gather together at Rose Avenue, near the beach parking lot at 2pm Venice time (that’s 2:30 PDT). We’ve had as many as 50 people marching, and as few as 10. Once, in a driving rainstorm last winter there were only three of us. We were the biggest crowd on the Boardwalk.

We hold open-mic rallies when we arrive at Windward Ave. (or in the summer, wherever we can find a relatively quite place to talk). After 40 weeks of five-minute talks, a number of formerly shy marchers have become pretty good stump speakers. People come up out of the crowd and give impassioned speeches about the insanity, the horror, the inhumanity of people to people.

What is surprising is the variety of people who come to the march. We’ve had doctors, lawyers, professors, as well as homeless people and activists for a variety of causes.

What’s even more surprising to many is the friendly response we get as we march down the Boardwalk. Some Sundays it’s as if no one ever heard of George Bush and his War Against Evil. Upwards of a million people have seen us, our signs and banners and heard our anti-war music that we play as we march. “Guess what I saw in Venice, today,” they say when they get home.

The marches were initiated by the Venice Peace and Freedom Party but have always been non-denominational. We march under a big banner that says, “Venice Peace Movement.”

Some other communities have heard about our weekly marches and started their own. There’s one every Friday evening in Orange County of all places! We’ve heard that we’ve been on TV across the country and in several European countries and Japan.

Are we making a difference in moving G.W. Bush & Corp. from war to peace? Probably not, but you never know.

You can join the Peace March by showing up at Rose Ave. and the Boardwalk at 2:30pm Sundays. No prior experience necessary.

–Jim Smith

Posted: Sun - September 1, 2002 at 06:57 PM          

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